Temptation, it is difficult for people to resist temptation.
Temptations that can be rejected are usually just rational considerations after analyzing the pros and cons.
He Huchen's troops were the biggest temptation in the world to Liu Chengzong.
These Ningxia border troops are the most difficult troops the Lion Battalion has ever seen, and in other words, they may be the closest to normal border troops.
But it is only close to normal. Although there was no drought in Ningxia last year, the land in Ningxia cannot grow money, so it still owes wages.
Even so, the Lion Camp may not be able to defeat the Ningxia Camp if they fight in other terrains and on sunny days without rain.
Because the Ningxia camp has almost no shortcomings, while the shortcomings of the Lion camp are very obvious.
Tangqi.
In addition to fighting against Zhang Yundeng's Yanzhou soldiers, Fenzhou Guards, and Pingyang Guards' flag armies, in all the battles between the Lion Battalion and the border troops, Wei Qian'er's Tangqi was always suppressed.
Moreover, in terms of the speed of transmitting messages, it was an era behind the border army.
News from the Lion Camp, day or night, rests on four legs and a mouth.
As for He Huchen's Tangqi, they were ten or twenty miles apart. As soon as the Tangqi waved his flag along the way, the news was delivered.
It's not that Liu Chengzong had never seen such Tangqi before, but such Tangqi... all died in the battle.
For example, Li Bei was killed by Zhang Tianlin with regular cavalry during the battle.
Another example is Aimu's, who was also completely pulled out by Yang Yao's troops before the battle began.
However, He Huchen's army still has a complete Tangqi force. If this army can surrender and join the Lion Camp, Liu Chengzong will have the opportunity to form the Tangqi force of the Lion Camp.
Make up for the last shortcoming compared with the frontier army.
From now on, you can use Tangqi to suppress the enemy Tangqi.
His large army was still forty miles away, and the Tangqi of the official army was compressed to within ten miles. All departments of the official army began to be forced to wear armor and defend in all directions.
Just thinking about this scene, Liu Chengzong's heart was filled with happiness.
It's just a pain for Yang Yao, the commander of the Lion Camp outpost.
To the west of Huanglong Mountain, Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin, the two 'fast runners' joined forces.
Both of them were experts in using cavalry, one was good at attacking and the other was good at running. When Du Wenhuan's remaining troops withdrew from the city, the two troops cut off the communication channels with He Huchen's remaining troops from the outside.
Zhang Tianlin also conveniently used Li Laojiao's name to rob two forts in Yanzhou.
The Yanzhou soldiers in the city were so angry that they couldn't do anything about it.
All their weapons and armor were robbed by Aimu's retainers. They have been busy purchasing weapons when they returned to Yanzhou. Now they haven't even collected the weapons, let alone armor.
They didn't dare to go out of the city to fight. Fortunately...it's not a good thing to say, but Master Zhang of the Hexi Army was no longer there, and no one urged them to go to war.
Zhang Tianlin was still weak, so he broke two forts, had twenty stones of millet transported, and threw it to the military supervisory platform in the south of Yanzhou City. He shouted to the city across the Luo River: "Brothers of the Yanzhou soldiers, what are you doing?" Throw it here!"
The Yanzhou soldiers in the city were so angry that they certainly wouldn't take it, but they couldn't stop the people from thinking that they were collaborating with thieves.
The food was left outside the city for two days. When it started to rain, the poor people were asked to take it home secretly at night.
The next day, word spread in the northern and southern suburbs of Yanzhou City that Yanzhou soldiers took away the grain left by the thieves.
Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin had no choice but to attack He Huchen's stronghold twice.
At first, a thousand people were stationed in the stronghold. Later, those thousand people moved eastward to suppress the troops, and the number of soldiers stationed in the stronghold became 600.
It was the headquarters of the two commanders that He Huchen sent to the north to pursue Zhang Tianlin earlier. The commander in front led his troops into the camp safely, while the commander in the back was tortured by Zhang Tianlin, and because he had led a few mutton skewers, Yang Yao lazily intercepted them. .
In the last two groups, a total of 600 people were left to guard the camp.
The strong attack failed, so Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin discussed and dug three trenches on the outside. They would not be allowed to escape if they could not defeat them.
But during the siege, these two thousand men were not capable of this.
After all, it was raining, and he and Zhang Tianlin were not having a hard time.
Moreover, there are Yanzhou soldiers in Yanzhou, Yan'an Fucheng in the north, Jinsuoguan and Yaozhou in the south, and Qingyang Mansion in the west. It can be said that it is connected in all directions.
The two of them were small enough to fight in a short field battle, but they could only become more and more panicked as they gathered around them.
Suddenly one day, Yang Yao discovered that there were more troops stationed in the village.
Yang Yao could tell from the scale of the excrement dumped by the officers and soldiers in the village every day. These Ningxia soldiers were very bad and they didn't want to run away.
When it rains, these things cannot be dug in the camp, so the Ningxia soldiers send people to carry buckets out every morning to empty them out.
