Chapter 1255 The only thing I owe is death

Chapter 1255 The only thing I owe is death

When Duan Shao led his troops back to the vicinity of Luquan, he saw that the battle between the two sides had already started.

The Wei army had about 20,000 soldiers. Judging from their formation, they were indeed coming from the north. At this time, more than 10,000 armored soldiers formed a huge infantry battle formation, advancing from north to south. There were two thousand cavalry formations on each wing as the claws of the infantry battle formation, constantly attacking and disturbing the Qi army battle formation that was currently fighting head-on with the Wei army. And one mile north of the battlefield, there were still thousands of Wei army infantry and cavalry soldiers, surrounding a striking large banner, which was probably the main general of the Wei army.

At this time on the battlefield, the Qi army soldiers were in a relatively disadvantageous situation. They were passively fighting. The choice of battlefield was not good. They were in a downwind position with their backs to the south and their heads to the north. At the front of the battle formation was a temporary combination of a row of baggage carts.

Although the Qi army did not have the more sophisticated chariot formation and infantry combat tactics like the Wei army, the basic use of the chariots with the army was not very sophisticated. However, this line of defense was not very effective, and there were many gaps in the attack by the Wei army.

Outside the main battlefield, there were thousands of Qi army infantry and cavalry wandering around, unable to find the right time and angle to insert into the battle.

Because the Wei army and the Qi army were evenly matched on the battlefield, and at this time the Wei army's formation was staring at a part of the army that was attacking bravely. Even if these Qi army soldiers went forward to attack the flank of the Wei army's battle formation, they could not do a flank outflanking, which would make the line of soldiers shallow, and the formation on the front battlefield of their own side was suppressed too tightly, and rashly merging would cause chaos in the formation.

"The Wei army came too fast and fiercely, and they even used war horses to send infantry. The generals and other troops had no time to gather, and the Wei army's battle formation was already formed..."

The Qi army generals who were a little hesitant and didn't know how to deal with the enemy saw Duan Shao return in time, and then they breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly stepped forward to tell Duan Shao about the previous situation.

Before that, Duan Shao left the camp first and headed for Hutuo River, and the divisions and brigades behind him set out in batches. When the main troops were halfway to Luquan, they also found the Wei army coming down from the north.

After learning about this situation, the soldiers were extremely shocked, but fortunately, the Wei army was still nearly 20 miles away at that time, and there was still time to stop and set up battle formations to meet the enemy. At that time, the Qi army was divided out of the camp, and the front and rear divisions were separated by a distance of more than ten miles. If they were to meet the enemy in front and behind, they could quickly support and coordinate, but now the Wei army was rushing in from the waist, and the generals subconsciously chose to gather the divisions and brigades closer to the rear to meet the enemy.

So they first arranged the cavalry to the north to wait for the enemy to come to attack, and the rest of the army quickly retreated, preparing to form a strong formation close to the rear division to resist the enemy. Originally, according to the distance of nearly 20 miles between the two sides, this idea must be feasible.

However, they did not expect that the Wei army first separated the cavalry to entangle with the elite cavalry of the Qi army, and then used the war horses to quickly send their infantry to the battlefield several times, directly blocking the Qi army division, forcing the Qi army to fight hastily, and also making it impossible for the front and rear armies to effectively gather together, so that they fell into a disadvantage from the beginning of the war.

"Who is the commander of the Wei army?"

Just like Li Tai did not know that Duan Shao was not in the Tumen camp before, Duan Shao could not be sure whether it was Li Boshan who led this group of people. However, judging from this tactic and the fact that the Wei army completely ignored the safety of the friendly army trapped in Zhending City at this time, the commander on the opposite side should be Li Boshan, because only Li Boshan dared to implement such a dangerous tactic and could bear the consequences of huge losses.

After hearing this, the generals shook their heads helplessly. They were caught off guard by the Wei army and were still in a passive position on the battlefield. They had no ability to advance to the rear of the Wei army's battle formation, let alone identify who the enemy's main general was.

At this time, Duan Shao's return was also noticed by the Wei army. Li Tai pointed his finger and sent another 2,000 cavalrymen to the east side of the infantry battle formation to guard against it.

His 20,000 divisions were half infantry and half cavalry. If the troops previously invested in Zhending City were added, most of the cavalry forces entering Hebei this time had already been dispatched, especially the tens of thousands of war horses outside Zhending City, which were very precious mobility.

If we cannot achieve considerable results in the next battle, then the control and deterrence of Hebei will be greatly reduced. After all, it is difficult to firmly control the terrain of Hebei without sufficient cavalry mobility.

The reason for adopting such a radical tactic was that when Li Tai was besieging Dingzhou, he learned from the people of Hebei who came to surrender from the north that the Qi army in Youzhou and other places was returning to Jinyang from Lingqiu via the north of Taihang Mountain.

Because Youzhou, Yingzhou and other places were connected to the Donghu forces such as Kumo Xi and Khitan, the number of garrisons was also considerable. Once this part of the troops returned to Jinyang, it would bring new changes to the battlefield situation.

Therefore, Li Tai was more eager to break through the Jingxing line and join forces with Yang Zhong and other troops in Jinyang as soon as possible. After all, Jinyang still had a very considerable force. It would still take hard and fierce fighting to defeat the armed forces of Jinyang. Duan Shao could no longer delay the rhythm of the war. Sometimes, even if this old turtle tactic was lying in a key place without moving, it could play a greater role than any aggressive tactics.

Encountering the Qi army on the way to attack Tumen, this was a bit beyond Li Tai's expectation. In his opinion, Duan Shao could either still defend Tumen and not leave, or he could quickly attack with all his strength and try to swallow the bait dropped in Zhending City. , being so hesitant is really a waste of opportunity.

If he hadn't been more greedy and not satisfied with just destroying the Qi army that was lured to the north bank of the Hutuo River, and the whole army went straight to Zhending City, the battle in Zhending City would have ended.

