Gongsun Yuan was a little arrogant and acted blindly in strategy, but in terms of specific tactical command, he still maintained the level of a normal general.
Although Liaodong is located in a remote area, it is after all a legitimate Han territory. The army has smooth command from top to bottom, so it can naturally exert combat power similar to that of ordinary county soldiers.
Heshenggu City was originally a mountain city.
Whether it was Gongsun Yuan or Man Chong and others in the east, they all had to march forward along the river valleys and mountain plains.
The Gongsun clan had been separatist for half a century, so they were familiar with mountain warfare. Gongsun Yuan also followed the previous tactics, digging trenches and building wooden fences on the main roads, and placing crossbow positions on the side hills, thinking that this would be foolproof.
But the opponent he faced was the Wei army, which had fought against the Eastern Wu and Shu Han in this era. He was not afraid of the bloody battle with Zhuge Liang in the Chiting River Valley, so how could he be afraid of Gongsun Yuan?
Gongsun Yuan had 20,000 combat troops, while Man Chong had 25,000 cavalry. The Yulin Left Army, except for Jiang Wei's 8,000 cavalry and the 4,000 light cavalry in the Five Colonels' Camp, were all here. The 13,000 light cavalry of the Xianbei, Wuhuan, and Xiongnu were also waiting in the rear.
In less than an hour, the positions set up by Gongsun Yuan and his subordinates were broken by Man Chong's troops. However, the method of conquering Gongsun Yuan's temporary positions could not be simpler.
General Wen Qin of the Left Imperial Guards was confident of his bravery and personally led a thousand armored cavalrymen to dismount and fight on foot in the front.
With the national strength of the Wei Dynasty, they only managed to gather two thousand armored cavalry in about a year. These soldiers were the best in the central army in terms of bravery, and even in infantry combat, they were first-rate!
These elite soldiers, armed with 10-foot-long lances and wearing Ming Guang heavy armor, formed a battle formation and charged eastward in two directions. The Ming Guang armor, which was difficult to penetrate even by bows and arrows, was extremely dazzling in the morning sun, and quickly tore a hole in the front line of the Liaodong Army, which had little desire to fight.
Sun Li and Dai Ling led their troops to follow Wen Qin to expand the battle. The Xianbei and Wuhuan took advantage of the gap and swarmed in, and Gongsun Yuan's battle situation collapsed in an instant.
This is a matter of course.
The army is a whole. Among 20,000 soldiers there are 20,000 individuals and 20,000 ideas.
Gongsun Yuan tricked these people into conquering Goguryeo. It was inevitable that there would be complaints when the troops were dispatched in a hurry, but they were suppressed by military discipline and military orders. And in the past two days, the soldiers were asked to resist the enemy from the west, which was even more ridiculous.
To the west is Xiangping! My home is in Xiangping!
The enemy is coming from Xiangping, how can you not understand this?
Yang Zuo pulled the stunned Gongsun Yuan and shouted anxiously, "My Lord! My Lord, please leave quickly. Don't stay here in a daze. If you don't leave now, you will really be stuck!"
Gongsun Yuan stared blankly at the position to the west that was easily broken by Wen Qin, and muttered: "Impossible! How could the infantry break through my defense so easily?"
"What are you still standing there for?" Guo Xin stared at Yang Zuo fiercely, "Hurry up and get someone to help the lord onto his horse! We still have five hundred cavalry here, hurry up and leave!"
As he was talking, Guo Xin took the initiative to step forward and grabbed one of Gongsun Yuan's arms, trying to drag him to the side of the horse.
"Yes, let's go quickly!" Gongsun Yuan came to his senses, quickly jumped on his horse, and fled northward through the valley with the last 500 cavalrymen.
People who were fleeing were naturally panicking and would take any route they could, regardless of which one they chose. This place was mountainous and had many forked roads. The Wuhuan and Xianbei people chased for two hours, but seeing that there was no hope, they stopped chasing and returned to the city of Heshenggu to wait for orders.
Gongsun Yuan and his 500 cavalrymen ignored their horses, abandoned their armor, helmets and lances, and desperately fled north. After two hours of flying, they finally found a river valley to rest.
Whether in Liaodong or in Wei, cavalry was more elite than infantry. During the rest time, these cavalrymen would either feed the horses with beans from the bags on the side of the horses, or drink water and eat dry food.
As soon as Gongsun Yuan stopped, all kinds of random thoughts flooded into his mind, and he sat on a big rock by the river and sighed.
"Does the Chief Secretary have any other plans?" Gongsun Yuan stared at Guo Xin eagerly. "We are heading north from Heshenggu City. We can't go to Goguryeo. How about going to Buyeo? If that doesn't work, how about bypassing Buyeo and entering the grassland and going to Dingling?"
"There are always places where the Wei army can't catch up!"
Guo Xin sighed lightly and ignored Gongsun Yuan. Instead, he pulled Yang Zuo over and looked around for a few times before lowering his voice and saying, "General Yang, we have fled here from Heshenggu City. I'm afraid the cavalry have become disloyal."
"I see these cavalrymen are either feeding their horses or drinking water, they may run away at any time!"
Yang Zuo smiled bitterly and said, "Guo Changshi, you and I have received great favor from our lord and are able to stay here together. How can such favor be extended to all five hundred people?"
