Chapter 651 Retreating to the Inner City
"My lord, the situation in the east city is critical. General Tai Shici is asking for help!"
"Let Xilai lead ten thousand black-armored mysterious knights to support him, go back quickly!"
"My lord, the second district of Nancheng has been completely occupied by the enemy, and the possibility of continuing mobile operations has been lost. General Su Huan requests to withdraw to the inner city!"
"Su Huan is allowed to retreat to the inner city and send a message to Su Huan. Without my order, don't take another step back!"
"My lord, the battle report came from the Zhao Yun Department. General Zhao Yun killed the first warrior of the Xianbei Fenglei Department. The morale of the Fenglei Department has plummeted, and the attack has been temporarily stopped."
"Zilong did a good job. Spread the news to the whole army and issue a commendation order for Zilong. In addition, order Zilong to be careful and be careful of the Xianbei people's counterattack. If the situation is critical, you can retreat to the inner city."
"My lord, as night falls, General Liu requests another night attack!"
"Permit, tell brother, do what you can, don't force it. Carry out detailed investigation before attacking, and attack at night for three consecutive nights. It is impossible for the Xianbei people not to be prepared. Once they find any clues, stop their actions immediately!"
This is already the night of the twelfth day. Since Xianbei occupied the outer city wall three days ago, they have started a crazy mode. All armies attacked desperately regardless of cost or casualties.
It can be said that the Pingzhou Legion was retreating steadily. In three days, almost all the outer cities fell. At most, Liu Yi relied on night raids every day to recover a little disadvantage.
However, Xianbei people are not fools. They were successfully attacked at night for three consecutive days, and even Liu Yi could not continue to perform miracles. The night attack on the fourth day was forced to give up halfway, and the Xianbei people were very strict in guarding against it, and did not give the night attack a chance at all.
In addition, after three days of fierce fighting, the Pingzhou Army suffered heavy losses.
More than 18,000 black-armored black cavalry died in battle, 9,000 silver dragon cavalry died in battle, 11,000 Lieyang cavalry died in battle, Tanlang cavalry was targeted by Xianbei people because of their special status, with the highest casualties, 50,000 corrupt cavalry There are currently less than 30,000 wolf riders left.
And the ghost cavalry led by Liu Yi also caused more than 6,000 casualties due to consecutive night attacks.
As for the Xianbei servant army, the total strength dropped directly from 100,000 to 40,000. If Shang Ji hadn't been spending money on a large scale, the loyalty and morale of the servant army would have been lost long ago.
Originally, the cooldown time of the Golden Condor had expired, and prisoners of war could be recruited again, but this time only less than 20,000 troops were added to Shang Ji.
It is not that the quality of the captives is too high to reduce the number, but because the number of captives captured by the Shang Ji Army is insufficient.
The fighting has been particularly fierce in recent days, and the number of Xianbei troops killed and defeated by the Pingzhou Army cannot be counted at all. However, although the number of enemies killed far exceeded its own casualties, from the overall situation, almost every battle ended with the Pingzhou Army taking the initiative to retreat.
To put it more bluntly, the Pingzhou Army was forced to retreat. Since they were forced to retreat, they naturally had no chance to capture prisoners.
Among the various ministries, only Payne's undead army has remained roughly the same size, currently around 50,000.
Apart from dispatching death knights to cooperate with Liu Yi in night raids, Shang Ji almost never dispatched an army of undead. He planned to let the undead army stay behind when he broke through.
Under such circumstances, the rear army is almost certain to die, and any living army Shang Ji is reluctant to give up. This task of sending death can only be handed over to the hardworking undead army.
It is a pity that Payne's magic power is seriously overdrawn, and it has only just improved until today, otherwise the scale of the undead army will definitely be larger.
"My lord, all the outer city areas have now been occupied, please let me know what to do next!"
In the hall, everyone looked exhausted. Even top military generals would experience a sharp decline in their condition if they ran for 20,000 miles and fought non-stop for more than ten consecutive days.
In fact, not only generals have declined, but even ordinary soldiers are not much better.
Because all the buildings in Dragon City are unusable, although the Pingzhou Army is defending the city, the soldiers cannot use the barracks in the city to quickly recover. Although the morale is still high after continuous battles, the state inevitably drops sharply .
"The ministries will stick to the city according to the original plan and repair it in batches. At least we have to rely on the city wall to hold on until the morning of the fourteenth day, otherwise the plan will be difficult to carry out smoothly."
"By the way, our army has sufficient material reserves. Use all kinds of pills and powders as needed. Don't be stingy. Let the soldiers recover as soon as possible."
"Yes, I'll arrange it right away." Xi Zhicai also nodded wearily. Although they don't have to go to the front line to fight in person, the three of them are in charge of the logistics support, and they have to assist Shang Ji in distracting the dispatch of troops and consuming It is not small.
"Tomorrow's battle against the city, let the servant army play a more role. If it doesn't work, we can also recruit strong men. It doesn't need too high quality to defend the city, and volunteers can do it. It's just that all ministries need to pay attention, and must control the speed well. It's time to be directly instigated from within."
Just as he was talking, he suddenly saw an imaginary Sima rushing in, and said with a happy face, "My lord, there is an urgent military situation!"
