Chapter 709 Defeat Dou Yong and retreat!

Chapter 709 Defeat Dou Yong and retreat!

"Lord Wu She, I, Li You, have come to support you on the orders of the Prime Minister! We should retreat quickly without delay, otherwise Wu Rui's troops will catch up with us soon!" Li You spoke quickly and without any hesitation. While stating his identity, he also decisively suggested that Wu She retreat first.

After all, with their current strength, it would be like hitting a rock with an egg if they wanted to confront Wu Rui's army head-on. Even if the Black Armored Army was brave and good at fighting, it was impossible for them to fight ten people alone on the battlefield. Therefore, the best option now was to evacuate as soon as possible and preserve their strength.

After listening to Li You's words, Wu She thought for a while, then nodded decisively and said, "Okay, then let's do as you say and retreat!" He knew that the situation was urgent and there could be no hesitation.

So Wu She immediately ordered his soldiers to gather together and began to retreat in an orderly manner under the cover of the black-armored army led by Li You.

During this process, a thought arose in Wu She's mind: Is Li You going to successfully transform into a military general?

Before this, he had heard that Li You had been serving as a civil servant under the command of Grand Commandant Cao Shen. Although he was also responsible for military affairs, strictly speaking, he was still a civil servant. This was largely because Li Si was backing him up. Otherwise, with Li You's qualifications and background, it would not be easy for him to enter the Grand Commandant's Office.

What Wu She did not expect was that Li You had actually obtained the qualification to lead troops directly. This obviously meant that he had received some kind of strong support. Although Wu She's time under Gao Yao's command was not long, it was definitely not short. Gao Yao had always had his own unique style of doing things. He attached great importance to professional division of labor and firmly believed that everyone should play a role in the field they were good at. Therefore, he would never let those who knew nothing about leading troops to fight lead the army. No one could get through the back door for this, even if important figures such as Xiao He and Cao Shen personally pleaded for mercy.

However, Li You suddenly got the opportunity to lead troops, and he led a special cavalry division like the Black Armor Army. This fact is enough to show that there must be a reason. Obviously, Gao Yao was pushing Li You to take the position behind the scenes, otherwise he would never do so. Because of this, Wu She was very friendly to Li You. Although they did not know each other, it did not prevent Wu She from expressing gratitude to Li You.

Similarly, Li You's situation was not much different. Before he came here, he already knew Wu She's action plan and his goal. When he learned that Wu She's action had been successful and the ferry had been completely destroyed, Li You knew in his heart that Wu She had undoubtedly made another great military achievement in this battle.

Li You was not a stupid person. He naturally knew that after the successful conclusion of the battles on all fronts this time, Wu She would be able to enter the core circle under Gao Yao as a matter of course, based on the merits of this battle alone.

More importantly, before setting off, Li Si summoned Li You alone and specifically told him to behave well. Moreover, Li Si also directly and obliquely revealed an important piece of information to Li You - Gao Yao was about to become king.

What does this mean? This means that this is a great opportunity for promotion! After all, once Gao Yao becomes king, Gongzi Gao's status and role will be greatly reduced, and even whether he can keep his life has become an unknown.

Although Li You still had some thoughts about Daqin in his heart, they were just thoughts. Li You deliberately revealed some news to Li You in advance because he was worried that Li You would not accept it well, or would not be able to seize this opportunity to perform well.

Under Li You's strict protection, Wu She retreated quickly and safely to the hinterland of Jiujiang. At the same time, the soldiers who had originally retreated separately also gathered in various county towns like rivers returning to the sea.

This was actually a carefully planned move by Wu She. He knew that although a large number of people was advantageous in some aspects, it would become a burden during the retreat. The more people there were, the more likely their movements would be restricted, which would be detrimental to a quick evacuation.

Therefore, he decisively divided the team into several small groups and let them choose different routes to retreat. This not only avoids being attacked by the enemy, but also increases the chance of successful escape.

Of course, the premise of all this is that Wu Rui will not go all out to pursue the Southern Border Army. Otherwise, even if the Southern Border Army disperses and retreats, it will be difficult to completely escape the enemy's pursuit.

Fortunately, the Southern Border Army had a clear advantage in terms of terrain. They knew the mountains and forests very well and were able to march through them as if they were walking on flat ground.

This ability was not accidental, but the result of the long-term training of the Southern Border Army. Even the daily training of the county soldiers included marching in the mountains and forests.

Therefore, as long as the Southern Border Army can successfully enter the woods, they will basically not face too much danger. After all, under the cover of the mountains and forests, it is difficult for the enemy to discover their whereabouts.

In contrast, the reason why Wu She was in danger was mainly because he was tightly held by Dou Yong and had no chance to create distance, let alone escape completely.

The situation was different for the rest of the Southern Border Army. They could make full use of their own advantages. As long as they could get into the mountains and forests, they would be at home. On the contrary, the Wu Army would be pulled back and could not catch up at all. In the end, they could only return empty-handed, while the Southern Border Army arrived safely in various counties.

When Wu Rui led the army to the ferry, the ferry had become a complete wreckage. More than 80% of it had been destroyed, and the most critical load-bearing position was destroyed.

In this era, not everyone can equip their subordinates with such sophisticated equipment and personnel like Gao Yao. After all, who would equip the logistics troops with a special engineering team for building construction for no reason? There are no such professionals in Wu Rui's 100,000 troops.

Although these soldiers were not completely unable to repair the destroyed buildings, it was almost impossible for these inexperienced soldiers to restore them to the same level as before. Even if they could barely complete the repair work, it would take at least a month.

However, Wu Rui now had very little food left, and he could only hold out for five more days at most. If time dragged on, the soldiers would have to fight on an empty stomach. The measures Wu Rui had initially taken to prevent the granary from being attacked had now become his own death warrant.