In the dark night before dawn, the official army camp of the six towns under Juye Mountain fell into chaos.

Although Zuo Weiwei's generals Zhang Zimian and Zhongwu fought Wang Jian and Jin Hui to the death, allowing Ximen Sigong and Yang Fugong to escape Zhu Wen's pursuit, they were not happy for long. Although Zhang Zimian and the three of them were brave and fierce, they only relied on a few hundred hurriedly gathered infantry, and the three thousand elite light cavalry led by the five tiger generals of the grass army were the enemy. However, after blocking for a moment, the array of Zhang Zimian and the three was completely overwhelmed, and the three of them fled into the darkness with the remnants of their soldiers.

It didn't take long for Zhu Wen and the three of them to lead the Five Tiger Generals all the way to catch up with Yang Fugong and the others.

Victory and defeat are impermanent, and fate is repeated!

Yesterday, Ximen Sigong and Yang Fugong led the soldiers and horses of the six towns to defeat the grass thieves and beheaded more than 30,000 people. But it hasn't been a night yet, and the two immediately tasted the horror of Huang Chao being pursued yesterday.

Yesterday, the three Zhu Wen brothers rode horses to chase Huang Chao, and after the last time, they were moved by Huang Chao and took gold and armor banners in exchange for freedom. But today is different, although the three Zhu Wen brothers are still chasing behind, but they have now become the generals of the grass army, not to mention that even if the three of them have the intention to let go of the old boss, there are five tiger generals behind.

Especially Lin Yan, that is Huang Chao's nephew, Lin Yan, like Huang Chao, hates eunuchs the most, and then corrupt officials, and his hatred for the Tang Dynasty is secondary. If you are chased by Lin Yan, don't let it go, it is difficult to have a good time.

Zhu Wen chased closer and closer, and saw that Ximen Sigong and the others were approaching, so he shouted loudly: "Ximen Metropolitan Eunuch and Yang for the military envoy, don't get off your horse and wait to be captured!" Zhu Wen chased and scolded, and at the same time drew his knife and slashed at Ximen Sigong. Although not long ago, Simon Sigong praised him. And they also rewarded him with armor. However, Zhu Wen was unrelenting. Now that the grass army has surrendered. That is incompatible with the official army.

The war horses of the two were almost side by side, but this knife was still a little bit worse than touching. Rao is Ximen Sigong is used to seeing big scenes, and he is also frightened and out of breath at the moment. Cui Anqian, the commander of the loyal army who followed behind Ximen Sigong, immediately fired his bow left and right, killing several cavalrymen in a row, but he never shot Zhu Wen.

At this moment, seeing Zhu Wen rushing up with his knife again, an arrow suddenly flew into the air. Zhu Wen's war horse suddenly neighed, its front hooves were weak, and it fell directly to the ground, and Zhu Wen hurriedly picked up and fell off the horse.

Only then did everyone see that the person who came was Du Xian, the defense envoy of the Eastern Capital of Jidu, who led a group of soldiers and horses to arrive, and shot down the Zhu Wen war horse that was chasing at the forefront with an arrow. The Eastern Capital soldiers hurriedly protected Ximen Sigong and others left and right, and by the time Zhu Zhen and others arrived, Ximen Sigong and others had already escaped from Xu Yuan.

At this time, the Tang army camp had gradually reacted, and from time to time soldiers and horses gathered together to rush over. The 3,000 cavalry of the grass army gradually fell into the camp and had to rush left and right. On the contrary, there is a lot to lose. At this time, it was impossible to chase it down, and Lin Yan and the others immediately seized the situation. Ordered to kill out of the camp before the Tang army was surrounded.

Zhu Wen, who had just stepped on another war horse, saw that Ximen Sigong and the others had fled far away, and couldn't help but be annoyed, looking up to the sky and sighing, "I hate that the bow and arrow have been used up before, otherwise I will definitely be able to take the life of that old thief!" "If he can get Ximen Sigong's life, then he will be able to gain a firm foothold in the grass army immediately, and even rise to a higher position.

