Chapter 732: Four Reinforcements
The retreat process is painful, mainly mental pain.
On the donkey cart, Wang Mi was drowsy. When he woke up occasionally, he would sigh endlessly.
My ears were filled with the whistling wind, the messy sound of horse hooves, and the heavy breathing of the soldiers.
The sound of fighting gradually faded away and became inaudible.
After all, there is a loyal and brave person who fights to the death to buy time for his escape, which is worthy of his daily kindness.
However, most people who have been cut off will never come back. The more such people die, the less old foundation they have. Cultivating a loyal subordinate requires both capital and time, and is not that easy.
Wang Mi could not help but shed two lines of tears.
He doesn't like to cry and rarely cries.
When people cry in troubled times, it is a sign of weakness and will bring great danger to themselves and their families.
But the blow was really too big!
He suddenly thought of Shi Le, and actually felt sympathy for him.
Da Hu is also really miserable. After the construction of Fangtou City was completed, he was targeted by Shao Xun. He launched a massive Northern Expedition for two consecutive years and completely drove his forces out of Hebei.
That’s not all. This year he conquered Bingzhou and broke through from Da Hu's territory, once again extinguishing the embers he had finally put away.
Da Hu fled west to Pingyang with thousands of soldiers and civilians, and was almost beheaded by the emperor.
What is the difference between him and Da Hu? In the battles of Lianchi and Weishan, he lost the elites he had spent years cultivating. Although there are still many soldiers in Shaanxi County, the number of those who fight bravely is at most a thousand. The remaining soldiers have not shown their kindness, are not skilled in skills, and are hesitant. They are just peasant soldiers.
He no longer has the confidence to defend Shaanxi County.
He just wanted to run, run westward, all the way back to Tongguan.
"Alas." Wang Mi sighed heavily and sat up on the donkey cart.
After feeling that his body was not so uncomfortable, he turned his head and looked back, secretly counting the soldiers.
There are more than 2,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, and more than 400 personal troops, that's all.
Two-thirds were lost in the first battle, which was really tragic!
The donkey cart moved forward leisurely. Wang Mi looked away, thinking silently.
Is Pu Hong coming to Shaanxi County soon? Will he steal the show?
Will the emperor take the opportunity to remove him from all his duties and take Hongnong back?
If the Jin army attacks all the way, should we defend it? How to keep it?
What will the prince’s attitude be if he escapes back to Tongguan? Don't run away too fast, otherwise the prince might kill him as a warning to the monkeys. But you can't escape too slowly, otherwise you will be surrounded by the Jin Army and you will never be able to leave.
The only way is to march westward with the defeated troops in Xihe, Pingyang, and Hedong. If the law does not punish the people, they may be able to get through.
So many issues to consider!
On October 21, just when Duan Mobo on the northern line arrived at the Xiongnu camp in Chishui, Wang Mi was finally defeated and retreated to the boundaries of Shaanxian County.
He stayed here for a day and gathered hundreds of defeated troops - but the number of his troops was slightly reduced. Gein's soldiers once again pursued him, and he had to leave some people behind to block the attack.
After running for dozens of miles and regaining his composure, Wang Mi no longer wanted to run away.
Shaanxi County sent two to three thousand people to respond.
He decided to use the terrain of the plateau to block it. Especially those places with mountain plateaus on both sides and a dark and deep skyline in the middle, you can make a fuss about it.
I heard that Pu Hong has entered the Qilijian area, maybe he can be "deceived" here.
They have never fought against Shao Thief. Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. If they dare to fight hard, they may have miraculous results.
In addition, he sent several groups of envoys to Pingyang in succession, with only one core appeal: to request reinforcements, the more the better.
******
On October 24, Wang Mi’s first batch of messengers had just arrived in Pingyang, and Bohai King Liu Fu had already sent three batches of messengers.
Liu Cong endured it for a long time, and finally sighed: "Take Pingyang Bashuai to lead his troops and horses north to Lishi. Lishi's soldiers sent 5,000 people to the north to Chihongling. Chihongling cannot be defended. Retreat to Chihongling. Tell my son clearly that I will allow him to retreat once and then there will be no need to come back."
