Chapter 305: Difficult Escape

"Finally rushed out!"

Wuligai, having survived the disaster, sighed, and tears couldn't help but fall.

This battle was simply too tragic.

Of the 5,000 cavalry in his hands, less than two hundred rushed out.

A little bit more, and they would have been completely annihilated.

The situation of the other two routes was unknown, but it was thought they wouldn't be much better.

After this one battle, the severely damaged rear-guard army no longer had the strength to launch a counterattack.

At this time, the only thing to do was to gather the troops outside as soon as possible and withdraw from Jinan Prefecture as soon as possible.

On the city gate tower.

"Just let them leave like this?"

Marquis Marquis Wuyang asked with doubt.

It was not surprising that the enemy army could break out.

No matter how you surround them from all four sides, there will eventually be weak points, and it is normal for lucky ones to run out.

Breaking out of the encirclement does not mean they are safe.

The King-Relieving Army also had cavalry, and cleaning up a few remnants was not a problem at all.

It was the time when the enemy army was exhausted, and sending cavalry to pursue them wouldn't take much effort.

"Marquis, the Tatars are not of one mind internally, and there is also a blood feud between the Ghost Fang and the Tatars."

"In the Ghost Fang clan, they are headed by the Qiqihada, Hailaer, Huolinguole, Bayartu, and Gelar tribes."

"Among them, the Qiqihada tribe defected to the Tatars early on and can be considered their die-hard confidants."

"The other four tribes are different; they only submit on the surface, and in their hearts, they are still full of resentment toward the Tatars."

"The enemy army outside the city is mainly the Hailaer, Huolinguole, and Bayartu tribes."

"If we cripple them, the merger between the Ghost Fang and the Tatars will become a foregone conclusion."

"Once the Ghost Fang tribes are integrated, a monster with hundreds of thousands of troops will appear in the north."

"By then, the pressure on the Liaodong Garrison will be too great; even if the Liaodong Garrison is willing to fight to the death, it will be powerless to stop them from entering the pass."

"Even adding our King-Relieving Army, we won't be the enemy's opponent."

Li Mu said with a solemn face.

Clearly having the opportunity to annihilate the enemy army, but forced by the needs of the situation, he had to let them go.

The Tatars were only grassland overlords and hadn't unified the vast grassland yet, and the Great Great Dayu Dynasty was already struggling to cope.

If the enemy were allowed to unify the vast grassland, the consequences would be simply unimaginable.

Besides the needs of the situation, there was also the strife in the court, which also made him have to hold back a bit.

A tree standing out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind.

Being slightly stronger than other armies would at most attract jealousy and criticism.

The current record of the King-Relieving Army, if the Liaodong Garrison was willing, they could also achieve it, just with different battle losses.

For the Emperor, this was a military force that could be trusted.

If they performed too brilliantly and could easily annihilate tens of thousands of grassland cavalry, then the nature of the matter would change.

A military force that breaks the balance is a potential threat to an emperor.

Perhaps in the short term, forced by the needs of the situation, the Emperor would continue to reuse them.

Once time passed, suspicion would gradually take the upper hand.

As long as there was one thing done that didn't satisfy the Emperor, all the previous goodwill would return to zero, replaced by suspicion and suppression.

After weighing the pros and cons, Li Mu felt it was better to let the Liaodong Garrison stand in front and attract the firepower of the Emperor and the officials.

As for the Liangguang Garrison, after the King-Relieving War ended, he would just take the opportunity of rewarding meritorious service to carry out a split.

However, at this juncture, the court would likely not allow a split.

It was estimated that they would have to wait until Nanjing was recovered and the court's military pressure was reduced before carrying out a split.

Anyway, these two garrisons were products placed in the open, not his true direct line.

It just so happened that he could take the opportunity of the split to enjoy the treatment of having students and old subordinates all over the court.

"Cheapened these scumbags!"

Marquis Marquis Wuyang nodded and said.

He wanted the credit, but thinking of the terrible political consequences, he felt it was better to be cautious.

The heads of the Ghost Fang cavalry were also very valuable.

This battle captured over ten thousand, enough to be ennobled for military merit.

Adding the previous Jinan great victory and the series of military merits accumulated earlier, a hereditary marquis title was indispensable.

Going further, that wasn't something that could be obtained just by beheading.

Even if the enemy's rear-guard army was completely annihilated, it would at most be a better title.

In fact, the best titles among the marquis were basically occupied by the founding nobles.

No matter how great the merit was later, they couldn't compete with the original shareholders for titles.

