Chapter 1,269: Divide the Forces and Attack

That night in Luoyang, Huangfu Chaobo was handling government affairs in the palace. When he was about to return to the palace to rest, he suddenly received a report from outside the palace that Shi A was outside asking for an audience. Huangfu Chaobo and Shi A must have something to ask for an audience at night, so they immediately summoned him into the palace.

"Your humble servant Shi A kowtows to the king!"

"Get up! The general asked for an audience at night, but what is the important matter?"

"Reply to the king, Zhang Taishou of Hedong sent a pigeon letter to the county to report."

Huangfu Chaobo was stunned. Didn't they say that the Yellow River was in flood season and the two sides had lost contact?

Shi A seemed to have seen Huangfu Chaobo's doubts, and hurriedly introduced Huangfu Chaobo to the flying rope set up between Hukou Town and Caisangjin. Huangfu Chaobo smiled knowingly when he heard this. Isn't this the flying rope commonly used by ordinary people in remote mountainous areas to cross the river in reality? However, the ropes and iron ropes in the game are not realistic now, so they use this to convey messages, which is also a good idea.

Huangfu Chaobo took the pigeon letter handed over by Shi A and read through the few lines of words in a few seconds. It turned out that Dingyang City had been captured, and then there were requests for merit and some subsequent arrangements. After carefully reading Tian Yu's arrangements, he thought about it, picked up the pen and wrote the word "agree", then stamped his seal on it, handed it to Shi A and said: "Send this pigeon letter directly to Hedong, and ask Zhang Taishou to send it to Shangjun as soon as possible."

...

Unlike Huangfu Chaobo's happiness, Tian Yu's face was already covered with frost and his face was as heavy as water in Dingyang City at this time, because although he reminded him repeatedly, Hua Xiong was still ambushed. More than 2,000 of the 10,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalry were lost. Although the coalition forces also lost 2,000 cavalry and more than 1,000 infantry, the fact of being ambushed was undeniable.

According to Tian Yu's arrangement, Hua Xiong only needed to follow the coalition army steadily, wait for the right opportunity, and take a bite from time to time, so that the retreating coalition army could not retreat easily. After She Gan's 10,000 infantrymen caught up, the coalition army would definitely lose a large piece of meat.

Perhaps because he had been holding back for too long, Hua Xiong wanted to catch up with the retreating coalition army as soon as possible after leading the cavalry. In addition, there were too many places where ambushes could be set in Shangjun. After passing through several places where ambushes were easy to set, Hua Xiong finally got carried away and led the cavalry all the way.

Finally, they were ambushed by 9,000 infantrymen and 7,000 cavalrymen led by Xu Huang, Liu Bao, and Jiang Jian. The 10,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalry were divided into two sections. Fortunately, Hua Xiong was also a brave general in the army, and he was good at cavalry, so he reacted quickly. After a fierce battle between the two sides, Hua Xiong rushed out of the coalition ambush at the cost of 2,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalrymen, and the coalition army also lost 1,000 cavalrymen and more than 2,000 infantrymen.

Although Hua Xiong seemed to have gained some advantage on the surface, after all, the coalition army suffered more losses, if Hua Xiong could follow Tian Yu's advice and act cautiously, there would not be much loss at all.

What made Tian Yu happy was that after being ambushed, Hua Xiong finally calmed down and stopped underestimating the enemy. He sent someone to inform She Gan behind him, and at the same time sent someone back to Dingyang to apologize. At the same time, he led the remaining 7,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalry to follow the coalition army like a leech, rushing up and biting from time to time. Once he succeeded, he would not fight and retreat directly.

Once Hua Xiong changed his tactics, Xu Huang felt a little tricky. Fortunately, Xu Huang's purpose was only to buy time for the baggage convoy, so the two families dragged on like this until the next day when She Gan's 10,000 infantrymen arrived to join Hua Xiong's army. At this time, it was only 40 miles away from Gaonu City, and the next 40 miles was the narrowest section of the official road between Dingyang and Gaonu.

Seeing this, Hua Xiong and She Gan had to stop the pursuit and watched Xu Huang lead the army to retreat into the camp that had been built long ago.

Of course, along the way, the coalition led by Xu Huang suffered heavy losses. Under Hua Xiong's constant food shortage, the coalition finally had only 5,000 cavalry and 6,000 infantry to evacuate safely, which was equivalent to the loss of 3,000 infantry and nearly 2,000 cavalry along the way. Fortunately, more than 10,000 craftsmen and their families had already retreated safely,

and there were not many losses.

The loss of the Tang army, except for the 2,000 casualties in the first ambush, was less than 200 cavalry. Seeing this result, Hua Xiong once again felt ashamed of his previous underestimation of the enemy. If it were not for his underestimation, the loss of the Tang army could have been reduced by at least half.

The army set up camp ten miles east of the coalition camp, and then waited for Tian Yu to lead the army to join.

The next afternoon, the army that had transported food and supplies had arrived, and Pang Tong also came with the army. Tian Yu needed to arrange things in Dingyang before coming. Now Fu Yang and Yang Gan have become the temporary county magistrate and county lieutenant of Dingyang respectively, and the soldiers lost in the troops have been replenished according to Tian Yu's idea. Although Dingyang City is now Yang Gan's temporary county lieutenant, and he also controls 2,000 soldiers, his subordinates have basically been scattered among the various units of the Tang army. This can be regarded as a kind of precaution for him, but Yang Gan did not care about it.

After Pang Tong arrived, he ordered an attack on the camp of the coalition forces. Facing the attack of the Tang army, the camp of the coalition forces was breached after only one day. The coalition forces withdrew to Gaonu again overnight. Afterwards, the Tang army continued to advance steadily, and finally on the 20th, the army arrived at the Gaonu city of Jiangshan.

At this time, in Gaonu City, in addition to the 5,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry who retreated back to the city, there were also the 2,000 guards that Jiangshan had left in the city at the beginning, and the 5,000 new recruits a few days ago, a total of 16,000 troops. In addition, there were only 5,000 infantry who retreated back to the city, because Xiongba had led his 1,000 soldiers south and retreated to his own Diaoyin City. In addition to all the soldiers, the Tang army outside the city also had 10,000 guards and 10,000 civilian workers and craftsmen.

Tian Yu, who arrived in Gaonu, did not start attacking Gaonu immediately, but ordered She Gan to lead 10,000 soldiers, 5,000 guards and 5,000 civilian workers, as well as 2,000 Xiliang cavalry, to the south of Diaoyin City. Tian Yu himself led the remaining troops to continue to stay under Gaonu City, preparing for the siege.

On the top of Gaonu City, watching the Tang army split more than 20,000 troops and horses to the south, Jiangshan and the remaining king shook their heads helplessly: "The Tang army really split up!"

Fa Zheng knew this clearly. In his opinion, as long as the Tang army's commander was not stupid, he would definitely split up his troops to capture Diaoyin first, solve the threat behind him, and then attack Gaonu.

After just taking Diaoyin City, Jiangshan was the only one left among the three families in Shangjun. For Jiangshan, this was not good news, but everyone was powerless. The strength of the two families was too different. Gaonu City was already in trouble to protect itself, and it was even more impossible to send troops to help Diaoyin.

Now Jiangshan was thinking that he could hold out longer under the attack of the Tang army, and then the princes around the Tang army suddenly took action and forced the Tang army to retreat, but this hope was too slim.