Chapter 334
After the Peng army's battering rams and pounding stones, the Chifeng army was killed and defeated, with no formation at all. The screams of the wounded and the panicked screams of the living instantly turned the slope of Huya Mountain into the latest chapter of hell on earth.
At this moment, the Peng army, which had been defeated and fled, rushed out from both sides of the slope, shouting in unison and rushing down the slope. The art of war says that when two armies fight, the one on the higher ground wins. The charge from top to bottom was as powerful as a tidal wave. The Chifeng army, which had been hit by battering rams and pounding stones, could not resist it. People almost rolled down the mountain.
The defeat was like a mountain collapsing. The soldiers trampled on each other, fell and rolled, and the casualties were countless.
At this time, Li Wei was dumbfounded, his mouth opened unconsciously, his eyes widened, staring straight at the battlefield in front of him, dumbfounded and speechless.
"General? General?" Peng Haochu called out repeatedly beside him.
"Ah? Ah..." Li Wei came back to his senses, and turned to Peng Haochu with a stiff neck. His eyes were looking at him, but his gaze had lost focus.
Peng Haochu said in a hurry: "General, give the order to retreat quickly. If we delay any longer, my Chifeng army will be wiped out!"
"Ah? Ah! Yes, yes, yes!" Li Wei just agreed, but he did not give the order for a long time.
At this time, Peng Haochu could not care so much, and turned to the messenger and shouted: "Sound the gong to withdraw the troops! Quickly!"
"Yes!"
The messenger looked at Li Wei and saw that the latter was dazed. He made up his mind and passed on Peng Haochu's order, ordering the whole army to withdraw.
Dang, dang, dang - the rapid sound of the gong rang continuously. Many Chifeng soldiers who still wanted to continue fighting with the enemy heard the gong sound and gave up the fight. The rear army became the front army and retreated across the board. It sounds good to say that they retreated, but in fact, they were defeated. They were chased and beaten by the Peng army, and even the Peng army camp at the foot of the mountain that they had just captured was abandoned.
The Chifeng army retreated more than 20 miles, but the Peng army behind them did not stop chasing and killing them. They were determined not to stop until all the Chifeng army was wiped out. Many Chifeng soldiers who fell behind were stabbed to death or trampled into meat paste by the Peng army chasing them from behind. The tragic defeat was unbearable to watch.
Just when Li Wei thought that his Chifeng army was going to be completely annihilated by the Peng army, a large-scale Feng army suddenly came from the front. The big flag in the army had the word "Tianyuan" written on it, and there was another big flag behind the army flag with the big word "Gu" written on it. After seeing this, Peng Haochu was delighted and said to Li Wei, "General, it's General Gu Yue who came to help us!"
"Ah?" Li Wei looked forward and looked carefully. After seeing this, his heart finally fell. Then, he was filled with sorrow, his eyes turned red, tears fell, and he shook his head and said, "I was careless and underestimated the enemy. I didn't listen to General Peng's words, so I suffered such a big loss and implicated tens of thousands of our soldiers..."
"Oh, General, don't talk about this now, go and meet General Gu Yue!"
Seeing that the Tianyuan Army had reinforcements, the Peng Army behind stopped chasing and killing, and the whole army turned around and returned victorious.
After Li Wei, Peng Haochu and Gu Yue met, the latter looked at the two and almost laughed bitterly. At this time, the two looked too embarrassed, with crooked helmets and armor, and dirty faces. There was no trace of the majesty when they left Xibai City. Before he could ask what was going on, Peng Haochu asked first: "General Gu, why are you here?"
"Lord Qiu was afraid that you two would be in trouble, so he sent me to lead the army to provide support!" Gu Yue said seriously.
Peng Haochu nodded secretly. Qiu Zhen was really a god who could foresee things. He could even leave a backhand in advance. No wonder the Lord relied on him so much! He cupped his hands and sighed: "Thanks to General Gu's timely arrival, otherwise..." As he spoke, he turned his head and looked at Li Wei, and did not continue.
The Chifeng Army suffered a miserable defeat in this battle, with casualties of 50,000. It can be said that after one battle, one-third of the Chifeng Army's troops were wiped out. Because the Peng Army was more powerful than he could imagine, Gu Yue did not dare to continue to march forward. He joined the remnants of the Chifeng Army and retreated to Xibai City.
After the two armies came back and reported the detailed battle situation to Qiu Zhen, the latter was so angry that he stamped his feet. He had told Li Wei to consult with Peng Haochu before taking action, but why didn't he listen to him? Why did he insist on doing it alone, and finally ended up losing 50,000 troops, increasing the enemy's prestige and destroying his own spirit.
In the general's tent, Qiu Zhen stared coldly at the dejected Li Wei. After a long while, he gritted his teeth and asked, "Li Wei, what else do you have to say now?"
Li Wei lowered his head and said faintly, "This defeat is all my fault. I am willing to be punished!"
Qiu Zhen nodded and said, "As a commander, you were careless and rashly advanced, fell into a trap, and killed countless soldiers of our army. What's the point of keeping you?" As he spoke, he shouted coldly, "Where are the swordsmen?"
"Yes!" Two strong men with bare upper bodies and holding ghost-headed swords walked in from outside.
Qiu Zhen waved his hand and said, "Take the criminal Li Wei out and behead him!"
