After about an hour, Achi and Pochaoqi prepared weapons, equipment, dry food and other supplies, and each led their elite cavalry to leave Dangjincheng City, galloping towards the east like lightning. The whole army was composed of one person and two horses, and there were more people in front of them. There is no strong enemy, and the marching speed is at least twice as fast as before. At this time, in the meeting hall of the city guard's mansion, Yang Ji and others gathered together with Mai Tiezhang, who had been separated for many years, and the atmosphere was extremely pleasant.
"Your Majesty, we have just received another good news. General Wei Yunqi successfully annihilated Murong Xun. In this battle, he killed 20,000 enemies, captured more than 3,000 people, and seized countless weapons, equipment, food and grass. The enemy generals Murong Xun and Tuoba Kuan were killed. They all died in battle." Zhu Can rushed in excitedly and said happily: "The enemy's three major battalions were all defeated miserably, and the main force in the western battlefield was lost. Now the west of Xitieshan is our army's world!"
"Did Murong Xun finish the game?" Yang Jizheng was discussing the next plan with everyone, thinking about where to encircle Murong Xun's army, but at this time, he suddenly heard the news that Wei Yunqi had killed him, and everyone was a little shocked.
"Well, Murong has finished his tour!" Zhu Can nodded fiercely and said excitedly: "The other one is General Pei Xingyan. After confirming that the Lenghu Camp was fine, he led his army eastward and went to join General Wei."
"Well done!" Yang Ji raised his brows with joy and said to everyone: "Now, the west is free from worries. Even if there are people who disobey the Sui Dynasty, it is only a small enemy force and has no influence. We can concentrate our troops next and push without any worries. We’re in the area around Xiti Mountain.”
"Your Majesty's words are absolutely true!" Yang Shanhui bowed his hand and suggested: "If Murong Xun is defeated, there will be no need to rescue Leng Huyuan. I suggest that these good news be passed on to Tongshou Zhang Dinghe and ask him to return to Fulu County immediately. , join forces with Li Daliang and Dugu Pingyun to eat the 20,000 Tuyuhun troops in Tuolai River. At the same time, we must also pass on these good news to General Li and General Dugu, so that they can launch an attack immediately."
"Your Majesty, Chang Shi's method is very good!" Hao Yuan added: "The beacon smoke sent out by Murong Yong must have frightened the enemy soldiers in Tuolaihe, and our military strength in Fulu County is not much worse than theirs. It is the right time for General Li and General Dugu to attack at this time."
Yang Ji nodded and said to Shen Faxing: "Shen Zhizhi immediately followed the instructions of Yang Changshi and Hao Zhubo and wrote combat instructions to the two armies."
"Yes!" Shen Faxing responded and retreated.
"Your Majesty, if our entire army attacks, what should we do if we become Jincheng? Don't we want to do it anymore?" Zhu Can looked at Yang Ji in confusion. Considering his IQ, he couldn't quite understand such a problem.
"The soldiers found this with their lives and blood, how could they not want it?" Yang Ji told Kong Desao: "Immediately send a message to the Zhangye Prefectural Mufu and ask Yu Shinan to send some officials to manage it."
"Here!" Kong Desao bowed and retreated.
"Your Majesty, there are many prisoners in Jincheng and Dingyang City. General Wei will also send the prisoners here next. If these tens of thousands of people make trouble, it will be a big trouble." Xue Shixiong said: "At this moment, we still have to leave people to guard. Yes, but I don’t know who is left behind?”
Hearing this, everyone's eyes suddenly fell on Yang Shanhui.
Yang Shanhui's face turned dark, as he did every time, so when he heard Xue Shixiong's words, he knew it was like this, but who made him the governor of Liang? Who made him a civil servant? However, just as he was about to express his stance, the subordinate Mai Tiezhang held up his hand and said: "Your Majesty, I am very familiar with this area, so it is better that I stay here!"
After hearing this, everyone was stunned.
This guy Mai Tiezhang was the most belligerent person in everyone's mind. No one expected that he would actually ask to stay.
Yang Ji asked curiously: "General Mai, you don't want to march eastward anymore?"
"To be honest, I am really exhausted from these years of constant fighting and running away!" Mai Tiezhang gave a wry smile and said to Yang Ji, "I would like to stop and take a rest."
It suddenly dawned on everyone that they had never experienced the suffering that Mai Tiezhang had suffered over the years, but they could imagine it.
"That's fine!" Yang Ji nodded and said, "Then you can sit here with your generals and wounded soldiers. When Civil Cao Wang Cong arrives, he will be in charge. If anything happens, you can discuss it."
"Here!" Mai Tiezhang breathed a huge sigh of relief and returned to the embrace of "ancestor mother".
