Immediately after learning that Cao Lin and the main force of Dongdu suddenly appeared in Hanoi, Zhang Xing, the chief of the Deposed Dragon Gang, issued a military order, requiring the entire army to abandon Jijun and Liyangcang and evacuate north and east to avoid danger. Edge.
However, the execution of this order was obviously met with some resistance.
Some people were bewildered by the huge warehouse itself and were reluctant to part with it; while other people were bewildered by the previous successful raid and the huge follow-up impact, and felt that the Grand Master might not be able to fight, and felt that the Dongdu soldiers and horses Vulnerable... As the saying goes, you have a grand master, I also have a grand master, and there are four or five Cheng Dan, and more than ten or twenty Condensation Dans. You can't make too much difference if you make do with it. As for soldiers and horses, Dongdu soldiers The horses and the deposed dragon army have fought many times in the past few years. It is obvious that Wang Xiaoer's New Year is not as good as the previous year, but the deposed dragon army is growing day by day, so the Dongdu army can only be regarded as nothing. In this case, give it a try Why not try?
This is opportunism.
Frankly speaking, Zhang Xing is not qualified to accuse others of being opportunists, because some of the things he himself does are also suspected of opportunism... He is even considered a half-nihilist, a dogmatist, an adventurist, and has no bottom line. A flexitarian, and sometimes, as now, he can hardly be called a capitulationist.
Because back to the matter itself, Chief Zhang resolutely reiterated the order and refused to leave any room for discussion.
Not only that, after the military order was issued, he quickly added a series of details... For example, the last troops must destroy bridges and block roads to delay as much as possible; for example, all leaders are no longer allowed to use whale bones. To avoid being targeted, all vehicles and livestock must be moved into the war barracks, and the war barracks will be evacuated first; all field soldiers will also be withdrawn across the board, but if it is really due to If the numbers are not enough to evacuate decisively, we are allowed to unite with the officials and surrendered soldiers of the original Ji County to defend the city on their own; the officials and surrendered soldiers of the Ji County can go together if they are willing, and do not force those who are not willing; allow the soldiers who are too late to leave in time to join the original Ji County soldiers. County officials and soldiers took flexible and independent measures to survive and will not be held accountable for this matter.
The reason for being so determined is actually very simple.
First of all, although he does not know the power of the Grand Master, he will not underestimate the power of the Grand Master after he met Fenshanjun when he first traveled through time, especially since the previous plan to conduct a large army array experiment in the reform failed. ; Secondly, Lingxun isolated the reinforcements from the south bank, making it impossible for the Deposed Dragon Gang to gather all its strength to deal with the attack in the short term; in addition, the most important point is that this time it is not the Grand Master who comes alone, but the Grand Master. This high-end combat power arrived together with an entire army. There were also many masters of elixir creation and elixir condensation in the army... The addition of these is definitely not a simple addition or subtraction, but constitutes a powerful system. Violent machine... This means that once the two armies face each other, it is likely that starting from the strongest point of Cao Lin, the great master, it will form a situation where one point is broken and then the whole line collapses.
Zhang Xing didn't dare to gamble.
In contrast, the attitude of Zhang Bofeng, another great master who came to Hebei, can be left alone. Although this is also very important, we must first avoid the edge.
"Chief, retreating like this is not an option."
Faced with this situation, Xu Shiying could not continue to sit on the sidelines. In fact, he came from Linqing Pass at the intersection of Ji County and Hanoi County on Pegasus, and then outside Qingqi City on the south side of Zhiwei County in Ji County. I saw Zhang Xing.
It is worth mentioning that Wei County and Qingqi City are a full thirty miles west of Liyang. In other words, while Zhang Xing ordered an all-round retreat, he took the initiative to come in the opposite direction.
He came to supervise the retreat, and stopped by to see the ice situation in Dahe.
"What do you say?" Zhang Xing, who was standing on the embankment of the river with his clothes ruffled by the south wind, turned around and looked at Xu Shiying who was under the embankment.
