Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

Xiao Siwen never expected that the most serious thing would happen in Zhuozhou! And suddenly and unprepared. (Apex Fiction)

The wind has already messed up his beard and sideburns, but he has long since ignored them, sitting on the horse with a pale face and staring blankly.

Earlier, when there were explosions and earth-shattering shouts and fighting sounds in the city, the city gates were closed. Xiao Siwen wanted to ask those who hadn't entered the city to rescue them, but the cavalry in his hand had no siege equipment for a while, so they had no choice but to walk around the city and shoot arrows.

The city has been fighting fiercely, and it has been a long time. Suddenly, the south gate of Zhuozhou was slowly opened...but no one came out. A thin puff of white smoke filled the opened gate, and almost all the soldiers of the Liao Army looked at the gate.

Now, dare to enter?

Xiao Siwen's face turned blue and white, and he was speechless. He had a feeling, as if an enemy had torn his chest open and said loudly: Come stab me! But he didn't dare to poke him at all... This was a completely humiliating thing.

"Who is the general of Zhou Jun in Zhuozhou?" Xiao Siwen thought of asking this at this moment.

Finally, a member of the general said: "The name is Guo Shao, a man from the Guards Department. I heard that he used to be a blacksmith. He married Fu Yanqing, a famous mansion, and married the younger sister of the Queen of Zhou Dynasty."

"Blacksmith?" Xiao Siwen almost cried, he was beaten so badly by a blacksmith!

Xiao Siwen said again: "Are you sure you have sent someone to report to Khan?"

The general said: "Yi Li personally brought his followers to report."

Xiao Siwen saw that the soldiers were downcast and the remaining troops were very thin. He had no choice but to order to retreat to Gu'an.

...

Guo Shao was not surprised when he heard that Xiao Siwen had retreated.

There is no news of the main force of the Khitan ruler on the north bank of Zhuo River going south, and even if they are going to come, it is unlikely that they will come today, because the sky is dark and it is almost evening.

The gunpowder smoke in the air dissipated, but there was still a faint smell of gunpowder smoke and a strong smell of blood. The fishy smell is a bit similar to the smell when standing on a fishing boat, which makes people feel a little nauseous.

"Humanistic Liao army is tough, killing him is like killing a pig! Hahaha!"

"They are all raised by parents, I don't believe that I can't kill them..."

The generals in the tent were talking wildly and excitedly, and many of them were covered in blood. Guo Shao's body was the cleanest, and he didn't go into battle himself. The lining he was wearing was just changed this morning, the white silk was spotless, and the ring mail was also brand new... But he felt that his hands had the most blood on them, and he couldn't wash them off at all.

However, after killing so many people, he felt that he would not be punished, but rewarded. The Liao Kingdom was the biggest enemy of the Zhou Dynasty, and Chai Rong was threatened by the Liao Kingdom as soon as he took the throne; besides, the Central Plains Dynasty still did not treat the barbarians they considered as human beings, and everyone was not good at it.

The people below were noisy, but Guo Shao didn't say a word. Everyone is already used to this way of getting along, it is too many times to form a habit, anyway, it is completely fine to ignore the leader and say anything.

"Yang Biao, Wang Zhang." Guo Shao raised his head suddenly and said, "And Qi Tingxun."

After hearing this, the three of them hurriedly stopped talking, and went forward to pay homage: "The last general is here."

Guo Shaodao: "Go and gather the members of the First Army, Second Army, and Fourth Army immediately, and assemble them to stand by at any time. Except for the general's personal soldiers riding, hand over the rest of the horses first... Luo Yanhuan, you lead the Third Army to receive all the Khitan horses."

"Design!" The four of them clasped their fists together.

Guo Shao said again: "Li Chuyun, you send someone down to get all the wounded soldiers out, and if you have a car, load it into the car, if you don't have a car, use a door stretcher to carry it."

He gave a lot of orders in one breath, and then said to Zuo You: "Mr. Zuo, help me to draft a memorandum. First report the victories, capture tens of thousands of people (there are exaggerated elements), surrender thousands of horses and thousands of heads, and write the rest... Then complain that the left wing of the Hu Jie army is fighting hard in the city, with heavy casualties. Don’t write the exact number of casualties, just express your feelings and describe the more miserable the better. By the way, the food and grass are exhausted, the houses and tents are damaged, and the wounded soldiers have no place to house; you want to send troops to escort them." The wounded soldiers traveled from Qigou Pass to the south bank of the Juma River...Finally, tell the officials that the main force of the Liao army is showing signs of going south, and Zhuozhou can't hold it, please order to retreat to the south bank of the Juma River as soon as possible, so as not to annihilate the entire army!"

He continued: "Where are the officials in Zhuozhou? Send a few people to call the Chinese army. Afraid that the Liao army will re-occupy Zhuozhou and slaughter the city, tell the officials to organize the people of Zhuozhou to flee to Qigou Pass tomorrow. The corpses left in the city will not be taken care of for the time being."

... Guo Shao made a call to confirm that everyone knew what he should do, and he fell silent again. Another burst of clarity.

In fact, he has pondered over the things in his heart many times, but now he has to straighten them out again, which is really a bit complicated and prone to omissions.

First of all, he judged that Xiao Siwen would probably be fooled if he chased him to Zhuozhou. (Of course, if you are not fooled, you can only find another way.)

