In the small tent, Liu Heitai stood silently at the entrance, letting the cold wind blow by, only staring at the invisible snowflakes fluttering in the dark night sky.
Once again the end of the road.
Although he was not in despair, although he still had hope in his heart, and although he still had the ambition to make a comeback, Liu Heitai was inevitably depressed.
What frustrated Liu Heita the most was that the army was only temporarily short of food...the army was not short of food, and they had just sacked Yuancheng.
The Turkic army returned north and left for only ten days, and he led tens of thousands of troops to attack Weizhou... Why did he inexplicably end up like this?
Why?
Since the Battle of Xiabo, Fan Yuan, Dong Kang, Wang Xiaohu and other important generals have died in battle, and the morale of the army has declined. Now even his brother Liu Shishan is missing and is almost dead in battle.
All this seems to have started to change after hearing about the Beizhou War. The food and grass that had been raised for a long time were burned, and Fan Yuan and Dong Kang's right-hand men were killed...Liu Heitai couldn't help but wonder over and over again why Su Dingfang suddenly
Surrender to the Tang Dynasty and fight back?
Liu Heitai reviewed the battle in Wei County in his mind, and always felt it was a bit strange. Almost every attack made by the opponent had a clear target. In other words, they all hit him within seven inches.
In the war at the beginning of the year, he stormed Luoshui County with all his strength and captured Luo Shixin, which shocked Shandong for a time. However, then the food road was cut off, and Li Shimin was forced step by step to fight beside Luoshui, and finally broke up and fled north.
And this time, a similar situation occurred again.
After Tao failed to attack Guan Tao and laid siege to Wei County, Qi Shanxing and Cheng Mingzhen led his troops to help. He did not want a decisive battle, but was eventually forced into a decisive battle. The 30,000-strong army was dismembered with almost no suspense... It was even worse than the one at the beginning of the year.
Last time, King Qin was still trapped. If Qin Qiong and Yu Chigong hadn't been desperate, maybe...
Liu Heitai stretched out his hand, and cold snowflakes fell on his palm, quickly turning into ice water, making his heart feel as cold as ice.
And this time after the war, it was much worse than the last time... Luoshui was defeated at the beginning of the year. Liu Heitai could easily run north. As long as he reached Hengzhou, he would be basically safe.
But this time, he was trapped in Weizhou.
The other party was obviously very confident and even cut off its own retreat... because the Yongji Bridge outside Yongji County had been burned down.
Liu Heitao strode out of the tent and looked up at the dancing snowflakes. He was stunned for a while before looking towards Yongji County in the darkness. The scouts reported that the pursuing army had arrived at the south side of Yongji County.
"how?"
"We have enough manpower, but it's snowing heavily and it's difficult to see at night. We may have to wait until tomorrow morning."
Liu Heitai nodded, "Ask the guards to send all the dry food."
Turning to look at Yongji County again, Liu Heitai thought in his heart that the Tang army burned the Yongji Bridge in advance just to drive him to the north of Beizhou... Since the Tang army wanted to do this, he couldn't do what they wanted.
.
In the simple military camp on the south side of Yongji County, the scouts on the periphery were well fed, clothed and in high spirits. In the camp, the soldiers lit bonfires to keep warm. A large amount of hot soup, meat, fodder, and Wei were sent from the county.
The county was victorious, and the morale of the army was high.
Fan Laosan, who had returned to Li Daoxuan's command as a personal guard, was talking carelessly about how much land he could get this time, but he had actually made up his mind to join Li Shan's sect with his six remaining brothers.
Looking inside, Fan Laosan took a charcoal fire and went in to refill the charcoal basin. The generals in the camp were discussing matters. The marching commander Shi Xue Zhong smiled and pointed at Fan Laosan, "Your contribution this time is not small. I will wait for you."
After returning to Beijing, there will be a big reward."
To this day, everyone already knows that it was Li Shan who ordered the attack that day, and Fan Laosan was trying to capture him alive.
Fan Laosan touched his head and knew that he was not qualified to speak, so he just smiled and left.
"His Highness asked them to escort Huairen to the south that day, so let him take a trip."