Now that the two sides are halfway through, it is actually not the best fighting situation Li Tai imagined, but it has come, and the general direction is still in line with the demands of the Wei army, so naturally they have to fight hard and strive to eliminate as many people as possible The Qi army has enough strength to lose here.

"However, Li Xianqing's performance is really difficult to meet expectations!"

Thinking of this, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh to himself. Previously, Li Mu led 10,000 divisions and brigade to march north from Shangdang, but there was no substantial breakthrough. The war has progressed to this day, and his troops still have not been given to Jingxing. This caused enough pressure to force Li Tai to invest more money to lure Qi Jun to attack.

Li Mu's performance is indeed a bit poor. If he can break through the front line of Bafu Ridge in time, Xi can disrupt Jinyang, and Dong can and the Hebei brigade led by Li Tai attack from inside and outside to directly attack Jingxing without being defeated. Duan Shao has isolated the east and west to this day. Even now, Li Tai still has no stable channel to get news about Yang Zhong and the others, and his mood has become a little uneasy.

Not to mention Li Tai's dissatisfaction with the current development of the battle, Duan Shao frowned deeply after observing the battlefield situation, and said in a deep voice: "Li Boshan is very good at controlling cavalry with his feet. His foot formation is both strong and It is thick and extremely difficult to conquer. If you attack it at its best, the more you fight, the more damage you will get. Now that you are outside the formation, you can only seize the opportunity by attacking it quickly and forcing it to change its formation!"

In the Battle of Tongtian, the Qi army was several times larger than the Wei army, but in the end it suffered too much in the frontal battle, which led to the collapse of the entire front. The officers and soldiers of the Qi army who experienced this battle still remember this very well, including Duan Shao. Seeing that the two sides are now at a disadvantage in the battle, they do not dare to hope for a turning point in the frontal battle, and now they are not There are not enough troops for them to waste.

However, due to the special nature of the Wei army's formation, the general was not integrated into the formation, so Duan Shao planned to gather the mobile forces on the battlefield and charge directly to the enemy in the rear to put pressure on them, hoping that during the Wei army's response Grasp new changes that are beneficial to you.

On the battlefield at this time, the Qi army's maneuverability was still very impressive. In addition to the thousands of men and horses brought back by Duan Shao from the Hutuo River, there were also thousands of foot soldiers scattered on the battlefield. At this time, there were nearly ten thousand cavalry assembled. When it attacked from all directions towards the location of the Wei Army's Zhongjun Dazhao, the momentum was also very astonishing.

Li Tai was not surprised or worried about the Qi army's cavalry charging towards him. With his current identity and status, as long as he appeared on the battlefield, he would naturally attract the greatest hatred. Compared with being under siege, he was more worried about the Qi army trying to break away from the battle and move elsewhere, because the Wei army in Hebei was currently fighting in several places and did not have superior mobility. Once it was attacked by the Qi army's cavalry, it would be difficult to deal with it. Very troublesome.

Of course, this danger only exists in theory. If Duan Shao is a thousand-mile horse in the Northern Qi Dynasty, Jingxing is now his horse post. It is already risky for him to lead the army to attack. Attacking all parties, even if they were lucky enough to regain Yecheng, it would be difficult to restore Jinyang's disadvantage.

After all, the collapse of order in Hebei is very serious now, and it is not possible for him to restore it to its original state by hastily recovering it. The Wei army has already established enough influence in Hebei, and it can directly abandon Hebei and move to Jinyang. The huge advantage gained strategically allowed Wei Jun to be a scumbag who liked the new and disliked the old, while Northern Qi was like a miserable master who was at a loss after his home was stolen.

Seeing the Qi army's cavalry attacking from all directions, Li Tai was not in a hurry to move his position. If he merged with the infantry formation at this time, it would only allow the Qi army that followed him to take advantage of the situation and tear a hole in the infantry formation. And the troops around him were both infantry and cavalry, which was obviously not as good as the Qi army with a full cavalry lineup, and it was even worse to avoid them. Therefore, instead of moving, Li Tai ordered the cavalry soldiers in the team to spread out and attack, taking advantage of the Qi army's cavalry being attracted here to kill the suppressed Qi army's infantry formation.

As for his side, there was only a square formation of two thousand elite soldiers equipped with guns, shields and heavy armor, arranged around the big banner to respond to the enemy on all sides.

While the main forces of the two armies were fighting here in Luquan, the situation did not stop changing elsewhere.

Pingdu City is located on the south side of Bafu Ridge. Because it is surrounded by high mountains, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is the only way to enter and leave Jinyang via the Taihang Mountain Road in the Shangdang area.

The sounds of fighting for many days resounded throughout the valley, and even the blood on the plateau wall near the city was dried and then stained, revealing a deep and heart-stopping dark brown.

There are many Buddha statues carved into the mountain walls on both sides of the city. Now, there are a group of carrion-eating eagles living in those Buddhist caves. Whenever the war outside the city ends, those eagles fly out of the Buddhist caves and compete for each other. Pecking at the carrion of corpses thrown inside and outside the city. Occasionally, corpse fragments were taken into the Buddhist caves and accumulated. The scene made people shudder, but it also revealed a bit of strange Buddha nature.

On this day, there was another loud killing sound in the valley. The killing sound gradually became fainter after lasting for more than an hour, but soon a louder cheer broke out.

"Finally, finally conquered Pingdu City!"

Li Mu was wearing armor and standing on the head of Pingdu City made of huge rocks with his sword in hand. His eye sockets were sunken and bloodshot, and his gray hair was splayed out. His whole body showed an unspeakable exhaustion. Only when he looked at the conquered city at his feet, a cheerful smile appeared on his face.

Since being ordered to march north from Wuxiang, Li Mu and his party have been trapped outside Pingdu City for more than 20 days. For more than 20 days, they have to attack the city every day, but they are repulsed every time. Sometimes they were lucky enough to reach the top of the city, but they were recaptured by the city guards without fear of death, or reinforcements poured out from the north and forced the Wei soldiers back, causing the siege battles to fail repeatedly.

