Chapter 514 Rushing to the aid of Yiyang

Chapter 514 Rushing to the aid of Yiyang

"I report to your lord, evacuate this area quickly and don't stay and disturb others! Heqiao is newly defeated, and the East bandits are rampant. I will lead the people back to fight decisively. If we win, everyone will be happy. If we can't win, Hou will ask for more." blessing!"

Li Tai looked down at Wang Wei who was introduced into the hall again and said in a deep voice. The defeat between Heluo and Luo made him have no intention of entangled with Hou Jing anymore. The most important thing now is how to restore the situation.

When Wang Wei learned about the drastic changes between Heluo and Luo, his expression suddenly changed. Although it was the Western Dynasty that failed, the prospects for these traitors suddenly turned bad. His lord Hou Jing spent a lot of money to lure the Western Dynasty troops into the situation, but now that the Western Dynasty was defeated in Heluo, they would naturally have to bear the military pressure of the Eastern Dynasty.

"Please rest assured, Mr. Xihe, it was all a misunderstanding before. The Eastern Dynasty and the bandit army are the greatest enemies of the righteous people in the world, and my lord must also..."

Wang Wei was about to show that they would fight the enemy together, but Li Tai was too lazy to listen to his nonsense and just waved his hand to drive him away. After Hou Jing heard the news, he ran faster than anyone else. After all, there was Wang Sizheng in front of Yingchuan. It was the right plan for him to go south to join the Nanliang people first, and he would not stay to help Li Tai. Save Heluo from crisis.

After handling the matter, Li Tai quickly reported the situation to Wang Sizheng in the direction of Yingchuan. He left Zhao Gang to continue to garrison Liangquewu while he led other troops to Fuliu City.

"Mr. Xihe, Yique has been captured by thieves! Another person from Yiyang is coming over the mountain to ask for help..."

As soon as Li Tai returned to Fuliu City, Han Xiong and others who greeted him outside the city told him another bad news.

When Li Tai heard this, he suddenly became more anxious, and the situation collapsed much faster than he expected.

It was difficult for Heqiao to make any major progress. He naturally understood that, so he left the ominous place in time. He also guessed that according to Yu Wenhu's ambitious, talented, rash and reckless character, an accident was likely to happen, but he did not expect to lose the battle. It was so fast and so thorough that even he had avoided the Heqiao front line, but he was still inevitably affected by this collapsed situation!

After entering the city, he first ordered the generals to sit down, and then said seriously: "Victory and defeat are common affairs for soldiers. There is no need to be discouraged by the ups and downs of fortune. In the former, there is no place for my king's division to stand between Heluo and Luo. All parties can make progress. The soldiers fought hard, and now even if all their previous achievements have been lost, our soldiers are united and have strong willpower, and we are not afraid to fight again!"

When the situation collapses, the first thing that needs to be addressed is not the loss of power, but the gathering and uplifting of people's hearts. Many times large-scale defeats are not really due to lack of strength, but rather the collapse of military morale.

Especially now, with the fall of the two cities of Heyang and most of the cities and passes between Heluo and Heluo that were originally occupied by the Western Wei Dynasty, the troops led by Li Tai became a lone army forced to stay outside. , if the military morale wavers again, the consequences will undoubtedly be disastrous.

Fortunately, the psychological quality of the generals in western Henan was absolutely excellent. After all, they still insisted on fighting the Eastern Wei after the Battle of Mangshan. The situation they faced then was much more difficult than now.

As for Li Tai's disciples and generals, they were all accustomed to obeying his advice. They dared to go straight to Jinyang, the den of thieves, and dared to capture the two cities of Heyang. Their internal cohesion and self-confidence were forged by their outstanding achievements. Much more powerful than ordinary powerful private songs.

Therefore, when they heard what Li Tai said, all the generals agreed without hesitation, and all of them were full of high morale.

After cheering up, the problems that should be faced still need to be faced. Although Li Tai is currently stationed in Fuliu City, the changes in the situation in Heluo are closely related to his troops. After all, he was stationed here before to ensure the safety of the flanks of the Heluo battlefield.

Now he is still stationed on the side, but the frontal battlefield has been blown up by the enemy, so naturally there is no need to stay here anymore. But the question is, where can we go?

Yique is the gateway to the Heluo area from the upper reaches of the Yishui River, but now it is guarded by the enemy, directly cutting off their retreat.

If it is just Li Tai's troops who want to withdraw to Guanzhong, they can also choose to take a detour to Luyang, Guangzhou, and then return to Guanxi via Wuguan. Although the journey is rugged and long, it is still smooth sailing.

But the problem is that now all the people in western Henan are controlled by him. Of course, he must fully consider the wishes of these people when making decisions, and cannot act arbitrarily.

Of course, these people hope to return to Heluo. Even when the situation was most critical, they chose to persist in fighting the Eastern Wei people in Guannan. Now they have no reason to abandon their hometown and move elsewhere. And even if they are willing to follow Li Tai through Shannan Wuguan Road into Guanxi and then out of Tongguan back to western Henan, the army's food and grass supplies cannot be maintained now.

Therefore, there is no latest news from Bafu. The only option before Li Tai is to reopen the road and try to bring these people back to western Henan.

