Zhang Chonghua looked at the two of them suspiciously and said in confusion:
"I heard that Huan Xi used the name of dividing the land in Guanlong to win people's hearts, and people from far and near came to join him. Why did you two abandon him and come to join me?"
When Zhang Shisheng heard this, he immediately said with resentment:
"I risked my life for Huan Xi. I once fought with Shi Bao's sentry cavalry outside Chang'an City, and was wounded many times in the Battle of Lueyang. Now I am just fighting for capture, but Huan Xi wants to kill me!"
Zhang Chonghua raised his eyebrows and said:
"Who are you robbing from?"
Guo Zhenyi answered:
"Your Majesty, I am the one who fought for Huan Xi through life and death, but he doesn't care about the old relationship and wants to execute both of us tomorrow. This is really chilling."
Zhang Chonghua did not believe them easily, but sent someone to verify the matter with the soldiers patrolling along the river today.
It just so happened that earlier, when Zhang Shisheng and Guo Zhenchi were cleaning the battlefield, the scene where they brandished their swords at each other was also seen by the Liang army on the other side of the river, and they were deeply impressed by it.
Zhang Chonghua learned that Zhang and Guo had indeed violated military law, so he put down his suspicion and urged:
"You two said earlier that there was an important military intelligence report. Please tell me what it is."
Zhang Shisheng said quickly:
"Your Majesty, there is a change in Guanzhong, and Huan Xi intends to withdraw his troops."
Zhang Chonghua was greatly disappointed when he heard this. He snorted coldly:
"With your identities, how could you possibly know such secrets!"
Zhang Shisheng quickly explained:
"Previously, Guo Zhenyi and I were waiting outside the commander's tent, and we heard with our own ears that Huan Xi and the generals were discussing matters in the tent. It is said that Fu Hong sent troops to attack Tongguan. The situation was critical, so Huan Xi summoned everyone to discuss retreating."
On the side, Guo Zhenyi nodded hurriedly.
Even if the two of them swore to each other, Zhang Chonghua didn't completely believe it.
He was doubtful about this. After Zhang Shisheng and Guo Zhenyi were taken away and temporarily detained, Zhang Chonghua summoned the generals to brainstorm with them to discuss the authenticity of the matter.
His staff members, other than those who were engaged in Suo Ya, muttered:
"The heroes of Guandong have risen together, and the situation is chaotic. Fu Hong's tribe was originally from Guanxi, but was forcibly moved to the Central Plains by Shi Hu.
"Although Huan Xi has occupied Guan Long, all his elite troops are on the right side of Long. How could Fu Hong remain indifferent to this?
"Once Fu Hong sends troops, Huan Xi will definitely return to rescue him."
As he spoke, he cupped his hands and said:
"Your Majesty, I think this matter may be possible, and I would like to ask your Majesty to send someone to check it out."
But it is easier said than done. Checking the authenticity of this matter will not yield results in a short time.
Just when Zhang Chonghua was worried about this, a sentry came back to report. It turned out that the Jin army sent an envoy to cross the river in a boat to pay homage to the camp.
Zhang Chonghua thought he was here to ask for Zhang Shisheng and Guo Zhenyi, but he never thought that the envoy was here to declare a challenge.
"My lord hopes that the Liang army can retreat five miles tomorrow to allow our army to cross the river, set up a formation, and fight the Liang army."
The messenger bowed in greeting.
Zhang Chonghua did not reply immediately, but asked the envoy to rest on the pretext that he wanted to discuss with the generals.
As soon as the messenger left, Suo Xia immediately said:
"Your Majesty, Huan Xi is worried about his death and must want to have a quick battle with our army. Your Majesty, please do not agree to him.
"We might as well continue the stalemate with him on both sides of the Tao River. Huan Xi will be in a dilemma, and there will definitely be chaos!"
Zhang Chonghua had a clever plan of his own. He smiled and said:
"If you make a big effort, then it will fade, and then it will be exhausted. I might as well agree to Huan Xi's request for the time being.
"Think about it, before the battle, Huan Xi must boost his morale. When he crosses the river, I will hold on to the camp and not come out, so I will definitely take away his morale.
"When the Jin army loses all its energy, I will send out troops again to attack them and defeat them. I will surely defeat the enemy!"
The generals were deeply convinced, and they all paid compliments one after another. They flattered Zhang Chonghua one after another, and they almost lifted Zhang Chonghua to the sky.
Zhang Chonghua immediately summoned the Jin envoy, agreed to the proposal of a decisive battle with Huan Xi, and sent someone to escort him across the river to return his orders to Huan Xi.
The next day, when Zhang Chonghua was gearing up to give Huan Xi a small surprise, he couldn't wait for the Jin army to cross the river.
Zhang Chonghua felt something was fishy and quickly sent scouts across the river to investigate the situation.
Soon, the scout hurriedly reported:
"Your Majesty, there is only one empty camp left on the other side, and the Jin army seems to have retreated."
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. Zhang Chonghua reacted and stamped his feet in annoyance:
"Oh! Huan Xi deliberately invited me to a duel so that I could relax my vigilance and escape overnight!"
At this time, Zhang Chonghua had fallen into inertial thinking and no longer doubted the authenticity of Fu Hong's attack on Guanzhong.
In his opinion, Huan Xi was eager to escape, so he thought of such a way.
Zhang Chonghua's generals were convinced of this. After all, when you fall into someone else's scheme, it is difficult for you to realize that it is just the other party's scheme.
The generals of the Liang army requested to pursue the Jin army. Zhang Chonghua also hoped to take the opportunity to sweep Qinzhou and seize Longyou. He immediately ordered the entire army to break camp and cross the river to pursue.
Before crossing the Taoshui River, the Liang army was still cautious, fearing that the Jin army would suddenly attack.
