The rear camp of the Han army and the main camp of the Chinese army were only a few miles apart. Several lieutenants who were all in disarray carried the ashen-faced Xie Chong as they just stepped into the Chinese camp. They saw Xie Gui leading a group of military generals and personal guards facing him. The coming figure.
"What's going on?" Xie Gui asked loudly.
Seeing that Xie Gui's face was extremely cold, most of the generals who had just arrived from the rear camp in embarrassment lowered their heads and dared not speak. As the leader of the rear camp, Xie Chong, even though his legs and feet were weak, could only step forward and stammered: "Come on, Deputy Commander, the Tang Army and the Tang Army suddenly attacked the rear camp and rushed down from the mountains and forests. Our army..."
Xie Gui was startled. He immediately frowned and interrupted his words. He looked at the rear camp with flames in the distance and shouted hurriedly: "How many people and horses are coming? Has all the food and grass been burned?"
"The grain and grass...are only partially burned. At this time, the soldiers in the rear camp are putting out the fire to defend against the enemy, but the invading enemy generals are estimated to be no less than 10,000 people! Deputy Commander! Please send troops to rescue immediately, otherwise once When the Tang army breaks through the camp, all our food, grass and baggage will be destroyed!"
"Ten thousand people? Did Li Yuan use all his troops?" Xie Gui shook his head subconsciously, obviously not believing it.
"Deputy Commander, how dare you lie to report the military situation? There are really so many people. The hillside is full of people! Look at the sea of fire. How could it have burned to this point without tens of thousands of people firing arrows at the same time?"
Xie Chong finished explaining eagerly, but he didn't dare to raise his eyebrows, feeling a little guilty. When the Tang army attacked the camp, he was meeting Duke Zhou in his dream. Besides, in the dark night, how could he know how many Tang troops there were? But as long as he said more about the number of people, he might be able to alleviate some of the blame for his poor defense. If the Tang army had too many people, it would be difficult for the old and weak soldiers in the rear camp to cope with it, and it would be normal for them to lose some food and supplies.
Although Xie Gui had always been suspicious of Li Yuan's use of more than 10,000 troops to attack the camp, his eyes were filled with red eyes when he looked at the rear camp, and he did not dare to take it lightly. Although the grain stacks are stored with precautions, if the Tang army really breaks through the rear camp and rushes into the camp, once the grain and grass cannot be saved, the battle will not be fought at all...
There was no time to think carefully at the moment, Xie Gui just glanced at Xie Chong's gang of wine bags and rice bags with resentful eyes, then turned around and hurriedly ordered to immediately reinforce the rear camp.
"Pass the military order of the capital to quickly recruit 10,000 Chinese troops to reinforce the rear camp. Then report to Shao Junrong and ask him to strengthen the defense of the front camp! The Tang army is cunning and prevents them from taking advantage of the chaos to attack our front camp! The soldiers and horses patrolling outside can be All retreat back to the camp to avoid getting too far away and being attacked by the Tang army..." After Xie Gui calmly gave a series of orders, he immediately mounted his horse and went straight to the rear camp where the fire was blazing into the sky.
...
Li Yuan led his personal guards through the edge of the woods and rushed to the north hillside. Xu Shi had just been too happy to kill in the Han army's rear camp. The sergeants were all excited, but they didn't show any signs of fatigue.
This made Li Yuan suddenly dumbfounded. After all, it was his own words that he could kill and set fire to his heart's content. This was good. Usually, these honest-looking men killed and set fire one by one without batting an eye. Some of them could hardly even pull them back. It was really out of the ordinary. Unexpectedly......
"Hehe! It's really fun! It turns out that it's so fun to go to the battlefield and kill the enemy! I'll kill each of these Han troops with one sword. If the governor hadn't ordered the withdrawal, I could have killed ten more... I really haven't had enough fun today. "Wang Jingguo's voice came faintly from behind.
The voice of another sergeant seemed to be shouting: "Brother Jingguo, we will fight with the Governor. We will have many opportunities in the future! It's a pity that you didn't go to Xizhou with us. The battle in Xizhou City that day was called killing. What a pleasure! I chopped those barbarians to death..."
"Alas! I just wish I didn't join the army earlier! But I missed such a great opportunity to kill the enemy and make achievements!"
Li Yuan was speechless for a while, then turned around and joked: "How come you are so young and can only think about murder? If I really want you to go to Xizhou together, you probably won't be able to withstand those barbarians with your small body... .”