"Marquis, it won't be cheap; there is trouble waiting for them behind."

"At the ferry crossing, arrangements have long been made for them; the Ghost Fang people's way back won't be peaceful."

"After this battle, the enemy army has already become birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, and their morale has been beaten away."

"Now is the time to pick up cheap deals."

"Pass the order down, let the cavalry attack and seize the enemy's loot."

Li Mu ordered with a smile.

When it came to beating a drowning dog, he wouldn't be soft-hearted.

Deliberately letting the enemy break out was just because he was afraid that the high-level officials of the three major tribes would all die, and internally they would be leaderless, giving the Tatars an opportunity.

As for the small soldiers below, they could be killed at will.

The Ghost Fang didn't lack population; dying tens of thousands didn't matter.

If the number of tribesmen was insufficient, then annex small tribes to supplement.

Tribal annexation and splitting were common occurrences on the vast grassland.

It mainly depends on the carrying capacity of the pasture; generally speaking, these large tribes split some small tribes every few years.

When needed, bringing people back is not difficult.

Of course, in the process of specific operation, it might not be so beautiful.

"Tribal Chief, the enemy army didn't pursue."

"Let the soldiers rest; even if people can persist, the warhorses can't take it anymore!"

Hearing his brother's words, Wuligai nodded slightly.

On this journey, they only focused on breaking out and didn't carry spare horses.

Having experienced the fighting on the battlefield and then the long-distance trek, the mounts under them had long since reached their limit.

Even during the escape, some warhorses were exhausted and fell halfway.

Just as the team was resting, a familiar team appeared on the horizon.

Seeing clearly who it was, Wuligai's tense nerves suddenly relaxed.

Encountering their own cavalry meant that the escape route was half successful.

"Tribal Chief, what is going on?"

Looking at the embarrassed team, Altai asked with a look of doubt.

"This morning, the enemy army suddenly sallied out of the city and launched an attack on our army."

"The enemy's firepower was too fierce; our cavalry archery was simply not an opponent."

"Forced by the situation, after the allied high-level officials discussed, they finally decided to abandon all loot and break out."

"After the brave fighting of the tribesmen, the number of troops from our Hailaer tribe who successfully broke out is only this many."

Wuligai said with a look of unwillingness.

The defeat was too tragic; facing the main Great Dayu army, they had no power to fight back at all.

The counterattacks launched all ended in failure.

Deep down, he secretly regretted not abandoning the camp earlier for the sake of that loot.

If they had abandoned the camp as soon as the enemy army launched the attack and fought the enemy army in the wild, they definitely wouldn't have been defeated so miserably.

The cavalry archery tactic they were most proud of was purely sending heads to the enemy in this great battle.

Compared to muskets, the range of bows and arrows was simply too close.

Not everyone had the bravery of Lu Bu, capable of shooting a halberd at the gate from 150 paces away.

Ordinary soldiers using bows and arrows had an effective lethality of only a few dozen meters, completely unable to compare with the enemy's muskets.

In the face of dense firepower, accuracy was secondary; the key was that the range was far enough.

Very regrettably, bows and arrows didn't beat the enemy's muskets in this kind of large-scale combat.

What was even worse was that the enemy also had close-range artillery.

Hundreds of meters away, they could cause damage to them.

Besides that, there was a pile of unique firearms aimed at cavalry, all hitting them at once.

Many times, they didn't know what happened, and a large area was killed or injured.

"The enemy's combat effectiveness is so strong, why didn't they sally out earlier?"

Altai asked in disbelief.

From the situation described by his tribal chief, even if they hadn't divided their troops, they wouldn't have had much chance of winning against the enemy.

If the enemy had sallied out earlier, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to go out and plunder at all.

"This is precisely the enemy's despicable nature!"

"If they had sallied out earlier, even if we weren't their opponents, we wouldn't have fallen into the current situation."

"But that thief Marquis Marquis Wuyang is the most cunning; he deliberately created an appearance for us that they were severely damaged and unable to launch a large-scale battle."

"If not for being blinded by them, we wouldn't have divided our troops to plunder."

"I dare to guarantee that the previous Jinan great battle, they didn't suffer much loss."

"The intelligence the Tatars gave us was all fake."

"The purpose was to use the Great Dayu people's hands to weaken our military strength!"

Wuligai said indignantly.

Deep down, he hated the Tatars to death.

He had seen unreliable ones, but none as unreliable as them.

Saying they annihilated tens of thousands of enemies and severely damaged Marquis Marquis Wuyang's troops was complete nonsense.