They found that Yang Yao was digging trenches to cut off the road, and these Ningxia soldiers who were dumping sewage poured the sewage directly into the trenches.
Yang Yao was so angry that Grandpa built a big hut for you.
But at first, there were only about twenty soldiers dumping excrement every day, and suddenly there were more than fifty soldiers.
Based on this change, Yang Yao judged that another 600 troops were stationed in the camp.
Yang Yao stood on the top of a distant hill, watching the soldiers dumping dung water in the rain, with an uncertain expression on his face, and said to Zhang Tianlin: "The number of soldiers in the village is the same as ours."
At this moment, they no longer thought about the siege.
Take the initiative to withdraw the defense line and start looking for terrain suitable for an ambush in the surrounding area.
However, the Ningxia officers and soldiers in the village had no intention of breaking out. Instead, they deployed defenses on the official road to the east, and even sent troops to drive them away once.
There were casualties on each other, and after fighting for a while, Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin retreated.
Two days later, the number of soldiers pouring excrement water increased to more than 30, but they poured it out once in the morning and once in the evening.
More troops were added.
Yang Yao and Zhang Tianlin calculated that there were nearly two thousand officers and soldiers in the village.
Why they found such a situation, the two of them couldn't figure it out.
The information Yang Yao received was that Liu Chengzong expected to fight He Huchen in Yichuan. Even if they ran and marched, they would not be able to come back so quickly after fighting in Yichuan.
So he considered whether it was because of the rain on the mountain road that the Ningxia soldiers retreated and there was no fighting between the two sides.
Then the situation at this moment will be that the main force of the Lion Battalion is trapped in the mountain road, with He Huchen in the west and Du Wenhuan in the east.
Yang Yao scratched his head anxiously and discussed with Zhang Tianlin: "No, we have to find something for He Huchen to lure him to attack us."
"Are you crazy?"
Zhang Tianlin had just developed a good impression of the Lion Camp outpost commander, but in the blink of an eye, the good impression disappeared completely: "He has more than 2,000 frontier troops. I have so many new soldiers. A battle with the wind is fine. If you encounter a slight setback, you will be defeated."
Yang Yao scratched his head: "What should we do? Why don't you just rest and I'll find trouble for him."
He explained: "The general is blocked in the mountains. A gap must be opened here, otherwise the Lion Battalion will be blocked inside. He Huchen can still run if he is provoked outside."
The two men were anxiously thinking of a solution, and then they discovered that something was wrong with the defenders at the camp.
"Why are there people wearing unlined clothes and others with empty hands?"
In the camp across the Luo River from them, He Huchen was also extremely troubled.
The meaning of this camp was originally the same as when Liu Chengzong asked Zhong Hushao to set up camp in the mountain road, it was just to prevent the retreat from being cut off.
But the construction of camps is related to the number of defenders. Just like Nanjing is obviously an impregnable city, but most of the time it has almost no defensive power.
The city's defense facilities in Nanjing include more than 10,000 people at the crenels alone. Ten defenders at a crenel station would have 130,000 troops.
The bigger the camp is built, the more guards it must have. Therefore, the camp at Xishankou is not big. It is just a camp with a garrison of 600 people.
The camp of 600 people was occupied by 1,300 people. It was extremely crowded and there were problems with eating, drinking and sleeping.
He Huchen finally spent a day to revive the morale of the defeated army.
It is indeed not easy to boost the morale of his defeated army.
The elite soldiers who were the first to engage in the battle fled three times in a short period of time, and the soldiers on the second line of defense were also defeated twice. They were all frightened.
After marching for hundreds of miles in mud, the soldiers were sick, wounded in battle, and lost. It was extremely embarrassing to return to the Xishan Pass.
The first thing He Huchen did when he returned to Xishankou was to kill the cavalry trooper who escaped first to sacrifice the flag.
Others were defeated, but he was a serious frontline deserter.
He Huchen endured the heartache of losing his son and repeatedly boosted morale, telling everyone that the Lion Battalion was not more capable than them, they just took advantage of the red barbarian cannon.
The road is difficult to travel on this rainy day. It might not be long before the red cannon arrives.
Du Wenhuan's troops must have arrived first. When the time comes, they will attack from both sides and they will not lose.
Anyway, if you say this, the soldiers will listen with suspicion.
They wouldn't even dare to take the initiative to attack.
On the other hand, there is no problem in defending the camp. After all, there are many people and the camp is small, so the camp is full of people.
However, something He Huchen never expected happened.
Two days after entering the camp, He Huchen heard a report from his subordinates: "Commander, from the east, our captured soldiers are back."
"The captured soldiers are back?"
He Huchen was overjoyed and quickly sent troops to greet him.
But when he saw the captured soldiers, his expression became very complicated.
The prisoners looked really miserable.
Each and every one of them was stripped naked, wearing soaked single clothes. You supported me, and I supported you. Some of them had leaves hanging on their bodies, and some were carrying sick or injured soldiers.
There were more than 600 people in total.
