Chapter 699 Burn the camp and retreat

Chapter 699 Burn the camp and retreat

The riverside in June was hot and humid, and the heat was steaming, like a steamer.

The rebel army camp outside Baling City stretched for more than ten miles, and you could hardly see the border at a glance when standing on the top of the city. Under the scorching sun, there were few people and horses walking in the camp, and the whole camp was filled with a pungent and pungent smell of decay.

This smell was not caused by the fish and turtle silt in the river, but by the rotten corpses that could be seen everywhere in the camp.

As early as the middle of last month, the rebel army's food and grass had been exhausted, but Baling City, which was surrounded by them, was still as solid as a rock. In addition, the season turned into midsummer, and the epidemic in the army was prevalent again, resulting in a large number of deaths among the rebel army soldiers.

The rebel army did not have strict camp rules to enforce, because there were too many soldiers who died of hunger and disease, and many corpses were just abandoned in the camp. In this hot and humid environment in midsummer, those corpses quickly decayed, and at the same time attracted and bred a large number of mosquitoes and flies, which hovered in the camp all day and did not disperse, further exacerbating the spread of the epidemic.

There were many casualties and low morale in the army. Hou Jing was no longer as high-spirited as he had been when he conquered Yingzhou. He sat in the big tent and drank every day, and no longer ordered his soldiers to attack Baling City.

The Western Expedition Army had advanced to this point, and was only one step away from Jiangling. If the largest military town in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River could be conquered in one fell swoop, then the rebellion in Shu and other sporadic rebellions would not be a threat. Hou Jing could distribute his generals and calmly clean up the situation. After recuperating, he might cross the river again and march to Huaibei next year.

But if he was trapped in the current situation and could not make new breakthroughs, not only would Jiangling's stubborn problems be difficult to eliminate, but the situation in the lower reaches would also be in turmoil again. By then, it would be very unlikely to mobilize such a large army, and he might even suffer a huge counterattack.

At this point, Hou Jing really didn't want to give up. But now the army has run out of food and morale is low. A strong attack on Baling will only accelerate the consumption of manpower. Even if the small city of Baling is captured, the gains will not be enough to make up for the consumption. The army is tired and old, and it is not enough to continue fighting.

At this point, Hou Jing can only hope that Ren Yue, who led the elite troops to the west earlier, can make a big breakthrough in Jiangling and repeat the reversal of the previous battle of Yingzhou. As for Baling, it is not easy to maintain the current situation.

However, Hou Jing's good luck seems to have ended here. Soon, several riders rushed into the camp and extinguished his last hope.

"Report to the king, our army, our army was defeated in Chiting, and General Ren was also captured by the enemy..."

After several defeated vanguards fled back to the camp, they were led into Hou Jing's tent and immediately reported the news of the great defeat of the army with trembling.

When Hou Jing heard this, his eyes suddenly blurred, and he needed to hold the table with both hands to sit steadily. He said in a deep voice: "Even if Ren Yue is not a rare famous general, he has made many contributions in the battles with me in the north and south. I didn't expect that he would be defeated by Wu Er, who has never been heard of. Could it be that God still has pity on the Liang family?"

Ren Yue's defeat can be said to have ruined Hou Jing's only remaining hope and possibility for this western expedition. Although Hou Jing was disappointed at this time, he also knew that the situation suddenly became dangerous. If he responded incorrectly, he might not be able to return to Jiankang safely.

So he forced himself to cheer up, pondered for a while, and then ordered: "Immediately gather the soldiers of all camps and attack Baling City!"

The situation in Baling City at this time was also not optimistic. The difficulties faced by the enemy outside the city were also tormenting them, and there was even a sense of panic of being trapped in an isolated city and not knowing when reinforcements would arrive.

Previously, Hou Jing's rebellious army had already caused great casualties to the defenders in the city by attacking for several days. It was only thanks to the great general Wang Sengbian, who was not afraid of his own danger and personally patrolled the city day and night to boost morale, and with his exquisite command, that he defeated and disintegrated the enemy's offensive again and again, and persisted all the way to now.

But even Wang Sengbian could not solve the situation of the city's dwindling food and grass and the spread of the epidemic. Although the enemy's offensive had weakened during this period, the large number of non-combat casualties in the city also made the morale extremely low.

At this time, the fierce drums and horns sounded again in the enemy camp outside the city, which immediately frightened the soldiers and civilians in the city, and some people even cried in despair. The days of siege had caused them severe torture, and the current state was probably not enough to withstand the enemy's fierce offensive.

At this time, the city lord's mansion also sounded loud drums. With the support of the ceremonial guards in front and behind, the commander Wang Sengbian appeared again in front of the panicked soldiers and civilians in the city, and shouted to the people: "The rebels are exhausted and the army is approaching, so they have not attacked for several days. Today's attack is not a sign of courage, but a sign of fear that I will chase them. Now I just need to defend the city, and the siege will be lifted soon!"

