In the darkness, a group of men and horses rushed forward with only weak firelight. The leading officer was tall and handsome, and the man behind him was even taller. His feet could almost touch the ground while riding on the horse. He held a flag in his left hand, with "Ding" embroidered on the flag.
"Kui Squadron".
They rushed into a valley without stopping, and torches were lit in the valley to guide them forward.
It turned out that there were many people and horses resting quietly in the valley. Only some horses were stimulated by the fire and made irritating noises. Other than that, no human sounds could be heard.
"Report! The trip is back." A voice broke the silence.
Phew, a bonfire was lit in the center of the valley, and Jin Man, fully armed, stood aside.
"Okay, bring him over quickly." He tugged on the straps of his helmet and tightened his chin.
Ji Xing ran nearby, turned over and dismounted, walked quickly to Jin Man, knelt down on one knee and said: "Informing Commander Jin, Gu Jun has led his army to the ambush site."
Now he has been promoted to the first captain. This time he did not see the mixed corps. Instead, he led the cavalry to listen to orders under Jin Man's tent. Today he was ordered to contact Gu Jun, the commander of the second mixed corps. During the day, he led a squadron out and arrived.
Just rushed back now.
"Very good! It's our turn." Jin Man jumped on the war horse brought by his own soldiers, "Everyone obeys the order and goes out in order from the smallest to the largest according to the order of each division and regiment!"
The valley suddenly became lively. Countless torches were lit. Officers at all levels were greeting their subordinates. Tens of thousands of people mounted their war horses and quickly assembled the entire team.
Jin Man took the lead to arrive at the exit of the valley, followed by a small group of flag bearers including military flags, handsome flags, and battle flags.
He looked back and saw that a large team of Ji Xing Command followed him, so he waved and shouted: "Come out!"
An earth-yellow torrent rushed out of the valley and ran toward the southwest.
The Second Army of the Central and Northern Army rested one night in Wakhan City and set out early the next morning, intending to reach Ji'an County before dark. The military camp in the county town was much spacious, and a hundred thousand troops did not have to sleep together.
During peacetime, the army could not enter the city to rest, but Shaodian troops invaded Ji'an County. For safety reasons, the army commander Shen Sai was forced to order the troops to spend the night in the city to avoid being attacked by the enemy.
"The messenger from Wakhan City came to report, and Nuanye City sent a message. It is suspected that a large number of enemy troops are active."
"Nuanye City?" Shen Sai just left Wakhan City. "It's more than a hundred miles away. Have they been attacked?"
"No." A staff officer replied, "The enemy is relatively far away from the city, so they didn't dare to go out to investigate."
"Well, the lack of siege means that the number of enemy troops is limited. It will be noon after traveling more than a hundred miles. We will wait until we find out the situation. Order the forward troops to be careful, and the Chinese army to slow down and keep a distance of twenty miles from the forward troops.
The rearguard troops should stay ten miles away from the central army. We must not fall into the enemy's suspicion tactics!" Shen Sai was worried about an ambush ahead.
It was past ten o'clock in the morning, and the forward of the Second Central and North Army Corps encountered an ambush. Shensai immediately ordered the forward to retreat, and the Chinese army found a small high slope to form an array.
Because the distance between the forwards was relatively wide, the Chinese army had enough time to prepare, and the rearguards also moved up in time.
"Your Majesty, the enemy is not pursuing us." The forward troops were defeated and retreated. Due to special instructions from Shen Sai, the casualties were not large, with only more than a thousand casualties.
"Where are the soldiers and horses?" Shen Sai did not dare to be careless and sent two more squadrons of scouts.
"A Shaodian man, his flag is the mixed second legion, but his humble position saw Gu Jun in the army."
The vanguard troops had fought against the 21st Legion, and many people had seen Gu Jun, the dominant knight who often flew around in the sky.
"Gu Jun's troops? How many people are there? Then who is fighting Jing Shuai in Nanguo County?" Shen Sai was confused.
There are Shaodian troops everywhere these days, let alone Bei County. The enemies leaked from Nanzhao Prefecture are dealt with by the Northern Route Army. Nanguo County has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses playing hide and seek with Jing Xuan. Ji'an County is said to have 100,000 soldiers and horses.
Heading straight to Xiong'an City, Gu Jun is now ambushing in front. In the morning, he said that there were traces of enemy troops behind him.
"At least fifty thousand people."
"Fifty thousand, if I guessed correctly, Xiong'an City is safe now. Gu Jun's goal is the county town. He laid an ambush in front and arranged a suspect army behind me. He wanted to slow down my march so that I could have more time.
There is enough time to capture the county seat, and then wait for Ding Kui from the northern county to outflank him. Yes! What a cunning guy!"
The more Shen Sai thought about it, the more he realized that this was the case, so he immediately ordered: "The forward should be replaced by the rear guard, the Chinese army should be replaced by the forward, and the rear guard should be replaced by the central army. Each unit is ten miles apart, so go out immediately!"
To be honest, even if he guesses wrong, he is not afraid of Gu Jun's 50,000 men. He has 100,000 troops at his disposal.
The Second Central and Northern Army Corps no longer waited for the enemy in formation, but simply set up a large frontal arrow formation and advanced directly towards the county town.
When we arrived at the place where the enemy had ambushed just now, we saw no human beings except for the corpses of our own soldiers on the ground.
Shen Sai was a little anxious. If the county town was lost, he would have to fight back. The price he would have to pay would be much higher.
