The Han army's all-out counterattack made the already weak Bronze Horse Army completely unable to withstand it, and was severely defeated.
Dongshan Huangtu, Shang Huaikuang and others, no one expected that this would happen. Just now they were surrounding the Han army and fighting, and their own soldiers who had a complete advantage on the scene were all defeated in an instant. Dongshan Huangtu thought
They stabilized the defeated soldiers, regrouped, and continued to besiege the Han army. However, the defeated soldiers directly disrupted the entire camp of the Bronze Horse Army and caused panic among the entire army.
At this time, the disadvantages of the Bronze Horse Army's lack of organization and lack of coordination were completely exposed.
The defeated soldiers did not obey the command and fled in a panic. The more than 100,000 soldiers who had plundered the formation were also affected and fled in all directions with the defeated soldiers. The 200,000 bronze horse troops turned into a mess in an instant.
Following Liu Xiu, how could the experienced Han soldiers who had been on the battlefield miss such an opportunity? People carried the Bronze Horse Army in pursuit.
Dongshan Huangtu, Shanghuai Kuang and others were helpless against their own defeat. Everyone had no choice but to run along with the defeated soldiers. wavv
This defeat of the Bronze Horse Army was truly a rout that could not be stopped.
Moreover, the Bronze Horse Army did not run in one direction. The two hundred thousand soldiers were divided into many groups and fled in various directions, looking like headless flies.
Among the fleeing Bronze Horse Army, there were two groups with the largest number of troops. One group fled due south from Julu County, passed through Guangping County and Wei County, and fled directly into Hanoi.
Another group of bronze horse troops fled to the southeast, passed through Qinghe County, and fled into Yanzhou.
It can be said that the two largest armies of the Bronze Horse Army escaped from Jizhou. For the Han army, this battle against the Bronze Horse Army was an unprecedented victory. But Liu Xiu was not satisfied.
In this battle in Julu County, although the Han army defeated the Bronze Horse Army, they did not kill many enemy troops. The Bronze Horse Army suffered only 30,000 to 40,000 casualties.
For the Bronze Horse Army of ten thousand, this casualty would not damage the muscles or bones, let alone the vitality. As long as given time, the Bronze Horse Army could regroup and counterattack back to Jizhou.
If you want to permanently eliminate the threat of the Bronze Horse Army to Jizhou, you must completely wipe out the remnants of the Bronze Horse Army and leave no trace of the Bronze Horse soldiers or generals.
All the Han generals supported Liu Xiu's idea.
So now, they need to divide their troops into two groups, one to go to Hanoi to wipe out the remnants of the Bronze Horse Army that fled into Hanoi, and the other to go to Yanzhou to wipe out the remnants of the Bronze Horse Army that fled into Yanzhou.
Liu Xiu consulted with his generals and decided to personally lead the army to Hanoi. As for who to send to Yanzhou, Liu Xiu was in a dilemma.
Yanzhou currently belongs to the sphere of influence of the Red Eyebrow Army, and Liu Xiu still holds the title of Prince Xiao of the Gengshi Court. If Liu Xiu personally leads his army into Yanzhou, it will be a big event.
You said you came to Yanzhou to wipe out the remnants of the Bronze Horse Army, but who knows if you came to Yanzhou to fight on behalf of Liu Xuan?
Once Liu Xiu enters Yanzhou, he will definitely be besieged by the Red Eyebrow Army. At that time, they will have to deal with the Bronze Horse Army and the Red Eyebrow Army. The entire army will be in a difficult situation.
Therefore, Liu Xiu could only choose to destroy the rebel army that fled into Hanoi.
But who should be sent into Yanzhou?
Liu Xiu was thinking secretly in his heart, when Wu Han suddenly stood up, stepped in and saluted Liu Xiu and said: "Your Majesty, the general is willing to go to Yanzhou! In this battle, the general will be able to annihilate the remaining bronze horses in Yanzhou in one fell swoop!"
Looking at Wu Han, Liu Xiu fell into deep thought. As for Wu Han's fighting ability, Liu Xiu was reassured. If there were no other factors, it would be absolutely fine to let Wu Han lead the troops to deal with the remnants of the Bronze Horse.
However, Yanzhou is now the territory of the Red Eyebrow Army, and Wu Han is arrogant and frivolous. If he leads his army into Yanzhou, there may be a conflict with the Red Eyebrow Army. This is a situation Liu Xiu does not want to see.
While Liu Xiu was hesitating, Geng stood up and intervened, saying: "Your Majesty, the general is willing to go to Yanzhou!"
