"I'll break the rear!" Gao Shun, who had always been taciturn, said suddenly. "Let Yi Cong protect the prince and leave quickly. I will lead my troops to the east to stop the enemy in the direction of Xiaoling River."
"You have a thousand men, how can you stop the opponent's tens of thousands of cavalry?" Gongsun Xun's face turned livid. "And now that things have happened, are we going to divide our troops again?"
"We are about to divide our troops to block the way." The actor looked anxious and retorted. "Junhou, think about it, no matter what the internal situation of Duan Bu is, if there is an ambush, it must be Qiu Liju's painstaking design and all his efforts.
Come... In this case, what does he want? Is it to annihilate our army? In my opinion, he was also forced into a desperate situation, so he just took the risk to ask for one person! Because only in this way can he go and fight with
Zhao Gong in Liaodong and Liu Yu in the south negotiate terms! As for the barriers we set up, he will only ignore them after breaking through, or simply take a detour!"
"What Mr. Zhicai said is true, and not only Gao Sima's tribe, but also those of us who are subordinates can also carry the banner of the prince as suspects." Tian Yu also interjected. "Actually, prince, if you think about it, as long as
If you are safe, the overall situation in Liaoxi will still be with us, and those miscellaneous tribes will never easily fall to the Wuhuan people. At that time, we, the rear guard and blocking troops, can completely hide in the mountains, and use these tribes to hide.
Or return to the south... This time, as long as the monarch is safe, everything will be safe. But if something happens to the monarch's body of gold, what can we say if we win the battle?"
"Say no more!" Xi Zhicai couldn't help stamping his feet and whispered in a low voice. "Junhou, except for Yi Cong and Gao Simabu, the rest are all miscellaneous. The rangers from various counties who have just come to join the army...what can they be reluctant to part with?
of?"
Several leaders of the Zahu tribe nearby immediately bowed their heads and remained silent, and in the darkness, everyone finally looked at Gongsun Xun, who had a gloomy expression beside the bonfire.
"Everything in the world is based on people, and we can't give up easily." Gongsun Xun thought for a long time, and finally shook his head and sighed. "Besides, as I expected, the information that Yuming came from Duan Ri Yuming has a context...
The ambush of the Wuhuan people must be caused by Qiu Liju on this side of the Daling River, while Taodun crossed the Daling River from the upper reaches, preparing to cut off our retreat... Even if you can block me behind me layer by layer, if you cross
However, Hetaodun has already arrived at Dalinghe, and since I don’t have any soldiers or horses by my side, it still won’t help.”
"What do you mean, Lord?" The actor beside the campfire turned pale.
"Let the whole army go together and set off immediately." Gongsun Xun said as he turned around and left.
Everyone did not dare to neglect, and quickly extinguished and covered the bonfire, and then acted according to the order. As a member of the White Horse Yi Cong, Tian Yu naturally followed quickly.
"Gao Sima, stay here." Just when Gao Shun was about to turn around and return to the team, a suppressed shout suddenly came from the chaos. "If the pursuers are in a hurry, Gao Sima may as well do his own thing... Everything will be done by the king."
Safety comes first.”
Gao Shun paused for a moment, then continued to hold his sword and mount his horse without looking back, and then hurriedly turned back to his own troops, as if he hadn't heard anything.
Retreating overnight is a huge challenge for any army, not to mention the quality of Gongsun Xun's seven thousand men. The strong ones are very strong, but they only have less than two thousand; the weak ones may not be really weak.
, but they rushed into the army hastily, and even many of the miscellaneous tribes may not be safe.
In fact, from the very beginning, some tribes took advantage of their familiarity with the terrain to escape, as if they were planning to go home and wait for news... The worst they could do was get separated in the dark! What else could they do?
And in the second half of the night, with the fire behind them, this escape became more obvious.
In the early morning, sporadic fighting broke out between the two sides... Facts have proved that the intelligence sent by Duan Riyuming this time was no problem. Qiu Liju did indeed lead his troops to chase him, because there were highly identifiable people everywhere behind him.
