Chapter 771: Escape
The fighting spirit, ambition and lofty sentiments seem to have disappeared just like the scenery that is constantly retrogressing now.
At this time, Zhang He was running in the wilderness, and there were only hundreds of Beifu knights around him. The rest either fled halfway or died in the battle to cover Zhang He.
Just before that, the cavalry commander Gao Zhi, who supported Zhang He, led more than ten cavalry to once again block the pursuing Taishan army. In order to prevent the Taishan Army from outflanking them from both sides, Gao Zhi ignored them and rushed towards the densest crowd with more than ten Beifu knights.
These dozen Beifu knights are all elites, but unfortunately these people have long used up their horses and bows and arrows while running away, and they can only charge with a ring-headed sword at this moment.
And what about the sudden cavalry of the Taishan Army on the opposite side? All of them were well-armed and armed, and they were either murderous or full of fighting spirit.
In the previous battle in the central area, the sudden cavalry of the Leopard Tao Army suffered heavy losses in Zhang He's formation, so these knights were full of killing intent and wanted to preserve their robes. As for the other assault riders, they had stayed behind to watch the battle and had not gained any military merit. Now that they encountered these big fish, who would not be full of fighting spirit?
In this way, in the first wave of charge, the Taishan Army, which had the advantage of Ma Shan, killed these Beifu knights. Only Gao Zhi rushed over with injuries.
But after rushing through the formation, Gao Zhi did not choose to escape. Instead, he turned his horse and continued to charge towards the Taishan Army.
The Tuqi soldiers admired him very much, and stabbed Gao Zhi down without any mercy.
At the end, a fierce Taishan Army knight chopped off Gao Zhi's head with a sword. He subconsciously used a Xianbei dialect, but immediately changed his mouth and cheered in Chinese.
The remaining raiders secretly cursed this man's good luck, were unwilling to pay attention, and continued to run in the direction Zhang He left.
After the group of raiders left, Gao Zhi's blood, along with the blood of other Beifu knights, stained the weeds red and were buried in the dust.
……
Zhang He's escape team had already traveled five or six miles, and his worry about Gao Zhi made him look back from time to time.
But in the distant distance, the sound of fighting and the sound of the sword could no longer be heard clearly. It was thought that Gao Zhi might have died in the battle.
The other three Beifu cavalry generals were about to betray him before, but Gao Zhi stood loyally to him, otherwise he would have been trapped in the battlefield at this moment. And now, Gao Zhi is in desperate situation again for himself.
Thinking of this, Zhang He felt pain in his heart and suddenly wanted to grab the reins and rush back the way he came.
But before the horse's head fell off, the guards nearby pulled on the reins and urged:
"Military lord, don't be confused. If you run back now, the high school captain will die in vain. So since you have chosen to break out, lord, please run no matter what."
As he said that, one of the riders pointed at the dense forest not far away and shouted:
"I remember here, you can see Yishui after running through this dense forest. That should be the position of the Zuo Guard Army."
With the guidance of knowing the way, the low morale of the people recovered slightly. Some knights did not wait for Zhang He's order and fled in the direction pointed by the knight.
Seeing that the team was scattered, Zhang He's generals sighed and comforted:
"Lord, this battle is not at a disadvantage for our army, but because Li Tong and Li Zheng sat back and watched our army being surrounded and refused to advance. As long as we return to the camp and explain this to Duke Chen, we will be fine. .”
Zhang He smiled sadly and said to his left and right:
"Am I worried about the future and safety? I am heartbroken that more than 10,000 of my former army guards died in Yiluo. They did not die on the battlefield, they died in conspiracy and betrayal. I must Find an explanation for them.”
After saying this, Zhang He himself gained fighting spirit and ran away following the path.
"Go this way, go this way."
Along the way, the knight who knew the way shouted loudly. As he was about to bypass the dense forest, something happened to the horse under Zhang He.
That is, no matter how Zhang He gallops, comforts, or even whips the horse, the horse will never move forward.
Looking at the retreating subordinates in front, none of them even noticed that Zhang He was far behind. Then, Zhang He felt cruel, drew out his knife and stabbed the horse on the buttocks.
Sure enough, this move made the war horse continue to run.
But the war horse ran away, but its speed became faster and faster. At this time, Zhang He could no longer hold it back. At this moment, the war horse suddenly stumbled and threw Zhang He away.
Zhang He had already thrown off his stirrup the moment he was thrown out, and then he rolled on the ground a few times to relieve his strength, and then angrily rushed towards the fallen horse.
