Temptation, it is difficult for people to resist temptation.
Temptations that can be rejected are usually just rational considerations after analyzing the pros and cons.
He Huchen's troops were the biggest temptation in the world to Liu Chengzong.
These Ningxia border troops are the most difficult troops the Lion Battalion has ever seen, or in other words, they may be the closest to normal border troops.
But it is only close to normal. Although there was no drought in Ningxia last year, the land in Ningxia cannot grow money, so it still owes money.
Even so, the Lion Camp may not be able to defeat the Ningxia Camp if it is fought in a different terrain and on a sunny day without rain.
Because there are almost no shortcomings in Ningxia Camp, but the shortcomings of Lion Camp are very obvious.
Tangqi.
In addition to fighting against Zhang Yundeng's Yanzhou soldiers, Fenzhou guards, and Pingyang guards' banner troops, in all the battles between the Lion Battalion and the border troops, Wei Qian'er's Tangqi was always suppressed.
And in terms of the speed of transmitting messages, it is an era behind the border army.
News from the Lion Camp, day or night, relies on four legs and a mouth.
As for He Huchen's Tangqi, they were ten or twenty miles apart. As soon as the Tangqi waved his flag along the way, the news was delivered.
It's not that Liu Chengzong had never seen such Tangqi before, but such Tangqi... all died in the battle.
For example, Li Bei was killed by Zhang Tianlin with regular cavalry during the battle.
Another example is Aimu's, who was also completely plucked out by Yang Yao's troops before the battle began.
However, He Huchen's army still has a complete Tangqi unit. If this unit can surrender and join the Lion Camp, then Liu Chengzong will have the opportunity to form a Tangqi unit of the Lion Camp.
Make up for your last shortcoming compared with the frontier army.
From now on, you can use Tangqi to suppress the enemy Tangqi.
His large army was still forty miles away, and the Tangqi troops of the official army were compressed to within ten miles. All departments of the official army began to be forced to wear armor and defend in all directions.
Just thinking about this scene, Liu Chengzong's heart was filled with happiness.
It’s just a pain for Lion Camp outpost commander Yang Yao.
To the west of Huanglong Mountain, Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin, the two 'fast runners' joined forces.
Both of them are experts in using cavalry, one is good at attacking and the other is good at running. When Du Wenhuan's remaining troops exited the city, the two troops cut off the communication channels with He Huchen's remaining troops from the outside.
Zhang Tianlin also conveniently used Li Laojiao's name to steal two forts in Yanzhou.
The Yanzhou soldiers in the city were so angry that they couldn't do anything about it.
All their weapons and armor were robbed by Aimu's retainers. They have been busy purchasing weapons when they returned to Yanzhou. Now they haven't even collected the weapons, let alone armor.
They didn't dare to go out of the city to fight. Fortunately...it's not a good thing to say, but Master Zhang of the Hexi Army was gone, and no one urged them to go to war.
Zhang Tianlin was still weak, so he broke down two forts, had twenty stones of millet transported, threw it to the military supervisory platform in the south of Yanzhou City, and shouted to the city across the Luo River: "Brothers of the Yanzhou soldiers, what are you doing?"
Throw it here!"
The Yanzhou soldiers in the city were so angry that they were itching their teeth. Of course they wouldn't take it, but they couldn't stop the people from thinking that they were collaborating with thieves.
The food was left outside the city for two days. When it started to rain, the poor people were asked to take it home secretly at night.
The next day, word spread in the northern and southern suburbs of Yanzhou City that Yanzhou soldiers had taken away the grain left by the thieves.
Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin had no choice but to attack He Huchen's village twice.
At first, a thousand people were stationed in the stronghold. Later, those thousand people moved eastward to suppress the troops, and the number of soldiers stationed in the stronghold became 600.
It was the headquarters of the two commanders that He Huchen had sent to the north to pursue Zhang Tianlin earlier. The commander in front led his troops into the camp safely, while the commander in the back was tortured by Zhang Tianlin, and because he had led a few mutton skewers, he was intercepted by Yang Yao. In the last two groups, there were only 600 people left to guard the camp.
The strong attack failed, so Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin discussed and dug three trenches on the outside. They would not be allowed to escape if they could not defeat it.
But during the siege, the two of them were not capable of this.
After all, it was raining, and he and Zhang Tianlin were not having a hard time.
Moreover, there are Yanzhou soldiers in Yanzhou, Yan'an City to the north, Jinsuoguan and Yaozhou to the south, and Qingyang Mansion to the west. It can be said that it is connected in all directions.
With two people like them, it's okay for them to fight in a field for a short period of time, but if they are surrounded, they will only become more and more panicked.
Suddenly one day, Yang Yao discovered that there were more troops stationed in the village.
Yang Yao could tell from the scale of the excrement dumped by the officers and soldiers in the village every day that these Ningxia soldiers were very bad and they didn't want to run away.
When it rains, these things cannot be dug in the camp, so the Ningxia soldiers send people to carry buckets out every morning to empty them out.