He Huchen couldn't say that he didn't want them to come back. After all, they were all soldiers under the command of the Ningxia General Soldier. ,
But indeed, He Huchen felt more comfortable that they might not be able to come back.
In fact, the disaster in the Ningxia camp began after more than 600 prisoners entered the camp.
Shen Guangxian withdrew with He Huchen. Although his troops were defeated, they still fought a tough battle. He Huchen did not reprimand him more. He would not let him set up a defense line at this meeting. He only asked him to look after the returned prisoners.
Unexpectedly, only one night later, Shen Guangxian came to the door, full of resentment.
"Commander, we can't have any more of these people."
In He Huchen's Chinese army tent, Shen Guangxian shook his head and waved his hands: "I can't do anything, six out of ten are sick, and I can't lie with the wounded soldiers. As I lie there, I whisper how good the Lion Camp is for surrendering soldiers. "
"They can't do anything, but they can still eat well. Give them serious military rations and eat them cleanly. But when they're full, they complain and say, the food they get back is not as good as the enemy's."
He Huchen asked: "They complained to you?"
"No, they complained to other soldiers and didn't say anything when they saw me." Shen Guangxian became angry when he mentioned this: "Now everyone in the village knows that the Lion Camp has good food and is good for the surrendered soldiers. , and some people said that Ningxia soldiers should not have come."
After saying that, Shen Guangxian said to He Huchen: "Now all the soldiers in the village don't want to fight anymore, let's go back to Ningxia?"
He Huchen felt uncomfortable hearing this. When he thought about the defeat on the front line, he became angry when he spoke to Shen Guangxian: "Is it because all the soldiers in the village don't want to fight, or is it that you, General Shen, don't want to fight?"
"Commander, I don't mean that!"
Shen Guangxian was still aggrieved. I fought bloody battles with the enemy on the front line. More than half of my soldiers were killed or injured before they could retreat. In the end, the Chinese army was blown away by a cannon. The two lines of defense at the back were not the same as theirs. In turn, it was my fault. ?
He spoke hastily: "Go and ask Brother Zan yourself, isn't he just back from being a prisoner!"
As soon as these words came out, He Huchen lost his composure and stared directly into a pair of eyes full of murderous intent.
But only for a moment, and then thinking about his son's condition, he sighed again, and believed most of what Shen Guangxian said in his heart. He suddenly seemed a little older and asked: "Guangxian, I, we are Shouldn’t you come to Yan’an?”
He Zan was in a very bad state. He was completely depressed when he came back. He didn't talk to anyone and couldn't lift his spirits all day long. He just sat in the military tent.
Shen Guangxian knew something was wrong as soon as he said those words, which must have hurt the commander-in-chief's heart. In an instant, he even thought about the bandit name after his rebellion.
Suddenly, when He Huchen's tone softened, he felt relieved and sighed: "Anyway, this Liu lion is really difficult to fight. No wonder Du Wenhuan didn't come to fight."
"Commander, I thought about it, General Du from Yansui Town..."
Shen Guangxian shook his head, ignored the unpleasant words, and said: "We can't count him in the army."
He Huchen didn't want to say anything bad about his colleagues.
Can Du Wenhuan fight? He can fight very well. He has fought more than a hundred battles with the Mongols without ever losing. In terms of prestige, he can be ranked among the top three among the nine commanders in the imperial court.
But this man lost his ambition as he got older. He was greedy for pleasure and was so smart that he only wanted to protect himself. Let him fight against She'an. If he felt he couldn't win, he would resign. If he was asked to aid Liao, he would bully the Mongols.
I have everything, but I obviously don’t want to work hard anymore.
He Huchen shook his head: "With the two thousand of us, how can we not include Liu Shizi in our strength?"
But in fact, what He Huchen couldn't accept the most was He Zan's state.
That night, He Zan walked into the military tent, knelt down and prayed: "Da, retreat."
"Brother Zan, what are you talking about?"
"My son is not talking nonsense. We can't defeat Liu Shizi. It's still too late to retreat now. If we don't retreat, these two thousand people will be taken away by him. The more officers and soldiers attack him, the more powerful he will be."
He Zan lowered his head and did not dare to look at his father.
He couldn't describe his feelings, but after thinking for several days, he couldn't figure out how to deal with Liu Chengzong.
"He knows what the border troops want, but he can give it what we can't give."
He Huchen hadn't figured out the meaning of these words. He just thought that the frontier army wanted to get promoted and make a fortune. How could he, Liu Shizi, give it to him?
It's chaos outside.
Then a servant entered the account: "Commander, Liu Shizi is here!"
"Liu Shizi is here, why is it so chaotic outside?"
He Huchen strode out of the military tent and saw all the troops leaving the camp in an orderly manner. He wondered if I didn't give the order?
Immediately after, Shen Guangxian galloped up on his horse, panicked, and shouted loudly: "Commander, General Qian and the generals can no longer control the soldiers, they are all surrendering to the enemy, they are all surrendering to the enemy!"
