walking the dog

After retreating west for three days, Gao Yuan suddenly changed his mind, and the army turned south.

After marching south for two days, they turned around again and headed east.

By now, no matter how foolish Yang Bangyou was, he knew he had been tricked; he had been chasing after Gao Yuan for nearly ten days for nothing.

As a result, he hadn't even caught a single hair, and he had exhausted his army, leaving them with no morale.

"My uncle was right; these Han people are indeed all treacherous and cunning."

Yang Bangyou was truly annoyed and understood that his army's combat effectiveness was very poor at this moment.

"Order the entire army to stop pursuing. We will retreat east and return to Guchang County to rest for a while first."

Once his order was issued, the group of deputy generals finally breathed a sigh of relief and silently went to make arrangements.

These past few days of playing cat-and-mouse behind Gao Yuan had yielded no results for the army, and everyone was physically and mentally exhausted.

A period of rest would be excellent for both their physical strength and the morale of the troops.

However, to their surprise, the Nanzhou Army stopped moving the next day.

Taking advantage of the distance, they found a strategic location and began to build a camp.

At first, Yang Bangyou didn't quite understand.

"Is this Gao Yuan crazy? If he builds a camp here, I only need to send a large army to surround this place, and he will be dead. Someone, send men to Guchang County to urge the transport of food and supplies; I want to starve this Duke of Xicheng Commandery to death here."

That's right, the defensive position Gao Yuan chose was remarkably similar to Ma Su's tactical blunder.

It was also a low hill adjacent to a mountain road; although it offered a commanding view, it was a dead end.

Once surrounded and cut off from water sources and supply routes, there would basically be no way out.

That was exactly what Gao Yuan intended; he had long ago stockpiled a large amount of food and dug numerous wells here.

As long as Yang Bangyou didn't storm the mountain, he could live here comfortably with his elite troops for three or four months.

And Liu Rengui, who helped him dig wells and stockpile food, was already leading the army to besiege the empty Guchang County.

Guchang County had originally gathered over five thousand troops collected from various parts of Dian Prefecture.

By now, most of them had been taken by Yang Bangyou to pursue Gao Yuan, leaving only about a thousand garrison troops in the city.

What made Yang Bangyou even more miserable was that with Guchang County besieged, his food and supply lines were cut off.

After days of pursuit, the food carried with the army was already insufficient for two days.

It was only then that Yang Bangyou deeply felt he had been tricked.

"I've been tricked! Pass the order down: ignore Gao Yuan; the army must immediately break camp and retreat to Guchang."

"Understood!"

It was truly a case of the superiors giving orders while the subordinates broke their legs running; they had just spent the better part of a day building the prototype of the camp.

Now, with one order from the commander, the camp was abandoned.

Watching the chaotic scene below the mountain, Xia Luqi couldn't help but laugh.

"Hahaha, the lord's strategy is truly brilliant; a simple ploy has had this Yang Bangyou running around in circles."

"It was merely taking advantage of his eagerness to achieve military success," Gao Yuan said with a smile, waving his hand.

"Tell the soldiers to get ready. As soon as they move, we will charge down and cut off their rear guard."

"Understood!"

The commotion at the foot of the mountain lasted until the afternoon. By dusk, the last batch of the Bozhou Army finally set off on the road to retreat east.

At this moment, the mountain camp, which had been quiet for two days, suddenly threw its gates wide open. Gao Yuan and Xia Luqi led the soldiers of the First Division in a charge.

"Oh no! Enemy attack! Get ready, send someone to inform General Yang to return for reinforcements immediately!"

Yang Bangyou had already prepared for Gao Yuan's sneak attack, so the vanguard moved very slowly.

In just over an hour, he led his troops back to reinforce, but the battle was already over.

Only about five hundred corpses remained on the battlefield. As for the pack horses, most naturally became Gao Yuan's spoils of war and were led up the mountain.

"Sigh, clean up the battlefield, bury the bodies, and have the whole army remain vigilant while we retreat carefully."

