Chapter 1147: Breaking off and Retreating
Chapter 1147: Breaking off and Retreating
Gong Chun's troops retreated quickly because they had been prepared for it long ago.
They were also the first to shout "Our army is defeated" because they had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.
There is no point in shouting earlier because the front troops have not learned their lesson yet.
If they had shouted later, Luo Yan might have calmed the people's hearts and they would no longer think about attacking and would focus on relying on the terrain and defending the city.
Not to mention that the Liang army will definitely win, nothing is certain in this foggy mountain valley.
Now these are just two direct encounters. If Luo Yan sobers up and is determined to hold on to the end, there may be a chance to turn defeat into victory. After all, they are more adapted to the environment and terrain here, and have more advantages in supplies.
Now is the right time to shout “Our army is defeated”.
"Put away the crossbow and don't break it."
"Take the food with you. You need to eat it on the way."
"Who told you to throw away your weapon? Catch you and give you twenty lashes."
"Where is the priest? Help the old man into the car, be careful."
"Don't mess around! Walk in order and don't fight over anything."
As the saying goes, the general is the courage of the soldiers, and often the chaos during the retreat often starts with the officers. However, many officers and soldiers in Gong Chun's army had already prepared for the retreat, and they were not so panicked psychologically, so the arrangements were quite orderly, if you ignore the pale faces of the sergeants.
Just because the Gong tribe can move so smoothly doesn’t mean that other tribes can do the same.
Not to mention the Xi and Zan families whose strength had been greatly weakened and who had been defeated, the E family, which was located on the left wing of the Gong family, and a small family named Yang, fled in a rather embarrassing manner.
Their troops were rather disorganized, with many jars and pots, and even a few able-bodied women besides the able-bodied men.
After hearing the news of Gong's retreat, they immediately took action.
"Let the priest go first." A white-haired old man was helped onto the carriage. He left in a hurry without even taking his "magic weapon".
Human leg bones and tortoise shell fragments were scattered everywhere, and the "divine fire" had no time to be extinguished.
A "statue" of a mountain ghost carved out of pine resin was knocked to the ground, its empty eyes facing the direction where the tribal men were leaving in a hurry.
The strong women hurriedly gathered what food they could take away. They looked frightened, and their hands and feet were shaking unconsciously.
The basket full of herbs was accidentally kicked over, and the medicinal materials prepared to treat the sick and injured were scattered.
The earthen jar fell off the ox cart, and the moment it broke, an unpleasant smell wafted out. It was the venison that had been pickled for a long time, full of the smell of decay.
A horse was frightened and started charging like mad, scattering all the strong men and women who were blocking the road, and then crashed headfirst into an old tree.
The horse neighed in pain, the carriage overturned on the ground, and the bark and hemp paper recording the military records, genealogies, and war achievements were scattered everywhere and gradually submerged by rain and mud.
The ground was trampled into mud and people fell down from time to time, crying out in pain.
Shields, iron armor, and rattan armor were everywhere. They were abandoned by soldiers who tried their best to reduce their loads, but they were soon stopped by officers. Retreat is not a matter of one or two days, but may take 10 to 20 days. During this long retreat, they need to eat, treat injuries, camp, and fight. Throwing away everything is tantamount to committing suicide in advance.
The road is difficult to walk on, and many people accidentally fall off the cliffs.
Amid the pushing and shoving, some people fell into the rapids and rolled onto the riverbank.
A man was sitting by the river, crying and refusing to leave. When asked, it turned out that his brother had been swept away by the rapids and his life or death was unknown.
There were also people who ignored the obstruction and insisted on going down the cliff. When asked again, he said that the copper crossbow machine that had been passed down in his family for three generations had fallen down, which was more important than his life...
It was a complete mess.
******
Luo Yan is not a dead man, so of course he knows the chaos in the rear.
At that time, there were 3,000 people from the Luo clan, 2,000 people from the Du clan (Du clan), and 2,000 people from the Park clan, plus more than 1,000 defeated soldiers, totaling more than 8,000 people.
Three miles behind, there were 4,000 followers of the Gong and E clans and 500 followers of the Yang clan, totaling 4,500 people.
Five miles away, there were 1,500 people from the Fan, Lin and Xie families.
When Gong shouted "Our army is defeated" and retreated first, E and Yang were directly swept in and also retreated in panic.
As for what will happen to the Fan, Lin and Xie families further behind, there is really no need to even think about it.
They had already known the news that the Xi clan's vanguard had been defeated by the Liang people a few days ago, and they were probably wondering if they would lose the second battle. They were inevitably pessimistic about the prospects of this battle.
As a result, a large number of defeated soldiers came from the east, shouting and neighing, in great chaos, shouting "Our army is defeated". What do you think they did? Of course, they turned around and retreated directly to the west! Could it be that they still had the courage to sacrifice themselves and let the friendly army go first, and they stayed behind to cover the rear?
The news that these 6,000 people had escaped could not be concealed here. In fact, because Gong was "very loyal" when he retreated, he sent people everywhere to inform them, so now the news could not be blocked.
In an instant, Luo Yan knew that the battle was truly lost and there was no room for recovery.
They took a shortcut to cut off the Liang army's food supply, but they didn't expect that the Liang army had the same idea and actually knew the existence of this shortcut and wanted to attack Xuanhan. The two sides met on the road, and now they were defeated and it was time to leave.