"Two explanations." Xu Shiying answered with a dark face as he walked up. When he reached the river embankment, he couldn't help but turn his face to avoid the wind. "First, there are too many of us and we are too scattered. We have no time to retreat. As long as the other party insists on letting their horses chase, even if Jijun can escape, we will be caught up in Weijun and Wuyang, not to mention the densely populated villages. Secondly, what should we do if they are in hot pursuit, don't care about anything, and attack the general's mausoleum? What if they continue to pursue them and catch up to Dengzhou? "
"What you said makes sense." Zhang Xing nodded with his hands behind his back. "But the problem is that if we resist in Jijun, it will probably be even worse...Cao Lin and the main force of Dongdu have arrived. We don't know when this wave will end. If we can't come up, we will be defeated and we will lose our backup plan." Power."
"Of course." Xu Shiying nodded.
"Then what do you mean?" Zhang Xing asked immediately. "Have you thought of any solution?"
"No." Xu Shiying paused immediately, and then answered with his hands behind his back. "I just don't know what to do, so I came to look for the chief... The one idea I can think of is to retreat first, wait until the ice drift ends, and let the Henan soldiers and Dengzhou soldiers and horses cross the river from the lower reaches to join us and gather their strength. When they are gathered together, the other side will also lengthen the battle line and divide their troops to occupy the city layer by layer. One will weaken the other to see if they can fight him."
"My meaning is the same as yours." Zhang Xing also nodded. "The current situation is that it is impossible not to withdraw, but it is nonsense to expect that withdrawal will solve the problem... We can only seize all opportunities when retreating, change the situation, and find opportunities to solve the problem."
Xu Shiying nodded: "Does the chief have any specific ideas?"
"Yes." Zhang Xing answered immediately. "The first one is, as you said, mobilizing the Henan troops immediately after the drifting ice period, but it does not necessarily have to be gathered together to harass the back roads and cut off the access between Dongdu and this army. It is not necessarily a method, because Cao Lin is The wave of momentum is fierce, and the biggest loophole is actually the grassroots soldiers. If the morale of the soldiers and horses can be reduced and the combat effectiveness is lost, then the grand master will be implicated in turn, and there will be a chance; the second one is Try to use diplomatic means to negotiate with Beidi, Youzhou, Hejian, and Li Ding. It's best if you can pull them in. If you can't pull them, you should try to avoid a pincer attack. The third one is Zhang Bofeng... This is At present, I can’t say there is only one place that can have an immediate effect.”
"Zhang Bofeng..." Xu Shiying reluctantly nodded when he heard the previous words, but sighed when he heard this. "Even if Old Master Zhang is not from the same family as Uncle Cao Huang, he is not from the same family as us. He is the head of the first family in Jin, a grand master, and is naturally a dragon who is 'good at benefiting the world'. How could he recognize us? Depose the Dragon Gang?"
"We don't expect him to be the same as us, but if two great masters appear in the same place, they will restrain each other." Zhang Xing answered seriously. "I definitely don't believe that they are a team. Take ten thousand steps back. On the surface, they are a team. There must be differences and conflicts inside. Otherwise, speed is better than surprise. Why did Zhang Bofeng follow us when Cao Lin just crossed the river? Send an invitation, instead of following the letter directly to find me, come here to capture the thief and capture the king, and take me? Therefore, Zhang Bofeng can definitely use it."
Xu Shiying nodded, then was silent for a while, blew the south wind, and continued to ask: "But we can't take chances... In case, I mean just in case, these methods are useless, the retreat process The opportunities here were of no use, and the situation was even worse. Xue Changxiong also came, and Li Ding didn't help us. Then Uncle Cao really chased us all the way to Jiangling, and then to Dengzhou. What should we do? Third brother, you What should we do? What should we do if we depose the Dragon Gang?"
Zhang Xing glanced at the other party and asked again: "If that's the case, what will you do?"
Xu Shiying was silent for a moment, just stepping on his linen-lined Liuhe boots to press down on the soil that was gradually becoming softer under his feet.
Zhang Xing smiled and did not press further. Instead, he sighed: "Xu Dalang came to talk to me today, which shows that he has the safety of the Deposed Dragon Gang in his heart. For this reason alone, I will not abandon you."
Xu Shiying was confused for a moment: "What...abandoned me...I'm asking what if we don't seize the opportunity, but the great master is more stable than anyone else and just bites us to death and chases us all the way to Dengzhou?"
