Selling the refugees and using them as moving targets to attract the main force of Chaoyang County soldiers and create opportunities for his own side to escape from difficulties was the only plan Liu Xiu could think of. There was no other way.
But in this case, of the more than 3,000 refugees, only a few will survive in the end.
Deng Yu stood up and said: "There is indeed no other way. As long as there is a way out, we will not resort to this trick!"
Liu Xiu turned to look at Yan Guang, who sighed softly, lowered his head, and said nothing. Liu Xiu clenched his fist, turned to look at Feng Yi, and said: "Gongsun, this matter is up to you.
Come and arrange it!”
Feng Yi cupped his hands and said, "I obey!"
That night, late at night, under Feng Yi's arrangement, more than three thousand refugees quietly left the camp and went straight to Deng County.
Just as Liu Xiu said, the camp is surrounded by Chaoyang's spies, and if there is any slight disturbance in the camp, it cannot be hidden from the spies of the surrounding county soldiers.
Seeing that the Chung Ling army was almost in full force, not even wanting to camp or collecting tents, spies immediately ran back to Chaoyang and reported the news to Yi Zhen and Xie Sheng.
Upon hearing the spies' report, Yi Zhen and Xie Sheng were surprised at first, and then they were both overjoyed.
It seems that the Shandu County soldiers' attack on Deng County was effective, and the Chung Ling Army was forced to retreat to rescue them. But in this way, the Chung Ling Army also fell into its own trap.
Yi Zhen couldn't hide the excitement on his face and asked the spies: "The entire Chung Ling army is retreating!"
"Yes, Magistrate Yi, I can see clearly that more than 3,000 Chung Ling rebels have all abandoned their camp and fled!" the spy said hurriedly.
"Great!" Xie Sheng clapped his hands and said to Yi Zhen: "This opportunity cannot be missed, it will never come back! Magistrate Yi County, our army should attack immediately, join forces with Shandu County soldiers, and surround the Chongling rebels.
Annihilate them in one fell swoop!"
Yi Zhen nodded and said: "Order your troops immediately!"
After hearing the news of the retreat of the Chongling Army, Yi Zhen and Xie Sheng, who had endured their cowardice for several days, became energetic. They led 3,000 county soldiers and quickly left the city.
When they arrived outside the city, Xie Sheng specially sent out five hundred county soldiers and asked them to go to the military camp left by the Chongling Army, collect supplies, and clear out the remnants.
Xie Sheng sent 500 county soldiers to clean up the Chongling Army camp. There were already a lot of people. After all, the main force of the Chongling Army had already evacuated. Even if some remaining troops were still in the camp, it was not a cause for concern.
But this time Xie Sheng's calculation was wrong. It was Liu Xiu, Deng Yu and others hiding in the camp, as well as the most elite three hundred Chung Ling Army.
The leader of these five hundred county soldiers was a military commander named Liao. When he first entered the Chongling Army camp, he was cautious and cautious, but after walking inside for a while, he looked around and saw that the camp was empty.
No one could be found.
Looking at the ground, there were messes everywhere. Even some military rations were scattered all over the ground before they could be taken away.
It can also be seen from this that the Chongling Army retreated in a very hasty manner. Of course, this is also in line with the crisis that the Chongling Army is currently facing. After all, their home base of Deng County in the rear is under direct threat from the soldiers of Shandu County.
The military commander surnamed Liao gradually felt relieved. He waved his hand to the soldiers behind him and said, "Everyone search separately! Search carefully for me! Don't let a rebel go!"
"Yes!" All the county soldiers agreed in unison, dispersed, and people got into the camps everywhere to search one by one.
The county soldiers searched from the front camp to the middle camp, and then from the middle camp to the back camp. Seeing that the sky was about to turn white, the military commander surnamed Liao yawned and asked: "Have any remaining rebels been found?"
The soldiers standing around him shook their heads, saying that they had not found any rebels hiding in the camp. Marquis Liao nodded and said, "See if there are anything valuable, gather them all together, and then set fire to this place."