Liu Xiu turned his eyes and looked at Geng. Even if Geng's ability to lead troops in battle was not as good as Wu Han's, it was not far behind. However, like Wu Han, Geng was young and energetic, sharp and unsteady.
Seeing Liu Xiu rubbing his chin and looking over Wu Han and Geng, but still not making a decision, everyone understood that it seemed that neither Wu Han nor Geng was the right candidate for the king.
Ma Wu and Wang Ba stood up almost at the same time and asked Liu Xiu for their military tassels, willing to lead their troops to Yanzhou.
Liu Xiu was still silent. At this time, the Chinese army tent became quiet. Wu Han, Geng, Ma Wu, and Wang Ba asked for help, but the king refused, so who else could defeat them?
Yao Qi, who was usually taciturn, looked around and saw that no one was asking the king for help. He stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to go!"
Liu Xiu's eyes fell on Yao Qi again, and his mind suddenly moved. Yao Qi was always calm, calm-minded, wise, and quick-thinking. Liu Xiu looked at Yao Qi for a while, and said meaningfully: "Yanzhou is now naked.
Mei is in control, but Chi Mei is not a friend of our army. This time our army entered Yanzhou to exterminate the remnants of the Bronze Horse. This is a sensitive move, and our army must not send too many troops and horses."
Entering Yanzhou to fight, the place is unfamiliar and it is inherently difficult. The most important thing is that you cannot even bring too many soldiers and horses, in order to dispel the red eyebrow army's wariness and hostility.
But in this way, annihilating the remnants of the Bronze Horse Army will become more dangerous and difficult.
Yao Qi pondered for a moment and said seriously: "Your Majesty, the last general can lead 20,000 troops and horses to Yanzhou."
Hearing this, everyone present was shocked. Ma Wu said nervously: "Secondly, with only 20,000 soldiers and horses, how can we be the opponent of the Bronze Horse Army?"
Even though it was only the remnants of the Bronze Horse Army who fled into Yanzhou, there were still tens of thousands of people, maybe even 100,000. What's more, there was also the Red Eyebrow Army in Yanzhou who was watching with eagerness. Yao Qi only brought 20,000 soldiers there.
If you don't do it right, you will suffer a big loss.
Yao Qi was silent for a moment, then he said in a more serious tone: "Your Majesty, the last general with 20,000 troops is enough!"
Liu Xiu thought about it again and again, nodded slowly, and said: "Secondly, when you enter Yanzhou to fight this time, you must not go too deep. If you encounter a bronze horse, you can fight and retreat, and just lead it back to Jizhou!"
Yao Qi intervened and said: "I will obey your orders!"
"Also, in this battle, fight if you can. If you can't fight, don't be reluctant to fight. You need to return to Jizhou as soon as possible!"
"Yes! Your Majesty!"
"And..." Liu Xiu shook his head in the middle of his words and said no more. He didn't even know what else to give. Yaoqi smiled and said in a brisk tone: "Don't worry, your Majesty, I will be in my heart."
Be measured."
Liu Xiu nodded and said: "In this battle, the best thing to do is be careful!"
"Yes! Your Majesty!"
After careful consideration, Liu Xiu decided to send Yao Qi to send troops to Yanzhou. Whether he could annihilate the remaining Bronze Horse troops was secondary. As long as he could lead the remaining Bronze Horse troops from Yanzhou back to Jizhou, that would be fine.
For this battle, Liu Xiu did not choose Wu Han, Geng, Ma Wu, Wang Ba and others, but chose Yao Qi. This does not mean that Yao Qi's ability to lead troops in battle must be better than those of them, but based on external factors.
Different, he needs to choose the most suitable candidate to fight.
Yao Qi is calm and calm. In the current sensitive period when Liu Xuan and the Red Eyebrow Army are fighting a bloody battle, Liu Xiu will feel more at ease if Yao Qi enters the territory of the Red Eyebrow Army and wipes out the Bronze Horse Army.
However, Yanzhou is the territory of the Red Eyebrow Army after all, and Liu Xiu's information on Yanzhou is very limited.
Liu Xiu and even his generals did not expect that the Bronze Horse Army that fled into Yanzhou was not tens of thousands or 100,000 people, but a regrouped army of 200,000 people.
The Bronze Horse Army has hundreds of thousands of people. The Bronze Horse Army that fought against Liu Xiujun in Julu County this time was not their entire strength. There are many other units of the Bronze Horse Army that did not participate in this battle.
Dongshan Huangtu and Shanghuai Kuang led the remnant troops and fled into Yanzhou. They immediately issued orders to all branches of the Bronze Horse Army. Each branch of the Bronze Horse Army was ordered to assemble in Yanzhou, where they regrouped and their strength reached twenty.