Ximen Sigong received the response of Cui Anqian, the envoy of Zhongwu Jiedu, and Du Xian, the defense envoy of the Eastern Capital of Jidu, and finally got rid of the pursuit of the enemy cavalry, and was frightened, and immediately galloped to the north and converged on the left flank.

The left flank of the official army was the Zhaoyi Army and the Heyang Army, and after arriving at the left flank, Ximen Sigong immediately listened to Li Zhuo's report. The grass thieves broke through from the Xuanwu Army and the Yicheng Army stationed on the right flank, and then cut into the Zhongjun camp to attack the camps of the Zhongwu Army and the Dongdu Army. Now the left wing is still complete, and there are no grass thieves to kill.

Ximen Sigong and Yang Fugong calmed down a little, and began to grit their teeth and start to mobilize troops and horses.

The two armies fought from before dawn until dawn, and then after a morning of scuffle, they fought until mid-afternoon.

The ferocity of the grass army was beyond the expectations of the generals of the official army, they fought quite fiercely, Huang Chao was almost desperate, and concentrated all the elite soldiers and horses, together with their cavalry, to attack the right flank of the official army, the purpose was to directly take the central army, destroy the command of the official army, and even capture the commander of the official army. As many as 60,000 grass troops attacked, and with the initial night attack, the grass army successfully broke through and defeated the right flank of the official army, and once entered the Chinese army.

However, the destruction of the command of the official army did not go smoothly, due to the tenacious struggle of the Zhongwu Army and the Eastern Capital Army, Cui Anqian and Du Xian rescued Ximen Sigong and Yang Fugong, and successfully retreated to the left wing army, and the command was still smooth. On the side of the Chinese military camp, Zhang Zimian, Wang Jian and others were defeated at first, but then they quickly gathered and organized more officers and troops to continue to fight desperately with the grass army.

"Commander, after half a day of hard fighting, although the right flank of our army was defeated, the Chinese army successfully built a defense, and now the rout of the right flank has joined the Chinese army and the left flank respectively. Although the casualties were not small, the grass thieves had been stopped by the Chinese army. Ben Shuai thought that the grass thieves were all on the right wing, but the grass thieves on the left flank were not strong. At the moment, we do not need to reinforce the Chinese army, but should concentrate the elite of the left flank and attack the right flank of the grass thieves in one fell swoop. As long as the right flank of the grass thief is broken, then we can wrap the soldiers and horses around the side of the Chinese army grass thief, severely damage the thief soldiers, and win the battle. After carefully observing the situation on the battlefield, Cui Anqian quickly put forward an extremely feasible plan.

Although there are about 20,000 thieves on the left flank, and even thousands of cavalry, Cui Anqian has already found out that the grass thief on the left flank will be Wang Xianzhi, who lost 100,000 soldiers and horses in the first battle of Songzhou, and was the first grass thief to flee without a fight on the battlefield yesterday.

On the opposite side of the left wing of Zhilu Dao is Wang Xianzhi, and Ximen Sigong and Yang Fugong are also a little moved.

"Can the Chinese army hold on?" Yang Fugong said with some worries, the current commanders of the Chinese army are Mu Renyu and Li Chong, and the right flank of these two people was defeated too quickly today. Even if it was a sneak attack, it shouldn't have been defeated so quickly. At this time, the Chinese army was handed over to them, and the left wing soldiers and horses went to fight Wang Xianzhi, and they were worried that Mu Renyu would not be able to hold it.

Du Xian proposed, "Then temporarily hand over the command of the Chinese army to General Zuo Weiwei Zhang Zimian!" ”

This proposal Ximen Sigong was a little moved. Zhang Zimian is his man. However, Zhang Zimian's prestige is a little insufficient. Don't look at him as a general. But Zuo Weiwei has long existed in name only, and the general is just a closed officer. Now Zhang Zimian has been transferred to the Xuanwu Army, and his actual position is just a Yingzhou assassin. And Mu Renyu and Li Chongke are both envoys of a town.

