Chapter 126 Three Wins, Only Wagang Loses

The outcome of this raid was doomed from the beginning.

The unsuspecting Wagang Army had no idea that there was an elite cavalry troop just a few dozen miles away. Their sudden appearance was like a divine army descending from the sky.

However, Cheng Zhijie and Shan Xiongxin were both brave men. Shan Xiongxin asked Cheng Yaojin to gather his troops into a battle formation, while he himself quickly assembled hundreds of his elite troops and lined up behind the fence that had been set up, ready to resist the attack of the Yan cavalry and his own defeated soldiers.

On the battlefield, once a defeat is imminent, few armies can turn the tide.

The battle against Yang Xun's rebels that Li Yuanhui personally experienced was a black swan event with an extremely low probability.

But right now, the Yan army is like a surging gray rhino to Wagang.

When you see him coming, you know that defeat is the inevitable outcome.

But there are differences in defeat. The annihilation of the entire army is one kind of defeat, while preserving the manpower to the greatest extent possible in the defeat and waiting for an opportunity to act is another kind of defeat.

Defeat but not chaos.

But in the second case, only a well-trained and disciplined army can do it.

As for the current Wagang Army, it is very powerful, with 100,000 soldiers in Yu and Yan provinces, and has become the main force against Yan in the world.

However, the rapid expansion has prevented the number of troops, training, weapons and equipment, and other soft and hard capabilities from keeping up.

As a result, the current combat effectiveness of the Wagang Army is actually very average. The only elite troops are Cheng Zhijie and Shan Xiongxin, each with less than a thousand soldiers under their command.

This group of personal soldiers were the first to join Wagang. They fought for several years and experienced many battles.

Everyone wore armor, although most were leather armor and iron armor was rare. But at least they had armor. The weapons they used were swords, shields, and spears captured from the government troops or made by themselves.

Although it is just a wooden stick with a gun head, its lethality is completely different with or without the gun head.

When encountering a small number of county soldiers, they can still rely on their numerical advantage to fight a battle, and finally have the final say with their elite personal soldiers. This has been the traditional fighting method of the Wagang Army.

But once faced with the current avalanche-like situation, it cannot be reversed in any way.

After the Wagang Army in the north of the city was defeated first, the Wagang Army in the east of the city managed to organize a military formation but was immediately crushed by their own fleeing soldiers.

The momentum of the fleeing troops was like the Yellow River bursting its banks, unstoppable.

Pei Xingyan was like a sharp spear, unstoppable, the lance in his hand flew up and down, raising a cloud of blood mist.

To Pei Xingyan, these Wagang troops in front of him were nothing but chickens and dogs and posed no challenge at all. The reason why he was so excited and ready to kill today was all because of the General Pingnan named Li behind him.

Li Yuanhui was a few years younger than him, but he was already the General Pingnan.

In terms of origin, Pei Xingyan was born in the Wenxi Pei family, which was one of the ten surnames along with the Longxi Li family. His father, Pei Minzhi, was also an important official in the court and now a governor of a state, not inferior to Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang.

Pei Xingyan had followed his father into battle since he was young. He was extremely brave and was a famous general in the Zuo Longxiang Army.

But Li Yuanhui, who was under the banner behind him, was an unusual figure who became a General of the Tiger Guards and was granted the title of Marquis of Ye at the age of fourteen. At the age of sixteen, he was promoted to General Pingnan and governor of military affairs in the three counties of Jianghuai.

Among peers of similar age, who wouldn’t be envious?

Moreover, Li Yuanhui never demonstrated his bravery during his rise to high status.

It seems like most of the time, it seems to depend on luck.

This makes people even more jealous.

However, Pei Xingyan also understood that even if he was dissatisfied in his heart, he had to maintain sufficient respect for this young nobleman.

The first reason is that this is his contribution.

Secondly, this young general has his own way of commanding troops.

In today's battle, he wants to clearly demonstrate his powerful military force. As for future fame, he may not lose to you!

But Li Yuanhui had no intention of being brave or aggressive, as everyone had a different identity and status.

Are you good at fighting? So what if you are good at fighting? You are just a little jerk.
On the other side, Zhang Zhen'e led a team of cavalry and didn't care about the defeated troops running around. His eyes were fixed on the central army where Shan Xiongxin was. First to climb the enemy line, break through the enemy line, kill the general, and seize the flag. These are the four great military merits.

Pei Xingyan did the job of breaking into the enemy's formation, while Zhang Zhen'e was very interested in killing the generals and seizing the flags.

He also understood that Li Yuanhui let him in at this time because he didn't want Pei Xingyan to grab all the credit.

