The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 236 Shi Le’s self-rescue

Shi Le stumbled back to Yecheng with the remnants of the defeated army, and shouted louder: "Close the door, close the door!"

The soldiers guarding the city looked at Shi Le and could not imagine that this was Shi Le who had led his army to Qinghe County not long ago.

Didn't King Zhao go to surrender? What is going on in front of him?

But the city gate order had seen the world after all, and after confirming Shi Le, he immediately closed the city gate.

As soon as the city gate closed, Wei Xiong's Yueqiu appeared on the horizon, and the smoke and dust billowing up, like a black cloud.

Shi Le had never thought that there was such a cavalry in the world. Their horses seemed to be exhausted and followed closely behind him, giving him a feeling of suffocation.

The soldiers who had finally reorganized themselves in the rout were shot through by them with armor-piercing arrows, or they directly pulled out the bloody scimitar and slaughtered the soldiers.

It is not easy for the defeated army to regain their morale to compete with them. Whenever the Yueqiu blade passes by, the bloody death without complete corpses directly makes the soldiers' courage, which they had just managed to muster up, just drift in the wind. gone.

It can only be said that Yueqi is a typical special unit that bullies the weak and fears the strong.

When fighting head-on, you are really submissive. You can hit any cavalry, but if you use Yueqi to defeat the army, then Yueqi means that you will strike hard. No matter what type of army you are, as long as you dare to counterattack, I will kill you. !
The Yueqi Battalion was specially prepared under Liu Tai's instruction for special generals like Shi Le who had experienced repeated defeats.

Shi Le wants to gather his soldiers, wants to preserve his strength, wants to be defeated without being defeated, what a dream!They pursued him all the way from Qinghe County to Yecheng.

Many of Shi Le's cavalrymen sprained their feet while running. Some became lame in unsuitable terrain, and even died of exhaustion.

But Yue Qi was still biting them behind Shi Le, looking like he would chase them till the end of time.

Not only did Yue Qi choose horses with excellent endurance, but more importantly, Liu Tai equipped Yue Qi with horseshoes at his feet, which significantly improved Yue Qi's long-lasting combat ability.

Among the three treasures of cavalry, the saddle and double-sided stirrups were basically relatively mature at the end of the Jin Dynasty. However, things like horseshoes still had to wait until the Tang Dynasty to come out. If they were truly used on a large scale, I am afraid we would have to wait until Genghis Khan's iron hoofs.

But now, Yueqi's horseshoes have completely broken what Shi Le thought was the limit of cavalry combat.

Shi Le returned to Yecheng and watched Yue Qi being isolated by the city gate. Then he looked at the generals around him. Only a few generals such as Shi Hu, Kui'an, and Kong Chang were still alive in this battle royale.

As for the soldiers under his command, there were clearly 12 elite soldiers when he went on the expedition, but now the remaining soldiers are less than 5000.

No matter what, I finally came back, and I felt more or less safe after escaping back to Yecheng.

The news that Shi Le had escaped with his remnant soldiers was not well hidden at all, especially when Yue Qi was still outside Ye City, chewing dried meat that had been crushed into pieces and wandering around Ye City, as if he would break through at any time!
In contrast, the soldiers in Ye City looked at Wei Xiong so warily, but Wei Xiong would take out his sword from time to time and make gestures at the soldiers in the city.

To be honest, the killing from Qinghe County to Yecheng was really passionate. At this moment, I was tired, and the other party was even more tired.

After slashing all the way, although my body told me that I was very tired, my spirit was very excited. I wanted to take the cavalry and charge directly into Yecheng to see if I could achieve a cavalry siege!
Of course, this kind of thought was just in his mind. Wei Xiong knew very well that his Yueqi was notoriously difficult to hit head-on.

Of course, if you go all out and hit a horse, you may be able to go all out, but this is not a head-on attack.

Therefore, Wei Xiong just took his soldiers for a while, and then began to retreat slowly, twenty miles away, and chose a high ground with a wide view and close to the water source, and began to arrange for the soldiers to take turns to rest while waiting for the arrival of Liu Tai's army. .

To attack a city, you definitely need infantry and siege weapons. Anyway, I have no choice.

At this moment, Shi Le breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Wei Xiong retreating with Yue Qi.

I have been fighting for so long, but I have never seen a cavalry with such a strong pursuit. If it weren't for Yecheng, I would have been caught by the opponent sooner or later.

Even so, Shi Le relaxed and recalled the soldiers he lost in Qinghe County, but his heart ached beyond words.

This is the foundation that I have accumulated after years of fighting in the north and south. Once it is dissipated, it is not a great loss of vitality, but a serious damage to the foundation.