Wang Junkuo turned to look at Li Daoxuan and Cheng Mingzhen. After a moment, Li Daoxuan handed over a letter, "Send it to Guantao, and Li Langjun will open it personally."
"yes."
When Fan Laosan arrived in Guantao despite the wind and snow, and woke Li Shan up from his warm bed...the latter was very angry when he got up.
When I was on duty in my previous life, the most annoying thing was being woken up... If I wasn't on duty, the most annoying thing was the ringtone of my cell phone. I finally didn't have to endure it in this life, but I didn't expect that I would have to suffer it again more than a year later.
Rubbing his sleepy eyes and sitting in the room wrapped in clothes, Li Shan was listless. Next to him was Ma Zhou who just came back this evening. Opposite him was Li Kai who had heard the news. Ling who was holding the letter and looking at it carefully was Ling who was coaxed up by Li Shan.
respect.
Old Man Ling was obviously a little angry as he scolded: "Of course it's them who make the decision on this kind of thing. Why do you come back with a letter in the middle of the night?"
"It was at least half an hour after Liu Heita ran north across Guantao before his pursuers set off. Actually, both sides were stationed around Yongji County... Could it be that the power of this heavy snow is so terrifying?" Li Shan said slowly.
: "Liu Heitai didn't escape overnight?"
Li Kai rubbed his eyes, "After the Luoshui battle at the beginning of the year, Liu Heitai rushed into Hengzhou in three days and two nights..."
"The Yongji Bridge was broken... Liu Heita stopped, and did not go north along the Yongji Canal to Qinghe County, Qingyang County, and cross the Qinghe River..." Ma Zhou knew the topography of Beizhou well and thought for a while.
Ercai said: "Liu Heitai was afraid that he would not be able to escape... No, he wanted to cross the river near Yongji County?"
Li Shan's eyelids were about to tremble and he yawned loudly, "Cheng Mingzhen made it clear enough in his letter... This is really a character!"
Ling Jing nodded slightly, "Cheng Mingzhen was not well-known under King Xia back then, but he was both civil and military, and he was the first-class hero in Shandong."
"Liu Heita must have had people build bridges around Yongji County overnight in an attempt to cross the river and return to Luozhou!"
Li Shan's head was already hanging down, and Liu Heitai was not stupid. This was the only explanation.
If you go all the way north along the Yongji Canal, there is no bridge to cross the river. Liu Heitai has to go to the vicinity of Qinghe County to cross the river, and then go west and turn to Luozhou...and this is while the Tang army is pursuing him all the way.
If it's snowing heavily today, who knows if you can escape... Even if you can escape, how many of Liu Heitao's remnants of defeated soldiers will be left?
And if it drags on for three or four days, well, the news of the war in Wei County has already reached Luozhou...Who knows if Liu Heitai will be surrounded when he goes to Luozhou?
In fact, the most critical point is that Li Shan and Ling Jing have carefully analyzed that Liu Heitai's next most likely choices are only two. One is to defect to the Turks again and become the Turks' dog again... However, after this great experience
If he is defeated, the Turks may not pay attention to him anymore.
Second, survive between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks and become a small separatist force similar to Gao Kaidao, Yuan Junzhang, and Liang Shidu.
If there is an opportunity, they will go south to invade. If they encounter the Tang army's attack, they will rush north into the grassland and seek shelter from the Turkic tribes.
Therefore, when this letter came, Ling Jing and Li Shan immediately understood Liu Heitai's plan... This guy wanted to separate the country and planned to cross the river to retreat westward and go to Luozhou to gather troops and horses. He couldn't do it naked.
Heading north?
"Huairen, Huairen?"
Li Kai sighed: "Burning the Yongji Bridge is really a wonderful stroke. It just dragged Liu Heitai away... We will definitely win tomorrow!"
"Oh...then the war will start tomorrow?"
Li Shan raised his head in confusion, wiped the wet spots at the corners of his mouth, and noticed the thoughtful glances from Ma Zhou and Ling Jing, thinking to himself, I really didn't think that much... I just found something for Yuchi Baolin to do.