"The 12th and 13th Divisions will advance lightly and rush to the county town as soon as possible. If they encounter enemy troops, just entangle them and wait for the larger troops to go and deal with them." He decided to take the initiative.
The original number of the Central Army was 50,000, but now there are only 30,000 left. The formation of the Second Central and North Army has lengthened into four parts: 20,000, 30,000, 20,000, and 30,000, stretching back and forth across fifty miles.
When the time came to noon, Shen Sai was still hesitating whether to stop for a meal, when suddenly there were fast horses galloping in front and behind.
"Report! Enemies are encountered ahead. The 12th and 13th divisions are fighting with them. Please support them."
"Report! The rear guard has been attacked by enemy cavalry, please return for rescue!"
The two messengers ran to the commander's flag almost at the same time.
"Oops, I fell into a trap!" Shen Sai felt cold all over, "The hit army formed a formation on the spot and must not rescue the rearguard troops; the order to rush to the county town was cancelled, and the 12th and 13th Divisions tried their best to move closer to the Chinese army."
There should be no chaos at this time. The troops attacked by the cavalry will not be able to be rescued in time. You must gather your troops first and do not let the enemy cavalry charge all the way.
That's right, Jin Man was following the Second Central and North Army Corps. He was on the road in the middle of the night last night. The 40,000 cavalry troops made too much noise. When they passed Nuanye City, they were spotted by their own countrymen but they didn't stop.
After they found the traces of the march of the Second Central and North Army Corps, they stopped on the roadside to take a rest. Each of them chewed a few pieces of dried meat, wetted their lips and tongue with water, and disposed of the garbage in their stomachs on the spot.
When everything was ready, they mounted their horses again, followed the footprints, and caught up with the rearguard at noon.
Coincidentally, the rearguard unit that had been ambushed by Gu Jun came to the place where it was ambushed in the morning, stopped to collect the remains of its comrades, and searched the wilderness for equipment and flags that had been discarded before. Unexpectedly, the overwhelming cavalry rushed up from behind.
.
As the saying goes, misfortune never comes alone. This unlucky army was instantly dispersed. Thirty thousand people fled in all directions. They had no intention of organizing themselves and fighting the enemy to the death.
Jin Man took the lead and rushed to the front, waiting for him to pass through his own troops and rush to a deserted place without a drop of blood on his body.
"What's going on? Although Shen Sai is scheming, his subordinates are not that weak. They were defeated without even fighting?" He turned his horse's head, turned around and looked at the battlefield, and found that his men were chasing his own troops on one side.
.
When he was in Zhongwangzhou, the two armies would occasionally fight, and they had a certain degree of familiarity with each other. Jin Man formulated his strategy from the beginning to attack Shensai's Second North and Central Army, but he never expected such a scene.
"Follow me for five miles! Don't chase those who run into the village. There are enemies ahead." Jin Man quickly gave an order to restrain his men.
They came across the border this time and did not take prisoners. Their purpose was to kill their own troops as much as possible, severely beat Jing Xuan, and weaken the hostile forces in the Zhongwangzhou Theater.
The cavalry got excited and didn't know where they would pursue them. Fortunately, Jin Man's order was given in time, and the troops rushed back five miles away without pursuing them relentlessly.
In this battle, two-thirds of our own troops were killed, and less than 10,000 of our own troops escaped with their lives. If they were not familiar with the terrain and had friendly troops as bait, it would be good to have 20,000 of them left.
Jin Man finally gathered 40,000 cavalry and caught up with his army again. He found that they were already in a tight formation and about 50,000 people were surrounding a high slope.
Ping ping ping, two magic light bullets rose up in the distance, "Bypass them, help Gu Jun deal with the enemies over there first." Jin Man recognized that it was the signal from the Shaodian Army.
Gu Jun's men were chasing the 12th and 13th Divisions of the North Central Division. Knowing that Jin Man was behind them, he deliberately opened a distance to let his troops run, and his troops chased behind them like chasing ducks.
"Split into two groups: the left and right! Don't let our troops get scattered, drive them to the high slope." Jin Man had no intention of annihilating the 12th and 13th Central and North Divisions.
He wanted to sandwich these defeated troops and drive them towards the main position of his own army.
Gu Jun saw Jin Man's intention and immediately ordered reinforcements, also outflanking him on the left and right.
The two Shaodian armies add up to about 90,000 people, and the Central and Northern Second Army has less than 70,000 left. The gap in strength is not very big. However, the Shaodian army has more cavalry and the formation should be better. If it is disrupted by the defeated army,
With the formation of the main force, our army will definitely suffer a disastrous defeat.
"Attack the whole army! Go down and fight for your life if you want to survive! Shouting to the defeated army, if they don't turn around, we will kill them too!" Shen Sai made a decisive decision and made a desperate move.
When things got to this point, it was either death or death, and our army had no other choice.
"Leave a hole in the southwest and let them escape partially." Jin Man sneered, "I don't believe that four legs can't run as well as two legs."
He understands the principle of a trapped animal still fighting. A rabbit bites when it is anxious. He cannot push the enemy to a desperate situation and must give way to a way out.
Shaodian's cavalry suddenly increased, rushing into the defeated troops from the side, charging and killing for a while before our own troops arrived on the slope, and then left the battlefield from the other side; the infantry, under the command of Gu Jun, formed multiple circular formations and hit the main force of our own troops one after another.
By pulling, the downward momentum of our own army was resolved.
When people see hope of escape in desperate situations, no one can stop them!
Some of our own troops found that there were no enemies in the southwest and ran over. The officers couldn't stop shouting. After cutting down several deserters, the officers also joined the fleeing ranks.