"Of course I'll board the ship from Dengzhou and go to Beidi for a while." Zhang Xing responded calmly. "When we got on the boat and entered the East China Sea, he would not dare to pursue him, otherwise the Governor of Dongyi would come to take care of him. When we arrived in the North, we took advantage of the Demon Guard's shell to hide, and Cao Lin drove us away. Those who cannot stand will definitely be taken care of by other great masters because they left the Black Tower of Dongdu. When the time comes, we will make a comeback and clean up Hebei."
Xu Shiying was stunned for a moment, and sneered in his heart, but it didn't show on his face.
In his opinion, if that is true, as long as Zhang Xing escapes to the north, the Deposed Dragon Gang will inevitably split, and Li Shu will definitely take the opportunity to tighten the situation. More importantly, the powerful individuals in Hebei and the East within the Deposed Dragon Gang will They are all attached to their family and the land, so how can they be willing to walk with Zhang?
It’s okay to leave. Just avoid his sharp edge. The Grand Master will attack you. It’s not shameful to flee all the way to find a place to stay. If Li Shu wants to calm down the situation, there’s no problem. This guy will definitely do it, and he’s qualified to do it, even Being able to do it openly... The problem is that, in Xu Dalang's view, if Zhang Xing leaves, these gang backbones from powerful families in Hebei and Henan will most likely not follow Zhang Xing, and will defect to Li Shu next. Even betrayed the Deposed Dragon Gang.
And once this happens, when Zhang Xing comes back, these people will become enemies rather than friends.
Because the unity that the two sides had maintained disappeared, a betrayal was enough to completely dissolve the so-called organization that Zhang Xing had worked hard to maintain and build in the previous three years.
Thinking of this, Xu Shiying was about to say something else, but suddenly, he reacted and was shocked on the spot: "What does the chief mean, even if you escape to the North, you will definitely not abandon me?"
"Not bad." Zhang Xing smiled half-heartedly and stretched out his hand to press the other person's shoulder. "Actually, I was thinking just now that if it really comes to the point where Hebei cannot gain a foothold, it's nothing more than others, but I really don't know what the outcome will be for you Xu Dalang, especially since all of your troops and horses will stay in Henan, so when the time comes you It is really possible that I will stay. And if I really keep you, there is no doubt that we will not end up with a good ending... But since you came so quickly today, it means that you have the overall interests of the Dragon Gang deposed in your heart, so I will A villain's heart can judge a gentleman's heart, so I will take you with me no matter what, so that there will be no outcome between us."
Xu Shiying looked sideways at the other party. Countless thoughts came to mind, but she put them all away and just nodded, deciding to wait and see.
After all, even judging from the current situation, Xu Dalang had to admit that although Cao Lin and the Dongdu army were coming fiercely, the general trend was not in Wei, so it might not last long. It could not be said that deposing the Dragon Gang would just retreat, while the Dongdu army would move forward. The opponent will reveal many fatal flaws, and with Chief Zhang's ability and the current strength of the Deposed Dragon Gang, it is impossible to catch the opponent's flaws and then advance to the next level.
In this way, after the two left, they continued to organize the entire army's retreat, while Xu Shiying, who had followed Zhang Xing, went to search for Zhang Bofeng's whereabouts.
The letter sent by Zhang Bofeng the day before was delivered to Zhang Xing by sending a letter to the Qianlong Gang garrison in Tangyin, the intersection of Jijun and Weijun. But strangely, although there was an invitation in the letter, there was no invitation. A location and time were provided, and instructions for replying to the letter were not marked.
Under such circumstances, when the entire gang was impatient and almost all the leaders were dispersed to various cities to organize retreats, Xu Shiying took the initiative to come to Tangyin to search for Zhang Bofeng's whereabouts... but found nothing.
In desperation, Xu Dalang turned back again and met Zhang Xing at the Acropolis. The two discussed for a while and came to the conclusion that either Zhang Bofeng had just learned about Cao Lin crossing the river and was quite surprised by it and went to inquire, or he was Wandering around freely, waiting for Zhang Xing's public reply.
He couldn't control the former, but Zhang Xing didn't make up his mind after hesitating for a moment.
