Chapter 334: Cut the rear (Part 1)

In the seventh year of Ganyou in the Northern Han Dynasty, the first year of Xiande in the Later Zhou Dynasty, in the fourth year of Yingli in the Liao Dynasty, Liu Chong (Liu Min) of the Northern Han Dynasty died of illness, and his son Liu Chengjun ascended the throne. After withdrawing troops in the Later Zhou Dynasty, Liu Chengjun immediately sent a secret envoy to Huanglong Mansion with a lot of money and property to report the grief. At the same time, he praised the Liao Dynasty and called himself "son" to the Liao Dynasty emperor. Fortunately, what Wang Dezhong said was not true. The Liao Dynasty emperor now did not mean to annex the Northern Han Dynasty. After accepting a large amount of property, he appointed Liu Chengjun as the emperor of the Later Han Dynasty and gave him the name Liu Jun, calling him "son emperor".

After Guo Rong announced the withdrawal of his troops, Yao Yuanfu, the governor of Kuang**, immediately asked to see the emperor and said to him: "Your Majesty, since ancient times, it has been easy to advance and difficult to retreat. Now, although Your Majesty has set up a line of defense in the rear, the Liao army will definitely pursue and chase after him. The last general is willing to lead the troops to serve as the guards of the entire army and cover the retreat of the army."

Guo Rong was very pleased, "Elder General, I will leave the matter of severance to you. I will rest assured if you do your business!"

That being said, Yao Yuanfu's unit had only 5,000 troops, and his troops were a little weak. Guo Rong looked at the generals in the account, and almost everyone lowered their heads and did not dare to look at him. He was about to escort the spoils back to his country, and no one wanted to stay and chew the bones. Only Zhang Yongde and Dong Zunhui were careless and still raised their heads to ask for battle.

Guo Rong felt a little relieved. These two people were really my confidant generals. They knew my intentions and were willing to relieve my worries. However, Zhang Yongde also had to lead his army to protect him. Let Dong Zunhui cooperate with Yao Yuanfu for the mission that was cut off.

Guo Rong then said to Dong Zunhui: "Daoan, how powerful are your soldiers? Is it still possible to fight?"

Dong Zunhui hurriedly stepped forward and replied: "Your Majesty, there are still 2,700 soldiers in the last general, including about 400 cavalry. The soldiers are full of fighting spirit and look forward to fighting with the Liao army!"

"Okay! OK! OK!!! OK!!" Guo Rong praised the three good words "Good" and then said: "You went to Daizhou not long ago to escort the people to withdraw. Now you have to cut off the rear, and I am very reluctant to leave. But this is the case when fighting. You cannot tolerate love for your children, and you cannot tolerate favoritism and care for others. Since you are my commander in front of the palace, I will hand over the important task of cutting off the rear. I hope you will cooperate with General Yao and repel the Liao army's pursuit troops!"

Dong Zunhui quickly agreed. He had partnered with Yao Yuanfu many times and had a very good impression of Yao Yuanfu.

When the generals saw Guo Rong constantly praised Yao Yuanfu and Dong Zunhui, they were quite moved and they all bowed to the battle. Anyway, the arduous task of severing the rear was already wrapped by Yao Yuanfu and Dong Zunhui. Everyone was a little more noble and gave the emperor a good impression and made up for the loss just now.

Guo Rong laughed happily: "There are so many soldiers in the Zhou Dynasty who dare to fight. In the future, we will be able to defeat the Liao Dynasty and unify the world!"

Guo Rong discussed the retreat route with the generals, and soon it started to rain.

If there were no series of preparations in advance, Guo Rong would definitely be upset when he saw the heavy rain. But now the food and supplies in the army have been transported away in advance with the people, and the logistics burden in the army has been greatly reduced, so there is no need to mobilize troops to escort them specifically.

Although the heavy rain has delayed the marching pace of the army, it is also a big burden for the Liao army. The Liao army vanguard troops, which are mostly cavalry, are reluctant to let the war horses rush in the rain, and they are even less willing to let the horses struggle in the stream after the rising water, and the pursuit speed will be greatly slowed down, which is good news for the Zhou army.

Guo Rong looked at the rain getting heavier outside the tent door, and whispered: "Send the order, get some luggage, and prepare to set off."

Soon a communist conveyed this order to the Du Yuhou of each army, and Du Yuhou of the Du Yu passed these orders to the battalion commander. Soon, all the soldiers in the battalion received news.

Don’t think retreat is just a matter of one sentence. The soldiers need to pack up their luggage, pack up the food distributed to individuals, then cover the straw raincoat on it and start dismantling the tent. After the dismantling is completed, put the tent on the chariot distributed by each team of people, then stack the package and armor on it, carefully cover it with the strawcoat, and then tie it carefully with a rope. A soldier is selected from each team of people, pushing and pulling the chariot. The remaining soldiers only carry their own weapons, escorting around the chariot, and taking turns to push the chariot.

First, the baggage battalion troops were set off in advance. In addition to the camp tent and personal belongings, the baggage battalion also carried the troops' rations and arrows and other combat consumables.

After the worst defense of the baggage battalion retreated, the wounded battalion followed closely and began to move. The slightly injured soldiers had already returned to the team. The seriously injured soldiers were wearing straw raincoats and lying on the cart, and were pulled back by the civilians. The rain soaked into the wound, making everyone grit their teeth. Everyone had nothing to do and commented on the generals in the army.