Finally, his tense heartstrings relaxed, so he was very tired of war and wanted to rest at this moment.
Fortunately, Yang Ji is reasonable.
. . . . . . . .
The tax system of Tuyuhun is "the state has no permanent tax, and the expenses are not paid...we only take what is enough." This "take only what is enough" method of arbitrary collection and collection without customization is more stringent than the customized tax for the people of Tuyuhun. Harsh. In order to defend the Sui army and maintain a huge army in recent years, Murong Fuyun continued to "take only what is necessary" to the end. As for whether the tax officials took the opportunity to levy excessive taxes, he did not care.
Although this move made the people of Tuyuhun miserable and full of complaints, it actually allowed him to accumulate a lot of wealth, which was continuously transported to the western battlefield. In order to well implement the combat plan of "strengthening the wall, clearing the field, and luring the enemy deep into the country", and to prevent this kind of thing from happening today, Murong Yong not only set up five military units in the distance of more than a thousand miles from Dangjincheng to the Muli camp in Xitieshan. A logistics point, and in the process of gathering the large and small tribes in the west, he also "taken enough" from the herdsmen, so even if he lost his base camp, he still had sufficient supplies in hand.
In the evening of that day, generals Murong Yong, Murong Xiaojun and others led an extremely desperate Tuyuhun Army soldiers to the first supply point east of Dangjin City. This was a small town called Yema Town, which was a short distance from Dangjin City. Two hundred miles away. The deserters were exhausted after marching all the way here. The first thing they did when entering the town was to find food.
However, although this army has no worries about food and clothing, its strength is very worrying. Just as Yang Ji told Kong Desao, the cold weather had a devastating blow to the deserters. The separation and death along the way left the army of more than 10,000 people with less than 3,000 people. , plus the two thousand defenders in this town, there are only more than five thousand people. Their morale was low. Yesterday's disastrous defeat made them afraid of the Sui Dynasty and unwilling to resist. At this time, they were afraid that they would disperse in a hurry when they heard the news of the Sui army's arrival.
Inside the big tent, messy snowflakes flew in from the wide open tent door, and the flames in the fire pit were dying in the wind and snow. Murong Yong was sitting alone on the main seat. He casually picked up a few pieces of dried cow and sheep dung and threw them into the fire pit. He looked at the flames that enlarged one after another, motionless in a daze.
"Commander, the military advisor and General Tuoba are here." A respectful guard reported outside the tent.
"Oh..." Murong Yong didn't even want to raise his eyelids, and whispered: "Invite them in!" Then the sound of footsteps on the ice and cracking snow could be heard, and Murong Xiaojun and Tuoba Yuan walked in.
"Commander!" The two saluted.
"Sit down!" Murong Yong asked nonsense: "How is the military morale?"
"It's very bad!" Murong Xiaojun whispered: "The whole army has completely lost its soul and has no fighting spirit at all."
A bitter smile appeared on the corner of Murong Yong's lips, and he sighed lowly: "This is all my fault. If we had not separated our troops earlier, if we had withdrawn earlier, we would not have been defeated like this."
"It's not the commander's fault!" Murong Xiaojun shook his head, his eyes fixed on the coach, and said seriously: "The commander-in-chief's decision is not wrong. If we can enter Dunhuang County, everything will be rewritten. However, Yang Ji is the leader The Sui army was truly terrifying, their strength exceeded everyone’s expectations.”
It is a fact that the Sui army was powerful, but Murong Yong could not say such a thing, let alone attribute the defeat to the enemy's strength.
Seeing that the commander was silent, Murong Yuan said: "The momentum that our army finally accumulated was lost due to the tragic defeat. Now people are panicking. We must win a battle to boost the morale of the army. We ask the Great Khan for help. Bar!"
"Asking for help? How can the Great Khan have extra troops to help?" Murong Yong shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "What's more, the Sui Dynasty wanted the entire Tuyuhun, so the key now is how to defend the area east of Xiti Mountain. Not Ezei.”
"Then, what should we do now?" Tuoba Yuan hesitated for a while, then quickly asked: "We can only go to Muli Camp?"
"We have no other choice. The only way is to gather our troops and keep the Sui army out of the Muli camp." Murong Yong said, "What we have to do at this time is to stabilize the morale of the army as soon as possible. You should immediately let all levels The general reassured the soldiers and told them that we would march eastward at first light tomorrow."
"Commander, if we don't gather the defeated troops, we won't wait.
Deputy commander? "
"No! We must go to Muli Camp to set up defenses as soon as possible. There is no time to delay here."
"General, I understand! General, I will go and make arrangements now." Tuoba Yuan left in response.
