It is true that, as Liu Ling guessed, the pursuit battle has passed its climax.

This is just a prepared and unprepared raid, Wang Sang and Liu Ling can't wait to send people to the door, so what is there to hesitate about?

The only regret is probably that the wind and snow are too big, the visibility is too low, and the weather is too cold, which is not conducive to the pursuit.

However, the fact that it is inconvenient for the officers and soldiers to pursue does not mean that others are not good.

Since the enemy army is going to plunder, it is inevitable that the personnel will be scattered in all directions, and it will take time to gather in bad weather. Now that they were directly affected by a wave of surprise attacks, Wang Sang and Liu Ling fled in a hurry, and the thieves scattered everywhere didn't even know where to gather, so they could only retreat to Lin Shu County, where they started when they went south.

On the way to retreat, the Silver Spear Army, the Yamen Army, the government soldiers, and the righteous Cong were eyeing each other, and they caught up with them and fought fiercely. As a result, one can imagine the chaos of the retreat of the thief army.

At the beginning, there may be a bit of organizational discipline, but as they run, there are fewer and fewer people who can maintain the organization, and most of them are old thieves who followed them when Ziqing and Xu started the incident, and at the very least, they have to be brave people who joined the gang in Yu and Yanerzhou.

Recruits don't have this ability, and they often fall behind when they walk, which mostly means death.

On the post road leading from Gongxian County to Lin Xi, corpses lying on the way abound. Many people don't even have wounds at all, and it is not known whether they starved to death or froze to death - most of them were the latter.

In the middle of the night, the wind blows straight and the snow fills the sky. The thieves who have not eaten for a day and a night, in groups of three or five, do not know the direction, walk in despair in the deserted wilderness, and there is a great possibility of freezing and starving to death.

When Shao Xun rode by, his gaze only glanced at these corpses, and then retracted it.

In front of him, a group of Lin Xifu (Hao) and Lao (Qiang) appeared, respectfully offering wine, meat, grain and grass.

Behind a low wall, there were even hundreds of clay pots and rice retorts, in which hot soup was boiled, to provide supplies for passing sergeants.

The officials from the county town urged Ding Zhuang to bring out the steamed corn.

"It's the first time to enjoy this kind of treatment......" Shao Xun sighed.

The last time I came to Hebei, and before I went to Guanzhong, there were not so many people working on the road, and I even had to send people to collect grain.

Fighting on the territory of the old man's land is just this advantage.

At the same time, it can also be seen from the side that Yu Chen has held Ji County for several years, and his prestige is already quite high, at least he can support the local clans to provide logistical support.

In addition, judging from the situation in Ji County, Gongxian County, and Linshu County, a considerable part of the fields were planted with winter wheat, indicating that the old father-in-law was able to implement the policies of the imperial court to a certain extent.

What is it? It's execution! A very valuable ability in troubled times.

"Prince, the marshal of Wubao should have captured a lot of thieves, and there are always seventy or eighty people." Tang Jian pointed to a group of Ding Zhuang who were drinking porridge in the distance, and said, "The rout soldiers who escaped will generally be captured by the dock fort and become slaves. ”

Shao Xun nodded and didn't care about it.

With the help of the dock commanders, few of these thieves will be able to go back.

He remembered the matter of Yelu Abaoji, the founding monarch of the Khitan, who led a large army south to the Central Plains, and the 100,000 people were first defeated by the 5,000 people of the Later Tang Army, and the army was defeated. When they met the Shahe River for the second time, when they saw the banner of the Hou Tang Army, they were directly frightened and rushed to cross the river, the river ice broke, countless people drowned, and the son of Abaoji was captured.

After the Tang army bravely pursued, when the sky fell heavy snow, countless Khitan people died in the severe cold, and on the way to retreat, they were attacked and killed by the villagers, and few finally fled back.

Don't underestimate these "villagers" and "fort households", they have a certain combat effectiveness in troubled times.

When a large army comes, they are as honest as quails, and if you burn and loot, they may not be able to resist. But when you're alone, you can learn how powerful they are.

All in all, a thief army of hundreds of people is very dangerous, let alone a group of three or five people. That is the walking slaves, and the marshals of the dock castle and the owners of the manors will definitely be hunted or killed, and they will not be let go.

The army rested outside the dock fort for an hour, ate hot rice and soup, and dried cotton clothes by the way, and then continued to march north.

