Chapter 104 Five Defeats
The battle continued until sunset.
There was no doubt that Zang Bajun was defeated. When he moved the banner to the left, Wu Dun's troops in the rightmost formation collapsed without fighting. The Langya bandits surrounded Wu Dun and Pan Da and left the battlefield from the right side.
They want to enter Mount Lu from here.
Although there is no marching road there, Wu Dun and his eight hundred people can only disperse into the mountains, but it is better than waiting to die here. It's better to go into the mountains and give it a try. It's up to fate whether you live or die.
Then there are the second grandson brothers from Pobei. Their field of vision was the best, and they could see the entire battlefield on the slope. The Taishan soldiers attacked like fire, while the Langya thieves retreated like wind. When they saw that Zang Ba's banner had moved to the left, they did not dare to stay any longer and immediately climbed up the slope to retreat to the battlefield.
But halfway through, the second grandson brothers couldn't restrain their troops. First, Zang Ba gave them 600 soldiers. Except for some who were shot to death, the rest were defeated. Then there were the Shan Lao people from Er Sun's own tribe. They were originally Shan Lao people scattered in the forest seeking survival. They had no ambition to participate in any big war. They were also frightened by this war.
Therefore, the night became darker and darker, the troops of the two brothers Sun Kang and Sun Qing became smaller and smaller, and the hearts of those who walked became colder and they did not dare to rest at all along the way. Hearing the inexplicable sound of wind and crows behind him, he thought the pursuers had arrived and hurriedly ran away.
Finally, there is Zang Ba.
When he returned to the formation, he looked at the battlefield situation and knew that the soldiers in the ten formations in front would not be able to retreat. He immediately cut off his wrists and prepared to retreat with his 200 most elite guards.
In order to attract military strength and buy him time to retreat, he left the big banner to his central defense army.
He and the guards changed their clothes and each took only a ring-headed sword before saying goodbye to his central guard.
Zang Ba looked at this arrogant man. He was his father's humerus, a brother, and his uncle. He didn't expect to be here today. Thinking of this, Zang Ba sadly grabbed the hand of Zhonghujun and cried:
"I will leave it to my uncle to take care of my future affairs."
The Central Guardsmen had tears in their eyes and were speechless. From time to time, the sounds of their brothers being killed by the Taishan bandits could be heard in their ears. These Langya generals followed Zang Jie through life and death, and finally died at the hands of Zang Ba, the arrogant man. For a moment, his heart was filled with despair, and he said angrily:
"Who is to blame when the general collapses and the army collapses?"
Hearing this, Zang Ba felt ashamed to death. Thinking of his father's expectations when he gave the talisman to him, Zang Ba regretted deeply that he should not have accepted those Shanliao people.
But in the end Zang Ba still refused to admit defeat, and he replied in a low voice:
"Today's matter is not a matter of victory or defeat. I will return to Langya Mountain, regroup, and fight the Taishan bandits again."
After hearing Zang Ba's words, the central leader was stunned. He didn't know whether he didn't expect Zang Ba to be so indomitable, or whether he didn't expect to reach such an extent, throwing away the lives of countless disciples, and in the end he couldn't even say "it's my fault." Anyway, he was stunned.
In the end, the central leader didn't know whether he was pleased or disappointed. He put on his robe, waved his hand for Zang Ba to lead the people away, and then moved the big banner to the west. Zang Ba opened his mouth, but still didn't say that sentence. He regretfully led the remaining two hundred guards to the east.
He knew that the only way to survive on the battlefield at this time was to the east.
There is a large army in front, the Taiping Road of Qi behind, and hills on the left. If you go from there, you will not be able to escape the pursuit. On the contrary, there are endless mountains to the east. Although it is extremely dangerous when it is dark in the mountains, the night and the mountains also provide them with protection. In addition, with the Central Guards leading their troops to move west to attract troops, Zang Ba is confident that he can still escape. Out of ascension to heaven.
