"Enemy attack! Form ranks! Form ranks now!" the junior officer shouted hoarsely.
However, the troops were moving through narrow areas, and the front and rear could not support each other, so there was no time to form an effective defensive formation.
Even worse things were yet to come.
As soon as the war drums sounded, the once silent reed marshes seemed to come alive, and countless Northern Di infantrymen clad in leather armor and wielding curved swords and round shields surged out like ghosts.
Using the reeds as cover, they fiercely attacked the chaotic Dayin army, specifically targeting the horses' legs and engaging in close combat.
At the same time, dust rose on the horizon, and Wuzhu's main force of the Northern Di cavalry appeared!
They split into several groups and precisely cut into the already divided ranks of the Dafeng army.
"Don't panic! Come closer to me!"
Niu Desheng brandished his heavy phoenix-beak saber, cleaving a charging Di cavalryman and his horse in two with a single stroke, splattering blood all over him.
He was incredibly brave, and his personal guards fought desperately to protect him, but his individual prowess seemed so pale in the face of the overall collapse of the situation.
The Northern Di cavalry used their speed and impact to repeatedly charge and cut his army into countless small pieces, which they then annihilated one by one.
The battle turned into a one-sided massacre.
The muddy ground of Luoyan Marsh was stained dark red with blood, and tattered flags and severed limbs hung on the fallen reeds.
The soldiers waved their weapons in despair, but fell in droves under the charge of the cavalry and the entanglement of the infantry.
at the same time.
Ma Zongliang and Li Biao waited in Tanzhou, but instead of seeing Niu Desheng, they received the devastating news that Niu Desheng had been ambushed and surrounded in Luoyanze, Weizhou.
"Marshal! Commander Niu is in imminent danger! Should we send troops to his rescue immediately?" His generals asked one after another.
Ma Zongliang's face was ashen.
save?
Tanzhou is still some distance from where Niu Desheng is besieged. If we send troops out hastily, and Wuzhu has another ambush, or if Tanzhou is lost, not only will Niu Desheng be unable to be rescued, but our 80,000 troops may also be in danger.
Should we not save them?
Putting aside the friendship between colleagues, if Niu Desheng's 50,000 troops were completely annihilated, the entire decisive battle plan would be completely ruined, and the Great Feng would also suffer a great loss of strength.
He was caught in a great dilemma and struggle.
Inside the tent, the debate raged on, with the Salvationists and the Steadfasts each holding their own views.
Time slipped away little by little amidst the torment.
In Luoyan Marsh, Niu Desheng charged left and right, his body already wounded in many places, and his mount was also shot. Looking at his dwindling number of subordinates and the increasing number of Di soldiers surrounding him, an unprecedented despair welled up in his heart.
Hoping that Ma Zongliang would come to his rescue is definitely out of the question.
"Damn it, am I going to die here today?" he roared inwardly, and could only rely on instinct to swing his knife.
Just as Niu Desheng's troops were on the verge of collapse and Ma Zongliang was still struggling to weigh the options, the battlefield situation took an unexpected turn!
The Northern Di army besieging Niu Desheng suddenly weakened its offensive, and then, like the receding tide, under the command of the horns, orderly disengaged and quickly retreated northward!
Niu Desheng and his remaining soldiers, who had narrowly escaped death, could hardly believe their eyes.
Without a second thought, they seized the opportunity to gather their remaining troops and reunite with the supply train that had arrived from the rear and Li Bao's troops, who were finally able to leave the city.
A headcount revealed that nearly half of the 50,000-strong army had been wiped out, and Niu Desheng himself had suffered multiple injuries, making it a crushing defeat.
He was both relieved to have escaped with his life and utterly bewildered by the inexplicable retreat of the Northern Barbarians. Filled with doubt and with the remnants of his defeated army, he and Li Bao hurried to Tanzhou in a sorry state.
......
The Northern Di camp in Liyang, the central command tent.
"Useless! A bunch of useless trash! We were about to annihilate Niu Desheng, why did you retreat?"
Wuzhu flew into a rage and kicked over the table in front of him, scattering precious gold and silver utensils all over the floor.
He had been planning for a long time and was about to win a great victory, but at the crucial moment, he failed.
A weary messenger knelt on the ground, trembling as he presented a secret letter:
"Your Majesty, this is an urgent report from Hebei! General Han Yanshou has ordered me to deliver it immediately!"
Wuzhu snatched the secret letter, tore off the sealing wax, and after just one glance, his face turned ashen, then flushed red.
"Zhao! Mu! Yun!"
He practically spat out those three words through clenched teeth, his voice filled with disbelief and raging fury.
The generals inside the tent looked at each other, wondering what had happened.
Wuzhu slammed the secret letter to the ground and roared, "Zhao Muyun of Hedong! He led ten thousand isolated troops out of Jingxing, into Hebei, and captured several of my cities in succession. Yesterday... yesterday he even captured Zhuozhou!"
"What? Zhuozhou?"
"How is this possible?"
An uproar immediately erupted inside the tent!
What kind of place is Zhuozhou?
That is the throat of Youzhou City to the south, the core passage connecting Yanyun Road and Hebei Road!
The loss of Zhuozhou not only severely threatened the supply lines, but also exposed the main base of Youzhou to the enemy's advance!
"He only has 10,000 men?" one general asked, unable to believe it.
"Ten thousand men dared to penetrate deep into our territory and even capture Zhuozhou?" Others felt humiliated.
Wuzhu forced himself to calm down. He walked to the map, stared intently at the location of Zhuozhou, then glanced at the direction of Tanzhou, a resolute glint in his eyes.
"If Zhao Muyun is not eliminated, he will become a great threat! His military force is already pointing directly at Youzhou. If Youzhou is lost, we will all become rootless duckweed!"
He looked around at his generals and said, “The Fengtian Army in the direction of Tanzhou has lost all its courage after this defeat. Ma Zongliang is experienced and prudent, and he will not dare to take the initiative to fight in the short term. It is not very meaningful for our army to confront them here.”
He paused, then said in a deep voice, "Send the order! The main force of the army shall temporarily halt its pressure on Tanzhou and consolidate its defensive lines."
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