On the 13th, a report came from the front, and the government soldiers who acted as the vanguard entered and occupied Linshu County.

The county was deserted, apparently abandoned by the thieves.

Shao Xun, who got the news, ordered to speed up the pace, and led the main force of the Chinese army to arrive in this county in the afternoon of the next day, and even bumped into a retreating thief on the way, with a scale of about 1,000 people, and collected the equipment on the spot and sent it to Ji County to guard it.

On the evening of the 14th, he climbed to the head of Linxian County, overlooking the marching brigade.

This army has a bit of the flavor of Liu Yu's 100,000-strong army of destroying Nanyan.

Many people only know Liu Yu's Moon Formation, but Liu Yu is actually an expert in using chariots.

He destroyed Nanyan, it was with this car formation, starting from Xuzhou, and running to Guanggu (the capital of Nanyan) in a dignified manner.

Along the way, I was harassed by the Xianbei cavalry, and I did not move, only attacking the enemy and saving him.

The closer they got to Guanggu, the lower the initiative of the Xianbei cavalry, and the more they couldn't hold their breath.

In the end, the cavalry lost the initiative on the battlefield to fight if they wanted to fight and leave if they didn't want to fight, and were forced to take the initiative to attack Liu Yu.

As a result, there was no suspense, and Nanyan failed miserably and perished.

Attacking the enemy must save is the core, which means that the initiative on the battlefield is in whose hands.

Where will I be saved?

Shao Xun looked to the east, as if he could travel through time and space, and landed above Yecheng.

The torture of the captives learned that the enemy army had a large amount of baggage, goods, and prisoners in Yecheng, and Wang Mi, Wang Sang, Liu Ling, and even Shi Le and others all sent some soldiers and horses to Yecheng to stay behind and guard the money, food, and people.

Shi Chao himself, based on Yecheng, enlisted in the army in Latin to expand his strength, and he didn't seem to want to leave at all.

Then, the goal is obvious: our army won the first battle, the momentum is flourishing, and the grain and grass carried by the army can last more than a month, so go straight to Yecheng and see how the thieves react.

******

Shile had just returned from Zhao County and arrived in Xiangguo, where the whole army rested for the night.

At this time, the imperial historian Hu Yanyi from Puzi to, read out the holy decree, and crowned Shile as "the general of the festival, Pingdong", and the rest of the official positions and titles remained the same.

Shilebai thanked the emperor.

Hu Yanyi was inconvenient to stay for a long time, so he left the same day.

Before leaving, Schlestuff sent a large number of gifts. Hu Yanyi pretended to excuse himself, then accepted it, and at the same time promised to say good things for Shi Le when he went back.

After seeing off the imperial envoys, Shile breathed a sigh of relief.

This time out of the east, the harvest is very big.

First, tens of thousands of Ding Zhuang were captured in Wei County and Dunqiu, and after the weak were left strong, more than 20,000 people were obtained. Later, with this as the capital, he went north to attack Zhao County, killed Feng Chong, the governor of the west, and then broke the begging army, capturing nearly 20,000.

Zhao Jun had no opponent, just as he was preparing to develop towards Julu, he received the news of the failure of Wang Sang and Liu Ling, so he decisively stopped the preparations for attacking Julu, went south to Guangping, and moved closer to Yecheng.

But he hasn't finally made up his mind, especially ready to listen to the opinions of the three strategists - Diao Ying, Zhang Jing, and Zhang Bin, who are the "well-dressed gentlemen" who have been harvested in Hebei this time, and they have a strategic mind, so they are valued by Shile.

Shi Leyou and Zhang Jing relied on their arms to help and obeyed their words.

Of course, he is now facing the same predicament as Shao Xun, he has no power to open a mansion, and the strategists follow him, with no identity and no position.

Otherwise, the level will have to be given to Diao Ying and Zhang Jing for the position of long history. As for Zhang Bin, in terms of the ability he has shown, he is inferior to Diao Ying and Zhang Jing, and it would be good to be able to give him a gong in the future.

"After all, the king is the governor, and he can't sit back and watch Wang Sang, Liu Ling, Wang Mi and others break through for the Jin people." Zhang Jing is a man with a powerful appearance, Yunwen Yunwu, rushed ahead of Diao Ying and said: "If the news is transmitted back to Pingyang, the Son of Heaven may have an opinion." ”

Shile nodded, and this was reasonable.

