Xie Ming

Chapter 434: Deepening the Front Line and Cutting Off the Retreat

General Xiao knew everything from the top of Jingchuan city wall!
Heisi Huchen led his troops to break through the maze!

When we got up in the morning on the fifth day, we were in front of Jihe Pass. As Shi Tingzhu had secretly passed through Chencang last night, he quietly took away most of the main forces!
As a result, Hei Sihu Chen led his troops to charge into the battle formation in the early morning and broke through the illusion!

At the west gate of Jihe River, the enemy force disappeared instantly and the pressure evaporated!
Later, Xiao Lang gave the order to open the West Gate wide!
Quickly send three teams of scouts to the east, west and north to scout out the enemy situation!

It didn't take long before the scouts all returned with their horses and reported that the enemy had been attacked from all three directions and there was really no trace of the enemy at all within twenty or thirty miles!

In response to this, Xiao Jingchuan carefully analyzed the situation and decided to take the initiative again!
Send people ahead to carry out urgent orders to search for Li Hongsheng, the hidden soldier in Deping!
Tell them to quickly mobilize their troops and seize Dezhou City! Cut off the absolute support supply line of the enemy coming from the south!

Then!

In Jihe City, soldiers and generals are selected!
It’s the beginning of the Si hour (nine o’clock in the morning)!

Xiao Lang led the entire army and almost all of them rushed out, marching quickly towards Deyucheng!
The evening of August 5th!

Successfully recaptured Yucheng!

They also captured several informants from the Tartar soldiers in the city and, under severe torture, got them to reveal the latest military secrets of the Shi Tingzhu and Bahana armies!

Afterwards, after a hasty discussion in the government hall, the generals decided that the army should not stop for rest, but continue to march westward to fight Gaotang again!

Early morning of the sixth day!

Xiao's army took advantage of the enemy's lax defense in the late night and began to attack the city before dawn!
But I didn't expect that it was only after the fight that I realized the situation was not right!
For a small city like Gaotang, if it were normal practice, there shouldn't be so many soldiers guarding the city!

After collecting information from various sources, I finally understood that this wave of enemies were rushing to attack the city at an unfortunate time!
The number of defenders in the city was less than a thousand!
The reason why the current situation is so bizarre is that yesterday, Shi Tingzhu had just dispatched an army of 2,000 men to go back north to reinforce the rear line of troops in Dezhou!

I happened to be here late last night, so I stayed here in Gaotang City for the night!

It's true that enemies meet on a narrow road!
People are better than God!

Xiao Jingchuan just ran over to challenge, and bumped into him head-on!

Therefore, on the city of Gaotang, the officers and soldiers defending the city, relying on their numbers and city defense advantages, were fearless and fought back and forth with a part of Xiao's army during the night attack!
Until noon the next day!
After attacking for most of the day, Gaotang City was still difficult to capture and no success was achieved!

In response to this, part of Xiao's army had to passively adjust their formation and change their strategy!
After Xiao Jingchuan's plan, he decided in the afternoon to send out a plan to besiege the point and attack the reinforcements!
While he was hunting rabbits, he also sent a group of Hu Chen to occupy Xiajin, a city further west. He planned to set up an ambush formation and see if he could gain some advantage by heading south from Gaotang and getting reinforcements!

Don’t wait long!

Time will soon arrive at the seventh night!
Shi Tingzhu originally intended to head southwest and seize the military forces in Chiping and Dong'a. However, after reaching Champa, he had no time to make any arrangements!

This urgent matter of sending a message to Gaotang in the north was reported by scouts in the city!

Shi Tingzhu was furious!
He had planned a good game to seize the city, but now he had to give up halfway because Xiao's army was causing trouble!
How can it make its teeth itch? !
But after he suppressed his anger and made some quick calculations, he had no choice but to take corresponding actions in response!

