Chapter 1118 Betrayal
At noon the next day, Fu Mengcha led more than 20,000 soldiers and horses to escort thousands of herdsmen and craftsmen to the outside of Siheyong Town and joined the army of Suli. In more than a day, Suli also gathered thousands of Xianbei herdsmen who had escaped. In this way, the number of his soldiers and horses once again reached 80,000 to 90,000, but the food could only last for less than ten days.
After joining the army of Fu Mengcha, Suli did not hesitate, and quietly sent someone to shoot an arrow into Siyonghe Town, and then led the 80,000 troops and headed towards the grassland without looking back. On the arrow he shot at the town, the information of the more than 20,000 rear troops was written on a cloth strip. The meaning was very clear, that is, I don’t want hundreds of thousands of cattle, sheep, horses and more than 20,000 troops in the rear army, and I will give them all to you.
On the town wall, Zhao Yun looked at the cloth with a smile on his face and said, "Su Li, this guy, is very good at using a knife to kill someone. Come on, pass the order, order the army to prepare to intercept these 20,000 Xianbei cavalry! I can't do anything with your 70,000 or 80,000 people, so how can I be afraid of 20,000 people?"
"General, if we really meet Su Li, if there are 40,000 or 50,000 cavalry behind us, then we have been fooled." A general next to him said worriedly;
"It's not that I believe Su Li's words, you can think about the number of Xianbei troops behind you. How many troops did Su Li have going south? How many were lost in Longhua? How many have left and returned to the grassland now? These things can be calculated by yourself. Moreover, even if we can roughly calculate how many rear horses are behind, we still have to ask An Qu Hou to find out carefully." Zhao Yun explained carefully to the generals around him;
When the generals heard it, they all nodded in agreement.
"Okay, give the order, all units should be ready for battle. After this battle, Yanbei County will be safe. Also send a large number of scouts to follow the Suli army. If you find any abnormality from them, report it as soon as possible!"
"Yes!"
In the evening, the scouts in the south and north sent back news that the Suli army in the north had arrived at Yison River Town. They set up a camp in Yison River Town. It seems that they are going to stay there for one night and continue to march north tomorrow.
The army in the south, just as Suli reminded, has a total of more than 23,000 soldiers and horses, and is less than 60 miles away from Siheyong Town. In other words, the two armies are only one day's distance between cavalry. In this situation, Zhao Yun decided not to intercept the Xianbei rear guard army in the south of Siheyong Town after repeated consideration, but let them pass Siheyong and then pursue them from behind. Because according to Suli, the rear guard army had less than two days of food and grass. If Suli really didn't lie to him, the rear guard army of the Xianbei people should have no food and grass.
Another reason why he let it go through Sihe Yongzhen was that Zhao Yun was not sure whether Suli had set such a trap to attack Xi's army from both sides. If so, once his 30,000 cavalry were held back by the rear army of the Xianbei, and Suli's 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers and horses turned south to attack him, then the 30,000 troops would most likely be wiped out in one battle.
After an afternoon of consideration, Zhao Yun decided to leave most of the rear army of the Xianbei army, but Zhao Yun was going to let the leaders and heads of those tribes return to the grassland. At that time, they would definitely cause trouble to Suli.
The next day, as time went by, the movements of the two Xianbei armies were continuously sent to Zhao Yun by scouts. The Suli tribe in the north had breakfast early in the morning, and then quickly moved out of the Yison River Town and marched towards the entrance of the grassland at the northernmost end of Yanbei Road in the north. The Xianbei army in the south did not wait until daybreak to start moving out of camp and heading north. According to the observation of the scouts, the Xianbei army in the south did not have much food as Suli said. The army of more than 20,000 people, except for a few soldiers who looked in good spirits, most of them looked weak.
It was not until noon that the army arrived at the west bank of the river outside Siheyong Town.
Like the army of Suli, Chu Lianxiong and Yun Qujinzhe were stunned by the situation in front of them after they led the troops to Siheyong. A few months ago, the town was still a small wooden wall, but now it is surrounded by a huge wooden wall. The huge wooden town wall of two or three feet high is something that the Xianbei cavalry who have not even had enough food can capture. However, the tens of thousands of troops of Suli have already disappeared as they expected.
At this time, even ordinary Xianbei soldiers understood that their more than 20,000 troops were abandoned by the Suli army. From the condition of the town's walls, it was obvious that the tens of thousands of troops led by Suli did not attack the town in front of them, but went straight through here and headed north to the grassland.
Looking at the powerless Xianbei cavalry on the other side of the river, Zhao Yun suddenly had an idea and called a general to explain it to him. The general nodded and left soon. Afterwards, the gate on the east side of the town was opened. The general, escorted by several cavalrymen, bypassed the south side of the town and headed towards the Xianbei army west of the Yison River.
Soon, they arrived in front of the Xianbei army. The leading general stopped his horse and stood two hundred steps away from the army, shouting loudly: "Listen, Xianbei cavalry in front, the troops are led by Chu Lianxiong of Chulian and Qu Jinzhe of Qujin. My general has something to give to the two generals!"
Chu Lianxiong and Qu Jinzhe in the army looked at each other and saw a hint of surprise in each other's eyes. Why did the Han general know that they were the leaders of the army? But they soon realized that it must be Suli's doing. They didn't expect Suli to do anything to get rid of them. Thinking of this, they were very angry.
Chu Lianxiong nodded to Qu Jinzhe, then turned to a general beside him and nodded. The general immediately rode out and said, "It is the two generals who are leading the troops. I wonder if the Han general has anything to give to the two generals!"
The Tang general looked at the Xianbei general in front of him and saw that his face was normal and he was in good spirits. He knew that he should be a confidant of Chu Lianxiong or Qu Jinzhe, so he threw the cloth in his hand to him and said loudly, "Suli has sold more than 20,000 of you. My general knows that you are out of food now. If you surrender, my general promises to spare your lives. Of course, if you want to die, we will also fulfill your wish."
With that, the Tang general turned his horse around and left without looking back.
The words of the Tang general shocked the surrounding Xianbei soldiers. In the uproar, the cloth was handed to Chu Lianxiong. Chu Lianxiong took it and looked at it. He was so angry that his face turned blue. He handed the cloth to Qu Jinzhe. At this time, the leaders of the tribes who heard the news had rushed to the two men. Everyone knew what the Han general had said just now, so they wanted to ask the two tribe leaders what they meant and what they should do.