Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 370 Zhao Yun is here!

Soldiers who have lost their organization are actually not much different from a herd of pigs. In fact, because people are afraid, they are easier to catch than a herd of pigs that are fleeing and scattering!
Therefore, the military problem of all dynasties was how to preserve more troops during the retreat. Li Song chose to withdraw his troops with the intention of using the lives of a few soldiers in exchange for the orderly retreat of the majority of them.

It was precisely because Li Song withdrew his troops in an orderly manner, with cavalry soldiers patrolling on the left and right, that Zhang He did not dare to let his troops pursue on their own. Instead, in order to avoid being attacked by the combined forces, he reorganized the formation every time he pursued for a certain distance.

Therefore, looking down from the sky, we can see that more than a thousand elite soldiers of the Bing army stayed behind and blocked Zhang He for a long time before being defeated by the Ji army. The defeated soldiers and horses of the stayed behind were defeated and allowed the Ji army to chase and kill them. Only a few elite soldiers were able to escape.

At the same time, because of the troops blocking Zhang He, the Bing army led by Li Song opened up a considerable distance with the Ji army and quickly retreated towards Qingshankou. After Zhang He defeated the troops left behind, in order to capture more Bing army soldiers, he continued to lead his troops to pursue and vowed to defeat Li Song.

The pursuit lasted from day to sunset, from Liugong Bridge to Qingshan Valley Road.

In order to escape pursuit, the Bing army kept abandoning baggage along the way. If there was no order, they would have fled in disarray. The Ji army coveted the spoils of war, but Zhang He ordered them not to pick them up, so they had to focus on pursuit.

It is obvious that if Li Song used his troops blindly or withdrew in panic, he would be defeated by Zhang He's pursuit.

However, even so, some of the soldiers of the Bing army who fell behind could not keep up with the speed of the withdrawal, so they threw away their weapons and begged for mercy from the pursuing Ji army soldiers. Zhang He did not bother to pay attention to the soldiers begging for surrender, and only left a few hundred old and weak soldiers to gather the surrendered soldiers, while he led the army to continue the pursuit.

As the sun set, Li Song and Hao Zhao retreated 30 miles and could see Qingshan Pass with the naked eye, which made the soldiers of the Bing army breathe a sigh of relief. The rugged terrain of Qingshan Pass was enough to shake off Zhang He's pursuit.

"The general is about to reach Qingshankou!" the soldier said excitedly, pointing ahead.

Seeing the familiar mountain pass, Li Song looked back at the exhausted soldiers and said with shame: "It is my fault that I fell into Zhang He's trap. Blame me for being greedy and reckless."

"Let's go!"

Hao Zhao rode up, holding the reins in his hand, and said comfortingly: "Victory and defeat are common in the military, General, why should you blame yourself? It is not easy to preserve the army now. Besides, the reason you left Qingshankou is to relieve the siege of Puwu."

Hao Zhao's words were true. Li Song's defeat after burning the grain was not because of his rash actions, but because of the situation. He did not expect that this opportunity came from Zhang He's plan, who deliberately sent news to the Bing army to lure Li Song out of Qingshankou to burn the grain. It can be said that in the duel between Li Song and Zhang He, Zhang He won by setting an ambush first.

Li Song sighed and said, "Zhang He is an extraordinary general, and he is very resourceful in his use of troops. He is highly regarded by Yuan Shao, so his military strategy is really good. He is a great enemy to our army!"

Zhang He was not a direct descendant of Yuan Shao, but he was a military commander under Han Fu for his contributions in suppressing the Yellow Turbans. After Yuan Shao took control of Jizhou, Zhang He repeatedly made achievements in the battles with Gongsun Zan, and was appreciated by Yuan Shao, who appointed him as the Lieutenant General of Ning State. When Yuan Shao was Duke of Wei, he was promoted to General of Suppressing Bandits.

For example, in history, when Cao Cao attacked Guandu, Zhang He was entrusted with an important task by Yuan Shao, and he led troops with Gao Lan to attack Cao's camp. This shows from the side that Zhang He's military strategy should not be underestimated, otherwise Yuan Shao would not have entrusted such an important task to Zhang He.