After more than twenty days of arduous fighting, the number of Wei army's sergeants who still maintained combat effectiveness was less than 5,000. Only after more than half of them were killed or wounded did they finally overcome the last obstacle on the Bafu Ridge. The soldiers who followed Li Mu to the city couldn't help crying with joy, shouting to the sky, venting the long-squeezed anger in their hearts and the joy of conquering the city.

"Lord, there are still remnants of surrendered soldiers in the city..."

One of the soldiers came in to make a warning. After hearing this, Li Mu's eyes turned cold, and then he said angrily: "Kill! No one will be left alive!"

The sergeants dispersed to clean the battlefield, and a groan suddenly rang out from among the pile of corpses. The nearby Wei sergeant hurriedly stepped forward with a knife, and opened the corpses on the upper layer. Below, a man covered in blood was exposed. After a moment of identification, he shouted excitedly. : "It's Governor Li, Governor Li is still alive!"

Li Mu rushed over after hearing the news and found that it was the young governor Li Chongjie who had led the way. He quickly grabbed the enemy corpse stuck in Li Chongjie's waist and tried to fish him out. At the same time, he laughed and said: "Good boy, fate You are really tough! I haven’t seen you before, but I thought I was done with it..."

"It hurts, it hurts..."

As soon as Li Chongjie's body was moved, blood began to gush out from his abdomen. Fortunately, no internal organs came out. He hissed and gasped, but said stiffly: "After days of bloody fighting, we finally conquered the city of thieves! The merit of being there first!" How can I bear to die if I already have it! Should Yao Gu Zhang Wulang and Nanquan Liu Twelve live or die? I can’t be left alone to support their parents..."

Pingdu City was not too big, and there were no civilians living there except for the guards. Although Li Mu was full of anger and wanted to massacre the city, in the end, after searching the whole city, only a few hundred sick, sick and disabled soldiers were left. They had been fighting each other for many days, and they had long been a blood feud. Naturally, the Wei army had no sympathy for these defeated soldiers. After entering the city, they killed these enemy soldiers.

From the mouths of these enemy soldiers, Li Mu learned that Jingxing had not yet been conquered and was still guarded by the enemy, and that the army led by the Lord was still blocked in Hebei and failed to enter Jinyang North Road.

After learning about this, Li Mu felt a little uneasy. As a general in the army, he naturally knew the master's battle plan. He knew that his slow breakthrough here would delay the fighter's opportunity. He originally planned to take a short rest, but now he did not dare to stay any longer. He first placed the thousands of wounded soldiers who had temporarily lost their combat effectiveness in Pingdu City, and left a few hundred soldiers to garrison. He led the remaining nearly 4,000 soldiers, and after crossing Bafu Ridge, he went straight to Yangquan. .

Yangquan originally had a garrison of nearly 10,000 people, and they were part of the Tumen camp. The reason why Li Mu and his party were unable to attack Pingdu City for a long time was because Yangquan had been supporting Pingdu City.

When Duan Shao passed by here before and returned to Tumen, he took 5,000 troops with him. He originally ordered Gaoyang King Gao Shi to lead the Zhaozhou troops to reinforce here, but he encountered the main force of the Wei army in Hebei detouring to attack Jingxing, so Gao Shi stayed at Tumen for the time being. Okay, instead of reinforcing Yangquan, a group of soldiers were transferred from Yangquan to Tumen. This cut off Pingdu City's backup. Li Mu and his party finally broke out of Bafu Ridge and fought to the rear of Jingxing!

After Li Mu's group of troops broke out of Bafu Ridge, they had the momentum of a fierce tiger coming out of the mountain and rushed eastward. Although the defenders of Yangquan City were defeated, they were in panic, but they were helpless because of their lack of strength. Li Mu led his army to attack Instantly broken. After staying in Yangquan for a while, Li Mu continued to lead his army eastwards.

There are dozens of miles of rugged mountain roads along the Jingxing line. As a transportation artery connecting Jinyang and Hebei, in addition to key passes such as Tumen Pass, there are also many small passes built along the way.

However, due to the large number of troops coming out of the Tumen camp, and the Wei army having divisions and brigades attacking and making noise in front of the pass, Gaoyang King Gao Shi, who temporarily stayed at the camp, transferred all the troops garrisoned at the back pass to the Tumen pass in order to ensure the safety of the Tumen pass. , and with the addition of more than 3,000 Zhaozhou troops, the situation here in Tumen was barely stabilized.

While Li Mu and his party were still marching hard towards Tumen, the battle in Luquan had come to an end for the time being.

Duan Shao personally led and commanded the cavalry troops on the field to attack the Chinese army where Li Tai was. However, the Wei army's heavy armored infantry formation was as solid as a rock. Several attacks failed. Instead, the infantry formation on the Qi army field attacked the Wei army's infantry formation. The situation became precarious as the cavalry strangled them, and the battle was about to collapse before their eyes.

Duan Shao had no choice but to temporarily give up the charge against the Chinese army and return to support his own formation. After some rescue operations, he finally managed to stabilize the formation and slightly widened the distance between the infantry formations of both sides. .

"Retreat for now and don't interact with the enemy again!"

After barely separating the infantry battle formations between the two sides, Duan Shao ordered his cavalry to shoot left and right to block the Wei army's approach, while pulling his own infantry formation backwards. Under this rather unfavorable situation, he could still maintain his position. This ensures the integrity of the battle formation and increases the distance between them by dozens of feet.

At this time, after the Wei army fought a fierce battle, the soldiers' physical strength was also very exhausted. Seeing that Duan Shao had maintained the infantry and cavalry battle formation relatively intact, even if he pursued again, there was not much chance of expanding the victory, so Li Tai also He ordered his troops to withdraw to the northwest, put a distance of about a mile between each other's battle formations, and rested for a while with their backs against a hillock.

At this time, on the front where the two sides fought before, there were still many armors, weapons, staffs and corpses of soldiers abandoned, which looked messy and bloody. On this front, the most discarded items were the Qi army's baggage carriages.

