Chapter 423

Gradually, even Shangguan Yuanrang could not withstand the rain of arrows from the other side. His spiritual armor was hit by rockets from time to time, and the sound of clanging could be heard constantly. However, even under such circumstances, Shangguan Yuanrang still did not want to retreat, and still insisted on gritting his teeth. As long as he could get ashore and the raft could get close to the shore, he was confident of killing all the ambush soldiers on the shore.

However, under the rain of arrows from the opponent, the distance of more than twenty feet seemed to be a thousand miles away. No matter how Shangguan Yuanrang issued the command, it was difficult to take a step forward.

At this time, Tang Yin, who was watching the battle from behind, could no longer sit still. He had a premonition that the opponent might have an ambush, but he did not expect that the opponent was so well prepared. Even large equipment such as trebuchets had been hidden in the forest, not to mention three hundred rafts. , six thousand soldiers are difficult to cross, even if there are three thousand rafts and sixty thousand soldiers, they may not be able to cross Panshui.

Seeing the soldiers buried one by one at the bottom of the river, Tang Yin felt like a knife was cutting his heart. He was afraid that Shangguan Yuanrang would be lost again, so in desperation, he sent an order to withdraw his troops.

Shangguan Yuanrang wanted to continue charging, but suddenly he heard a loud sound of gongs behind him. He stamped his feet fiercely, sighed, and shouted: "Withdraw!"

Shangguan Yuanrang's raft was the first to change direction and quickly retreated to the south bank. When the other rafts saw this and dared to delay, they all followed Shangguan Yuanrang and were defeated. But now it is not easy for them to retreat. It depends on the faces of the ambush troops. The opponent's arrows are raining continuously, and the trebuchets are firing continuously. It is likely that they will not stop until Shangguan Yuan is completely wiped out.

Under the double attack of arrow formations and boulders, the Feng Army suffered countless casualties, and few of the 300 rafts were left. In the end, only more than 30 rafts were left after Shangguan Yuanrang returned, and the 6,000 Feng Army soldiers Only a few hundred people came back alive. The scale of this battle was not large, but the defeat was as disastrous as Tang Yin's first experience.

He was half sitting in the carriage, his face was gloomy and scary, his eyes were staring at the opposite side of Pan Shui, his fists were clenched, and the light in his eyes was flashing. The generals standing on both sides of the carriage were also dumbfounded. Their expressions were not much better than Tang Yin's. They didn't even dare to breathe, and secretly wiped away cold sweat.

Ziying shook his head repeatedly and sighed in his heart. The enemy army indeed had an ambush on the north bank, but it was a pity that thousands of his own soldiers died inexplicably at the bottom of the Panshui River.

At this time, Shangguan Yuanrang, who had fled back to the formation, had already landed ashore. With a red face and ears, he bravely came to Tang Yin's carriage. Without waiting to speak, he fell to his knees with a thump, lowered his head, and said in shame: "Sir, , the last general...the last general has improper command, please punish me!"

After speaking, Shangguan Yuanrang lowered his head, waiting for Tang Yin to speak. But after a long time, he still didn't hear Tang Yin's words. He was puzzled. He raised his head and saw that Tang Yin didn't look at him at all, and his eyes were still staring at the other side. He called softly: "Sir?"

After Shangguan Yuanrang called him three times, Tang Yin came back to his senses, withdrew his gaze and fell on Shangguan Yuanrang. The latter said again: "My lord, my general's command was not good, which resulted in the nearly annihilation of the six thousand brothers. Please punish me, my lord. I am willing to be punished."

Tang Yin narrowed his eyes, then chuckled, then burst out laughing, waving his hands and saying: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military strategists, so Yuan Rang doesn't need to take it too seriously. Besides, the fault for the defeat of this battle does not lie with you, but with me. , If I want to punish my sins, I must first punish my own sins!”

After speaking, he raised his gaze, looked at the other side, pointed, and said loudly to the people around him: "Although we lost this battle, we have successfully drawn out the enemy. When we attack next time, we will definitely defeat the enemy on the other side." Destroy all the troops, let them pay with blood, and avenge the blood of the brothers who died today!"

There is no undefeated general in the world. As the commander-in-chief of the army, the most terrifying thing is that if he loses, he will mess with his hands first. This will cause the whole army to be impetuous and morale will be greatly reduced. Now Tang Yin saw that only a few hundred of his 6,000 soldiers had returned, and the raft he had worked hard to build for five days was destroyed. Not only was he not in a hurry, he was also able to laugh and comfort Shangguan Yuanrang who had returned in defeat. This made the surrounding generals secretly sigh, and also made the military morale, which had been a little turbulent just now, immediately stabilize again.

Ziying also nodded secretly, admiring Tang Yin's reaction to the change.

Tang Yin took a deep look at the joyful Peng troops on the other side, sneered, waved to his generals and said, "Let's go back to the city first and make a long-term plan!"

"Yes! Sir!"

