Chapter 1253 Bloodbath in Zhending

Chapter 1253 Bloodbath in Zhending

Before nightfall, Gao Changgong patrolled around the ruined city of Zhending again. The more he looked, the more he felt that it was unwise for the Wei army to enter the ruined city, no matter what their psychological motivations were.

The terrain on the north bank of the Hutuo River is flat and has little change. As a central town in the area, Zhending City itself is mediocre and has no danger to defend. It is only located on the bank of the Hutuo River. If it is the spring and summer with abundant water, it can still be maintained. Enjoying the convenience of water and land transportation, the Hutuo River can also share the task of city defense to a certain extent during the flood season, but in this late autumn, it does not have even such an advantage.

It is precisely because of this that when the Wei army advanced northward, it did not spend much effort to capture and destroy this city. After the destruction by the Wei army, only some ruined frame buildings were left in the city, making it even more difficult to withstand any violent attack.

The Wei army may have the intention of using themselves as bait to lure the Tumen army to continue fighting, but it is also true that they put themselves in a dangerous situation. Now that the bait has fallen, there is a risk that the fish will be decoupled after being swallowed.

Even though the Wei army still has a large number of ambushes in the north, it will take a certain amount of time to reach the battlefield. The terrain of Ma Pingchuan in the north of Hutuo River also lacked enough cover for the deployment of troops on both sides, and there was no sudden ambush.

Under such circumstances, if the Qi army invests enough troops and attacks quickly enough, it will definitely be able to eat the bait in this ruined city before the Wei army's reinforcements arrive on the battlefield, and then use this victory to shock the follow-up The Wei army did not dare to attack easily, allowing the Qi army to retreat calmly.

"Even if it can't be completely swallowed, even if it's only part of the attack, it's still a very significant victory in the near future!"

Gao Changgong muttered softly again, looking at the remaining city that was gradually shrouded in night, and murmured again.

Although a Wei army was annihilated in the previous battle outside Dingzhou City, it was just an inconspicuous brigade. The actual damage and momentum caused to the Wei army were not too great. However, if such a group could be annihilated or severely damaged, The significance of supporting the elite cavalry team is much more important!

Gao Changgong led 5,000 men and horses out of camp before. In addition to the nearly 3,000 soldiers who went out to camp privately before, there are still nearly 6,000 men and horses after deducting today's battle losses. Not long ago, a group of troops left the camp to go north for reinforcements, and now they are stationed in a castle on the north bank of the Hutuo River.

The total number of the two groups was more than 15,000, which was twice as many troops as the Wei army stationed in Zhending City. Under normal circumstances, these troops alone would be enough to launch an attack on Zhending City.

However, the enemy troops are all made up of cavalry. If they cannot form an encirclement and outflank situation, even if they launch an attack, they may not be able to achieve any considerable gains. The enemy troops can simply leave the city and mount their horses to break out and escape. Therefore, if you want to obtain more impressive results, you must send troops to Tumen Camp to participate in the battle.

However, Gao Changgong did not have the power to control the entire army, not only because Duan Shao did not appoint a general to take charge of the entire army in his place before leaving, but even if he did, it would not be Gao Changgong's turn.

Currently, there are Duan Shao's younger brother Kaifu Duan Xiaoyan and his son Duan Yi in the Tumen camp, as well as Gao Changgong's uncle Gaoyang Wang Gao Shi, who serves as the governor of Zhaozhou, and other Duan Shao's confidants.

Gao Changgong only controlled part of the military affairs of the Chinese army based on Duan Shao's favor, and his voice in the Tumen Camp was not too high. Therefore, if he wanted to implement this plan, he would also need the consent and support of other generals in the army.

The reinforcements on the rear route were also part of the Dingzhou army. When they heard Gao Changgong's plan, they all expressed strong support and were eager to drive the Wei army out of the country and restore peace to the world.

However, it is not the best time to launch an attack yet. In addition to the current shortage of troops, the people in the wilderness also need to be transferred to the south bank of the Hutuo River in time to avoid being disturbed and fleeing when the battle starts again. affect the conduct of the war.

So Gao Changgong ordered these soldiers to pay close attention to the dynamics of the Wei army here, and at the same time returned to the Tumen Camp in person, hoping to attract more troops to attack. In his mind, if there were no sudden changes tonight, it would be a more appropriate time to attack the enemy in the remaining city of Zhending at dawn tomorrow morning.