Before, they hurriedly responded to the battle and used these chariots as a line of defense. Now the battle formation retreated, and the baggage vehicles had no time to haul them backwards. After both sides retreated from the battlefield, these carriages carrying military supplies were abandoned on the battlefield.

After the two armies retreated, they both sent out their rangers to clean up the battlefield. After collecting the equipment and soldiers' corpses left on the battlefield, their attention was naturally attracted by the baggage vehicles. I couldn't help but want to step forward and clean it up.

"The Qiang thieves are so cowardly that they dare to be greedy for goods!"

Seeing the Wei army's cavalry approaching the baggage train, the Qi army's knights were furious. They cursed one after another, drew their bows and fired.

Naturally, Wei Jun was not willing to be outdone. While fighting back, he shouted back: "The East bandits are incapable of defending the country and the country. They are in disgrace. They should have died to apologize!"

At first, the two sides only had a small number of rangers quarreling and shooting at each other, but soon more and more people joined in, and soon a battle between cavalry formations began around these baggage vehicles.

Li Tai originally wanted to let the division and brigade take a rest, but when he saw this scene, he had to keep fighting!

As he gave the order and the horn sounded, the soldiers stood up from the array again, clenched their weapons, and advanced towards the enemy's formation. Since this time it was no longer a long-distance projection formation, Li Tai did not stay outside the battle formation. He followed his Chinese army's large banner and infantry formation soldiers to attack the enemy.

"Retract the front and fight with the flanks!"

Duan Shao saw that the enemy army was attacking again, and he sent an order to the troops. He did not want to face the enemy head-on, but tried to fight and retreat, and moved towards Tumen.

Li Tai also had the idea of ​​intercepting the Qi army here. He also ordered his troops to attack the enemy's flank and test the rear, unwilling to let them escape.

The two sides were constantly entangled and pulled under the command of their respective generals, and the battle was extremely fierce.

"Look! To the north, what is that?"

During the battle, someone suddenly looked to the north of the battlefield with a look of panic on his face, as if he had seen some horrifying scene. The soldiers around him, regardless of whether they were friendly or enemy, subconsciously looked northward after hearing this, and then their faces showed shock.

I saw a cloud of smoke and dust billowing in the plains to the north, and below the smoke, there was a black line that continued to expand from faint to obvious. Only when the black line expanded to the thickness of a finger did people distinguish the line between heaven and earth. The black line in the middle is actually made up of surging figures of people and horses. I don’t know how many people are rushing towards here.

"That, who is that?"

At this time, the soldiers of the two countries who were fighting had this idea in their minds. Even the generals Li Tai and Duan Shao looked suspicious after seeing this scene. He shouted to the soldiers around him: "It's the defeated army of Qi/Wei! Our army has won in Zhending City, and the defeated bandits fled south in panic. This battle will be a complete victory! Kill the enemy, kill the enemy quickly!"

The crowds rushing from the north to the south only slightly attracted the attention of the two warring parties on the battlefield, but they were still far away from each other. The generals of both sides immediately shouted messages that were beneficial to their own side to encourage the soldiers, and then the two sides The fighting became more and more intense.

Back in time when Duan Shao was returning to Luquan from Hutuo River, Duan Shao led his division and brigade to arrive, which greatly encouraged the soldiers of the Qi army who were fighting in Zhending City.

Originally, they were not used to the special battlefield in Zhending City, but they were attacked and killed by the Wei army. The formation was scattered throughout the city. Although they had more troops, they were at a disadvantage for a while. During the battle, they just gritted their teeth and managed to survive, and because they were fighting on their own, they were unable to give full play to their own strength advantages.

Duan Shao's arrival seemed like a shot in the arm to the hearts of the Qi soldiers who were fighting fiercely in the city. Gao Changgong couldn't help shouting loudly to encourage the soldiers: "Now that the Pingyuan King's brigade has arrived, the bandit army in the city will be destroyed! We and other soldiers will be destroyed." Fortunately, we are in the city, so quickly capture the thieves’ heads, and don’t share the victory with the reinforcements outside the city!”

After hearing this, all the soldiers of the Qi army were greatly encouraged, and each of them launched a counterattack. In one moment, the Wei army's line was squeezed inwards by more than a few feet, threatening to form an encirclement again.

However, the good times did not last long. After Duan Shao arrived, he did not directly order his troops to enter the city to participate in the battle. He just stayed outside the city for a while, and then left directly with his troops.

This incident naturally puzzled the Qi army officers and soldiers in the city, but the Wei army officers and soldiers who were suppressed by a fierce counterattack couldn't help but smile. He Ruodun and others even seized this opportunity and laughed and said: "Young men, don't panic. , when we arrived, the king of Tang was leading his troops to march towards Jingxing. The bandit troops outside the city were coming and going. The Lord must have succeeded and conquered Jingxing. If we kill the remaining troops here, we will win the battle!"

"A great victory, a great victory!"

The officers and soldiers of the Wei army were overjoyed after hearing this. They had full trust in King Tang. Not to mention a mere Jingxing, even if it was a larger target, as long as it was solved by King Tang, it must be done. .

Although it was just a one-sided statement by He Ruodun and others, and there was no evidence to support this matter, the Wei army officers and soldiers in the city believed in this, and for a time they were full of fighting spirit and fearless.

The officers and soldiers of the Qi army in the city were already shocked and suspicious, but when they saw the Wei army shouting with determination that Jingxing had been captured, they all began to doubt. Could it be that the situation was really as Wei Jun said?

Sincerity is not necessarily a metaphysics. When people have absolute confidence in certain people and things, it will naturally have a great impact on other people. At least the soldiers of the Qi army who were fighting in the city now were really panicking.

Gao Changgong was a little puzzled for a while as to why Duan Shao was spinning around. When he noticed the mood changes of the sergeants around him, he still shouted loudly while killing the enemy: "Don't be deceived by the evil words of these thieves, the honorary pillar of the Pingyuan Kingdom How could the thief easily capture the pass? The leader of the thief, Li Boshan, must have failed to attack. In front of Zheji Pass, the Pingyuan King led his troops to surround and kill him. If the thief leader dies, all the thieves will be defeated!"

