Chapter 1354: Han Banner Under Heaven (Forty-Four) Clouds Move in Four Directions (Four)

The 3rd Division of the 20th Army suffered a heavy defeat. The 1st Division defeated thousands of Qin troops in Tianjiaping, Xiyangping, and Huangshiping, and fled the city in just half a day. The glorious victory made the 3rd Division, as the second wave of attack echelon, jealous. At the same time, the importance of the Qin army immediately dropped several levels. They passed the 1st Division troops that were being repaired and rushed to Lubin. The 1st Division had already made the first contribution, so they naturally wanted to take Lubin and use a bigger and heavier contribution to suppress the 1st Division.

The 3rd Division army, which was advancing at high speed, was seriously out of touch. The baggage and artillery were all pulled behind by the light cavalry and infantry. What they never expected was that Xu Yahua in Lubin was not thinking about defense at this time, but attacking.

Qian Zhongyi ambushed 3,000 infantrymen on both sides of the main road to Lubin, launched a surprise attack on the Third Division, and used cavalry to penetrate and defeat the logistics and baggage of the Third Division dragging behind. Upon learning that the rear team had been attacked, the Third Division, which was already struggling to hold on, suddenly collapsed and fled all the way back to Tianjiaping. Qian Zhongyi, who had won a great victory, did not chase them, but only dragged the artillery and some baggage abandoned by the Third Division back to Lubin.

"You bastard, you have brought shame to the 20th Army." Li Mingjun, who rushed to Tianjiaping after hearing the news, kicked the commander of the 3rd Division, He Jun, to the ground with a dark face, and pulled out his knife with a choking sound, "I will chop you."

"Commander Li." Yan Wei, the commander of the 1st Division, rushed forward and hugged Li Mingjun's knife-holding hand tightly, "Commander Li, the Han army has its own military law. He Jun underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, and lost soldiers and generals. There is a military law to punish him. The commander must not carry out private punishment."

Guo Fu, the deputy commander of the 2nd Division led by Li Mingjun, also held Li Mingjun's hand, "Commander, now is not the past. The commanders in the army cannot kill generals and soldiers at will." Deputy Guo was Li Mingjun's confidant. His words also calmed Li Mingjun down, and he threw his saber heavily to the ground with a bang.

"Come here, take He Jun away first. We have military law to deal with you. Guo Fu, you will act as the commander of the Third Division now, gather the troops, and rectify the morale of the army. It's just a defeat, it doesn't matter. This war has just begun!" Li Mingjun gritted his teeth and said.

The 20th Army finally got a chance to show its face. It was originally well prepared to make a splash. The First Division did a good job and took down three fortresses in half a day. The progress was so smooth that even the military district was extremely surprised. But before the joy was over, he was slapped hard in the face by the Third Division.

Now Yan Haibo and Ding Wei must be eager to replace him. The 20th Army, which was established after the reorganization of the Western Zhao Army, was led by Li Mingjun, but both in terms of combat effectiveness and willpower, there was a lot of gap compared to other armies of the Han Army, which made Li Youjun feel a little inferior. After two years of hard work, he felt that the 20th Army was no worse than other troops. The only thing missing was some outstanding military achievements. If the battle of Lubin was won, the 20th Army could proudly join the ranks of the elite soldiers and generals of the Han Army. But now. It was all messed up by the Second Division.

Inside the Tianjiaping Fortress,

In a house with half of the roof smashed through by a shell, the military commanders above the first level of the 20th Corps stood up with serious faces. Li Mingjun looked at everyone with a sullen face. Even the First Division, which had just won a great victory, had a heavy face. They still understood the principle of "prosperity and loss together", and judging from the current situation, their victory was not enough to make up for the losses of the Third Division.

"Commander, the combat troops of the Third Division did not suffer much. Now they have gathered nearly 5,000 people. It's just that the engineer troops and other baggage troops dragged behind suffered heavy losses. A large number of divine crossbows and 20 artillery pieces allocated to the Third Division are gone. I think they were taken away by the Qin Army." Guo Fu hurried over and said.

With a bang, Li Mingjun kicked over a chair with only three legs left in front of him, "Asshole."

Everyone lowered their heads.

"I will personally command the Second Division as the vanguard and set off to Lubin immediately. I will arrive in Lubin today. The shame of the Third Division can only be washed away with blood. Yan Wei, can the First Division still fight?" Li Mingjun roared in a low voice.

"Commander, the First Division can be put into battle at any time." Yan Wei said loudly.

"Very good, the First Division will be the backup echelon of the Second Division, and the Third Division will stay in Tianjiaping. Guo Fu, you stay here to reorganize the Third Division. Once completed, immediately go to Lubin. At the same time, send a messenger to the military region to tell Commander Xu that if I, Li Mingjun, cannot take Lubin, I will take his head."

"Commander, please let me lead the Second Division, and the commander will stay in Tianjiaping to coordinate and command." Guo Fu stepped forward and said.

Li Mingjun shook his head, "No, I will go in person. No need to say more, this is an order, not a discussion with you, this is not a war meeting, but a battle deployment. Go down and prepare for battle."

