"Retreat!"
"Retreat!"
Xue Wanche saw that the explosion of gunpowder had begun to spread. He did not dare to delay any longer and immediately gave the order to retreat. It was not that he did not want to resist with all his strength, but after the explosion of the buried gunpowder, the gunpowder in the haystacks near the fortifications was also detonated.
It had already affected Xue Wanche himself.
Countless cannonballs flew and also fell inside the fortifications. Even if Xue Wanche's forces spread out, the situation was not optimistic. Many soldiers were killed.
One by one, the Tang soldiers got up and retreated with Xue Wanche. Even so, many people were also hit by the explosion. Many people were even killed by the explosion of the haystacks and the gunpowder in the nearby gunnysack.
For a time, there were countless casualties.
As a result, countless soldiers were affected by this.
Xue Wanche's fortifications were completely destroyed. Even if they retreated, there were also countless losses.
This scene fell into Du Qi's binoculars.
Through the binoculars, Du Qi saw everything that was happening on the ground clearly. He saw the haystacks igniting with monstrous flames, the area where the gunnysack was located constantly exploding, the flames soaring to the sky, and many other places exploding.
"We brought this upon ourselves!"
A cold light flashed in Du Qi's eyes.
At this moment, he roughly understood the Tang army's intention, which was to confuse the enemy by resisting. Then, when Xia Xia's army landed on the shore, they would detonate all the buried gunpowder. After all, Xia Xia's forces were too many. After the soldiers landed on the shore, they would inevitably spread out. When the gunpowder was detonated, Xia Xia's soldiers would certainly suffer countless losses.
This was the Tang army's intention.
What a pity!
Under the bombardment of the densely packed cannons, the gunpowder on the shore was all detonated by the cannon fire. As a result, Xue Wanche's side fell into an extremely difficult predicament.
Shangguan Yi said excitedly, "Your Majesty, this wave of bombardment when we landed on the pier was really too beautiful. Li Shimin intended to make a final defense. Now, under the bombardment, Li Shimin's fortifications were completely destroyed. The Tang army has retreated and no longer has the strength to fight. The Tang dynasty is completely finished. "
Xue Rengui also said excitedly, "Your Majesty, the enemy has already retreated, we can land now."
Du Qi nodded and said, "Go on, but remember, you must be extremely cautious. The closer it was to the end, the more important it was. We have penetrated deep into the enemy's territory alone. Now that we have achieved victory in this battle, we must fight steadily and surely to consolidate our victory. If we end up capsizing here in Jiangdu, it will be disadvantageous to us. "
Xue Rengui replied, "This subject understands."
Du Qi said, "You lead the vanguard and leave first, zhen will follow behind."
"Yes!"
Xue Rengui immediately agreed.
Immediately, Xue Rengui ordered the army to dock, and all the warships disembarked in an orderly manner. Although this process was carried out in an orderly manner, it still took nearly an hour for all the troops to disembark from the dock.
All the soldiers got into formation.
Xue Rengui mobilized an army led by Liu Yunye as the vanguard and headed straight for Jiangdu City.
The army pursued Xue Wanche.
Du Qi led the way at the back.
Du Qi arranged for an army to stay on the shore to guard the dock. The warships at the dock were the most important and the most crucial. If they were lost, it would be disastrous. Hence, the troops guarding it were a total of three thousand elites. The rest of the army was led by Du Qi, following closely behind Xue Rengui.
Xue Rengui and Liu Yunye led the army to charge at the front, rushing all the way to chase after Xue Wanche's group.
Chasing all the way, they were unable to catch up.
After all, Xue Wanche's retreating speed was very fast. Xue Wanche led the troops to escape first, running all the way to Jiangdu City. As for the scouts who were watching the battlefield, they had already rushed back before Xue Wanche, returning to Jiangdu City in a short time.
Jiangdu City, on the city wall.
Li Shimin was dressed in armor, leading the civil and military officials here.
His expression was slightly anxious as he waited quietly.
"Urgent report, urgent report!"
