In the spring of the seventh year of Qingguan, Zhou Ziru, the prime minister of the Qing Dynasty, led one hundred thousand troops and marched towards Sichuan and Shu to quell the rebellion in Xigui.
In Rongcheng, Miao Zhanggan stood on the wall of Rongcheng with a sad look on his face. Behind him, the pair of sisters also looked disgraced and came behind him.
"Second Young Master still refuses to come?" Miao Zhangqian asked calmly without turning around.
The two women looked at each other and shook their heads gently: "Second Young Master...give us an order to hold on for a few more days..."
"How many days? Haha..." Miao Zhangqian smiled bitterly: "How can we hold on for how many more days? He took away most of the food and grass in the city, and more than half of the ten thousand soldiers and horses were killed and injured... If we, the Holy Insect Valley, weren't here to watch..."
The two girls lowered their heads and remained silent. Over the past few days, the imperial troops seemed to have gone crazy. Hundreds of thousands of troops were divided into dozens of waves, attacking Rongcheng day and night. At first, the soldiers and horses in the city and the Holy Insect Valley could resist for a while, but gradually, after a few days, Rongcheng was approaching its limit.
"Report, report to the Master of Miao Valley, the imperial troops are about to attack again!" The school officers who reported the news were all dead, and a disciple of the Holy Insect Valley temporarily took the place of the school officer and was responsible for reporting the military situation.
Miao Zhangqian took two steps forward and saw that outside the imperial camp in the distance, soldiers and horses were indeed gathering to attack the city.
"Valley Master, can you use 'Pojun'?" Among the sisters behind him, a woman stepped forward to persuade.
"Alas..." Miao Zhangqian sighed heavily: "Yes! Send someone to send a message to the Second Young Master. Within one day, if the reinforcements don't arrive, Rongcheng will be destroyed..."
The two girls got the order and went separately.
"People from the Jianghu... shouldn't interfere..."
…
"Second Young Master, the Master of Miao Valley has something to say. If the reinforcements don't arrive in one day, Rongcheng will be destroyed. Second Young Master, please send a rescue message as soon as possible!" The disciple of the Holy Insect Valley who passed the order said eagerly in Zou Tao's camp.
"Okay, then you go back and report to the Master of Miao Valley. I will send troops immediately. Reinforcements will arrive within one day, so he must hold on for one day!" Zou Tao stood up and shouted loudly.
When the disciples of the Holy Insect Valley heard this, they couldn't help but be overjoyed and saluted repeatedly: "Thank you, Second Young Master! Thank you, Second Young Master!" They turned around and left, rushing back to report the news.
"Second Young Master, are you really going to send troops to save the Holy Insect Valley?" A middle-aged general next to him asked.
"If the imperial court really wants to attack the city with more than 100,000 troops, how can Miao Zhangqian still send people out? He is just using the attack as an excuse to vent his anger. Knowing that I am not in the city, he deliberately attacks the city to lure me to rescue him. If he sends troops If he goes, it's not me who saves him, it's him who saves me." Zou Tao waited for the disciples of the Holy Insect Valley to leave, then sat back on the chair softly, without the heroic look he had just now.
"Then...what should we do?"
Zou Tao crossed his fingers and lay on the desk: "I can be sure that as long as we send troops to rescue Chengdu, the imperial troops will immediately appear behind our army and catch us by surprise. The boss's one hundred thousand troops have been destroyed by me. Accepted, these troops cannot be thrown into Sichuan and Sichuan, there are still many tough battles to be fought later..."
"What about that side of Chengdu..." The middle-aged general didn't understand what Zou Tao meant, so he had to continue asking.
"Drag! Drag until the city is broken! Holy Insect Valley is not that weak, and it still has a killer weapon in its hands. We will take action after the soldiers and horses from Holy Insect Valley and the imperial court are both defeated!"
"But Rongcheng..."