They found that Yang Yao was digging trenches to cut off the road, and these Ningxia soldiers who were dumping sewage poured the sewage directly into the trenches.
Yang Yao was so angry that my grandpa built a big hut for you.
But at first, there were only about twenty soldiers dumping excrement every day, and suddenly there were more than fifty soldiers.
Based on this change, Yang Yao judged that another 600 troops were stationed in the camp.
Yang Yao stood on the top of a distant mountain, watching the soldiers dumping dung water in the rain, with an uncertain expression on his face, and said to Zhang Tianlin: "The number of soldiers in the village is the same as ours."
At this moment, they no longer thought about the siege.
Take the initiative to withdraw the defense line and start looking for terrain suitable for an ambush in the surrounding area.
However, the Ningxia officers and soldiers in the village had no intention of breaking out. Instead, they deployed defenses on the official road to the east, and even sent troops to drive them away once.
There were casualties on each other, and after fighting for a while, Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin retreated.
Two days later, there were more than 30 soldiers pouring excrement water, but they poured it out once in the morning and once in the evening.
More troops have been added.
Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin calculated that there were nearly two thousand officers and soldiers in the village.
The two of them couldn't figure out why they discovered such a situation.
The information Yang Yao received was that Liu Chengzong expected to fight He Huchen in Yichuan. Even if they ran and marched, they would not be able to return so quickly after fighting in Yichuan.
So he considered whether it was because of the rain on the mountain road that the Ningxia soldiers retreated and there was no fighting between the two sides.
Then the situation now will be that the main force of the Lion Battalion is trapped in the mountain road, with He Huchen in the west and Du Wenhuan in the east.
Yang Yao was so anxious that he scratched his head and discussed with Zhang Tianlin: "No, we have to find something for He Huchen to lure him to attack us."
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"Are you crazy?"
Zhang Tianlin had just developed a good impression of the Lion Camp outpost commander, but in the blink of an eye, the good impression disappeared completely: "He has more than 2,000 frontier troops, and I have so many recruits. A battle with the wind is fine, but if you encounter a slight setback, you will be defeated."<
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Yang Yao scratched his head: "What should we do? Why don't you just rest and I'll find trouble for him."
He explained: "The general is blocked in the mountains. A gap must be opened here, otherwise the Lion Battalion will be blocked inside. At least He Huchen can still run if he is provoked outside."
The two men were anxiously thinking of a solution, and then they discovered that something was wrong with the defenders at the camp.
"Why are there people wearing unlined clothes and others with empty hands?"
In the camp across the Luo River from them, He Huchen was also extremely troubled.
The significance of this camp was originally the same as when Liu Chengzong asked Zhong Hushao to set up camp on the mountain road, it was just to prevent the retreat from being cut off.
However, the construction of camps is related to the number of defenders. Just like Nanjing City is obviously an impregnable city, but most of the time it has almost no defensive power.
The city's defense facilities in Nanjing include more than 10,000 crenels alone, and ten defenders at one crenel station would have an army of 130,000.
The bigger the camp is built, the more guarding power it must have. Therefore, the camp at Xishankou is not big. It is just a camp with a garrison of 600 people.
There were 1,300 people in the 600-person camp. It was extremely crowded and there were problems with eating, drinking and sleeping.
He Huchen finally spent a day to revive the morale of the defeated army.
It is indeed not easy to boost the morale of his defeated army.
The elite soldiers who were the first to engage in the battle fled three times in a short period of time, and the soldiers on the second line of defense were also defeated twice. They were all frightened.
After marching for hundreds of miles in mud, some were sick, wounded in battle, and lost. It was extremely embarrassing to return to the West Pass.
The first thing He Huchen did when he returned to Xishankou was to kill the cavalry trooper who escaped first to sacrifice the flag.
While others were defeated, he was a serious frontline deserter.
He Huchen endured the heartache of losing his son and repeatedly boosted morale, telling everyone that the Lion Battalion was not more capable than they were, but they just took advantage of the red barbarian cannon.
The road is difficult to travel on this rainy day. It might not be long before the red cannon arrives.
Du Wenhuan's troops must have arrived first. When the time comes, they will attack from both sides and they will not lose.
Anyway, if you say this, the soldiers will listen with suspicion.
Even if they were to take the initiative to attack, they wouldn't dare.
However, there is no problem in defending the camp. After all, there are many people and the camp is small, so the camp is full of people.
However, something He Huchen never expected happened.
Two days after entering the camp, He Huchen heard a report from his subordinates: "Commander, from the east, our captured soldiers are back."
"The captured soldiers are back?"
He Huchen was overjoyed and quickly sent troops to greet him.
But when he saw the captured soldiers, his expression became very complicated.
The prisoners looked so miserable.
Each and every one of them was stripped naked, wearing soaked single clothes. You helped me, and I helped you. Some of them had leaves hanging on their bodies, and some were carrying sick or injured soldiers.
There were more than 600 people in total.
