The fierce battle between the Zhenjiang Army and the rebels on the Cishan Hill was like two giants trying their best to arm-wrestle, and the price of failure was something neither party could afford. Li Zhang constantly urged his troops to join the battlefield, trying to take advantage of their numerical advantage to wildly consume Xu Youchang's combat power, and eventually bring down the Xinjiang Army. Xu Youchang's First Army and Sixth Army, with their tenacious will, withstood the siege of the main rebel force.
When the most arduous night finally passed and the early morning sunlight filtered through the dense woods on the ancestral hills and dyed the plains pale gold, a large cavalry regiment appeared on the eastern horizon.
The flying eagle flags, the mountainous formation, and the densely packed bayonet and long knives sparkled in the sun.
Kuangsha Ninth Army arrives at the battlefield!
The rebel horn sounded quickly, and the fighting soldiers and horses immediately retreated, quickly broke away from the battle, and gathered in the direction of the main formation.
A look of panic flashed through Li Zhang's eyes, and he stared closely at the new forces approaching the battlefield. He pursed his lips and didn't speak for a long time.
Ye Rongcheng, who was next to him, said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, it's time to withdraw our troops. We must return to Huzhou as soon as possible, otherwise..."
He didn't continue what he said, but everyone knew what he wanted to say.
The Zhenjiang Army appeared in the east at this time, proving that the mountain defense line previously set up by the rebels had lost its effectiveness. From the broken troops who fled one after another yesterday afternoon, we learned that the Zhenjiang Eighth Army took over from the Fifth Army and stormed Fangshan and In Badujie, the situation on the back road is precarious.
It is precisely because of this that Li Zhang ordered his men to attack Xu Youchang at all costs last night, hoping to solve the opponent here one step ahead.
However, God did not fulfill his wishes.
The tenacious First Army and Sixth Army successfully withstood the huge pressure from the enemy and waited for reinforcements.
If the rebels don't move east quickly at this time, they are very likely to be completely cut off by Li Jiangyao's main force and become a lone army without help.
Li Zhang sighed in distress, and hummed unwillingly: "Only one step away! Last night, there was only one step away from defeating Xu Youchang, and then occupying Guangde, and Bao Yuchun attacked Li Jiangyao from front to back. Alas, God has no eyes. !”
"Your Highness, the battlefield is changing rapidly, and there is nothing we can do about it." Ye Rongcheng advised: "Chief Xu You suffered a lot of casualties, and his physical strength has reached the limit. While they are unable to pursue, we should quickly break through the enemy's blockade on the east side. Let’s move to Huzhou.”
Li Zhang was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "We can't go east! Li Jiangyao will definitely lay down layers of obstacles on the way to Huzhou, waiting for us to come to the door obediently, and then gather together to annihilate them."
Ye Rongcheng was stunned: "Then where are we going?"
"Go south!" Li Zhang pointed with his riding crop: "Sixty miles to the southwest is Anji County. The entire army will move to that place quickly. We can rely on the city's cover to avoid being attacked by the Zhenjiang Army from both front and rear. General Ye, please do me a favor. , leading 30,000 soldiers and horses to cover the rear of the entire army, especially to withstand the enemy's pursuit on the east side, ensuring that the king and the main force reach Anji smoothly."
"I will obey your orders!" Ye Rongcheng said with cupped hands: "Don't worry, Your Highness, I will fight to the death to stop them! Please set off immediately."
Li Zhang nodded expressionlessly, then urged his mount to gallop southward under the cover of his own soldiers.
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The rebels did not return to Huzhou, but turned around and headed to Anji, which greatly surprised Li Jiangyao. It's not that he couldn't understand Li Yan's intention to do this. Under the threat of the Zhenjiang Army from the east and west, the road to Huzhou was indeed difficult to walk, and there was even the danger of being flanked from both sides at any time and the entire army being annihilated.
However, by doing this, Li Zhang almost gave up on Bao Yuchun, or in other words, gave up on Huzhou City.
After receiving the news that the main force of the rebels was moving to Anji, Li Jiangyao made a prompt decision and ordered the Sixth Army of the First Army, which had experienced a bitter battle, to return to Guangde County for rest and reorganization, while the Ninth Army turned around and headed to Xisai Mountain, where Huzhou and Anji Set up blocking positions on the only way to prevent Li Zhang and Ye Rongcheng from rushing north for reinforcements.
At the same time, the Fifth Army and the Eighth Army immediately moved eastward and launched a fierce attack on Huzhou.
In addition, Du Jian's Second Army divided its forces and approached Suzhou. With the assistance of Thunderstorm and the Intelligence Department, it threatened and monitored the city of Suzhou. The other group boarded a boat on the north bank of Taihu Lake and crossed the entire Taihu Lake. Landing from the northeast of Huzhou, he cooperated with the Fifth Army and the Eighth Army to attack Bao Yuchun.
The Xinjiang troops from all walks of life were immediately ordered to take action, with Huzhou City as the core, rushing to different targets at the same time, with rapid and resolute movements.
Bao Yuchun, who was guarding Huzhou, originally planned to lead his troops westward to reinforce Li Zhang. Unexpectedly, His Highness the King of Jin saw that the situation was not good and immediately ran south. He immediately understood his situation at this time.
In comparison, Huzhou is located in the northeast of Anji. The distance between the two places is more than 90 miles. It is neither far nor close. To the east are Li Jiangyao's Great Stone Fifth Army and Cold Wave Eighth Army. Farther away, there are Xu Youchang's Gale First Army and Nulang Sixth Army, while the flexible Kuangsha Ninth Army is currently attacking. Moving towards Xisai Mountain at an extremely fast speed.