Yang Bangyou knew that getting angry was useless, so he could only sigh at the camp on the mountain and leave.

The Bozhou Army retreated cautiously, fearing another sneak attack, which had the consequence of making them move too slowly.

Their food supplies were already insufficient, and the delay made their situation even more dire.

With no other choice, Yang Bangyou had to order a reduction in food rations, leaving each person with only two bowls of thin porridge a day.

Even so, when they were still over thirty li away from Guchang County, the Bozhou Army completely ran out of food.

After struggling for another half day, the Bozhou Army soldiers were completely exhausted and collapsed on the ground.

Yang Bangyou was completely trapped in a difficult situation.

In normal times, they could have pushed through and finished this thirty-plus li journey in a day.

But right now, Liu Rengui's army was surrounding Guchang County, and Gao Yuan was still following them from behind.

Looking at the dejected soldiers in the camp due to hunger, those around him couldn't help but ask:

"General, what should we do?"

"Yes, General, why don't we make a final push and break through?"

"That's right. If we stay here for another two days, we won't even need them to attack; the soldiers will all starve to death."

"I would rather die on the battlefield than starve to death here."

"These Han people are truly cunning; they only know how to use schemes and tricks all day long."

Yang Bangyou was also struggling internally, but finally, he gritted his teeth and stamped his foot.

"Order the horses to be slaughtered. Let the soldiers have a full meal, and tomorrow we will make a final push and storm into Guchang."

"Understood!"

Slaughtering the horses temporarily solved the Bozhou Army's food shortage problem, but it was just a drop in the bucket.

After all, there were nearly twenty thousand people, and they were all big eaters.

Slaughtering dozens of warhorses would only yield twenty or thirty thousand catties of meat, which would be gone in two meals.

"Soldiers, you should all know that we have run out of food. If we cannot break into Guchang, we will only starve to death here. Therefore, I hope you can make a final push, defeat the Qian Army, and storm into Guchang City."

"Kill, kill, kill!"

Burning the bridges was indeed a good strategy. The morale of the Bozhou Army rose significantly, and they roared at the top of their lungs.

"Abandon the heavy baggage! The entire army moves east to defeat the Qian Army!"

"Commander-in-Chief, the Bozhou Army is attacking."

Liu Rengui nodded with a serious expression.

"I know. Pass the order down: the entire army is to retreat to the camp to hold the line. No one is allowed to sally out."

The Bozhou Army rushed to the front of Liu Rengui's camp and repeatedly cursed, spouting all sorts of profanities.

But Liu Rengui simply refused to engage. The camp gates were shut tight, and he even hung up a sign refusing battle.

"General, the Han people won't come out to fight. What should we do?"

"Go around them. No matter what, we must charge into the County city."

Just as the Bozhou Army had turned and was preparing to bypass Liu Rengui's camp, the sound of war drums rumbled from within the camp.

Then, the camp gates opened, and the fully armed Second Division filed out.

"General, the Han people have come out to fight."

Yang Bangyou felt like he was being played for a fool, and he roared through gritted teeth:

"Turn around and engage!"

But just as they had turned and finished forming their battle lines, they discovered that the Nanzhou Army had retreated back inside.

"These Han people! They won't fight, but they won't leave. What exactly do they want to do!"

"They must know we have run out of food and want to delay us from entering the city."

"As expected, none of these Han people are any good; they are all more treacherous and cunning than the last."

The last meal of horse meat from the morning had mostly been digested by now, and some soldiers' stomachs were already rumbling.

Everyone turned their eyes to Yang Bangyou, waiting for him to issue an order.

Yang Bangyou knew that if they kept wasting time like this, his over ten thousand men would all be doomed here.

"Forget it! The whole army will retreat. Even if the Han people come out to fight, don't pay any attention to them."

Turning around again, the Bozhou Army began to move cautiously toward the south, preparing to bypass Liu Rengui's camp.

When more than half of the Bozhou Army had passed, the Second Division moved out again.

However, this time it was not a feint, but a charge toward the rear of the Bozhou Army.