When Gao Changgong returned to Tumen Camp, the night was already dark, but the lights were still brightly lit inside and outside the camp, looking heavily guarded. Although the place where the battle took place was still dozens of miles away, the vigilance of the soldiers in the Tumen Camp was completely aroused.

After learning that Gao Changgong had returned, the remaining generals in the camp came forward one after another, asking about the fighting situation on the north bank of the Hutuo River. At the same time, some people asked Gao Changgong why he didn't lead those soldiers and civilians back together.

Faced with these many questions, it was difficult for Gao Changgong to answer them one by one. He first advised some ordinary generals to return to their camps and wait for orders, and then returned to the Chinese army tent with the generals. Facing their gazes, he quickly moved to the north bank. Describe the situation and your own ideas.

"You still want to send troops to fight? No, no, absolutely not!"

As soon as Gao Changgong finished speaking, several generals shook their heads and objected, and Duan Xiaoyan even said: "King Lu had already warned him not to go into battle rashly before he left. Today's army troops have violated the king's order. If we draw the crowd out again, Once the battle is unfavorable and we are trapped by thieves, who can bear this heavy responsibility?"

"If the war is really unfavorable, the country will not be a country, and our disciples and we will go to hell together, why should we worry about accountability anymore?"

Hearing what Duan Xiaoyan said, Gao Changgong immediately frowned and said, before he had urged to severely punish the soldiers who left the camp without permission, it was Duan Xiaoyan who proposed to wait until King Pingyuan returned to deal with it. As a result, the soldiers became more and more lucky, which led to the Today's series of things.

This guy looks stable, but in fact he is just timid and lazy. Whether faced with opportunities or dangers, he is too lazy and afraid to take any response measures. He thinks that as long as he does nothing, he will not make mistakes and take responsibility.

As for the objections of several other generals, Gao Changgong was also dissatisfied: "Since you and others are so respectful to King Lu's orders, why did you allow nearly ten thousand soldiers to leave the camp to the north? At present, a large number of soldiers and civilians are stranded north of Huchi Lake. , if we don’t carry out the reinforcement attack, we may be left in the wild and killed by thieves. Don’t you worry about King Lu’s accountability?”

Everyone looked uncomfortable after hearing this. When Gao Changgong led his troops to the north bank of the Hutuo River to rescue the soldiers and civilians, the intense fighting there was also reported back to the Tumen camp. Some local generals in Dingzhou asked for battle, and they were happy to let these Dingzhou soldiers rush to the front, so they acquiesced.

If these soldiers and civilians really suffered heavy casualties outside, and Pingyuan King returned to camp to investigate, they would naturally be held responsible. But if Gao Changgong's plan is implemented and something is achieved, then he will naturally be exempted from accountability and punishment. Even if it fails, Gao Changgong will undoubtedly need to bear the greatest responsibility.

"From what Chang Gong sees, how many more troops are needed for this attack?"

After listening to Gao Changgong's words, Duan Yi, Duan Shao's son, asked again.

After Gao Changgong heard this, his heart moved, and he quickly spoke again: "At least ten thousand troops are needed!"

His plan required a quick battle, besieging and annihilating the enemy forces in Zhending's remaining city as quickly as possible, so the more troops he needed to invest, the more the better. But he also knew that it was impossible for everyone to agree to dispatch all the troops in the Tumen camp.

Today, there are nearly 50,000 troops stationed in Tumen Camp, and other troops are located in the mountain fortress west of Tumen Pass and Yangquan near Jinyang. Today, more than 18,000 troops left the camp during the day, and 2,000 troops were lost in the battle in Hutuo Hebei. This ratio is already very high. In addition to the 5,000 Chinese troops and horses led by Gao Changgong, the troops previously mobilized from Dingzhou Most of them have left the camp.

This actually reflects the bad impact that the corruption in the hinterland of Hebei has had on the Northern Qi army. The soldiers have gradually become unable to be restrained by military orders and royal orders, and instead act according to their own emotions and demands.

When Duan Shao was around, he could still suppress this situation with his majesty, but once Duan Shao left, the situation became somewhat uncontrollable. Even though Gao Changgong remedially punished those soldiers who left the camp privately before, so many Dingzhou soldiers still chose to leave the camp, which shows that the deterrence of military orders in the minds of these soldiers has plummeted.

