Chapter 697: Invasion of Hedong

Although Dian Wei was a fierce general, he was not a reckless one. He had followed Huangfu Chaobo for several years and experienced dozens of battles, big and small. He was very sensitive to changes on the battlefield. As soon as Jiang Pei ordered the soldiers to retreat, Dian Wei had already noticed the reaction of the soldiers.

Seeing this, Dian Wei immediately led the soldiers of the Tiebi Camp to quickly kill into the soldiers of the Hedong Army. As a result, the soldiers who had already wanted to retreat soon became more timid. Facing Dian Wei's army leading the bloody storm, the Hedong Army soldiers who were responsible for blocking Dian Wei retreated after less than a quarter of an hour.

Then, soon, in Dian Wei's relentless pursuit, the retreat of the Hedong Army turned into a rout. With more and more Sizhou Army soldiers on the top of the city, the defense line of the Hedong Army has become more and more fragile. Then, as Jiang Jian's retreat order was answered, the resistance on the entire wall collapsed instantly.

At this time, the follow-up army of the Sizhou Army had approached the wall of the pass, and soon there was a steady stream of soldiers climbing up the wall, and then, under the leadership of the generals, they killed the soldiers of the Hedong Army.

Not long after, the Hedong Army soldiers on the top of the city had been basically cleared out. Then, the east gate of Jiguan was opened, and Zhao Yun, who had been prepared, led the White Horse Volunteers to quickly kill into the pass and control all places in the pass.

And Chen Jing's Iron Eagle Warriors followed closely and entered the pass. However, they did not ride horses, but went directly through the pass, following the fleeing soldiers of the Hedong Army and chasing them. In addition to Chen Jing, Su Zhi and Yang Feng also led 10,000 guards and soldiers each, and followed closely. Their purpose was to prevent the Iron Eagle Warriors from advancing alone and being cut off by the Hedong Army. Secondly, it was also to take over the city passes occupied by the Iron Eagle Warriors along the way.

As Pang Tong expected, the generals of Hedong had never thought that the Sizhou army would pursue them relentlessly. Jiang Jian was also experienced in war, but the soldiers had lost their spirit. Although he and the other generals tried their best to stabilize the situation, they were powerless. In addition, Jiang Jian had already led the barracks to retreat in advance, which made Jiang Jian's troops even more demoralized.

Fortunately, although Jiang Jian was defeated, he also blocked Huangfu Chaobo's army on the wall for nearly half a day. So when Jiang Jian led the defeated five or six thousand soldiers to flee all the way, the eight thousand elite soldiers led by Jiang Jian had already left for half a day.

Chiguan Trail is one of the eight trails in Taihang. Although it is not as difficult and dangerous as Feihu Trail and Jing Trail, it is also tortuous and difficult. Fortunately, the Iron Eagle Sharp Soldiers led by Chen Jing are lightly armored soldiers. Five thousand soldiers carried five days of dry food and chased after the Jiangdong Army. Along the way, when the Hedong Army just arrived at a village or town and was about to rest, the Iron Eagle Warriors had already appeared in sight.

As a last resort, the Hedong Army soldiers ran away again. Then Chen Jing left hundreds of people to defend the territory that had just been captured, and continued to lead the army to pursue. And these defending soldiers waited for the follow-up troops to take over, and then immediately chased the large group of soldiers in front. When they arrived at the next place, Chen Jing left another few hundred people, and so on and so forth, but the Iron Eagle Warriors got a rest.

Chasing all the way, Chen Jing led the army to follow the Hedong Army to capture Shaoting, Puzhang, Gucheng, Wangmao, Changzhi, and Huqiu. Two days later, the army had followed the Hedong Army's defeated soldiers to the Dongyuan County. At this time, except for the 8,000 soldiers led by Jiang Jian who had safely withdrawn into the county, the remaining soldiers were less than a thousand people around Jiang Jian and other generals.

At this time, except for a dozen soldiers who were injured because of chasing too fast, the rest of the Iron Eagle Warriors around Chen Jing were safe and sound, and Su Zhi and Yang Feng's 20,000 troops also arrived at the foot of Dongyuan City half a day behind.

Seeing that the Hedong Army had retreated into the fortified city, Chen Jing and his men discussed and did not immediately attack the city, but set up camp five miles outside the city and waited for the army to arrive. However, Chen Jing and his men did not just wait, but arranged the soldiers to set up camp while making detailed inquiries about the situation around the city. At the same time, they also sent some soldiers to try to bypass the city,

preparing to go around the back of the city and encircle and move all the Henei troops to Dongyuan.

There were originally 5,000 guards in Dongyuan City, plus about 10,000 Hedong soldiers who retreated to the city in two waves, and now there are a total of 15,000 soldiers. However, because the more than 1,000 soldiers who retreated to the city at the end were frightened by the Sizhou army, it had a great impact on the morale of the defenders in the city.

In addition, Jiang Jian and other generals no longer had much confidence in defending the city, so after summoning all the generals to discuss matters, Jiang Jian decided to lead the army to retreat after nightfall. After all, they were all locals in Hedong, especially the defenders in Dongyuan City were basically local soldiers who were familiar with the terrain. I believe that the Sizhou army would not dare to pursue them easily at night.

As Jiang Jian expected, after nightfall, the army's stealth retreat was still very smooth, and the Sizhou army did not pursue them. In fact, it was not that Chen Jing did not discover the actions of the Hedong army, but because they were foreign troops after all, and the days of pursuit also made Chen Jing's troops exhausted, so after several major generals discussed again and again, they decided to wait until dawn to advance.

The next morning, Yang Feng sent 3,000 soldiers to take over Dongyuan County and prepare to meet the army. The other troops took Chen Jing's troops as the vanguard and continued to go to Hedong along the Chijing.

A few days later, on October 20, Chen Jing, Su Zhi, Yang Feng and a total of 20,000 troops finally passed through Chijing and arrived at a place called Lengkou Town at the western exit of Chijing. After the army arrived, they quickly attacked Lengkou and guarded the passage for the army to enter Hedong, and then sent people to gather intelligence from various cities in Hedong to prepare for the army's arrival in Hedong.

It was not until the 25th that the Sizhou army successfully arrived at Lengkou. Lengkou Town is a central town under the jurisdiction of Wenxi, which is located at the western entrance of Chijing. A few miles northwest of it is the Sushui River. Following the Sushui River, only more than 50 miles away is the location of Wenxi County, but the county town is located on the north bank of the Sushui River. Wenxi went southeast along the Sushui River, and less than 50 miles away was Anyi, the county city of Hedong.

Three days later, Huangfu Chaobo's army passed through Chijing and arrived at Lengkou. After the army arrived, it did not immediately send troops, but rested here for two days. After all, the autumn crops had been harvested, and the army had marched for nearly a month without any major battles, but the soldiers needed to rest.

On November 1, the army set out again, from Jiguan to Lengkou. Along the way, soldiers needed to be stationed at each pass and city, so at this time, the army that was actually dispatched was only 110,000.