After all, examples of half-crossed attacks are not uncommon in the history of ancient wars.
For this reason, Zhang Chonghua also specifically ordered all departments to cross the river in batches and form formations to hold on.
But let alone the ambush of the Jin army, not even a few birds in the sky were seen.
Now, everyone from Zhang Chonghua to ordinary soldiers were no longer on guard.
When the Liang army arrived at the Jin army's camp, the four wooden walls had been torn down and the camp was in a mess, filled with abandoned baggage.
It can be seen that the Jin army was walking in a hurry, and they did not even have time to take away the baggage, for fear of slowing down their speed.
He was also worried that if he set fire to it at night, the Liang army scouts would discover the clues, so he abandoned it here.
Seeing these baggage, the officers and soldiers of the Liang Army were all red-eyed. They didn't care about the military orders. They rushed to grab them.
In order to run faster than others, they took off their armor;
In order to get more than others, they abandoned their weapons.
Even Zhang Chonghua cannot stop such chaos.
Zhang Chonghua succeeded to the throne at the age of sixteen and was twenty years old.
Xie Ai had led troops for him before. This was Zhang Chonghua's first time leading an army in battle. He had never seen such a scene before and didn't know how to deal with it.
For a time, the Liang army was in chaos, and many soldiers fought for the spoils of war, without caring about the friendship between the soldiers.
On a high mountain in the distance, Huan Xi was looking at the chaos in the camp. He laughed loudly and said:
"The enemy army is in chaos, it's time for our army to return to the battlefield."
It turned out that the Jin army did not go far at all, but lay in ambush in front, waiting for the Liang army to cause riots because of grabbing the spoils.
Yesterday, Huan Xi was inspired by Zhang Shisheng and Guo Zhenyi's fight for the seized jade pendant.
Since ancient times, there have been many examples of tribesmen suffering major defeats due to snatching trophies. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao deliberately abandoned baggage, causing Yuan Shao's army to rob it.
At the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Cui Yanbo's 3,000 armored cavalry company also broke through several rebel camps, but they were defeated by the rebels because they were fighting for supplies.
Yuan Shao and Cui Yanbo couldn't stop it, let alone Zhang Chonghua who was on the battlefield for the first time.
Of course, the reason why the Liang army dared to seize supplies was because they mistakenly believed that the Jin army had already retreated. Without external threats, they would naturally not be prepared for the Jin army to turn around and attack.
How could he remain indifferent when he saw his companions snatching it away from him?
Since ordinary soldiers did not receive military pay, in order to encourage them to fight, they were generally allowed to loot loot privately. Therefore, the Liang army officers and soldiers were emboldened.
This was the opportunity Huan Xi had been waiting for. He immediately ordered people to wave the flags and release loud arrows.
The troops of the Jin army that had been ambushing in the valley saw the signal and rushed out one after another. Deng Xia led the cavalry and rode in front, and Deng Qiang led the infantry to follow closely behind.
The cry of killing in the east resounded across the sky. Zhang Chonghua was shocked when he saw this. He shouted for the soldiers to throw away the supplies in their hands, put on their armor again, gather their formations, and fight the Jin army.
But who is willing to throw it away? As the saying goes, people die for money and birds die for food.
They took the stolen money and food and ran away, scrambling to escape back to Hexi.
The 30,000 Liang troops were instantly defeated, and there was no longer any formation at all.
Zhang Chonghua looked at this scene at a loss. He didn't know that as the King of Liang, how could these people have the courage to disobey his military orders.
However, the Jin army was about to attack in a blink of an eye. The situation was critical and he could no longer think. Suo Xia urged Zhang Chonghua to leave, and he did not hesitate to whip Zhang Chonghua's mount.
The horse was frightened and hurt, and galloped westward. Everyone quickly got on their horses and chased after him.
There was always a question lingering in Zhang Chonghua's mind.
Could it be that these people didn't know that once defeated, they would be unilaterally pursued by the Jin army.
In fact, of course the Liang Army officers knew it, but no one was willing to let go of their wealth.
They don't need to outrun the Jin army, they just need to outrun the army. Naturally, there will be people who are lagging behind to hold back the Jin army's pursuit.
On the east bank of the Tao River, a one-sided pursuit battle was taking place. The Liang army was no longer the same as before, and they did not even dare to look back at the pursuers behind them.
The abandoned camp of the Jin army was five miles away from the river bank. Along the way, corpses lay everywhere and blood flowed into the river.
Even in the Tao River, there were corpses floating on the water, and even the river was dyed red.
During Huan Xi's stroll, he did not have a pity attitude, but was mostly excited and happy.
The results of the battle have been calculated. Because the Liang army fled too fast, they could not kill more than 3,000 enemies in this battle, and only captured 5,000 prisoners.
It's just that those Liang soldiers who were lucky enough to escape had no fighting spirit and could not be driven.
Zhang Chonghua returned to the Hexi camp and quickly sent envoys to ask for peace with Huan Xi, expressing his willingness to give up his official titles such as the King of Liang and the Prime Minister, hoping that the two families could stop fighting and make peace.
Without waiting for the messenger to report back, he led the defeated troops straight towards Wuwei.
Huan Xi's generals and subordinates requested to pursue him one after another, but Huan Xi rejected all opinions and said:
"Liangzhou is far away, and once troops are sent out, it will be difficult to take care of Guanzhong.
"If Fu Hong takes the opportunity to attack Chang'an, even if he takes Liangzhou, what joy will he have?
"Today Zhang Chonghua's army is defeated, the people of Liang will definitely be frightened and will not dare to invade our borders.
"In this western expedition, we have captured Longyou. I am willing to return to the army to control Guanzhong.
"As for Liangzhou, once I secure my seat in Guanlong, it will be as easy as the palm of my hand!"