"Yes." Shiren bowed and retreated, going to deliver the order.
Liu Cong picked up the memorial from Quyang King Liu Xian requesting reinforcements again, with a gloomy expression on his face.
In fact, he was a little confused.
The Shao thieves attacked Bingzhou. Due to the terrain, they actually fought a lot of tough battles and besieged many cities, resulting in heavy casualties. At this point in the battle, even if we have enough manpower, we should not continue to attack the fortified city.
Is it worth it to kill tens of thousands of people in battle to unite the state?
These are not tens of thousands of farmers, but peasant soldiers who have been on the battlefield many times and have certain military experience.
Is the attack on Zhiguan really so fierce?
He thought for a while, looked at Wang Chen who was accompanying him, handed the memorial to him, and asked, "What do you think, sir?"
Wang Chen glanced at it roughly and said : "Your Majesty, I think we still need to increase the number of troops. If there is insufficient manpower, just recruit strong men from Wubao."
Liu Cong was still undecided.
Wang Chen was referring to Wubao Dingzhuang in Pingyang, which the imperial court had stronger control over. But many manpower has been sent to Pubanjin to repair the Zhongli City that was destroyed by the flood.
Since last year, because Guanzhong has become more and more important, the imperial court has followed the example of the three cities of Heyang and built the east, middle and west cities in Pubanjin.
The west city is located in Fengyi, and the east city is located in the east of the river. The two gates were built as ferries, facing each other across the river.
Zhongli City was built on the sandbank in the river to connect the east and west cities.
The Yellow River is not as good as the Yangtze River, and there are not so many places to cross the river.
Pubanjin is the most important ferry here because it can directly communicate with Kansai and Kanto, and bypasses Tongguan.
There is Fenglingdu to the south of Zhongtiao Mountain. After crossing the river from Hedong, it is still east of Tongguan and cannot bypass this pass.
There was a flood this year and the Pubanjin Zhongli Castle was seriously damaged, so the association has allocated manpower to build it.
As for the pontoon bridge, it is also being actively built, but the original permanent pontoon bridge has been washed away, and now a temporary pontoon bridge is being built that can only be used for a few months.
The pontoon is very important. Even though Liu Cong had decided to live and die with Pingyang in his heart, for various reasons, he still ordered the construction of the pontoon bridge to be accelerated - he might not be able to use it, but what about others?
"Transfer the Jie people stationed in Anyi to Wangwu to provide support at any time." Liu Cong thought for a long time and finally issued the order.
At this time, the four queens on the left, middle, right and top came in and brought him tea, snacks and even wine.
Liu Cong looked at the food box and wanted to ask why there was no Five Stone Powder, but thought about it and shut up.
I haven’t touched it for a long time. I wanted to do it at first, but when I saw the battle situation, I suddenly lost interest.
He pulled the left queen Wang and the middle queen Xuan into his arms.
The former is fifteen years old and the latter is twenty years old. Both are beautiful. At this moment, they are trying their best to smile and look at him with affectionate eyes.
Liu Cong coughed violently.
Empress Fan sighed and stepped forward to stroke her back.
Liu Cong’s first queen was Huyan, who was relatively older. In terms of seniority, she was considered his aunt, and she is dead.
The second queen, Zhang Huiguang, was his niece, the grand-niece of the Empress Dowager Zhang, and the daughter of Zhang Shi, the general who assisted the Han Dynasty. She entered the palace with her sister Zhang Liguang, but she looked ordinary and Liu Cong was annoyed by it.
Especially after comparing Taibao Liu Yin's two daughters (Liu E, Liu Ying) and four granddaughters, I became even more disgusted with the Zhang sisters who like ugly people and do mischief.
Liu E was very virtuous and often advised Liu Cong.
Liu Yingzi is the most beautiful person in Pingyang. She is very eloquent, can speak eloquently, and is well versed in political affairs.
Liu Cong once wanted to make Liu Ying his queen, but the Queen Mother firmly opposed it, so the matter was abandoned, and Liu Ying died soon and inexplicably.
After Liu Ying died, Liu E did not live long and then died.
Later Empress Dowager Zhang died of illness.
