After the withdrawal order was issued, the Shu troops outside Donghe Village retreated like a tide. They rarely maintained efficient execution, but in the end they failed to achieve the calm and orderly manner that Li Tinggui wanted.
"It's hard to stop the defeat, and it's hard to contain the rebels. Why rebuild that side? Be careful when recruiting envoys!" After the chaos appeared, his generals issued a warning to Li Tinggui.
Li Tinggui understood and listened. He led a Forbidden Army Military Academy and led two thousand soldiers to set up defenses across the road for the rear. Li Tinggui believed that he had done his best in reaction and decision-making, but things did not develop according to his will.
In Li Tinggui, nearly 10,000 troops were deployed in the north. Even if reinforcements from the Han army arrived, He Zhanjian should adjust in time to resist for a while. However, I don't know why it failed so quickly.
He Jianjian's defeated army fled frantically along the road and "joined" directly with the Chinese army, completely disrupting Li Tinggui's arrangement. The pursuing Han army followed them and deliberately drove the defeated army, and achieved their goal. Chaos is contagious.
Seeing the opportunity, Yao Yuanfu also gathered his last strength and cooperated with the Han army who came for reinforcements to launch a counterattack against the Shu army in Donghe Village. Survived from a desperate situation, although exhausted, the Han army was unstoppable. In contrast, the Shu army suffered heavy losses and suffered a great loss of morale, which quickly turned into a rout.
Li Tinggui was determined to turn the tide and fight the Han army to the end, but under the dissuasion of his subordinates, he still chose to be forcibly "set up" by his subordinates.
Although they hurriedly retreated southward, which could be regarded as the death of a strong man, the Han army refused to give up and pursued them to the end. Starting from Donghe Village, they pursued and killed them for more than twenty miles, killing the Shu army until they abandoned their helmets and armor and were completely defeated.
Of course, for Li Tinggui, being able to save his life in the end after a huge defeat was considered a blessing in misfortune.
The sound of fighting in the mountains gradually weakened, and most of the overtaken Shu troops chose to surrender. Although there were some who resisted, they were only a minority, and the Han army showed no mercy at all, killing and annihilating them all.
Slowly, the only sounds left in the Qinling Mountains were the sound of Han troops cleaning up the battlefield and the neighing of horses and animals.
At the entrance of Donghe Village, Xiang Xun galloped over and got off his horse. His first concern was about Yao Yuanfu's condition: "Where is Yao Gong?"
"In the village!"
In the dilapidated village, a relatively clean area has been cleared to temporarily house the wounded. The treatment work is being carried out in an orderly manner. The rich smell of herbs is filled with the moans of the seriously wounded soldiers.
"Injured soldiers, no matter how serious they are, must be treated with all their strength, at least to stabilize their injuries! Send a letter to Baoji and ask the city to prepare doctors and herbs for the wounded!" Xiang Xun ordered as he walked along, inspecting the situation.
"yes!"
Beside an earthen wall, some clean straw and grass were piled up. Yao Yuanfu was lying there quietly, with several tribesmen guarding the side solemnly. The helmet was placed aside, the robe was soaked in blood, the armor was full of scars, and the gray hair and beard were stained with blood.
Xiang Xun stepped forward and looked at Yao Yuanfu. The veteran's face showed exhaustion. Suddenly, a high-pitched snoring sounded, like thunder, gradually disappeared into silence, and then rose and fell again...
Without alerting Yao Yuanfu, Xiang Xun walked away gently to take charge of the follow-up matters.
"Yakong is truly a hero!" The scribe who accompanied the army said to him with admiration in his voice: "Facing the siege of several times the number of enemies, he took the lead and fought with swords without fear. If not, he would have delayed his stay in Shu. It would be difficult for our army to achieve such a great victory!"
"As expected, Yaogong had this intention in mind, so he attacked rashly. He did not avoid arrows, fought to the death, and sacrificed his life to serve the country. I am ashamed of this magnanimity!" Xiang Xun couldn't help but sigh: "Fortunately, Yao Gong is fine, otherwise, it would be difficult to explain to Dushuai Zhao and the court!"
"Envoy!" General Li Yan came to Xiang Xun with a smile on his face and one of his men was escorting him, it was He Jianjian.