Since the beginning of the war, the situation has deteriorated sharply. The confusion of advancing or retreating and the sense of powerlessness and helplessness in the face of various provocations by the enemy have cast a huge shadow on the hearts of the soldiers of the Qi army.

When the imagination of the common interests of a large political power is no longer enough to bring people a sense of security and expectation, then the vast majority of people will return to individual safety and interests. This is reflected in the Dingzhou soldiers whose hometown has become the main battlefield. is particularly strong.

The Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty relied on the soldiers of the North Town to achieve their goals, but this does not mean strict discipline. It only shows that the people in these towns have stronger self-interest demands and the ability to realize their demands. The Battle of Shayuan went unfavorably, and Gao Huan was left on the battlefield. After the Battle of Tongtian, Gao Yang was besieged and died in Liaoyang. The nature of this regime and the interaction model between the top and bottom have never changed.

Today's Northern Qi regime is facing more serious crises than previous crises. Even when Gao Huanxin was in Jianyi, what he faced was just a leaderless and fragmented Erzhu family hegemony. But now, what Northern Qi is facing is an unprecedentedly powerful Western Wei hegemony. For Northern Qi, the situation in Hebei was not much better than when Xindu Jianyi was there.

The Liuzhou Xianbei have never been loyal, courageous and lonely people who have gone all the way to the dark side. If they had a stronger backbone, they would probably be killed before Gao Huanxin and Du Jianyi could wait. Since the mutiny in the Six Towns, the leaders have changed several times, but each one only possesses them temporarily.

Although the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi were powerful for a while, it did bring them a rare twenty or thirty years of stability, which was enough for a new generation to grow up. However, since the Wei army invaded Hebei, the increasingly bad situation was enough to awaken the passion flowing in their blood. ability.

Gao Changgong may not have such a deep understanding of the problem, but ever since the sergeants left the camp privately, a sense of crisis suddenly arose in his heart.

This is certainly because the prestige of the generals who stayed behind is insufficient, but since someone dared to do so, it means that there have been similar signs in the army before. Although it was temporarily suppressed by Duan Shao's prestige and did not appear, the hidden danger has been accumulating. When it accumulates to a certain extent and the situation is completely irreversible, the consequences of the outbreak may be more serious and worse!

It is rare that the Wei army has finally exposed a loophole, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and Gao Changgong must seize it. He believes that even if King Pingyuan is in the camp now, he will surely choose the same approach as him, because if he misses this opportunity, he will have to pay several times more to achieve similar results, and they may not have the time.

Seeing that Gao Changgong was ready to bear the consequences, the generals did not say anything more. At present, even if another 10,000 divisions and brigades were transferred from the camp, there would still be more than 20,000 troops left, which should be enough to guard the Tumen Pass.

Of course, they all hoped that the war would have a good turn, but they could not see where the opportunity and turn were, and they did not have the courage to fight for it. If someone was willing to try, they would naturally be happy to see it happen.

"Unfortunately, Zhending City is still too far away from Dingzhou City, and it is difficult for them to respond and cooperate with each other!"

After getting the tacit consent of everyone, Gao Changgong could not help but sigh. Since it was a gamble, he naturally hoped that the other party would put as many chips on the table as possible. If the two battlefields were close, he might be able to cooperate with the defenders of Dingzhou City to fight a wave of internal and external cooperation.

Dingzhou City was swept away by Gao Sihao, especially after the previous battle annihilated a part of the Wei army, many people from Hebei went there to seek shelter. Now the defenders in the city are also quite impressive.

Since Gao Changgong planned to attack at dawn tomorrow morning, the troops would set out in the second half of the night, and the troops would be assembled in the first half of the night to prepare for battle. Although Zhending City was already in ruins, it was still a fixed stronghold after all, and it needed to be attacked and broken through, so this division needed to prepare more weapons.

However, just when Gao Changgong was preparing for war, another scout suddenly reported that a large group of Wei soldiers left the city in the ruins of Zhending.

"How many troops left the city?"

Gao Changgong's face changed suddenly when he heard this. He had done a lot of psychological preparation for himself, and tried his best to persuade other generals in the camp to agree to this plan. As a result, he had not started yet, but the enemy wanted to withdraw. How could he stay calm?