What's even more terrible is that the spies reported back that Du Jian's Second Liehuo Army was not in a hurry to attack Suzhou City, but divided its troops into Taihu Lake and might appear east of Huzhou at any time.
In other words, the Zhenjiang Army obviously planned to encircle itself.
Bao Yuchun was not Sun Chuanshu, and he didn't have that much hatred in his heart. He had to fight with the imperial court to die together. Seeing that Li Zhang was so unloyal and retreated to Anji further south without even saying hello, there was absolutely no need for him to defend Huzhou.
Before the Zhenjiang Army pounced, Lao Bao gave an order, and the 50,000 defenders immediately abandoned Huzhou and followed him to retreat toward Tongxiang in the southwest.
At this critical time, preserving the military strength in hand is to preserve the capital of settling down, which is better than anything else!
The experienced Bao Yuchun retreated like this, which indeed effectively avoided the danger of being completely surrounded by Li Jiangyao, but it was also equivalent to handing over Huzhou City to the other party.
The forward troops of the Eighth Army arrived in Huzhou almost in tandem with the rebels. They arrived just as Bao Yuchun ran away. Facing an unguarded empty city, the soldiers occupied it happily and without bloodshed.
At this point, the Zhenjiang Army successfully regained the important southern town of Taihu Lake, echoing Changzhou Zhenze in the north and Yixing Guangde in the west. Except for Suzhou in the east of Taihu Lake, it basically controlled the vast water network area around Taihu Lake, and also controlled the vast water network area around Taihu Lake. It means that they finally successfully broke through the defense system built by the rebels relying on the Taihu Lake water network.
Hangzhou is right in front of you!
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"Sir, it's better to make a decision quickly." Huo Wen said solemnly: "His Royal Highness suffered a defeat in Huzhou and has retreated to Anji. Bao Yuchun was even more exaggerated and fled directly to Tongxiang with his troops. Huzhou fell to Li Jiang In Yao's hands, once the Zhenjiang Army attacks from the north and south, Suzhou will definitely not be able to defend itself. If it's too late, Hangzhou will be at risk of being besieged."
Lao Jianhua held the scroll in his hand, his eyes fixed on the words motionless. It was obvious that he was not reading, but in a daze. After a while, he sighed quietly, put down the book in his hand, turned around and asked, "Did you get a reply from the Japanese pirates?"
"It's confirmed." Huo Wen nodded: "They can respond at any time, either from Mingzhou or Quanzhou."
"Bao Xinyan is still in Mingzhou, right," Lao Jianhua asked in a deep voice, "Did he notice anything?"
Huo Wen responded: "Sir, don't worry, Bao Xinyan's attention is all on Nie Xianzang and Kun Pengjun, and he doesn't notice us at all."
Lao Jianhua pondered for a moment and said quietly: "It's better to wait. After all, His Highness has not come back yet."
Huo Wen seemed a little anxious: "Sir, I'm afraid we can't wait any longer. According to reports from the Huben Camp, Xu Youchang seemed to intend to end the rest and recuperation ahead of schedule. Some soldiers and horses of the Zhenjiang First Army and the Sixth Army had already begun to circle west of Anji. If they bypass Anji and go straight to Hangzhou, they will not be able to leave by then."
Lao Jianhua was silent for a while, then suddenly shook his head gently and asked, "Huo Wen, how long have you been following me?"
Huo Wen replied without hesitation: "Nearly ten years. Although I am not your apprentice, I was trained and trained by you."
"Ten years, it's so fast. If you think about it carefully, it's almost a blink of an eye." Lao Jianhua said with a smile: "I remember that you were the secretary of the Ministry of War, Lu Yaofeng, right?"
"Sir, you are right." Huo Wen nodded and said, "Lu Yaofeng is a direct descendant of Xie Guang. Not long after the Imperial Capital Incident and the transfer of the Xuanjia Legion to Luoyi, the Eastern Capital, Lu Yaofeng fell ill and died, and I I was transferred to the Eastern Capital Government Office by Xie Guang and served as a ninth-grade soldier to join the army, specifically responsible for secretly monitoring Murong Xue. Later, it was you who took care of me and supported me, and I have been following you since then."
Lao Jianhua nodded slightly when he heard the words: "Yes, at that time we overthrew Xie Guang together and led our troops to the south of the Yangtze River. We were so high-spirited. Looking at the Holy Tang Dynasty, the Turks were galloping around and arrogant; the imperial court hid in the southwest and was in panic ; Li Jiangyao was still a dying junior captain, struggling to survive under the siege of a group of barbarians in Western Xinjiang; and what about Li Bing? It was even worse, struggling to stay alive, let alone the big dream of the 95th Supreme Leader. But now , the world is reversed, times have changed."
Facing Lao Jianhua's deep emotion, Huo Wen tried to comfort him: "Sir, it's just a temporary difficulty right now, but it doesn't mean we have completely lost. As long as you are safe and sound, we still have a chance to make a comeback. As the saying goes, If you keep the green hills, you won't have to worry about running out of firewood. Are you right?"
Lao Jianhua turned his head to look at Huo Wen, his eyes gradually regained their light: "Do you really think so?"
"Really!" Huo Wen responded firmly: "Sir, you are so talented and bold, you will definitely be able to turn the situation around."
Lao Jianhua smiled lightly: "If that's the case, then why did you secretly seek refuge with Li Bing and lead me to the death of the Japanese pirates?"
