When they heard that Hao Yaoqi was back, Li Zicheng and Song Xiance couldn't sit still at all and immediately went out to greet him. They wanted to know the comprehensive and specific situation in Chengdu?
However, when they arrived at the top of the city and saw that there were only more than a thousand cavalry behind Hao Yaoqi who had returned, they really couldn't believe their eyes. I always feel like the others are lagging behind, they are just behind, and they will be seen again soon.
However, until Hao Yaoqi went to the top of the city and knelt down to plead guilty to Li Zicheng, they did not see any soldiers who followed him.
"There are only...only a few people?" Li Zicheng stared at Hao Yaoqi with his eyes wide open and an incredulous expression on his face.
Hao Yaoqi did not dare to look directly into Li Zicheng's eyes, lowered his head and replied: "There should only be so many!"
His words were like a heavy punch hitting Li Zicheng in the heart, making him feel like stars.
You know, Hao Yaoqi brought nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses, and even the elite among them numbered 20,000 to 30,000. As a result, only more than a thousand riders came back. This is no different from the annihilation of the entire army!
After coming back to his senses, Li Zicheng went up and wanted to kick Hao Yaoqi in the head: "Trash, trash, why are you back? I'm going to... I'm going to kill you..."
Song Xiance, who was on the side, saw that something was wrong, and quickly hugged Li Zicheng from behind. He used all his strength to hug Li Zicheng. At the same time, he shouted to remind Li Zicheng: "General, please calm down. General, please calm down." Ah, the most important thing right now is to understand the situation of the battle, to understand the situation of the battle!"
After hearing this, Li Zicheng sobered up a little and stopped exerting force. However, he didn't want to pay attention to Hao Waiqi, and just breathed heavily and tried to calm down the anger in his heart.
As soon as Song Xiance saw that he was no longer struggling, he let him go. At the same time, he looked at Hao Yaoqi and asked quickly: "What is the situation? How could it be so miserable? Could it be that the imperial reinforcements are... Was he the one who led it?"
Although he didn't say who this "he" was, Hao Yaoqi understood it and nodded immediately: "It was Duke Xingguo who suddenly appeared with 50,000 cavalry. Zuo Liangyu's men collapsed first, affecting our army, and then... It’s just a heavy loss!”
This is the truth, and it is also the reason for explaining to Li Zicheng. This was the answer Hao Yaoqi had already thought of when he was on the road.
Upon hearing this, Li Zicheng, who was standing next to him with an angry face, turned pale. What I was most worried about suddenly appeared.
That Duke of Xingguo was already the first high-ranking official in the Ming Dynasty. Why did he have to work so hard? Wasn't he afraid of falling and dying when crossing the Shu Road?
Damn, he is really crazy, so desperate! This world does not belong to him, and he is not the emperor, or the emperor's son, so what?
He was thinking that Song Xiance had come to his senses first and asked Hao Yaoqi again: "Where is Tian Jianxiu? Where is brother Tian Jianxiu? Couldn't he have died in the battle?"
Tian Jianxiu was also a general under Li Zicheng. In terms of importance, he was much more important than Li Laiheng, who had just grown up.
When Hao Yaoqi heard this, he thought that what was supposed to come was coming, and it was impossible to hide it anyway, so he replied in a low voice: "He said that he missed home!"
"What? What did you say?" When Song Xiance heard this, he didn't know whether he heard it clearly and couldn't believe it, or because Hao Yaoqi's voice was too soft and he really didn't hear it clearly, so he immediately confirmed, "What's wrong with him?" ?What did you say?”
After hearing this, Hao Yaoqi thought that he had something to say anyway, so he simply raised his voice and replied: "He said that he was homesick and didn't want to run away anymore, so he didn't follow him back."
Remembering that we were in front of so many people, he added: "At that time, we all escaped with more than 3,000 cavalry, but he still chose to stay."
"You're a pig. You won't chop him up and bring his head back?" Li Zicheng heard from the side and couldn't help but roared, "Traitor, if you dare to betray me, why don't you kill him?"
Of course, Hao Yaoqi had already thought of his words. He raised his head, looked at Li Zicheng, showed a wry smile and said: "The general should know that he and I will have to fight for dozens of rounds to determine the winner. And if he really wants to hurt someone, He can definitely attack me by surprise. In addition, among the more than 3,000 cavalry brothers, at least 2,000 brothers have chosen to follow him. How can I kill him? He probably asked me to come back because of brotherly love!"
"..." Upon hearing this, Li Zicheng suddenly became speechless.
Do you think that if you follow Hao Yaoqi's words and come back with more than a thousand cavalry, you will have to thank that thick-browed traitor?
When he thought of this, Li Zicheng felt a tightness in his chest.
Then, he immediately thought that even old brothers like Tian Jianxiu, who had followed him for many years, surrendered to Duke Xingguo, what would happen to the next war? Are there more brothers in the army who will surrender to Duke Xingguo? By the way, that Li Guo, he will definitely smile proudly when he finds out about this!