This question was useless. It was the end of the month, the moon was dark and the wind was high. How could he clearly observe the enemy's situation? The enemy actually chose to evacuate at night when it was inconvenient to move. What was its intention? It made Gao Changgong very confused.

The question now was that the enemy had a large-scale evacuation. Would the previous plan be implemented?

"We still have to follow the plan! If all the bandits are gone, we can escort the people back to Jingxing, and let the Dingzhou division stabilize the morale of the army!"

Once people have strong expectations for something, it is difficult to keep a calm mind. Even if the conditions for achieving the original goal are no longer met, they want to try to settle for the next best thing.

Besides, it is not easy for Gao Changgong to win the command of this 10,000 divisions. If the plan is shelved, then if there is any favorable opportunity next time, he is afraid that it will be difficult to fight for the command of so many troops. So it is better to temporarily control these troops in his own hands to see what happens next. The main way to control these troops is to take them away from the Tumen camp according to the original plan.

So he continued to prepare for war according to the original plan, but ordered the scouts to increase the frequency of investigation and reporting, and to learn more about the latest intelligence changes in the north as quickly as possible.

When the time entered the second half of the night, Gao Changgong led the 10,000-man brigade to leave the camp and head north. The 10,000-man brigade was mostly infantry, so the speed was naturally not as fast as the light cavalry. In the deep night with severely limited vision, it was also difficult for the large troops to march forward. Fortunately, this area was all plains, and they could always reach the vicinity of Hutuo River before dawn.

Just as the team was marching at night, news from scouts in the north kept coming. Although an unknown number of enemy cavalry left Zhending City, a large number of troops were still left in the city. As for those who left the city, they were also limited by the darkness and did not leave quickly. There were still many scouts chasing them.

The Dingzhou soldiers who stayed on the north bank also asked whether to send troops to stop this departing enemy army, but Gao Changgong directly refused. Even if the Hutuo River is flat and the terrain is flat without any ups and downs, it is very difficult to engage in cavalry battles late at night. Too many unpredictable things will happen, and the Wei army has made such strange and unpredictable moves before and after, so he does not want to increase his own risks.

As the team got closer and closer to the Hutuo River, many pedestrians appeared on the road. These were the people who moved south from the Hutuo River overnight. When they learned that Gao Changgong led the division to attack the enemy in the north, the people could not help but shout loudly to cheer for these soldiers, hoping that they could show their power and kill the Wei army that drove them away from their hometown and destroyed the peace of their hometown.

Hearing the enthusiastic shouts and cheers from the people, Gao Changgong's heart was also surging. How could he not hope to hit the Wei army hard and win a great victory this time!

The team traveled northwards. When they arrived at the bank of the Hutuo River, although it was not yet bright, the east was already slightly white. There was a dim light between heaven and earth, and it was no longer pitch dark as before.

Gao Changgong was not in a hurry to order the team to cross the river immediately. Instead, he asked them to rest for a while on the south bank, and he rode to the vicinity of the ruined city of Zhending downstream to look at the enemy situation in the city.

At this time, there were still many signs of Wei army activities in Zhending City, and a lot of cooking smoke had risen. Obviously, the Wei army soldiers in the city wall were cooking. The wisps of cooking smoke rising from the ruins of the city wall fell into Gao Changgong's eyes, giving him a feeling that the enemy seemed to be fearless, and he couldn't help but sneer at the corners of his mouth.

Because the vision was not fully open at the moment, he simply rode to the gap in the city wall and looked inside, which naturally aroused the vigilance of the Wei army sentinels in the city wall, and they grabbed their bows and spears and were about to go forward to meet them.

Gao Changgong grabbed the bow on the side of the saddle and shot inside. The soldiers behind him also shot arrows to drive away the enemy. When these Wei army sentinels could not hold on and retreated inside, Gao Changgong dismounted and jumped directly onto the wall to observe the situation inside.

Zhending City was destroyed quite thoroughly, and there were many messy building debris piled inside. If they really wanted to enter the city to kill the enemy later, these debris would form a certain obstacle, but it was not a serious problem.

After a quick glance, many places were not seen. Just based on the felt tents that Gao Changgong saw, there should be thousands of Wei army soldiers in this ruined city. It seems that not many people evacuated last night... No, there were horses. Although Gao Changgong could not see the whole picture for a while, he saw that the number of war horses in the city was much less than the number that entered the city yesterday!