Any army, the most capable elite soldiers, are only a part of it.

Usually, as long as you kill these elite soldiers, the other soldiers are not worth worrying about.

The reality was cruel; the enemy's elite soldiers hadn't been damaged at all, and the previous Jinan battle was a joke.

The real great battle was the enemy suppressing the Tatars; without much effort, they achieved a complete victory.

To save face, they deliberately said they severely damaged the enemy.

It didn't matter if you faked it when publicizing to the outside, but you couldn't trap your allies!

If he had known the enemy's true combat effectiveness, he would have flashed away the first time after executing the containment mission.

"Damn Tatars!"

"I want to..."

In the blink of an eye, the scene was filled with curses.

The surviving Hailaer tribe officers and soldiers directly threw the responsibility for the defeat at the front to the Tatars.

As for the Great Dayu army that defeated them, not many people cursed them.

Compared to the enemy, everyone clearly hated the ally's betrayal more.

If not for their lack of strength, they would go to the Tatars now to ask for an explanation.

"Tribal Chief, since the enemy's combat effectiveness is so strong, what should we do about the loot we grabbed?"

After calming down, Altai asked with concern.

The loot in the main camp had all been lost, but the troops they sent out to plunder still had loot in their hands.

The Great Dayu army was powerful; it was almost impossible for them to safely transport this loot back to the vast grassland.

"Abandon it!"

"Qian Cai is an external object, far less important than the lives of the tribesmen."

"For everyone's safety, this hatred with the Great Dayu army can be recorded first."

"Gather the troops first, safely withdraw to the grassland, and then consider the issue of revenge!"

Wuligai said with a look of heartache.

After making this decision, he felt much more relaxed.

Having walked before the gates of hell, he suddenly discovered that he actually didn't love money that much.

No matter how good the loot was, it wasn't as important as his own life.

Carrying a large amount of loot on the road would inevitably affect the marching speed.

Once discovered by the enemy army and they gathered a large army to kill them, they wouldn't be able to handle it.

"Good!"

"I will arrange for people to contact the various tribes to withdraw."

Altai said, enduring his unwillingness.

The wealth that was in his hands suddenly flew away; life was truly full of ups and downs.

Not collapsing on the spot could be considered having a strong mentality.

"Report!"

"The enemy cavalry is killing their way over, less than ten miles away from here."

The news brought by the scout broke the sad atmosphere at the scene.

Compared to a small life, no amount of wealth was worth mentioning.

Without the slightest hesitation, everyone leaped onto their horses and galloped away, without any intention of staying to fight.

South side.

The Huolinguole tribe, which also broke out, had a much more miserable situation.

Because of the direction, they didn't encounter their own people on the way and could only try their best to break away from the enemy's pursuit.

The warhorses under them had long since gone on strike because they couldn't bear the burden.

The current Huolinguole cavalry had already been reduced to infantry, advancing with difficulty.

"Tribal Chief, we can't go forward anymore."

"We have already left Jinan Prefecture; if we run south again, returning north will be difficult."

Hearing the reminder from his subordinates, Wuri Mu immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.

When choosing the breakout direction, the three tribes decided by drawing lots.

Perhaps because they were cursed by the god of bad luck, he unfortunately drew breaking out to the south, which led to the current miserable situation.

Of course, this wasn't all bad.

The south was a dead end, and the military strength deployed by the government army in the south was relatively small.

The troops they broke out with were the most numerous among the three major tribes.

Running all the way to now, Wuri Mu was followed by more than six hundred people.

The only problem was that the escape direction was wrong, increasing the difficulty of withdrawal.

"Immediately change course, borrow the way from Yanzhou Prefecture, and cross the river from Eastern Depot!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Wuri Mu made the choice.

Having run such a long way, wanting to go to Qingzhou to gather the tribesmen was almost impossible.

The only way now was to take Yanzhou and hurry to cross the Yellow River.

If they were lucky, they might be able to catch up with the army returning north and follow them back to the vast grassland.

"Tribal Chief, what about the tribesmen in the east?"

"Without receiving notice, they are likely..."

Before the middle-aged man could finish speaking, Wuri Mu interrupted.

"Rest assured, although we didn't notify them, the Hailaer tribe broke out to the east."

"Seeing that the other tribes of the alliance have all withdrawn, if they aren't stupid, they will follow."

"If they don't even have this ability to distinguish, they deserve to die!"

"Compared to them, our current situation is the most dangerous."

"Having lost our warhorses, any government army can annihilate us!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 306 =====