Chapter 901: Prepare to Withdraw Troops
The one thousand cavalry who entered the city first have now arrived at the warehouse in the city under the leadership of the shadow guards. Facing the sudden attack of one thousand cavalry, the two hundred defenders of the warehouse had no time to react and were killed by the cavalry. Then, , the cavalry quickly entered the warehouse and tightly defended everywhere to prevent the army in the city from retaking the warehouse.
Zhang He had only two purposes in this battle. One was to occupy the county seat, and the other was to seize the warehouse and protect the food and grass in the city. According to the information intercepted by the Shadow Guard, Anfeng and Yulou each stored nearly 150,000 shi of food and grass. Zhang He got confirmation from Guo Da this afternoon, so his order to the cavalry was to enter the city first. Time occupied the warehouse and nailed it there, leaving other matters in the city to be handled by the other ministries.
An hour later, the city of Yulou finally became quiet. Zhang He's army had completely controlled the city. Zhang He was now waiting in the county government office for the generals to report on the situation in the city.
Soon all the generals rushed to the county government to report the battle situation. Zhang He was very satisfied with the result. There were nearly 2,000 defenders in the city. After a great battle, the Anton army killed nearly 1,000 people and captured more than 500 people. The remaining hundreds of people, led by the county captain, broke out and left with them, including the county magistrate and the county magistrate.
However, the losses suffered by everyone in the family were not large. There were a total of 312 soldiers casualties, of which 198 were killed in the melee, 65 were seriously injured, and 49 were slightly injured. The warehouse in the county town was successfully captured due to the rapid capture of the cavalry. It contained more than 120,000 stones of grain and more than 20,000 pieces of weapons and equipment. And Zhang He gained more than 200,000 yuan in the county government, which can be said to be a huge gain. As for the hundreds of soldiers and several officials who broke out, Zhang He didn't pay attention at all. In this kind of melee at night, it was impossible to Achieve total annihilation.
After counting the harvest, Zhang He ordered a large army to take charge of the night watch, while the rest of the army immediately rested. At the same time, he sent a messenger overnight to report the news to the Chinese army camp.
Yuan Shu's army had already escaped, so it was impossible to hide it from Ji Ling. The only plan now was to send the news to the camp as soon as possible to buy more time for the army to retreat.
After receiving Zhang He's order, a hundred cavalrymen immediately left the city and galloped northwest towards the Chinese camp.
On the 24th, just after the fifth watch, the sky was still dark, and a fire dragon lit up outside the west camp gate of the Anton Army camp. Just as the soldiers on guard were about to sound the alarm, the fire dragon stopped two hundred steps away. Then a torch came out of the fire dragon and slowly came towards the west camp gate.
As the visitor slowly approached the camp gate, he shouted loudly: "Urgent report from Yu Lou!"
The soldiers on the watchtower had already seen that the one approaching was a horseman, and they quickly shouted: "Here comes the horse, dismount, wait in front of the trench, and show your token!"
As he said this, the soldiers everywhere at the entrance of the camp were alerted. Everyone drew their bows and arrows, pointing towards the people coming outside.
Soon a soldier fell down from the watchtower, quickly came to the inside of the trench, and said to the passerby: "Throw the token over."
The visitor did not hesitate and quickly threw his token towards the soldiers on the inside of the trench. The soldiers on the inside of the trench picked up the token and quickly returned to the wall. They climbed up the wall through the rope dropped by the soldier on the watchtower and handed the opponent's token to the leading captain.
Soon, the suspension bridge at the village gate was lowered, and the courier walked quickly onto the suspension bridge, passed through the ditch, and came to the front of the camp gate. The suspension bridge was then put away again, and the camp gate was slowly opened a crack, and the courier walked along the door. He entered the camp through a seam, but from the beginning to the end, the other soldiers outside stayed in place without moving even a moment.
Soon, the messenger was brought to Huangfu Chaobo's Chinese army tent by the soldiers. Seeing Zhang He's battle report, Huangfu Chaobo's eyes lit up and he shouted an order: "Come here, immediately send the two military advisors and General Huang and General Wang to the camp." Invite all the generals, there is an urgent military situation!”
A quarter of an hour later, everyone had rushed to Huangfu Chaobo's big tent. After everyone was seated, Huangfu Chaobo said with a smile: "Everyone, good news.
Zhang He just sent someone to bring the news that he had captured the city of Yulou County last night, and the 120,000 stones of grain and grass in the city were intact. "
When everyone heard this, they were all happy. Pang Tong smiled and said, "It seems we can consider withdrawing our troops."
Huangfu Chaobo said: "General Zhang thought this way, so he sent troops overnight to deliver the news. Because several chief officials and hundreds of soldiers from Yulou County broke out at night, he believed that Ji Ling would get the news before noon today at the latest. Therefore, it is recommended that the army evacuate as soon as possible.”
"In your opinion, when is the best time for the army to evacuate?" Huangfu Chaobo looked at everyone and asked;
Huang Zhong pondered for a moment and said: "The Tianhou Camp has been making preparations these days, but while it needs to strengthen the defense of the camp, it also needs to prepare for retreat, so it is not completely prepared. If you want to evacuate as soon as possible, follow General Zhang's advice , we must hurry up before Ji Ling gets the news, time will be very tight!”
"Yu Lou now has 120,000 shi of grain. You can bring as much grain as you can. Burn everything that cannot be taken away. How long will it take to evacuate?" Huangfu Chaobo gritted his teeth and asked;
Huang Zhong thought about it carefully and then said: "It will take at least two hours!"
After listening to Huang Zhong's words, Huangfu Chaobo also fell into deep thought. If he retreats in a hurry, it will definitely be detrimental to the later war. However, if the time drags on for too long, once Ji Ling gets the news, he will definitely fight to the death. It is indeed a dilemma. It is now five o'clock in the morning, and it will be nine o'clock in the morning in two hours. According to Zhang He's estimation, Ji Ling will get the news about Yu Lou at around twelve o'clock at the latest. It will be a bit tight in terms of time.
Thinking of this, he turned to look at Guo Jia and Pang Tong again, asking for their opinions.
"Lord, this is just General Zhang He's inference. In fact, we don't have that much time at all, so we only have one hour at most. If we can't prepare everything in one hour, then we must give up some things and evacuate as soon as possible. Because once Ji Ling gets the news, he will fight to the death and stop our army from retreating at all costs." Seeing this, Guo Jia quickly stood up and replied;
"Yes, both armies are infantry, and our army's combat strength is slightly inferior. It would be better if the old war barracks of our Andong Army are the same. This time, both the Yuzhou battalions and the Andong Army's battalions are newly formed and trained. Once our troops get entangled in the wild, it will be a life-and-death situation. In this case, even if our army can withdraw, we will probably suffer heavy losses," Pang Tong added at the side;