The sun sets, the sky is dark, the land of Jianghuai is rainy in autumn, the wind is still beautiful in the morning, and the clouds gather in the afternoon, and it rains continuously.

Cui Jun sent a team of 10,000 people to attack the city, and even used black powder, which caused a certain danger to the defense of the city several times, but the soldiers and horses in the city were sufficient, and they were replenished in time, and under the command of Ximen Junyi, they still defeated the attack of the Dahua army.

When Cui Jun ordered the withdrawal of the troops, only mountains of corpses were left under the city wall, with stumps and broken arms, scattered everywhere, blood stained the ground with sand and stones, and the bloody blood was scattered.

Night falls, inside the barracks outside the city.

Cui Jun looked at a group of generals with low morale, and realized in his heart that the situation was going to suffer.

He did not lead troops to fight alone, and as the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces, in the past, he listened to the orders of the commander-in-chief and directly led the troops into battle, and strategic thinking was not enough.

The battle was lost, and Cui Jun also lost his opinion, and asked everyone if they had any suggestions for seizing the city.

Adjutant General Cheng Lie persuaded: "General Cui, we are alone in the depths, food and grass are insufficient, we can only hold on for five days, this Qingliu City defense is beyond our initial imagination, easy to defend and difficult to attack, obviously the Jianghuai army has already prepared, and I don't know if there is an ambush on the back road, it is really not suitable to stay here, and it is best to withdraw the army quickly tonight." ”

"What, what do you mean, to let General Ben withdraw his troops?" When Cui Jun heard this suggestion, his face was a little ugly.

It's not that he hasn't thought about it, it's just that he still has hope for breaking the city, so he gives up like this, and he is really unwilling.

Another general Zuo also arched his hand and said: "General, in today's battle, the casualties are huge, more than 4,700 people were killed and more than 3,000 people were disabled. ”

"You are trying to shake the morale of the army, we are the elite division of the Central Plains, and when we arrive in the south of the Yangtze River, how can we be defeated against the rabble here!" Cui Jun is still stubborn.

At the time of this dispute, the sound of horses' hoofs was heard outside, and four or five scouts came rushing to the scene.

A voice sounded outside: "Where is General Cui, we are the herald sent by General Xu"

After Cui Jun heard this, he asked Jiang Zuo to go out and bring in the noisy people outside.

"Who are you?"

A team carrying a black brocade box on his back was holding his fists and said: "The small one is the head of the patrol cavalry under the camp of Zuo Yuhou of the Chinese army, leading people to escort military orders and general letters, and presenting them to General Cui." After finishing speaking, he took out the letterhead and military order, and said: "General Xu sent an order, ordering General Cui to withdraw his troops immediately and not to stay in Jiangdu County." ”

Cui Jun frowned, unwilling, a hint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes, thinking about whether to kill this herald, pretending that it had not happened, and continuing to carry out his order.

Adjutant General Cheng Lie looked at the team in a mess with blood stains, and asked, "Did you encounter an ambush on the way?" ”

"Yes, we have a hundred-man team, but on the way we found an enemy army, about 30,000 men, pursued by their patrol guards, and only a few survived."

"On the way, an enemy army of thirty or forty thousand!" Cheng Lieleng paused for a moment, and then woke up: "It's not good, this is to block our back road, we need to withdraw our troops immediately, and we can't follow the original road, change the route and withdraw!" ”

At this time, Cui Jun also realized the seriousness of the problem, and his face was sad.

If you don't leave, you are likely to be intercepted, outflanked before and after, and fall into the predicament of being encircled.

There is no food and grass in the military camp itself, there is not enough medicine to carry, the army's heart is changing, the treatment of the wounded, etc., are all problems, and it is impossible to carry out a long battle to siege the city.

If Cui Jun is still stubborn at this time, it is likely to cause a mutiny in the army, and it is difficult to say whether he, the main general, can be saved.

"Okay, then withdraw the troops!" Cui Jun sighed, after going back, it is likely that there will be punishment and demotion, and helplessness wells up in his heart.

When the rest of the generals heard this, they all secretly breathed a sigh of relief, once General Cui Jun insisted on going his own way, they might have differences, some people supported and some people opposed, which would inevitably lead to changes in the army.

Adjutant General Cheng Lie arched his hand and said: "Since General Cui has decided to withdraw the army, please give an order immediately, I will wait for this order to go down, and after an hour, withdraw in an orderly manner, in addition, it is necessary to leave the broken team, once the Jianghuai army in the city discovers our intention to withdraw, it will definitely pursue and cover up, the situation is dangerous." ”

"What General Cheng said is very reasonable, it is very important to be responsible for the matter after the break, it is related to the life and death of the army, General Cheng Lie, this matter will be handed over to you, entrust it to others, General Ben is really not at ease." Cui Jun said politely on the surface, but in his heart he was actually venting his dissatisfaction.

Since this Cheng Lie sent out the army, he always likes to put forward opinions, and has always stood on the opposite side of himself, saying some remarks that affect the morale of the army, in Cui Jun's view, this is dissatisfied with him as the commander-in-chief, so at this time, he naturally pushed the boat and pitted the deputy general.

Cheng Lie didn't think about it so much, and saluted with a fist: "Command, Cheng will do his best to block the pursuers and complete the task after the break." ”

Cui Jun nodded, and immediately gave orders to the other generals, agreeing that in a month, each Yuhou battalion would retreat step by step, without making a noise, without panic, maintaining a formation, and the task conveyed to the soldiers was to transfer strategy and sneak attack another Jianghuai army in the north to stabilize the morale of the army.

Otherwise, when it comes to retreating, morale will often be low and disintegrate, and once it encounters ambushes and pursuers, it is easy to collapse.

The generals nodded and turned to go out to assign tasks.

An hour later, the withdrawal began.

The camp of the Marquis of Zuoyu and the camp of the Marquis of the Right Yu were withdrawn, the camp tent was no longer needed, and most of the cooking utensils were left, so they should be evacuated from Jiangdu County as soon as possible and returned to Zhongli County.

The march to dawn, the large army rushed forty miles, the sky was slightly bright, the scouts sent by the city had discovered the abnormality of the camp, so they approached the camp to check, only to know that the Dahua vanguard army in the camp had retreated, and immediately reported to the guard in the city, Ximen Junyi.

Ximen Junyi's face changed, and he blurted out: "Dahua's army actually withdrew overnight, and the target is to the north, this is to make a detour back to Zhongli County!" No, you have to chase it immediately, and you can't let the fat in your mouth be lost again. ”

Wang Shulan proposed: "Husband, it is imperative to send light cavalry to chase after you, bite the tail, and then the infantry armor will chase and kill in the back, and you can eliminate as many as you can." At the same time, release the flying eagle to pass the book to the garrison on the back and intercept it! ”

"It makes sense, General Wang Xiongdan's soldiers and horses are still arranging an ambush dozens of miles away from the rear of Dahua, and they will send people to inform them that they will catch up from the flanks and work together to encircle and suppress this Dahua vanguard army!" Ximen Junyi made a quick decision, made a deployment, and then personally led the cavalry out of the city.