Guo Jia said: "The lord of Weichen Jian yì sent General Zhao Yun to lead his troops to pursue Liu Bei's remnants, I don't know what the lord's will will be?" ”

"Oh?" Li Li was shocked when he heard this, and said suspiciously: "Why is this?" ”

Guo Jia said: "Now, the princes from all walks of life are scattered and fleeing, and it may be difficult for our army to wipe them out. In this case, General Zilong and Liu Bei are old acquaintances, and they have been quite entangled before, so it is better to let Zilong go to pursue Liu Bei. Anyway, this matter will have to be resolved sooner or later, sooner rather than later, and this time it will be simply resolved together to avoid further incidents in the future. ”

"Huh?" Li Li's expression changed slightly, and after thinking about it for a while, he bowed his head and said: "According to Fengxiao's words, Zicheng quickly ordered Zilong to pursue the enemy army south. ”

Seeing Li Zhi stride away, Li Li thoughtfully turned to look at the official road to the east, where the Qinglong Battalion cavalry led by Pang De was there to suppress the rout of the princes who could not escape.

Jia Xu noticed that the lord Li Li seemed to have something on his mind, or that his lord was not very satisfied with the results of the decisive battle in Loudiyuan, so he couldn't help but be worried after the big victory, and seemed to be preoccupied, and did not express the joy that the winner should have.

"The lord has something on his mind? Is it a pity that he couldn't capture and kill these princes who fled in a hurry in one fell swoop, or are he worried about whether Xingyang Xu Rong can stop the army of princes who fled in the wilderness? ”

"It's a bit of both."

After hearing Jia Xu's soft inquiry, Li Li's body did not move, and he bowed his head slightly: "I can't talk about it, but I am really a little worried." At present, although the Allied army is rout and fleeing, there are still tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, and they are all outlaws who are eager to flee for their lives, once their survival is blocked. must fight for their lives, and their combat effectiveness is amazing.

In contrast, the Xingyang battalion was already under-armed. There were only 40,000 soldiers and horses in total, and now 20,000 cavalry were dispatched to help the decisive battle. In this way, with only 20,000 infantry troops, he has to intercept the defeated army of the princes who are five times his own, and I am afraid that Xu Rong will not be able to support it alone, and the situation in Xingyang is worrying! ”

Jia Xu nodded approvingly, and then said, "The lord is extremely worried. This time the allies were defeated, and the princes fled when they heard the news. There must not be many princes who choose to cross the river to flee for their lives, and most of them will flee in the direction of Xingyang. As a result, General Xu Rong of Xingyang will face unprecedented pressure. Even if he had the intention to intercept the rout of the princes' army, he was unable to do it alone.

What is particularly worrying is that Xingyang is not dangerous. It is far from being as precipitous as the Tiger Prison Pass and the Bishui Pass. One husband should be closed, and ten thousand people should not be opened; In the face of the rout army fleeing in the surging stream, Xingyang can almost be said to be irrelevant to defend. Therefore, Weichen dared to assert that with only 20,000 soldiers and horses in Xu Rong's hands, he would definitely not be able to stop the way of the princes' army. If you do it reluctantly, it is tantamount to blocking the car with a mantis arm, and you will definitely lose.

Yes, Weichen built yì immediately flew the eagle to send a message. General Xu Rong was ordered not to block desperately, and he could let go of the road. Let the rout flee. At the same time, Xu Rong was ordered to recall all the soldiers and horses of Henan County, and when the situation was critical, he could consider abandoning Luoyang and retreating to Hongnong County. With such an arrangement, I don't know what the Lord will do? ”

"Huh?" Hearing this, Li Li's voice changed, he suddenly turned to look at Jia Xu, and said suspiciously: "According to Wenhe's intentions, isn't it equivalent to completely giving up the land of Luoyang and Henan, and giving it to the defeated army of the princes?" Is this really necessary? ”

Jia Xu nodded calmly: "Weichen has this intention. After this battle, the situation in the entire Central Plains will inevitably change, and the strength of all the princes will be greatly damaged, and only our Xiliang army will take the lead. At this critical moment, if our army takes advantage of the victory to pursue, it will be able to recover all the lost territory in one fell swoop, completely pocket the division, and then Chen soldiers will be on the border to deter the heroes.

However, in this way, it will inevitably prompt the princes of all walks of life to keep an eye on us at all times, regard our Xiliang army as a great danger, and have to spend all their efforts and soldiers and horses on resisting the attack of our army, lest they be destroyed by our army if they are not careful. If there is the slightest change in our army, it will make all the princes and trees of all walks of life soldiers, and they will not only be ready for battle, but even force them to join hands again to fight against our army.

This is by no means groundless, but an inevitable fact. After all, it is a matter of life and death, and even if there are all kinds of grudges between the princes, they will put it aside, and then do their best to fight our army to the end. At that time, the army of the princes who joined forces again will be different from the Hanoi Alliance, and the purpose of their joint resistance against the enemy will no longer be to seek greater territory and interests, but to fight for their own lives.

Therefore, the abandonment of Luoyang and Henan is not the cowardice of our army, nor the cowardice of the lord, nor the short-sighted pedantic view, but to appease the panic and anxiety of the princes of all walks of life after the defeat, so as to dispel their will to die as enemies of our army. Therefore, in Wei Chen's view, exchanging the land of just two counties for the peace of mind of the princes of the Central Plains allows them to experience the taste of life and death, so as to wear out the determination to resist desperately. This move really has more advantages than disadvantages, and the way to win the war is to surrender without a fight. ”

Jia Xu's voice fell, Guo Jia walked to Jia Xu's side lightly, and said to Li Li Gongsheng: "What Wenhe military advisor said is extremely true, and Weichen also has this intention. After this battle, although the Allied forces suffered heavy casualties and fled, the casualties of our officers and men were not small, nearly half of them were casualties, and heavy losses were taken. What's more, since May last year, our army has been fighting continuously, the northern expedition against the Huns, and the southern war against the Allied army, and it has been fighting continuously for ten months. Not to mention whether the officers and men of the whole army can continue to fight, just talking about the huge consumption of money and food, and the huge consumption of ordnance and baggage, it is unprecedented.

