Chapter 383: Hong Chengchou, the shrewd and calculating man, and Huang Taiji's tit-for-tat
"Grand Governor!"
"Huang Taiji has already fled with the remaining hundreds of thousands of Tartar soldiers!"
"They are at least hundreds of miles away. Our army is moving fast and the time we can support the round trip is limited. It is not enough to launch a pursuit."
Lu Xiangsheng first led the Tianxiong Army soldiers to form a formation and charge to the Qingshui River. Hu Dawei, who was responsible for closely monitoring the enemy's whereabouts, rode a level five peak green-feathered peacock and flew rapidly from the sky above the river. He landed in front of Lu Xiangsheng, who had just disbanded the army formation, and hurriedly reported.
"These Tartars... can they run so fast?"
Lu Xiangsheng frowned upon hearing this and said helplessly, "This Huang Taiji is too decisive. He is indeed the hero who led the Later Jin clan to rise rapidly."
This big world is too vast. The battlefield where they and Oboi were previously located sounded not far from the Qingshui River, but in fact the distance was a thousand miles away.
After they killed those Sauron dead soldiers, even though they rushed here at the fastest speed, they were still a step too slow.
"Grand Commander, Huang Taiji is very cunning. He ordered that thousands of Tartar soldiers be transported to each of the dozen or so medium-quality treasure ships to cover the more than 100,000 Tartars as they dived."
"These tens of thousands of Tartar soldiers on the big ship formed a military formation and stood ready on the ship to deal with our two level 5 peak spirit birds, the peacocks, to avoid being hunted down by them."
"Even if you, the Grand Commander, personally ride a peacock to chase them, you will be blocked by the enemy's army formation and counterattack, and your efforts will be in vain."
Previously, Hu Dawei wanted to ride a large peacock with green feathers to attack the Tartar soldiers who jumped into the water to escape, but he was blocked by the Tartar army on the escorting treasure ship, and had to give up the idea of chasing and killing some of the enemy soldiers.
Although Hu Dawei had already reached the late fifth stage of cultivation, and had the help of a great peacock at the peak fifth stage, and had the advantage in the air, he was unable to do anything to the enemy. Instead, he was forced to retreat and could only watch the enemy dive away from high in the sky.
This is the foundation of humanity: the power of the military killing array.
As long as there is an army of 10,000 elite soldiers, forming a battle formation under the leadership of a level 5 general, it is enough to contend with one or two strong men in the early or middle stage of level 6.
Hu Dawei was right. Even if Lu Xiangsheng himself was riding a level five peak peacock to chase the enemy, he would not dare to take the risk alone.
This is the same reason why Li Dingguo, after defeating Huang Taiji two months ago, did not dare to attack the Later Jin Tatar army alone even while riding a level six golden eagle.
In the end, Li Dingguo could only watch as Huang Taiji led an army of over 100,000 to flee in panic, but he could do nothing about it.
At this time, smoke and dust rose from the rear, and troops from various armies formed battle formations and marched forward.
Everyone looked at the empty Qingshui River and their faces suddenly changed.
Such a rare opportunity to give someone a good beating just slipped away right before everyone's eyes.
This was a rare and excellent opportunity to accomplish great deeds, but in the end the soldiers were greatly disappointed.
"Commander Lu, don't worry."
Hong Chengchou flashed in front of Lu Xiangsheng and said to him, "I didn't waste my time in the past period of time."
"I have already thought of these problems, and have specially arranged some large treasure ships on the major rivers in the Datong and Xuanfu areas to assist our army in its rapid transfer."
"Among them, Qingshui River is the only way for the Tartars to return north. I have arranged a fleet of more than a hundred large treasure ships of various levels."
"These large treasure ships were gathered by wealthy people from all over Northern Zhili, in order to ask our army to protect the safety of their families and prevent them from being harmed by the Tartars' actions of entering the pass."
He smiled confidently and said, "When our army sets out to the north, I have already ordered the large fleet in the Qingshui River to follow our army northward. The time will soon arrive."
"He Huang Taiji wants to retreat so easily? Haha... You should ask me, Hong Chengchou, whether I agree or not!"
"How can they do this without paying a heavy price?"
It is an indisputable fact that even Huang Taiji could not compare to Hong Chengchou when it came to conspiracy and intrigue.
Hong Chengchou had already thought of what Huang Taiji could think of. How could he allow the other party to take advantage of such a big loophole?
"I have even deployed a large fleet in the Nanhe River, Longmen River, and Dushi River in the north. The speed of our subsequent operations will far exceed that of the Tartar army led by Huang Taiji!"
