Chapter 690: First Battle to Establish Authority
Chapter 690: First Battle to Establish Authority
Du Fuwei led an army of 30,000 to retreat northward. Although they were heading to the wealthy Qi County, many generals were very dissatisfied. They had finally settled down in the past few years and many generals had started families and careers. But now they were leaving. What would happen to their wives and children? What would happen to the houses they had just bought?
Although he was dissatisfied, he dared not show it, so he had to suppress his dissatisfaction in his heart and tried to delay as much as possible. After a whole day, he only walked sixty or seventy miles.
Du Fuwei was furious and shouted, "Anyone who dares to delay the march will be killed!"
Wang Xiongdan advised: "Your Majesty, many generals are reluctant to leave their families. It is better to appease them a little and let them bring their families back after Qi County is stabilized."
Du Fuwei nodded. This was true. Seeing that it was getting late, he gave an order: "Send a message to the whole army to rest at the foot of the hill ahead!"
There is a low ridge in front, about fifty or sixty feet high and ten miles long, with a two-mile-long valley in the middle. The mountain is lush and green and covered with trees.
The 30,000-strong army was not in a hurry to cross the valley, but instead stationed on the south side of the ridge for the night.
At two o'clock in the morning, the soldiers were fast asleep when suddenly the alarm sounded, "Ding! Ding! Ding!"
The soldiers jumped up in shock. In the dark night, countless cavalrymen charged towards this side, arrows rained down, and thousands of soldiers were shot and fell, screaming. Then, countless cavalrymen charged towards this side, and it felt like the earth was shaking.
The enemy's situation was unclear, so Du Fuwei urgently ordered: "Retreat into the valley!"
In fact, before he gave the order, a large number of soldiers had already rushed into the valley. The 30,000 soldiers were terrified and retreated into the valley one after another.
The valley was only two miles long, and a large number of soldiers were crowded in it. Du Fuwei was furious and asked, "Why are you all crowded in the valley? Retreat to the north quickly!"
A soldier cried out, "My lord, the north is blocked by a huge tree and a huge fire has started."
Du Fuwei's brain buzzed, and he suddenly realized that he had fallen into the trap of the Sui army.
At this moment, the pine forests on the hillsides on both sides suddenly caught fire, and the bushes on the hillsides also caught fire. The fire was extremely fierce, with thick smoke billowing and flames rising into the sky. The thick smoke quickly enveloped the valley.
The soldiers were choked by the thick smoke and were terrified. They pushed and trampled on each other, and their screams of fear echoed throughout the valley.
But the northern exit of the valley was blocked by hundreds of huge burning trees. In the chaos, the soldiers rushed out of the valley from the southern entrance regardless of everything. Countless soldiers swarmed out, but they were greeted by a blockade of arrows by eight thousand cavalrymen.
Groups of soldiers fell in the dense rain of arrows. Many soldiers rushed out of the rain of arrows and broke out, but they could not escape the killing of the cavalry.
It was not until more than an hour later that the huge tree blocking the north was finally pushed away by the soldiers. The surviving soldiers rushed out and fled to the north without caring about their lives.
In this battle, more than 7,000 of Du Fuwei's 30,000 troops were choked or trampled to death, more than 3,000 died in the breakout, more than 6,000 surrendered, and many soldiers took the opportunity to escape.
Du Fuwei's army was left with just over 10,000 men, and they fled north in panic.
But the battle of Panlong Valley had just begun. Su Dingfang left one thousand cavalrymen to guard the prisoners of war, and he led nine thousand cavalrymen to chase northward.
Du Fuwei ran all the way until noon before stopping. The soldiers were sleepy, tired, thirsty and exhausted.
What’s even more terrible is that many soldiers thought their armor, dry food and water bottles were too heavy to bear when they fled, so they threw them away, leaving only the silver and money in their arms.
But there was no one within fifty miles, so money was useless. The soldiers were hungry and thirsty and could not walk any further. Du Fuwei was at a loss as to what to do, so he ordered the soldiers to find water and food around themselves.
Wang Xiongdan was shocked and said urgently: "Your Majesty, the Sui army is chasing us from behind. The soldiers are scattered. Once the chasing army arrives, our army will collapse."
Du Fuwei angrily rebuked him, "It is difficult to send hungry soldiers. Don't you understand this principle, even though you are a general?"
Wang Xiongdan looked at the thousand cavalrymen not far away. These cavalrymen brought dry food and water. They ate the dry food on their horses, drank the water themselves, and fed the rest to the horses. Many soldiers saw that they were not even as good as animals, and they couldn't help but become more angry.
Wang Xiongdan could better understand the suffering of the soldiers. He clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, war horses can be eaten, and horse blood can quench thirst."
Before he finished speaking, Du Fuwei whipped him hard with a whip and said angrily: "I spent so much effort to raise this warhorse. If you keep talking nonsense, I will kill you!"
Wang Xiongdan could only sigh deeply and said no more.
At this moment, a soldier behind them shouted: "The Sui army is coming! The Sui army is coming!"
Du Fuwei looked back and saw dust all over the sky. Sure enough, a huge army was coming.
Most of Du Fuwei's soldiers had already run more than ten miles to find water and food. It was too late to send people to look for them. Du Fuwei secretly complained and had to order: "The entire army retreats north!"
He fled north with only one thousand cavalry and two thousand infantry.
After a while, Su Dingfang arrived and found many traces of enemy soldiers around. He thought they were going to find water. He immediately left two thousand cavalrymen to hunt down these scattered enemy soldiers.
He continued to pursue Du Fuwei's remaining troops with 7,000 cavalry.
After escaping for another thirty miles, the infantry disappeared, and only one thousand cavalry were left with Du Fuwei. Ying County was in front of them. At this moment, a large number of roadblocks suddenly appeared on the official road ahead. They were either broken carts or big trees with branches and leaves all over the ground. There were more than a hundred broken carts, more than thirty big trees, and hundreds of large rocks, which completely blocked the official road.
There were rocks on both sides, and the war horses could not move. It was obvious that these roadblocks were placed precisely and had just been placed. Many people could be seen fleeing, which forced the cavalry to come down and clear the roadblocks.
War horses are actually very delicate and have high requirements for roads. If there are stones on the road, they will easily sprain their feet and stumble. They cannot even go through freshly harvested wheat fields, as the wheat straw stubble in the fields is like thorns and can easily pierce the horse's hooves.
Du Fuwei was filled with hatred, but he was helpless. Seeing that the pursuers were approaching, he had no choice but to give the order: "Abandon the horses!"
The thousand cavalrymen had to abandon their horses and flee along the rocky areas on both sides, across the rocky areas, and into the woods on the east.
At this time, Su Dingfang led 7,000 cavalrymen to catch up, and suddenly found that there were thousands of war horses on the official road ahead, and the official road was blocked by various obstacles.
Just as they were wondering, suddenly the magistrate of Ying County came out with three or four thousand people. They used thousands of thick straw mats to pave a path on the rocky ground for the Sui cavalry.
"Follow me!"
Su Dingfang shouted and rushed onto the grass mat first. The seven thousand cavalrymen rushed across the grass mat road and rushed into the woods like a long dragon.
Du Fuwei led a thousand soldiers out of the woods. They suddenly stopped. In front and on both sides were dense Sui cavalry, holding crossbows or horse lances and looking at them coldly, as if hunters were looking at their prey.
Seven thousand cavalrymen surrounded Du Fuwei and his men.
Su Dingfang shouted: "Put down your weapons and surrender, and I will spare your life!"
Everyone looked at Du Fuwei, who sighed and said, "Put down your weapons!"
(End of this chapter)