The more Li Zicheng thought about it, the more frustrated and uncomfortable he became. Suddenly, he saw his mouth open and spit out a mouthful of old blood.
Hao Yaoqi was looking at him. Suddenly, something was sprayed at him. He immediately subconsciously ducked and avoided his head, but the mouthful of blood still sprayed on him.
It was only then that they discovered that Li Zicheng was so angry that he vomited blood.
Then, exclamations rang out: "General, General..."
Song Xiance even went to help Li Zicheng immediately, and then shouted to find the doctor. On the top of the city, both the guards and their personal guards were in chaos.
Li Zicheng himself felt a little better after spitting out such a mouthful of old blood, so he pushed Song Xiance away and shouted coldly: "I'm fine!"
Then, he took two steps forward, helped Hao Yaoqi up, and said to him with a sincere face: "Good brother, if you can come back, you will be an iron brother from now on. This war is not your fault, first Go and have a good rest!”
Upon hearing this, Hao Yaoqi couldn't help but feel very ashamed. He felt a little sorry for Li Zicheng's trust, so he quickly said: "General, I..."
"Needless to say!" Li Zicheng interrupted him before he could finish, "No one expected that the dog Duke would venture into Shu before the spring. It happened so suddenly that even Liu Zongmin didn't know about it. , I can’t give you an early warning signal over there. I’ve known for a long time that Zuo Liangyu is not a target of the alliance, and it’s his job to hold back. I’ve seen him many times before.”
After saying so much, he said solemnly: "This battle is not your fault!"
After hearing this, Hao Yaoqi felt even more ashamed, so under Li Zicheng's persuasion, he went down to rest.
Afterwards, Li Zicheng turned to Song Xiance and said, "It's up to you to settle down those brothers who have escaped. I'll be alone!"
Feeling that life and death were once again at stake, Li Zicheng showed his heroic nature again, no longer so complacent, and restored some of the characteristics of his early years.
Song Xiance was a little surprised to see him like this, but after he came to his senses, he couldn't help but feel a little relieved, so he immediately accepted the order and hurried away.
………………
About an hour later, Song Xiance came back with a stern expression.
Li Zicheng, who was thinking alone, saw him and asked him, "Are everything settled?"
Song Xiance nodded, and then reported to Li Zicheng seriously: "General, I discovered a situation. These people who escaped, including...including Hao Yaoqi, all have families in Chongqing."
At this point, he stopped talking. The implication is very obvious that these people who escaped back probably had to come back not because they valued brotherhood, but because they had children here.
After hearing this, Li Zicheng, who had obviously calmed down, did not show any surprise. He nodded and said, "I have already thought of this!"
When he was alone just now, he had been thinking about a question, which was how to deal with the attack by the imperial officers and soldiers of Xingguo Gongsuo.
Wherever there is a spear, there is always a shield. Whether it is the tip of the spear or the thickness of the shield, it still exists.
Li Zicheng is not truly incompetent, he can eventually come up with a solution.
Later, after discussing with Song Xiance for a while, he issued several military orders.
First, the order was sent to Liu Zongmin, and he led the army to retreat. Now that the imperial reinforcements have arrived in Shu, there is no point in desperately attacking Baoning Mansion and trying to control Shu Road.
Second, they had already mastered the Lychee Road and the Micang Road. He asked Yuan Zongdi and Gao Yigong to lead troops to test respectively to see if they could open up the other sides of these two Shu roads. If possible, we can wait for the opportunity to rush to Qin, and no longer be limited to Shu.
Third, send an order to He Jin to test the Ming army's defense line at the exit of the Yangtze River to see if he can open a way back to the Central Plains.
Fourth, the main force retreated to Chongqing to rest and recuperate. After all, they had been fighting for almost a winter. Without rest and recuperation, they would not be able to cope with the next attack by the imperial army. Of course, there is another meaning that he did not mention in the military order, which is to reorganize the troops, eliminate or hide those unreliable generals, or turn unreliable generals into reliable ones.
Later, in addition to sending a large number of detectives with children in Chongqing to investigate the situation in Chengdu, Li Zicheng also rushed back to Chongqing with Song Xiance.
………………
In Chongqing, Niu Jinxing was surprised to see Li Zicheng rushing back suddenly. So, he immediately reported to Lin Chengcheng and others that they had not yet left. However, Li Zicheng ignored this matter.
Instead, he immediately asked Niu Jinxing to find out all the family details of all the generals.
Niu Jinxing was a civil servant in Li Zicheng's team, and he was in charge of these things. After hearing what Li Zicheng said for a while, he was shocked. Naturally, he did not dare to neglect, and immediately went to work on this matter.
Soon, Li Zicheng immediately mobilized troops and deployed defenses, and transferred all the single men who were leading the army back to Chongqing. Generals in important locations would even consider who the general's family was and whether he was emotionally focused.
Frequent military orders and dispatches made Li Zicheng's men aware of something unusual, although they did not receive any news because Li Zicheng had blocked it.
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