Chen Guan got up immediately, took a military newspaper from him, glanced at it hastily, and was immediately overjoyed. Three steps and two steps came to Shang Ji's side, the general handed the report to Shang Ji: "My lord, great joy!"
Shang Ji took it and glanced at it, but saw that it said: "Today, a plague broke out in several tribes of the Xianbei coalition army at the same time. The epidemic is rapid and has caused thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of illnesses. The Xianbei army is in chaos. Please prepare for the epidemic prevention at the headquarters!"
"Everyone, let me tell you some good news. Because of the continuous fierce fighting, corpses are piled up inside and outside the city like mountains. There is currently a plague breaking out in the Xianbei coalition army. It is expected that the Xianbei army will suspend the offensive tomorrow!" Shang Ji waved the note in his hand, slightly Said excitedly.
"plague?"
As soon as the words fell, there was a lot of discussion in the hall, some people were elated, and some people looked worried. Only Liu Yi glanced at Shang Ji, and the eyes of the two of them diverged as soon as they met.
Only the two of them knew that the so-called plague was not caused by the accumulation of corpses in continuous fierce battles as Shang Ji said, or that the accumulation of corpses was only an external cause of the outbreak of the plague, and the plague pill thrown by Liu Yi was the real cause.
However, this situation cannot be explained to everyone. Among the senior generals, only Shang Ji and Liu Yi knew what happened. The others didn't even know that there was such a thing as Pang Dan.
"General, the epidemic does not distinguish between the enemy and us, and our army must prepare early. Once it is infected by the epidemic, the entire army may be destroyed!" Xi Zhicai stood up and said solemnly.
Because of knowing more, everyone is more afraid of the plague!
Regardless of the fact that more than a thousand Xianbei people have died of illness, compared to the daily casualties of the Xianbei coalition forces, it is only a drop in the bucket, but the blow to the morale of their army by the thousand Xianbei people who died of the plague is unimaginable.
Compared with the Han area, where the medical level is more developed, the Xianbei people are more afraid of the plague. If the epidemic is not effectively controlled, it is not uncommon for the entire army to collapse!
Of course, this is not to say that Xianbei people are too scumbags, but that the plague is too severe. If a plague breaks out in the Pingzhou army and cannot be effectively controlled, the end will not be much better than that of the Xianbei army.
Plagues existed like demons in the history of ancient warfare, and the power of plagues was greatly enhanced in the beacon fire. The epidemic is more rapid, the spread is faster, and the time from onset to death is shorter.
Knowing the horror of the plague, Xi Zhi had to warn Shang Ji to do a good job in epidemic prevention for the whole army.
"Well, what you said makes sense. The epidemic must not be ignored. The order continues. From today onwards, no one in the army will take a dose of Quwensan every day. Drinking water and food must be clean. Once an epidemic is found, it should be isolated and treated immediately. People are not allowed to evade or obstruct in any way, and those who disobey the order will be beheaded!"
After finishing speaking, Shang Ji turned to look at Xi Zhicai again, and said softly, "Sir, Ji wants to appoint you as the army's epidemic prevention ambassador, what do you think?"
Although the plague was provoked by Shang Ji, it does not mean that he will ignore the horror of the plague. Although the Pingzhou army has perfect epidemic prevention measures, the plague is often unreasonable to you. Shang Ji is also afraid that he will shoot himself in the foot, so he attaches great importance to Xi Zhicai's proposal.
"The general's order, the subordinates dare not disobey!" Xi Zhicai said with a solemn expression.
"Well, the whole army listened to the order. From now on, in terms of epidemic prevention, everyone, including this general, needs to accept the supervision and orders of Mr. Xi Zhicai. But if you don't follow, you can kill him first and then act. Come on, these days You are responsible for the safety of the husband, and you will handle any problems on your behalf, and report to me if you can't handle it!"
"Yes, the last general will obey the order!" Dian Wei came out and said loudly.
"Payne, how is your recovery these days?"
"My lord, after these few days of conditioning, my subordinate's magic power has recovered about 60%, and I can continue to transform the undead." Payne, who was sitting at the bottom, got up immediately after hearing the words, and said respectfully.
"No, suspend the transformation of the undead army. I remember you have similar plague skills?"
After hearing this, Payne looked puzzled and explained: "My lord, although my subordinates can also create the undead plague, this plague is different from the plague you understand. Although the two are somewhat similar in effect, But the plague of my subordinates belongs to dark magic, and the plague my lord faces is a disease, so I am afraid that my subordinates cannot help me much."
"How to restrain the undead plague you created?"
"Holy Light, Blessing, Holy Blessing, Blessing of Life and other Holy Light or Life spells can effectively expel the effect of the undead plague, and even some powerful fire and water mages can also forcibly expel it. As for the Lord's Army Whether the distributed Quwen Pill and Quwen San can work, the subordinates are not sure."
"It's okay, Payne, you will temporarily follow Mr. Xi Zhicai these few days, and listen to his dispatch. Even if the plague cannot be effectively stopped, the undead army should not be afraid of the plague, right? It will be no problem to assist Mr. to deal with the epidemic, right?"
"Yes, obey the command of the lord!"