Wuhuan in white in western Liaoning.
The so-called Wuhuan in white clothes means that these people are restricted by the economic means of the Han Dynasty and cannot carry out independent nomadic activities. Therefore, unlike the dirty robes on the grassland, the grassroots cavalry among the Wuhuan people generally wear the cheapest clothes from the mainland.
Wearing clothes made of white cloth, holding a spear, and carrying a bow and arrow, they used the simplest but most cost-effective way to form a historically traditional assault cavalry.
Once upon a time, the Wuhuan cavalry in western Liaoning and the Wuhuan cavalry in Shanggu were the most reliable and handy weapons of the Han Dynasty. They were kept behind the border walls and fortresses for a long time, and once there was a war in Youzhou, they would always be there.
The two main Wuhuan forces appeared. They have fought side by side with the Han Dynasty for more than a hundred years, but they have always been difficult to Hanize. Now that the building is about to collapse, these mercenaries on the corner have naturally become a new source of rebellion.
The chaos in Liangzhou, thousands of miles away, started from the most loyal Huangzhong Yi Chongchu, the chaos in Bingzhou thousands of miles away started from the Southern Xiongnu, and finally it was the turn of the Wuhuan people in Youzhou.
"The Han Dynasty cannot be revived!" Gongsun Xun stopped his horse and looked at the dozen corpses on the grass behind him and sighed inexplicably. Just now, a small group of Wuhuan cavalry suddenly ran into his army, although they were quickly wiped out.
, but this situation is enough to show that the Wuhuan people's pursuit of him is completely regardless of the cost, and now it has reached the most dangerous time.
"Your Majesty, don't be emotional any more." Xi Zhong tried his best to remind him with a hoarse voice. In the thick night, whether it was his trembling hands holding the reins tightly or the whites of his eyes full of bloodshot eyes,
No one knew it at this time. "We are almost there. This is not the time to sigh... Let's go downstream quickly to find a place to cross the river!"
Gongsun Xun looked back at Xi Zhicai, nodded slowly, and then continued to the southwest under the leadership of several miscellaneous guides without saying a word.
It was vaguely at the fifth watch, and logically speaking, the sky should have brightened up, but at this time, the sky in western Liaoning was still hazy and dark, and soon everyone realized the reason - raindrops that couldn't even be called drizzle were falling.
The faces of cavalrymen of all races on the vast battlefield.
This is a good thing. This almost micro spring rain is not enough to soak the ground and really affect the activities of the cavalry, but the light shielding it brings effectively covers the escape of the Han army. In fact, the Han army was also in high spirits for a time.
.
Finally, as the sun rose behind the clouds and the early morning drizzle began to allow some visible distance, a miscellaneous cavalryman suddenly approached Gongsun Xun excitedly and reported loudly:
"General! I recognize this creek... Go down the creek, and you'll find the Daling River five or six miles away. Then go down seven or eight miles along the mouth of the river, and you'll find a shoal where you can cross the river!
One of us is very close to Fenbu!"
The speaker was Qi Fen Heita. This member of the Zahu tribe who had been rewarded by Gongsun Xun had been following the Chinese army since yesterday. His words made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, and Gongsun Xun rarely lost his composure.
And laugh.
"Let's check the men and horses, rest for a while, and then immediately go to find the ferry..." After laughing, General Wei issued the order as a matter of course, and loudly encouraged the surrounding soldiers. "After crossing the river, we will definitely come back with a large army to pacify western Liaoning.
"
All the soldiers tried their best to answer, and then dismounted their horses to rest. At this time, Gongsun Xun realized that there were only two to three hundred people left beside him.
