Chapter 378: ** War (Part 2)

Late at night that day, Cao Quan led 3,000 soldiers transferred from Chuzhou to ** and met with Dong Zunhui's troops. Cao Quan also reported that Shi Shouxin has recently captured many spies from the Southern Tang Dynasty. It seems that Li Jingda's next target is Chuzhou.

Dong Zunhui smiled slightly and said to Cao Quan and others: "Today we have a fierce battle with Zhu Yuan, which also made Zhu Yuan think he has figured out our details. He will definitely make suggestions to Li Jingda tonight, and the Tang army will definitely be suppressed tomorrow. However, considering the distance between ** and Tang camp, the enemy should not set off too early, and they will definitely strive to arrive at ** at noon. In this way, the enemy's breakfast time should be postponed accordingly. This is our opportunity! When they are not eating or are about to eat, they suddenly enter the enemy camp and catch the enemy off guard."

The generals were very convinced, and Dong Zunhui quickly ordered the soldiers to hurry up and rest and prepare for tomorrow's battle. At this time, Zhang Qiong came forward and saluted Dong Zunhui and said, "General, the last general Zhang Qiong recovered from his injuries and requested to return to the team."

Dong Zunhui was very happy to see Zhang Qiong. Dong Zunhui never stings with his smile for such a guy who is loyal to him. He carefully patted Zhang Qiong's thigh and said nervously: "The injury has healed? Isn't it any effect on walking?"

Zhang Qiong smiled honestly: "Walking has no effect at all, and it is the golden sore medicine given by the general to work. I stayed in Chuzhou for the past few days to recover from my injuries. I have gained weight every day, so I came here to do something."

Dong Zunhui smiled and patted his shoulder and said to him: "There is a task to you. I plan to lead the entire army to attack the enemy early tomorrow morning, and I will be more than 70% sure to defeat the enemy. After the enemy collapses, there are two places to escape. One is Yangzhou, but the outcome of Yangzhou is unknown now, and the possibility of the enemy rushing over is very small; the other is Guaday, where the enemy leaves a large number of ferries there, and when they are defeated, they will definitely want to take a boat to run away. You have a short rest, and lead a thousand troops to quietly set out tomorrow morning, bypass the Tang camp to Guaday. After our army launches an offensive, you will control the ferry to prevent the enemy from escaping our ambush circle."

Zhang Qiong nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, General, I will do it for you!"

The next morning, Zhang Qiong led a thousand men to the camp and headed for Guaday. Dong Zunhui left Zhang Yi to guard the camp and guard the wounded and sick. He led Han Chongyun, Cao Quan and others to lead 5,200 soldiers to quietly touch the direction of the Tang camp.

Zhu Yuan was very depressed. He fought with Dong Zunhui yesterday and lost nearly 3,000 people. Only then did he find out the details of Dong's army and know that the enemy was only two thousand people. But he did not expect that when he reported to the King of Qi in the evening, the military commander Chen Jue sneered and asked: "General Zhu, the other party is only two thousand people, but you have an army of ten thousand. Why can't you capture the enemy's camp? Instead, you have so many people?"

Zhu Yuan quickly explained: "Mr. Chen doesn't know that the enemy has built solid fortifications and the military is also very well-established. Our army has only wooden shields and bamboo bows, which is really impossible to tear through other people's defense!"

Chen Jue snorted coldly and asked again: "Then why did you easily lead the army to retreat? As you said, the enemy is only 400 cavalry, but you have a reserve team of 2,000 people. With five times the enemy's strength, can't you win a battle?!"

Zhu Yuan had a very irritable temper, and he couldn't suppress his anger and said angrily: "If you only need to calculate the number of soldiers in a war, then what do we generals do? Besides, the enemy is four hundred cavalry, not four hundred infantry. You can't fight, what are you talking nonsense?!"

Zhu Yuan felt a little regretful just after he finished speaking, but he was unwilling to apologize immediately for his own sake and suddenly froze there. Li Jingda felt very comfortable. During this period, Chen Jue relied on his identity as a military commander and frequently interfered in his decisions, which annoyed Li Jingda. When Zhu Yuan, the naughty young man said this, Li Jingda felt relieved and happy!

Chen Jue's face suddenly turned red. His job was the Privy Councilor, and a Privy Councilor who had never fought a war was not recognized by everyone at all! Although those arrogant generals and officials were respectful on the surface, they kept criticizing them in their hearts, just like this honest Zhu Yuan!

Chen Jue was extremely angry and sneered: "Do you think I, the military inspector, have a false reputation? Do you think I can't cure your passive battle?! Take it off for me and kill it with a stick!"

Hearing Chen Jue say this, Li Jingda hurriedly stepped forward and advised, "Stop your anger, Lord Chen, please calm down! Now it is the time to use people. Although Zhu Yuan is reckless, he is also a general. I hope Lord Chen will forgive you more!"

Li Jingda persuaded him, and winked at the people around him. Cen Loujing and others also knelt down and begged Chen Jue to take back the order. Zhu Yuan was also scared and sweated and quickly knelt down and admitted his mistake.

Chen Jue felt satisfied and said with a smile: "I, Chen Jue, are not a narrow-minded person. Let's do this. Zhu Yuan's death penalty is avoided, but the crime of living cannot be forgiven. Come on, drag it down and hit the 20th board again!"

