After all, Yuan Zongdi and Liu Fangliang still couldn't withstand the assault of He Luohui's 5,000 elite cavalry, Caozhou City now has only about 2,000 troops, and there are more than 1,000 extremely tired defeated troops outside the city, how can such a small number of troops make the opponent of Manchuria's elite cavalry?

Not only was Caozhou lost, but together with Yuan Zongdi, because of resisting the attack of the elite cavalry, he was also severely injured by the Manchurian cavalry who rushed up.

Night has just fallen, Caozhou is still changing hands, Yuan Zongdi is seriously injured and unconscious, Liu Fangliang has more than 1,000 troops, and now he wants to cry without tears, what should I do? Caozhou is lost, this is a capital crime, don't say that the emperor is merciful, even if the emperor doesn't kill himself, he has no face to live, as soon as he comes up, the emperor entrusts him with a heavy responsibility, and gives himself the position of the chief soldier, and he has become a dou who can't be supported, and the mud can't support the wall, and he has been defeated repeatedly!

Counterattack? Forget it? Don't say that Kaifeng Town has collapsed now, even in the heyday of Kaifeng Town, if you want to defeat 5,000 Manchurian elite cavalry and take Caozhou City, you can't be sure.

"Lord Commander, what should we do now?"

Ding Deyong, a staff officer on the side, asked abruptly.

Liu Fangliang gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: "Immediately send someone to send a letter to Lord Zhu, requesting to strengthen the defense of western Henan; Send people to Yuncheng and Tai'an Prefecture to send a message to the Tianwei army, Caozhou is lost, please be careful with Lord Song and Lord Yang, as for us, now we can only retreat to the southwest and temporarily station at the border of Lanyang, hoping to hold Lanyang before the arrival of reinforcements, and prevent the Qing army from breaking into the hinterland of Henan......"

Liu Fangliang naturally understands the status of the hinterland of Henan behind him, where is behind Xu Yifan's army, it must not be occupied by the Qing army, once it is lost, the entire Tianwei army will be in danger, and then even endanger the entire Ming Dynasty, this price is definitely unbearable for the imperial court.

At the same time as Caozhou fell, the cavalry sent by Gui Tianlan to Ningyang also rushed to Song Jiaxing's army.

At this moment, the main force of the Tianwei Army has been fighting fiercely with the Manchurian elite of Azig for more than two days, and the deployment of Azig was recognized by Song Jiaxing, and the opportunity was lost, and the first thing to be drunk was the first to be drunk, and the loss of the army was not small, and now the main force of the Tianwei Army has occupied the initiative on the battlefield, Song Jiaxing and Yang Chengzu are sure, as long as they continue to fight, they will be able to distinguish the victory and defeat in a few days, and Azig will definitely lose!

However, at this time, something happened behind him.

"Lord Song, Lord Song!"

A fast horse flew from the southwest direction, broke straight into the army, and ran directly in front of Song Jiaxing, shouting urgently.

Song Jiaxing raised his eyebrows and shouted: "Zhong Dingwen? ”

The person who came was Zhong Dingwen, the general of the capital division who stayed in Yuncheng County, Zhong Dingwen galloped all the way, covered in mud, and even had blood stains on his body, and even the horse's hair had been soaked through sweat, so embarrassed, it was obvious that something happened to Yuncheng!

"Lord Qiyu! Just the day before yesterday, we suddenly encountered the siege of 20,000 or 30,000 elite Qing troops in Dongchang Mansion, the Qing army even directly used artillery, the battle was fierce, our army suffered heavy casualties, Lord Gui ordered me to come to the emergency, please Lord Yang and Lord Yang immediately rushed back to help, I am afraid that Yuncheng will fall if I go back late! ”

Twenty or thirty thousand Qing troops besieged Yuncheng County?

Song Jiaxing and Yang Chengzu's hearts were shocked, they didn't attack early, they didn't attack late, but at this time, the Qing army attacked, specially, this is terrible, once Yuncheng is lost, Caozhou will not have any barriers, where is the last gateway to Kaifeng!

"Brother Yang, immediately lead the elite cavalry to rush back to Yuncheng!"

Song Jiaxing shouted.

Yang Chengzu said urgently: "Brother Jiaxing, you must not plan, I will lead the elite cavalry to retreat, you have more than 10,000 infantry left here, I am afraid that it will be difficult to resist the attack of the Qing cavalry, Azig is not so easy to deal with, we have to retreat, but also retreat together, once the troops are divided, it is too dangerous!" ”

Song Jiaxing's heart suddenly woke up, what Yang Chengzu said was not unreasonable, once the troops were divided, it was easier to be broken by the Qing army, originally Shandong now has an absolute advantage in the strength of the Qing army, once the troops are divided, the situation will be even more dangerous!

Hey!

Song Jiaxing waved the horsewhip in his hand fiercely, secretly hating himself for being too careless, just thinking about revenge, he actually ignored the main force of Dongchang Mansion!

"Brother Jiaxing, don't be so anxious, after all, behind Yuncheng, there is Caozhou, only more than a hundred miles away from Yuncheng, much closer than us, maybe at this time, Yuan Zongdi and Liu Fangliang have already gone to help, although the combat power of Kaifeng Town is average, but Yuan Zongdi and Liu Fangliang are both generals on the battlefield, as long as they rush to the aid of Yuncheng, in a short time, Yuncheng will not be in too much danger......"

Yang Chengzu said in a low voice, "We can slowly withdraw our troops, and we must not leave a flaw for the Qing army......"

Song Jiaxing's eyes narrowed, and he exclaimed: "Brother Yang, what I'm worried about is here, Yuncheng has nothing to lose, it's a big deal if we take it back, or hold Caozhou to the death, the Qing army still has no chance, but once Caozhou's Kaifeng Town rushes to the aid of Yuncheng, won't it give the Qing army a chance to attack Caozhou?" There are 40,000 or 50,000 Qing troops entrenched in Dongchang Mansion, and they have enough strength to attack Caozhou and Yuncheng at the same time! Or, taking advantage of Yuan Zongdi's Liu Fangliang galloping to the aid of Yuncheng and setting up an ambush on the way, then Kaifeng Town will be dangerous, not to mention Kaifeng Town, even if our Tianwei Army is ambushed by the Qing cavalry on the way, it is also more auspicious, their cavalry is too powerful! What I'm worried about now is Caozhou, once Caozhou falls, the Qing army will enter Henan westward, and the gate to Kaifeng will be completely opened! ”

Yang Chengzu was shocked, Caozhou, yes, Caozhou is the real key, and it is a position that the imperial court must not afford to lose, even if Puyang Prefecture is lost, it doesn't matter if Weihui Mansion is lost, the army can slowly retreat, relying on the Yellow River moat, and continue to confront the Qing army, but once Caozhou is lost, the Qing army breaks into the hinterland of Henan, and the life and death of tens of thousands of the main force of the Wei army that day is not under his control!

"So, what are we going to do now?"

Yang Chengzu said urgently.

Song Jiaxing gritted his teeth and shouted: "Come on, immediately send a message to Gui Tianlan, once Yuncheng is in danger, you can give up Yuncheng and retreat to Caozhou, but no matter what, you must protect the safety of Caozhou behind you, and strictly order Liu Fangliang and Yuan Zongdi not to send troops to meet the Tianwei army and defend Caozhou!" Ordered the three armies, slowly retreat, Brother Yang, you personally led the elite cavalry to break off, the musket battalion protected the artillery battalion to retreat first, and the army went straight to Caozhou! ”

(End of chapter)