"General Li Siyuan is here, our reinforcements are here!"
The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, who were already on the verge of despair, suddenly burst into cheers. Their desire for survival made them explode with huge fighting power, and they started to kill the Sui army again like tigers descending from the mountain.
Gao Xianzhi was overjoyed when he saw the arrival of Li Siyuan's army, and rode his horse to rush forward to rescue Guo Zhiyun. Unexpectedly, Guo Zhiyun, who was being escorted by several Sui soldiers, stuck his head out and shouted at Gao Xianzhi: "General Gao, don't worry about me, leave quickly! In your current situation, it is impossible for you to be Chang Yuchun's." The opponent cannot be Xue Rengui's opponent. Now that the reinforcements have arrived, why would you risk your life for me in vain!"
"General Guo!"
Gao Xianzhi was stunned when he heard the words. He looked up and saw the determination between Guo Zhiyun's eyes through the firelight. He couldn't help but feel a sore nose. He nodded heavily, turned his horse's head and shouted: "Brothers, follow me. Fight out together and join the reinforcements!"
"Is it so easy to leave?"
Both Chang Yuchun and Xue Rengui snorted coldly and led their elite troops to rush towards the Tang army.
Not to be outdone, Li Siyuan waved his horse in his hand and shouted: "Brothers, kill these Sui dogs and join the brothers of Xuanjia Army!"
Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from the Sui and Tang Dynasties fought fiercely in front of this camp. Among the rebels, the sound of horse hooves rumbled, shouts of killing continued, and the sounds of weapons clashing could be heard. The two armies were entangled in a melee, killing each other until they were bloody and bloody, and corpses were scattered all over the field.
Li Siyuan's troops of the Tang Army marched day and night. As soon as they arrived at Hulao Pass, they were urged by Li Shimin to leave the pass and come to meet the Xuanjia Army who was robbing the camp. The soldiers were generally exhausted. However, the situation of the Sui soldiers who fought with him was not much better. The two sides fought a bloody battle. In the end, Gao Xianzhi and Pei Xingyan led more than 800 remaining troops to break through Chang Yuchun's obstruction and joined forces with Li Siyuan.
Seeing that Gao Xianzhi and Pei Xingyan had been escorted, and seeing that the sky was getting slightly brighter, Li Siyuan knew that there was no point in continuing the fight, so he ordered his troops to withdraw and return to the pass.
After the Tang army retreated, Xue Rengui ordered the camp to be re-garrisoned, fortifications to be built, and losses to be counted. It was learned that this time the Tang army attacked the camp, more than 200 tents were burned, more than 4,600 soldiers died on the battlefield, and more than 6,000 soldiers were injured, of which nearly 400 soldiers were seriously injured and were dying. Fortunately, the grain, grass, baggage, and siege equipment were all stored in the rear camp and were not damaged. Otherwise, it is unknown whether this battle can continue.
After hearing that the entire army had suffered such heavy losses, Li Siye, who was saved by Chang Mao. He suffered more than a dozen wounds and his arms were still tied with thick gauze. He immediately ran to Xue Rengui and the generals and cried bitterly to plead guilty: "Commander Xue, generals. Our army suffered heavy losses in this battle, all because the last general failed to take precautions. After the camp was captured by the Tang army, he was unable to stabilize the morale of the army and organized troops and horses to form a formation to resist the Tang army, resulting in the rapid defeat of the front army. Please. In accordance with military law, Commander Xue re-charged the last general with a hundred military sticks to rectify the military law!"
"Xue Shuai must not do it!"
Li Siye has a rough personality and is bold, and he must be a pioneer in every battle. This is quite similar to Gao Chong's character, so they have a good relationship in private.
Hearing Li Siye's apology, Gao Chong immediately knelt down and begged Xue Rengui: "Xue Shuai, although General Li Siye was at fault, he is seriously injured now. How can he still survive if these eighty army batons are used?" I hope Commander Xue will consider General Li Siye’s past achievements and send you these hundred military sticks for the time being.”
"Xue Shuai, although General Li Siye failed to withstand the Tang army's surprise attack, he did not retreat because of this. When the last general led his troops around the back of the Tang army, he saw that General Li Siye was besieged by countless Tang troops. He was scarred but still refused to retreat. . I hope Xue Shuai will let him go because of General Li Siye’s loyalty!"
Chang Mao had just joined the army and had no friendship with the generals. However, he had just seen Li Siye fight to the death in the face of the Tang army's onslaught, and now he took the blame without any cover-up. He immediately felt good about him and joined Gao Chong in interceding for him.
"General Gao, General Chang, thank you both for your inheritance!"
Li Siye glanced at Gao Chong and Chang Mao gratefully, turned his head back, and said seriously: "Xue Shuai, our army suffered over 10,000 casualties in this battle, and the main blame lies with the last general. What if Xue Shuai does not punish the last general? Can you convince the three armies? The last general has no face to face more than four thousand brothers who died in battle, and even less face to lead those soldiers who are suffering from pain!"
Lu Xiangsheng on the side saw that Li Siye was determined and was afraid that a hundred army sticks would actually beat this loyal and brave general to death. Then he acted as a peacemaker among them, bowed his hand to Xue Rengui and said: "Xue Commander, what General Li said is not unreasonable. However, General Li Siye can still fight to the death when the soldiers of the front camp are completely defeated, even if he has no merit, It’s also a bit of hard work. Although the merits and demerits cannot be offset, at least it can be exempted from some culpability. According to the general’s opinion, it is better to beat General Li Siye with twenty military sticks to correct military law!”
For these generals who have been licking blood from their swords all year round, twenty military sticks are just an itch. An ordinary general receives twenty military sticks, and within three days he is back to full strength. Considering Li Siye's current condition, he will be able to recover in a month at most.
Gao Chong and Chang Mao couldn't help but cast their hopeful eyes on Xue Rengui. As long as he nodded, the matter would be over. But who would have expected that Xue Rengui slowly shook his head, which made the two of them suddenly pale in shock. They stood up in a hurry and said, "Xue Shuai, General Li is now..."
"Who said I am going to punish General Li?"
Before the two of them had finished speaking, Xue Rengui interrupted them, stepped forward to help Li Siye up, and said in a deep voice: "General Li, our army suffered heavy casualties in this battle, and of course it has something to do with you. But if it weren't for me, this commander I made a mistake in judgment and fell into the trap of the Tang army. I ordered all the soldiers in the army to train hard tonight and prepare for the victory tomorrow. You would not be so careless, so I am mainly responsible for today's battle. I should bear the hundred military sticks! "
As soon as Xue Rengui said these words, the Sui army generals standing next to him turned pale with shock almost at the same time. They all knelt down and admonished Xue Rengui: "Shuai Xue, if you hadn't turned the tide in front of the battle and stopped the rout of the front army today, I'm afraid that even the Chinese army's stronghold has been penetrated by the Tang army at this moment!"
"Shuai Xue, although our army suffered heavy losses in this battle, it was also due to the Tang army's treachery. Any general leading the army would never have thought that the Tang army would come out and rob the camp tonight!"
. . . . . . . . . .
"Xue has made up his mind, generals, there is no need to persuade him any more!"
Xue Rengui waved his hands with a firm face and said loudly: "If Xue's rewards and punishments are unclear, how can he still command the three armies in the future? These one hundred military sticks are not only for enforcing military law, but also to give me and other generals a reminder. Don’t let your guard down because of your own assumptions!”
