Faced with such a predicament, Lu Xiangsheng was extremely depressed, and the generals and several civil servants around him did not dare to say anything for fear of offending Lu Xiangsheng and losing their lives.
Lu Xiangsheng killed a lot of people today, including several generals he killed personally, let alone the people he ordered to be killed.
Although these people were all those who escaped without permission during the battle, it was still frightening to kill so many people.
After all, Lu Xiangsheng killed not only ordinary generals, but also a general.
Zhang Mingbo, the commander-in-chief of the right-wing army during the battle, was beheaded by him himself.
Zhang Mingbo, an old man who had followed Lu Xiangsheng for many years, was promoted to the rank of commander-in-chief with Lu Xiangsheng's recommendation.
Before this battle, Lu Xiangsheng was entrusted with the important task of being the commander-in-chief of the right army of more than 4,000 people. As a result, under his command, the right army was first attacked by the rebel cavalry, killing hundreds of people, and then was restrained. Lived in at least two campsites.
When the subsequent charge was launched, the right army was the first to be defeated!
Lu Xiangsheng can tolerate all of the above. The strength gap between the two sides is too big. If he really can't defeat him, he can't just blame a certain general. He is not pedantic to that extent.
But before the Right Army was defeated, Zhang Mingbo, who commanded the Right Army, ran away early and he couldn't bear it.
While the soldiers of the right army under Zhang Mingbo were still fighting bloody battles, the bastard quickly withdrew from the battlefield with dozens of soldiers because a rebel artillery shell fell near him.
To a certain extent, it was precisely because of this person's unauthorized retreat that further shook the morale of the Right Army, which in turn led to the complete collapse of the Right Army.
The soldiers of the right army looked around and saw the banner of their commander rushing back. They thought that the entire army had been ordered to retreat. Under such circumstances, what thought did the soldiers have to fight? They must have turned around and ran away.
After the right army was finished, the central army, which had been struggling to support itself, was completely finished.
Zhang Mingbo was quite stupid. He didn't even bother running away in the face of the battle. He even ran back to Lu Xiangsheng, thinking that he would not be punished as he was Lu Xiangsheng's confidant. When he first came back, he said that the rebels' guns were really sharp and so on. …
Before he finished speaking, Lu Xiangsheng slashed him with a knife...
At that time, blood splashed all over Lu Xiangsheng's face, and he did not forget to say: "I don't know who the person is!"
Even close confidants like Zhang Mingbo were killed for escaping from the battle, and others did not dare to be presumptuous.
However, even if these generals who escaped before the battle were killed, it would not change the reality that the remnants of Lu Xiangsheng's troops were now besieged in Sanyuan Village, and they were not even sure of holding Sanyuan Village.
Now all Lu Xiangsheng can hope is that Sun Hongcai, who is dozens of miles away, will come back with reinforcements as soon as possible after receiving the news. Although Sun Hongcai only has more than 3,000 people under his command, the combat effectiveness of those infantry is only that much.
But at least there are five hundred cavalry.
Even if those five hundred cavalry were not elite, they were still considered professional cavalry. Among the many officers and soldiers in Northern Chu, they were the only professional cavalry.
With this cavalry, I can't say whether they can defeat the security thieves, but there is still some hope of covering the retreat of Lu Xiangsheng's army.
As for Sun Hongcai, who had high hopes from Lu Xiangsheng, he was still under Xinye City at this time. He had just learned that Lu Xiangsheng's army had encountered the main force of the anti-thief army in Sanyuan Village.
As for the news of Lu Xiangsheng's defeat, he doesn't know yet.
After all, this morning, Luo Zhixue led his troops to the area of Sanyuanzhuang to contact Lu Xiangsheng. Although Lu Xiangsheng sent troops to Xinye City at that time, it would take time along the way, and it was impossible to get there in just a few hours. Know the news.
The troop dispatch sent by Lu Xiangsheng traveled all the way, and it was not until about four o'clock in the afternoon that Lu Xiangsheng's order was passed on to Sun Hongcai.
When the order came, Lu Xiangsheng asked Sun Hongcai to immediately lead his army back west to cooperate with Lu Xiangsheng's main force to encircle and annihilate the main force of the thieves.
As for Xinye Castle, let’s talk about it later.
Sun Hongcai looked at Xinye City, which was still holding firm in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh. In the end, he was still a little short.
Yesterday, he had already driven a large number of people forward to fill in the moat and open a passage to the Xinye City wall.
Today, his army has already begun to launch an offensive against Xinye City.
However, because time is still short, it is impossible for his army to make some large siege equipment. They can only make some long iron hook ladders for climbing the city wall, plus some wheelbarrows to cover the advancement. , and some large siege equipment cannot be built.
It's useless. The bandit army has more than a dozen artillery pieces at the top of the city. Although they are all in short robes, they can still hit traditional siege equipment accurately and are not as practical as small shield vehicles.
However, after fighting all morning today, the results were not great. Several attempts to rush up and climb the city failed. The rebels' guns were too sharp, and many attempts resulted in many casualties.