It's one thing to expect Old Master Zhang to cause trouble and hindrance to Uncle Cao Huang, but when the opponent's grand master and army are pressing down, publicly responding to the invitation is tantamount to openly asking for help. This is not impossible in normal times, but when the entire army evacuates in large numbers, At this time, publicly asking for help is likely to intensify panic, cause chaos, and cause irreversible serious consequences.
At this time, General Military Advocate Xiong Bonan and Foreign Affairs Director Xie Minghe, who quickly returned from Yecheng, arrived. After a brief discussion, they finally decided to withdraw the troops first and not to make any unnecessary moves.
Both Xiong and Xie went about their own business - Xiong Bonan accepted the task of cutting off the rear and urging soldiers from all over the country to retreat quickly, while Xie Minghe went north again with another letter from Zhang Xing, in order to See Li Ding and ask the latter not to add insult to injury.
As a result, the public response to Old Master Zhang was temporarily shelved.
In this way, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Cao Lin used the power of the great master to forcibly cross the river that was already in the flood season. In fact, it had the effect of a surprise attack. However, even so, the Deposed Dragon Gang still succeeded in just three days, that is, on the tenth day of the first lunar month. On the eighth day, all the soldiers in Jijun were withdrawn from Jijun. At the same time, a steady stream of soldiers and civilians in the field were still evacuating.
Among them, Liyang Warehouse, where most of the warehouses had not been moved, was abandoned without hesitation.
This decision is indeed surprising.
In fact, by this day, people like Xue Changxiong didn't even know what happened, and Li Ding only knew that Cao Lin had launched a massive counterattack because of Zhang Xing's letter.
Of course, Ji County officials and the newly surrendered officers and soldiers remained. These people who had just surrendered less than half a month ago, with the cooperation of the Deposed Dragon Gang, calmly controlled the entire Ji County, and then still presided over the work of distributing grain, and then With a mainly uneasy but very complicated mentality, he was waiting for the arrival of the Dongdu army.
However, an interesting thing happened.
The Dongdu troops did come, but they were only a few thousand men from Qu Tuda's group, and they only controlled a small half of Jijun on the west side of Qishui River, and invaded the county, Zhiwei County, and then only sent envoys to the east of Jijun. Colleagues and subordinates before the department issued orders to guard the city, maintain public order, and coordinate military supplies.
Then it stopped moving.
The legendary large army and grand master were not seen at all.
This actually put the entire Ji County into a kind of confusion. In just twenty days, they surrendered and then surrendered again, and indeed experienced a vigorous grain release movement, but in fact, when they turned around, But I was shocked to find that almost everyone’s positions and jobs had not changed at all.
It was as if the Deposed Dragon Gang had never been here.
Of course, the food and cloth in various cities and villages clearly reminded everyone that this was not a dream, but that the current situation was too weird.
Zhang Xing, who had already retreated to Yecheng, had a brief discussion with the dozen or so leaders gathered here and immediately realized that someone must have gone to talk to Uncle Cao to reminisce.
"Old General Zhang." On the hillside north of Xiuwu City in Hanoi, Cao Lin's name for the thin but tall man in front of him was completely different from others. "So, did you deceive Li Twelve Lang, or did Li Twelve Lang deceive me?"
"What did Li Twelve Lang say about me?" Grand Master Zhang Bofeng, who seemed to be in better spirits, twirled his beard and smiled. He was obviously curious, and his robes were also fluttering in the wind.
"He said that if I come to Hebei to depose the Dragon Gang, General Zhang will never take advantage of others' danger to intercept me. He also said that you are dissatisfied with some of Zhang Sanlang's actions and think he is audacious." Cao Lin looked at it. He looked at the other person as if he was confused. "is that so?"
"Yes." Zhang Bofeng thought for a moment and nodded immediately. "That's right."
"Then the old general wants to live up to his words?" Cao Lin frowned slightly. "Deliberately deceiving Li Twelve Lang and me?"
"Why would I, an old man who is about to die, lie to such a boy? Why would I lie to you?" Zhang Bofeng spread his hands in response.
"Then why did the old general come to Hebei and persuade me to postpone the march?" Cao Lin became more and more serious. "Isn't this just going back on your word?"
