Late that night, Zhao Ziliang was woken up from his sleep.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a eunuch and asked, "What's the matter?"
The eunuch on duty quickly said: "Your Majesty, Mr.
Li Muchen is outside saying that he has something urgent to see."
"Let him come in," Zhao Ziliang said and stood up to start dressing.
Two maids came over to change his clothes.
Li Muchen quickly walked in, clasped his fists and bowed to report: "Your Majesty, the spies just came to report that there were a lot of shouts of killing coming from the camp of the Eastern Roman Army.
The spies took a closer look and found that a troop of horses was charging towards the rear to raid the camp of the Eastern Roman Army.
After receiving the news, General Erzhu sent someone to report to His Majesty, and he immediately ordered his troops and horses to move over."
Zhao Ziliang said doubtfully: "There is another group of soldiers who are raiding the back of the Eastern Roman army."
Li Muchen nodded and said: "Yes, I guess it should be the troops commanded by Li Su.
General Li Su has caused great trouble and casualties to Nicephorus' army since he led 3,000 troops out to attack them.
Five days ago They have disappeared without any news.
In the past few days, I thought they had been surrounded and annihilated by the Eastern Roman Army.
Now it seems that apart from Li Su’s tribe, there is no one else who attacked the Eastern Roman Army this time."
Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and said: "No matter which army attacked the Eastern Roman Army, and whether it was true or a trick made by the Eastern Roman Army themselves, I believe that Erzhu will send someone to verify it before deciding what to do. , although he acts a bit recklessly on weekdays, he is actually very careful.
I can rest assured that he will direct this battle.
You can go down first.
If you have any news, you must report it to me in time."
"Follow the decree" Early the next morning, new news came.
It was indeed the soldiers and horses led by Li Su who raided the Eastern Roman army camp last night.
Li Su's soldiers and horses had caused a lot of trouble to Nicephorus some time ago.
The Roman army caused a lot of casualties and almost exhausted him, but since five days ago, this army horse disappeared, which made Ni Severus thought that Li Su's army and horses were also exhausted in the process of harassing his army, so he didn't pay attention to this army and horses in the past few days.
He never expected that Li Su's army and horses would be exhausted at this time.
The soldiers and horses suddenly came out from behind and rushed into his camp, causing large-scale chaos in his army and even turning into a bombing of the camp.
Erzhu, who led the troops approaching, sent someone to verify the news and learned that it was indeed Li Su who led the people to carry out the military operation.
So he led his troops to kill him without any hesitation.
Nicephorus was defeated and fled.
After dawn, After counting the results and cleaning the battlefield, it was found that more than 7,000 enemies were annihilated and more than 3,000 prisoners were captured.
Nicephorus only took more than 1,000 people and fled north along the original route.
After fleeing to the north for a day, Nicephorus and his more than a thousand soldiers and horses were exhausted, tired and hungry.
In a place like Syria, there were sandy areas everywhere, and it was not easy to find ditches.
It was difficult to find ditches in the dark.
At that time, we finally found a water source near Balule and solved the problem of drinking water for everyone.
"Michael, Leo, do you have anything to eat?"
Nicephorus leaned against a dead tree and called to the two of them.
The two came over, and Michael took out a piece of dry bread from his arms and said: "Your Majesty, we retreated in such a hurry that we didn't have time to carry food and supplies.
All the baggage was abandoned.
Now the officers and soldiers have nothing on them."
Food, this is what I didn’t have time to finish last night, please fill your stomach first, and we will figure out a way later.”
Nicephorus was already hungry, so he didn't care about these things.
He almost grabbed it and wolfed it down as soon as he got it to his mouth.
When Michael and Leo saw this, their faces and eyes showed deep regret. worry.
After eating the bread and drinking some water, Nicephorus finally gained some strength and energy.
He stood up and looked at the soldiers lying on the ground, and said sadly: "I am confidently preparing to fight."
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The Qin State was caught off guard, thinking that as long as they captured Zhao Ziliang and had him as a hostage, the Western Qin State would be unable to do anything to us, and we could win enough I had enough time and asked for a huge ransom from the Western Qin Kingdom, but I didn't expect that I still failed.
The 20,000 cavalry we have worked hard to build up over the past six or seven years, spending countless money and energy, actually came out in such a short period of time.
It will be over in a month, and there are only more than a thousand people left.
God will not bless our Eastern Roman Empire."
The two of them didn't know how to comfort Nicephorus.
This was not a time of sadness, but a question of how to survive.
Leo said: "Your Majesty, things are already like this.
There is no use thinking about these anymore.
I believe that the Western Qin cavalry is chasing after them, and Syria is being passed by them.
After more than ten or twenty years of camp, their rule here has been very stable, and the people here have already regarded themselves as Western Qin people.
Our current situation is very dangerous.