Thousands of people.
Moreover, the other units of the Bronze Horse Army assembled in Yanzhou were not all the soldiers and horses, but only part of the many other units.
As the largest rebel army in Hebei, the size of the Bronze Horse Army is not just 200,000 or 300,000. The strength must be at least 500,000, with various branches scattered throughout Hebei.
In addition, the Bronze Horse Army and the Red Eyebrow Army were both insurrectionary armies, and the relationship between them was very good. This time they fled into Boping County in Yanzhou. With the strong support of the Boping County Magistrate, they secretly transported the Bronze Horse Army
Got a lot of food and grass.
Currently, the Red Eyebrow Army is engaged in a fierce battle with the troops of the Gengshi Imperial Court in Hongnong. The Red Eyebrow Army is not very willing to provoke Liu Xiu's forces in Hebei, which would cause unnecessary problems for the province and create another powerful enemy for themselves.
Regarding the Bronze Horse Army who was defeated in Hebei and fled into Yanzhou, the Red Eyebrow Army's attitude was not to contact them proactively, nor to provide any support to the Bronze Horse Army. Of course, they would not remove the Bronze Horse Army from their own territory.
Forced out.
However, the attitude of the top brass of the Red Eyebrow Army was that of the top brass, and the attitude of the bottom class was not like this. The Boping County Magistrate secretly delivered food and grass to the Bronze Horse Army more than once, and did his best to support it.
At the beginning, we were all old acquaintances, brothers in adversity who stood up to resist the imperial court. The Boping County Magistrate could not just sit idly by and ignore the Bronze Horse Army that was in trouble at this time.
It was under this situation that Liu Xiu led the main force of the Han army into Hanoi, while Yao Qi only led 20,000 soldiers and horses, crossed the Yellow River, entered Yanzhou, and went straight to Boping County where the Bronze Horse Army was located.
When they learned that Liu Xiujun's troops had crossed the Yellow River and entered Yanzhou, Dongshan Huangtu and Shanghuai were shocked and hurriedly sent a letter to the Boping County Magistrate. The Boping County Magistrate's name was Lian Ji. Before he became a local official,
He is a middle-level general of the Red Eyebrow Army.
After receiving the letter from the Bronze Horse Army, Lian Ji pretended to leave the city and quietly went to the Bronze Horse Army camp outside the city. In the Chinese army tent in the camp, Lian Ji met Dongshan Huangtu, Shang Huaikuang and others.
.
The Red Eyebrow Army is the big brother of the Bronze Horse Army. The Dongshan Huangtu and Shanghuai Kuang and others followed Fan Chong and Xu Xuan's uprising and formed the Bronze Horse Army. For the Red Eyebrow Army and the Bronze Horse Army,
The generals are all very respectful.
After meeting, Dongshan Huangtu, Shanghuai Kuang and others bowed to Lian Ji and said urgently: "Lian Gong, I heard that Liu Xiu has sent troops to cross the river, enter Yanzhou, and attack Boping. They are trying to kill me.
The Bronze Horse will kill them all, but Liu Xiu has gone too far to bully others!"
Lian Ji smiled leisurely, returned the salute with his hands, and said: "Generals, don't panic, you don't know yet, Liu Xiu sent only 20,000 troops this time, and the commander is not Liu Xiu, but Yao Qi."
"Only 20,000 soldiers and horses?" Everyone in the Bronze Horse Army really didn't know this. One general said in surprise: "Liu Xiu only sent 20,000 soldiers and horses, but he asked them to die?"
Seeing the Bronze Horse Army looking at him with big eyes and small eyes, Lian Ji laughed loudly and said: "The 20,000 soldiers and horses led by Yao Qi are just bait. Their purpose is to lure you back to Jizhou!
"
Having said this, Lian Ji waved his hands to everyone, indicating that everyone should sit down. Dongshan Huangtu quickly bowed and waved his hands, saying: "Master Lien, please take a seat!"
Lian Ji was already forty years old. Based on his status, status and even seniority in the Red Eyebrow Army, he should not have only been appointed as a county magistrate. It was he who declined the appointment of a magistrate due to his old age and only became a magistrate.
A leisurely magistrate.
There are not many government affairs, and he spends his days at leisure, traveling around mountains and rivers, and enjoying himself leisurely. He lives a very free and easy life.
If it were for other things, he would not be so concerned. He had led his troops to fight side by side with the Bronze Horse Army before, and they were old friends. The Bronze Horse Army was involved in something, and they ran into his hometown of Boping County. He
