Then he took the remnants of his troops and fled south, heading straight towards Runzhou.
Not long after, they bumped into Mr. Lu who came with a large army.
Mr. Lu was also surprised when he saw the embarrassment of Wen Tong and others.
Didn’t he lead more than 10,000 troops to pursue Li Chengqian and his men?
How did it end up like this?
Is it possible that Li Chengqian defeated the generals with thousands of remaining soldiers?
"Wen Tong, why do you look like this?"
Mr. Lu asked urgently: "Where are the soldiers under your command?"
At this moment, Wen Tong looked very embarrassed.
He had just narrowly escaped death at the hands of Yuchi Jingde.
At this moment, he was too ashamed to look at Mr. Lu, and he didn't even dare to speak.
The deputy general on the side slowly said: "We have encountered a large force of the official army, and it seems to be the Bingzhou Army."
"Bingzhou Army?"
"How can this be?"
"Aren't they at the northern foot of the Yangtze River?"
Hearing this, Mr. Lu was shocked.
In his opinion, although Li Shimin had led his army to conquer the country in person, he still had tens of thousands of people guarding Henan Road and Jiangnan Road at the northern foot of the Yangtze River.
Even if tens of thousands of pigs were put there for the officers and soldiers to catch, they would still have to catch them for several months, right?
How could it be possible to get here so quickly?
"But that's the truth."
"Not only did they kill him, but they also rescued Li Chengqian."
The deputy general said with a face full of reluctance: "Mr. Lu, we had already pushed Li Chengqian to the end of the road, but at this moment their reinforcements suddenly arrived."
"Those are all cavalry. There are cavalry all over the mountains and plains. It's hard to see how many there are."
"And our soldiers were like a lonely boat in the torrent of cavalry, and it collapsed in just a moment."
The deputy general was also distressed that he could not kill Li Chengqian.
If it weren't for Yuchi Jingde and others The people arrived too quickly, and no matter how hard they tried, they could still bring Li Chengqian's head back.
But now those soldiers were sacrificed in vain.
They left with 10,000 people, and when they came back, only 3,000 were left.
A total of seven thousand soldiers were either separated or simply died under the iron heel of the Bingzhou Army.
Before Mr. Lu could speak, Wen Tong beside him let out a heavy sigh.
He said: "Now that the Bingzhou army has come to kill the generals, and Yuchi Jingde is personally leading the army, our army in the north is probably..."
There was no need for him to finish his words.
Mr. Lu can understand what he means.
Their northern army has been completely wiped out.
And now they are the only ones left in this rebel army.
At this time, Wen Tong asked: "Mr. Lu, what should we do now?"
Now that the imperial army has arrived on the battlefield, the reinforcements from the north have been destroyed, and there is no longer any advantage at all.
It seemed that there was only one way left in front of them.
That is to abandon Runzhou City and go directly westward to Shu to join Li Ke.
Otherwise, there is only one way for them to die.
"In that case, we will abandon Runzhou City and go directly west to Shu to find Li Ke."
Mr. Lu thought for a long time and then said: "I don't believe that Li Ke will not take us in if we have these people."
He thought very well. After all, there were tens of thousands of people here, and Li Ke would definitely take them in.
However, he seemed to have forgotten a question...
…
On the other side, on the carriage.
The injured Li Chengqian could no longer continue to command operations on the battlefield.
However, he did not go to the Tang camp at the southern foot of the Yangtze River to find Li Shimin. Instead, he directly abducted the Bingzhou Army and headed to Suzhou.
Yuchi Jing
De also didn't understand what he meant.
"Your Highness, why don't you follow me to Jiangnan Camp instead of taking us to Suzhou?"
At that moment, Yuchi Jingde asked: "As far as I know, the situation in Suzhou is stable and there is no turmoil at all."
Indeed, because Li Chengqian was blocking the rebels at the front, the situation in Suzhou was stable without any turmoil, and the people were not affected too much.
At most, there are just a few more refugees and relatives coming and going.
But now Li Chengqian is taking the most elite cavalry regiment in the court and the state army to Suzhou. Isn't this just hiding them in the snow?
Li Chengqian didn't care about this.
He said: "Before I answer your question, I want to ask you a question first."
"You say."
Yuchi Jingde looked at Li Chengqian with some confusion.
Li Chengqian said bluntly: "If you were the leader of the rebels, what would you do when faced with such a situation?"
"I?"
Yuchi Jingde really started to think about it.
"If I were the leader of the rebels, the battle at the front would be unfavorable and the rear would have been lost again."
"I will definitely choose to march westward with my troops to join the rebels in Shu."
Yuchi Jingde laughed and said: "After all, Shu can't keep these new troops away."
But after hearing his words, Li Chengqian shook his head and smiled.
Seeing this, Yuchi Jingde was a little puzzled: "Did I say something wrong?"
"Of course, and it's totally wrong."
Li Chengqian said: "If I were Li Ke, I would never take in these rebels."
"Why?"
Yuchi Jingde was very puzzled.
Li Ke is not said to be weak in strength now, but his military resources are not that abundant.
Even if he mobilizes all the forces that can be mobilized in Shu, plus the troops and horses he already has in hand, it will not exceed 200,000.
But now, even if the rebels have been crippled by our own side, there are still nearly 30,000 What about people.
Why shouldn't these new forces come to join us?
"This rebel army and the Shu rebels are both defined by us as rebels."
"But the two banners are completely different."
Li Chengqian said: "Let me talk about my third brother first. His banner is Qing Jun Side, which means he wants to kill me."
“And this is also supported by local aristocratic families.”
"After all, I robbed their business and destroyed the stall they relied on for survival."
"They want to force the court to kill me, which is reasonable."
"But Uncle Yuchi, don't forget that the banner of the rebels is uprising."
"Although both of these are rebellions to the imperial court, their meanings are completely different concepts in the minds of the people and aristocratic families."
"The uprising is to show that he is completely separated from the imperial court and intends to establish himself as king."
"On the other hand, the Qing emperor still admitted that he was a minister of this country. Although he was against the imperial court, he was forced to do nothing."
"Li Ke took advantage of this to mobilize the local aristocratic families and his troops."
Li Chengqian squinted his eyes, looked at Yuchi Jingde and said, "But if they accept this group of rebels, do you know what it means?"
"mean……"
"Even if they rebelled, what kind of bullshit Qingjun side would not exist?"
No matter how slow Yuchi Jingde reacted, he still came to his senses after hearing Li Chengqian's patient explanation.
He said: "Then it seems that even if this rebel army marches westward, it will be a dead end..."
"That's not the case."
Li Chengqian shook his head again.
He said: "According to my estimation, it is certain that Li Ke will not accept this group of rebels, but it does not mean that he will not use this group of rebels."
Hearing this, Yuchi Jingde raised his eyebrows.
Isn’t this car wheel coming back again...
He scratched his head and said: "Your Highness, I really can't understand you when you talk like this..."