Chapter 1084 Seeking Water to Become a Marquis

After a battle, the Wei army killed and captured more than a thousand enemies in this valley, which was a beautiful victory. The food and supplies lost in the previous attack on the mountain road have now been converted into men and horses and returned. In particular, the capture of a general of the Northern Qi royal family made the participating soldiers smile.

Gao Le did not have time to stop and carefully count the results of the battle. He just asked Guo Yan and other troops who withdrew from Wusu City to stay here to clean up the battlefield, while he led his own troops and the captured enemy horses to chase the enemy behind the defeated troops, and continued to chase them all the way to the east.

On the way, Gao Le could not help but sigh that Gao Xiaoxu was worthy of being a young man of the Northern Qi royal family, and was willing to ride a horse and chase his opponent in this mountain path.

Although this dried-up valley was relatively flat, it was not flat ground after all. If a warhorse ran on it, it would break its leg and get injured if it was not careful. During their pursuit, they saw a broken-legged warhorse abandoned on the roadside, neighing sadly. If it were Gao Le himself, he would really be reluctant to waste a warhorse like this.

Qi general Wei Jian led the remnants to flee all the way to the rear, and only when they arrived at the foot of Wusu City and joined the remaining troops did they calm down.

At the same time, Wuxing King Gao Pu finally led the vanguard troops to the south of Wusu City. However, when he learned from Wei Yu that Gao Xiaoxu was ambushed and captured by the bandits, his face suddenly changed, and he stamped his feet and sighed: "I have said before that the Qiang bandits are not easy to fight against, and you must not be careless! The boy was strong and willful, and refused to listen to the teachings. Now he is in this trouble, who can he blame!"

In addition to many complaints about Gao Xiaoxu who underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, Gao Pu ignored the dissuasion of Wei Yu and others, and immediately ordered the troops to evacuate to the rear, not daring to stay near Wusu City.

Just as Gao Pu was hurriedly leading his troops to evacuate to the rear, Gao Le happened to lead his troops out of the mountain road and rushed towards Wusu City. When he saw that a large group of enemy troops was hastily retreating between the southern slopes, Gao Le communicated with the commander who came out of Wusu City to meet him. After understanding the current situation, he immediately led his troops to charge the enemy's rear.

Gao Pu was already panicked and regretful. When he saw the enemy chasing him from behind, he became even more panicked. He dared not stop to line up to meet the enemy, but urged the soldiers around him to ride their horses. The troops he led were a mixed group of infantry and cavalry. As he led the cavalry troops to flee southward without any care, the infantry and baggage teams were immediately abandoned behind and were soon surrounded and blocked by Gao Le.

"The Duke of Tang of the Great Wei led a large army to attack the unjust. You are not a big bandit. You are not guilty of death. You can live if you abandon your weapons!"

Gao Le led his troops directly into the chaotic infantry and chariot teams of the Qi army. He killed those who wanted to fight with spears and halberds, and shouted loudly at the same time.

Under the repeated penetration, encirclement and blockade by a group of cavalry squads, the thousands of Qi army infantrymen who were abandoned here were divided into small groups, ranging from a few people to a hundred people, each occupying a place, either abandoning their weapons and surrendering, or still trying to resist stubbornly. Some enemy soldiers simply abandoned their armor, staffs, equipment and supplies, and fled to the nearby mountains and fields.

In such a situation, the Wei army knights only drew their bows and shot a few arrows. If they could shoot down the fleeing soldiers, it would be the best. If they couldn't shoot them, they would be too lazy to continue chasing them, and they fled to the mountains and fields. They still stayed to control the chaotic enemy troops here.

In Wusu City, Han Guo also led a small number of more than a thousand cavalrymen in the city out of the city to assist in the battle. When he chased here and saw this scene, Han Guo was overjoyed.

He had led his troops to attack Wusu City before, and the military supplies he brought with him had already consumed a lot, and there was not much left. Although Wusu City was captured, no spoils were captured. The reinforcements from Guyuan City were intercepted and burned. In the past two days, the defenders in the city only gave one meal a day to save military rations.

Now that a considerable amount of military supplies have been captured, it is naturally a great relief to the urgent need. At this time, Gao Le had led thousands of cavalry to continue to pursue southward, so Han Guo stayed here and ordered the Wusu City garrison to send another division brigade here to collect all the personnel and materials here and escort them back to the city.

After more than an hour of cleaning up, the battlefield here was finally cleaned up, and all the people and supplies were escorted back to Wusu City. So Han Guo led another light cavalry team to go south to meet Gao Le and his party.

Just as he led his troops to walk a few miles, he saw smoke and dust rising from the southern slope. Gao Le had led hundreds of knights over the slope and rushed back, but the horses and riders looked embarrassed. They did not return victoriously, but rather defeated.

"I was rash and underestimated the enemy. I chased them all the way and was ambushed by the enemy general Duan Shao's soldiers. I was almost robbed!"

After seeing Han Guo, Gao Le did not hide the failure he had just experienced. Originally, he led his troops to chase southward. Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the enemy, he was ambushed and intercepted by a team sent by Duan Shao at the Xiaweiju Pass near Tongdi River south of Wusu. After a fierce battle, he was able to escape back.

