Although Gongsun Yan had been overconfident and taken some blind actions in strategy, he still maintained a normal level of tactical command at the specific level of tactics and command.
Although Liaodong is in a remote location, it still has proper Han land territory, and its army operates smoothly from top to bottom. Naturally, it can also display the same level of combat effectiveness as regular state troops.
The Jieshenggou City was originally a mountain city.
Whether it's Gongsun Yan or other people on the east side like Man Chun, they all have to advance along the valley and mountain plateau.
Gongsun Yuan had been in control for half a century, so he was well-versed in mountain warfare. He also continued with the previous battle strategies, digging trenches and building wooden fences on the main roads, and placing archers on the side of the mountains to ensure complete safety.
But his opponent was the middle army of the Wei state, which had fought all over Dongwu and Shu Han in this era. They were not afraid of the fierce fighting in the Chi Ting River Valley against Zhuge Liang, so how could they be afraid of Gongsun Yuan?
Gongsun Yuan has 20,000 war troops, while Man Chun has 25,500 mounted troops under his command. The Left Army of the Feilin is also here, including 8,000 mounted troops from Jiang Wei's department and 4,000 light cavalry from the five squadrons. In addition, there are 13,300 light cavalry from Xianbei, Wuhan, and Xiongnu waiting in the rear.
Within less than an hour, the positions set up by Gongsun Yuan and his subjects were attacked and captured by Man Chun. The method of attacking Gongsun Yuan's temporary positions was so simple that it couldn't be any simpler.
General Wen Qin of the Left Feilin, relying on his bravery, led a thousand armoured cavalrymen down from their horses to fight on foot.
With the strength of the Great Wei, it took only about a year to gather 2,000 armoured cavalry. These soldiers' martial prowess was unparalleled among the middle army, even if they fought on foot, they were still top-notch!
The elite troops holding the eight-cubit lances and wearing bright armor rushed forward from both sides to the east, splitting the Liaodong army's line of defense apart. The bright armor, which was hard for arrows to penetrate, shone brightly in the morning sun and quickly broke a gap in the Liaodong army's line.
Sun Li and Dai Ling led their forces to expand the battle behind Wen Qin, while the Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes surged forward through the gap, causing Gongsun Yuan's battlefield to collapse instantly.
That was only natural.
An army is a whole, with two million soldiers and two million thoughts among them.
Gongsun Yuan deceived these people into fighting against Gojoseon. With the urgent deployment of troops, it was inevitable that there would be complaints. He merely suppressed them through military discipline and orders. And now, after just two days, he had these soldiers defend against the enemy coming from the west, which seemed even more absurd and laughable.
On the western side, it's Xiangping! My family is in Xiangping!
The enemy has already advanced from Xiangping, and how can it be unclear?
Yang Zhuo pulled the stunned Gongsun Yuan, his expression urgent, shouting, "Lord! Lord, quickly leave! Don't stand here and stare. If you don't go now, you really won't be able to escape!"
Gongsun Yuan still stared blankly at the position on the west side that was easily broken through by Wen Qin, muttering, "Impossible! How can foot soldiers break through my defense so easily?"
"What are you waiting for?" Guo Xin glared at Yang Zhuo with hostility: "Hurry up and call someone to help the Lord get on his horse! There are still five hundred cavalry here, quickly leave!"
As he spoke, Guo Xin stepped forward and grabbed Gongsun Yuan's arm, intending to drag him towards the horse.
"Yes, run quickly!" Gongsun Yuan snapped back to reality and hurriedly climbed onto his horse, leading the last 500 cavalry to retreat from the valley northward.
People fleeing for their lives are naturally too nervous to choose their paths, as long as there's a road to follow. The area is mountainous, and there are many branching roads. The Wuhan and Xianbei chased for two hours, but seeing no hope, they stopped pursuing and returned to the city gates of Jieshenggou to await orders.
Gongsun Yuan and his five hundred cavalry disregarded the strength of their horses, shedding their armor, iron helmets, and lances, and fled north with all their might. After flying for two hours, they finally found a valley to rest.
In both the Liaodong and the Wei states, mounted troops were considered more elite than foot soldiers. During their resting time, these mounted troops would either feed beans to their horses from the saddlebags or rushed to drink water and eat their rations.
As soon as Gongsun Yuan stopped, all sorts of random thoughts flooded his mind, and he sighed and sat on a large stone by the river.
"Are there any plans, Captain of the Archives?" Gongsun Yuan stared at Guo Xin eagerly, "We can't go to Gojoseon from Jieshenggou. What about Fuju? If that doesn't work, could we bypass Fuju and head into the grasslands to the Dingling?"
"There must be a place where Wei forces can't follow us!"
Guo Xin sighed lightly, ignoring Gongsun Yuan, but pulling Yang Zhuo over instead. He looked around a few times and then whispered in a low voice, "General Yang, since we have fled from Jieshenggou to this point, there are probably already second thoughts among the cavalry ranks."
"I've noticed that these cavalrymen, whether feeding the horses or drinking water, could potentially flee at any moment!"
Yang Zhuo smiled bitterly and said, "Guo Zhi, we are able to follow our Lord here and be of assistance, but we cannot show such great loyalty and gratitude to these 500 people."