Of course, Gongsun Xun only took one look at Xi Zhong, who had difficulty even climbing off his horse, and realized that this was definitely not caused by casualties, nor was it a simple loss of the road, or being overwhelmed by Wuhuan's pursuers... If nothing else,
It was obvious that Tian Yu was by his side when he noticed it was raining, and the main force of six hundred white horse Yi followers was also by his side. And from the fact that no pursuers were seen approaching, it can be known that the most reliable Gao Shun must be
After fighting so hard behind me, how could a drizzle with the same amount of precipitation as fog reduce so many elites? Still silently?
So you don't need to think too much to know that these people must have seen a rare opportunity and made their own decisions. In order to delay time, they took the initiative to turn back and become a bait.
But now, it is useless to talk or think too much. We can only hope that the battlefield will be chaotic, these people will have few casualties, and Gongsun Xun will be able to cross the river as soon as possible and stabilize the situation again.
"The shoal is at the bottom of the slope ahead?" Half an hour later, Xi Zhong loudly asked Qi Fen Heita, as if he was deliberately trying to boost morale.
"Just under the small slope!" Black Otter also replied loudly. "Mr. Da, don't worry, not many people know about this shoal. That is to say, we have two Fen tribes living in the east and west of the river, so we know better."
"That's good." Xi Zhong endured the nondescript title of 'Mr. Big' and praised with a forced smile. "If we can successfully cross the river and return to Guanzi City this time, Black Otter, let alone your headquarters, the entire
The Twelve Fen tribes are all going to be prosperous! Don't go back to the tribe after you cross the river. Follow us directly to Guanzicheng and get a white horse to serve as your lord's obedient servant."
The black otter became more and more excited, and in the dim light of the drizzle, his face was dark and red.
However, compared with the excitement of the people around him, Gongsun Xun was not too happy, and he did not pay attention to Xi Zhong's little tricks. Years of battlefield experience made him clearly aware that a night's escape had depleted the warrior's physical strength.
Everyone has reached the end of their strength. At this time, the more important it is to stay focused and compete with willpower and patience.
And besides, even after crossing the river, we still have to gather the remaining soldiers, bribe these miscellaneous tribes, deal with the political impact of this obvious defeat, and have the patience to reorganize the offensive... There are many things in the future.
yes.
While he was thinking wildly, Gongsun Xun had already climbed the last hill, and then, like the Xi Zhong, Black Otter and others beside him, he immediately fell into a strange silence.
It turned out that in the drizzling morning, there was a cavalry unit of 1,400 to 5,000 people waiting on the beach on the other side of the Daling River. Most of them were of course a mess, but the middle one was 5 to 600 people.
The troops are all dressed in white, and you can tell without having to identify the messy flags... They are Wuhuan people. Five to six hundred Wuhuan people, guarding seven to eight hundred miscellaneous cavalry, are enough to maintain suppression, very standard
The configuration of the army outside the Great Wall.
Correspondingly, the Han army was short of horses and horses, with only more than two hundred men, and only half of them were riding white horses.
The two armies suddenly faced each other across the river, but both were eerily quiet.
However, the silence was only temporary. Just a moment later, under the drizzle, there was a roar and commotion on the other side of the river. Countless Zahu tribe leaders and Wuhuan people's white-clothed cavalry rushed to the ford to watch Gongsun Xun from a distance.
Correspondingly, Xi Zhong, who was full of guilt and anxiety, was also hurriedly mobilizing his troops:
Someone was sent out to seek support from the rear, or simply to find the Tian Yu and Gao Shun troops who turned around to stop the attack before dawn;
Someone was temporarily organized into a commando team and tried to cross the river;
Some people were simply put under supervision... Qi Fen Black Otter and several knights from the Qi Fen tribe did not resist, because the Zahu tribe opposite must have members of their Qi Fen clan, and there may even be quite a few, otherwise the Wuhuan opposite
It is impossible for the leader to think of this ferry and come here in advance to block it.
However, anyone with a little military experience knows, including Xi Zhicai himself, that these measures of his are destined not to have much effect.