There were seven or eight thousand Wei army soldiers entering the city last night, but the number of war horses far exceeded 10,000. However, looking at it again today, the number of war horses in the city has dropped sharply.

Many people stayed, but the horses withdrew?

Gao Changgong was about to look around and observe carefully, but he saw a group of enemies in the city coming here with weapons, so he did not stay any longer, turned around and jumped off the wall and then mounted his horse to evacuate. However, on the way back, his brows were deeply furrowed.

Judging from the situation, the enemy army left most of the soldiers but withdrew a large number of war horses, and the greatest value of war horses in war is that they can provide mobility. The Wei army plans to hold on to the ruined city in front of them, and then use the war horses that evacuated last night to carry more soldiers to the south to fight?

Thinking of this, Gao Changgong couldn't help but regret in his heart. When the soldiers on the north bank asked for a fight last night, he should have allowed it.

Even if night battles are not conducive to the performance of cavalry, they are always better than war horses without anyone controlling them. If they were willing to take the risk to attack last night, they would not need too many people and horses to break through the evacuated enemy cavalry. Without these war horses, no matter what plans the enemy has next, their execution will be greatly reduced!

The evacuation team of the Wei army had been monitored by scouts, but no further news was sent back more than half an hour ago, which shows that there must be an arrangement to clear out the spies in the rear to keep the whereabouts secret.

The chill at dawn in late autumn was bone-chilling. Gao Changgong took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, and at the same time, he put away the surging thoughts in his heart, not wanting these regretful emotions to affect his judgment on the eve of the battle.

"Order the southern troops to cross the river quickly and prepare to attack the enemy, and then cook and eat after capturing Zhending City!"

Gao Changgong did not intend to waste any more time. Although the large number of enemy war horses that withdrew last night caused a certain haze in his heart, there was actually no need to be too suspicious about this situation. The physical strength of the war horses is limited. It must have consumed some of the running last night. Even if it carried the Wei army to the south again, it would be difficult to persist in a long-term fierce battle. It might even backfire and make more Wei army soldiers trapped in the battlefield and unable to escape.

When the southern divisions and brigades crossed the river and formed their teams, it was already bright. After joining the Dingzhou troops stationed on the north bank, a full 20,000 troops headed straight for Zhending City.

These 20,000 troops were not enough to surround Zhending City, but there was no need to besiege the ruined city in front of them. Before, they were worried that the enemy troops in the city might get on their horses and break out, but now many war horses have already evacuated, which clearly shows that they are trapped in a jar. The right strategy is to drive straight into the city.

Gao Changgong did not participate in the siege. After arranging the siege mission, he led 5,000 elite cavalry to stop on the side. On the one hand, he was ready to snipe the enemy troops escaping from the city, and on the other hand, he was ready to intercept the reinforcements of the Wei army from the north, giving the soldiers in the city time to kill the enemy.

Although Zhending City is not a magnificent city, it is more than enough to garrison a few thousand troops. The Wei army in the city is not spread all over the city, but gathered in an area near the original city lord's mansion. This area suffered less damage than other places because of better construction quality. In addition, after some repairs last night, it is a suitable position to fight the enemy.

More than 2,000 Wei soldiers withdrew last night, and there are still more than 5,000 soldiers left in the city. Facing the Qi army, which is several times larger than them and advancing into the city from all directions, the soldiers did not show much fear on their faces.

Han Qinhu, who has already led the army independently, is wearing heavy armor and looking at the soldiers in the position and said with a smile: "The enemy army retreated to the earth gate a few days ago, and it was difficult for us to kill the enemy. Now the enemy has finally been lured out of the city and sent out to attack. If we can't fight bravely, we will be laughed at by others! The enemy is fierce, are you afraid?"

"Killing the enemy and making merit, what is there to be afraid of!"

After hearing this, the surrounding soldiers laughed and replied.

Although they are currently at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, the enemy has clearly entered their rhythm. In addition, they have long-established confidence in King Tang, which also makes them believe that King Tang will never kill them. Without any intervention, there will definitely be exquisite arrangements to support the defeat of the enemy, and all they need to do is to firmly hold this position and kill the enemy bravely, and wait for the next step!

There was no strong defense in the remaining city, and the Qi army that entered the city advanced very quickly. The two sides first exchanged arrows.

