The wind was roaring, the grass and trees were full of soldiers, and the cavalry behind him with the flag with the word "Xu" was biting him like an evil ghost.
At this time, Fan Chou, who was retreating all the way, was filled with panic. He no longer had the pleasure of revenge against Hu Zhen, only the fear of Dong Zhuo's wrath and the anger at the pursuers behind him.
Yes, Fan Chou was not coerced into withdrawing his troops, but did so intentionally.
The reasons are quite complicated, but to put it simply, they are not optimistic about Hu Zhen, and they avoid disaster but protect themselves.
But if he was asked to choose again, Fan Chou would no longer be so willful and unruly.
He regretted it, but it was too late.
Going back to the beginning, what Fan Chou saw was this:
In fact, when the Kansai army gathered in the Dosohara area, the morale of the army was still good.
At that time, with Dusuoyuan as the core and a radius of dozens of miles, the army built forts and dug trenches. There was a steady flow of grain and fodder from the rear, and the soldiers and horses were well fed. No matter whether it was to fight against the Taishan Army or to stick to this place, everyone had confidence. .
Although at that time, the Taishan Army had surrounded Taiyuan, and there was a cavalry unit intercepting him in front of him, as if he was forming a situation of blocking the attack from the left and right, but in fact Hu Zhen did want to take the initiative to fight the enemy decisively at that time. With 50,000 elite troops in Kansai, heading north with all their strength, even if the enemy forces really block it, it will be nothing more than a mantis trying to stop him.
But in the end, the military's decision was to stick to this place and remain unchanged in the face of changes.
If you don't want to attack, don't attack. Just making a decision is better than not making a decision.
At the beginning, the front part of the Guanxi Army and Tian Jun's troops clashed several times. Although they did not defeat their troops in one battle, the Bingzhou Army headed by Lu Bu actually achieved a lot of military exploits and boosted the morale of the entire army.
But the situation changed in the past two days.
At that time, the enemy army was making a noise, and Lu Bu Yi led the army in the front to charge forward, but no one knew how the battle was fought. Anyway, when Lu Bu's troops returned in the end, they told the Chinese army that Zhang Yang had died in the battle.
Zhang Yang was the second-ranking figure in the Bingzhou Army. He died in the first battle. Lu Bu quickly became passive and did not participate in the subsequent battles.
Lu Bu, who has always been the vanguard, will not participate in the war, so the Yizhou army can only be used.
Zhang Ren of the Yizhou Army simply took over Lu Bu's place with his troops and began to attack Tian Jun's sudden cavalry.
No matter how pretentious Zhang Ren is, there is a huge gap between his strength and Lu Bu's.
In fact, even if Lu Bu's Bingzhou Army could interact with Tian Jun, it was because Tian Jun needed to adopt a conservative strategy to keep the Guanxi Army here.
Five thousand assault cavalry, if they really want to attack, the 13,000 people at the front of the Kansai Army may not be able to stop them for a whole morning.
So one can imagine how much Zhang Ren suffered that day.
But when the exhausted Zhang Ren led his men back to the camp, he found that his camp had been looted.
This made Zhang Ren's Sichuan soldiers furious.
You must know that Xiyuan soldiers have been in charge of military pay since the founding of the army. Although most of the salary has been sent back to their hometown, the military funds before the army was sent out and the military salary during this period were all left in the tent, and now they have been looted.
Of course Zhang Ren knew that this must be done by people from other units in the army. After all, what kind of thief dares to steal things among thousands of soldiers without opening his eyes?
So Zhang Ren immediately went to Hu Zhen to discuss the matter, but the final result was predictably fruitless.
In the end, Zhang Ren finally knew who did this.
Li Meng, a small camp general with only a thousand men under his command, dared to stroke Zhang Ren's beard.
Zhang Ren couldn't hold back and led his subordinates to fight with Li Meng's subordinates. The chaos grew bigger and bigger, and finally Fan Chou's men came and surrounded Zhang Ren. If Gan Ning and others hadn't arrived behind him, Zhang Ren would have died unexpectedly.
After this incident, the conflict between the Yizhou military clique and the Liangzhou soldiers became public and they could no longer fight.
So, helpless, Hu Zhen began to readjust the formation.
He arranged the Yizhou Army slightly northeast, leaving space for Fan Chong, and let Fan Chou, the strongest, take over the original tasks of the Yizhou Army.
This can be regarded as Hu Zhen's punishment for Fan Chou.
Of course this made Fan Chou unhappy, but at this time no one in the army supported Fan Chou, so even if he was unhappy he could only move his camp forward.
The time soon came to the critical day of November 8th.
On this day, Hu Zhen, who finally decided to send out the entire army for a decisive battle, led 40,000 troops out and launched a general attack on the Taishan military camp in the north of Dusuoyuan.
Because of Hu Zhen's punishment of Fan Chou, Lu Bu's army and the Yizhou troops who were at the front felt a little relieved and once again shouldered the responsibility of the vanguard.
But the final result was also seen. Hu Zhen received a military report from the rear and learned that the grain platform was burned, so he had no choice but to withdraw his troops.