Already..."
Before he finished speaking, the sound of fighting suddenly came from the end of the rear camp. Marquis Liao frowned and asked suspiciously: "What's going on?"
The soldiers around him didn't understand what was going on, and they all looked confused. Marquis Liao listened carefully for a while, and felt something was wrong, so he led his men and ran towards the rear camp.
When we arrived at the back camp, before we could go deeper inside, we saw a large group of county soldiers running towards us. People's faces were full of fear, and many of them were still covered in colors and bleeding.
Marquis Liao shouted loudly: "What's going on?"
"Marquis Liao, what's wrong, there's an ambush in the rear camp!" A soldier ran up to Marquis Liao and said urgently.
"What?" Marquis Liao was stunned for a moment and asked nervously: "How many people are there in the ambush?"
"Probably... there are probably hundreds of people!" the soldier said tremblingly.
The military commander surnamed Liao glared at him fiercely and shouted sternly: "There are only a few hundred rebels, why are you panicking?" As he spoke, he pulled out the sword from his side and said: "Follow me.
Kill the enemy!"
He led a group of county soldiers and charged forward. Not long after, he encountered a Chungling army head-on. Judging from the number of people, it was only about two hundred at best. The military commander surnamed Liao felt that his own troops had an advantage, so he did not attack the enemy.
The Chung Ling Army took this seriously and waved their swords forward, shouting loudly: "Anyone who kills the rebels will be rewarded heavily by the county captain!"
With the military commander surnamed Liao taking the lead, the county soldiers became more confident and swarmed forward, shouting and fighting together with the Chung Ling army on the opposite side.
The military commander surnamed Liao originally thought that his side had 500 troops, while the opponent had only 200. Since he was a county soldier and the opponent was a bandit soldier, there was not much suspense in this battle and he could easily win.
But when the two sides actually fought, he realized that was not the case at all.
The two hundred people of the Chuling Army were like tigers descending from the mountain. Our brothers fell to the ground in groups in front of others.
He secretly screamed, "It's not good. I'm afraid we have encountered the elite of the rebels!" He was about to give the order to retreat, when he saw a burly man heading straight for him.
Marquis Liao didn't even think about it. He raised his sword and struck. The burly man held the ring-headed sword and raised it outward. Cang, whoosh! The sword of Marquis Liao flew away from his hand.
He was so frightened that he screamed, turned around and ran away without saying a word. The burly man was not willing to let him go. He threw away his legs, took three steps into two steps, chased behind the military commander surnamed Liao, and slashed him with his sword.
.
Click!
The sword flashed past, and the headless body ran forward a few steps before falling to the ground.
The burly man holding the ring-headed sword was none other than Gai Yan. After he slashed the military commander named Liao with his sword, he did not pause for a moment and started fighting with the surrounding county soldiers.
The 200 Chung Ling Army led by Gai Yan, as if given a shot of chicken blood, killed the 500 county soldiers to a rout, leaving the dead and wounded lying all over the ground.
The battle lasted less than two-quarters of an hour when the county soldiers could no longer hold on and left more than 200 dead and wounded soldiers behind. The remaining 200 or so soldiers turned around and ran away.
They also wanted to follow the original route and exit the Chongling Army camp, but it was too late.
When they ran to the camp gate, they looked out and saw that a Choling Army of more than a hundred people had blocked the camp gate. The young man leading this Choling Army was none other than Liu Xiu.
He drew out the Chixiao Sword under his ribs and watched the fleeing county soldiers getting closer and closer. He pointed the sword forward and shouted: "Fire the arrow!"
Dozens of archers in the crowd bent their bows and set arrows, aimed at the oncoming county soldiers, and fired arrows fiercely.
Puff, puff, puff! The sound of the arrow penetrating the leather armor and embedding itself in the flesh and bone was endless.