Coupled with the fatigue of chasing all the way, Shi Le fell off his horse and fainted.

There is no other way. If anyone had been hunted for two days and relaxed now, he would still faint!
But it didn't matter that he fainted, the people around him rushed to help him and sent him back to his mansion first.

When Shi Le woke up faintly, the person standing next to him was Shi Xing, the Crown Prince of Zhao. Shi Le stretched out his hand and said, "Hurry up and help me up!"

Shi Xing quickly helped Shi Le, and Shi Le pressed his head and said:

"I fainted in public. I was afraid that it would cause a lot of trouble. How long has it been? Who is in charge of the overall situation in the city?"

"Father, the right lord, left prime minister, general Kui, general Kong and others are now in power together!" Shi Xing couldn't help but say.

"Come here, please straighten your clothes and I'll go inspect the city!" Shi Le said in a deep voice.

Soon, Shi Le went to summon his men. It can be said that these generals were relieved to see Shi Le awake.

For them, Shi Le is still alive, and they still have a backbone. If Shi Le dies, then this war will not be fought at all, and many of them will take the initiative to surrender to Liu Tai.

"Prime Minister Zuo, please tell me about my absence these days!" Shi Le said to Diao Ying.

Zhang Bin was slightly startled, but didn't say much. He understood that in a moment of crisis, his origin as a Han family would still make Shi Le instinctively wary. Otherwise, Shi Le should let him introduce the situation.

And Shi Le naturally understood that if he asked Diao Ying to introduce the situation, he would be a little alienated from Zhang Bin.

But Shi Le knew that Zhang Bin was a Han after all. If he was strong, he would be open to all rivers. But now Liu Tai held high the banner of the Han and defeated him, as if he had become the protector of the Han.

Under such circumstances, Shi Le really couldn't guarantee whether Zhang Bin would defect to Liu Tai.

Because Shi Le knew very well that he really couldn't take refuge in him. If he could take refuge in him, he would have done so long ago!
That's why Shi Le now only believes in people like himself, who are from mixed backgrounds, and he is somewhat suspicious of the Han people.

After all, I am familiar with the history of Han Dynasty. Didn’t the Han people always say that if they are not my race, their minds must be different!

At first, the Han people had no different conditions, but now the Han people's savior is outside, and Shi Le doesn't dare to gamble!
Victory makes people high-spirited, and everyone dares to use it. Failure makes people full of doubts, and everyone looks like a traitor.

At this time, Shi Le was at his most vulnerable, because the 12 elite men he relied on most were wiped out in one battle, and Shi Le's biggest support was gone. This feeling was like making money in a lifetime, and only left after struggling in the stock market. Down about 5%.

From then on, everyone would speak slowly and softly, and he would be more cautious when doing things. He was already very powerful before he collapsed.Diao Ying quickly said to Shi Le, "While the king has been resting for two days, Liu Tai's army has gradually reached the boundaries of Yecheng.

At the same time, news came from Jinyang County and Anping County that the two armies of Zhao An and Wang Sang were attacking.

Liu Tai planned to attack us. It must have been premeditated. Being able to attack from three directions at the same time must have been agreed upon! "

"He only issued the order after I attacked Qinghe County. It turns out that the series of beacons and smoke were just a signal to attack at the same time... What a generous move!" Shi Le couldn't help but sigh.

"It's okay. If you lose the land, it's all gone. After losing the battle in Qinghe County, you need to throw something away after all!"

Shi Le couldn't help but asked: "When Liu Tai's army first arrived to set up camp, did they attack and harass them?"

Several people looked at each other, and finally Zhang Bin said:
"The commotion in Yecheng was suppressed by several generals, so when Liu Tai's army arrived, they could not spare the power to attack!"

"Thank you for your hard work!" Shi Le knew that he must have fainted in front of everyone, which caused panic in Yecheng.

And several of them had just been defeated, and their strength was completely lost. Even if the chaos was successfully quelled, a lot of people were lost in the process.

The only good thing is that Liu Tai's infantry came to slow down, otherwise when the time comes to attack Yecheng, Yecheng may not be able to be saved!

"Wait a while, I will go out of the city to patrol and stabilize people's hearts, but today Liu Tai's army is watching with eager eyes. Do you have any tips to solve the crisis?" Shi Le couldn't help but said, "Youhou, what do you think?"

"First of all, we need to stabilize the confidence in the city and put all supplies under military control. If used sparingly, we can last for more than a year!"

Zhang Bin couldn't help but remain silent for a moment when he said this, because Zhang Bin knew that as long as the siege lasted for half a year, the following days would be very cruel to the Han people in the city.

