Chapter 654 The young man captures the tiger

Chapter 654 The young man captures the tiger

As the defenders abandoned the city and fled, Li Tai and his party were able to continue their advance smoothly. Before he had time to announce further military plans, the young disciples in the army were already rushing to enter the army to fight.

"Oh? Do you already have a good strategy to defeat the enemy, so that you can conquer Heluo and be invincible?"

After Li Tai listened to the young men's requests for war, he asked with a smile, and then raised his finger to point to the more eager ones among them and said: "If I ask you to go to war, where will you attack and why?" win?"

"Where the enemy is, the sword can reach it? Is there anything to hesitate about?"

After hearing the words, Shuofeng replied loudly, and then said with excitement: "The general's reputation is enough to scare the east bandits. I will be the vanguard of the army in the future. As long as we attack head-on, the stubborn bandits will definitely scatter and flee!"

This answer is indeed a bit ridiculous. Li Tai couldn't help but frown after hearing this. However, the other young disciples nodded in agreement after hearing this. Judging from this attitude, they really believed that they were facing The enemy does not need to have any strategies or tactics. He only needs to rely on the reputation of General Li to defeat the enemy.

After seeing this scene, Li Tai couldn't help but feel dumbfounded. He led the young disciples here because he originally wanted them to see the ferocity of the enemy and the cruelty of war, so that they could understand the principle of making decisions before taking action, and wash away the frivolity and restlessness in their hearts.

But now it seems that it has had the opposite effect. These boys have become more arrogant and arrogant. In their minds, it seems that the East Thief is completely vulnerable.

This kind of understanding is obviously absurd. Even if Li Tai can scare away his opponents with his reputation, it is only based on his previous brilliant military exploits. He has never been able to overcome the first nine and directly eat the tenth bun. What an uncomfortable truth!

However, having just experienced the defenders abandoning the city and fleeing, it is obviously not convincing to emphasize the enemy's combat effectiveness and the danger of the battle.

After Li Tai pondered for a while, he said to several young men who asked for battle: "You are brave enough to fight and kill thieves. It is indeed a great ambition. But Heluo is vast. If you need to kill the enemy in all directions, you will not be able to ride a good horse." Absolutely not.

Once the battle begins, you need to work hard and pursue the victory to expand the results. If the war horse is not fat and has insufficient blood, it will not be useful. Each of you should first take off your military robes and go down to the horse camp to feed the war horses carefully. If the weight of the war horses you feed does not increase but decreases, you will need to engage in military law! "

"General, this..."

Unexpectedly, the young disciples eagerly asked for a fight, but what they got in return was the horse camp below. They were a little dumbfounded for a while, and they were stunned on the spot and were at a loss.

"Go quickly!"

Being in the army, Li Tai would naturally not tolerate them. Seeing that these boys were still a little out of shape, he directly ordered his soldiers to come forward and take off their trusted robes, and then escorted them to the horse camp.

He was a small profiteer here, but he couldn't imitate Yu Wentai's connivance with Brother Sa Bao. He Qiao would only be severely punished after he made a major mistake.

War is never a child's play. Any reckless behavior that underestimates the opponent will surely pay a heavy price. Warm care is never an emotion that should appear in the army. These boys are going out with the army and are either alive or dead. They are not guests and have a meal, and Li Tai has to pick up vegetables and feed them a few mouthfuls.

Because he was afraid that the commander of the horse battalion and the camp masters would be too afraid to discipline them, Li Tai sent Zhang Shinu there to monitor and intimidate them. It was necessary to let these boys learn a lesson and truly feel the hard work of ordinary battalion soldiers during the march.

After sending away the young disciples who asked for battle, Li Taixing came out of the camp and saw Li Ya standing among the soldiers. He couldn't help but be a little curious. This kid usually likes to make troubles, so why is he so calm this time?

So he walked up to Li Ya, looked down at the boy and asked, "Bodhidharma and others came into the tent to fight, why didn't you go with them?"

"They are all high-ranking generals. They are not allowed to participate in military discussions..."

After hearing this, Li Ya's face fell, and she replied with a resentful tone, but then she showed a look of surprise again, looked up at Li Tai and said with a smile: "The general asked me this specifically, and he allowed me to do it too. Conquer the vanguard?”

"You go and feed the horses too!"

Li Tai raised his leg and kicked the boy out of the array, pointing at Zhang Shinu who was about to go to the horse camp and asking him to carry this fish that slipped through the net.

Although the front line of Yichuan has been opened, allowing the team to enter the Luonan area, it does not mean that the road ahead is smooth.

Judging from the increased garrison situation in Yichuan, the Northern Qi Dynasty attached great importance to the gains and losses of Heluo. Due to the recovery of the Henan area and the fact that there had been no northward movement in Mianbei, the war situation in the Yi River Basin was not yet urgent, so It is not considered the focus of defense. The really important place is still the Luoxi front line centered on Jiuqu City in Yiyang.

Li Tai's intention to march into Heluo this time was not to achieve great results. Because from the perspective of the entire Eastern Expedition battle plan, he was just a partial division of a brigade to contain the enemy's dispatch, and the main force in Guanzhong, led by Yuwentai himself, was responsible for the main attack.