Due to their inferior strength, the Wei army could not gain the upper hand at this stage. However, because they left the city early, they also set up some traps to stop the enemy, such as pits with spikes buried in them, piles of debris hiding grease, etc. wait.

Whenever these traps worked, they would also cause a lot of trouble for the Qi army's advancement. As a result, the Qi army did not successfully surround the Wei army in the city due to its numerical advantage. When they were dispersed, the Wei army also took the initiative to cross the defense line and attack frequently, killing several Qi army teams on this semi-street fighting battlefield.

Seeing how tenacious the Wei army's counterattack was, the officers and soldiers of the Qi army also put away their contempt and did not dare to regard these Wei soldiers as turtles in the urn. They cheered up and advanced slowly step by step, echoing each other's formations. , as they got closer to the core area, the cooperation between the formations became closer, and soon a hand-to-hand fight broke out in the formation.

After the war started in the city, Gao Changgong no longer invested too much energy. A full 20,000 troops rushed into the ruined city. It was only a matter of time before the enemy was defeated. Fight for more time.

At this time, intelligence came from the scouts in the north that there was a cavalry group of tens of thousands of Wei soldiers coming from the south more than 20 miles away.

After hearing the news, Gao Changgong's eyes suddenly froze. He had expected the Wei army to come south, but the number of troops actually reached tens of thousands, which was somewhat beyond his expectations.

Moreover, from yesterday until now, Qi army scouts have been coming and going continuously on the road to Dingzhou City. If this group of troops came directly south from the direction of Dingzhou City, Gao Changgong would have known about it earlier, but now the enemy troops have entered It was only known to the scouts on this line more than twenty miles away, so it was obvious that it had been lurking not far away before.

There are many forest ravines in the upper reaches of the Hutuo River. Unless thousands of scouts are dispatched at once to conduct a dragnet-style search, it will be difficult to detect the enemy's deployment in a specific place. The scouts tracking the Wei army's evacuation last night did not report back any more information, which also showed that the Wei army's control over this area was stronger than that of the Qi army.

However, although the number of this Wei army exceeded expectations, it was not a big problem. After all, Gao Changgong transferred 10,000 troops from Tumen Camp, and now there are more than 25,000 troops in Hutuo Hebei.

Moreover, these five thousand fine cavalry are a new force with strong men and horses. As for the Wei army coming from the south, no matter where it was hiding before, it had to gallop for more than 20 miles to reach the battlefield, and a considerable part of the horses must have arrived last night. After evacuating from Zhending City, after running all night and then running for at least twenty miles, how many clutch engagements can they last after arriving at the battlefield?

Therefore, Gao Changgong just waited for the Wei army to come here with a cold expression and a determined look. He even had time to ride his horse outside Zhending City to see how the battle was going.

In the city at this time, although the Qi army had not yet surrounded the Wei army soldiers due to the obstruction of some building debris, they had effectively restricted them to a corner of the city.

The two sides fought fiercely on this limited battlefield. Although the Wei army was already in an extremely disadvantageous situation, they still fought hard and fought back. Gao Changgong admired the tenacity of these Wei soldiers. However, the remaining city was inconvenient to advance and retreat. Without the mobility provided by the war horses, the Wei army in the city could only resist stubbornly and could not break out. Under the siege of the Qi army several times larger than itself, they would inevitably be annihilated in the end!

Seeing that due to the restrictions on the battlefield, there were still many Qi soldiers in the city who could not be deployed to the front line to kill the enemy. This was undoubtedly a big waste of soldiers' strength. He also thought of the Wei army reinforcements that were about to arrive, so Gao Changgong made a temporary decision to mobilize them. Two thousand disciples came out and incorporated them into the cavalry formation to intercept the Wei army's reinforcements later.

When he made these adjustments, he saw a large cloud of smoke and dust rolling from the north to the south. At the same time, the sound of iron hooves could be heard vaguely and the volume increased rapidly. It soon became clearly audible and then deafening!

"These Wei soldiers are crazy!"

Gao Changgong looked north and saw the Wei cavalry rushing towards them like a torrent, and he couldn't help but frown slightly.

It was not that he was afraid of the oncoming Wei army, but he felt that these Wei soldiers were really a little baffled. Seeing that they were very close to the battlefield, they still kept running at high speed and had no regard for the horsepower of the horses under their crotches. Could it be that their mounts are made of iron and do not need rest at all?