When the sergeant who was talking to Wang Jingguo silently saw the commander turning around, he hurriedly stopped talking and just kept his head down and hurried on. Wang Jingguo replied unconvinced: "Isn't the purpose of joining the army just to kill the enemy? Commander, don't look down on people!" Although I am young, I am very strong. Even if I put on armor and hold a sword tonight, I will not lose to those tall Han soldiers!
Even though I am thin, it is only temporary. When I get older, I will naturally become thicker! "
Seeing the sergeants around him laughing secretly, Li Yuan didn't want to undermine the young man's confidence, so he just blinked and shook his head without saying a word.
After a while, Li Yuan and others arrived at the hillside where the scene was lively. It was said that the scene was lively, but in fact it was really a "scene". Sergeant Wu Ping's shouts were very loud, but there was no real hand-to-hand combat at all. At this time, the two sides were still shooting at each other from a distance. The Han army in the rear camp did not dare to come out, and it was certainly impossible for Wuping's army to attack with only a few thousand people.
The real excitement was naturally only in the rear camp of the Han army. The raging fires everywhere had illuminated the whole place red and bright. The Han army was rushing back and forth to put out the fire, and the crossbowmen were sparsely firing arrows into the void in the darkness. .
Sergeant Wu Ping on the hillside had been waiting anxiously for a long time. When he saw the return of the Commander-in-Chief Li Yuan, the generals hurriedly came forward to salute him. Li Yuan turned back to look at the Han army's rear camp at the foot of the mountain, which was facing a disaster. He nodded with a smile and said, "You did a good job. Not bad! Keep shooting!"
A general raised his hand and said: "Captain, we are almost running out of kerosene!"
Li Yuan replied: "It doesn't matter, even if the kerosene is used up, we must shoot all the arrows! I want the Han army to live in peace!"
During the conversation, the general pointed to the distance of the rear camp and shouted: "Captain, the reinforcements of the Han army seem to have arrived!"
Everyone squinted through the firelight and looked into the enemy camp, and sure enough, they saw a dense queue of torches moving towards this direction outside Li Xu. Judging from the number, it was quite a lot. At first glance, they were the reinforcements that had just been assembled.
Li Yuan said in a deep voice without hesitation: "Since the Han army has increased its troops, they must want to counterattack! We can't let them succeed. Send an order to the military governor. When the Han army rushes out of the camp, the entire army will immediately retreat into the mountains and forests. Back to camp!...
We have been struggling in the back camp for so long, and finally we have made a big fuss. I just hope that Zhu Kuang will never disappoint this governor..."
Ten thousand Chinese troops quickly arrived as reinforcements, and Xie Gui indeed ordered to set out to meet the enemy. The sergeants quickly extinguished the fires in several important roads. In a blink of an eye, more than ten thousand people rushed out of the camp gate and went straight up the hillside shouting loudly to attack.
Li Yuan gave the order, and all the Wuping soldiers immediately began to evacuate. After the Han army climbed the hillside with great difficulty, the Wuping army had all disappeared in the dense forest.
The situation changed. Xie Gui hurriedly stopped the general who wanted to enter the mountains and forests to pursue him. He had experienced many battles and knew very well that soldiers are not afraid of deception. The Tang army must be well prepared if they dare to attack the camp tonight. At this time, he rashly entered the hidden mountains and forests. It's extremely unwise. Anyway, the Tang army has withdrawn, which can temporarily relieve the worries of the rear camp, and only needs to strengthen the defense of the rear camp.
More importantly, when Xie Gui just rushed out of the backyard, he could clearly see that there were at most four to five thousand Tang troops on the hillside. How could there be tens of thousands as Xie Chong said? A mere few thousand people could turn the rear camp upside down, causing the general to panic and decide which way to go. Xie Gui wished he could kill this disgraced clan brother right now...
As for the losses in the rear camp, Xie Gui felt that he could barely accept them. The sergeants suffered casualties of at most three to four hundred people, more than thirty grain stacks were burned, and there were hundreds of tents in total. A lot of other baggage was also lost. Dozens of the camp fences and arrow towers near the hillside were destroyed in total, but these were visible. The seemingly heavy loss was not enough to make Xie Gui feel distressed.
The loss of three to four hundred of the thirty thousand army is naturally insignificant, but the tents and fortifications can be rebuilt at any time. There is no need to worry about the loss of food and grass. You must know that Pan Chongche gave Xie Gui enough rations to feed his soldiers and horses for more than thirty days. As long as he can capture Yiyang City with all his strength, the food and grass supplies can be replenished immediately. It was only a matter of a few days in my mind.
