Zezhou.
In the governor's mansion.
Wang Yanzhang stood up, looked at the soldiers in front of him with expectant eyes, and said.
"When I get back to the general, there is still no news from Lord Fengdu.
It was Li Cunxiao, he withdrew his troops. "The soldier looked at Wang Yanzhang in front of him and opened his mouth to report.
"Withdraw troops?" Wang Yanzhang said in disbelief.
Originally, their military peak in Daliang was already pointing directly at Luzhou, and their strength was more than four times that of the Luzhou defenders. They only needed to conquer Luzhou and the land of Zelu would fall into Daliang's hands. Then, when they were fighting Jin, It would be easy to bring the war to Jin.
This is also Zhu Wen's main external strategy. Relying on the strongest national power in the Central Plains, he quickly pushes the battlefield to the opponent's territory, and then slowly scrapes the ground and bleeds the opponent's blood.
And Li Keyong was precisely a person whose internal affairs ability was much poorer than his ability to check and balance and command troops. Even in his early years, he still followed his own approach on the grasslands and moved to the Central Plains.
Originally, it was a foregone conclusion that the city of Luzhou would be destroyed and the land of Zelu would fall into the hands of Daliang. However, he did not want to change the government, so Zhu Yougui rebelled and colluded with Li Xingyun, a remnant of the previous dynasty, to assassinate His Majesty. In order to stabilize the political situation, he had to give up. With the victory in sight, he withdrew his troops and returned to Zezhou.
But I didn't expect that so many changes could happen in such a short period of time. First, the Baoyi Army Jiedu envoy was careless and died in the military formation. Xingzhou, Mingzhou, and Cizhou fell into the hands of Li Cunxu. Later, Zhu Youqian He rebelled, falsely opened the city of Tongzhou, and separatized Tongzhou and Hezhong.
The original advantages over Qi and Jin were lost in one day, but now the city of Zezhou is also in danger.
"Yes, General, when the scouts went out of the city to investigate, they found that the Jin army's camp was empty. They followed the traces and searched far away, but no trace of the Jin army was found." The soldier looked at Wang Yanzhang in front of him. , replied respectfully.
"What do you mean?" Wang Yanzhang thought secretly in his heart. Although Wang Yanzhang could not defeat Li Cunxiao, Zezhou's military strength was more than enough to hold on. The two sides had been confronting each other for a long time, but with no results.
'Perhaps he retreated because he knew he couldn't take Zezhou? 'Wang Yanzhang thought secretly in his heart, but he felt that he should go out of the city to investigate.
"Gather twenty cavalry and follow me out of the city to investigate." Wang Yanzhang thought about it, but still felt uneasy and wanted to investigate in person.
Because for some reason, Wang Yanzhang always felt uneasy and had a bad premonition.
…
Not long after, Wang Yanzhang led twenty Liang Jun light cavalry and rushed out of Zezhou City.
After he left, the defenders of Zezhou City quickly closed the city gate.
Not long after, Wang Yanzhang ordered the Qingqi to disperse to investigate. Finally, a group of twenty-one people met at Li Cunxiao's camp, only to find that there was no one in the camp at this moment.
Li Cunxiao's withdrawal should have been good news, but for some reason, looking at the empty camp in front of him and the few leaves blown up by the breeze, Wang Yanzhang felt strange and strangely chilly in his heart.
"Explore again!" Wang Yanzhang looked at the twenty Qingqi beside him and ordered.
"Yes." A group of Liang Jun's light cavalry all took the order, and then they spread out to detect the movement of the Jin army.
But in the end, this exploration still found nothing, and overnight, the Jin army disappeared without a trace.
…
Zezhou.
Governor's Mansion.
Wang Yanzhang, who had just returned to Zezhou City, felt a wave of sleepiness welling up in his heart, and a feeling of exhaustion began to flow through his body like a tide. After a long period of tense nerves and injuries, but insisting on commanding the defense of the city, he was already very tired. He was tired. Before, it was because Li Cunxiao was outside the city, so he was always tense. But now that Li Cunxiao's army had withdrawn, he suddenly relaxed, and naturally he couldn't hold on any longer.
But at this moment, Wang Yanzhang was still not at ease. He ordered to the Liang army: "Dispatch scouts widely to explore the enemy's military situation."
In this way, in the Zezhou Governor's Mansion, Wang Yanzhang waited for reports from waves of scouts from dawn to dusk, and finally confirmed that Li Cunxiao had indeed withdrawn.
This news made the tense Liang Jun breathe a sigh of relief.
Wang Yanzhang breathed a sigh of relief. He sat in front of the case and ordered to his left and right: "The defense in the city must not be slack these days. All military affairs must be reported to me. Do you understand?"
Everyone around them responded.
Wang Yanzhang then picked up a roll of silk and started writing a report to the emperor, as well as the situation in Zezhou City, as well as his opinions on the handling of the forces of Daliang, Jin, Zhu Youqian, and Li Maozhen, but he had not finished writing. , because he was too tired, he slowly leaned on the desk and fell asleep.
When a group of waiters heard the snoring, they walked into the room, but did not wake Wang Yanzhang. Instead, they covered him with a quilt and then left.
Since taking office as the governor of Zezhou, Wang Yanzhang has rectified military discipline, restrained his soldiers, and excelled in defense. At the same time, he did not harass the people, which gave Zezhou a chance to breathe.
At the same time, Wang Yanzhang was strict in running the army while still caring for the soldiers. He also had the courage to share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, which made him very popular among the army.
…
night.
A team slowly drove towards Zezhou City from a distance.
However, before the team reached the bottom of the city, a long arrow flew down from the city wall.
Then I heard a loud shout from the city wall:
"Stop coming, where did you come from?"
The leader of the team, wearing Liang Jun's battle armor, rode his horse forward and said, "Brother, don't hurt friendly troops, you are one of your own, you are one of your own!"
"Li Cunxiao recently invaded Zezhou. The governor was worried about the safety of Zezhou, so he specially sent me here, along with me and others, including food, grass and baggage to feed the army.
We were all assigned to General Wang's command! "The leading general shouted.
When the general guarding the city gate of Liang Jun saw that there was indeed a large amount of food, grass and baggage piled under the city, there were not many soldiers and horses, and they were wearing Liang Jun uniforms, his doubts dissipated a lot, but he was still uneasy and asked: "Even if we are here for reinforcements, why are we here at night?" Come?
Wait until I report it to General Ming. "
"It was supposed to arrive in a few days, but the governor was worried about the war situation in Zezhou, so I had to travel at night and starry night, so we rushed as hard as we could, and finally arrived at night.
Everything is easy to say, but the brothers have been traveling for several days and are exhausted. The carriage and horses are tired. Please hurry up. "The leading general below the city looked at the gatekeeper above the city and said.
"Thank you, brother. Please wait for a moment. I will be back soon." The city gate guard had been observing the expressions of Liang Jun under the city. He saw that they were all dusty, with dusty faces, embarrassed and exhausted, and he gave up some doubts. .
So, he turned around and walked down the city gate, rushing all the way towards the Zezhou Governor's Mansion.
At the same time, another Jin army team, with their heads and horses wrapped in hooves, slowly came toward Zezhou City in the darkness of night.
As the army marched, there was almost no sound.
(End of chapter)