When the distant scout's shout came back, Li Shimin suddenly became nervous. The future of the Tang Dynasty depended on this battle. If they won this battle, the Tang Dynasty would stand tall in Jiangdu City. If the Tang Dynasty lost this battle, then the Tang Dynasty would not be able to defend Jiangdu City. After all, Li Shimin did not have many troops left, only a few thousand, and could not defend Jiangdu City.
The scout was getting closer and closer to the city.
When the scout reached the city tower, the city gate was opened wide. The scout went straight in, quickly entered the road, and then came to the top of the city tower. As soon as the scout came to Li Shimin, he quickly said, "Your Majesty, General Xue has been defeated. Our troops at the dock can no longer hold on and have retreated. "
Wow!!
There was an uproar all around.
The officials of the imperial court all looked nervous, and everyone sighed in their hearts.
Defeated again!
The hope of the Tang Army was in this battle at the dock.
Unfortunately, they were defeated!
The expression on Li Shimin's face suddenly became tense, and he sighed in his heart. Fortunately, Li Shimin had already discussed with Wei Shuyu, Wei Zheng, and Fang Xuanling before this and had already made preparations. Therefore, Li Shimin did not panic and directly ordered, "Withdraw the troops. We will withdraw from Jiangdu City."
Everyone was relieved when they heard this.
At least they would not fight to the death. If they fought to the death, who knew how many people would be killed? Now that they withdrew directly, they could also withdraw with them.
Li Shimin looked around again and saw that the officials around him were relieved. He sighed in his heart. The officials of the entire Tang Dynasty were not willing to fight to the death. Li Shimin looked at Fang Xuanling and ordered, "Fang Xuanling, arrange it directly."
"Yes!"
Fang Xuanling immediately responded.
He quickly arranged it, and then looked at Li Shimin and said, "Your Majesty, everything has been arranged. Our food has been moved first. All the materials have been properly handled. What we need to take away now are just some documents. We can withdraw first, and then let Xue Wanche cut off the retreat and destroy the bridge. In short, we will not give Du Qi a chance to chase after us. "
Li Shimin nodded and said, "Withdraw."
At his order, he led everyone down the tower and then began to withdraw.
When the officials evacuated, they naturally brought their families with them. Fortunately, the important officials were already prepared. Therefore, after the order to withdraw was issued, the officials' families also quickly withdrew with them.
The whole team withdrew extremely quickly.
In addition, Fang Xuanling specially arranged people along the way to inform Xue Wanche, who was retreating, and asked Xue Wanche to arrange soldiers along the way to specifically block and delay time. He also asked Xue Wanche to arrange soldiers to destroy the bridge or cut down trees to block the road when he retreated, so as to prevent Xia Xia's army from chasing after them.
There were many water villages in Jiangnan, and there were small rivers and bridges everywhere. Therefore, after destroying the bridge, it would not be easy for Xia Xia's army to chase after them. At least, it would delay a lot of time.
In this way, the Tang army could withdraw.
After the Tang army withdrew, the army led by Xue Rengui arrived at Jiangdu City. Because there was no power left in the city, Xue Rengui took the city without any effort.
At first, Xue Rengui was worried about some conspiracy, so he was extremely cautious. He controlled the city gates and even carefully searched the city. However, in the end, he did not find any problems.
Then, Du Qi arrived with the army.
After the army arrived at Jiangdu and Du Qi entered the city, Xue Rengui came to Du Qi's side and reported, "Your Majesty, Li Shimin escaped again. I arranged soldiers to chase after him, but because Li Shimin retreated quickly and Xue Wanche destroyed the bridge along the way and blocked the road, it is impossible for our main force to chase after him. "
Du Qi smiled and said, "No matter, Li Shimin has lost Jiangdu and lost soldiers, so there is nothing to worry about. Next, we will consolidate the results of the battle and completely seize Jiangnan, as well as all the provinces along the Jinghang Canal. In this way, Li Shimin's living space will become smaller and smaller. After this battle, the overall situation will be settled. "
For Du Qi, when Li Shimin lost Chang 'an, he had already lost the overall situation. Now that Li Shimin lost Jiangdu again, the threat was weakened. As Du Qi took control of the situation, Li Shimin's situation would become more and more difficult.
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