When the soldiers heard Wang Sengbian's words, they gradually felt hopeful, and under Wang Sengbian's distribution and dispatch, they climbed the city to set up defenses. And Wang Sengbian also used practical actions to express his determination to stay with the city. He placed his ceremonial guards in front of the enemy's attack and faced the enemy's offensive in armor.

The military drums sounded several times outside the city. It took more than half an hour before the soldiers from various camps gathered one after another. Under the leadership of various generals, they went to the central army tent and were immediately dispatched to the siege front.

Hou Jing was not at the gate of the city to supervise the battle this time. Just as Wang Sengbian guessed, his main purpose of attacking the city was not to try to capture Baling City in a desperate attempt, but to pave the way for withdrawal.

The rebel army was so organized that even Hou Jing himself couldn't fully understand it. Especially after being trapped here for many days, Hou Jing no longer knew how many fighting soldiers were left in each camp. If they evacuate hastily, the situation will be chaotic and difficult to control. If the defenders in the city counterattack and pursue, the military situation will also collapse and be difficult to defend.

That's why he wanted to use the siege as an excuse to intimidate the defenders in the city so that they would not dare to attack without permission. On the other hand, he wanted to check the strength of the battalions and evacuate the battlefield in an organized manner as much as possible.

The generals themselves had no fighting spirit, so the offensive this time was naturally weak. The soldiers and civilians in the city had been encouraged by Wang Sengbian for a long time. At this time, the intensity of the enemy's offensive was indeed not as strong as before, so they were all calm and courageous. Don't let the enemy have any chance to break through the city defense.

Several attacks failed, and the rebels gradually withdrew to the camp. In the evening, stoves were lit in the camp, but except for a small number of stoves specially used for the food of the governors, the other stoves were just cooking water plants salvaged from the river. Even if you can satisfy your hunger, the taste is hard to describe.

After nightfall, Hou Jing took the lead in leading thousands of elites from his headquarters to evacuate the camp and headed east along the river. Immediately, all the generals led their troops to evacuate one after another. When the last group of people evacuated, they set fires everywhere in the camp. Some of the remaining tent armor and the corpses of the camp soldiers immediately burst into flames.

When Wang Sengbian in the city heard the report of the sergeants, he hurriedly climbed to the top of the city. When he saw the fire spreading from all sides outside the city and the thick smoke billowing from the enemy camp, he couldn't help but smile and wave. He hit the city battlement with his fist and laughed loudly: "This battle is decided!"

With the defeat of Ren Yue, the vanguard of the rebellion, Hou Jing burned his camp outside Baling City and left. Not only did Baling City get out of trouble, but it also meant that Hou Jing's western expedition ended in failure.

When the news spread, the soldiers and people in Jiangling City couldn't help but be ecstatic, and the gloom that had been gathering above their heads for the past few days dissipated in an instant.

The King of Xiangdong was also overjoyed. He directly gave Wang Sengbian, who was stationed at Baling and blocked the main force of the rebel army from invading Jiangling, the honorary title of Shangshu Ling and General of the East Conquest. As for the other generals, they also received rewards and issued orders. Under the leadership of Wang Sengbian, the army launched a counterattack eastward, intending to regain the lost territory in one fell swoop.

After learning the news, Liang Wang Xiao Qing, who was mourning his sixth uncle in Xiangyang, couldn't help but feel mixed emotions in his heart for a while, including happiness, unwillingness, jealousy, etc.

He did not expect that when Yingzhou was defeated and Wang Sengbian's army was trapped in Baling by the rebels, Jiangling still had enough power to defeat the rebel forward and ensure Jiangling's safety. This shows that Jiangling's military power is far more powerful than he imagined. If he did not listen to Li Tai's persuasion and continued to march on his own, there is a high probability that he would hate Jiangling outside the city.

At the same time, he also knew that after such a great victory, the prestige of King Xiangdong would inevitably rise to the sky, and he would have no chance of competing with him. He couldn't help but sigh angrily: "The family and country are suffering, and Jiangnan is in catastrophe. Unexpectedly, in the end, it just made this slave famous!”

Compared with King Liang, who was full of envy, jealousy and hatred, Li Tai's thoughts were much simpler. He still stayed in Shicheng to wait for this turning point. After Wang Sengbian and other people went east along the river, he also led the Jingzhou and Xiangyang naval forces to go south along the Han River, and waited until Wang Sengbian conquered the cities and recovered them. After losing ground, they immediately received the results.

Of course, in order to prevent Xiao Laoqi from going back on his word, he also ordered Gao Le, He Ruodun and other generals to lead five thousand elite cavalry and follow Liang Shiyan to station in Wuning City, leading the troops to the Tianling Cap in Jiangling.