Afterwards, after they occupied Chiping and Dong'a and obtained the officers of Bahana's rear army who stayed in the city for negotiation, they had no choice but to retain half of their troops to guard the city! Shi Tingzhu himself once again led the main force to break camp and head north to solve the dilemma of Gaotang, an important city on the rear line!

The morning of the eighth day!

The two armies met again in a formidable conflict between a group of hills and ravines more than 20 miles outside the southern gate of Gaotang.

At that time, the number of soldiers and horses that Shi Tingzhu brought back for reinforcements was about 10,000!
However, the number of Xiao's army was only around 5,000!

Even though Xiao Jingchuan had made careful plans and set up an ambush in advance!

But after all, the difference in number of people is more than twice, and no matter how hard they try before the battle, it is still difficult to perform a miracle!

Moreover, Shi Tingzhu is leading elite troops, and the Jiannu cavalry is in the front!

Just when Xiao had just set up the pocket formation, these elite cavalry suddenly rushed forward, and the two wings behind them made a detour!

With the help of Shi Tingzhu's backhand attack, they almost got surrounded and beaten by the various troops of Xiao's army!

Seeing this, Xiao Jingchuan also realized that the situation was hopeless and he could not linger any longer!

So an order was hastily issued, and all troops were ordered to withdraw quickly and retreat to the west of Gaotang. Hu Chen was able to occupy Xiajin City and take some time to rest!
That's it!
Even after being ambushed, Shi Tingzhu still managed to force his way out towards Gaotang with a 1:1 casualty ratio!
After the encounter, both sides lost about two thousand men!
For Shi Tingzhu, this kind of reduction in consumption is nothing and will not cause any big problem!

But no one in Xiao’s army is so generous as to squander like this!
After this battle, the number of soldiers under Xiao Lang's command has been reduced by half to more than two thousand!
I think it is no longer possible to hinder Shi Tingzhu in Gaotang and Xiajin areas!
Ever since!
It is not possible to stay in the small town of Xiajin for long!

After his troops gradually gathered and scattered their troops, Xiao Jingchuan discussed with the other generals and decided to retreat northward as quickly as possible!

Escape to Dezhou City and reunite with Li Hongsheng!
at the same time!

In the southwestern shell city of Bahana, by the eighth day, the vanguard army had already successfully crossed the river and captured Feicheng!

Duan Hongcai and Gao Hu tried their best, but due to their weaker soldiers, they were forced to flee in panic after burning most of the equipment for crossing the river!
In this battle of Feicheng, the two generals Duan and Gao and the soldiers under their command suffered a terrible defeat!

While he was fleeing in a hurry, the enemy cavalry chased him and bit him fiercely!

After finally getting out of the battle, they counted and found that there were only a dozen riders left in front of the two generals!

Moreover, Hongcai's knife wound on his waist had broken open, so he had to be taken care of by Gao Hu. The two of them planned to return to Jinan City temporarily to treat each other and spread the news of the war to the west!

In this section, Bahana’s attack was fierce and powerful!
After capturing Feicheng, they continued to prepare their troops and were not idle, planning to launch a full-scale attack on Jinan Prefecture soon!

This battle situation, on the eighth day of the first lunar month, Yibei heard about it and reached Shi Tingzhu's ears when he arrived in Gaotang City!

Shi Tingzhu, standing in the middle, felt like the defeated general of Xiao's army. With less than 3,000 soldiers, he was like a rat crossing the street. It was impossible for him to cause any more trouble, so there was no need to worry!
However, the army heading south to Bahana is more likely to face serious dangers!
To hinder the Pakistani army's front-line movements!

After Shi Tingzhu rescued Gaotang, he decided to change direction and lead his troops back south to completely control the pass of Dong'a in order to cut off the logistics of the Ba army!
As for Xiao's army that fled to the north, he only sent out a detachment of more than 3,000 troops to pursue and suppress the enemy in order to consume their resources!
(End of this chapter)