"The terrain here is complex and changeable, and the mountain roads are winding and tortuous. It is indeed necessary to be careful when chasing the desperate enemy. If you are not careful, you will be taken advantage of by the enemy. Fortunately, the enemy generals were in a hurry and could not escape, leaving behind many soldiers and supplies. They have all been confiscated and transported back. This battle is not in vain!" Han Guo heard Gao Le say this, and he spoke to comfort him.

War is a game of all aspects, from the national strength of a regime to the physical and psychological game of each soldier. Gao Xiaoxu was greedy for merit before, so he was defeated and tied up, and Gao Le just became the victorious party as an ambusher, but now he almost became a prisoner of the enemy because of similar problems. It can be seen that before a war is over, everything is variable.

Hearing Han Guo say this, Gao Le can only be glad that the previous results of the battle were finally preserved, and he was able to lead his troops to escape, which was a blessing in disguise, so he sorted out his mood a little, and then returned to Wusu City with Han Guo to rest for a while.

Not to mention the victorious Wei army, Duan Shao in Shangdang area received the order from Qi Lord Gao Yang to go south to attack the enemy. In order to ensure that the next battle can proceed smoothly and not be affected by the harassment of Jianzhou, he took advantage of the fact that the Jinyang army had not yet arrived and went south to Changzi, Huguan and other places to deploy defenses.

After receiving the message from Gao Xiaoxu, the King of Xiucheng, he learned that the vanguard division of Jinyang was about to clash with the enemy, so he hurried back after arranging the defense in the south. When he returned to Shangdang City, he was told that the vanguard of Jinyang had already headed towards Wusu City.

Because he was not clear about the enemy and our situation in Wusu City, for the sake of safety, Duan Shao first sent a division to Xiaweiju in the Tongdi River Basin.

The Tongdi River flows through the south of Wusu City and is one of the tributaries of the western source of Zhuozhang River. There is Shangweiting in the upper reaches and Xiaweiju in the lower reaches. Both are dangerous gullies and narrow passes. They are the throats of Qinyuan area entering and exiting Shangdang area through Wusu Road.

Shangweiting originally had Weiting Garrison, which was a defense system with Wusu City. In order to lure the enemy deep into the city, it was abandoned together with Wusu City and occupied by the Wei army. Now, in order to ensure the safety of Shangdang area, it is necessary to defend Xiaweiju.

Facts have proved that Duan Shao's caution was not unnecessary. The Jinyang Vanguard Division was defeated and returned, escaping Xiaweiju all the way. Xiaweiju went further south to the heartland of Shangdang area, such as Anmin City, Xiangyuan and Tunliu. Most of the families of the soldiers in Wusu were moved here. Once the enemy took advantage of the situation and invaded here, it would cause great unrest in Shangdang area.

After the Xiaweiju defenders received Wuxing King Gao Pu and his party, they immediately sent them to Duan Shao's camp, and Duan Shao also asked in detail about the war that had taken place in Wusu City recently.

When he saw that Wuxing King was still trembling and terrified, he couldn't help but feel disdain in his heart, so he simply sent Wuxing King and his party to Wuxiang City where the holy carriage is now.

Wuxiang City is located at the intersection of Nieshui and Wuxiangshui. These two waterways are tributaries of the northern source of Zhuozhangshui. Qi Lord Gao Yang has led his army to Wuxiang City for several days, and Wuxiang City is not far from Wusu City. Although there is no straight road between the two places, even if it is a winding mountain road, the distance is only a little over 100 miles.

However, the advance and retreat of the army is not as casual as the light travel, especially for such a large number of troops, it is necessary to choose a suitable open area just for camping and stationing. In addition, so many people and horses drink water every day, which is a huge consumption. Once there is a lack of drinking water supply, the consequences will be disastrous.

Although the area around Wusu City was originally the territory of Northern Qi, since the establishment of Northern Qi, there has been no long-term stationing of such a large number of troops and fighting in this area. In addition, the drought since the beginning of summer this year has greatly changed the hydrological conditions of the rivers and streams at the foot of Taihang Mountains. Many rivers that were originally abundant in water have suffered from drying up to varying degrees this year, and some springs and streams have disappeared due to drought.

In order to prevent the army from being defeated due to the drinking water problem, Gao Yang did not choose to go directly to Wusu City, but sent scouts to explore the roads and find water sources around this area.

As a result, while he was still preparing for the war, the vanguard brigade had already returned in defeat, which naturally made Gao Yang very angry. When Wuxing King Gao Pu was sent to Wuxiang City, Gao Yang immediately ordered him to be beheaded and displayed to the army, to show that the guilty must be punished in this battle, even the dignity of the prince is inevitable!

Next, Gao Yang issued a more generous reward to the scouts. Anyone who found a mountain stream spring that could provide drinking water for thousands of soldiers and horses would be immediately granted the title of county marquis, in order to motivate the morale of the soldiers, so that the army could be put into the battlefield as soon as possible and start a large-scale battle with the Western Wei!