Yuan Gaisuwen ordered a suspension of progress and sent scouts to reconnaissance.

The scout came back soon and brought back the information from Li Chao behind him, "About 30,000, all infantrymen, and white robes accounted for more than half. They stopped twenty miles away from us."

"Sir, go back."

"Destroy them."

"It's time to teach this guy a lesson." Yuan Gai Suwen said with a dark face, "Tell me the order, turn around and kill me." He examined his troops, 16,000 troops withdrew from the Battle of Ruhe, and 18,000 troops withdrew from Lulong City, Pingzhou, and 5,000 people withdrew from all over the past few days. He now has 39,000 people.

There are 39,000 cavalrymen, while Li Chao has less than 30,000 troops, and almost all of them are infantry. Why should Li Chao fight him?

In the battle of Ruhe, the combination of Tang army's firearms and the sharp formation did make him suffer a great loss, but after thinking about it these days, this formation was not something that could not be broken.

At the beginning, if he hadn't been careless and underestimated the enemy, he wouldn't have been defeated.

Li Chao chased after him every day behind, and the clay man also had a third temper, let alone him.

Without cavalry, even if Li Chao set up the formation that day, Yuan Gai Suwen was confident that he could defeat the Tang army. Li Chao now has no cavalry and has fewer soldiers, and now he has more soldiers than Ruhe soldiers. At the same time, he believes that he will not make such mistakes.

Another point is that now the Tang cavalry bypassed him and defeated the Goguryeo soldiers under Yuguan, which changed the situation. The Tang army controlled Yuguan and blocked him at that time. Li Chaoyang arrived later and blocked him under Yuguan. If time dragged on, the Tang army might also arrive later. At that time, it would be completely different.

Now he has two choices.

The first is to continue moving forward, rush to Linyu Pass, fight with the Tang cavalry, and break the siege directly. Or, turn around and take advantage of Li Chao's current weak army to kill a retaliation and defeat Li Chao's main infantry, so that the Tang army will not be able to surround him.

"Li Chao is too arrogant." Yuan Gaisuwen said gritting his teeth.

The blind escape has made his generals dissatisfied, and even secretly complained about his cowardice. He now needs to defeat Li Chao and then evacuate.

"Yes, even if we want to retreat, we can't escape with our tails. If we want to defeat the Tang army, it's best to cut Li Chao and leave, so that the Tang people can know that we are not easy to mess with."

Several generals showed ferocious expressions in their eyes.

As soon as the Goguryeo army stopped, the scout immediately returned.

"The Goguryeo people stopped?" Li Chao thought, and then stopped the march.

"What do the Goguryeo people want to do?" Cheng Chumo asked.

Li Chao looked ahead, "I guess Quan Gai Suwen also knew that General Yuchi had entered Linyu Pass. This guy was probably angry and wanted to kill a retaliation while we had no cavalry."

"Didn't Quan Gai Suwen run very fast? Why are you going to fight back now?"

"One time, this time is also the same."

Li Chao could almost guess some of Yuan Gaisuwen's thoughts.

But it's good, the battle is just right. Yuan Gassuwen turned around and fought, so he could hold him back. When reinforcements arrived, Yuan Gassuwen couldn't escape even if he wanted to.

"Get the map!"

Li Chao waved.

Wang Xuance immediately took out a cowhide bag and took out a map of Hebei from it. This map is not an ordinary map, but a very accurate and detailed military map, which is extremely confidential.

Open the map, and it is marked with mountains, rivers, rivers, cities, towns, etc., which are clear at a glance.

Li Chao found Pingzhou's location and marked his current location.

Yuan Gaisuwen has nearly 40,000 cavalry, but Li Chao has less than 30,000 infantry. The strength gap between the two sides is obvious. This is all plains, and there are fewer mountain valleys suitable for defense. If formations are arranged on the plains and cavalry with steps, Li Chao will definitely not win.

The last time I won, it was also an exception. After all, the new weapons and new formations were unexpected, and the second was that Gaisuwen underestimated the enemy's carelessness. At that time, the number of Tang troops still had an advantage, as well as cavalry.

Now, both Yuan Gaisuwen is far superior to the Tang army in terms of number and elite number, and Li Chao also lacks cavalry protection formations, and he also lost many soldiers in the last battle.

He must find a support point and a support point.

This season is not very beneficial to Li Chao.

If it is summer, maybe you can find a muddy place to start the war, and the cavalry will not be able to run. The terrain here is not good, with endless plains and even a bunch of mountains, let alone the dangerous valley.

"We have to find a village."

Li Chao expressed his purpose.

There are no mountains, no river valleys, and there are not even a dense forest. It is extremely dangerous to use steps to ride, so you must find some support.

"The prime minister, five miles north of the north, there is a Zhuangzi, Zhaozhuang. That farm is quite large, with thousands of households, and the villages are all surnamed Zhao. They are almost all from a large family. They have been here for many years. This farm has a wall of the village and even several stone towers."

The scout captain reported to Li Chao.

Li Chao looked at the location he pointed at, very close to here.

