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 a desperate situation, 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 out of food, and Yuancheng had just been looted.
The Turkic army returned north and left for only ten days. 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.
It seems that all this should have started to change after hearing about the war in Kaizhou. 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 ponder in his heart again and again, why did Su Dingfang suddenly defect 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 battle 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.
But this time, a similar situation occurred again.
Tao failed to attack Guan Tao and laid siege to Wei County. Qi Shanxing and Cheng Mingzhen led their troops to help. They did not want to fight a decisive battle, but were eventually forced to fight 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 Yuchi Gong 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 his 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 just 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 outside were well fed and clothed and in high spirits. In the camp, the soldiers lit bonfires to keep warm. A large amount of hot soup, meat, and fodder were sent from the county, plus Wei 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 went in with a charcoal fire 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 the capital, 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 tried 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."
Li Daoxuan, Cheng Mingzhen, and Wang Junkuo turned to look. After a moment, Li Daoxuan handed over a letter, "Send it to Guantao. 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. Respectfully.
Old Man Ling was obviously a little annoyed, and scolded: "Of course they are the ones who make the decision on this kind of thing. Why are you sending a letter back 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. Both sides were actually stationed around Yongji County... Could this heavy snow be 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... but 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 Minzhen said it clearly in the letter... This is really a character!"
Ling Jing nodded slightly, "Cheng Mingzhen was not well-known under King Xia back then, but he was a top-notch hero in Shandong with both civil and military skills."
"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 will be no bridge to cross the river. Liu Heitai will have to go until near 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 snows heavily today, who knows if you can escape... Even if you can escape, how many of Liu Heitao's remaining 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 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 was an opportunity, they would go south to invade. If they encountered the Tang army's attack, they would rush north into the grasslands and seek shelter from the Turkic tribes.
Therefore, when this letter arrived, 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. He couldn't do it naked. Heading north?
"Huairen, Huairen?"
Li Kai sighed: "Burning 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 and wiped the wet stains from the corners of his mouth.