This time Yuwentai did not plan to lead his army into the Heluo area again, but wanted to take advantage of the Northern Qi Gaoyang monarch's power to attack his hometown in Jinyang.

Nowadays, due to Gao Yang's usurpation of the country, there must still be a considerable number of Eastern Wei elders in Yedu who are dissatisfied with the usurpation of the Northern Qi Dynasty. If the main force of the hegemony can be severely damaged in Jinyang, then Yedu will inevitably repeat the situation again, directly Subverting the new Northern Qi regime is also unknown.

What Li Tai needed to do was to enter the Heluo area and conduct some military operations to attract and restrict the Northern Qi garrison around Heluo within the area so that they could not harass and threaten the Western Wei army attacking Jinyang from the side.

Therefore, when he entered Heluo this time, conquering the city was not the focus. Attracting the garrison in the Heluo area meant he had successfully completed his mission. Of course, it would be better if he could severely damage the garrison here.

The top priority right now is to get in touch with the friendly forces around Heluo as soon as possible, so as to fully understand the dynamics of the enemy and ourselves on the battlefield in Heluo, and disrupt the situation in Heluo as soon as possible.

If he cannot make progress here, then the army in Guanzhong will not be able to cross the river and go north. Although it is only a partial division of a brigade, it also determines the pace of the main army's advancement to a certain extent.

After passing through Yique, Li Tai did not lead the army rashly towards Luoyang. Instead, he sent Gao Le, Shi Jing and others to lead hundreds of fine cavalry to explore the west and notify the rebel armies in western Henan that they had returned. News of returning to Heluo.

Although these rebels were nominally controlled by Li Yuan who was in charge of Hongnong, they were extremely independent. Without Li Yuan personally leading his troops into the Heluo battlefield, Li Tai who entered here naturally had temporary command over them. right.

In the previous conquest order issued by the Chinese and Foreign Affairs Office, Li Tai was temporarily appointed as the Guandong Xingtai to control the military and political affairs of the Guandong. Of course, this pass refers to Hangu Pass rather than Tongguan, and is limited to those within Heluo. Enemy-occupied territory. If it is Tongguan, then it will be directly divided into Shaanxi and Shaanxi with Yuwen Dao who stayed in Guanzhong. Without those Zhuguo, there will be nothing, then it will have to be called Shaanxi Daxingtai.

On the second day after the Jingzhou troops were stationed, enemy movements appeared in the north of Luoyang. More than 3,000 Northern Qi cavalry came straight towards Yique, setting up battle formations several miles outside the Jingzhou military camp and calling for battle.

But Li Tai just turned a blind eye to this and ordered his troops to stick to the camp, completely ignoring the shouts of the enemy troops outside the camp. By the way, there were many flags on the mountains on both sides of Yique behind, creating the illusion of a large army filling the mountains and plains.

The more than 3,000 Northern Qi cavalry saw that the Wei army did not fight, and the plains to the north of Yique were not suitable for garrisoning, so they could only leave some scouts to keep a close eye on the enemy's movements, while the rest of the large group could only withdraw to the rear. .

On the afternoon of the third day, the dispatched Shi Jing and his party finally returned. When they set out, there were more than 300 people, one person and two horses. When they returned, there were only more than 100 people left, and more than half of the horses were lost.

They were attacked and killed by the Northern Qi army in the north of Yiyang. They were chased and intercepted in various ways. Fortunately, they had sufficient power and fought and retreated. However, it still took a long time until the Guannan Rebel Army learned of the situation and responded in time before they got rid of the pursuers. , avoiding the total annihilation of the army.

Talking about the experience of this trip, Shi Jing still has some lingering fears. Although he had been in the army for a long time, Yichuan's easy victory in the past also made him feel a certain contempt for the Northern Qi army. Therefore, he did not cover up his whereabouts when marching westward, allowing the enemy troops to deploy around him. The next siege formation was to encircle and attack from all sides.

The number of enemy troops in Yiyang was several times greater than that in Yichuan. There was even a huge military camp around Jiuqu City, and there were Qi people's camps and cavalry almost everywhere in the mountains and river valleys.

Although Shi Jing was chased all the way, he did not forget his mission. He still carefully observed the situation around Yiyang and reported the enemy's situation in detail after returning, which was considered as making up for his merits.

When Li Tai heard that Yiyang was so heavily guarded, he couldn't help but frowned. Then he looked at the people from the west of Henan who had returned with them, wanting to see what good strategies the locals had.

"The last general Wei Xuan was a subordinate of Li Kaifu in Yichuan for a long time. After Li Kaifu died in the battle, the last general led the remaining troops to Guannan. The general returned to Heluo, and the people in western Henan were rejoicing, hoping that he could Follow the general and defeat the enemy!"

A middle-aged general took the lead and said to Li Tai, looking at Li Tai with eyes full of awe. Previously, Li Tai crossed Heluo and distributed a large amount of materials and equipment captured in Heyang to the armies in western Henan. The rebels were full of gratitude to him and were full of expectations to fight side by side again this time.

Before Li Tai could ask Wei Xuan about the matter, another burly young man wearing a tiger head hat stepped forward. He also crossed his arms and saluted Li Tai and said: "The last general Han captured the tiger, although he is still in the wild. But I have the courage to hunt tigers, General Mu Xiao, please serve under the general!"