"Yes, sir!" A thunderous roar rang out in the room.

Jiang Fu sat on the ground and put on the cleaned armor one by one. The previous steel knife was a little bent, but this was a good steel knife allocated to officers. Jiang Fu found a piece of bluestone, poured water from the kettle, and was grinding it there. If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. Jiang Fu dared not neglect his own weapons.

The news that the Third Division had suffered a great defeat had spread by then. Jiang Fu could see groups of dejected soldiers from the Second Division retreating from the front from time to time. Some of them were even empty-handed, without even a weapon. This made Jiang Fu's heart burst with anger. Damn it, they had made the 20th Army lose face. In the battle at Letian Creek, Crab and his team of 3,000 people never threw away their last weapons until they died. Jiang Fu still remembered that when he crawled out of that gap, all he saw was a brutal fight to the extreme. He died without humiliation.

Jiang Fu gritted his teeth while sharpening his knife.

The sound of the military bugle suddenly sounded, and Jiang Fu jumped up. It was the assembly call, the assembly call of the First Division, and they were going to attack again. Jiang Fu sheathed his knife and strode towards his troops. "Assemble, we are going to attack, let's go clean up the ass of the bastards of the Second Division." He shouted loudly.

The troops of the First Division are now scattered in Tianjiaping, Xiyangping and Huangshiping. It will take time to gather them. The three fortresses they left behind will be taken over by the withdrawn Third Division. When Jiang Fu gathered his troops and handed over the defense to the ashamed Third Division officer in front of him, the troops of the Second Division had already set out singing war songs. As the head of the first battalion, Jiang Fu had received the order. This time they rushed to Lubin as the second batch of teams.

Unlike the Tianjiaping Fortress, Lubin's defense system is more complete and taller and stronger. Judging from the fact that the Qin generals easily defeated the Third Division, the opponent's generals are also very difficult to deal with. This battle is not easy.

Jiang Fu didn't know who was the main general of Lubin's enemy army, but Li Mingjun knew it very well. Xu Yahua was Meng Tian's trusted general and was once regarded by Meng Tian as his successor. His reputation was well deserved. The fact that he dared to attack a whole division of the 20th Army with 3,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry showed his courage. You know, the official establishment of each division of the Han army was close to 10,000 people. Even if the engineers, artillery, crossbowmen and other auxiliary arms were deducted, the number of soldiers in the official battle was as many as 7,000.

As Commander Xu said, no matter how elite the troops are on the training ground, they may not be useful. Only after a few battles can we see the result. At first, I thought Commander Xu was prejudiced against the 20th Army. Now I think it is really good advice. The 3rd Division is also full of energy during training, but when it really goes to the battlefield, the generals' deployment of troops is simply useless. First, they are proud and underestimate the enemy, and then they are scattered and unable to gather. In fact, He Jun was not panicked at that time. Regardless of the baggage troops dragging behind, he only needed to gather his soldiers and persist in dealing with the opponent for a while, and he could see through the enemy's weakness. Not to mention turning defeat into victory, at least he would not be defeated as badly as now. It takes more effort to restore the combat effectiveness and courage of an army that has been defeated than to train them from a rookie to an elite soldier.

Psychological shadows cannot be eliminated in a short time.

"Commander, commander, the headquarters has an urgent order!" Li Mingjun, who was riding a horse, heard the shouting behind him and felt a sense of foreboding. He stopped his horse, turned around, and looked at the messenger who came to report the news, "What new orders does the headquarters have?" He asked in a deep voice.

"Commander Li, the headquarters ordered that the 20th Army immediately stop attacking Lubin and return to Tianjiaping Fortress for repairs." The messenger saluted on the horse and said loudly.

His heart sank. It was indeed what he feared, but it was just a defeat that made Commander Xu lose his trust in the 20th Army?

"Why should we stop advancing? My 20th Army is not without the power to fight." He shouted angrily.

"Commander Li, I don't know, I'm just passing on the order." The man who came was the staff officer of the headquarters. Looking at Li Mingjun's angry face, he whispered.

"Who will take over the attack from my army? The Fifth Army or the Sixth Army?" The commander of the Fifth Army is Ding Wei, and the commander of the Sixth Army is Yan Haibo. These two are veteran Fufeng faction generals, the direct line of the King of Han. This time, they are also arranged behind him as the second echelon.

"General Li, as far as I know, the Fifth Army and the Sixth Army have not received orders, and I have not heard who will be sent to replace the 20th Army. The command of the headquarters is to stop the attack." The staff officer said.

"What does the commander want to do?" Li Mingjun was surprised.

Not only Li Mingjun was speechless, but Xu Yuan was also angry in the headquarters of the First Military Region at this time. The 20th Army suffered such a big loss. With Xu Yuan's temperament, if he didn't get back the capital, it would be worse than eating a fly. But the person sitting above him made him think and do nothing, because this person was the supreme ruler of the Han Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, I originally wanted to take down Lubin first." He said helplessly.

"That's about it. The purpose of showing force has been achieved. There's no need to make more sacrifices. Some things can be obtained by other means." Gao Yuan said. (To be continued.)