Guo Shao is a person who is very good at learning, and this battle is based on the experience he has learned before. Three years ago, the small-scale siege and ambush battle in Wujun Town was so smooth... It made him truly realize that in this era of siege warfare, there is almost no street fighting, and both attackers and defenders will not consider it based on experience. So once Xiao Siwen was allowed to "break through" the city gate, and the Liao army had acted boldly and arrogantly before, the possibility of them not taking the opportunity to follow into the city to seek credit was relatively small.

After entering the city, they first disrupted the enemy's formation with smoke, raids, and false news, causing chaos; then heavy troops blocked the city gate from the flanks, and used the terrain to divide and encircle. He learned these things from Chai Kehong, a famous general of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

If it hadn't been for Chai Kehong to use this strategy twice, the first time against Li Jixun, and the second time against Guo Shao in Haozhou; it would be difficult for Guo Shao to come up with specific measures and deployment methods from scratch in a short period of time. Chai Kehong used to be his enemy, but he was also Guo Shao's teacher... This battle of Zhuozhou almost completely copied Chai Kehong's tactics.

As expected, the sudden ambush of Xiao Siwen's department went very smoothly. The Liao army is much stronger than the Southern Tang army in combat effectiveness, but the method of using troops may not be as brilliant as the famous Southern Tang general in the Huainan Battle, and may not be as good at all. If Chai Kehong was alive, and if he was in Guo Shao's position, he would be able to get rid of Xiao Siwen's department, and maybe he would do a better job.

...those are things that have been done. Now Guo Shao has returned to his goal: to return to Tokyo.

Whether or not to return to Tokyo does not depend on Guo Shao's will at all, but on the words of Emperor Chai Rong; otherwise, Guo Shao dares to resist the order?

But Chai Rong’s will is not that Guo Shao must stay in Hebei; he feels that Guo Shao’s troops are already on the front line in Zhuozhou, and he has heard Zhao Kuangyin’s "recommendation", so he feels that Guo Shao’s stay is the most appropriate choice... But what if Chai Rong thinks that Guo Shao is not the most appropriate person? Then the emperor will most likely deploy separately.

Therefore, Guo Shao's logic was to influence Chai Rong's judgment and make himself unsuitable for staying behind; he also thought of a more suitable candidate for Chai Rong, and that was Han Lingkun.

The first step is to cross the Juma River first; let Han Lingkun guard the Juma River at Qigou Pass. Han Lingkun's Long Jiejun's left wing was at the Qigou Pass, and they did not move without any losses... Obviously, it is more suitable to stay in Hebei than Guo Shao's troops who have just gone through the war and fled back to Jumahe with "heavy losses" and "tired soldiers".

How to go back to the south bank of Juma River? If you are timid, you can ask for an order to persuade... But Guo Shao, in order to prevent the night from having too many dreams, planned to kill him first, then play, and then run away; while asking for an order, he ran away.

Because of the first contribution of the Northern Expedition to annihilate the enemy "ten thousand people" in Zhuozhou, Guo Shao had the courage to use his merits to defeat it. Moreover, he has already reported the situation on the front line. In order to "prevent the entire army from being annihilated", he decided to withdraw at the moment. At that time, he would say that he misjudged the fighter plane and was suspected of dereliction of duty. As a result, the emperor was furious and reprimanded him for misjudging the fighter, but he didn't do anything to Li Gu; and this time Guo Shao made such a great military exploit, "misjudging the fighter" would be fine.

Right now, Guo Shao is preparing to realize his first step of vision first, deviously dealing with Chai Rong's will. A frontal conflict is courting death, and no one in the Great Zhou Dynasty had the strength and prestige to fight head-on with Chai Rong.

... Guo Shao looked up to the south, touched the waist ornament embroidered by the man himself, and said to himself: The Queen's words, never forget; but I can only do this, there is really no other way.

The queen must also hope that he will use this kind of proper method. She has trusted Guo Shao countless times to handle things well. Will this time be no exception? Guo Shao felt that what he did could satisfy her... Otherwise, in this situation, is there a better plan?

"Is there any movement from the main force of the Liao army in the north?" Guo Shao has asked this question many times in a row.

Li Chuyun was in charge of sending scouts to monitor the north, and hurriedly said: "There is no movement for now, at least it has not entered the range of dozens of miles."

Guo Shao glanced at the dim light outside the tent, and said softly: "It's too late today, the Liao army probably won't come."

What about tomorrow?

Guo Shao once again thought of how Chai Rong retreated after the decisive battle with the Liao lord's army. At that time, the main force of the Zhou army was unfavorable in the decisive battle. After the Liao army retreated in the evening, they unexpectedly retreated southward overnight, so that when the Liao army reacted, they had lost the opportunity to pursue them... The Zhou army cavalry still ran fast.

Chai Rong and Zhou Jun generals are experienced warriors who have experienced hundreds of battles. Guo Shao believed in their abilities and felt that he should learn how to run from them.

He said decisively: "Call the infantry battalions of the First Army, Second Army, and Fourth Army to 'escort' the wounded soldiers and retreat to Qigou Pass tonight."

The general hurriedly said: "All the ministries have just experienced a big battle, and they retreated overnight. I am afraid it will cause chaos. The organization will not be able to recover its combat power for a long time."

Guo Shao said: "You can go back alive, I don't plan to fight again. Throw away everything, only take dry food. Zuoyou, immediately issue a military order from the shogunate and order all ministries!"

"Yes, my lord." Zuo You clasped his fists and said.

Guo Shao's face was pale, and his hand on his forehead seemed to be tense. But the surrounding environment has long since returned to calm, only the groans of wounded soldiers and the noise of insects. With his left hand still resting on the waist ornament, he kept thinking: Am I doing this right?