Chapter 1,289: The Fall of Handan City

Zuo Xiao's move was stopped by the soldier sent to Nancheng: "General, it's too late. There are at least nearly a thousand Wei troops entering the city in the first wave, and there are thousands more Wei troops behind them. General, there are tens of thousands of Wei troops outside the city, and we can no longer defend it."

The personal guard yelled in Colonel Zuo's ears twice before he woke up. After all, he was also a veteran who had experienced many battles. After a moment of reflection, Colonel Zuo gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go back to the General's Mansion and assemble the two men." Thousands of elite cavalry were preparing to break out, and immediately gave orders to the elite soldiers behind the other city walls, asking them to assemble towards the west gate as soon as possible. If they did not arrive in time, tell them to disperse and break out, and then converge towards Fukou Pass. Now Handan City has been lost, we must protect Fukou Pass."

As he said that, several soldiers immediately got on their horses and headed towards the west city. Colonel Zuo happened to be next to the military camp behind the east gate at this time. He immediately ordered the thousand soldiers in the camp to follow him quickly toward the general's palace in the city. And go.

Soon a group of more than a thousand people rushed to the side of the general's mansion. At this time, two thousand cavalry had already gathered and headed towards the west of the city following the order from Colonel Zuo. But when they arrived at the west city, soldiers of the Wei army began to appear on the city wall. They should be the Wei army attacking from the southern city wall and along the city wall. The guard general of the north gate has led the defenders at the top of the city to fight with the Wei army. Not only the soldiers on duty, but also more than a thousand soldiers and horses in the military camp below the city have joined the battle group.

Seeing that there were more and more Wei soldiers at the top of the city, at this moment, another group of soldiers holding torches appeared on the street behind them. When one of the captains looked back, he found that it was When the Wei army, which had already entered the city, saw this situation, he shouted loudly: "General, we can't delay, get out of the city immediately!"

No one expected that the Wei army would arrive so quickly. Colonel Zuo knew that he could not delay any longer, so he gritted his teeth and said: "No, you open the city gate first and go out. I will lead the cavalry to charge for a while, kill these pursuers, and then leave the city." . Remember, after you leave the city, you can disperse and meet at Fukou Pass."

With that said, Colonel Zuo turned his horse's head, took the lead, and killed the pursuing Wei army behind him. The Wei troops who entered the city did not expect that the Tang army would launch a counterattack at this time, nor did they expect that there were more than 2,000 cavalry in the city. They were caught off guard. The nearly 1,000 Wei troops who followed them were killed and wounded by the cavalry led by Zuo Xiao. , but that's it. Behind these nearly a thousand Wei troops were a larger number of Wei soldiers. Colonel Zuo also turned around when he saw the situation was good, and led the cavalry to quickly withdraw and run towards the west gate.

When Zuo Xiao arrived at the west gate again, nearly a thousand elite soldiers from the north gate also rushed to the west gate. At Zuo Xiao's order, the Tang soldiers rushed out of Handan City like a gust of wind.

What surprised everyone in the Tang army who rushed out of Handan City was that no cavalry from Zhao Army appeared outside the city. When the army was nearly two miles away from Handan City, Colonel Zuo stopped and looked back at Handan, which was in flames. He took a few unwilling glances at the city, and then ordered to the soldiers beside him: "Everyone, continue heading west, don't stop, and try to get to Fukou Pass before dawn. As long as you get to Fukou Pass, everyone will be safe." "

After saying that, he dismounted, helped an injured soldier onto his horse, picked up his weapon, and headed towards Fukou Pass without looking back. When the other soldiers saw this, no one was injured. They all dismounted and gave up their mounts to the injured Zepao beside them.

It was also Zuo Xiao's good luck. For various reasons, Xu You and Yan Liang did not tell King Zhao Lu Bu that they would attack the city overnight. In their view, their mission was to capture the city. As for the defenders inside the city, Zhao Jun didn't care how much he could escape, so when Zuo Xiao and others left the west gate, Zhao Jun's cavalry was not seen outside the west gate.

At this time, in the Zhao army camp, Lu Bu also looked at the Handan City that suddenly burst into flames with a surprised look on his face. He soon understood,

The Wei army must have stolen the city at night, but as an ally, I knew nothing about it.

Thinking of this, Lu Bu couldn't help but get angry, and he was about to mobilize all his troops to return to Bingzhou, but was finally persuaded by Cao Xing. After all, their purpose of sending troops this time was to severely damage the Tang Army's cavalry. If they could achieve their goal with the help of the Wei Army, it would be very beneficial to the Zhao Army's subsequent war.

Sure enough, when the soldiers Lu Bu sent to Yan Liang's camp to inquire came back, the news they brought was that Yan Liang just said lightly that he had forgotten it.

In a rage, Lu Bu led 30,000 Zhao cavalry and chased the Tang army in the direction in which the Tang army had fled. Unfortunately, Zhao Jun's response was too slow. By that time, most of them had fled into Fukou Pass, leaving Lu Bu could only look at the pass and sigh.

After entering Fukou Pass, Zuo Xiao couldn't help but feel sad when he counted the number of people. Including the newly recruited soldiers, there were more than 12,000 soldiers and horses in Handan City. However, in the end, with the smooth entry into Fukou Pass, There were less than 3,000 soldiers. The rest of the soldiers were either trapped in Handan City or escaped while fleeing.

Inside Fukou Pass, Colonel Zuo was sitting on the tower above the gate. Looking at the Zhao army's cavalry showing off their power outside the pass, he couldn't help but secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, after he left Handan, he ordered the army to march towards Fukou Pass. Otherwise, It is estimated that few of the 3,000 people under him could successfully escape from Zhao Jun's cavalry.

After calming himself down a bit, Zuo Xiao said to He Ge, the commander of Fukou Pass: "Captain He, I will write a letter of apology to the king immediately. Please send it to Yecheng immediately. Before the king's new order arrives, the three thousand soldiers under my command will be handed over to you. Don't take it lightly. You must be vigilant and don't make the same mistake as I did."

"General, don't worry. The king is wise and will definitely not blame you. You have been busy all night. You can take the brothers who have withdrawn to rest first. The matter of guarding the pass is up to you. Leave it to me!" Hege replied respectfully;

Soon, Zuo Xiao wrote down the process of the fall of Handan City on a pigeon letter and handed it to Hege. He then went down to the pass to rest. Although it took less than two hours from the time when the Wei army broke the city to the time when he entered Fukou Pass, he kept running. It would be a lie to say that he was not tired. Moreover, he had basically not had a good rest in the past few days since the battle of Handan City began. It was just right to take a good rest.