Xie Ming

Chapter 431 Between Attack and Defense
Xiao led the vanguard army and hurried to Yucheng. As soon as he stepped into the government office, a bunch of emergencies needed to be dealt with urgently!

What's worse, Gao Jie is returning home seriously injured!

Peizhong was deeply worried about this for a while, and when he talked about the subsequent coordination of the situation, Xiao also made some plans and explained it to him!
The night of the 29th was windy and rainy, it was destined to be unbearable, so I won't say any more!
The dark clouds in the sky above Yucheng today are even thicker, and the wind cannot disperse them, and they are pouring down non-stop!
Time flies by!

Xiao Lang is in the front hall of the government office. There are many things to do and it is difficult to have a break for a while. So this is a good opportunity to take a break!

After more than an hour had passed!
It’s almost midnight!

The logistics and military supplies were finally able to return to the city!

Gao Jinku's troops from Fengyang set out from Gaotang and arrived at the scene by midnight!

So, seeing that all the members had arrived, Xiao Jingchuan decided to retreat again at midnight based on the news from the front line, citing the enemy's rapid attack and the need to temporarily avoid the enemy's attack. He urgently deployed his troops and issued new orders to various units!

First, he ordered two deputy generals, Duan Hongcai and Gao Hu, to take 500 recruits from Huchen's army and rush to Changqing to block the north bank of the Yellow River west of Jinan!
At the same time, he sent people to cross the river to the south to find Ma Minglu and provide all kinds of artillery support!

Secondly, Xu Jizu's army of more than 800 people rushed to Jiyang and blocked the northeast of Jinan towards the north bank of the Yellow River!

When we see the enemy about to attack, we flee on a boat, cross the river to the south bank, and do not leave the enemy cavalry with any equipment for crossing the river!
Except for these two parts, the remaining troops were unified and followed Xiao Jingchuan to abandon Yucheng and retreat to Jihe City, 40 miles to the southeast!
It is backed by mountains and faces water, adjacent to the front section of the north bank of the Yellow River, and has also been built with fortifications!
It is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and this is where Xiao Jingchuan anchored his troops to retreat when the war on the northern front started!
Come later at night!
Just after General Xiao Jingchuan sent his troops to make a fuss, the troops in Yucheng and other places who had originally intended to set up camp set out again in the middle of the night in heavy rain and retreated southward in a hurry before they could even sit down!
At this point, excluding the two divisions of Changqing and Jiyang, the number of soldiers that Xiao Lang could dispatch at any time was only less than 6,000!

The next day was the 30th!

In the early morning before dawn, the people in Yucheng City were evacuated completely according to the order!

They chased after them, and at the beginning of the morning, a group of Jiannu Bahana came riding rapidly on horseback!

Seeing that his attack was in vain, Bahana became extremely angry, so he led a cavalry of one or two thousand and hurriedly chased southward, all the way to the north bank of the Yellow River, but he still could not find a single person!

Besides this, all the equipment for crossing the river could not be found, not even a single sampan!
He had no choice but to swallow his anger and ride back to the city of Yucheng with his head covered in dust and dirt!

August 1st!

Shi Tingzhu led a large army and pushed south to Yucheng!

The two bandit leaders reunited again, and in the afternoon of that day, they headed eastward and headed straight for Jihe City where Xiao Jingchuan was to attack and kill him!

Fortunately, during this time, the various units of Xiao's army had already been well-rested, set up camp firmly, and were ready for battle!
Even though the enemy was fierce and arrogant, Xiao's army relied on the city's defense advantage. The two armies fought to the death in the city for a whole day and night. The enemy was still unable to move forward and could not gain any advantage!
After a fierce battle, it was the second day of the next lunar year!
When Bahana saw that he couldn't beat Jihe, his old bad temper came back!

He was furious and angry, which inevitably caused conflicts with Shi Tingzhu and others in their accounts, and they had considerable differences of opinion!
If we follow Bahana's advice, we should turn our horses around, abandon the eastward direction, and head southwest! We should find an opportunity to start from the southwest, cross the south bank of the Ji River, and then head east, and attack from both land and water with Shi Tingzhu on the north and south of the Ji River!

By then, Xiao’s troops will be completely wiped out in one fell swoop!
However, Shi Tingzhu, who heard such empty talk, obviously disagreed with it!
After all, he has been in battle for a long time and is usually cautious.

You know, there are still many cities to be conquered from this southwest!

Moreover, if the northern line is not cleared, it would be unwise and too risky to rush to the south bank!
Even if we ignore the city of Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, how many troops are still stationed there!
Just the whole process of tossing around this thing would take you ten days or half a month to figure it out!

Moreover, when the troops were dispatched on July 27, Prince Rui Dorgon had already given personal orders, and only ordered the expedition to the northern line of Shandong!
The deadline is the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, and the day is just around the corner!
With comprehensive coordination, we were able to clear most of the northern line within ten days, but our manpower and time were already stretched to the limit!
If we give in to Bahana's wish and cause other matters to arise and become too involved, we will be careless and there will be no guarantee of what will happen in the future!

You absolutely cannot do this, and you absolutely cannot take such a risky step!
Ever since!
Just wait until the two generals leave their tents unhappily, and it will take less than an hour!
That Bahana had such a bad temper that he actually used the different marching purposes as an excuse to divide the troops and lead them alone to march southwest!
When Shi Tingzhu got the letter, he was furious and started cursing!
But in reality, there is no other way to control their army!
After all, with orders from above, there was no order of priority for the two divisions heading south!

It means that the two armies will join forces, encourage and share responsibilities together, each relying on their own abilities, and compete for military merit!

But in reality, after coming south, whenever the two groups of soldiers and horses got together, they would engage in intrigue and scheme against each other, which never stopped!
Everyone's abacus was clacking loudly, who was going to coordinate whose successors, and who was going to provide flanking assistance? !
With such behavior, both sides are dissatisfied, and it is only a matter of time before the quarrel reaches this point!

Considering the overall war situation, the impact is even greater!

However, there is no point in talking!

When it comes to the matter, Shi Tingzhu has no better solution at the moment. He can only swallow his anger and stay where he is to wait and see what happens!
Two days later!

Bahana led his army all the way to the southwest, while Shi Tingzhu supported them alone and held on to his position in front of Jihe City!
It was not until the southwest that news came that Bahana's troops had achieved victory, conquering the cities of Chiping and Dong'a, and that the advance troops had found a small number of boats and rafts west of the Feicheng river bank. With these, Bahana's troops prepared to cross the river and head straight for Feicheng!
When this information was passed back to Jihe City and heard by Shi Tingzhu, the commander of the central army, he finally couldn't sit still!
Some calculation and consideration!
Shi Tingzhu also didn't plan to waste any more time there!

Ever since!
On the night of the fourth day, he quietly sent his troops to withdraw from the camp at the west gate of the Ji River!
There were only 2,000 Han troops left, in an attempt to conceal the truth and continue to besiege the city to prevent part of Xiao's army from escaping and causing trouble!
PS: I have been working overtime these two days!

This has really gotten me really anxious, so I have to try my best to update once a day!

There are still two days of messy things to do tomorrow and the day after tomorrow!

The company is rushing this project and they really don't treat us like human beings!

Therefore, the update time may be a little late in the next two days!
I hope you readers will forgive me!
I can write. I’ve been staying up late to write!
Haha, the weather has been quite cool recently! I am just complaining, but you should put on more clothes in time and keep warm!

Good luck to everyone!

(End of this chapter)