As expected, Queen Zhang Huiguang died of "excessive grief" only two days later.
Zhang Liguang lived a little longer and soon "died in depression".
In short, Brother Cong’s harem is really...
Fan was Zhang Huiguang's personal maid, and she had to choose a way to die, whether it was "dying of fear", "dying in depression", or "accidentally catching a cold", in any case she had to die.
But she was so beautiful that Brother Cong actually spared her and made her the queen.
Liu Cong is very satisfied with the four queens now.
At least it has good looks, a good figure, and talents. It is his favorite style.
He didn’t want to experience Zhang Huiguang’s sister’s nightmare again—can an ugly person become a queen? This is not the Jin Dynasty.
Looking at his four queens, Liu Cong suddenly felt emotional. He gently touched Wang's face and asked: "If something unexpected happens to me, what will you do?"
< br>Wang was young and was a little confused at first. After she figured it out, her body couldn't stop shaking.
Xuan was a little older, but could not speak and could only shed tears.
"And you -" Liu Cong looked at Fan and Liu and said, "What should you do?"
Fan forced herself to calm down and said softly: "I just wish Follow His Majesty.”
Liu Cong was greatly relieved, nodded with a smile, and then looked at Ms. Liu closely.
"Your Majesty..." Mr. Liu looked pleading.
Liu Cong was quite disappointed, she was far behind her two aunts, so he gave her a cold look and said, "Kill yourself."
Ms. Liu fell softly to the ground and fainted. past.
Zhongchang Shi Wang Shen and Xuanhuai looked at each other and felt a strong chill.
The emperor did not take the powder, but he was even crazier than if he had taken the powder.
If the queen can die, won’t they die? No, it may be more dangerous, because the ministers hate their group of powerful officials even more.
Liu Cong pushed Wang and Xuan to the ground and told them to get out of the house like they were sweeping away rubbish. Queen Fan was left alone and asked, "Do you think the queen should give Wang Mi more troops?"
Ms. Fan was scared to death. Liu Cong in front of her seemed to have turned into a ferocious beast. However, his face was quite calm, and he even said with a gentle smile: "Your Majesty, Hongnong will never leave. Far away, if Shaanxi County is captured, the rebel army can cross the river in large numbers. If the pass on Zhongtiao Mountain is conquered again, Hedong and Pingyang will be in chaos."
Liu Cong nodded slowly.
The terrain of Bingzhou is not that simple.
Do you think Shangdang has Taihang as a barrier, and the south of Hedong County can only rely on the Yellow River? No, there is also Mount Zhongtiao.
This mountain has only a few passes that can be passed through. It has been famous since ancient times. Many places only accommodate square rails, which is not that simple.
Bingzhou is actually a perfect separatist terrain, and it is also a place where it is easier to preserve the population in troubled times - of course, except for internal fighting.
Fan felt that Hongnong was still too close, especially since there was Dayangjin Ferry (also called Taiyangjin) four miles northwest of Shaanxi County. Once lost, the bandit army could swarm northward and attack Zhongtiao directly. The mountains are too dangerous.
"Then let's strengthen our troops." Liu Cong sighed and said: "Wang Mi is incompetent. He was defeated in Lianchi and Xiaoshan. Hearing that there was a fierce battle with Shao's soldiers in the mountains recently, he still retreated step by step. Without reinforcements, I don't think he can even defend Shaanxi County. Forget it, I sent an order to Hedong to recruit 5,000 men from Wubao. The Diqiang chief also led 5,000 troops southward."
"Lengquanshui. Over there, add 3,000 Qiang soldiers and 5,000 Chinese people." Liu Cong ordered again.
Shao's thieves are attacking from all directions, asking for reinforcements everywhere, which is really annoying.
In fact, he didn't understand why the sergeants who were so powerful five or six years ago were now unable to fight. Why has the combat effectiveness dropped so sharply? He really doesn't understand.
No, maybe he vaguely understood in his heart that he just didn't want to accept it.
On October 28, Wang Mi could not resist for too long. More than ten thousand soldiers from the government rushed directly to the city of Shaanxi County, and Hedong was shaken.
(End of this chapter)