Now that the words had come to this, Liu Bei naturally couldn't stop Zhang Heng anymore, so he had to agree to his request to go into prison alone.
But this is just a plan and has not yet been implemented so quickly.
After all, Dong Zhuo's army is still waiting for him outside, so Zhang Heng plans to wait until the situation becomes more stable before leaving.
The subsequent development of events was almost as Zhang Heng expected. After Dong Zhuo withdrew his army, he set up camp on the south bank of Bian River, preparing to rest for a few days before attacking again.
Without the obstruction of Dong Zhuo's army, the remaining defeated generals of the Kwantung princes also returned one after another, but their numbers were not the same as when they went out for the expedition.
In the battle that day, the soldiers killed by the Xiliang army were only a few, maybe even less than 10,000.
Most people died under the trampling of their own people.
With more than 100,000 people desperately trying to escape, a stampede is inevitable. Fortunately, the decisive battle took place in an open plain, which created favorable conditions for escape. Only 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers were trampled to death.
Of the remaining 100,000 people, 10,000 to 20,000 died on the way to escape, and another 10,000 to 20,000 simply surrendered. The remaining 60,000 to 70,000 people successfully escaped the pursuit of the Xiliang army, but some of them escaped without a trace, while others directly fell into the trap and became bandits, causing trouble for one party.
In the end, the number of coalition soldiers who escaped back to Xingyang was only more than 30,000.
But this is already a lot, at least more than Zhang Heng expected.
Thirty thousand people are better than nothing, at least the princes don't have to be mere commanders.
Liu Bei did not take the opportunity to annex these soldiers, but instead ordered the army to help the princes integrate their troops. Such an action gained another wave of favors.
It’s just that in troubled times, morality has collapsed, and the most worthless thing is favor.
Finally, four days later, the Xiliang army finally rested and launched an attack on Xingyang under Dong Zhuo's personal command.
Zhang Heng understood the urgency of the situation, and Dong Zhuo didn't understand either. His expedition this time was done under pressure. His original intention was to quickly deal with the jujube coalition and deter the other people with evil intentions.
Hit with one punch to avoid a hundred punches coming!
Therefore, in this attack, Dong Zhuo went all out and launched a large-scale siege.
As for the Pioneer Army, it is still the original recipe and the familiar taste...
Zhang Ji stood in the rear, watching the battle in the distance.
Zhang Xiu charged forward, commanding the soldiers to rush towards the city wall as hard as they could.
The siege weapons used by Xu Rong before were also brought out by the Xiliang army again, and a wave of tricks were displayed in Xingyang City.
But no matter how hard Dong Zhuo tried to attack, he still couldn't make up for the huge shortcomings of the Xiliang army, which was not good at attacking cities!
Liangzhou is full of wind and sand, and the barbarians outside the Great Wall are nomadic. There are no city-states anywhere. The Xiliang army, which had been fighting against foreigners for a long time, was brave enough to charge into battle, but it was still a little less interesting when it came to attacking cities and plundering territory.
Zhang Ji fought hard to attack for two or three days in a row. His soldiers were exhausted, but they had little effect. Not even one man could reach the top of the city, but he lost all his troops.
Seeing this, Dong Zhuo immediately replaced Zhang Ji and replaced him with Lu Bu to continue the attack on the city. Unfortunately, the situation remained the same.
Under Guan Yu's command, the defenders in the city were like a piece of iron, unable to be penetrated by water or penetrated by needles.
At this time, Dong Zhuo was completely angry and pulled out all 20,000 surrendered soldiers on the spot. Each person was only equipped with one weapon, and they were allowed to attack crazily.
This intention is already obvious. These surrendered soldiers are not his people anyway, and they don't feel bad if they all die. They are just used to deplete the morale of the defenders in the city.
In the next few days, the same roommates fought and the tragedy of fratricide was staged every day in the city.
These surrendered soldiers did not want to fight, but the Xiliang army was holding sharp swords behind to supervise the battle, so they did not dare not to charge.
Some people even threw away their weapons when they rushed to the city, shouting that they wanted to enter the city.
Unfortunately, what greeted them were cold arrows.
The Xiliang army is behind them. Even if these people really surrender, the princes will not dare to open the city gate.
Furthermore, everyone agrees that those who follow the thieves will deserve to die.
The war of attrition continued for another two or three days, and the 20,000 surrendered soldiers were consumed by Dong Zhuo like consumables, turning into cold corpses piled on the city wall.
But Xingyang City is still as strong as ever.