"Yes!" The axemen didn't care whether you were a general or a soldier, they just followed orders. After Qiu Zhen finished speaking, two axemen agreed, stepped forward, one of them lifted up one of Li Wei's arms, and dragged him out.
"Wait a minute!" Seeing that Qiu Zhen was going to execute Li Wei, the generals and counselors around were all shocked and stepped forward to stop him.
"Master Qiu, Li Wei is indeed at fault and deserves to be punished. However, our army has already suffered a defeat and its morale is low. If we kill the general at this time, it will be more difficult to improve the morale of the entire army! I hope Master Qiu will think twice. !" Guyue, Letian, Ai Jia and others who were born in the same group of captains as Li Wei stepped forward to intercede for him.
"General Gu is right! Even if Master Qiu wants to severely punish General Li, now is not the time. We should wait until our army defeats the enemy in Huya Mountain before dealing with it."
"Yes! I hope Master Qiu will show mercy!"
The generals and counselors spoke to each other and tried to persuade me.
Qiu Zhen is actually just pretending. He has known Li Wei for a long time and has a good personal relationship. Moreover, Li Wei is Tang Yin's confidant. He can kill anyone who can decide whether it is public or private. It was impossible for him to kill Li Wei.
Seeing that all the generals and counselors came to plead for mercy, Qiu Zhen got off his donkey, took a deep breath, twisted his eyebrows, and pretended to be deep in thought. After thinking for a long time, he waved his arms to the two axemen and said : "Li Wei can be spared the death penalty, but the living crime cannot be spared. General Peng Haochu has temporarily taken over your position as the commander-in-chief of the Chifeng Army, and you have been temporarily appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief. Li Wei, are you convinced?"
Li Wei originally thought that he was dead this time. Qiu Zhen was so angry just now that he looked like he wanted to eat people. He didn't expect that he could listen to people's advice and let him stay. He was just relieved of the position of commander. How can I still be unconvinced at this time? Li Wei hurriedly knelt on his knees and said with a choked voice: "I would like to thank Master Qiu for not killing me!"
"You don't need to thank me. If you want to thank, just thank the generals and gentlemen who interceded for you!" Qiu Zhen deliberately turned away and stopped looking at him.
In fact, Qiu Zhen's real purpose was to remove Li Wei from the post of commander-in-chief of the Chifeng Army.
Now, the Tianyuan Army consists of four legions. Xiao Muqing, the commander of the Pingyuan Army, is an old man and an old fox on the battlefield, who is good at attacking and defending; Liang Qi, the commander of the Sanshui Army, was already a famous general in the Feng Kingdom before Tang Yin made his fortune. , known as a genius; the commander-in-chief of the direct army, Guyue, although slightly weaker, is cautious, calm, and calm in situations. He can also be called a regular general. Among the four armies, only the commander-in-chief of the Chifeng Army, Li Wei, is the least capable and the most intimidating. Of course, Qiu Zhen also understood Tang Yin's purpose of promoting him, but this did not mean that Qiu Zhen agreed with Tang Yin's approach. It would be too foolish to assign him an important position just because he was reliable, and there were many people in the Chifeng Army. It's not that there is no talent. Peng Haochu is more suitable for the position of commander than Li Wei.
This time, taking advantage of Tang Yin's absence and Li Wei's big mistake, Qiu Zhen swapped the positions of Li Wei and Peng Haochu, making the latter the leader and the former the follower. In this way, the Chifeng Army would be more capable. It's reassuring.
The Chifeng Army's attack on Huya Mountain failed miserably. Qiu Zhen planned to personally lead the entire army to conquer Huya Mountain in one fell swoop. At this time, Tang Yin followed Zhao Ju's caravan back to Xibai City.
Tang Yin's return was just the right thing to do, it just calmed the generals' fluctuating emotions. Tang Yin first learned about the big and small things that happened during his absence. When he heard that Liang Qi and Shangguan Yuanrang in Tongmen had defeated Ning Jun's counterattack, he couldn't help but smile and nodded secretly. My decision to send Liang Qi and Shangguan Yuanrang was indeed the right one. The two men worked really well together. Only the 80,000 Sanshui Army could repel the Ning Army's several large-scale counterattacks. The two of them can do it.
Then he heard that Li Wei was defeated in Huya Mountain and was dismissed by Qiu Zhen after he came back.
Tang Yin couldn't help but frown secretly. Li Wei was the commander-in-chief of the Chifeng Army he had chosen. If he made any mistakes, he would be punished. Why did Qiu Zhen withdraw just when he said he wanted to?
Seeing his face darken, how could Qiu Zhen not feel the unhappiness in his heart. He cupped his hands and said: "Sir, General Li Wei did not listen to advice on the battlefield and went his own way, which resulted in a disastrous defeat for the entire army and more than 50,000 casualties. According to military law, he must be severely punished. Now he has only been demoted one level. It’s the lightest punishment!”
Before Tang Yin could answer, Li Wei, who was standing among the generals, came out, raised his armor, knelt down on one knee, and intervened, saying: "Sir, this battle is indeed the fault of my subordinates. I did not listen to General Peng's advice, which resulted in the entire army being defeated." After a great defeat, Mr. Qiu has been extremely gracious to his subordinates, and he has no complaints!”
well! Tang Yin sighed secretly, even Li Wei said so himself, so he couldn't say anything more. Nodding, he tilted his head, looked at Letian and Ai Jia, and asked, "Who is commanding the enemy troops stationed in Huya Mountain?"