"Stop thinking about it so much. Rest for a while and then get back on your horse. Keep moving, the cavalry won't start thinking of their own ideas if we do!"
Guo Xin nodded: "General Yang is right. Lord, don't sit there anymore. Get on the horse and call the men to continue heading north!"
Gongsun Yuan also forced himself to muster the last bit of his courage, mounted and brandishing his sword, shouting about preparing troops in Xuantu and so on to encourage the soldiers to continue riding and marching.
It was getting late in the afternoon. After walking for more than an hour, the sky began to darken. Gongsun Yuan, along with Guo Xin and Yang Zhuo, also found that some people were falling behind continuously.
At first, it was only a group of five or ten who fell behind. But just a couple of minutes ago, even a mounted officer named Tuo Jiang, leading one hundred riders, suddenly turned around and walked away without uttering a word!
In the final hour, Gongsun Yuan was also helpless and could only pretend not to know, pulling together the dozens of cavalrymen beside him.
As the sky grew dark, when Gongsun Yuan stopped to prepare for the night, besides Guo Xin and Yang Zhuo, there were only twenty-eight cavalrymen left beside him.
Gongsun Yuan tightly suppressed the anger and heartache in his heart, ordered a fire to be made, and gathered the remaining twenty-eight people around the fire. With his finger trembling and lips quivering, he promised them:
"Do not be afraid of me because I have been defeated today. My father and my grandfather have been in control of Liaodong for three generations, and the hearts of the people of Liaodong still support me. After the Wei forces retreat in winter, I will definitely make a comeback. Today, with twenty-eight cavalrymen beside me, do you know that Emperor Guangwu also had the Twenty-Eight Generals on his cloud platform?"
"When I reach Xuantu County and raise an army to defeat the Wei forces, you all will be granted titles of marquises! You will be the flesh and blood brothers of Gongsun Yuan!"
The mounted soldiers looked at each other, as they had been following Gongsun Yuan for many years, they could only follow his words and respond.
This is a wild area between mountains, if we see trouble and hide in the woods, who can do anything about it?
As he spoke, there were many moths fluttering in from the woods, flying straight into the fire, swarming in and out continuously as if they had no fear of death at all.
This strange phenomenon made everyone else speechless for a moment.
Gongsun Yuan swallowed hard and said, "Don't look at it, who has brought dry food? Bring it out and let's fill our stomachs."
The cavalrymen were too busy dodging the moths from behind to hear Gongsun Yuan's words. The moths kept coming, making a noisy mess, and although they could hear him, no one answered immediately.
Guo Xin sighed at the sight and reached into his saddlebag to take out some jerky. After a moment, he put it back in. He straightened his hatband, adjusted the collar of his clothes, and shook his sleeves before taking off the bag and holding it in his hand.
Guo Xin moved forward, bowed slightly, and then handed over the bag in his hand: "Lord, this subject has some jerky left here. Lord, please have some."
Gongsun Yuan's eyes lit up as he took the bag, his right hand roughly searching inside. He first pulled out a piece and handed it to Yang Zhuo, then reached out again to give one to the other cavalrymen. After holding his hand out for a moment, seeing that the others were about twenty chi away, Gongsun Yuan bit into the meat and reached into the bag with his other hand again.
Guo Xin held Gongsun Yuan's hand: "The jerky is running low, Lord, please take it slowly."
Gongsun Yuan looked up at Guo Xin's face, whose features became clearer in the firelight, and unconsciously asked, "Captain of the Archives has given me all the jerky, what do you eat?"
Guo Xin just smiled, his left hand still pressing on Gongsun Yuan's hand inside the bag, and his right hand had somehow appeared with a knife.
lightly drawing a knife and sticking it to his neck, a stream of blood spurted out instantly, and he fell heavily to the ground.
Gongsun Yuan was stunned.
Not only was Gongsun Yuan stunned, but Yang Zhuo stood there dumbfounded, his mouth wide open but unable to say a word. The cavalrymen behind him, upon hearing the sound, also stopped and turned to look at the scene.
Gongsun Yuan watched as blood from Guo Xin sprayed onto his clothes, hands, and dripped onto the jerky inside the bag. It took him several moments to realize what had happened.
After a day of tense emotions, he could no longer hold on. Tears streamed down his face like a mountain bursting, and any pretense of composure was gone. He sat on the ground and wailed in grief, his heart tearing apart.
Gongsun Yuan sat there motionless, regardless of Yang Zhuo's shaking of his shoulders and his efforts to pull him up, continuing to stare at Guo Xin's body in the flickering firelight.
In the end, Yang Zhuo was unable to do anything, so he rode his horse into the forest at night. The twenty-eight other mounted soldiers saw what was happening and also left one after another.
It was not until the afternoon of the second day that the ten cavalrymen under Sun Li finally pursued here along the tracks left by Gongsun Yuan's party yesterday.
"Who are you?" the cavalry squad leader dismounted, drew his sword, and pointed it at Gongsun Yuan.
Gongsun Yuan looked up at this person and said in a hoarse voice, "I am Gongsun Yuan. You can capture me."
The cavalry squad leader thought for a moment, picked up the treasure sword on Gongsun Yuan's waist and chopped his left arm hard, seeing blood gushing out, he slashed off Gongsun Yuan's head with his round-knife.
Clean and quick. (End of chapter.)