Someone covered his chest that was coming into the water and said enviously: "I heard that the most blessed one is the wounded soldiers in Dong Zunhui Camp. When the sun was just right a few days ago, they started to move south, and they were all lying in the car and the sun was warm. It was so happy!"

"They started to move a few days ago. Isn't this a cowardly battle?" said a young wounded soldier jealously.

Then a veteran retorted, "What are you doing? General Dong is not a cowardly person! A few days ago, they took the initiative to go to Xinzhou, and rushed from Xinzhou to Daizhou, fighting a fierce battle with the Liao army. One thousand cavalry came back 400 people, but they rescued all the people of Daizhou from the Liao army's cavalry. Can this be a cowardly battle?!"

Many people nodded, and some said, "I heard that this time the rear was cut off, General Dong and General Yao Laojun, and the army of the army were broken off for the entire army! If such a person is afraid of fighting, I will pick out my eyes!"

The young wounded soldier quickly apologized, saying that he was unaware of the situation and was talking nonsense. I hope that the brothers would not be angry. Everyone knew in their hearts that if the wounded barracks wanted to transfer smoothly, it was all up to the brothers who had broken rears. If the troops who had broken rears suffered a big defeat, the entire army would collapse, and the wounded barracks with limited mobility would be abandoned by the soldiers, and everyone would be lonely ghosts! So everyone was desperately saying good things about the troops who had broken rears, hoping that they could stick to the end.

After the wounded barracks retreated, the field troops and local troops also began to retreat. Only Yao Yuanfu and Dong Zunhui were still camping on the spot.

Yao Yuanfu quickly came to Dong Zunhui's camp and said thankfully to Dong Zunhui: "Brother, fortunately, the carts you gave me allowed all the wounded and sick people in our army to evacuate in time. I have nothing good to do, so I bow to you here!"

As he said that, he was about to show his tribute, but Dong Zunhui stopped him: "What are you saying? You and I are brothers. Your business is mine. Besides, the wounded soldiers in my camp have evacuated long ago, and there are not many chariots distributed. Since my brother is here, let's discuss the matter of severing the rear."

Yao Yuanfu nodded, pointed to the map and said to Dong Zunhui: "We have two enemies in front of us, one is Liu Chengjun's pseudo-Han army, and the other is the main force of the Liao army who has not yet appeared. Liu Chengjun has recently ascended the throne. In order to shape his image and to express his determination with the Great Zhou, he will definitely pursue him."

Dong Zunhui nodded repeatedly: "Yes, this is the first battle after Liu Chengjun ascended the throne. He lost to us back then. Now when he sees us withdrawing, he must think it is a good opportunity!"

Yao Yuanfu smiled and said, "By the way, he lost to you back then, and now he can't change his fate of failure. The defenders in the outer city of Jinyang either surrendered or were captured. The number of defenders in the inner city is relatively small, and soldiers must be left to defend the city. The number of them will definitely not be large."

Dong Zunhui smiled and whispered in a low voice: "A few days ago, Wang Pu used a strategy. Liu Chengjun had to worry that the Liao army had to pretend to destroy Guo, so he would definitely leave a large number of defenders in the city. In other words, there were not many soldiers he went out of the city to pursue. We would definitely be able to retreat easily. The only ones worth considering are the Liao army, especially the main force of the Liao army who did not know the specific whereabouts!"

Yao Yuanfu nodded repeatedly to agree. The two of them had fought together, but now they have the same opinions when analyzing the situation. Such a partner is very comfortable.

Yao Yuanfu sighed: "Daoan, you have dealt with them in Daizhou. How strong is the Liao army going south this time?"

"Very strong!" Dong Zunhui said cautiously, "The thousand cavalry under my command are also elite, but they suffered a great loss in front of the Liao army. Six hundred cavalry were entangled by the Liao army and could not be withdrawn. We should also pay attention to this when we cut off the rear. Don't take advantage of the opportunity to take advantage of the loopholes."

Yao Yuanfu nodded repeatedly: "It's better to do this. Our two armies alternately cut off the rear and cover each other. If the main force of the Liao army arrives, we will join forces to defend the passage. If the Liao army tries to entangle us, we can get rid of it in time."

Dong Zunhui agreed repeatedly, and the two discussed it again and decided to send the logistics and supplies troops away first, and then use the main force to cut off the rear. Although this is a bit troublesome, if the main force is surrounded by the enemy, it can break through decisively, so as not to be unable to move with his family.

In addition to the wounded, Yao Yuanfu's troops still had more than 4,000 people, Dong Zunhui's troops still had more than 2,700 people, and the two armies had a total of 7,000 people, and the team was quite large.

The next morning, the heavy rain stopped, and the two armies immediately joined forces to retreat. However, God stopped raining at this time, Yao Yuanfu and Dong Zunhui were a little depressed - in such a good weather, the pursuers would definitely arrive.

Sure enough, by the afternoon, the Northern Han pursued soldiers were the first to rush up. About a thousand cavalry waving their sabers and rushed towards Dong Zunhui's troops who were cut off at this time without fear of death. Then, they contributed 200 useful war horses and more than a hundred horse corpses to Dong Zunhui's troops.

Everyone was very grateful to the Northern Han, especially when gnawing on the horse bones. They were speechless all night. At noon the next day, Dong Zunhui went to visit Yao Yuanfu and whispered: "The more than 40 scouts I sent out have not returned. It seems that the main force of the Liao army has caught up!"

Before Yao Yuanfu could reply, the lookout soldiers had already sounded the trombone of warning...

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Chapter completed!