Everything was as Chen Xiaobei expected. After Zhao Guangzong and the others formed an array on the north side of the stone bridge, a scout came to report in the evening, saying that the fastest soldiers of the Earth Kingdom were less than a hundred miles away from the stone bridge.
It's less than a hundred miles. If the other party walks fast, they can arrive tonight.
But calculating the time, Liu Rumei would have to rush over at least noon tomorrow.
In other words, no matter when the enemy attacks, they will have to hold on until noon tomorrow.
But what Zhao Guangzong and the others did not expect was that at midnight that night, there were shouts of killing outside the military camp, and the soldiers of the Great Earth Kingdom began to attack.
Fortunately, Zhao Guangzong was fully prepared. He had already ordered all the soldiers to keep their armor and swords in their hands. When he heard someone was sneaking up on him, he quickly got up and launched a counterattack.
Under the coordination of Zhao Guangzong, the sudden attack of the Great Tu Kingdom did not achieve the desired effect, and the two sides fell into a bitter battle.
The battle was extremely fierce.
It lasted until dawn, Zhao Guangzong's hand had been damaged by seven or eight thousand, and the damage on the other side would only be more.
However, the soldiers on the opposite side had no intention of retreating and were still attacking frantically. It was obvious that they were going to fight to the death to seize the stone bridge on the Xiaoqing River.
At almost the same time, Liu Rumei, who was retreating, also encountered new troubles.
Although she rushed back as fast as she could, she was still caught up by Master Duobang.
Liu Rumei only had less than 10,000 people, but the opponent had tens of thousands of troops. Liu Rumei was naturally at a disadvantage at the first touch. In desperation, she had to lead her troops and retreat quickly.
Liu Rumei led the people back for more than 20 miles. Looking at the enemy troops chasing after them, Liu Rumei started to think.
He had to retreat down like this and keep running, although he would be able to catch up with Zhao Guangzong sooner or later, because they were waiting for him at Xiaoshiqiao.
But in that case, it would mean that the large group of people would be overtaken by the enemy, and no one would be able to leave.
Thinking of this, Liu Rumei said to Xiao Qing, "Send a message to Ziming Ziliang and ask them to abandon the small stone bridge immediately and withdraw to the country. We will find another way out."
Xiao Qing was startled when he heard this, "Miss, it would be difficult for us to withdraw without passing through the small stone bridge."
Liu Rumei's eyes widened, "It's easy for us to escape while it's still dark. It'll be too late when it gets bright, so send a message quickly."
"But, miss, I only have one homing pigeon." Xiao Qing hesitated again.
"Don't worry about this, let them out quickly." Liu Rumei urged again.
Xiaoqing had no choice but to obey and send the news out.
Liu Rumei then said to all his men, "There is a fork in the road ahead, and we cannot retreat. We will divide our troops into two groups, one to the left and the other to the right. When the time comes, everyone will find a way to return to the Great Earth Kingdom."
The soldiers present agreed and urged their horses forward.
At this time, on the banks of the Xiaoqing River, Zhao Guangzong led his men to hold on for a whole night, with losses exceeding 10,000 people. Seeing the soldiers around him fall one after another, Zhao Guangzong did not flinch at all and kept holding on.
At this moment, Chen Xiaobei received a letter from Liu Rumei. Seeing the news delivered by Liu Ziming, Chen Xiaobei felt extremely heavy.
According to Liu Rumei, they were asked to give up holding on to Xiaoshiqiao and withdraw to the country. However, it would be much more difficult for Liu Rumei to return to the country.
But no matter what, since Liu Rumei sent someone to deliver the message, she must have her own thoughts.
Thinking of this, Chen Xiaobei hurriedly came to the formation of the two armies to see Zhao Guangzong.
Seeing Chen Xiaobei running towards him, Zhao Guangzong was startled and quickly pulled him back.
"Brother Xiaobei, why are you here? There's a war going on here. Go back quickly."
"General Zhao, look at this." Chen Xiaobei handed over the message from Liu Rumei. After reading the letter, Zhao Guangzong was silent for a while.
It's just dawn now. He has lost nearly 10,000 people, and only 30,000 people are left. Whether he can hold on until noon is still a question, not to mention that there are tens of thousands of troops on the opposite side besieging him, and there is a large army chasing behind Liu Rumei. If these forces come together, , they may be in disaster. Therefore, if Liu Rumei did not come, the pressure on herself would actually be reduced.
Thinking of this, he sighed and said to Chen Xiaobei, "This small green river stretches for thousands of miles. Miss must have other ways to cross the river."
Chen Xiaobei certainly understood the meaning of this sentence at this time. Liu Rumei had already said that she would not come here again.
So there is no point in holding on here with your own people.
Soon Zhao Guangzong also made the decision to retreat, and the troops of Dacang State quickly retreated in an orderly manner through the stone bridge.
The general who led the pursuit was named Yelu Chuang.
Seeing Zhao Guangzong and others withdrawing, he also raised his hand and ordered the soldiers to stop advancing.
The soldiers nearby were very confused and couldn't help but asked in unison, "General, as long as we catch up, the people of Dacang will not be able to escape!"
Yeluchuang waved his hand, "No more pursuit, no more pursuit. The previous wave of people was only thirty or forty thousand people. This time the other party came with an army of three hundred thousand troops, and there are still more than two hundred thousand people who have not withdrawn."
"The commander-in-chief Duobang is leading people to follow."
"We must retain the main force of Dacang Kingdom. Don't be fooled by these tens of thousands of people."
Yeluchuang immediately deployed his manpower, ordered everyone to cross the river, and then destroyed the stone bridge. In this way, at least I can hold on for a few more days.
At this time, he didn't know that Liu Rumei had already changed direction and was not coming this way.
Over there, Chen Xiaobei saw that the other party was not chasing him, so he and Zhao Guangzong didn't dare to stop for a moment and ran all the way.
It wasn't until it was getting dark that Yelu Chuang got the news that the enemy might not be coming.
And judging from the traces of the pursuit, it didn't look like an army of more than 200,000 people, but at most less than 10,000 people.
That night, all aspects of the situation were gathered on the desk of Emperor Jopson of the Earth Kingdom.
After Jopson read it, he slammed the table in thought and said, "We were fooled. We were fooled. The other party only had 40,000 to 50,000 people at most. They only claimed to have 300,000, and they deceived us."
After speaking, he said to the soldiers standing next to him, "Immediately send a message to Dobang who is commanding at the front. I must annihilate all the enemies trapped on the Xiaoqing River, otherwise I will not be able to get rid of this bad breath in my heart." !”
Before he finished speaking, a huge commotion was suddenly heard outside, and then soldiers ran in quickly and knocked out the oil lamps in the room.
"Your Majesty, be careful, there is an assassin."
There was a noise outside for about half an hour. Only then did a guard come in and report that the assassin had escaped and had not been caught.
Jopson was not angry when he heard this, but laughed.
"Send an order to seal the city gate and search from house to house. We must find this assassin. If I am not mistaken, the guards in Pingzhou and other places were killed earlier, and it was also these people who did it."
At this time, on the banks of the Xiaoqing River hundreds of miles away, after Duobang received the order, he thought for a moment and sent someone to send a message to Yeluchuang, asking him to immediately divide his troops and search up and down the Xiaoqing River to prevent the enemy from crossing the river.