When Cao Cao got Zhang He, he used Han Xin to evaluate Zhang He. Although there was some exaggeration, it showed Zhang He's military strategy. Liu Bei knew that he had to kill Xiahou Yuan, and he felt sorry for not getting Zhang He, which shows how good Zhang He's military strategy was!
It was just that Zhang He's rebellion on the battlefield was so terrible that Cao Wei did not dare to use him and often sent generals to supervise Zhang He.

Seeing Li Song praising Zhang He, the cavalry general Hu Yanle disagreed and said, "We fell into a trap by accident. Why do we overestimate Zhang He? If Zhang He was well versed in military strategy, he would have sent another army to attack Qingshan Pass and annihilate our army here."

Not long after he finished speaking, he heard drums suddenly sound on the hill on the right, the flags of the Ji army were raised, and shouts of killing resounded up and down the hill. The sound was so loud that it caused great panic among the soldiers of the Bing army.

Seeing this scene, Li Song was shocked. The troops were exhausted after retreating here. Now Zhang He ambushed them here, so he was going to wipe out the whole army. Hu Yanle wanted to cry but had no tears. He wanted to slap himself and blame himself for his bad mouth.

"Ha ha!"

Zhang He's pursuers were only a few miles away from the Bing army. When he saw that the troops he had arranged to cut off Qingshankou were in place, he couldn't help but laugh triumphantly. He said to the soldiers on his left and right, "There are four generals under Zhang Yu's command, namely Zhang Liao, Zhang Yang, Xu Huang, and Li Song. Among them, Li Song is a famous general in Bingzhou. He has been stationed in the northern border for a long time. His reputation is resounding throughout the Han and Hu people. He also had the merit of defeating the Ming army with thousands of troops. He is highly valued by Zhang Yu."

"However, looking at Li Song's ability, he first fell into my trap and then was ambushed by my army. He must be a man of false reputation. And Zhang Yang was promoted because of his marriage, and he had already been defeated by me before. But I don't know how much military strategy Zhang Liao and Xu Huang have. Can they compete with me!" Zhang He said with a little pride.

"Congratulations, General Zhang!"

Xin Ping praised: "The enemy has 10,000 soldiers and horses. If we can defeat them this time, it will severely damage the enemy's morale and help General Yan defeat Puwu, making Shandong respect him. If the Lord knows the general's achievements, he will surely order a generous reward, and he will be promoted to a marquis in no time."

Zhang He pretended to be modest and said, "It is my ambition to help you unify the world."

"General Zhang is loyal to his duties, and I admire him very much!"

After his achievements, Zhang He's passionate words made Xin Ping think that Zhang He was a loyal minister of Yuan Shao. Little did he know that Zhang He was just a pure worker, and it was not easy for him not to rebel in a critical moment.

While Zhang He and Xin Ping were congratulating themselves, the soldiers and generals saw that there were ambushes in front of them and pursuers behind them, and chaos gradually broke out in the army.

"General, retreat!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, his confidants hurriedly advised Li Song to retreat. Li Song looked around, then looked at the soldiers who were scolding him, and his expression was dazed. Before the expedition, he vowed to make achievements. Now that the expedition was not going well, he must not let the army be damaged here, and these were the troops he led personally.

"Your Excellency has given me ten thousand soldiers and horses, but now we have been defeated miserably in Qingshan. I have no face to see you!" Li Song said sadly.

Since Zhang Yu made his fortune, Li Song had been almost invincible. How could he experience defeat? Especially now that he was entrusted with an important task, he wanted to win and make achievements. However, he was defeated and had to lose the troops he led. This made Li Song unable to accept it for a while.

"Let's go!"

Compared to Li Song, who was somewhat mentally broken, although Hao Zhao was reluctant to give up his troops, he could still accept it. After the battle was like this, there was nothing to say. He could only go back and apologize to the Lord and come back next time.

