Xue Wanche led thirty thousand troops and quickly crossed the river from outside the South Gate. They entered the South Gate area and began to chase around the city. After all, after they crossed the river, there were already scouts who sent back news that the army led by Liu Heita had already gone to the east of the city.
As soon as Xue Wanche heard the news, he had already chased towards the east of the city.
In his heart, he was eager to kill Liu Heita.
He wanted to take his revenge.
Xue Wanche's pursuit naturally fell into the eyes of Li Shimin's army. Each and every soldier in the army did not see as clearly as Du Qi. What they saw was that they were treated unfairly, that they were suppressed everywhere.
This ignited the anger of the soldiers.
It made everyone angry.
The hostility towards Li Jiancheng in the army was even more obvious.
All of this, Du Qi was happy to see. He did not go and remind them. Instead, he told Li Shimin to strictly restrain the soldiers in the army.
While Li Shimin was setting up camp, Xue Wanche had already led the troops to chase madly, quickly shortening the distance. In a short hour, they were already far away from Mingshui County. The speed of the army led by Liu Heita also gradually slowed down.
Such a situation made Xue Wanche happy. Because Liu Heita's speed slowed down, it proved that he no longer had the strength to retreat.
"Chase, chase!"
Xue Wanche ordered again.
He constantly ordered the army to chase and attack. He could not wait to immediately catch up with Liu Heita and kill him. The thirty thousand elite troops under his command were also in high spirits. The reason was very simple. They were now facing a general of a defeated army.
If they pursued and attacked at this time, they would definitely win.
Everyone was full of anticipation.
When Xue Wanche was chasing, the speed of the army led by Liu Heita was indeed getting slower and slower. However, this decrease in speed was not because the army could not run, but because Liu Heita did it on purpose.
Liu Heita looked at the messenger beside him and asked, "The news from the scouts behind us, how far are the pursuers from us?"
The messenger said, "It is already less than six miles."
"Less than six miles."
Liu Heita was silent. He thought carefully and said, "Send the order, slow down a bit more. Once we reach Sanjiangkou, we will stop and wait for the pursuers to arrive. "
Sanjiangkou, the name was not bad. In reality, it was just two small tributaries of the Ming River that forked at the front, forming a layout where three rivers converged.
The army led by Liu Heita was only three to four li away from Sanjiangkou.
This distance was already very close.
Liu Heita looked at Prime Minister Zhu Zhou and asked with a solemn expression, "Prime Minister, our people went to inform the Turks near Sanjiangkou. Did they reply?"
Zhu Zhou said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Turks have already replied. Once the pursuers of the Tang dynasty arrived at Sanjiangkou, they would join the battle. Moreover, the terrain around Sanjiangkou is a flat plain. "
"This kind of area is suitable for Turkic cavalry. According to the information sent back by the scouts, the pursuing soldiers are not the Black Armor Elite Cavalry led by Li Shimin. "
"The army led by Li Shimin did not pursue. The one who came to pursue them was Xue Wanche again. He's leading thirty thousand elite soldiers, all of whom belong to Crown Prince Li Jiancheng's faction. "
Zhu Zhou replied with a smile.
Liu Heita sneered, "Li Shimin is indeed an outstanding person. He must have guessed that we retreated and most likely had an ambush, so Li Shimin did not pursue. Li Jiancheng, this idiot, actually took the initiative to pursue. Well, since Li Jiancheng has already arranged people to pursue us, then let's take them down. "
Zhu Zhou said, "Your Majesty is right. The fat meat delivered to the door, if we don't swallow it, then it's a pity."
Liu Heita said, "Exactly!"
The two talked and laughed as they led the army to continue retreating. As the army retreated, they were getting closer and closer to Sanjiangkou. When they arrived at Sanjiangkou, the army temporarily set up camp.
On the Turks' side, someone came to receive them.
The person who came was Zhi Shili.
This time, the person who came to Hebei was Zhi Shili. After all, he was Xieli's confidant.
In the second half of last year, after Zhi Shili and Xieli led the army back to the Turks, they encountered many difficulties. Especially when Shili returned to the grassland, the impact on Xieli's prestige was even greater.
Fortunately, Shili did not have Xieli's boldness and was frightened by Xieli's words of a life and death struggle. In the end, Shili finally returned to his own territory and did not have a great battle with Xieli.
Xieli also took this opportunity to quickly recover his strength. After exhausting all the opportunities, he finally stabilized the situation.
Xieli had a deep grudge against the Tang dynasty.
Liu Heita sought Xieli's help, so Xieli arranged for Zhi Shili to lead eight thousand cavalry south and enter the Hebei region.
However, Zhi Shili did not take action.
Because he was not needed for the time being.
When Zhi Shili saw Liu Heita, he said with a smile, "Han Wang, this time you still could not stabilize the battle at Mingshui County. If you could keep holding the fort at Mingshui County, you could continuously consume the power of the Tang dynasty. Then your power would be more and more stable. Because you could not stabilize the situation, you lost the initiative. "
Liu Heita waved his big sleeve and said with a smile, "Actually, it can't be considered a failure. A place like Mingshui County cannot be defended. But to be able to kill people like Yin Kaishan and Luo Shixin, and even defeat the army of the Tang dynasty, it is already enough. "
After a pause, Liu Heita said again, "To be able to hold on until now is already not easy. Moreover, with this retreat, we can also use the opportunity to scheme against the army of the Tang dynasty. No matter how you look at it, it is a profit. Losing a city in exchange for another chance to ambush the Tang army, I think it is a profit. "
Zhi Shili said, "Han Wang is quite open-minded."
Liu Heita said, "The battles on the battlefield, back and forth, the number of times is too many to count. In my opinion, to be able to hold on until the end is the most powerful. Now it is just losing a city, it is nothing. Just like in the past, I lost many cities, but in a short time, I took them all back, and even gained more. So now it is nothing. "
Zhi Shili nodded.
He also sighed in his heart. Liu Heita was an outstanding person, not an ordinary person.
To be able to move unhindered in Hebei, he had the ability.
Liu Heita continued, "Zhi Shili, you can go and prepare. When the army of the Tang dynasty arrives, you will listen to my orders. Once I give the order to blow the horn to attack, you will lead the eight thousand elite cavalry to attack quickly. "
Zhi Shili said, "No problem!"
Liu Heita waved his hand, Zhi Shili turned around and left. In fact, according to Zhi Shili's character in the past, when facing Liu Heita, he would not be so peaceful.
Because in this battle, he came under Xieli's order to weaken the Tang dynasty as much as he could.
Therefore, even if Liu Heita was not very respectful to him, Zhi Shili did not care. Anyway, the other party provided enough food, provided enough equipment, and served good food and drinks, he did not care.
Liu Heita ordered the officers and soldiers in the army to prepare for war.
All the soldiers did not lose their morale because of losing Mingshui County. On the contrary, because of Liu Heita's words, all the officers and soldiers were all excited, all ready for war.
Time passed little by little.
The army led by Xue Wanche had already caught up.
Xue Wanche took the lead, wearing armor, walking at the front. The thirty thousand elite troops under his command were in formation, eyeing covetously. Each and every soldier's eyes were shining with high fighting spirit. To them, until now they still had not reacted, they still did not know that they had fallen into an encirclement.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