"That's it." Zhang Bofeng was stunned for a moment, then realized it immediately, and smiled while twirling his beard again. "I see, Cao Zhongcheng, it's like this. Li Twelve Lang passed by Nanpo that day and looked for me specifically. He asked me frankly... I was asked about my opinion on the situation in Hebei and Zhang Sanlang. Of course I answered like that; later He also asked me, am I colluding with the British public in order to lure you out of the Eastern Capital so that I can deal with you? And my reply is that I have never colluded with anyone, and I have no intention of being an enemy of Cao Zhongcheng. What can I say? A siege?"
Cao Lin was slightly startled and immediately realized that Li Twelve Lang was so frustrated that he was so bold that he used his doubts and time constraints to create a verbal trap between the two masters, specifically to lure him to Hebei. Dealing with the Deposed Dragon Gang resulted in the current situation.
However, this matter seemed not worth mentioning when Zhang Bofeng personally admitted that he had not colluded with Bai Hengqiu.
Of course, Cao Lin soon realized another problem - if Zhang Bofeng had never been connected with Bai Hengqiu, how could he explain that Jin was almost completely controlled by the British? Almost all the children of the Zhang family are consistent with the Bai family?
As if he had read Cao Lin's thoughts, the tall and thin Jin Gefuzi smiled and continued: "The reason why I am like this is because I am older. If it weren't for the obvious collapse of the power of the Wei Dynasty, I would have a little more earth energy blessing." , who managed to survive a little, but died almost three years ago...How can the Zhang family's children, who live in several counties in Hedong, still care about it?"
Cao Lin was completely stunned.
That's right, it's not that Zhang Bofeng has no position, and it's not that the Zhang family has not merged with the Bai family, it's just that this Jin Gefu is getting old, and I don't want to bother with it in the past few years, that's all.
But if this is the case, the British public's idea of leaving the Eastern Capital to deal with it, is he overthinking, or does he have other helpers?
After thinking for a while, Cao Lin suddenly said: "The old general just advised me to postpone the march, saying that he wanted to ask Zhang Sanlang face to face, but in the end, the Deposed Dragon Gang and Zhang San were driven away by me and fled directly... Do you want to fight with Zhang Sanlang? What to discuss?”
"Discuss his dethronement of 'Benefits of Being Good at the World', 'Benefits of Uniting the World', and his "Law of Deposing the Dragon"." Zhang Bofeng had one comment. "I am old and have already seen the battlefields of the human world. This time I am very quiet and thoughtful, but I just want to see the thoughts and demeanor of the younger generation... I don't agree with some of Zhang San's ideas, but Even so, he is one of the few young people in the world who has his own ideas. Moreover, different ways do not necessarily mean who is right or wrong. A stone from another mountain can attack jade, so it is worth seeing."
"The hills in the world are all lined up one after another. They are not just a mere Zhang Xing?" Cao Lin said thoughtfully. "Even if he built a mountain, it was just a small hill. Since the old general came to Hebei from the south slope and asked for a stone from another mountain, why not take this opportunity to gather the heroes of Hebei and discuss it together? The place and time are also It’s up to you to decide, and I’d also like to attend. If you have the funds, I’d be honored.”
Zhang Bofeng couldn't help but laugh: "If Cao Zhongcheng is willing to sit down and discuss with me, I would be honored at that time. I am afraid that you just want to use my hand to gather the heroes of Hebei and then take the opportunity to catch them all, right?"
Cao Lin also shook his head and laughed: "Master Zhang, you think too much, let alone who would dare to make trouble with you? Even people like Xue Changxiong and Xiong Bonan are not easy to deal with when they join forces... If you don't worry, , why not invite the British Duke of Taiyuan to come to the meeting? It is naturally appropriate for all parties to contain it."
Zhang Bofeng's heart moved slightly, and he could instinctively sense Cao Lin's thoughts, but after thinking about it, he felt relieved: "That's right! With me here, who dares to make a mistake?!"
Cao Lin calmed down slightly and asked again: "Where and when?"
"Hongshan." Zhang Bofeng thought for a while and gave a definite answer. "The main thing is that I want to talk to Zhang Sanlang. If Duke Cao and the British Duke are willing to come, it would be better...seven days will be enough...I will go and invite Zhang Sanlang."
Cao Lin narrowed his eyes and nodded: "Before this meeting, I promise not to move."