Sure enough, the people who went to ask for help could not return, and the attempts of dozens of loyal Yi Cong to force the crossing were unsuccessful... Although it was a shoal, it was too difficult to move forward in the river, and Wuhuan on the other side
Under the urging of the general, when hundreds of Zahu tribesmen stepped forward and fired a shower of arrows with plenty of room for it, Xi Zhong took the initiative and ordered the assault team to return to the east coast.
But even so, several people were killed by arrows in name, and were rushed to the north and downstream areas by the rapid Daling River... The warriors in the river were as slow as arrow targets.
And then, after noticing the situation of Black Otter, Gongsun Xun also ordered his release out of boredom... Black Otter himself should not have any malicious intentions. Looking at the situation on the other side, it was obviously a temporary initiative of a Wuhuan leader, plus his subordinates had some
It was only then that the other members of the Fen Twelve Division encountered this dead rat of their own.
It's okay to blame God, but there's no need to blame others.
"Is it General Gongsun?" A Wuhuan leader in the white-clad Wuhuan formation in Hexi still couldn't hide his joy. "It's raining, so I can vaguely see what it looks like, but I'm a little confused... What do you think?"
"Who is the leader asking?" A Wuhuan warrior next to him asked speechlessly. "You personally went to Goguryeo to fight with the leader of Taton, so you know the most clearly..."
"Isn't this just in case?" The Wuhuan leader laughed and sighed. "It's like a dream... A few days ago, everyone thought that our Wuhuan people in western Liaoning were going to be exterminated. Who could have imagined that today would happen?
?If we can capture General Gongsun and go to Liucheng, everything will be easy to deal with."
"The general is invited to be a guest!" A small leader nearby reminded him quickly. "Shan Yu specifically said this when I came, not to be rude in the slightest..."
"Yes!" the leader immediately corrected himself. "I was wrong... Cross the river and tell the general in person that we Wuhuan people do not mean any disrespect and only invite him to be a guest in Liucheng."
In the drizzle, the little leader swallowed his saliva, but in the end he had no choice but to lead several cavalrymen in white. He threw down his spears and bows on the bank of the Daling River and waded across the river on horseback.
Seeing the opponent slowly marching halfway, Xi Zhong ordered the arrows to be fired almost out of instinct... Under the random arrows, the Wuhuan leader and several of his subordinates, who were like living targets, immediately fell into the same position as the two before.
From the same fate. After all, whether it is an arrow or a river, it is impossible to treat them differently just because they are Wuhuan people and Han people.
However, the leader of Wuhuan in Hexi was not anxious or angry, but still smiled broadly.
But the drama loyalists in Hedong are already desperate... You know, according to the sound plan designed by Lou Gui, there will never be any repetition, but now because of his political considerations, the adventurous action has occurred like this.
The situation...if Gongsun Xun hadn't been by his side, he would have almost wanted to commit suicide immediately to apologize!
What can be done?
It seems that forcing the crossing is out of the question, but if we turn around and go back, not to mention the Wuhuan pursuers behind us, how many people will be left to guard the ford if we leave?
If there are too few left, the opponent's cavalry can force the crossing with more than a thousand people, and they can charge head-on; if too many are left, who will guarantee Gongsun Xun's safety? To put it bluntly, Gongsun Xun's life will be safe even if he falls into the hands of the Wuhuan people.
But what should you do if you encounter some barbarians while riding alone?
And what if you get away temporarily?
Once the whereabouts are exposed, the other party knows the approximate location and just follow the upstream and downstream to block the crossing point.
As for waiting, this is even seeking death. On the chaotic battlefield, the Wuhuan people have the absolute advantage in strength. If they delay, they will only wait for the opponent's large troops.
Xi Zhicai's despair became more and more intense.
However, at the same time, Gongsun Xun, who was standing on horseback on one side, did not have any extreme emotions such as despair or anger, but felt an inexplicable fatigue.
Yes, it was exhaustion, because this General Wei could almost imagine his own fate.
First of all, they are captured...or the Wuhuan people don't even dare to say "captured". They will definitely respectfully 'invite' General Wei to Liucheng as a 'guest', and even Tadun will kowtow when he sees him.