After all, the cavalrymen mobilized into the battlefield were the elite cavalry that Li Yuanhui had shamelessly asked the court for. If Pei Xingyan were to take all the limelight, wouldn't that be making things difficult for others?
Although Li Yuanhui did not care much about fame and fortune, he did not have the virtue of making wedding dresses for others.

The Pei family father and son in Xuzhou are equivalent to blocking the main canal route from Jianghuai to the north. In the future changes, it is not certain whether they will be enemies or friends.

So we must not let the Pei family father and son underestimate us.

Borrowing Pei Xingyan's 300 cavalrymen to perform meritorious service was considered a gesture of goodwill, and letting Zhang Zhen'e, a fierce general who was not much worse than Liu Xuanji, go into battle and take some appropriate credit was done to show the Pei father and son.

We have powerful generals under our command. We can fight this battle with or without you. I am bringing you along to play because I am giving face to your Pei family.

As for the second idea, letting Zhang Zhen'e achieve some military merits is also a gesture of goodwill to the Zhang family in Jiangdu.

Master Zhang Wu, who is famous in the Jianghuai area, can be regarded as a local tyrant. In addition to the Zhang family's financial resources, and Zhang Jian and Zhang Zhen'e, two powerful enemies, the Zhang family must win them over.

Even if they were not already married, Li Yuanhui would definitely ask to marry a young lady from the Zhang family as a form of in-law, just as a safety net.

Pei Minzhi was naturally unaware of Li Yuanhui's thoughts.

But he could still see the first level clearly. He secretly laughed at the young man for being quite calculating, but at the same time he had to admit that the boy in front of him was not easy to deal with.

He is not a younger generation whom he can manipulate at will by relying on his seniority and official position.

Although Li Yuanhui's behavior still had some youthful vigor, it was enough for him, a senior official of the court and a veteran of the battlefield, to be taken seriously.

On the battlefield, Pei Xingyan saw from afar that Shan Xiongxin had organized his personal soldiers to form a formation behind a fence. He did not rush up directly, but went around them directly.

However, after seeing this situation, Ma Deyi and Wang Tong's troops in the back very tacitly dispatched two teams of cavalry each to encircle and block the enemy, driving the defeated soldiers to attack Shan Xiongxin's troops.

Faced with the overwhelming force of their own defeated soldiers, the makeshift fence was soon trampled by the fleeing soldiers, and Shan Xiongxin's elite troops were successfully swept into the rolling torrent of retreat.

The Suiyang defenders in the city, led by Jun Chenghui, cooperated with the cavalry to harvest the battlefield and continuously squeezed the rebels' space.

At this moment, another main general of the Wagang Army, Cheng Zhi, led his personal soldiers to retreat to the pontoon bridge, maintaining order and allowing each unit to retreat to the east bank of the canal in turn through the pontoon bridge on the canal.

However, the rebels were in a panic and fought for their lives in every possible way.

There was pushing and shoving on the several floating bridges, and from time to time the Wagang Army was pushed into the canal by their own people.

In the end, Cheng Zhijie coldly ordered his soldiers to capture several people who had caused internal strife in order to cross the river first and chop off their heads on the spot. This eased the chaotic situation to a certain extent.

However, as the Yan army pressed forward step by step, more and more defeated soldiers rushed to the pontoon bridge and the canal.

The situation was getting increasingly out of control.

Li Yuanhui and Pei Minzhi also moved the large banner forward at the right time. Pei Minzhi also sent a message to the front army, asking them not to push too hard, but to slow down and let their own people be in chaos.

Pei Minzhi then explained to Li Yuanhui: "As the old saying goes, a trapped beast will still fight. This is why we have to surround three sides of the city and leave one side open. If we push too hard, the enemy will know their chances of survival are over and they will fight to the death. But now we have a way to retreat and we are not too close in front, so they will fight each other to survive."

Li Yuanhui bowed respectfully and said, "General, you are very cautious in your use of troops. I will learn from your teachings."

Pei Minzhi waved his hand quickly: "General Li, you are too polite. I have only lived a few more years and gained a few more experiences."

The two were practicing Tai Chi when the governor of Suiyang, Wang Wenyang, came out of the city in person to greet them.

When he learned that the two men were Wang Taishou who was going to Xuzhou and Jianghuai to take up their posts, he exclaimed that he was really lucky. He even praised them highly: "The two generals are really divine soldiers sent from heaven. Thank you for your help. I am very grateful." He never thought that the city would be relieved after being besieged for half a day.

Li Yuanhui and Pei Minzhi were actually quite excited as well, as they had received such military merit on their way to taking office, although it was not enough to get these two generals promoted immediately.

But this military achievement was enough to allow the two men to do nothing for a long period of time without having to worry about the pressure from the court to suppress the bandits.

So, everyone is happy, and the result was achieved that only the Wagang Army was injured.

(End of this chapter)