But it was obvious that his words were still not convincing. In addition, there were chaotic shouts from the Wei army everywhere in the city, and it was difficult for the scattered Qi army officers to hear them all. At this time, as the Wei army cheered up and attacked from all sides again, the troops on all sides were inevitably forced to retreat farther apart.

"Your Majesty, this city is really not conducive to advance and retreat. It would be too difficult to stay here to fight with the enemy. Why don't we withdraw from the city for now and fight again!"

Seeing that the Wei army's offensive was becoming more and more fierce, and several teams that had been expected to gather together were rushed away, and Gao Changgong also suffered an extremely fierce attack from the enemy due to his position being exposed, his confidants could not help but come forward to advise. .

"If I retreat, all the armies will collapse and the situation will become even worse!"

Gao Changgong looked around the battlefields in the city and saw that everyone was just gritting his teeth and persisting. If he was the first to withdraw from the battlefield, it would definitely cause a chain reaction, so he gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "All the soldiers in the city have been ordered by me to come to fight. If I abandon the crowd and lead my army to defeat, how can I return to King Lu to revive me? If a man dies, he will die. Now that our family and country are in trouble, do we still expect to die of old age and illness?"

After that, he ordered his soldiers to raise their own battle flags, announce his presence to the soldiers in the city, and wander around while fighting, trying to gather the scattered divisions and brigades in the city, and then slowly withdraw from the city.

However, his move was no different from the provocation in the eyes of the soldiers of the Western Wei Dynasty. All the young generals roared angrily: "The thief will put up a flag and beg for death. If he is not killed quickly, won't he be laughed at by the world!"

So in Zhending City, both the enemy and ourselves rushed towards Gao Changgong's headquarters. For example, the young general Yang Zheng and others who had been wandering around his troops before were now more and more unwilling to let go. They kept moving forward to fight and harvest the lives of the soldiers around Gao Changgong.

Of course, they themselves could not avoid heavy casualties, but under this fierce offensive, the soldiers around Gao Changgong still became fewer and fewer as the battle progressed. Some Qi troops might have approached from elsewhere, but they also fell in a pool of blood under the continuous charge of the Wei army.

In this increasingly fierce battle, Gao Changgong also felt great pressure. The horse in his hand had been stained with blood and was slippery in the previous battle, and he had dropped it while fighting the enemy. Now he was waving it on the battlefield. Although the two captured war knives had flying blades and no chance of killing the enemy, they were no longer as big as Ma Shan. As the soldiers around him rotated several times, they were gradually bullied by more and more enemy soldiers.

"The thief will die!"

A strong wind came from the side. Gao Changgong wasted no time in turning his heel and slashed out with his sword, flying an enemy soldier who jumped from the side into the air. As a result, he exerted all his strength and was hit hard on the back. Unexpectedly, he was hit by a blow at his feet. The corpse stumbled, its body swooping forward uncontrollably.

Seeing this, several Wei soldiers around him slashed at his heart with their swords. Several soldiers behind him exclaimed: "Don't hurt my lord!"

They used their swords, spears, and even their own bodies to block the blades that struck Gao Changgong. Three Wei soldiers were killed in their desperate counterattack, but one of them still hit Gao Changgong's back shoulder. He felt his back shoulders were hot and his long arms were numb. He leaned over and held the handle of the knife to support his body. Just as he was about to gather his strength and turn around to slash, a shadow fell straight down from above. It was the person who blocked the fatal blow with his body. Soldier's corpse, but also completely smashed him into the pile of corpses.

"If I just stay there, I hope I can save my life..."

This thought suddenly came to Gao Changgong's mind. He had been a martial artist since he was a child, and he had heard many battlefield anecdotes about people pretending to die to save their lives. The battle was fierce now, and the enemy might not have time to carefully identify them.

However, this thought only briefly flashed through his mind, and then he lifted up the corpse pressing on him with all his strength. He held a single sword and slashed at the enemy general opposite him like a tiger leaping. The blade penetrated through the gap in the armor and penetrated deeply into the bone. The Wei general flew backwards for more than ten feet, and it was difficult for him to survive. When the soldiers on his left and right saw this, their eyes were split open. They opened their eyes wide and struck at Gao Changgong, who was already defenseless. The swords crisscrossed and fell. Gao Changgong was no longer spared. He died on the spot.

"I will avenge my lord!"

After the Wei soldiers killed Gao Changgong, a Cangtou warrior came forward and cut off his head around the neck. He was waiting to report to the lord who was killed by Gao Changgong. The Qi army sergeants on the other side were shocked and angry after seeing this. Extremely sad and angry, he shouted: "The Qiang thieves actually killed my young king, please die quickly!"

The dead here each had their own henchmen, and all of a sudden they were all fighting for their lives. They were all crazy and shocking, and they didn't dare to get close.

But on this entire battlefield, Gao Changgong's death was like a signal. The Qi army soldiers who were trying hard to get closer suddenly lost their target, and they couldn't help but feel even more panicked. However, the Wei army became more and more courageous as they fought.

So gradually, some Qi army sergeants did not dare to continue the fierce fighting in the city. They turned around and evacuated to the outside along the rugged roads in the city. Then they climbed over the dilapidated ruins of the wall and fled straight into the distance.

More and more soldiers of the Qi army escaped from this seemingly chaotic, but in fact carefully laid traps and battlefields. They did not dare to stay in the wilderness and fled further away. Some defeated soldiers had better luck. After leaving the city, they picked up a war horse left outside the city, got on the horse and fled to the south bank of the Hutuo River.

But not everyone was lucky enough to escape from this battlefield. Many Qi soldiers were intercepted. Some of them were scattered and hacked to death, while others simply abandoned their weapons and surrendered.

After the Wei army in the city initially controlled the situation, their attention naturally focused on the defeated Qi army that fled outside Zhending City: "Hurry up and kill the defeated troops!"