On the one hand, we must get rid of the pursuing troops, and on the other hand, we must The problem of food and grass must be solved.
Without food and grass, the morale of the army will soon collapse."
Nicephorus had to cheer up when Leo said this, and he asked: "What do you think?"
Leo took out a sheepskin map from his arms and said: "Your Majesty, we must solve the food problem first.
Only when everyone is full can we do anything else.
Our current location is about here, thirty years away from here.
There is a small town outside, and we can only go there to replenish food.
Once we have collected enough food, we must spread out, so as to confuse the Western Qin pursuers and prevent them from distinguishing our retreat route.
I am.
If you think so, wait until the 30th exception After raising food in Balule Town, I will lead three hundred soldiers to retreat to Beirut to attract the attention of the Western Qin pursuers.
Your Majesty and Michael will lead the remaining troops to retreat towards Damascus.
You can find a way to gain access to the infantry regiment. connect And join them.
The infantry corps has enough baggage and 25,000 people.
After joining, you quickly withdraw, join the Second Route Army attacking Sunset Pass, and withdraw from Sunset Pass into the country.
I don’t know what Your Majesty thinks of me.
What do you think?”
Nicephorus thought for a while and nodded: "Well, the Western Qin pursuers probably don't know the exact number of people here.
You leading people to retreat to Beirut can make the Western Qin pursuers think that we want to retreat from the sea and return home.
This It is also the fastest and relatively safe way to withdraw to the country. method.
After all, there are too many merchant ships in the Mediterranean.
It is not very difficult for hundreds of people to evacuate by boat.
However, you are also in great danger.
Once you are overtaken or encounter the Western Qin Mediterranean Fleet at sea, you may encounter another enemy.
A sea storm could wipe out the entire army.”
Leo immediately said: "It is Leo's honor to be able to die for His Majesty.
As long as Your Majesty can return to Constantinople safely, the Eastern Roman Empire will still have hope to rise.
If we all die here, the Eastern Roman Empire will no longer be able to survive."
There is no hope anymore” Nicephorus could not describe his current mood and feelings.
He patted Leo on the shoulder and said: "You must return to Constantinople.
Even if everyone else dies, you cannot die.
I will Waiting for your return in Constantinople" Leo saluted with emotion: "Yes, Your Majesty" Nicephorus, Leo and Michael led a thousand Eastern Roman cavalry to sack the town of Balule and collected some grain.
They made the grain into dry food and horse feed overnight and distributed it to every officer and soldier.
The next day As soon as the colors turned white, the army walked out of the town.
At the entrance of the town, Leo watched Nicephorus and Michael leading more than 700 cavalry toward Damascus in the northeast.
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On this trip, they had to cross the Lebanon Mountains, which were covered with snow all year round, making it extremely difficult. big.
This does not seem to be consistent with the fleeing method of the panicked troops, and it just confuses the Western Qin pursuers.
After Nicephorus and Michael led their troops away, what Leo had to do was to send people to cover up the traces left by their departure, so as not to be discovered by the Western Qin pursuers.
After the soldiers were sent out to cover up and eliminate traces, Leo thought about his retreat route and how to obtain ships to escape back to the Eastern Roman Empire by sea.
A nearby general asked: "General, the Western Qin cavalry will catch up soon.
From here to Beirut, there are many passes along the way.
We cannot pass safely at all.
Moreover, there are also blockades and pursuits by the Western Qin fleet on the sea.
The likelihood that we can safely return to the Eastern Roman Empire is too small."
Leo: "I know what you are all worried about.
Do you think it will be safe for the emperor and Michael to take another route to join the main infantry?
I can guarantee with my head that the Western Qin Kingdom must have done something to those 25,000 infantry." arrangements, they will never allow those 25,000 people to evacuate safely.
We have been without those 25,000 people and the Second Route Army for several days.
The news is that Sunset Pass is not that easy to fight.
Without the cooperation and support of the naval fleet, it is impossible to capture Sunset Pass in a short time.
In fact, the danger of following those 25,000 people is even greater.
Now we only have With three hundred men and horses, the target is not big.
The people of Western Qin will not pay much attention to us.
The 25,000 infantry are what Western Qin values most."
The surrounding officers and soldiers thought it made sense after listening to Leo's words, and they were quickly convinced.
Leo continued: "Next, we must retreat while trying to eliminate our traces.
Although this is a bit difficult, at least we must confuse the pursuers so that they can no longer track us in the first place.
Today during the day we Get out of here immediately and find a secluded place to hide , wait until it gets dark and then rush all night.
Only in this way can we avoid the enemy's sight.
When we reach a larger town, we will discard the current armor, dress up as a caravan, go to the port, and hire merchant ships to leave.
Anyway, we grabbed the goods last night It shouldn’t be difficult to dress up a batch of supplies as a caravan”: