Huang Mingzheng soon discovered the Tang army's breakthrough and immediately mobilized troops to stop it.

However, the Tongguan River was also dozens of paces wide, and the Sui army could not get close to the Tang army as it flowed downstream. Although the Sui army's cavalry, riding on horseback, kept shooting arrows at the Tang army on the boat, they could still shoot dozens of arrows from the horse.

There were still only a few knights on foot, and the mounted archery at this time was just a harassment tactic, so the bows and arrows were sparse and did not have much lethality.

Huang Mingzheng saw that the effect was not good, so he ordered Wang Nandi to cross the Tongguan River, and Zuo Chuan and his two men on the east bank each led their cavalry to pursue downstream. Huang Mingzheng himself led his army to attack Tongguan City.

Zhang Pinggao was still very panicked when he saw the Sui army chasing him. But seeing that the Sui army could not do anything to them, he felt relieved.

From Tongguan to Huayuan, a distance of about forty miles, the soldiers of the Tang army sat on the boat and rowed forward with all their strength. By following the current, they would arrive in almost two hours.

When Zhang Pinggao saw Huayuan County from a distance, he ordered his people to hold up a large flag and wave it constantly to signal to the city and ask for support.

Huayuan City is located at the junction of Tongguan River and Jushui. Boats can reach the west gate of Huayuan City directly.

The fleet continued to approach the city, but there was no response from the city.

The troops in front were landing one after another, and Zhang Pinggao ordered people to call the door.

Until now, Zhang Pinggao was a little suspicious. Huayuan City was quiet and there was no sound. Could it be that Li Shentong had abandoned the city and fled?

Thinking of this, Zhang Pinggao was startled by his own thoughts. Then he shook his head and couldn't help but smile, feeling that he was too suspicious. How could Li Shentong escape without a fight and not send him a message?

Everyone approached the city wall, but no door was opened yet.

At this time, a school captain came forward to call the door. Suddenly someone appeared on the top of the city and shot an arrow at this person.

The captain was caught off guard and was nailed to death on the spot.

This arrow was like a signal, and suddenly the whole wall of Huayuan City was filled with people, and the shouts of killing were loud.

Countless flags were erected beside the female wall. I saw the big flag with the word "Sui" fluttering in the wind. The crimson flag was an eyesore.

Zhang Pinggao was shocked and couldn't believe how the Sui army entered Huayuan City.

It wasn't that the Sui army had divine help. This time, it was Li Shentong, the idiot, who once again helped the Sui army.

After asking Zhang Pinggao to force a breakout, Li Shentong was ready to break out. The original plan was indeed that he would meet Zhang Pinggao in Huayuan City, and then the two armies would join forces and move south together.

But early the next morning, Li Shentong suddenly discovered that the Sui army's cavalry appeared outside the city. At noon, a large group of Sui troops rushed towards Huayuan City and set up camp across the Jushui River.

This unit was Li Zhengbao's tribe originally stationed in Huangqin Mountain, with about 5,000 people.

Li Zhengbao had been stationed in Huangqin Mountain before, responsible for monitoring Xue Rengao in the direction of Binzhou, and at the same time threatening the sides and rear of Huayuan City.

After learning that Huang Mingliao had entered Guanzhong and threatened Chang'an, Huang Mingzheng ordered Li Zhengbao to lead his army south and pretend to threaten Huayuan City.

Huang Mingzheng's original intention was to use Li Zhengbao's troops to keep Li Shentong in check so that he would not dare to rush north to join Zhang Pinggao's army. This move was more intended to intimidate.

In fact, Li Zhengbao's troops are only one-third of Li Shentong's troops. If they attack by force, it will definitely be impossible to win.

But no one expected that when Li Shentong saw the Sui army approaching Huayuan City, he panicked and prepared to retreat in advance.

Li Shentong's chief historian, Pei Ji, advised Li Shentong to wait for two more days, at least until Zhang Pinggao retreated to Huayuan before retreating.

But Li Shentong disagreed. In Li Shentong's view, Zhang Ping was trapped in Tongguan's death. Even if he could retreat, he didn't know how much he could withdraw. Moreover, Tongguan, Huayuan is so close, if the Tianjie Army comes, the Sui Army will definitely come too.

The Sui army's cavalry was elite and good at field battles. Once Huayuan City was surrounded, Li Shentong would be the second Zhang Pinggao and would not be able to withdraw at all.

Especially when part of the Sui army had surrounded Huayuan from the side, Li Shentong even doubted whether Zhang Pinggao's troops still existed.

Faced with Li Shentong's doubts, no one dared to say anything.

After all, this is a dilemma. Although the Tianjie Army is a friendly army, the Taoist friends are not dead. At this time, they can only take care of themselves.

So on the day Li Zhengbao approached the city, before even crossing the river, Li Shentong ordered the entire army to abandon Huayuan City and break out in the direction of Jingyang.

Li Shentong called this retreat a breakout.

Li Zhengbao had less cavalry and could not stop him, so he had to send people to follow Li Shentong, delaying the opponent's steps bit by bit, while he himself took the opportunity to occupy Huayuan City.

Before Li Shentong retreated, he also sent people to his colleagues to deliver a message to Zhang Pinggao, ordering him to go directly west and evacuate to Baishui. Unfortunately, this letter was just a formality, and the person who delivered the letter was hunted down by the Sui army's cavalry.

This letter was never delivered to Master Zhang Ping.

Although the Sui army did not completely surround Tongguan, they basically controlled the entry and exit of Tongguan by virtue of their powerful cavalry capabilities.

That's why this piece of Pinggao crashed into the arms of Sui Jun.

The distance of forty miles took two hours by boat, but the cavalry could not take that long at all, so Zhang Pinggao was not there, but Li Zhengbao was prepared and opened a big net, just waiting for Zhang Pinggao to hit the net.

middle.

Facing the Sui army's attack, Zhang Pinggao immediately ordered to board the ship and retreat without bothering to find out the reason.

But this time it's not that easy.

Li Zhengbao ordered his men to pull up the two iron chains hidden in the water and intercept the river, blocking the way for everyone to go south.

The panicked Tang army tried to escape to the other side again, but as soon as a group of people landed on the west bank of Jushui, groups of cavalry rushed over from one area.

Li Zhengbao had five thousand men and horses in his hands, two thousand to pursue Li Shentong, one thousand to stay in the city, one thousand to be deployed on the west bank of Jushui, and one thousand to the south of Huayuan City.

It can be said that Li Zhengbao has almost accurately calculated all possible routes for Zhang Pinggao and made arrangements.

Although there were only more than a thousand men and horses everywhere, the number was not large, but he had the upper hand by waiting for work. Moreover, Li Zhengbao's purpose was not to annihilate the enemy. As long as he could hold back this group of Tang troops, Zhang Pinggao's Tianjie army would wait until Huang Mingzheng's main force moved south.

, don’t even think about escaping.

The battlefield was chaotic, and the chaotic Tang army fled in all directions.

Zhang Pinggao personally led his people across the river to the west, preparing to fight a bloody road.

But the Sui army on the opposite side was like a cowhide plaster, clinging to them and refusing to let go. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but they just couldn't get away.

I don't know how long the fight lasted, but Zhang Pinggao heard bursts of horn blasts.

All armies in the world use drums when entering and gold when retreating. Only the Fengzhou Cavalry can use copper horns. This rapid sound of trumpets is the charging horn of the Fengzhou Cavalry.
Chapter completed!