"I led the troops out of Qingshan, and now they are stranded here. How can I escape alone? Bodao can lead the cavalry to withdraw and report this matter to you, my lord." Li Song said, unwilling to leave his troops and intending to stay and fight.

At the same time, the deafening drumbeats became clearer, and the shouts mixed in with them made the soldiers of the Bing army more and more panicked. The ambushed soldiers on the hills took advantage of the mountain's momentum to rush down, and the front-row Bing army soldiers fled after a little resistance, unlike the invincible Bing army that followed Zhang Yu in the past.

Moreover, the pursuit cavalrymen charged forward, and the chaotic sound of horse hooves caused great panic among the infantrymen at the rear. The once brave cavalrymen were perhaps ambushed, and their minds were in a state of confusion, and they were unable to stop the charge of the Ji cavalrymen.

Seeing the soldiers running away in panic, the officers were furious and beat their subordinates repeatedly, but to no avail. Many soldiers broke away from the main force and fled towards Qingshankou, as if returning to Qingshankou would save their lives.

Seeing that Li Song was reluctant to leave and the enemy troops were already engaged in a fierce battle with our army, Hao Zhao said anxiously, "The general is a general that you value highly and is well-known in Shanxi. If he is killed here, wouldn't it shake the morale of the army? Victory and defeat are common in the military. When you lead your troops out of the mountains, you can regroup and defeat Zhang He. Then we can take Zhang He's head and hold a memorial ceremony for the soldiers who died in the battle."

Li Song wanted to flee, but he couldn't do it because of his face. After all, among the generals under Zhang Yu, he was as famous as Zhang Liao and Xu Huang. If he abandoned the army and ran away, he would not only be ashamed to face Zhang Yu, but also the generals.

In short, Li Song had a heavy image burden on him, and he was not like Zhang He, who was good at adapting to changing sides in the battle or abandoning his horse and fleeing.

When Li Song was struggling with his inner struggle, he suddenly heard his close associates calling out in surprise.

"General!"

The henchman pointed at the entrance to the Qingshan Pass and shouted, "Our reinforcements have arrived!"

Li Song and Hao Zhao looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a cavalry unit with a "Zhao" flag rushing out like a gust of wind. The coming general was none other than Zhao Yun, who was chasing them.

Seeing this scene, the morale of the soldiers was boosted. Even the soldiers who had previously deserted the army stopped in their tracks when they saw the familiar flags, wanting to see the battlefield situation and whether they should return to the team to fight.

"Don't worry about crossing Liao, Zhao Yun is here!"

Zhao Yun held a spear and rode his horse, leading dozens of riders at a rapid pace, heading straight for the general's flag.

Li Song rode his horse to meet Zhao Yun at the road entrance.

"Du Liao!"

"Zilong arrived at the right time!"

Li Song said excitedly: "Zhang He is chasing us from behind, and the ambushes are attacking us from both sides of the road. Our troops are scattered and it is difficult to issue military orders. The Yunzhong and Xihe armies are the best troops. You should lead the cavalry to meet them and see if you can rescue most of them."

Zhao Yun bowed to Li Song and said solemnly, "I have already learned about the situation. Zhang He is now chasing us. If we withdraw, the situation in Shandong will be hard to recover. Zhang Yan will be defeated and return to Jingxing, and you will lose the way to Youzhou. I have led my troops here to test Zhang He's bravery."

"Good!"

Li Song was overjoyed and did not care about his position as commander. He said, "If Zilong has a plan, then Song and Bodao are willing to be sent by Zilong to lead the army to attack Zhang He together."

Li Song was frank. Although he cared about his image, he cared more about the lives of his soldiers and the situation in Shandong. After all, from another perspective, as the head coach, if Li Song could turn defeat into victory, he would have made a contribution.

Seeing that Li Song handed over the command to him, Zhao Yun calmed down and said, "I used to bluff Yuan Shao in Liao Dynasty, but now we should use this trick to drive Zhang He back."

"The current situation is very favorable to Zhang He. If we want Zhang He to believe it, we need to disturb him." Li Song said.

"Yun is willing to do it!"

(End of this chapter)