However, there are only less than a thousand war horses left in the city. It is difficult for all the soldiers to mount their horses to continue the pursuit and expand the victory. They can only select the still brave soldiers to form a cavalry formation, and after leaving the city, they will fight in the wilderness. Raid the enemy troops to aggravate the rout.

The Qi army entered the city and participated in the battle with more than 20,000 people. The real casualties were not too serious. When they were defeated and fled, at least nearly 10,000 people escaped from the remaining city of Zhending. Outside the city, there are still two to three thousand cavalry who are ready to come up and rein in the defeated army. However, these people have just escaped from the city and naturally they dare not stay near Zhending City. The plains here are so flat that it is difficult to rush and kill them. They still have to rush to the city in one breath. Further distance can give people some peace of mind.

The people of Dingzhou who had been driven back to the south bank of the Hutuo River suddenly became panicked when they saw the troops on the north bank were defeated and fled from the city. Some people ran south without explanation, while others ran to the river bank and shouted loudly. Calling his son's name towards the north bank.

Originally, these people were placed on the south bank with the intention of inspiring the soldiers of Dingzhou to fight to the death on the north bank. But now when the defeated soldiers heard the cries and cries of their fathers and elders, they were already in a panic and became even more anxious and panicked. They just wanted to be reunited with their relatives as soon as possible, so they They all came to the south bank one after another. Some people panicked and ran directly towards the tidal flat after the river stopped flowing. As a result, they were trapped in it, looking up to the sky and crying and wailing: "Amodun, save me, I don't want to die..."

Numerous Qi troops broke up and rushed to the south bank, making the running and restraint of the knights outside the city in vain. When they saw the Wei army in the city rushing out in victory, even though the number was not large, they did not panic. Those who dared to stay on the north bank turned their horses' heads one after another and flew towards the south bank.

"Don't chase the enemy, collect the war horses first!"

After the few knights of the Wei army rushed out of Zhending City, they saw that in addition to the defeated soldiers of the Qi army, there were also many war horses galloping around in the wilderness. In addition to the tens of thousands of horses abandoned by their previous reinforcements, In addition to the war horses, there were also some mounts of the Qi army. Although a considerable number of them were dragged away by the Qi army's cavalry, the number scattered on the north bank was still considerable.

The cavalry of the Wei army quickly gathered up nearly two thousand horses around Zhending City. Although this delayed the pursuit of the enemy to a certain extent, it also enhanced their own mobility, which can be regarded as sharpening their swords and chopping firewood. .

At this time, many soldiers and civilians of the Northern Qi Dynasty had fled far to the south, but there were still thousands of wounded soldiers surrendering in Zhending City. As the saying goes, one thousand enemies are killed and one's own losses are eight hundred. Although there was no such astonishing loss ratio in previous battles, the Wei army's officers and men also suffered heavy casualties. The initial count of the generals killed in battle alone numbered more than ten.

At this time, the Wei army officers and soldiers had no sympathy for the surrendered soldiers and prisoners in the city. After gathering the horses to form a certain cavalry combat effectiveness, they collected the weapons of the surrendered soldiers, drove them into the wild, and then fought the horses all the way in the rear. Chase, heading towards Tumenguan.

The people coming from the south that the fighting parties in Luquan saw were soldiers and civilians fleeing back from the direction of Zhending City. Although the Wei army had previously declared that Jingxing had been captured, this was false after all. Now that most of Hebei has fallen, for those Qi troops who had been stationed in the Tumen camp for a long time, it was of course safer to return to Tumen.

When these people were still far away, the two warring parties in Luquan could naturally talk trash to each other and belittle each other. However, when these people gradually came closer and had confirmed their identity as the soldiers and civilians of the Northern Qi Dynasty, they were obviously in a hurry to the south. The look of fleeing naturally gave a great shock and blow to the Qi army soldiers in the battle.

"The East Bandits are defeated, the East Bandits are defeated!"

On the battlefield, the officers and soldiers of the Wei army naturally did not miss this opportunity. While shouting loudly, they attacked the Qi army more fiercely.

As for the Qi army, Duan Shao had originally planned to fight while retreating, and had no intention of guarding and fighting here. At this time, after the army's morale was shaken by the defeat of the army from the north, the position suddenly became unstable when the Wei army took advantage of the situation to launch a strong attack.

Faced with this situation, Duan Shao gave up his plan to withdraw his troops. After he entered the battle in person, he ordered his generals to shout to the troops: "The thief army in Zhending City has been destroyed. The soldiers and civilians will come south to attack the thief Wei! In this battle, we will capture the thief in one fell swoop." Kill the leader of the thieves, Li Boshan, to avenge the late lord and bring eternal peace to our country!"

Although the Qi army was flustered and uneasy in the battle formation, they were still willing to believe the information that was beneficial to their own side. After this propaganda, the military's mental arithmetic was temporarily stabilized. But stability is stability, and there are still some constraints in fighting. Under the increasingly fierce offensive of the Wei army, it is still in a state of suppression. If it were not for the heavy armored infantry as the backbone of the formation, which is also trying its best to support, the formation would probably be useless. To continue.

After all, nothing can be true. Although the mood of the soldiers and civilians of the Northern Qi Dynasty stabilized a little during the withdrawal, and they were no longer as panicked as when they first came south. In addition, thousands of people were restrained and reorganized along the way, which made the team a little bigger, but after all, it was still true. They ran southward without stopping all the way. After retreating for more than twenty miles, both men and horses were extremely exhausted.

At this time, among the cavalry of the Wei army who were fighting with the Qi army around the baggage vehicles, the young general Wang Gui sharply saw that the mounts of the Qi army cavalry walking in the front were all sweating profusely, and even their manes were not raised, so he shouted loudly: : "The thieves have been defeated and are now exhausted! Who will kill the enemy together? The thieves will be defeated!"

Following Wang Gui's call, hundreds of knights rushed out of the Wei army formation, including the three guardsmen who had been getting along with each other for a long time and had a good understanding of each other. Under Wang Gui's call, hundreds of knights rushed towards those who were coming south. The soldiers and civilians of the Qi army rushed to kill him.