"This is easy to talk about!" Shi Le looked at Zhang Bin and asked, "What's next?!"

Zhang Bin came back to his senses and said to Shi Le, "We need to ask for help from His Majesty Liu Yao and recruit Tao Bao who is stationed along the Yellow River to lead his army to come back for reinforcements!"

"It's easy to say that Ah Bao will come back, but will Liu Yao rescue him?" Kui An couldn't believe it.

Zhang Bin explained: "In the final analysis, the battle between Liu Tai and the king is that Liu Tai wants to surrender the king, use the road to attack Luoyang Chang'an, and restore the unification of the Han Dynasty.

In order to respect His Majesty Liu Yao's national policy, the King fought to the death with Liu Tai in Qinghe County, but unfortunately he lost to Liu Tai by a single move.

Now that we are trapped in Yecheng, we still need His Majesty Liu Yao to send troops to support us! "

"So, Liu Yao will come to rescue?" Shi Hu was a little unbelievable when he heard Zhang Bin's words.

Shi Hu couldn't help but look at Diao Ying, because compared to Han counselors like Zhang Bin, Shi Hu believed more in counselors like Diao Ying who came from a foreign race.

At least some of my thoughts are relatively similar to those of Diao Ying.

Diao Ying also nodded in approval and said, "We and Liu Yao are at best political enemies, not enemies.

If we are destroyed by Liu Tai in the posture of defending Zhao and Liu Yao does not send troops to rescue us, I am afraid that no one will work for Zhao in the future.

However, if we are rescued by Liu Yao this time, even if we can still be independent, I am afraid that Prince Zhao will have to go to Chang'an to be a hostage!
However, as long as Liu Tai is not destroyed, King Zhao will not be worried about his life! "

When Shi Le heard Diao Ying's words, he couldn't help but fell silent. This kind of decision was quite painful for Shi Le.

At this time, Zhang Bin continued to speak, "This decision must be made quickly. Now Liu Tai has only just arrived in Yecheng. He has not cleared the peripheral defense facilities of Yecheng, nor has he surrounded Yecheng, so we still send people out to ask for help." possible.

But if the delay is too long, even if we want to send people out to ask for help, we may not be able to do it. "

Shi Le took a deep breath after hearing Zhang Bin's words, and immediately made up his mind and sent an envoy to Chang'an to ask for help.

But at this time, Shi Le looked at everyone with some worry and said:

"The Yueqi in Liu Tai's army are very good at running and attacking. If we send an envoy out, we may be overtaken by the Yueqi!"

"This matter is simple, drive the people in the city away from Yecheng, and we divide the envoys into two groups.

Yibo infiltrated into the common people and headed to Chang'an on foot, disguised as common people.Another wave of good riding went fast.

At this moment, Liu Tai's army has not surrounded the whole city, and it is impossible for them to intercept all the people! "Zhang Bin quickly gave a solution.

Shi Le nodded, with a relieved smile on his face, and said: "You, Youhou, will make the arrangements! I will patrol the whole city to stabilize people's hearts."

Soon, Shi Le began to appear in everyone's sight. With the appearance of Shi Le, everyone in Ye City finally calmed down.

It is definitely unrealistic to say that they can push Liu Tai back, but at least it is feasible to rely on Yecheng for defense!
Zhang Bin began to drive the people out of the city. Zhang Bin immediately found his father and said:

"I arranged for several concubines to give birth to children among the refugees. If my Zhang family encounters misfortune, I'm afraid I will need them to continue my Zhang family's bloodline!"

"Can the others not be able to leave?" Zhang Bin's father was worried when he heard Zhang Bin's words.

"My direct descendants of the Zhang family are all under the eyes of King Zhao. I'm afraid I won't be able to escape." Zhang Bin shook his head and said to his father,

"Now that King Zhao is trapped in the isolated city, it is the time when suspicion is the most serious. If you act rashly, you will suffer unnecessary suspicion."

"I understand!" Zhang Bin's father nodded solemnly after hearing Zhang Bin's words.

To be honest, no one expected that Shi Le, who seemed to be doing well and whose vision was gradually reaching its peak, would suddenly take a turn for the worse in such a short period of time and fall directly into such a desperate situation.

Even the direct lineage of the Zhang family may not be able to be preserved, so the concubine can only be given away to give birth to a son to continue the incense.

But what can the Zhang family do? This is the price they may pay for participating in the struggle for hegemony in the world!

At this time, Liu Taizheng quietly looked at Yecheng in front of him and said, "Yecheng, we meet again!"

(End of this chapter)