If the situation is allowed to continue to collapse, it is very likely that the Eastern Wei people will take advantage of the situation to completely occupy the ancient Xiaohan Road, and their troops will reach Tongguan. It will be much more difficult to restore control over western Henan by then.

Without the strategic buffer zone in western Henan, the Western Wei Dynasty would have been uneasy for a long time, let alone entering Wangheluo, and the development in other areas would have been severely restricted.

But how to find a way home is also an issue that needs serious consideration and discussion. The terrain of Yique is easy to defend but difficult to attack. If the bandit army focuses on fortifying it here, it will take a long time to fight to capture it.

Even if Yique can be successfully captured, when traveling from the Yishui River Basin to Luoshui, one still needs to be prepared for enemy attacks from Luoyang and other places in the north, and the flanks will be completely exposed to the enemy's front.

What's even more terrible is that the situation in Heluo is still deteriorating. Hanguan City has been lost, which means that the North Xiao Road has been cut off. If Yiyang Jiuqu City is captured again, then the South Xiao Road will also be captured. Being cut off, it would be difficult for the Western Wei army to successfully enter the Heluo area. Even if Li Tai leads his army to break through Yique, he will surely fall into the dilemma of being surrounded by enemies and isolated and helpless.

Therefore, in order to resolve the current crisis, the most important thing is to ensure that Jiuqu City is not captured by the enemy. However, Jiuqu City has been in constant danger. If we follow the normal path to get through Yique and then rush for reinforcements, it is very likely that Jiuqu City will have fallen before the reinforcements arrive.

"The current plan is to select elite soldiers and cross the mountain road to reach Jiuqu City as quickly as possible."

The Tongrail Defense that Wei Fabao is responsible for is located in the upper reaches of Luoshui River in the same river as Jiuqu City, so he also knows the geographical situation here very well.

The mountain range that lies between Luoshui and Yishui is Xiong'er Mountain. The rugged and tall mountains are one of the important geographical barriers in the south of the Heluo Plain. The straight line from Fuliu City to Jiuqu City via Xiong'er Mountain Road is the shortest and can bypass Yique.

However, this mountain road is rugged and difficult to navigate. Even the local mountain people have a very difficult time climbing over the mountain. It is extremely difficult for a large group of people and horses to pass with the food and baggage. They can only go over the mountain with elite and light equipment to save Jiuqu City.

However, some choices are better than no choices. After pondering for a while, Li Tai decided to use two strategies. One is to attack Yique and try to open up this road. The other is to select elite troops to rush over the mountains to help as Wei Fabao said. Only when arranging the two groups of participants, there was a little disagreement.

Li Tai planned to personally lead the elite troops to aid Jiuqu City, but Wei Fabao and others hoped that he could stay here and take charge of the less dangerous attack on Yique: "It's not that the generals and others don't believe in Xihe Gong's talents, but this trip is dangerous. There are many, and success or failure is difficult to predict.

The last general received a favor in the past, but has not repaid it yet. The gain and loss of Yiyang is related to the safety of the country. He forgets to die before the battle, but he does not dare to involve Duke Xihe in a fight to the death. It is also necessary for generals to take charge of Yique here. If the last general waits and fails, Xihegong can also lead his troops to take a detour to the south, so that the return route will not be hindered..."

"Now we are facing the enemy for battle. Since I am the general and I am lower than myself, who among the troops dares to commit suicide and try to avoid it? Whether Jiuqu City can be saved or not is related to the survival of the army. If I don't wear armor and go in person, who among you will dare to take advantage of the battle? ? In this battle, there will be victory and defeat, life and death. How can we give orders to the armies before the battle is divided into good and bad? "

Li Tai slapped the case and shouted angrily, suppressing the generals' advice. He immediately arranged for Li Yisun, who knew the situation best here, to lead his troops to attack Yique, and ordered most of the other brave generals to follow him across the mountains to aid Jiu. In Qucheng, the generals were ordered to select the best soldiers in the army. After selecting three thousand warriors, they packed their gear and set off immediately.

The group first traveled north along the Yishui River Valley for a short distance, and after reaching a tributary originating from Xiong'er Mountain on the west bank of the Yishui River, they turned around and headed toward the mountains along the small river.

The combat environment in western Henan was already harsh, and even Wei Fabao regarded the Xiong'er Mountain Road as a dangerous route. Li Tai soon learned how difficult it was to travel.

The mountain road is also rugged and winding. In many cases, no established road can be found at all. Several soldiers have to chop down the thorny vegetation all over the mountains and plains that can submerge people in it, so that the people and horses behind can pass through. Moreover, it was midsummer, and the mountains and forests were sweltering and miasma filled the air. Nearly a hundred people were injured by snakes, scorpions, and poisonous insects on the road alone, and even more suffered from various physical discomforts.

It took a group of people two days and one night to traverse this mountain road with a straight line distance of less than a hundred miles. When they arrived at the bank of Luoshui River, there were two to three hundred soldiers who had lost their combat effectiveness due to various reasons, and these were still They are all elite soldiers carefully selected from the army, which shows how difficult it is to walk on this mountain road.

After arriving at the bank of the Luoshui River, Li Tai's Communist brigade took a rest in a hidden place, while Wei Fabao led a dozen of his followers to swim across the river and investigate in the direction of Jiuqu City.