Naturally, the soldiers and civilians of the Qi army who came all the way south were marching at the forefront with their mounts. In addition, the Qi army itself had enough war horses, and gathered some defeated soldiers along the way and gave them to the war horses. Therefore, although the team was in a slightly embarrassed state, It is also a large cavalry force with thousands of people. The Wei army, with only a few hundred young warriors, dared to charge at the enemy's cavalry, which was several times their own. It did seem a bit foolish and bold.

But what is even more shocking is that when these hundreds of Wei army knights rushed towards the Qi army, the seemingly complete Qi army formation suddenly exploded, as if a stone was thrown into the lake and huge waves splashed. The visual impact brought by the huge contrast is simply unparalleled!

"My son is brave and brave, and my army can overcome difficulties!"

When Li Tai saw this scene in the battle formation, he couldn't help laughing. He raised his hand and pointed directly at the enemy formation in front of him, shouting: "Kill the enemy, kill the enemy! Thieves are everywhere, everywhere, seal your wife's shadow." Son, come out from now on!”

The impact of the scene of hundreds of soldiers of the Wei army overwhelming thousands of divisions and brigades of the Qi army was so great that it was even more powerful than the chaotic troops coming south, so that all the soldiers of the Qi army who fought in Luquan were frightened. From time to time, they were bravely charged by the Wei army's infantry formation. Finally, the enemy formation on the opposite side could no longer withstand the tremendous pressure, and the entire formation began to collapse.

"Hold on, hold on..."

Duan Shao was about to put the heavy armored cavalry gathered around him into the battlefield in an attempt to make a final effort. However, the generals around him came forward and advised: "King Lu, retreat! At this moment, you need to return to Tumen first. Recruit the defeated troops and then defend them. Once there is a huge defeat here and the Wei army advances, Tumen will also be lost!"

Duan Shao's face turned pale immediately after hearing this. He took one last look at his own army formation that was about to collapse. He turned his horse's head helplessly and shouted to the elite soldiers around him: "Get out of the battle quickly and retreat to the territory." Door!"

At this time, outside Tumen Pass, Wei army flags had been planted all over the camp. When Duan Shao led the remaining troops to withdraw from the front line and saw this scene, his expression suddenly changed. Could it be that the Wei army had already captured Tumen?

However, when he saw that the flag of the Qi army was still flying on Tumenguan City a few miles away from the main camp, he breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the left-behind troops had withdrawn to defend the city on their own. , and then a small group of Wei army soldiers took the opportunity to enter the camp, seize the empty camp, and fly the Wei army flag as a suspicious soldier.

He was about to order the troops to enter the camp and pull out the flags of the Wei army, but he saw thousands of enemies rushing out of the camp, even more than the men and horses he temporarily withdrew from the front line, so he stopped fighting here. , but first bypassed the camp and went straight to Guancheng.

Tumen Pass was heavily guarded due to being disturbed by Wei Jun Shi Jing and his party. When they saw Duan Shao returning, the defenders were surprised and happy. They hurriedly opened the door to welcome Duan Shao in. When they learned that the front line was defeated At that time, everyone's faces were filled with shock.

Duan Shao had no time to appease the crowd at this moment. He knew that the defeated army in the rear and the pursuing troops of the Wei army were coming in a moment, and he needed to deploy city defenses as soon as possible to contain the enemy in Tumen Pass. What made him sober was that due to the interference from the Wei army squad, Gaoyang King Gao Shi had already arranged the city defense in advance and mobilized all the troops from the rear into the city. This saved Duan Shao a lot of time and improved the details a bit. That’s it.

However, King Gaoyang did not come to meet him at the moment, and Duan Shao had no time to ask about it. He quickly continued to adjust the details based on the city defense. At this time, in front of Tumen Pass, the defeated army and pursuers could already be seen rolling in. The rising smoke.

"The king of Qilu is reporting a big event, a big thing is not good. The King of Gaoyang and the King of Gaoyang lead his troops to leave Tumen Pass..."

Duan Shao was still arranging military affairs in front of the pass. Suddenly, another sergeant came forward to report hastily. After hearing the words, Duan Shao's face suddenly froze, and he felt blood rushing in his chest. After a while, he calmed down and said in a deep voice: "It doesn't matter. , According to this Guancheng, we can still fight!"

It was not unexpected that Gao Shi abandoned the city at a critical moment. He was not a courageous person to begin with. He had favored Wenxuan before and often instigated Gao Yang to abuse his brothers, so he was not liked by the emperor and the empress dowager. The reason why he stayed in Jingxing was not simply to help Duan Shao defend the dangerous pass, but because he was worried that he might be punished by anger after returning to Jinyang.

But now that even Duan Shao has retreated and returned, and Jing Xing sees that he cannot defend, he will naturally not stay and wait for death. It was considered a sign of loyalty to wait until Duan Shao returned to deliver the city defense, and then he led his troops to Yangquan. Anyway, this was what Duan Shao had arranged for him before.

Gao Shi suddenly led his troops to evacuate, causing Tumen Pass defense, which had sufficient troops, to be stretched thin. Duan Shao originally planned to send a division and brigade out of the city to drive away the group of Wei troops who occupied the empty camp. There are no troops to send.

Although Duan Shao and his entourage galloped back to Tumen Pass with all their strength, the fleeing troops came very quickly. Naturally, those at the forefront were the cavalry sergeants who still had horses to carry them. But when they rushed outside the camp and saw the flags of the Wei army erected all over the camp, their faces suddenly became ashen. Even some of the defeated soldiers dismounted in despair, kowtowed in front of the camp and begged: "I am willing to surrender." , please take care of me, General!"

"Someone is willing to surrender and beg for his life!"

Because the Wei army in the rear was chasing very fast, the Qi army was defeated and swarmed in. When someone in the front made a mockery, there was naturally no shortage of people in the rear who followed suit and dismounted and begged to surrender.

However, some people fled too fast on horseback, and the area was too crowded, so they passed directly around the camp. Then they found that the Qi army flag was still flying in the Guancheng behind, and the Guancheng was still not lost!

