Chapter 893 Zhang He Withdraws His Troops

Seeing that Zhang He's troops had no choice but to retreat, Li Gui did not dare to be careless. He immediately ordered his soldiers to fall down the city by rope, followed Zhang He's army from a distance, and carefully observed their movements. According to Li Gui's estimate, after several days of attacking, Zhang He's troops were defeated. The strength of the army was greatly damaged, and the general's troops had probably arrived at Anfeng, so Zhang He was likely to abandon the camp and return to the Andong Army camp overnight.

Half an hour later, the army finally withdrew to the camp. As soon as they returned to the camp, Zhang He summoned all the generals above the rank of General Zhong Zhongling. While arranging the soldiers to rest and eat as soon as possible, he conveyed Huangfu Chaobo's military order: "The army gives up attacking Hulou." County seat, withdraw to the camp west of Anfeng overnight."

When they first heard the military order, all the generals were in an uproar. However, after listening to Zhang He's detailed explanation of the military order, they all calmed down. After dinner, the generals hurried back to their own troops and began to prepare for evacuation.

An hour later, all the troops, horses and supplies in the camp were prepared, and then under Zhang He's order, the army began to retreat overnight.

Outside the gate of the camp, Zhang He was talking to Huang Wudie under the protection of his personal guards: "General Huang, leave the army to the general!"

Huang Wudie was also wearing a military uniform at this time, and looked heroic under the light of the surrounding torches. Seeing this, he quickly bowed and said in return: "Please rest assured, General Zhang, General Wei will definitely bring the army back to the camp safely."

Huang Wudie was a fifth-rank general, while Zhang He was a fourth-rank general, so Huang Wudie met Zhang He with the etiquette of a subordinate.

According to Huangfu Chaobo's arrangement, Zhang He's troops retreated overnight and returned to the camp to join the army. Of course, on the surface, all the soldiers and horses returned to the camp, but in fact, Zhang He would lead 6,000 soldiers to use the cover of night to break away from most of them halfway, and then sneak into the Dabie Mountains more than ten miles north of Yulou City to hide. Then wait for an opportunity to capture Yulou County.

In addition to Zhang He's 5,000 euphorbia soldiers, these six thousand soldiers and horses also have a thousand Yuanrong crossbowmen who came on horseback. This is a long-range unit specially sent to cooperate with Zhang He's attack on the city. Originally, Huangfu Chaobo meant Another thousand cavalry were sent, but Zhang He refused because he felt that he did not need cavalry except to rob the city, but he did not need cavalry to engage in battle. He only used horses to quickly rob the city gate. Among the Euphorbia warriors, there were Many people know how to ride, and it is easy to raise a thousand cavalry.

Zhang He's troops were also prepared for this attack on Yulou County, and the army used the darkness to cover their retreat. This would allow Zhang He's army to successfully escape the surveillance of Yuan Shu's army and leave the army for their hiding place. Also, Scout Ye Ye's statistics on the number of the army are at best an inference based on the situation of the army's torches, and its accuracy will definitely be greatly compromised.

Another point is that if Yuan Shu's army retreats at night, if they pursue it, they will be ambushed. If the defender is cautious, he may not send a large army to pursue him, and he can use this time to get rid of the enemy. Of course, if Yu Lou's guard really came to pursue him, Huang Wudie wouldn't mind giving him a surprise.

You know, in order to cover the smooth retreat of the army, Huangfu Chaobo specially sent assault cavalry and Yuanrong crossbowmen overnight to support.

At this time, Ji Ling's army had arrived and set up camp ten miles north of Huangfu Chaobo's army. Ji Ling's 100,000 troops plus 15,000 heavy infantry and city guards in Anfeng City, plus Yu The total strength of the heavy infantry and city guards in Lou City reached 130,000, while Huangfu Chaobo's army had lost nearly 20,000, and now only had an army of 100,000.

Although Ji Ling could not know the exact number, he could infer a rough number from the war situation in recent days.

The war is about to break out.

In Yulou City, Li Gui was waiting for the news to come back from the scoundrel. It was exactly what Li Gui expected. An hour later, news came from the scouts outside the city. Zhang He's army began to prepare to retreat overnight. County Lieutenant Chen Xi said: "General, Anton The army retreated hastily, just in time we can cover up and kill them, greatly defeating them, and killing more enemy troops for the general.

"

Li Gui snorted coldly and said: "Do you think the generals of the Anton Army are all fools? Besides, we can only use more than 10,000 troops. The opponent is not retreating. There will be an ambush if we follow." As he said that, he turned to the city. A captain of the Guards said: "Colonel Lin, send a thousand of your soldiers into Zhang He's camp to confirm the situation in their camp. Remember, instruct the leading generals to act with caution."

Captain Lin took the order and turned around. As Li Gui expected, an hour later, the soldiers came back to report that the camp of Zhang He's army was indeed empty. However, the soldiers who were ordered to investigate were caught in the ambush of the Anton Army, with only a few soldiers. Ten people had to escape, including the leading captain among the soldiers who escaped.

Li Gui became furious after hearing this. He repeatedly warned him to be careful, but he didn't expect that the general still didn't take it to heart. The loss of the city guard was less than a thousand people, but the captain did not take his military orders to heart, causing the city guard to lose another thousand people. Li Gui was so angry that he ordered the captain to be executed on the spot. Then he scolded the captain of the city guard surnamed Lin severely before he stopped.

Early the next morning, the scouts once again confirmed that the Andong Army had all evacuated. Li Gui then ordered that Chen Xi, the lieutenant of Julou County, was left to defend the city with more than 2,000 remaining garrison soldiers and more than 1,000 lightly and seriously wounded soldiers from various ministries. He led the nearly undamaged 5,000 heavy infantry and 8,000 city guards to leave Yulou County and chased in the direction of the retreat of the Andong Army coalition forces.

Before leaving, Li Gui ordered Chen Xi to guard the city and not to fight on his own. After getting Chen Xi's guarantee, he followed the direction of the An Dong army's retreat with confidence.

For the safety of the army, Li Gui did not rush to catch up, but followed Zhang He's army from a distance, hanging more than ten miles behind them. He knew that his 15,000 troops were no match for Zhang He's army in the wild, and there was no need for him to fight them desperately.

Just when everyone thought that the two armies of Yuan Shu's army and Huangfu Chaobo's coalition would soon break out, they did not expect that neither of them was in a hurry to start a war. However, the battles between the scouts of the two armies continued. In one day, the two armies lost hundreds of scouts alone.

However, because the scouts of the Anton Army were basically guarded by cavalry, the losses of Ji Ling's army were far greater than that of the Anton Army. So after a day of fighting among the scouts, Ji Ling simply ordered the scouts not to fight with the scouts of the Anton Army, but just to watch from a distance.