"Don't think too much. Take a break and get on your horse. Then we can keep going. That way, the cavalry won't have any more thoughts!"
Guo Xin nodded: "General Yang is right. My lord, please don't sit still. Mount your horse and tell everyone to continue heading north!"
Gongsun Yuan also mustered up his last bit of courage, mounted his horse, brandished his sword, shouted to go to Xuantu County to organize the troops, and encouraged the soldiers to continue mounting their horses and marching.
By this time, the sun was gradually setting. After walking for more than an hour, the sky gradually darkened, and Gongsun Yuan, Guo Xin, and Yang Zuo kept discovering that some people were falling behind.
At first, there were five or ten people falling behind, but two quarters of an hour ago, a cavalry commander turned around and left with a hundred cavalrymen without saying a word!
With the end of his rope, Gongsun Yuan was unable to control the situation and could only pretend to be ignorant and win over the dozens of cavalrymen around him.
As it was getting dark, when Gongsun Yuan stopped again to prepare to spend the night, there were only 28 riders left by his side, except Guo Xin and Yang Zuo.
Gongsun Yuan suppressed his hatred and grief, ordered people to build a fire, and then gathered the twenty-eight people around the fire. With his fingers trembling, he moved his lips and tongue and promised:
"Don't be afraid of my defeat today. My father and grandfather have been in Liaodong for three generations, and the people of Liaodong still support me! After the Wei army retreats in winter, I will definitely come back! Today I have 28 riders at my side. Do you know that Emperor Guangwu of Han also had 28 generals in the Cloud Terrace?"
"When I arrive in Xuantu County and gather the troops to defeat the Wei army, you will all be granted titles of nobility! You are all my brothers, Gongsun Yuan's flesh and blood!"
The cavalrymen looked at each other. After all, they had followed their lord for many years, so they could only respond to Gongsun Yuan's words.
This is in the mountains. If we see that the situation is not good and hide in the woods, who can do anything?
As they were talking, many moths suddenly flapped their wings and flew out from the forest, flying straight into the fire. They came in densely packed numbers, one after another, as if they completely ignored death.
This strange sight left everyone stunned for a moment.
Gongsun Yuan's throat moved and he swallowed his saliva: "Don't look at it, who brought dry food immediately? Take it out and fill our stomachs together."
The cavalrymen were busy dodging the moths, which were flying towards them and making a lot of noise. They all heard what Gongsun Yuan said, but no one answered him for a while.
Seeing this, Guo Xin sighed and took out some dried meat from the bag on his horse's side. He paused for a few moments, then put the dried meat back. He adjusted his sash, straightened the edge of his collar, shook his sleeves, and took off the bag in his hand.
Guo Xin walked forward slowly, bowed, and then handed over the bag in his hand: "My lord, I have some dried meat here, please have some."
Gongsun Yuan's eyes lit up, and he took the bag and reached into it with his right hand. He first took out a piece and handed it to Yang Zuo, and then took out another piece to pass to the other cavalrymen. He raised his hand for a few moments, and seeing that the others were two feet away, Gongsun Yuan bit the dried meat in his mouth and reached into the bag again.
Guo Xin held Gongsun Yuan's hand and said, "There is not much dried meat left. My Lord, please eat slowly."
Gongsun Yuan looked up, looking at Guo Xin's face which was dimmed by the firelight, and subconsciously asked, "The Chief Secretary gave me all the dried meat, what do you eat?"
Guo Xin just smiled, his left hand still pressing on Gongsun Yuan's hand in the bag, and a dagger appeared in his right hand at some point.
He stabbed himself in the neck casually, and a stream of blood spurted out instantly, and then he fell heavily to the ground.
Gongsun Yuan was stunned.
Gongsun Yuan was not the only one who was stunned. Yang Zuo also stood there with his mouth wide open but could not utter a single word. When the cavalrymen behind him heard this, they also stopped and looked at the scene.
Gongsun Yuan watched Guo Xin's blood splatter on his body, flow onto his hands, and a few drops flow onto the dried meat in the bag. It took him a long while to come back to his senses.
After a day of tense expression, he finally couldn't hold it anymore. Tears flowed out like a landslide, and he no longer pretended to be calm. He sat on the ground and cried, his heart was broken.
Gongsun Yuan just sat there, and even though Yang Zuo beside him shook his shoulders and tried to pull him up, he just kept staring at Guo Xin's body in the firelight.
Yang Zuo had no choice but to lead his horse into the forest at night. The 28 cavalrymen saw that the situation was not good and rode away on horseback.
It was not until the afternoon of the second day that ten cavalrymen under Sun Li's command finally followed the route of Gongsun Yuan's troops yesterday and arrived here.
"Who are you?" The cavalry sergeant dismounted and pointed his sword at Gongsun Yuan.
Gongsun Yuan raised his eyes and glanced at the man, then said in a hoarse voice: "I am Gongsun Yuan, you can capture me."
The cavalry sergeant thought for a few moments, picked up the sword from Gongsun Yuan's waist and slashed hard at his left arm. Seeing blood gushing out, he used his ring-handled sword to chop off Gongsun Yuan's head.
Clean and neat. (End of this chapter)