The 44-year-old Zhang Zimian is sensitive, good at riding and shooting, and is strategic. In the early years, because of the thieves, in order to ensure the peace of the party, the village was organized. Defend the township. Later, the imperial court set up a camp to march south, and then went to the army single-handedly as an errand boy. Because of the merit from the history of the Shuxing camp, Zhang Ming recommended the Zhonglang general. Since then, he has made many military exploits, gradually promoted his official position, and finally joined the Beijing Division. However, this time in Tian Lingzi's purge of the forbidden army, as Ximen Sigong's old subordinate, he was transferred out of the capital and was appointed as the assassin of Yingzhou.

Moreover, Zhang Zimian belongs to the Xuanwu Army, but he has a better relationship with the Zhongwu Army, and his relationship with Mu Renyu is not very good, at this time. Let him lead the Chinese army, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to command Mu Renyu and Li Chong.

The envoy of the Zhaowu Festival saw his concern. He said softly: "The capital eunuch can send an order to transfer Mu Shuai and Li Shuai to command the battle together, and on the Chinese army's side, just let them be handed over to Zhang Tingshi to command." ”

Ximen Sigong's eyes lit up, so that Zhang Zimian would naturally have no problem commanding the Chinese army. Immediately agreed, and sent heralds to the Chinese army.

In the afternoon, Mu Renyu and Li Chong were both transferred back to the temporary camp on the left flank, and the defense of the Chinese army was entrusted to the command of General Zuo Weiwei and Yingzhou Assassin Zhang Zimian. After Zhang Zimian took over the command, he immediately mobilized all units one after another, and with many years of combat experience, Zhang Zimian soon had already built the entire Chinese army's defense line, and several fierce attacks of the grass army were blocked.

The officers and soldiers relied on sophisticated equipment, sufficient equipment, and sufficient training, and after the initial panic at this time, under the exquisite command of Zhang Zimian, the attack of the grass army was resolved one by one.

At this point in the battle, the advantage of air raids had gradually been lost, and the officers and troops who had recovered from their senses regained the advantage.

Due to Zhang Zimian's superior command, he even sent some of the defeated troops of the original right wing to the left wing to strengthen the troops. By mid-afternoon, the left flank of the official army had concentrated a full 50,000 men, including 8,000 light cavalry.

With an order, the melodious horn sounded poignantly, and the war drums shook like thunder. The left-wing officers and soldiers who had been preparing for a long time were like tigers out of the cage and pounced directly on Wang Xianzhi's headquarters on the opposite side.

Wang Xianzhi's department had only 20,000 horses, and their strength was weak, and they were under great pressure when facing the officers and soldiers of the left wing. At this time, in the face of the onslaught of the official army, it could no longer be supported, and the front was defeated by the official army. As soon as the auxiliary army was defeated, Wang Xianzhi fled again without any hesitation.

As soon as Wang Xianzhi's handsome banner retreated, the right wing of the grass army opposite the entire left wing officer army was defeated again. The auxiliaries on the right flank of the Grass Army, which had been temporarily reorganized, fled in droves, and the situation on the entire battlefield changed again.

After Wang Xianzhi was defeated and fled again, Huang Chao's right flank was exposed.

Ximen Sigong and Yang Fugong led Du Xian, Du Xianquan, Li Zhuo, Cui Anqian, Li Chong, and Mu Renyu to lead 50,000 soldiers and horses to counterattack.

Before Huang Chao could come up with a way to break through Zhang Zimian's camp, he had to turn his head to face the official army.

At this time, the Xuanwu Army and the Yicheng Army, which had been captured on the right flank of the official army, saw the great change in the situation, and they also took advantage of the situation to launch a rebellion in front of the formation, and attacked in rebellion.

The Huangchao soldiers and horses were attacked by the enemy, and the situation was even more unfavorable, so they had to retreat step by step!

The golden black fell in the west, and the jade rabbit rose in the east.

