Chapter 261 Raid
Lu Nianqing and General Li led the reinforcements to quickly take control of the battlefield situation and chased the Xilin border troops who were fleeing westward.
Lu Jing was extremely anxious. He gently placed his fingers on Su Qingwan's pulse, feeling the weak beating. His heart was full of worry. He did not dare to move her at all. He immediately ordered the military doctor to carry her away for treatment.
General Xiaoning and Zhang Huaining were both seriously injured. Zhang Huaining was too seriously injured to fight again, but General Xiaoning endured the pain and continued to fight bravely with Lu Nianqing. Although Zhang Huaining was seriously injured, he still supported his weak body and devoted himself to the work of rescuing the wounded.
Su Qingwan was quickly carried into Huainan City. Lu Jing had no intention of staying in the palace for too long. He knew that Su Qingwan was seriously injured. If she couldn't be saved, she might not even have a chance to recover. If she could miraculously survive, it could only be said that she was lucky. "We will do our best to treat the princess. If we can't save her, we will hold you responsible!"
Lu Jing hurriedly said this, then hurried out of the house, jumped on his horse, and quickly left the city and rushed back to the battlefield.
Lu Jing was on his way back to Beijing with Li An and the Jinyiwei when he saw the beacon fire in Huainan City from afar. He was shocked, knowing that this meant the outbreak of a border war, and this was the first time in the history of Huainan City that beacon fire was lit.
When the King of Huainan was alive, Huainan City was attacked only once, and no smoke signals were lit to ask for help. Today, Huainan City has not yet formed a strong army of its own, and only has a light cavalry dispatched from the southwest. Xilin and Dayuan had just completed peace talks, so why did a mutiny suddenly occur?
Neither he nor Su Qingwan had expected that Xilin would brazenly attack Huainan. Lu Jing did not immediately return to help, but went straight to Zhongzhou. He knew that Zhongzhou must have seen the beacon fire, which was transmitted from one city to another. As long as the towns along the way saw the beacon fire, they had to light the nearest beacon tower. So Lu Jing rode his horse as fast as he could to Zhongzhou, and along the way, beacon fires filled the sky.
Before Lu Jing entered the city, the governor of Zhongzhou had seen the smoke signals and knew that they came from the direction of Huainan. However, he did not know that Lu Jing had been to Huainan. Now the attitude of the capital towards Huainan was still unclear, so he could not make up his mind whether to send troops to rescue.
The prefect was very hesitant, but General Li did not hesitate at all. He immediately selected a team of light cavalry and infantry, totaling 20,000 people, to rush to the rescue of Huainan City. General Li knew that if Huainan was lost, the Xilin border army would be able to march straight into Dayuan, and there would be no more defenses. In recent years, the battle line has been mainly concentrated in the southwest, and many people have ignored the potential threat of Xilin to Huainan.
The prefect of Zhongzhou seemed to be full of concerns and tried to dissuade him, saying, "Huainan City does not have its own army yet. The princess has just returned to Huainan. There are at most 5,000 soldiers in the city, while the Xilin border army has 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers. They don't even need to send out their main forces to attack the city. Now the smoke of war has spread to Zhongzhou. If you go to rescue them now, it will probably be useless. As soon as you leave Zhongzhou, the Xilin army may have already broken through Huainan City. It is better to strengthen Zhongzhou's defenses and actively prepare for war. Besides, we are unprepared for the battle now, and we don't know what the princess means."
"Sir, the people of Huainan are also the people of Dayuan. The princess has not yet had time to form an army, and now she is in urgent need of rescue from Zhongzhou. If we sit back and do nothing, and the Xilin Army breaks through Huainan, what should we do with those powerless people? Let them be slaughtered? There are more than 100,000 people in Huainan City, and they are all living lives. How can we not save them!" General Li was emotional and spoke earnestly.
The prefect was still hesitant and was still thinking of sending someone to the capital to ask for orders.
Seeing this, General Li was so angry that he sneered, thinking that after this back and forth, the Xilin army would be able to reach Zhongzhou.
Fortunately, Lu Jing arrived in time!
General Li quickly assembled his troops and followed Lu Jing into battle. Lu Jing knew that the situation in Huainan was critical, and the infantry and baggage troops would have to march slowly, while the light cavalry had to rush to Huainan immediately. As the saying goes, speed is of the essence in war.
General Li originally wanted to bring only 2,000 light cavalry, but Lu Jing decisively ordered to bring all 5,000 light cavalry from Zhongzhou. Each soldier brought dry food and water, and they galloped towards Huainan without stopping for a moment. The infantry and baggage troops followed, but their speed was far slower than that of the light cavalry. On the way, they met Lu Nianqing who was rushing to Huainan. After the two sides met up, they continued to rush towards Huainan without any delay.
At this time, the main force of the army was still behind and had not arrived yet.
Light cavalry is good at surprise attacks. Although it is not the main force to deal with the Xilin border army, the original team of several thousand soldiers and mountain bandits in Huainan City lost more than half in the fierce battle and has little combat power left. Lu Jing is worried that the Xilin army will launch a counterattack.
In fact, his worries were unnecessary. Although General Li and Lu Nianqing only brought 5,000 men, and General Xiaoning only had 1,000 men left, after General Zhuge was killed, the Xilin border troops saw Lu Nianqing, who looked very similar to the prince of Huainan, and thought it was the prince's resurrection, and were frightened. They were attacked by the cavalry of Zhongzhou all the way, and their formation was in chaos. They fought and retreated.
In addition, the morale of the troops had already reached the bottom due to the burning of food and grass, and they were defeated. Thousands of cavalrymen chased the Xilin border troops all the way to the Lanning River, and successfully drove them out of the Dayuan border. The cavalrymen cheered and celebrated this hard-won victory beside the border.
As soon as the day dawned, the cavalry had achieved a decisive victory. General Zhuge's ambition to break through the Huainan city gate was completely thwarted, and he was instead met with a fierce counterattack from the cavalry.
General Li acted more cautiously and proposed to wait for the main force to arrive before taking the next step. After all, they only had a few thousand people at the moment.
Lu Nianqing shook his head, his expression grim, and said in a deep voice: "When marching and fighting, momentum is everything. Now our morale is high, while the Xilin Army has been defeated all the way. We must not give them a chance to regroup. We will divide our troops into three groups, with General Xiaoning, General Li and I leading one army each. I will be in the front, and the two generals will be on the flanks, forming an angle. I will attack the Xilin border army camp directly and drive them back to the other side of the Lanning River."
After hearing this, General Li hesitated slightly.
General Xiao Ning was the first to respond, and Zhang San also agreed. Huainan suffered heavy casualties in this battle, more than half of the brothers died, and nearly half of the bandits were killed. They were holding back a rage in their hearts and longed for revenge.
Lu Jing had already told General Li that Lu Nianqing was the future King of Huainan, and what he said was equivalent to Su Qingwan's order. General Li gritted his teeth and finally agreed.
The cavalrymen quickly divided into three teams. Lu Nianqing led two thousand cavalrymen and rushed straight towards the Xilin border army camp like a sharp knife in the morning light.
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