When Shi Jing's group arrived in front of Tumen Pass, they encountered the tighter defenses in the city. They thought that their trip was in vain and that they missed the battle at the rear, and were about to be left without ends. However, they didn't want to just switch to the empty camp. The Wei army's flag was so surprised that thousands of Qi soldiers surrendered. And when this mistake was gradually solved, the organized cavalry brigade of the Wei army in the rear had also chased here and entered the camp.

In the end, although Duan Shao retreated to Tumen Pass and waited to appease the defeated troops, only about 2,000 soldiers arrived in front of the pass. Together with the remaining soldiers in Guancheng, there were 5,000 defenders.

Soon, the main force of the Wei army also advanced to Tumen Pass. In addition to its own more than 20,000 troops, it also included tens of thousands of Qi troops who had been captured and surrendered. This is because Li Tai was eager to capture Tumen Pass and did not hunt down the defeated soldiers, otherwise the capture would have been at least doubled.

When Duan Shao saw that the camp outside Tumen Pass was once again crowded with Wei troops and surrendered soldiers, he could not help but look gloomy and sad. However, fortunately, there were still more than 5,000 guards in the pass, and they still had the strength to fight. So he cheered up again and gave encouraging words to the guards in the city.

After a day of fighting, the officers and soldiers of the Wei army were exhausted. Seeing that Tumen Pass was still on guard, Li Tai did not rush to order an attack on the city. He prepared to rest for a night and then attack the pass the next day.

But the night was not peaceful, especially in the second half of the night, when a series of noises suddenly sounded from the west of Tumen Pass. But the night was deep, and the soldiers of the Qi army did not dare to go out to investigate rashly. They just followed Duan Shao's instructions and stayed vigilant that night.

At dawn the next day, Duan Shao climbed up to the west gate of Tumen Pass and looked down. His face suddenly turned pale. He saw many Wei troops stationed in the valley to the west. At the front of the Wei camp, ten meters away from Tumen Pass. Dozens of bloody heads were hanging on a hanging beam a few doors away, and one of them was none other than Gaoyang King Gao Shi, who had led his troops to evacuate before!

"King Lu, the bandit army is already here, what can we do?"

When the garrison officers and soldiers in the city saw this scene, their faces suddenly turned pale, and some couldn't help but hide their faces and cry loudly. There was a desperate atmosphere throughout the city.

At this time, in front of the east gate of Guancheng, more than a dozen generals of the Qi army who had surrendered outside the city last night and were captured came to the pass and shouted loudly to the top of the city: "The last generals have been sent to us by Prime Minister Li Da, the king of the Wei and Tang Dynasties." Send, tell the king of Pingyuan from the city that the traitor court is poor and it is useless to resist. The king's famous general also has good pastoral governance in Hebei. The king of Tang loves talents and is willing to be tolerant. The whole city is alive. In the king's thoughts, please be careful in your choice! "

At this time, Tumenguan City was already in a desperate situation surrounded by both internal and external forces, and there were many newly defeated troops in the city. When they heard the voice of persuasion to surrender, everyone looked at Duan Shao longingly as if hearing the sound of nature. . Some people couldn't help but opened their mouths to speak, but seeing Duan Shao's gloomy face, they were still intimidated by his intimidation and did not dare to speak out to persuade him.

Duan Shao didn't pay attention to the looks of everyone, he just walked down the city in silence, and then slowly walked back to the city lord's palace. Seeing this, the close relatives hurriedly came forward and said: "King Lu, don't be discouraged, there are still thousands of troops in the city, resistance. A few days is not difficult. Jinyang’s safety is at stake. As long as it lasts a few days, reinforcements from the country will arrive! Even if reinforcements are difficult to come by for a while, everyone is willing to fight to the death!"

"What a strong man!"

After hearing the words, Duan Shao nodded slightly and said in a deep voice with a look of relief, but other than that, he didn't say anything else. He just waved his hand to dismiss everyone and sat alone in the hall.

After a morning of persuading surrender, the Wei army outside the city was also driving the surrendered prisoners to carry earth mounds and build mountains outside Guancheng in preparation for attacking the city. Suddenly someone jumped down from the top of the city. He fell in front of the pass and climbed outward while wailing: "Please surrender and beg for a living..."

Although only one person chose such an extreme method of seeking surrender, it caused a huge blow to the morale of the defenders in the city.

In the afternoon, the Wei army sergeants led dozens of old men from Dingzhou, each dressed neatly and with their beards and hair trimmed, to drink and eat meat outside Guancheng. At the same time, the mountains of earth outside the city continued to be piled up. Because there were so many people descending outside the city, the efficiency was very fast. Looking at this situation, they might be able to climb up to the city wall by evening.

In the evening, after repeated questions from his personal soldiers, Duan Shao finally pushed the door open and walked out. He just took off his military uniform, changed into a modern dress, and held only a saber in his hand. Seeing this scene, the personal soldiers' faces changed, and they hurriedly asked: "Does the Prince of Lu want to surrender?"

Duan Shao just shook his head after hearing this, and then he went out of the house and climbed up the tower. He leaned over and looked down, and shouted loudly: "Thank you, warriors under the city, to inform the King of Tang of Wei. The King of Tang's reputation has been admired for a long time! If you are defeated again and again, it should be abandoned by heaven. It is a great honor for the King of Tang to recruit you. However, Duan is deeply indebted to the country, and enjoys all the glory and wealth. I lost my chastity and laughed at my loyalty. After thinking about it again and again, I regret and thank you. At this point in my life, I only owe you one death. The lives of the people in the city are up to you!"

After saying this, Duan Shao drew his sword out of its sheath and committed suicide.

Li Tai was rushing from the camp after receiving a report from his personal soldiers, but before he reached the foot of the city, he looked up and saw Duan Shao's body falling from the top of the city wall. He was stunned for a moment, and then ordered: "Collect the body and send it to Jinyang later. Those in the city who surrender will not be killed."

Sorry, sorry for the long wait, a big chapter...