With this doubt, Gao Changgong also raised his hand and ordered his men to mount their horses quickly and prepare to face the enemy. At this time, the enemy formation was actually a little out of control. The front and rear ranks were relatively messy. They all relied on the physical strength and inertia of the war horses to charge wildly without effective control. Some knights even fell off their horses on the way and were drowned in the turbulent waves in an instant. Under the running iron hooves!

Seeing the enemy's arrogant momentum, even though Gao Changgong had been waiting for the battle for a long time, he did not dare to rush directly to the enemy's front. Instead, he led his troops to attack from the side, preparing to receive the enemy from the flank to reduce the risk of the enemy's attack. A powerful impact from the front of the enemy.

As the enemy troops rushed forward, their momentum was much faster than what they had seen before. Some of the horses were even spraying out large clouds of blood mist while running, which showed that they were about to reach their limit. Gao Changgong was about to try to receive an enemy attack from the flank, but even after hesitating for a moment, he was already overrun by most of the enemy troops.

"The thief is about to be exhausted. Look back and kill the enemy!"

In this case, Gao Changgong no longer insisted on defeating the enemy quickly. He had already seen that most of the enemy's horses were at the end of their strength and it was difficult to continue to carry out high-intensity battles, so he led his troops in a circle and integrated them into a charge. Formation, prepare to rush directly through the enemy's rear line, which is even more chaotic!

However, what happened next caused Gao Changgong's expression to change drastically. The soldiers of the Wei army rushed all the way outside the remaining city of Zhending. Their horses were almost exhausted. However, they did not form a team. Instead, they got off their horses and rushed straight into the remaining city of Zhending!

"This, this... they don't want to fight in the field, they want to break into the city!"

When Gao Changgong saw this scene, he was puzzled at first, then shocked, and then ordered to rush towards the enemy troops outside Zhending City.

However, at this time, a large number of enemy soldiers had already dismounted, and immediately rushed toward the city with weapons in hand, while those abandoned horses were all scattered on the flat ground outside the city, even after being attacked by the Qi army soldiers. , these war horses were also exhausted, and they were crowded together and it was difficult to escape, forming a barrier of war horses outside the city.

"Rush over, rush over quickly!"

Although Gao Changgong was extremely brave, waving his horse spear, there was no enemy in front of him. Those exhausted horses were often assassinated, but he soon found that he and his horse were blocked among a pile of horse corpses. He turned his head and looked at the other soldiers under his command, and the situation was mostly the same.

Although they had killed many enemy war horses here, most of the Wei soldiers who were going south for reinforcements had already rushed into the city, and then attacked behind the Qi troops in the city who were still concentrating on besieging the Wei army inside.

Although there are tens of thousands of Wei army horses outside the city at the mercy of the Qi army, there are nearly 20,000 Qi army soldiers inside the city who are being attacked from both inside and outside by the Wei army. Although in many cases, one person may not be worth a horse, especially the temporarily assembled strong soldiers, their value in battle is far less than that of a well-trained war horse.

But the situation at hand was obviously not a matter of converting the value of man and horse. Gao Changgong could not stay outside the city to kill and collect the remaining horses of the enemy, but did not pay attention to the fierce battle going on in the city.

Although our own troops still have the upper hand in the city, war is never a simple comparison of addition and subtraction. When the Wei army's reinforcements rushed into the city in such an incredible way, some of the Qi army formations that bore the brunt could no longer bear it. Resist the impact and collapse.

As the encirclement wavered and disintegrated, the Wei soldiers who had been restricted to the inner circle became more motivated and began to fight back in all directions. In conjunction with the reinforcements entering the city, they actually turned around and defeated the Qi army that had the advantage before. Divide and surround in different areas of the city!

"Quickly dismount, enter the city, and kill the enemy!"

Gao Changgong led his troops to kill and drive outside the city, and finally broke out a road among the chaotic and crowded horses. After clearing the road, he thought that he could change the direction and enter the city for rescue.

But this thought only flashed through his mind. After all, only this direction had the largest number of Wei troops rushing in. He still had thousands of divisions and brigades, and he could still outflank and encircle the Wei troops in the rear. Changing the other direction may not have the same effect. After all, Zhending City is a county city. Even if tens of thousands of people fight in the middle, they cannot occupy the entire city.