"As long as our two armies work together and launch a relentless pursuit, the enemy will have to pay a heavy price even if they can withdraw!"
The generals at the scene were originally sighing, but when they heard what Hong Chengchou said, their eyes suddenly brightened up!
“That’s great!”
"The Grand Commander has indeed made every possible plan. Now we'll see if Huang Taiji can still laugh!"
"Yes, yes! As long as Huang Taiji doesn't want to be cut off from behind by Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army, he will not dare to engage in a protracted fight with our army and can only retreat northward. With their unstable military morale, what can they use to fight us?"
"That's right, we're going to have a good show to watch next! As the enemy is distracted, we can easily recover all the lost territory captured by the Tartars, without any problem!"...
There cannot be any fool among the generals who can cultivate to the Qi Refining Realm. After Hong Chengchou finished speaking, they all knew that this was a God-given opportunity.
Victory is already certain for our pursuit this time, and great results may be achieved.
"it is good!"
"Governor Hong, you have thought it through very carefully!"
Lu Xiangsheng was also overjoyed when he heard this and praised it repeatedly.
He originally thought that the large-scale pursuit operation initiated by his side would come to an abrupt end here, and he could only watch Huang Taiji calmly lead hundreds of thousands of troops out of the pass.
Perhaps these Tartars would burn, kill and loot at will along the way, causing suffering to hundreds of millions of Ming soldiers and civilians.
That was the situation that Lu Xiangsheng least wanted to see.
The proper arrangements made by the shrewd Hong Chengchou in the early stage undoubtedly completely shattered Huang Taiji's wishful thinking.
As long as Huang Taiji didn't want to die, how could he dare to continue staying in the territory of the Ming Dynasty when he was surrounded by the Fuxing Army behind him and pressed by two million Ming Dynasty troops in front of him?
If you run any slower, you will be in danger of being wiped out.
As long as Huang Taiji is not stupid, he will definitely lead his army to escape for his life.
In this situation, it is inevitable to lose sight of one thing while focusing on another, and you may suffer heavy losses again.
"Grand Governor!"
At this moment, Hong Yuanfeng pointed excitedly at a large fleet that appeared and approached at high speed on the river in the southwest, and shouted to Hong Chengchou, "The large fleet led by Uncle Hong has arrived in time!"
"We must board the ship as soon as possible and start chasing the Tartar soldiers. Maybe we can stop them before they jump into the water and escape to the shore!"
"We will have a great battle with Huang Taiji on the opposite bank of the Qingshui River. We must teach him a profound lesson!"
Hong Yuanfeng was right. The speed of the treasure ship was much faster than humans escaping by diving.
Even for a cultivator at the Qi Refining Stage, the speed at which he escapes by diving is far inferior to the speed of even a low-grade treasure ship.
If we seize the time now, it is very likely that we can catch up with them before those Tartar soldiers dive ashore.
The other party's escape destination was very clear, which was Yanqing Prefecture City on the north bank of the Qingshui River.
There was no need to choose the direction of pursuit, just take the big treasure ship and cross the river directly. Even if the number of all the Qi Refining Realm generals in the alliance army was not as large as that of the Tartars, it would not be much different.
After the powerful Sauron dead soldiers were completely wiped out, among the remaining 700,000 Tartar soldiers, there were at most 2,000 generals in the Qi Refining Realm, which was not much different from their own nearly 2,000 people.
But in terms of military morale, our side is much stronger than the enemy.
Whenever two armies fight, the morale of the soldiers is definitely the most important factor, and can even determine the outcome of a war.
The military situation was urgent. When Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou saw their large fleet approaching, they immediately ordered their soldiers to quickly organize their troops into battle array.
A large fleet quickly approached the river bank, including three large treasure ships of high quality and more than a hundred medium and low quality treasure ships.
With so many treasure ships, if the soldiers squeeze into one, they can transport all the soldiers here away at once.
This is mainly because the two armies have very few cavalry, which is less than 10% of all the soldiers.
Even among less than 10% of the cavalry, each person basically only had one spirit beast warhorse, and the number of soldiers who could equip two horses was less than 10,000.
The source of these spiritual beasts and war horses was several 10,000-man army of soldiers that the Tartars had previously sent out to raid the valleys. They were captured after they were ambushed and killed by Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng.
This is enough to show how scarce the spiritual beasts and war horses were in the Ming Dynasty.
It also reflects the extent of the decline of the Ming Dynasty, which is far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
About half an hour later, all the soldiers, under the command of a famous general, quickly boarded the ship.
"set off!"
Hong Chengchou waved his hand towards Hong Bo, the leader of the fleet who was waiting on the side, and immediately gave orders.