"King, there are still soldiers and goods recruited in Yecheng, and it would be a pity if you abandon them." Diao Ying added.

After speaking, he glanced at Zhang Jing vaguely, full of competition.

Zhang Bin sat there in silence and did not interject.

"Meng Sun didn't say a word, why not?" Shi Le looked at Zhang Bin with encouraging eyes and said with a smile: "But it doesn't hurt to say it. ”

Zhang Bin made a gesture and asked, "I heard that when the king was under the Jisang tent, he fought with Shaoxun, the Marquis of Luyang?" ”

"There was no fighting." Shi Le said: "Back then, Lonely-I fought with Gou Xi for a long time, and basically lost. If you meet Shao Xun, most of them will be defeated. Lu Ping and Li Le are not mediocre people, the battle of Feixiang was defeated by Shao Xun dignifiedly, and there will be no change if I go up. ”

After speaking, he looked at Zhang Bin calmly and said, "At that time, we were not as good as him." For now, it's also hard to say. ”

Zhang Bin nodded and said, "Did the king figure out how many soldiers Shao Xun brought?" What is the combat power? ”

"According to Wang Sang and Liu Ling, Shao Xun should have 50,000 people." Schle said: "But they do not agree with each other, and there are many contradictions, and I do not believe them all. ”

"What the king said is very true." Zhang Bin said: "In terms of the past of the Jin Court, it is unlikely that a person like Shao Xun from a humble background will be able to lead an army of 50,000, at most half. Moreover, the deployment of the Jin army, Pei Yuzhou has withdrawn his troops from Baima, and the king chariot rode on the river, with no intention of going north. Only Shao Xun went all the way to Hebei, so most of this person was not treated by the emperor and ministers of the Jin Kingdom, so he was driven to the north to consume. The reason for this is nothing more than his poor background, and he is young and ambitious, and he is arrogant......"

"This man is indeed extremely arrogant in his use of soldiers." Shi Le sighed: "According to what Meng Sun said, twenty or thirty thousand people dare to go deep into Hebei, but they really rely on the elite soldiers under their command and don't take us and others seriously." ”

"The servant advises the king not to rush into battle with Shao Xun." Zhang Bin said solemnly: "This time to attack Guangping and Zhao County, the harvest is no less than 30,000 soldiers, and there is a lot of money, grain and livestock. The king may go south, but he must not fight in vain, and he will find out the strength of the enemy army first. ”

Shile has a station in Liu Han's country, mainly in the north of Yanmen, Xinxing County, which is also the reason why he repeatedly Kou Changshan, Gayin is the east of the road is Changshan County in Hebei.

This time, the seven generals went to Hebei, but they first went south to Shangdang, and then went east out of Huguan to attack Yecheng and its surroundings.

Send back the benefits first, in fact, Lao Cheng is serious, Shi Le thought about it and agreed.

"I am very happy with Mengsun's advice today." Shi Le got up, walked up to Zhang Bin, took his hand, and said with a smile: "I will have more suggestions in the future." I don't have much in my pocket, but I can't short your reward. ”

Zhang Bin also smiled.

After talking and laughing with Zhang Bin, Shi Le walked up to Diao Ying and Zhang Jing again, and said, "Meng Sun is always serious, but you are not wrong. When a big husband acts, how can he be a fly and a dog and cower? Shao Xun is rampant and arrogant, he is alone, and he doesn't take the heroes of the world in his eyes, how can I lead the army into battle, how can I retreat without a single shot? This battle, after all, still has to be fought, even if it can't be fought, it will gnaw off a piece of his meat. Therefore, when you work together and strategize, I will fight bravely and bend the bow and fight bloodily, and we will work together to leave Shao Xun in Hebei. If you really can't do it, you don't have to be depressed, and then you can try your courage and work hard. How is it? ”

"Do as the king commands." The three of them glanced at each other and replied in unison.

On October 15, after resting for a day in Xiangguo, Shi Le led more than 7,000 horsemen and 25,000 foot soldiers to the south and marched to Yecheng.

Almost on the same day, Shao Xun led the crowd to leave Lin Xi, and the whole army marched eastward, also heading towards Yecheng.

At this time, the wind and snow stopped.