Taishan's army bullied me, Li Zheng bullied me, Li Tong bullied me, Yuan Shao bullied me, now do you want to bully me too, a beast like you?
Thinking that he had treated his beloved horse like this for several years, but it rewarded him like this, Zhang He's eyes turned red, he drew his knife and stabbed it under the horse's neck.
The moment he was stabbed, the war horse shed tears, looked at Zhang He with nostalgia, and then let out a mournful cry before running out of energy.
At this time, Zhang He let go of his hands and was stunned when he saw that his hands were covered with the blood of his beloved horse. Then, he saw that there was a cut on his beloved horse's belly, and he didn't know when it had been there.
Zhang He suddenly laughed, laughed and cried.
At this time, there was no one around him. He was kneeling alone beside his beloved horse, waiting for the last moment of his fate.
But why are you so unwilling?
Looking at the smoke and dust to the north, Zhang He's life is counting down.
At this moment, a man and two horses came running from the south. It was the general who had just "abandoned" Zhang He. There was a trace of blood on his clothes and armor. He was holding the reins of a horse in his hand and said hurriedly to Zhang He:
"Military leader, there are horses here. Come with me quickly. We have already encountered the scattered cavalry of the Zuo Guard Army in front of us. They have crossed the river."
Zhang He looked at the horse pointed by the general, and it looked familiar. It seemed to be the mount of a Beifu knight. However, it was obvious that in this case, that person was definitely not "willingly" dedicating his only war horse.
He glanced at the general, felt grateful, jumped on his horse, and then asked:
"Has the entire Zuohu Army crossed the river?"
The general shook his head and said in a low voice:
"Military leader, I specifically asked that the Zuohu Army has no plans to cross the river. Now only a small number of rangers are patrolling near Yishui."
Zhang He was silent, then sneered. He took one last look at the fallen horse and said vicissitudes of life:
"Let's go, we are not going back, I will take you to change your life."
The general was puzzled, but he had long been convinced by Zhang He. As long as he followed Zhang He, he could go anywhere in the world.
So, the two of them packed some dry food and water bags, and then rode towards the lower reaches of Yi River.
……
Time passed quickly, and the second Li army stationed six miles southwest of Lijiabi soon saw the Golden Crow falling to the west. During this process, the officers and soldiers of Yuan's right and rear guard armies listened with fear to the sounds of pursuit in the distant battlefield. Their dying struggles and begging for mercy were as shrill as night owls.
From the end of the day until now, nearly 24,000 Yuan's troops have been sitting here, watching their friendly troops die in battle. At this time, looking at the distance of the plain, seeing the bonfires dotted and smoke rising, and looking back at my own side, it was simply heartbreaking.
At this time, another sound of fighting came from the distance, which made it even more desolate.
Half an hour ago, Li Tong and Li Zheng finally received Yuan Shao's military order. Duke Chen said that he would lead the main force of the army across the river tomorrow and let the two of them continue to be stationed here to seize the opportunity for tomorrow's decisive battle.
Er Li really didn't expect Yuan Shao to be like this, and he had a deeper understanding of Chen Gong's methods.
Originally, the two of them and Yuan Shao wanted reinforcements, but when the decisive battle came, it was Yuan Shao who wanted to rely on them. Now, Yuan Shao said he would come back tomorrow, so the two of them would have to spend the night on the Yiluo battlefield first. During this process, they had to rely on Yuan Shao's formation for support and supplies.
At this moment, they didn't even have firewood for the night, let alone grain, rice, military tents, and fodder.
Therefore, the two men quickly wrote another humble military report and requested supplies from Yuan Shao.
This time Yuan Shao did not delay at all, and soon a huge supply team held torches, lighting up the night sky, and marched straight to Er Li's military formation.
Also coming up with this supply team were Yuan Shu's generals Wenpin and Chun Yuqiong's generals Liao Heng and Fan Chun. The three armies totaled 12,000 men. They also arrived at Er Li's military formation and arranged their positions on Li's entire army. of the left side.
I don't know if Li Zheng was overthinking it, but he felt that the three troops coming up vaguely surrounded his right guard.
After that, Wenpin and other officials from the three armies also sat on the ground like Er Li, waiting for the dawn of the next day. They need to sleep on the battlefield all night. As for the military tents, they have them, but they can only supply them to a small number of military officials.
But what can soothe the hearts of these officials is an extremely sumptuous meal.
Yuan Shao did a very beautiful thing, that is, he ordered his troops to prepare meals early. They prepared millet rice dumplings for the troops on the other side, and each dumpling was dipped in bean paste and vinegar. Some military officials will also have a small piece of meat, but not much.