, Qiu Liju will definitely serve him respectfully. After all, he, Gongsun Xun, is the only son of Lady Gongsun, the only son-in-law of General Zhao Bao, the right general, the recognized actual leader of the Gongsun family in western Liaoning, and the general of the imperial court!
It is also a life-saving straw in a sense for Wuhuan in western Liaoning!
Therefore, it is completely conceivable that no one in the entire Youzhou will give up on him. Liu Yu, the only one who theoretically has the risk of a complete break, is the least likely person to do such a thing, so the deal will be concluded quickly.
But what's the cost?
It doesn't matter if you lose the aura of victory in every battle, who hasn't lost a battle yet? Losing a little money is not worth mentioning.
But after this incident, how many years and months will it take for the rebellion of the Wuhuan people to be resolved? Liu Yu's prestige and power in Youzhou will definitely increase, right? Will Gongsun Xun no longer have the political advantage to face this person?
Correspondingly, my mother would probably have to make major concessions to her father-in-law in Liaodong. Whether Liaodong's surname was Gongsun or Zhao would probably be a confusing matter.
Of course, Gongsun Xun's foundation is here, and he must still have influence and military advantages... But it is inevitable that he will be controlled by Liu Yu and Zhao Bao. The Luoyang chaos that has already begun will be great for him to challenge Dong's general trend.
Loss of influence.
And if this is the case, what is the difference between General Wei and Gongsun Zan in another time and space?
Does this count as ten years of hard work, and was once corrected to the original point by history?
Then, like Gongsun Zan in another time and space, will he be betrayed by his relatives and burn himself on fire? Even if not, will he still have to flee to Liaodong and rely on his father-in-law's breath to survive?
Of course, maybe the reality will not be so pessimistic, but this feeling of powerlessness after all the hard work is really tiring.
If... if there is such a power in the dark, controlling the direction of history, no matter how hard I work, I can only replace someone else, then what is the meaning of my hard work and my existence?
Gongsun Xun couldn't help but think wildly. Once upon a time, his mother's joke about the return of the world line in his letter seemed to have been shattered by his own achievements. It seemed that he was already fighting against Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Jian, etc.
People's chatter and laughter were forgotten... But starting from Xu You's arrival last year, and finally to the beginning of the troubled times, everything seemed to have returned to a strange yet familiar line.
Is this a test or a joke?
Is Cao Sunliu really the son of destiny? Are his ambitions and selfishness all vain?
Gongsun Xun raised his head and looked at the sky with drizzle, and was lost for a moment.
And just when the drizzle above the head was still falling like cow hair, slowly moistening the green fields in western Liaoning, suddenly, something strange happened on the other side of the river.
"Is it reinforcements?" The desperate actor was inexplicably surprised.
However, as the saying goes, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment - this is indeed a reinforcement. It is obviously a group of Han knights who lost their way at night and successfully crossed the river from another place in the north. However, there are only a dozen people.
When Gongsun Xun was trapped in Hedong, he unexpectedly charged to the death regardless of the huge disparity in strength and the lack of men and horses.
Obviously, the commotion among the Wuhuan troops on the other side was not due to the appearance of these people, but because they were surprised by their courage.
"Why is this so?" The Wuhuan general on the west side of the river sighed, and then called another small leader. "You lead twenty Wuhuan warriors to have a fair fight! It also allows the general on the other side to see what we are doing.
Has the Wuhuan people's martial prowess deteriorated? Send the order, the whole army is not allowed to fire arrows without authorization, and we must let General Gongsun know our sincerity."
——————I am the dividing line of sincerity——————
"Winning or losing is an ordinary matter for military strategists. In the past, Emperor Wu's superb martial arts also once died in Danhan Mountain and was trapped in the Daling River... Therefore, it is said that the power of mountains and rivers is solid, and the soldiers and armor are unpredictable, so there is no way to decide.