"Is Rongcheng important? If you lose it, you will lose it. As long as we defeat the imperial troops, Rongcheng will still be ours." Zou Tao frowned and said impatiently.
The middle-aged general did not dare to ask any more questions, so he retreated and stood aside.
Zou Tao thought for a moment and then issued an order: "Call them all in."
The middle-aged general hurriedly went out to deliver the order, and soon all the Xigui generals outside the tent entered the tent, filling the tent with as many as thirty or forty people.
"General Wang, you lead 10,000 troops and set off for Rongcheng. Stop when you encounter a dangerous place. It is necessary for the imperial court to ambush you. When the ambush leaves, follow the ambush to Rongcheng and charge straight to kill them."
"General Zhou, lead your troops behind the imperial troops and horses. If you see that the imperial army is defeated, just cover up and kill them."
"General Guan, you lead the troops..."
Zou Tao didn't think much, and issued a dozen orders in one breath, and arranged for all the generals to go out.
"Second Young Master, the last general will only bring 10,000 troops to attack the imperial court's hundreds of thousands of troops..." General Wang, who was the first to be called, felt uncertain.
"The winner will be promoted to three levels in a row. The loser will not be punished. I hope you will work hard!" Zou Tao gave everyone reassurance.
"The general has received his order!" All the generals beamed with joy.
…
In the imperial camp, Yi Xiaodao was sitting alone in the tent, his eyes dull.
The curtain opened and a person walked in.
"I'm not hungry, take it away." Yi Xiaodao said calmly.
Not only did the man not leave, but he took two steps forward: "If Mr. Yi continues like this, we may be the next ones to die."
The person coming is Wang Xuan. This sentence was very important to Yi Xiaodao at this time, which made him look stern and come back to his senses.
"His Majesty is willing to let us go west to suppress the rebellion for no reason. It is definitely not for the Sichuan-Sichuan war. I guess he wants Master Yi to rescue Taoist Guan Chenzi, right?"
"If you can't save him... you can't even bring his body back..." Yi Xiaodao murmured.
Wang Xuan nodded: "I heard that the eldest son of Xigui, Zou Wen, who was brought back, told us the cause and effect. Taoist Guanchenzi entered Xigui alone because he wanted to fight without bloodshed and save more people from the war. It is a righteous cause. ah!"
"But this person has passed away. Mr. Yi, you can sit here and think about it for the rest of your life. Taoist Guan Chenzi cannot come back to life. But we people are already in danger." Wang Xuan said quietly.
Hearing this, Yi Xiaodao looked at Wang Xuan intently: "What do you mean?"
"I have not been able to rescue Taoist Guanchenzi, nor can I pacify Xigui. How will I explain to His Majesty after I return to the capital? Or, perhaps, Master Yi has no intention of returning to the capital?"
"Even if the imperial court is put aside in advance, what should we do here? Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses could have fallen in one fell swoop, but it has been delayed until today. Does Mr. Yi still have a back-up plan?"
After Yi Xiaodao returned to camp, he made the order to attack the city in turns. Everyone was tired after the siege, and Wang Xuan came over.
"South of Chengdu, I set up an ambush..."
"What the ambush wants is surprise. This has been delayed for a long time. Is the ambush really still effective? In my opinion, I'm afraid someone has seen through it..." Wang Xuan knew about the ambush and shook his head and sighed.
Yi Xiaodao steeled himself and thought about it carefully, and found that what Wang Xuan said was indeed reasonable.
"Our army's strategy was decided a few days ago. How could the enemy be unprepared for a lot of time in the meantime? Opportunities on the battlefield change rapidly... I only hope that Lord Yi can escape on the day of defeat." After speaking, Wang Xuan He turned around and walked out of the tent. The reason was very simple. It was up to Yi Xiaodao to figure it out.
"Mr. Wang, please wait..." Yi Xiaodao stopped Wang Xuan, but did not say anything and thought alone for a while.