He Huchen couldn't say that he didn't want them to come back, after all, they were all soldiers under the command of the Ningxia General Soldier.,
But it is true that He Huchen would feel more comfortable if they could not come back.
In fact, the disaster in the Ningxia camp began after more than 600 prisoners entered the camp.
Shen Guangxian withdrew with He Huchen. Although his troops were defeated, they still fought a tough battle. He Huchen did not reprimand him much. He would not let him set up a defense line at this meeting. He only asked him to look after the returned prisoners.<
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Unexpectedly, only one night later, Shen Guangxian came to the door, full of resentment.
"Commander, we can't keep these people anymore."
In He Huchen's Chinese army tent, Shen Guangxian shook his head and waved his hands: "I can't do anything, six out of ten are sick, and I can't lie with the wounded soldiers. As I lie there, I whisper how good the Lion Camp is for surrendering soldiers.
”
"They can't do anything, but they can still eat well. I give them serious military rations and eat them cleanly. Then they complain when they are full, saying that the food they come back to is not as good as the enemy's."
He Huchen asked: "They complained to you?"
"No, they complained to other soldiers and didn't say anything when they saw me." Shen Guangxian became angry when he mentioned this: "Now everyone in the village knows that the Lion Camp has good food and is good for surrendering soldiers.
, and some people say that the Ningxia soldiers should not have come."
After saying that, Shen Guangxian said to He Huchen: "Now all the soldiers in the village don't want to fight anymore, let's go back to Ningxia?"
He Huchen felt uncomfortable after hearing this. When he thought about the defeat on the front line, he became angry when he spoke to Shen Guangxian: "Is it because all the soldiers in the village don't want to fight, or is it that you, General Shen, don't want to fight?"<
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"Commander, I don't mean that!"
Shen Guangxian was still aggrieved. I fought bloody battles with the enemy on the front line. More than half of my soldiers were killed or injured before they could retreat. In the end, the Chinese army was blown away by a cannon. The two lines of defense at the back were nothing like their mother. In turn, it was my fault.
?
He said in a hurry: "Go and ask Brother Zan, isn't he just back from being a prisoner!"
As soon as these words came out, He Huchen lost his composure and stared directly into his eyes full of murderous intent.
But just for a moment, he thought of his son's condition, and he sighed again. He believed most of what Shen Guangxian said in his heart. He suddenly seemed a little older and asked: "Guangxian, I, we are
Shouldn’t I come to Yan’an?”
He Zan was in a very bad state. When he came back, he was completely depressed. He didn't talk to anyone, and he couldn't lift his spirits all day long. He just sat in the military tent.
Shen Guangxian knew something was wrong as soon as he said those words, which must have hurt the commander-in-chief's heart. In an instant, he even thought about the bandit name after his rebellion.
Suddenly, when He Huchen's tone softened, he felt relieved and sighed: "Anyway, this Liu lion is really difficult to fight. No wonder Du Wenhuan didn't come to fight."
"Commander, I thought about it, General Du from Yansui Town..."
Shen Guangxian shook his head and ignored the unpleasant words, saying: "We can't count him in the army."
He Huchen didn’t want to say anything bad about his colleagues.
Can Du Wenhuan fight? He can fight very well. He has fought more than a hundred battles with the Mongols without losing. In terms of prestige, among the nine commanders in the imperial court, he can be ranked among the top three.
But as he got older, he lost his ambition, was greedy for pleasure, and was so smart that he only wanted to protect himself. Let him fight against She'an. If he felt he couldn't win, he would resign. If he was asked to aid Liao, he would bully the Mongols.
I already have everything, but I obviously don’t want to work hard anymore.
He Huchen shook his head: "With the two thousand of us, how can we not include Liu Shizi in our strength?"
But in fact, what He Huchen couldn't accept the most was He Zan's state.
That night, He Zan walked into the military tent, knelt down and prayed: "Master, retreat."
"Brother Zan, what are you talking about?"
"My son is not talking nonsense. We can't defeat Liu Shizi. It's still too late to retreat now. If we don't retreat, these two thousand people will be taken away by him. The more officers and soldiers attack him, the more powerful he will be."
He Zan lowered his head and did not dare to look at his father.
He couldn't describe his feelings, but after thinking for several days, he still couldn't figure out how to deal with Liu Chengzong.
"He knows what the border troops want, but he can give it what we can't give."
He Huchen hadn't figured out the meaning of these words. He just thought that the border army wanted to be promoted and make a fortune. How could he, Liu Shizi, give it to him?
It’s chaos outside.
Then a servant entered the account: "Commander, Liu Shishi is here!"
"Here comes Lion Liu, why is it so chaotic outside?"
He Huchen strode out of the military tent and saw all the troops leaving the camp in an orderly manner. He wondered if I didn't give the order?
Immediately after Shen Guangxian, he galloped up on his horse, panicked, and shouted loudly: "Commander, General Qian and the generals can no longer control the soldiers. They are all surrendering to the enemy. They are all surrendering to the enemy!"