That night, there was a big discussion in the army.
Hu Zhen informed the generals of the serious situation at hand and asked everyone to come up with a response strategy.
At that time, all the generals came up with two strategies.
If we don't fight the enemy decisively, we will burn everything and never look back. Now that the military spirit of the army is still there, as long as we work together as one, go all out, coordinate with the Taiyuan defenders, and attack from both sides internally and externally, we should be able to save the crisis.
Otherwise, we can slowly withdraw to the east of Hedong and rely on Queshu Road and Qianlixing to stop the Taishan Army from going south.
It was Fan Chou who held this suggestion.
Fan Chong knew very well that in today's decisive battle, both the Bingzhou Army and the Yizhou Army had contributed, so it would be him, Fan Chou, who would send troops as the vanguard the next day.
At this time, the Liangzhou army was already full of factions and generals. The power of each military leader depends entirely on how many soldiers he has.
Therefore, Fan Chou did not want to compromise his military strength.
Besides, he also saw that most of the Liangzhou generals did not agree to risk their lives in a decisive battle. After all, there was clearly Li Jue and Guo Si in the rear as cover, so there was really no need to gamble here.
However, although Fan Chou's suggestion was apparently accepted by Hu Zhen, he still said that a victory was needed to facilitate retreat.
What he said is that if the army retreats and the enemy takes advantage of the situation to pursue, it will easily cause the army to collapse. When the time comes, it will be rout for thousands of miles and it will be difficult to recover.
But Fan Chou knew very well in his heart that Hu Zhen actually did not dare to retreat.
Because if he retreats without a bloody battle, Hu Zhen will definitely be held accountable by Dong Zhuo. It will be easy for him to die alone by then, and it is very likely that the entire Anding Hu family will be buried with Hu Zhen.
Therefore, Hu Zhen would never dare to retreat without a fight.
But even if Fan Chou knew what Hu Zhen was thinking, he couldn't say anything else. Because what Hu Zhen said is right. If we don't fight a battle, retreat will be a rout, and then everything will really be over.
So Fan Chou deliberately objected at the time, but finally responded with a sneer:
"Since Hu Shuai has made his decision, I, Fan Chou, can only obey his orders. As for the outcome of tomorrow's decisive battle, I can only leave it to fate." After that, all the generals returned to the camp one by one, and only Fan Chou and the other Liangzhou generals were left behind.
When Hu Zhen left Fan Chou and others down, his original intention was that if things went wrong, they Liangzhou people would evacuate south first. After all, they were all direct descendants of the Grand Master. As long as they retreated safely, it would be good for the Grand Master. At least not too much.
But later, when Hu Zhen saw Fan Chou's unruly sneer, he gradually became angry and began to reprimand the Liangzhou generals one by one.
Why did Fan Chou's men go around plundering the common people in the countryside? Why did Wang Fang smell of alcohol when he came to hold a military meeting? Finally, when he talked about Li Meng, he was even more furious, saying that he was greedy and stupid, and he dared to fight during the war. Looting supplies from friendly forces that went into battle was truly audacious.
Hu Zhen was so angry that he finally cursed:
"If you don't fight with all your strength, after this battle, I will report to the Grand Master that we must kill a few captains before the military morale can be rectified."
For a moment, all the generals held their breath and did not dare to say anything.
This time Fan Chou and Li Meng were reprimanded the worst. They were really afraid of Dong Zhuo, so they both acted honestly and prepared to make up for their mistakes the next day.
However, the development of the situation was beyond the expectations of Hu Zhen and other Liangzhou generals. The Yizhou army actually broke out of camp, and even the Yongzhou army generals also began to withdraw southward. For a time, it evolved into a situation where all the camps fled south.
Later, Hu Zhen could only ask the Liangzhou generals to rush back to their respective camps and gather their troops.
But just when Fan Chou was ordered to return to the camp to prepare for dispatching troops to support Hu Zhen, his friend Li Meng stopped him and asked:
"Old Fan, do you know who is to blame for the defeat in this battle?"
Fan Chou wondered, isn't this question nonsense? The defeat of this battle was all due to the retreat in front of the Yizhou barbarian formation, which panicked the three armies. What is there to ask?
But Li Meng asked:
"Why are the Yizhou armies leaving? Why are our troops patrolling here? Who is this because of? If Hu Shuai retreats to the rear, what will he say to the Grand Master?"
Li Meng's words made Fan Chou panic, because he was thinking that this was all done by his old fan. When the time comes, Hu Zhen will definitely put all the blame on him and make him the scapegoat.
So Fan Chong panicked all of a sudden. He hurriedly asked Li Meng:
"Old Li, tell me, what should we do?"
Li Meng smiled sinisterly and said:
"Since Hu Shuai is unkind, don't blame me for being unjust."
After the two reached an agreement, Fan Chou returned to the army and summoned his confidants and staff.
He had no scruples, saying that Hu Shuai was old and confused, and would rather believe those brats in Bingzhou and Yizhou than the old brothers in Liangzhou. Talking about the current situation, those foreign soldiers should have been allowed to defend and let us Liangzhou people withdraw, but now because Hu Shuai believed these people's lies, there was no decisive battle, but in the end he was betrayed by those local bastards.