The key is that the conditions he mentioned are very consistent with Li Chao's requirements.

A very large village with a wall. This village actually has a stone tower. This kind of tower is actually an arrow tower. In the war-torn era, it deals with the riots and bandits.

"Was it not broken when the Goguryeo people robbed the four towns before this village?"

"No, the Goguryeo people focused on Yuguan, Lulong and other cities, and then sent thousands of people to plunder the four towns. The Zhao Zhuangqing and strong man guarded the village together. The Goguryeo people fought several times but failed to capture them, so they went to another place."

"Very good, go to Zhaozhuang." Li Chao ordered.

"Go to Zhaozhuang!"

After orders were passed one by one, the team turned north and began to trot.

It is not far from Zhaozhuang, only five miles away.

The team arrived soon before the trot. When the people of Zhaozhuang saw the smoke and dust rising, they thought that it was Goguryeo again. They immediately rang the bell and gongs and greeted loudly.

When Li Chao led his troops to arrive, the gate of Zhaozhuang was already closed and silent. He could only vaguely see someone poking his head out from behind the wall of the village from time to time.

Li Chao looked at the village carefully.

This Zhuangzi is indeed quite good. Although it is also on the plain, the Zhuangzi is very big and there is a river passing by the Zhuangzi, which makes it convenient for the Zhuangzi to wash clothes with water and have a defensive effect.

The wall of the village is about one meter high, and the stone foundation is rammed.

The village gate is completely made of stones.

"Good place." Seeing this farm, Li Chao felt relieved. He didn't have to worry about the 40,000 cavalrymen of Yuan Gaisuwen.

Gao Kan stepped forward immediately.

"Listen to the people in the village, we are the Tang Dynasty's official army!"

In fact, at this time, the people in the village had already seen clearly that the person who came from was not the Goguryeo people, but the official army.

"I don't know if the official army passed by, and I have misunderstood him. Please forgive me." A man replied loudly on the wall of the village, speaking quite politely.

When the people in the village heard that this Tang army was not passing by, but were about to enter the village, they were still a little worried. But after hearing that the person in the army was Li Chao, they opened the village gate without hesitation.

The village gate opened and soldiers entered the village.

Li Chao did not be too polite to the people in the village. He met with the people of Zhao Zhuang who were of high reputation. After a brief conversation, Li Chao began to set up the arrangements.

Send troops to guard the walls of the village, strengthen the gates of the villages, and send archers to enter the stone towers. At the same time, collect wood and stones, etc., and build some archery platforms behind the walls of the villages.

In the village, Li Chao also asked someone to rush to stop the horse, and then defended the main roads in the village.

Fighting in the village is equivalent to a city defense battle. There is no need to set up a large formation. Without cavalry, the formation is not very useful. Therefore, Li Chao retreated directly into the village and wanted to borrow the village to fight a position defense battle.

After spending most of the busy hours, the entire village has been strengthened a lot.

Li Chao stood on the wall of the village and looked into the distance. A black line appeared on the east side and the ground began to vibrate slightly.

The Goguryeo people came indeed.

The yon Gaisuwen had nearly 40,000 cavalry, and was marching very wide, like a tide sweeping over.

On the one hand, the men in Zhaozhuang were also holding spears and hunting bows. Several people standing on the wall of the village looked at the black crows in the distance, and couldn't help but feel their throats dry.

Last time they defeated the Goguryeo people, but that time they came only about a hundred cavalrymen. They closed the village and stood firm. The Goguryeo people retreated if they couldn't find the opportunity.

But now, that is simply a boundless Goguryeo who can’t see the end.

"Uncle, can we keep it?"

"Don't worry, with Li Xianga, I will definitely be able to keep it." Although the old man said this, he had no confidence in his heart.

He turned to look at the officers and soldiers next to him, and saw these people standing there, each of them being extremely solemn and without saying a word. But there was no fear in their eyes.

Zhaozhuang is a large village with more than a thousand households.

However, nearly 30,000 Tang troops were in the village at this time, and they were also very crowded.

However, this also has one advantage, that is, the defense forces are relatively concentrated.

There are many strong men in the village, and there are nearly 3,000 in total. Li Chao organized these people into the reserve team, so they would supplement wherever they were tight.

Outside the village.

The dark tide came and stopped two hundred steps outside the village.

Goguryeo had many soldiers and had a large number of troops, so they directly surrounded Zhuangzi on all sides. The surrounding area was three layers inside and three layers outside, and it was not easy to penetrate.

"Sir, these Tang dogs are so quick to see the opportunity. When they saw us turn around, they immediately found such a farm and retreated." A general said angrily. If they had known that the Tang people had sent all the cavalry out, they would have turned around long ago.

"So what if you hide in the village? We can't capture such a small village?"

Although Zhaozhuang is not small, he is just a farm, not even a smallest county town. The walls of that village are quite high, but they are still incomparable to the county town, because although the walls of this village are high, they are too thin.

Moreover, a wall that is ten feet high is not actually high, and may be quite tall compared to other village walls, but ten feet high? His knight can jump up directly when he stands on the horse.
Chapter completed!