The two armies have been fighting for two days and two nights, and they are still fighting endlessly. The battle on the battlefield continued, the sound of killing shook the sky, the wails continued, the corpses were all over the ground, and the blood flowed like a river.

Huang Chao's disadvantage is getting bigger and bigger, and Huang Chao has already seen that Wang Xianzhi once again betrayed the grass army and betrayed him. At this time, with their strength alone, if they continued to fight hard, there was only a dead end, so they had to take advantage of the night to order a retreat.

Ximen Sigong suffered a big loss yesterday, and if he is willing to let them go today, he will definitely chase them to the end. Regardless of the opposition of Cui Anqian and others, Ximen Sigong personally led his troops to pursue!

The grass army was defeated, and fled on all sides, the five tiger generals of the grass army and Zhu Wen were leading the cavalry to clean up the remnants of the army in the back, and saw that the official army was in hot pursuit, so they immediately led the cavalry to lead a part of the scattered soldiers to fight back, and attacked behind the chasing soldiers of Ximen Sigong.

At this time, it was already late at night, and the officers and soldiers who were chasing and fighting suddenly found that they were attacked from behind, and they thought that they had been ambushed by the thieves, and they were terrified.

Ximen Sigong and Yang Fugong were also taken aback, for fear that the situation would repeat again, so they had to give up the pursuit and lead the army back to the Juye camp.

The two-day battle finally came to an end, and although the official army still defeated the grass army after the last day, the battle during it was also very dangerous. Especially in the first battle of the second day, more than 10,000 officers and soldiers were killed, thousands were captured, and countless were seriously wounded and lightly wounded. Among them, 8,000 soldiers were lost and 12,000 auxiliaries were lost. Among the soldiers, the infantry lost nearly seven thousand, and the cavalry also lost nearly a thousand. Dozens of officers were killed in the battle, and tens of thousands of stones of grain and grass in the official army camp were burned, causing heavy losses.

Although the most reluctant officers and troops in this battle were victorious, they had lost the ability to continue to chase the grass thieves. First, the officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties and were exhausted from the two-day battle, and a more important reason was that the grain and grass of the officers and soldiers were burned, and without grain and grass, they could not continue the pursuit. Yunzhou, Ji, and Yan in front of them were almost robbed by grass thieves, and they couldn't solve the problem of grain and grass at all. At this time, the strong self-march was defeated.

After the last time, the marshals agreed that the soldiers and horses would return to Jiyin City in Caozhou to rest and wait for the grain and grass to be replenished. And Huang Chao and other grass thieves can only be left to Li Jing and them to intercept, although they are unwilling and helpless.

As Clausewitz put it: "It is often the case that the attacker reaches the end of the offensive and is forced to retreat even if he is victorious, because he does not have the offensive strength to develop and exploit the victory, nor to replenish the forces he has lost." ”

The casualties of the officers and soldiers reached 20%, and the grass army suffered heavier losses in this general battle.

After the defeat, Wang Xianzhi escaped again, led his 4,000 cavalry all the way east, entered Yanzhou, and fled to Rencheng to rest.

And Huang Chao, after Wang Xianzhi fled to Yanzhou Rencheng, he did not follow. Instead, after collecting the remnants directly in Juye, he fled north and returned to Juancheng, the city of Puzhou Prefecture. After arriving in Juancheng, Huang Chao ordered an inventory of soldiers and horses, and the last to get a report, and only 20,000 horses were left to return to Juancheng.

160,000 grass troops, after two days and two nights of battle, ten stops and eight stops.

Huang Chao had to reorganize the troops and horses, and the 20,000 horses were divided into 40 battalions and 20 compartments, which belonged to the left, center, and right armies in the front and rear.

Although Zhu Wen, the former army left wing, knew the soldiers and horses, although he was newly promoted to the rank of general of Zhenguo, the soldiers and horses in his hands changed from the original ten battalions of 5,000 men and horses to two battalions of 1,000 men and horses. Just these 1,000 people are all remnants of the defeated army! (To be continued......)