Wang Xuan also stood aside and waited patiently.
After a while, Yi Xiaodao called out to the door: "Send the order, withdraw the ambush!" Then he stood up again, but he hadn't eaten water or rice for several days. As soon as he stood up, he felt weak in his legs and feet, and fell back on the chair.
Wang Xuan walked to the tent door and waved out. A primary school student came in with food and delivered it to Yi Xiaodao's desk.
When Yi Xiaodao looked at the food, he felt hungry and started to devour it.
"Mr. Wang...saved my...life again!" Yi Xiaodao continued to praise while eating.
Wang Xuan walked to a chair aside and sat down: "It's also to save myself. In my opinion, if you can't take down Rongcheng in one go, then evacuate this place immediately. It's best to withdraw from Sichuan and Shu in one go, retreat to Chuxiang, and wait for regrouping , return to the army and fight again.”
"I hope Master Yi will carefully consider whether to advance or retreat."
Yi Xiaodao still devoured his food without replying. But Wang Xuan knew that Yi Xiaodao had returned to normal. Although he didn't speak now, he was already thinking about countermeasures.
In a moment, the food on the desk was wiped away by Yi Xiaodao.
Yi Xiaodao touched his mouth: "Please ask Mr. Wang to lead 50,000 troops and retreat first. I will lead the troops here and attack the city with all my strength. If the city cannot be breached early tomorrow morning, I will also retreat. If the city is breached, Mr. Wang will lead the army again." It won’t be too late for 50,000 troops to come back.”
Eggs cannot be put in one basket, this is Yi Xiaodao's consistent habit.
Wang Xuan nodded in agreement: "This is the best. There is one more thing I need to remind Master Yi. No matter how urgent it is to attack the city, you must not forget what is behind you..."
Yi Xiaodao's eyes drifted and he nodded slowly. Now that he thought about it, he had indeed made countless mistakes.
Just as Wang Xuan was about to stand up and leave, Yi Xiaodao suddenly asked again: "By the way, is Miss Fu Qingfu still in the camp?"
"After I came back, Miss Fu really wanted to leave, but she was stopped by Miss Yi."
"Oh? Did she stop it?" Yi Xiaodao was quite surprised. Yi Xiaoling and Fu Qing had never been on good terms, and he knew that. It's just that it's inappropriate for both sides to criticize anyone, and they can't reconcile. Yi Xiaodao can't do anything to them. Unexpectedly, when Fu Qing was about to leave, Yi Xiaoling stopped him.
"Miss Yi not only kept Miss Fu, but also specially cooked a meal for her as an apology. Now the relationship between the two is much closer," Wang Xuan said.
Yi Xiaodao nodded: "That's good..." He touched his face. Many days had passed, but the burning feeling on his face that day was still there.
"This little girl..." Yi Xiaodao laughed for the first time since watching Chenzi ascend...
…
The large tent of the Northern Yi Royal Court.
"Hahahahahaha! That old guy Zhang Zongbai is finally gone!!!" Beiyi Khan Meng Mulie's laughter spread through the tent, extremely cheerful.
"Khan, how do you know?" Qi Guokuoye asked.
Meng Mulie walked out of the military tent first and looked in the direction of the Central Plains: "Zhang Zongbai's energy is as bright as the sun, but now, the Central Plains is dim! Hahahaha!"
"Zhang Zongbai will also die?" Hu Yanlan was a little unbelievable.
"It doesn't necessarily mean he is dead. With his cultivation, it is normal for him to ascend to immortality. In short, there is no Zhang Zongbai in the Central Plains, so I don't have to worry!"
All the generals in the tent raised their hands in unison: "The Khan is very happy, our northern barbarians will conquer the Central Plains soon!"
"Well, it's true! I heard that Xigui in the Central Plains has rebelled again, so I have to take advantage of this moment..."
Duan Tong looked at Meng Mulie's happy expression, and a smile appeared on his lips...