Speaking of this, Fan Chou said angrily:
"All this is due to Hu Shuai's incompetence. But what happens in the end? You and I, our brothers, have to bear the responsibility for his incompetence. Just now, he wanted to transfer my troops to the north to stop the pursuit of the Taishan Army. What's the matter? My Fan Chou's soldiers are cheaper than those of the Chinese army? Do you want us to die and let him escape? Isn't he thinking too well?"
These generals under Fan Chou are all like Fan Chou, the most careless and selfish. They have always taken advantage of others in the past, how can they spend all their money to help others?
So upon hearing Fan Chou's words, the troops immediately made a noise and asked Fan Chou what to do.
Fan Chou did not speak, but took all the generals out of their tents and climbed up to the watchtower to look north.
There, in the darkness far and near, there were fire spots everywhere, and they extended all the way to the north, extending as far as the eye could see.
These are the walls of the Taishan Army's camp. They are like fireflies on a summer night, densely packed.
Among them, several more fire dragons separated from those large masses of fire and rushed towards the direction of their central army.
If so, Fan Chou sighed:
"Do you think this battle can still be fought?
As a result, Fan Chou no longer had any scruples and mobilized his entire army to retreat south. As soon as he left here, Li Meng's tribe also broke out and headed south, followed by Wang Fang's tribe, then Zhao Cen's tribe, and Yang Ding's tribe. It can be said that except for the honest man Zhang Ji, who is still moving closer to the Chinese army, all the troops, without exception, ran south.
Fan Chou's escape can be said to have destroyed the entire Liangzhou Army's base.
When he was halfway there, he noticed the dense crowd of rebels behind him. Only then did he realize that he had gotten into big trouble.
Originally, he had only discussed with Li Meng and their second battalion to run away. In that case, Hu Zhen had support from other battalions, so as long as the Chinese army's barriers were guarded, it wouldn't be a big problem.
When the time comes, he and Li Meng can retreat to preserve their strength, and the army will not collapse. But now, I don't know how the news was leaked, and all the generals in Liangzhou ran away.
At this moment, Hu Zhen was dead.
And once Hu Zhen dies, the whole blame will certainly not be shouldered. When the time comes, Dong Zhuo will definitely find one of these Liangzhou generals to kill the chickens and scare the monkeys. So who is this chicken? Fan Chou, who led the army to leave first, must have done his part.
So, when Fan Chou saw the army heading south, he felt as if he had fallen into a cold cellar.
We, Lao Fan, are finished.
Fan Chou, who knew that he had caused a big disaster, did not have the courage to turn back and return, so he could only continue southward along the Queshu Road with his 3,000 men.
In front of him, Gan Ning's native dog was walking in front.
At that time, Fan Chou had already thought about using the heads of Gan Ning and his gang to make up for his fault. When Dong Zhuo questioned him, he said that he had followed Hu Zhen's military orders to pursue the traitor Gan Ning.
Fan Chou was not worried that Hu Zhen, who was destined to become a dead man, would falsify himself. Therefore, after thinking about this, Fan Chou felt relieved.
But just as Fan Chou was riding his horse in pursuit, the Liangzhou troops behind him began to run around like a herd of pigs, and finally a sturdy cavalry was revealed, and the flag was the "Xu" flag.
Fan Chou didn't know whose troops this battalion belonged to, but judging from the military strength and momentum, it was not weak, so Fan Chou ignored it and continued to flee south.
But who knows, the speed of the cavalry on the opposite side is getting faster and faster, and the distance between the two sides is getting shorter and shorter. It is obvious that the opposite side has more sophisticated war horses.
In this situation, Fan Chou knew that he had to turn around and fight, otherwise leaving his back to the opponent would be a dead end.
Fan Chou was unruly and ignorant of the overall situation. How could he be liked by Dong Zhuo? It's because of his martial prowess.
In the history of another dimension, Fan Chou was able to defeat Ma Teng's Liangzhou army of more than 10,000 people in Dongpingguan with only 3,000 men, which shows that he was brave and capable of fighting.
But now the same three thousand people were still forced to a dead end. One can imagine the fighting spirit that Fan Chou could unleash.
At this time, Fan Chou got off his horse, wore three layers of armor and said to his left and right:
"These Taishan army dog slaves actually dare to chase Nai Gong. Come here, dismount your horses and form an array. Let these dog slaves see the power of my Liangzhou axe."
After saying that, he personally carried a long-handled ax and stood shoulder to shoulder with a group of Liangzhou warriors.
Just like this, on this winding and narrow valley road, with steep mountain walls on both sides, an army blocked the road and looked at the assault cavalry army on the opposite side with murderous intent.
On the opposite side, the fat general under the banner of "Xu" also dismounted, also carrying a giant axe, and also led a group of armored soldiers, and ran over without saying a word.
As a result, the bird and mouse river valley as thin as a sheep intestine was filled with blood.
One mistake leads to eternal hatred