"Pass the order! Everyone gather your troops and follow me to attack the Liang bandits." After making up his mind, Luo Yan issued the order to counterattack the Liang army without any hesitation.
He knew that he might not be able to command Du and Park, so he only ordered Luo's own troops.
Everyone in the tent subconsciously looked at Luo Yan. Luo Yan looked back one by one, and everyone lowered their heads again.
After a moment, the first person obeyed the order and reorganized the troops, followed by the second, the third...
Luo Yan sighed softly.
Each family still gave face, they were all loyal and brave, and the soldiers were good soldiers. They did not fight perfunctorily, but fought with blood and courage. As for not winning, that is another matter.
What can we do when we are not well trained, have inferior equipment, incomplete armor, and do not have as much experience in battle as others?
These can actually be compensated for, but the courage to fight head-on is difficult to train. I just don't know if he still has a chance to make up for the shortcomings of his men in equipment, training and experience.
After issuing the order to counterattack, Luo Yan sent people to Du and Pu's forces, ordering them to leave a small number of elite troops to cover the rear and for the rest to retreat as soon as possible.
Anything that is not necessary should be discarded.
Burn the baggage and food that can be burned, and push the ones that cannot be burned into the rain or the river. Each person will retreat with seven days of dry food. Don't worry about not having enough food, as he has old connections along the way and can get supplies.
When they encountered dangerous terrain, they left a small number of people to guard the fences and support the retreating Luo's troops.
Finally, make less noise and don't affect military morale too much.
After the order was issued, Luo Yan put aside all the negative emotions in his heart, such as regret, fear, worry, etc., and marched forward with thousands of troops.
******
There are still five hundred people left in Gong’s camp.
They showed no fear, just sat on the hay-covered floor of the barracks, eating and drinking water in silence.
"Go up the mountain in a while and bring your drums and horns." General Gong Chun gathered all the officers together and said, "The Liang people use horns, right?"
“Yes.” Someone said, “But their drums and horns are different from ours. The sound is different.”
"It's okay." Gong Chun waved his hand and said, "In a panic, who would listen carefully? Just pretend it's the case."
After that, he paused for a moment and continued, "Each of you should bring dozens of people, pick a good position, beat drums and blow horns, wave flags, and then shout 'kill' loudly. There must be people on all sides, so that people feel they are surrounded."
"Why not just attack Luo from behind?" someone asked.
"Don't stop the returning troops. They will really fight to the death." Gong Chun glanced at the man and said in a deep voice.
Everyone nodded silently, but still felt a little uncomfortable.
Although the Gong and Li families have a grudge, and the Luo family is Li's relative, the relationship between the Luo and Gong families is not too bad. Is it appropriate to harm them like this?
These people are not evil enough, they still have some honesty and integrity, so they are all silent.
But they don’t have the power to decide.
My ancestors have been members of the Gong family for generations, and obedience to the Gong family has long been ingrained in my bones and has become instinctive. My own thoughts are not important, I just need to obey the orders of the nobles.
After resting for a while, the five hundred people left the camp one after another and fled to the mountains on both sides.
Gong Chun led a hundred people and walked along the animal trail in the mountain with difficulty.
The road at the foot of the mountain was slightly wider, but it was now crowded with retreating soldiers and carriages.
They were dejected, with faces that were numb, gloomy, or frightened, and they swarmed westward.
Perhaps it was an orderly retreat and the equipment was relatively complete, but no one could guarantee what would happen if a real fight broke out.
Their morale has dropped, and they must be reorganized or rewarded handsomely before they can fight again.
Gong Chun ignored them and continued forward with his men.
The mountain road was slippery, and people kept falling to the bottom of the valley, screaming in pain.
Gong Chun didn't even stop to rescue, but continued to lead people forward.
Gradually, there were loud shouts of killing and the sound of drums and horns coming from the front.
Gong Chun listened carefully and seemed to hear the sounds of drums and horns from the Liang army.
The shield soldiers mostly used yak horns, but the ones used by the Liang army were definitely not this, and the sounds were different.
Is it the Liang army that is chasing after them and engaging with the retreating troops?
"Go!" Gong Chun shouted and led his men to rush forward.
A moment later, he climbed up a high slope and looked down at the battlefield: in the valley, arrows were flying, people were shouting and horses were neighing, the Liang army was fighting fiercely with the shield soldiers, and for a while it was difficult to tell the outcome.
"Right at this moment!" Gong Chun snatched the big flag with the word "Liang" from the soldier's hand and waved it high in the rain.
In an instant, the sound of drums rumbled, and a sense of urging people to fight came over them.
A moment later, twelve yak horns sounded.
"Kill the bandits!" Hundreds of people shouted in unison, shaking the whole area.
Almost at the same time, people on the opposite ridge were beating drums and blowing horns.
Those people even rushed down the mountain with flags, and their shouts of killing were even louder than here.
Gong Chun stared at the battlefield where the fighting was taking place.
I don’t know if it was an illusion, but the formation of the shield soldiers suddenly became loose and the noise became louder.
The morale of the Liang army soared, and they advanced bravely, breaking the entire formation of the Banshield Soldiers.
Defeated! This time the retreat really turned into a rout.
(Take a short break and then continue to write the additional update of another leader. Please vote for me, thank you.)
(End of this chapter)