In this way, Zang Ba and others were killing the defeated soldiers indiscriminately. In his hand was the Bailian sword, killing without blood. He had just killed a defeated soldier here, and he started to perform again. He wiped off the blood on the blade with his cuffs, Ao Ran said:
"This blade is enough to kill thieves, who dares to stand in my way?"
But seeing that no one was paying attention to him, they were all running towards the eastern mountains. Zang Ba let out a long sigh and his heart dispersed. He could only take big steps and run for his life.
Zang Ba felt remorseful here and attributed this defeat to the Yilu Shanliao people who pretended to be the Taiping Road of Qi State. But in fact, Zang Ba did not lose unjustly. He suffered at least five defeats in this battle.
Once the army is defeated, it is not strict. He moved his army north, recruiting bandits along the way. The other generation was originally a rebel army. How could he fight a tough battle with this generation? Not to mention that Zang Ba allowed the other generation's army to be behind him. Yes, Zang Ba had his own agenda and wanted to use this to show favor to the thieves. But this is the right of the winner, and you, Zang Ba, have not yet decided what the outcome of this battle will be, but you have already thought about all these things, so why are you undefeated?
After two defeats, one does not know the other. Zang Ba used his troops to mount Taishan. Has anyone investigated the canals of Mount Tai? What is their background, do they have potential allies, how many soldiers they can fight, what their maximum strength is, and who are their brave generals. These Zang Ba didn't know anything about it, so they regarded the Taishan bandits as being as reckless as the Langya bandits he usually assessed. If you don’t know the other side, why are you undefeated?
Three defeats are not secret. Zang Ba was so motivated that he asked a country man, whom he thought to be useless, to deliver a message for him to humiliate Zhang Chong. What is the use of this kind of fierce fighting method? It's just children's play, thinking they have a winning strategy. On the contrary, without knowing what was going on, he sent to Zhang Chong a wise and wise man who had a grudge against him and who was also insightful. What he also sent along with him was the details of his army. If the body of a general is not secret, why is he invincible?
The four defeated soldiers are helpless. Whenever troops are used, scouts must be sent out for four miles to detect news and reports from the surrounding areas. But what? After Zang Ba came out of the mountain, he only knew how to build his camp and settle down in the stronghold, but he didn't know how to send sentries and ride around. Because there was no sentinel cavalry, when Zhang Chong's troops had already detected the arrival of Taishan's powerful soldiers, Zang Ba was still confused and only stood firm, losing the opportunity to flank the powerful soldiers on both sides. As a general, if his troops are helpless, why can't he be defeated?
Five defeats lead to uncertain strategies. When Zang Bati's army left Yilu Mountain Pass, he decided to hold on and wait for the attack. But then he learned that the Taishan bandits were already fighting, and he couldn't help but be cunning and wanted to take advantage of the situation. Li Lingzhi fainted, and all his troops came out. Yes, the way to use troops should indeed be to take advantage of the situation, but all this must be done under the condition of accurately obtaining the dynamics of the enemy's troops. If a person who is not a general does not take military reports as trust but instead speculates on himself, how can he remain undefeated?
With these five defeats, how could Zang Ba be defeated?
What's more, Zhang Chong's Taishan soldiers are far superior to the Langya bandits in terms of morale, battle formation, armament, and martial arts. What's more, Zhang Chong's temples are even more numerous than Zang Ba's.
True to that sentence:
"If the temple is not the winner before the battle, it should be counted as more. If the temple is not the winner before the battle, it should be the less. More is the winner, less is the loser, but nothing counts!"
This is a sincere statement! On the chaotic battlefield, the fighting continues.
The gang of Langya old thieves under Zang Ba were brought out by his father. They also had great military exploits and were not afraid of death. Even though there was no array at this time, they did not put down their swords and halberds. Instead, a few acquaintances leaned together and fought to the death on the battlefield.