The county soldiers running in front were all hit by multiple arrows and rolled to the ground. After one round of volley, people re-cocked their arrows and launched the second round of volley. More than a dozen county soldiers were hit by multiple arrows. fell to the ground.
When the archers drew the third arrow, the county soldiers were less than ten meters away from them.
Liu Xiu, who was already ready to attack, shouted loudly, rushed out with his sword, faced the crowd, and slashed with his sword. Zhu You and Fu Jun followed closely behind, one holding a spear and the other holding a bow and arrow.
The spear stabs first, killing a row of enemies, and the spear sweeps, sweeping away a row of enemies. Zhu You is brave, and Fu Jun is no less generous.
Bows and arrows are not melee weapons, but Fu Jun insisted on using them in close combat. He was dexterous and swayed past the three county soldiers while moving the arrows in his hands backwards. As soon as it was inserted, there was a pop, and the sharp edge of the arrow penetrated the leather armor of the county soldier and pierced deeply into his heart. The other two county soldiers had just turned around, when Fu Jun's shot was like lightning, holding the arrow in his hand, and covered it with lightning speed. The force of the ear pierced their necks.
Immediately afterwards, he put the arrow on the bowstring and shot out an arrow. A county soldier who roared and rushed towards him was stabbed through the chest by an arrow and fell to the ground on his back.
Fu Jun snapped, drew three arrows in a row, and shot three arrows in succession. The three county soldiers who rushed towards him from three directions were hit by arrows and fell to the ground, rolling the wheel to his feet.
A village commander held a sword in both hands and attacked Fu Jun from behind, chopping his head. The back of his head seemed to have eyes. He leaned to the side and drew an arrow at the same time. Without even looking back, he moved backwards. With one stab, the sharp edge of the arrow first pierced the opponent's lower abdomen. The commander was in pain and bent down. Fu Jun quickly drew the arrow and stabbed upward. The arrow penetrated the commander's lower jaw and almost penetrated his chest. Tianling cover.
This was just a part of the fight. Liu Xiu led a hundred Chung Ling troops and blocked the defeated county soldiers inside the camp gate, while Gai Yan led two hundred Chung Ling troops and chased the county soldiers. .
Two groups of Chung Ling troops, one in front and one behind, surrounded the remaining county regiments of more than 200 people.
The county soldiers were beaten until they had no way to go to the sky or to the ground, crying for their fathers and mothers. In this battle, Liu Xiu and others almost wiped out all 500 county soldiers with only forty or fifty casualties.
After the battle, Liu Xiu wiped the blood on his face and hands and said to Yan Guang beside him: "If we want to save those three thousand refugees, there is another way!"
Yan Guang frowned and said, "Take advantage of the situation to attack Chaoyang City?"
Liu Xiu smiled and said, "The one who knows me is Ziling!"
Chaoyang City is currently empty. Even though we only have more than 200 people on our side, there is indeed a great chance to capture Chaoyang City.
Once they learned that Chaoyang City had been lost, the Chaoyang County soldiers would no longer be able to hunt down the refugees and would inevitably lead their troops to rescue them.
In this way, we have naturally succeeded in resolving the crisis of three thousand refugees, but the problem is that we ourselves are trapped in the city.
Even if we have the advantage of city defense, can we withstand the siege of more than 2,000 county soldiers with only about 200 people?
Yan Guang thought over and over again and said sternly to Liu Xiu: "I hope my lord, please think again!" Even though Yan Guang couldn't bear to watch more than 3,000 refugees die tragically at the hands of county soldiers, compared with this, Liu Xiu's life was undoubtedly more important.
Liu Xiu took a deep breath and said: "I recruited these people. At a critical moment, I shouldn't trade their lives for my own! A man, a true man, should act with integrity and a clear conscience!"
When Yan Guang heard this, although he was worried in his heart, the corners of his mouth still raised unconsciously. This was the Liu Xiu and Uncle Liu Wen he knew, and only this Liu Xiu was worthy of his risking his life to follow and give his best assistance.