As a matter of fact, our army ran out of food and grass as early as half a month ago, and now it is barely maintained, and besides, our army is a long-fought division and has long been overwhelmed. The reason why this battle was able to be won was that the main man took the lead in gathering the morale of the army and boosting morale. However, after this great victory, the soldiers will inevitably relax their minds, and if they continue to wave their troops eastward, they are afraid that the battle will be unfavorable and they will inevitably lose.

Therefore, Weichen fully agreed with the strategy of Wenhe and the military division, and gave up the land of Luoyang and Henan counties, showing weakness and retreating as advance. In this way, it can not only calm the hearts of the princes of the Central Plains, but also win time for our army to recuperate. This is the best policy, and I implore the Lord to think twice. ”

Seeing that Jia Xu and Guo Jia had admonished one after another, and their opinions were unprecedentedly unprecedented, Li Li smiled and said, "What the two military advisors said is not unreasonable. Since this is the case, then according to what the military advisor said, Xu Rong was ordered to shrink his troops and horses, retreat to Hongnong, and send the land of Luoyang and Henan to the princes to rest, and when the time is ripe, I will go and get it back. ”

"No!" Chen Zhi heard the sound and bowed down to take the order.

After Chen Zhi left, the smile on Li Li's face gradually faded, his expression couldn't help but become a little heavy, and he said solemnly: "In this battle, what are the casualties of our army, is it really as Feng Xiao said, heavy losses?" ”

Guo Jia nodded lightly and said respectfully, "Weichen is by no means alarmist, it is indeed reported according to the truth. At present, the war is still ongoing, and Wechen has not yet received the specific number of casualties, and even so, the casualties of our army are not optimistic. According to rough estimates, in this decisive battle, our army suffered no less than 130,000 casualties??????"

"Ahh

At first glance, when he heard that there were as many as 130,000 casualties, Li Li was shocked, not only him, but also everyone present such as Jia Xu, Gao Shun, Dian Wei, Xu Chu and others were also shocked and exclaimed.

"130,000, why are there so many casualties? The total number of our army and cavalry is only 130,000, doesn't this mean that our army has suffered all casualties? Li Li asked in a deep voice.

And this is not only a question that he is eager to know, but also a question from everyone present. 130,000 casualties, this number is really terrifying, and the Xiliang Iron Cavalry who participated in the decisive battle is exactly this number. If this number is true, then what is the matter with the war cavalry that is chasing the rout army at this moment, and where do these cavalry come from?

"Don't worry, lord, don't be impatient, generals, and let me come one by one."

Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on him, Guo Jia couldn't help wiping a handful of cold sweat, and when he raised his hand to touch his forehead, he realized that he was not sweating at all.

Immediately, he said with a solemn expression: "This number of 130,000 is absolutely not wrong, and it is an optimistic and conservative estimate, and the actual number of casualties of our army is probably only a lot more." This first batch of casualties was the infantry army at the beginning of the decisive battle, and our army dispatched nearly 50,000 county soldiers in this battle, including chariot arrays, catapult arrays, giant shield arrays, bow and crossbow battalions, and baggage soldiers. Under the First World War, there are now less than 10,000 soldiers left in the county government, and the infantry army that now occupies the Allied camp is still the 10,000 infantry soldiers brought by the Wenhe military division from Hangu Pass. Therefore, the casualties of the infantry army alone amounted to 40,000 people, not including the casualties of General Cao Xing's bow battalion and the trapped camp under General Gao Shun's account.

And one of the soldiers and horses with the most tragic casualties in our army was the Montenegrin Army under General Zhang Yan's account, which was almost completely wiped out, and there were only more than 3,000 survivors. You must know that at the beginning of the decisive battle, the Montenegrin army still had 50,000 infantry troops and 20,000 Montenegrin cavalry, a total of 70,000 people. However, in addition to the more than 10,000 people killed in the battle, almost all of the remaining 50,000 people of the 70,000 Montenegrin troops were buried in the pit, which was extremely tragic. ”

"Whew!"

As soon as these words came out, Li Li, Jia Xu, Gao Shun, Xu Chu and others couldn't help but sigh, their tense minds finally eased, and their expressions relaxed a lot. It turned out that Guo Jia's so-called 130,000 casualties were including the 70,000 Montenegrin Army, and this casualty alone accounted for most of the total casualties, so it is no wonder that the number of casualties is so large.

In fact, before Guo Jia reported the casualty figures of the Montenegrin Army, the generals of the Xiliang Army had not counted the Montenegrin Army in the Xiliang Army, at least they did not regard the Montenegrin Army as a soldier in the Xiliang Army, even the commander Li Li was no exception. However, after Guo Jia reported the huge casualties of the Montenegrin army, Li Li and the civil and military forces around him were in a heavy mood, and it was not until this moment that they really accepted Zhang Yan and the Montenegrin army under his account, because the Montenegrin army died completely for the Xiliang army.

And Li Li, as the head coach, is even more self-blaming at the moment, and he is uneasy. For the tragedy of the total annihilation of the Montenegrin Army, he has an unshirkable responsibility, or the Montenegrin Army was pushed into the pit by him. The plan to throw stones to ask for directions was undoubtedly successful, and the result was just as Li Li expected, the only fly in the ointment was that the Montenegrin army was annihilated.

―――――――――――――― (To be continued......)