"Dudu..."
As the navy's special ox-horn trumpets were blown, one after another, led by three large top-quality treasure ships, left the river bank.
They quickly formed two columns on the river and headed towards Yanqing City on the opposite bank.
The speed of the treasure ship was getting faster and faster, and soon it disappeared into the depths of the rolling waves.
……
"Khan! It's bad!"
Yangguli, who was in charge of the rear guard, quickly caught up with Huang Taiji's flagship on a medium-quality treasure ship, leaped to Huang Taiji's side, and hurriedly reported, "Hong Chengchou was well prepared. Less than an hour after we evacuated from the south bank, he assembled a large fleet to pursue us!"
"Their fleet has a lot of treasure ships, more than a hundred, and there are three top-quality treasure ships!"
"We have more than 100,000 soldiers diving across the river, and there are still dozens of miles to reach the river bank of the East Gate of Yanqing Prefecture. It's too late!"
"The enemy is only about a hundred miles away from us now. In less than a quarter of an hour, they will catch up with us at the river bank of the East Gate of Yanqing Prefecture!"
His words were anxious.
There was no need to worry about the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who had already arrived at the big dock on the river bank of Yanqing Prefecture. The problem was that there were still hundreds of thousands of soldiers on our side swimming in the river!
In order to desperately escape to the other side of the river, these soldiers sneaked at full speed, and their physical strength and blood energy were basically exhausted. Once caught up by the enemy's fleet, how could they fight back?
At that time, it was undoubtedly a massacre.
The Later Jin clan, which had already suffered heavy losses, would feel so sour if it lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers again. Even Yangguli did not dare to think about it, let alone Huang Taiji.
"Why panic!"
Huang Taiji shouted, "On the river bank a few dozen miles ahead, we have 600,000 soldiers standing guard, ready to stop the enemy fleet from pursuing us!"
"The troops of Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou had previously fought a fierce battle with the 70,000 dead soldiers of the Sauron tribe led by Aobai, and their blood and physical strength were also greatly consumed!"
"Even if they chased us to the East City Pier of Yanqing Prefecture, would they dare to engage in a head-on battle with our soldiers who have been waiting on the river bank for a long time?"
"Go to the big dock ahead and inform Hauge immediately. Ask him to lead the soldiers to prepare for battle!"
"Once the enemy's treasure ship comes after us, immediately command the soldiers to activate the military killing formation to fight!"
"I will personally lead the tens of thousands of soldiers on these dozen treasure ships to launch an attack on the Ming army!"
The 50,000 to 60,000 Plain Yellow Banner soldiers led by Huang Taiji were in peak condition and were not afraid of attacks launched by the enemy after they came after them.
His level six cultivation is not to be trifled with, not to mention he has his own innate divine weapon, so it is no problem for him to stop Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army.
After all, the Tianxiong Army had experienced a great battle before, and the soldiers did not have enough time to recover to their peak condition.
Including Lu Xiangsheng himself, the blood and physical strength of the Tianxiong Army soldiers have been consumed by more than half, and they are no match for Huang Taiji.
Huang Taiji dared to bet that the enemy would not be able to defeat him quickly, and might even be forced to retreat by the Later Jin army.
As for the enemy directly chasing ashore and engaging in a head-on battle with our soldiers, that would be a joke.
Although the Ming Dynasty's official army had two million soldiers, except for Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army and Hong Chengchou's personal guards, most of the soldiers were good-for-nothings and could not withstand a single blow.
Only a few strong armies such as Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liangyu had decent combat effectiveness. It was not an exaggeration to call the remaining millions of soldiers a bunch of trash.
Moreover, Cao Bianjiao, who was known as the best general in the world, did not seem to be in Cao Wenzhao's army, which undoubtedly eliminated Huang Taiji's biggest concern.
Huang Taiji could guess that Cao Bianjiao must have broken through to the sixth level.
After all, the title of the world's number one military general is not just a name.
But it is still unclear why Cao Bianjiao was not in Cao Wenzhao's army.
But no matter what, this is a good thing, a very good thing.
"Yes! Great Khan!"
After being scolded by Huang Taiji, Yangguli finally calmed down and felt relieved. He immediately took orders and flew over Lingbo and away.
This place is only a few dozen miles away from Yanqing Prefecture. Even if he walks on the waves, he can quickly cross this section of the river and promptly notify Hauge and others who are lined up at the large dock ahead.
Huang Taiji was right.
The current situation cannot be called a major crisis at all, and we can easily resolve it.
However, the Ming army's pursuit was so fast that it was very unfavorable to their subsequent retreat plan and caused considerable trouble.
(End of this chapter)