Naturally, there was damage in the city, but it was still within control and had little impact on morale.
On the contrary, the Xiliang army outside the city had not been successful in their attacks for nearly ten days, and their morale began to gradually decline.
In desperation, Dong Zhuo had no choice but to break away from the siege and led his army back ten miles, preparing to recharge his batteries before attacking again.
At the top of the city, seeing Dong Zhuo retreating, Liu Bei laughed heartily and said, "Everyone, the traitor Dong has retreated!"
"Yes, Thief Dong has retreated!"
All the princes also looked happy and felt completely relieved.
God knows how much suffering they have endured in their hearts these past few days.
"Zi Yi really has a clever plan." Liu Bei wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned to Zhang Heng and smiled, "Before, you said that the war would enter a stalemate stage, and now it has come true."
"It is not my fault that the situation is like this." Zhang Heng shook his head and said with a smile, "Although Dong's thieves have retreated, they will definitely remain evil and will attack again within five days."
Liu Bei waved his sleeves and said, "Don't be afraid. The Xiliang bandit army is not good at attacking the city. No matter how many people come, it will be useless!"
After these days of fierce fighting, he finally saw Dong Zhuo's weakness.
"What Mr. Xuande said makes sense." Zhang Heng nodded, and suddenly said to Liu Bei, "Now that Xingyang is safe, it's time for me to rush to Luoyang."
Hearing this, Liu Bei's expression instantly dropped.
"Ziyi, when do you plan to leave?"
"tomorrow."
"So hasty!" Liu Bei said in surprise.
"It's not a rush. It's estimated that it will take more than a month to go back and forth from here to Luoyang. The Dong thieves can attack twice more at most. If they still can't break the city, it's time to retreat. Calculating the time, it's almost a month. Now. It’s just the right time to set off tomorrow.”
"All right."
Liu Bei nodded reluctantly.
The second day.
In order not to attract attention, Zhang Heng set off before dawn.
Liu Bei insisted on going out of the city to see him off, but Zhang Heng couldn't refuse, so he had to let him go.
A few miles outside the city.
Seeing that he was about to leave the boundary of Xingyang, Liu Bei still had no intention of turning back, and Zhang Heng sighed helplessly.
"Mr. Xuande, just send it here."
"Forehead……"
Liu Bei seemed to have just come to his senses. He nodded in despair, then dismounted and walked to Zhang Heng's side.
Seeing this, Zhang Heng also quickly dismounted.
"Zi Yi, can you not go to Luoyang? Bo Shen has high moral standards and the Dong thieves will not dare to harm him. But I am really worried if you go now."
Liu Bei spoke quietly and gave one last persuasion, even though he knew that Zhang Heng had to go.
"Mr. Xuande..." Zhang Heng smiled helplessly, "We agreed before."
"Well, since you insist on going, I can't say anything more. There's just one thing you have to promise me."
Zhang Heng quickly raised his hands and said, "Please Xuande make it public."
"Take Ziyi with you. If something unexpected happens, I can protect you."
"No, Ziyi is the guardian of the army. If I take him away, Duke Xuande will be gone..."
"Don't talk nonsense. There are tens of thousands of troops in the city. How can I be in any danger?" Liu Bei frowned and said, "If you don't bring Ziyi with you, I won't let you go."
Zhang Heng could only nod his head, feeling extremely moved.
"As you command!"
Liu Bei turned to Tai Shici again and warned: "Ziyi, we are going to Luoyang now. The safety of the chief secretary will be left to you. Please!"
Taishi Ci solemnly clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Xuande, the general is here, and the master will be safe. Anyone who wants to harm the master must first step over the corpse of the general!"
"Ziyi's promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold. With your words, I feel relieved."
Liu Bei nodded, and then said to Zhang Heng: "Ziyi, you must not show off in anything while you are here. If you find anything wrong, get out of here in time. If you stay here, you will not have to worry about the future."
Seeing Liu Bei nagging on like a little daughter-in-law, Zhang Heng was touched and amused at the same time, but in the end it turned into a faint smile.
"Don't worry, Mr. Xuande, I will act with caution."
Liu Bei opened his mouth again, and found that he had nothing to explain, so he could only sigh again.
"After a long journey, we must say goodbye. Ziyi, I will send you here. Remember to leave early and come back early. The generals and I will be waiting for you in Xingyang!"
Hearing this, Zhang Heng straightened his clothes and bowed to Liu Bei with great solemnity.
"Take care, Mr. Xuande, I'll take my leave!"