Zhang Chong, who was under the banner, saw that the Langya soldiers' fighting was just in vain to increase the casualties of his subordinates, so he dealt a final blow to their courage.
Courage never falls from the sky. The reason why these Langya thieves are still determined to die is because the Zang banner is still standing behind them.
The Zang on that big scroll is not the Zang of Zang Ba, but the Zang of Zang Jie. As long as Zang Jie is there, their courage will be there.
Zhang Chong took the horse from the side of the collision team and got on the horse with the help of several guards. Now that he was about to charge into battle, he changed into a basin-collared armor and dropped the iron mask again. In his narrow vision, there was only the large banner with the word "Zang" in it.
He raised the horse iron in his hand, and his voice came out muffled from the iron surface:
"Rush!"
Behind him, the three cavalry generals Tian Jun, Ren Yun, and Xi Shen shouted:
"Rush!"
Then the forty cavalrymen jumped out from under the banner, their iron hooves flying, and sprinted straight towards the banner with the character "Zang".
There are no more strict formations ahead, and the front is clear. Zhang Chong completely let go of his horse power and smashed his horse left and right. The unparalleled force caused the death of everyone he hit.
When Zhang Chong's horse rushed under the enemy's banner with blood on it, he saw a veteran with gray beard sitting under the horse's banner, with a banner with the word "Zang" flying behind him.
The veteran seemed to have unparalleled power and courage at this moment. He roared at the iron-faced Zhang Chong:
"It's a male who comes to cut."
Zhang Chong was stunned for a moment, and nodded to him with an iron face. Then he straightened up and rushed towards the veteran. In the midst of the collision, a gray-white head with angry eyes and bared teeth rose into the sky, and blood spurted out from the neck, scattering directly on the large scroll.
Tian Jun chased him over there and cut off the banner with a single stroke of his sword. Zi Youtuqi picked up the "Zang" flag and handed it to Zhang Chong. Zhang Chong put the flag on the horse's back, thought for a while, and then led the cavalry to pursue to the left.
He knew that Zang Ba was bound to go in this direction.
At this time, Xi Shen, the cavalry commander behind him, admonished:
"Qu, when it gets dark, we can no longer ride our horses. Moreover, we rode suddenly and fought fiercely for a day, and both men and horses are tired. Let's chase again tomorrow. It's dark, and Zang Ba can't go far."
Zhang Chong turned around and suddenly saw that all his horsemen were steaming all over, and their horses were humming and sticking out their tongues. He endured his anxiety and persuaded:
"Zang Ba is a hero, he can kill his soldiers. If you don't take advantage of the victory and pursue us now, you will be in trouble for me in the long run. Brothers, follow me for a while."
The knights remained silent and followed Zhang Chong to continue searching eastward.
Sure enough, under Zhang Chong's field of vision, the broken troops here were obviously elite. He didn't care about smashing these broken troops and once again picked up his horse to pursue eastward.
Finally, at the gap in the mountain, Zhang Chong saw a bright master in the dark night. He guessed that this person was Zang Ba. He raised his bow and shot an arrow at him, but the opponent dodged him and shot again. This time he hit the target. , but the person also disappeared in the mountain gap.
Zhang Chong was furious and waited for his horse to catch up again. Suddenly, the horse whined, then knelt on its front hooves and fell over with foam. Zhang Chong only heard the generals shouting in surprise, and he was thrown out several feet.
Lying on the ground, looking at the stars in the sky, Zhang Chong was dizzy and unable to move for a while.
When many of the horsemen saw that he suddenly lost his horse and fell over, lying motionless on the ground, all the dead souls appeared. They jumped off their horses, lifted Zhang with all their hands, and rushed back to the camp.
In this way, only the westernmost wall of the entire battlefield, five miles away, was abandoned. Wu Dun's subordinate Ruan Zhong and the warlock Jiang Sheng were abandoned, and they were the loneliest defenders without knowing it.
The stars are so bright this night.
(End of chapter)