The Tianyuan Army's battle to cross the Pan River to the north was defeated by the Peng Army, which had been prepared for a long time, and ended in a disastrous defeat. Returning to the county capital in Lishan City, Tang Yin called out Letian and Ai Jia first without looking for anyone else. He pointed at the two of them and said, "Check, go and find out immediately how many Peng troops there are on the other side. Who will lead the army, and where is the trebuchet hidden in the forest? Also, since the Pan River is so long, there must be places where the water is shallow and it is easy to cross the river. You two will find out for yourself and report back to me. "

There are so many ambushes hidden on the north bank, and Tianyan and Diwang, who are full-time intelligence officers, are not aware of it. Naturally, Lotte and Aijia cannot escape the blame. Although they were not blamed by Tang Yin at this time, Letian and Ai Jia were already sweating like rain. After listening to Tang Yin's order, they both knelt down, agreed, and left quickly.

After they left, Tang Yin said to Ziying again: "General Ziying, there are basically not many rafts left by our army this time. You have to urge the soldiers to continue building them."

"I will finally understand." Ziying stepped in and responded.

"And..." Tang Yin sighed bitterly and said, "Send people to go downstream to salvage the bodies of our soldiers. How many bodies can be recovered? Although we cannot let the fallen soldiers return to their roots, we must not let our brothers die. Fish belly."

Hearing this, Ziying bit her lips and choked with sobs and said, "Yes, sir, let's do it right now!"

When the surrounding generals heard this, their eyes were red.

"In addition, the common people who helped our army ferry also suffered a lot of casualties. We should allocate some silver coins and distribute them to their respective homes. This can be regarded as a little compensation for our army!"

"Yes! Sir."

After explaining everything that needed to be explained, Tang Yin sighed tiredly, waved his hands and said, "If there is nothing else, you can all go back."

"My lord, your injury has not healed yet, so you should rest early!" Everyone saw Tang Yin's ugly face and said with concern.

Tang Yin nodded, closed his eyes and said no more.

The generals left one after another, but Wu Mei did not leave, and Wu Ying also stayed.

Wu Mei walked up to Tang Yin, grabbed his hand, and comforted him softly: "Yin, although we are defeated this time, our strength is still there after all. We still have more than 50,000 soldiers. In a few days, we will drive away all the rafts." Create it, and then attack Panshui in one go."

Tang Yin smiled, opened his eyes, looked at Wu Mei, and asked: "Xiao Mei, you said that even if we can build thousands of rafts, and more than 50,000 brothers join the battle, we can rush through the enemy's falling rocks and Arrow array?"

Wu Mei blinked her big foxy eyes and asked doubtfully: "Why not? The current Peng army only has 30,000 people at full strength, but we have more than 50,000, nearly twice as many as the enemy. If we work together and attack by force, we will definitely be able to Cross the Pan River."

Tang Yin suppressed his smile and said thoughtfully: "It won't be that easy. The enemy will have falling rocks first, and then the arrow array, but our soldiers are not familiar with water warfare at all. On the raft, they don't even have the ability to shoot arrows to counterattack. No, even if Panshui is defeated in the end, it will only be done with the lives of brothers. I don’t know how many people will be injured. Can we afford such a price? "

Wu Mei didn't think too much and said confidently: "In a war, people will die. In order to win, it is inevitable to sacrifice some soldiers!"

Tang Yin shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said: "You think things are too simple. When I fight at the front, I can only sing triumphant songs all the way, and only with continuous victories can I silence the mouths of the ministers in the rear. If the loss of troops is too great, no matter what the result is, It will be true. My current situation seems to be full of glory, but in fact it is full of crises, and every move I make is on thin ice.”

Wu Mei has never thought of these things. She only knows that Tang Yin is now in charge of the army and controls the entire court, but how many people in the court really want to respect him as the leader, and how many people are waiting for his downfall, but not Wu Mei can understand.

In fact, as Tang Yin himself said, when he leads his troops into battle, he can only win, but not lose. Once he fails or suffers too many casualties, he will definitely leave something to say to the ministers headed by Liang Xing and Ziyang Haochun. If the other party On this basis, should he not be summoned back to the capital in the name of the imperial court or even change his command before the battle? If you agree, you will lose military power; if you disagree, you will be called disloyal and will follow in Zhong Tian's footsteps.

It can be said that the pressure that Tang Yin is under is unimaginable by others, and this is also the first time that he has taken the initiative to speak out.

"Yin..."

Wu Mei rarely saw Tang Yin showing a lonely look. She leaned forward, subconsciously hugged Tang Yin's arm, and whispered: "Don't worry, Father will help you in the court!"

Wu Yu? Tang Yin almost laughed. Among the four powerful people in Feng Kingdom, Wu Yu was the most scheming. As long as he didn't cause trouble behind his back, he would be thankful. Tang Yin never dared to expect Wu Yu to help him. But of course he wouldn't say that in front of Wu Mei. He took a deep breath, cheered up, and said no more on the matter. He changed the topic and said quietly: "Zhan Wushuang is indeed a famous general of Ning State. He has obviously been beaten by me. I was desperate and in danger, but you could bite me back and make me suffer a big loss!"

Hearing him talk about the war again, Wu Mei frowned her delicate eyebrows and asked softly: "Yin, what are your plans?"

Tang Yin murmured to himself with a deep look: "If we can't attack openly, we can only attack secretly. However, how can we let our army cross the river without anyone noticing?"

Panshui is wide and deep, and the current is very fast, and the soldiers of the Tianyuan Army are basically landlubbers. There are very few people who are familiar with the water. It is impossible to sneak into the other side quietly and launch a sneak attack. Tang Yin was helpless with the Pan Shui blocking his eyes.