So Zhu Yuan, who had worked hard to fight, could only cover his butt and stay on the bed for a night, cursing at Chen Jue in his heart. The next morning, the personal soldiers walked into the tent and said to Zhu Yuan: "General, the King of Qi just passed the order, and the whole army packed their luggage and prepared to go to **."

Zhu Yuan frowned, "Didn't you have breakfast yet? Why are you in a hurry to clean up now?"

The personal soldier quickly replied: "Mr. Chen, the military supervisor..."

"It's Chen Jue's old man!" Zhu Yuan corrected his anger.

"Yes," the personal soldiers quickly changed their words: "Chen Jue said, "When everyone packed up their luggage, they would have breakfast. In this way, everyone would still have the energy to fight. Otherwise, after they had breakfast, they would lose their energy when they arrived, and they would not be able to continue attacking Zhou Jun camp!"

Zhu Yuan sneered at this, "A old man Chen Jue will talk nonsense. Do he plan to fight the Zhou army and die a lot of soldiers and save more food! Humph!"

The personal soldiers did not dare to answer, and Zhu Yuan slowly stood up with his waist, but his butt still hurt. He heard Zhu Yuan say with a calm face: "What are you waiting for? Get rid of it quickly, so that old Chen Jue will come to find trouble again!"

At this time, Dong Zunhui led his army to the vicinity of Tang Camp and quietly hiding. The soldiers were all stunned when they watched the Tang army soldiers take the initiative to dismantle the village wall, clean up the antlers, and resist horses. Could it be that the leader of the Tang army is also from our side? Otherwise, how could he cooperate so much?!

The soldiers hid in the woods, happily watching the Tang army soldiers split the horses and used firewood to burn them. They happily watched the Tang army soldiers sweep away the caltrops buried on the ground with a broom. They happily watched the Tang army soldiers piled their armor onto the nearby cart and tied them up with ropes for several times!

Dong Zunhui smiled slightly and whispered to the soldiers: "Cao Quan follows me to lead a thousand infantry to charge. Han Chongyun, you will continue to ambush with five hundred cavalry and the remaining infantry. After our army lures Li Jingda out, you will suddenly come out!"

So Dong Zunhui and Cao Quan each led 500 troops out of the hidden place, rushed towards the direction of Tangying.

Although Li Jingda and Chen Jue ordered the entire army to pack their luggage, they still kept a reserve team of 2,000 people to guard against the harassment of the Zhou army. Seeing that Dong Zunhui indeed appeared, Li Jingda immediately ordered the soldiers to rush out of the camp and fight with Dong Zunhui's troops. After seeing the scale of the attack on the Zhou army, Li Jingda and Chen Jue laughed loudly and happily led more than a hundred cavalry to watch the battle.

Seeing more than a hundred clearly-clad cavalry coming out of the gate of the Tang camp, and several generals and officials in the center of the cavalry were wearing brand new tiled armor, which was obviously the high-ranking officials of the Tang army. According to Dong Zunhui's understanding of the Tang army, the war horses in the army were basically equipped with the guards of the generals, and the identities of these people were about to emerge.

Dong Zunhui immediately ordered: "Blow the trumpet and the whole army charge!"

Hearing Dong Zunhui's orders, the trumpet soldiers immediately blew the horn trumpet hanging around their necks. Han Chongyun heard the trumpet and immediately led the army out. Especially after seeing the Tang cavalry, Han Chongyun immediately led the five hundred cavalry to rush over to them.

Li Jingda and Chen Jue were elegant and graceful when they did not join the battle, and they felt a shiny moment, but when they saw the charge of 500 cavalrymen under Han Chongyun, they were immediately panicked. Before they could give orders, Han Chongyun had already crashed into Li Jingda's team and rushed to Li Jingda and killed him.

King Li Jingda of Qi was the brother of Li Jing, the king of Southern Tang, and he was a royal relative. His ability to obtain the position of commander was due to blood ties, not his own military achievements. Seeing Han Chongyun killing him, Li Jingda's first reaction was not to order an interception, but to turn his horse and run into the camp and flee in a hurry.

Chen Jue got the position of Privy Councilor by flattering and flattering, and he didn't have much real ability. Seeing King Qi fleeing desperately, Chen Jue ran away quickly, but he didn't give any orders!

The two generals fled so irresponsibly, and the remaining Southern Tang cavalrymen were not willing to resist, and they all ran away with their heads in their arms.

Han Chongyun then easily captured Li Jingda's commanding flag and immediately ordered the soldiers to shout: "Li Jingda is dead! Li Jingda is dead!"

When the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty heard the shouts of the Zhou army, they looked back and saw that Li Jingda's commanding flag was under the control of the Zhou army, and the camp was in chaos. Everyone had no fighting spirit, threw down their weapons and ran back.

Li Jingda also heard the Tang army's shouts, but before he could turn back to refute, he was surprised to find hundreds of Zhou army cavalry stuck behind him. Li Jingda had no time to refute and quickly fled to Guaday.

After Li Jingda escaped, the Tang army soldiers in the camp lost their backbone and all fled everywhere. Dong Zunhui took the opportunity to lead the army to rush forward, intercepting and chasing countless enemy troops, killing countless enemy troops. A few Southern Tang soldiers who were loyal to Li Jing just took off their armor from the baggage chariot and were hacked to death by Dong Zunhui's troops! In this service, the Tang army was defeated!

...


Chapter completed!