Xie Ming

Chapter 435: Defeated and Retreated to Dezhou

The time came to the night of the eighth day of the first lunar month, the first quarter of the evening at Hai time (around 21: at night).

The sun and the moon alternate, and night falls!
After Xiao's army was defeated outside the southern gate of Gaotang early that morning, they passed through Xiajin and had no time to rest. They also hurriedly marched for another day, fleeing to the northeast, intending to rush to Dezhou City to meet up with Li Hongsheng!
Moreover, while they were retreating, Shi Tingzhu's detachment of more than 3,000 brave Yi cavalrymen were chasing them directly from behind, biting them relentlessly!

You can’t beat him, and you can’t run away!

For a moment, all the troops of Xiao's army were in a very awkward state. They were tense and trembling with fear, and were exhausted both physically and mentally!

"Long Court?!"

"call--"

"Whoa! Whoa!"

"Changting?!"

After a day of rapid march, by this time, Xiao's troops were exhausted and seemed to have reached the limit of fatigue!
So Xiao Jingchuan traveled on the road at night, and when he came to a high slope with many rocks, he reined in his horse, looked around hurriedly, and called Chang Ting to come!

"exist!"

"General! Changting is here!" He heard the voice, and not far away, Changting quickened his horse and followed closely, then went to report.

"General, what do you want to call me for?!" he asked.

"Hu——" Xiao let out another long breath.

"Changting, where are we now?!"

"You can't keep running like this!"

"We have to give the brothers who are following us a break!"

"Even if people can bear it, the horses will not be able to bear it!" Xiao Lai said worriedly.

"Ah, yes!"

"This place is east of Naiwu City, about twenty miles away from the city!"

"But it's still far from Texas!"

"I'm afraid we have to run at least another fifty miles north to reach the destination!"

While Changting was replying, he also had a chance to catch his breath.

I think the combined forces are all very tired!

Upon hearing and seeing this, Xiao Jingchuan let out a light sigh.

"call--"

"Look at the moon's shadow, it's probably almost midnight!"

"Changting, go and pass the order down!"

"The entire army will set up camp on the spot and take a short rest!"

"We have been traveling for a whole day. We are exhausted and can't go on any further!"

"Refresh yourselves, and we'll talk about this later!"

"Besides, Zhao Yingyuan's group that fell behind should also find a place to wait!" Xiao made a hasty plan.

Hearing this, Chang Ting suddenly relaxed, raised his eyebrows, clasped his fists and accepted the order!

"Yes!"

He then rode away in a hurry, delivering orders everywhere. Sun Peizhong, who had been guarding Xiao Lang nearby, also came forward to talk to him.

"Ugh!"

"Hu Chen led the light cavalry back to support us. It has been almost an hour now!"

"I hope nothing goes wrong!"

"If everything goes well, the infantrymen under Zhao Yingyuan, even if they are a little slow, should not be far away!" Peizhong was worried and expressed his concerns.

Hearing this, Xiao also felt annoyed and complained, and he vented it to Peizhong.

"Ugh!"

"His grandma's!"

"This whole day has been so damn suffocating!"

"Troops, combat power, and leg power!"

"If you don't practice with real swords and guns, it won't show up!"

"Pei Zhong, you have seen it all today!" "When our various tribes face the Tartar soldiers, it is really a loss. We can't win by fighting, and we can't escape by running!"

"If it weren't for the fact that I had used some tricks on the way, I could have temporarily diverted the pursuing barbarian cavalry to another route!"

"With the soldiers and recruits we have now, I'm afraid they couldn't hold on any longer and all died on the road!"

Xiao raised his eyes and glanced around, then lowered his voice, fearing that what he said should not be heard by the people below, as it would damage the morale of the soldiers!

Hearing this, Peizhong also looked embarrassed and laughed miserably!

"Yes!"

"I feel the same way."

"In theory, this is just a situation of a tug-of-war between the two sides, such as field warfare and mobile warfare!"

"That opponent, the Jiannu Yiding Cavalry, is really strong!"

"I can't accept it!"

"Oh, it would be great if we could have some cavalry like this in our team!"

"I'm so jealous!" Peizhong sighed and his words seemed quite realistic.

"Hehehe"

"Yes, yes, yes"

Hearing this, Xiao Jingchuan seemed to have no idea what to say in response. He sighed and felt melancholy, and could only say a few words to comfort her!
Afterwards, the two generals rode their horses forward for a while again, and then dismounted from their horses in front of a tall poplar tree on a high slope.
After walking a few more steps, he leaned against the tree and sat down on the ground to rest his feet.
The night of the eighth day of the first lunar month was a semi-cloudy day!
The hairy moon moved back and forth in the thick cumulonimbus clouds, appearing and disappearing from time to time!
Just another hour had passed!

It was just before midnight (close to 23:).

Zhao Yingyuan finally rushed back to the camp. He saw that all his men were so tired that they were almost unrecognizable!

During this long day, the various units of Xiao's army fought countless ambushes outside the southern gate of Gaotang, and then marched northward. On the way, they also encountered constant harassment from the cavalry sent by Shi Tingzhu!

So there were several small-scale fights on the road!

After much difficulty, we managed to lure the tiger away from the mountain, divert the enemy's pursuit, and disrupt their steps!

But if you just calculate, the loss is already around five hundred!

So now it seems that Xiao Jingchuan has enough troops and horses to mobilize in front of him, I'm afraid even two thousand heads would be hard to find!
Moreover, with the defeat in front and the embarrassing escape behind, the morale of the entire army was very depressed for a time.

Choose a camping spot here, with a high slope behind you!
If the enemy persists and insists on pursuing us in this dark night, then in order to protect our marching direction, we must run forward with fire!

Because of this, it was necessary for Xiao Lang to place his troops on the high slope!

Facing southwest, from a high place for surveillance, any flash of fire five miles away can be seen at a glance!
Only in this way can the few remaining troops be protected and allowed to rest in peace.

Even if the enemy attacks again, we can calmly reorganize the army and continue to escape, that's it!

but!

If only there was something awkward about this choice of location.
That is inseparable from the current solar term!
After all, the White Dew has passed and autumn is coming!
The temperature difference between morning and evening widens, especially when you are at high altitude, the wind blows all over the fields and the air becomes suddenly cool!

Before you know it, at late night, water vapor condensed on the ground, and the rising mist turned into dew!
At this moment, Xiao Jingchuan wrapped himself in a cloak to keep warm, but he did not take off his armor at all, and the moisture seeped into the lining through the seams.

It didn't take long before Xiao Lang felt extremely uncomfortable!

I feel wet and cold all over, it's so uncomfortable!

So, I couldn't fall asleep even if I closed my eyes, so I just gave up feeling sleepy!
Look far into the distance!

It seems that more than a month has passed since we led the army to the north bank!
Wars are going on everywhere, and scenes are emerging before my eyes!
When we first moved north, we were so high-spirited and full of fighting spirit!
And now we are in such a desperate situation, fleeing north in panic and trying to survive in the cracks. How sad it is!

How can one not feel disappointed and lost after seeing all these things? !
Is it wrong to strive so hard?

Or maybe the previous military strategy was not in line with the actual situation and needed to be adjusted urgently? !
Xiao Lang still asked himself!
It's hard to sort out the situation in a short while.
"warlord."

"warlord?!"

"hey-hey."

"I knew you weren't asleep!"

"Give!"

"I just boiled a kettle of hot water!"

"I made tea!"

"Drink it quickly, it will warm your body!"

Suddenly, Changting appeared from the darkness, no one knew how, holding a small charcoal-black iron stove in his hand, and approached him in a sneaky manner!

(End of this chapter)