In the afternoon, Sun Hongcai's troops had stopped their offensive. He was preparing to send people to the surrounding areas to forcibly capture more people for tomorrow's siege.
As a result, he received an order from Lu Xiangsheng.
Regarding Lu Xiangsheng's orders, although Sun Hongcai had always been arrogant and domineering, he had to obey obediently.
Just like Zuo Liangyu, even if he usually goes too far, he still has to be obedient to top bosses like Hong Chengchou.
Although Lu Xiangsheng's status is not as good as that of Hong Chengchou for the time being, it is not far behind now. He is certain to take over as governor of Huguang. There is also news that because the defense area in charge of Hong Chengchou is too large, the rebels are fleeing to fight, so that Gu Don't come.
The imperial court intended to let Lu Xiangsheng take over more area defense and cooperate with Hong Chengchou to encircle and suppress the bandits.
If this is the case, then Lu Xiangsheng will soon become the same top boss as Hong Chengchou.
Faced with such people, no matter how arrogant and domineering Sun Hongcai is in normal times, he has to be obedient.
Therefore, after receiving Lu Xiangsheng's order, he did not bother to attack Xinye City, but began to pack up his belongings and move the camp back, preparing to return west early tomorrow morning.
As for now, it was already afternoon, it would be dark in a few hours, and it would not take long to go back west.
It is better to rest early and set off at dawn tomorrow, trying to get to Sanyuanzhuang area as soon as possible.
As a result, when it entered the afternoon, the fighting in Sanyuanzhuang area and Xinye City had initially stopped, and everyone was making preparations.
Early the next morning, Sun Hongcai officially led his army back to the west. His cavalry was selected one by one, and the five hundred cavalry galloped westward early in the morning.
This situation puzzled Li Duo and other generals of the Baoxiang Army in Xinye City.
"Why did they retreat? Could it be that the casualties would be too great if they could not hold off for a long time? "
"They didn't have many casualties. Although they tried several attacks yesterday, they only killed and injured dozens of people before retreating in a hurry. In total, they only killed and injured a hundred people. It was impossible for them to injure them. It’s so painful.”
Li Duo looked at the enemy troops in front of them who were retreating to the west. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Could it be that the general's main force was behind them and that's why the enemy troops retreated?"
Immediately, a subordinate said: "It's possible. We got news from the general before, saying that they are continuing to go north, and they are going along the Dengzhou area."
"Previously we also discovered that the enemy's main force of 10,000 people was advancing eastward."
"According to calculations, the general and his main force should have met Lu Xiangsheng's main force in the Dengzhou area."
"In this way, it is clear that Sun Hongcai led his army to withdraw westward. They did not stop fighting because of the difficulty in conquering our Xinye City, but because the generals and others were behind us."
Li Duo felt that this should be the case, and immediately said: "Give me the order, prepare to go out of the city to follow, bring the artillery with you, and a group of carriages as a vehicle formation."
"But don't get too close then, and be sure to guard against their cavalry."
"Prevent them from retreating in order to advance, and kill them with a counterattack."
It didn't take long for Li Duo to lead the 7th Infantry Brigade as the core, followed by dozens of cavalry and more than a hundred heavy troops.
This time, Li Duo was much more careful when he led his army out of the city. Not only did he not get too close, he only followed more than ten miles behind.
They also brought out all the carriages in the city, no matter whether they were for the freedom-protecting army or ordinary carriages among the people, even wheelbarrows and so on, and they also temporarily made a large number of wooden horse carriages. Bring it.
Following them from such a long distance, and having so many carriages and horses, was purely to guard against the cavalry in the Ming army.
Once the enemy turned around and wanted to make a comeback, Li Duo would not hesitate at all and would directly stride backwards and return to Xinyecheng.
These carriages are designed to provide marching speed and increase mobility.
Even if one is accidentally overtaken by the enemy's cavalry, he can rely on carriages and horses to form a vehicle formation on the spot for defensive operations, waiting for the general's main force to rescue him.
Li Duo followed up cautiously, but Sun Hongcai in front ignored the tail behind him.
He continued to head west, rushing to rescue Lu Xiangsheng.
This morning, shortly after he led his troops to march westward, he encountered a group of defeated troops from the west, and these defeated troops brought him extremely frightening news: Yesterday, Lu Xiangsheng led his army and the Baoxiang Army rebels There was a big battle in Sanyuan Village.
In the end, Lu Xiangsheng was defeated miserably and was forced to retreat to Sanyuan Village.
After hearing the news, Sun Hongcai hesitated for a time whether he still needed to go west. He also wanted to go directly north to find Hong Chengchou's headquarters, or even go east to Runing Mansion and other places.
But in the end he decided to continue heading west to rescue Lu Xiangsheng.
This is not because Sun Hongcai was very loyal to Lu Xiangsheng. In fact, Sun Hongcai was not Lu Xiangsheng's direct subordinate. He was a local general in Huguang and was only temporarily under Lu Xiangsheng's command.
Not to mention that Sun Hongcai was so loyal and patriotic that he was dedicated to killing thieves.
But it’s impossible not to go!