It can be said that supplying such a huge army consumed almost half of Yuan Jun's reserves, but it was all worth it. After all, if they lose the decisive battle tomorrow, the remaining corn will just be prepared for the enemy.
Each Yuan Jun officer was given three fist-sized millet balls, which were all their energy supply before the battlefield tonight and tomorrow.
But even these things made all the officials cheer and feel grateful. They praised Yuan Shao's generosity, and their low morale was restored.
After that, they wolfed down the millet balls and enjoyed their last supper.
At this time, Wenpin, Liao Heng and Fan Chun were inspecting the antlers fortifications outside the position.
From a military point of view, sleeping in the wild at night without setting up a stronghold is an extremely dangerous thing. Everyone was sleepy in the middle of the night, and if there was an enemy attack, there would be no time to react.
So after Wenpin saw the line of defense, he couldn't help but persuade Liao Heng and Fan Chun:
"My point is to be conservative. No matter how late it is, we still need to build the camp wall, otherwise the enemy will attack in the middle of the night, and the consequences will be disastrous."
Liao Heng and Fan Chun were both from Runan and came from local wealthy families. They looked at each other, and Liao Heng said disapprovingly:
"Night attack? How can a night attack be so good? The enemy's nearest troops are five or six miles away from us. At this distance, we have to touch it in the middle of the night, and halfway through, the army will be dispersed. Look at today's moon, It's so foggy, how can such light travel at night? And to put it another way, even if the enemy comes close, there are bells, watchtowers, and antlers on the outside, and they will be discovered by our army."
But how could Wenpin entrust his fate to these reasons? He only said one situation and left Liao and Fan speechless:
"If I were the enemy, I would only need to select some elite cavalry with night vision in the middle of the night and harass them nearby to cause chaos in our army. Our officers and men would not be psychologically stable without the protection of their strongholds. Once something happens at night, If there is any disturbance, you will definitely be awakened by the repeated tossing and the next day, you will regret it if there is a roar in the middle of the night.”
Liao and Fan stopped talking because what Wenpin said made sense.
But it was Wenpin’s last words that made the two finally make up their minds:
"Besides, the right guards next door have already gone to cut trees in the forest far away. When the time comes, they will sleep in the village and we will sleep in the wild. If anything happens, we will be the ones to inflict them."
Liao and Fan looked at each other and finally decided to camp on the spot.
In fact, besides being troublesome, setting up camp has other benefits. It can not only be used as night protection, but also can be used as a stronghold on the battlefield during the day.
But the matter of setting up camp really aroused a lot of scolding from Yuan Jun's officials. After all, no one wanted to do this in the dark at night. Because it was night, everyone was thinking of messing with the generals, so they randomly made some walls of the village, wrapped themselves in military tents and slept on the walls.
Later, in the middle of the night, there was indeed a loud ringing outside. It was the bells tied to the antlers of the deer. Then a Taishan Army assault cavalry seemed to continue to attack the camp, but when they saw the camp walls that Yuan Jun had set up, there were not many of them. Thinking of attacking hard, I casually burned some antlers and wooden buildings and then retreated.
But after this retreat, there was no more movement, and the night came until dawn.
……
On the second day, before dawn, the Taishan Army cavalry generals Xue Ping, Zhang Ai, Gao Ao and Yan Rou each took more than 200 cavalry troops and lurked in the woods outside Yuan Jun.
At this moment, as soon as Gao Ao finished finishing the sesame cake in his mouth, he saw Zhang Hao climbing up a towering tree in a hurry. So, he quickly climbed up.
Originally, Yan Rou also wanted to learn it, but she failed to climb it several times, so she could only ask below:
"What do you think? How is the enemy doing now? Can they attack?"
It turned out that these four generals tried to attack once last night, but seeing the enemy's heavy defenses, they came to this dense forest to rest.
Just when they were having breakfast, the four generals discussed it and felt that the enemy army was most lax at this time, and maybe they could be attacked.
But when Zhang Ai and Gao Ao climbed to the canopy of the tree, they felt that the situation was not so good.
Because the enemy was already very close to Yishui, the mist rising from the water also drifted into the enemy camp.
Therefore, Zhang and Gao did not get a good view from climbing high, but they discovered an unoptimistic situation just from the enemy's flags that kept waving.
That is, the size of the enemy's army was obviously twice as large as yesterday's daytime. It was obvious that the enemy's army had increased its troops to the north bank at night.
And this obviously disrupted the Taishan Army's original plan.