Report to Xiang Xun: "He Jianjian killed the Shu supervisor army, led the remaining troops, and surrendered!"
After hearing the report, Xiang Xun looked at He Xinjian, his face full of despair, his eyes wandering, as if he did not dare to look at Xiang Xun.
"He Zhijun has been famous for a long time!" Xiang Xun didn't mean to laugh at He Zhanjian, but his tone was unconsciously a little playful.
He Jianjian sighed, cupped his hands and said: "The defeated general, let him be dealt with as he pleases. We have no extravagant hope, we just want to save one life!"
After glancing at He Xinjian, Xiang Xun had no intention of embarrassing He Xun because of his willingness to surrender and reduce his own casualties. He said, "I don't intend to deal with you, but the Emperor of Han may be interested in meeting you. If something goes wrong here, I will send someone to escort you to Tokyo!"
"Thank you, Ambassador!" He Jianjian seemed to be very conscious of being a general and obeyed the orders.
"Take him first and treat his injuries!" Xiang Xun ordered after noticing He Zhanjian's bloody arm.
"How are your casualties?" Xiang Xun asked Li Yan.
Li Yan said: "With the mountains and forests behind us, we suffered more than a thousand casualties!"
"I've seen the place where we're defending. It's lush with trees and thick with dry grass. You chose the wrong place! If the Shu army attacks it with fire, thousands of soldiers will be destroyed in one torch!" Xiang Xunti pointed out.
The smile on Li Yan's face condensed slightly, showing a hint of fear: "Your Majesty, I..."
"However, at the time of the change, forming a formation to fight against the Shu army was a great contribution!" Xiang Xun still looked kind to others, which made Li Yan feel relieved.
At dusk, the last Han army in pursuit returned, and it was Wang Rengan. Driven by a strong sense of achievement, he was very active and chased to the end, running as far as possible. More than half of his thousands of soldiers were killed or injured.
"The last general chased him thirty miles away, but the Shu army was there to support him, so he still let his coach Li Tinggui run away!" Wang Renfan was received by Xiang Xun, and his words showed regret.
Xiang Xun was open-minded and said with a smile: "This battle has been a complete victory. It doesn't matter if Li Tinggui ran away. If the Shu army has more generals like this, why not put the credit in front of us and let us explore it?" !”
The generals of the Han army who were present couldn't help laughing out loud when they heard this. Yao Yuanfu rushed to the training and said: "Then Li Tinggui is a good general. It is undeniable that this victory was difficult and dangerous. If Li Tinggui knew about Xingmin you If you underestimate him like this, I'm afraid you'll be embarrassed, angry and unable to deal with yourself!"
From the mouth of the surrendered general of the Shu army, we can basically infer Li Tinggui's considerations. In fact, if Li Tinggui could retreat honestly and not cause trouble, even if the Han army pursued him, he would win, but the result would not be so great.
However, the victory or defeat of a war has always been the product of many factors. The Han army was able to achieve this victory because of the "cooperation" of the Shu army.
...
Tokyo, inside Chongzheng Palace.
Liu Chengyou, who was inspecting the summer harvest situation in Gyeonggi Province, received good news from Guo Rong. The Fengxiang war he was worried about finally had a good result.
There is a thick book with specific details of the battle report. Guo Rong selected the important people and reported to Liu Chengyou: "In the battle of Donghe Village, the Shu army lost more than half of its troops, killing more than 5,000 enemies and taking nearly 10,000 prisoners. Li Tinggui led the remaining troops , with the support of veteran general Sun Hanshao, returned to Fengzhou.
Our army attacked and killed 2,327 soldiers, 3,160 were slightly or seriously injured, and seized tens of thousands of weapons and food! "
"Zhao, Yao, and Xiang are really the strongholds of the country! Such a great victory is beyond my expectation!" Liu Chengyou said: "After the Shu army suffers this defeat again, will they still dare to look north?"
"Here at the Ministry of War, meritorious officers and soldiers will be rewarded based on their merits. The pensions for the casualties shall be in accordance with the imperial military system. No distinction shall be made!" Liu Chengyou ordered Wei Renpu, the Minister of the Ministry of War who came with him.
