After a hard battle, Kushu finally succeeded in breaking through and finally retreated to an occupied military city to rest.
Fan Wenzhong's army, which was encircled, did not continue the pursuit and stopped.
Ku Shu's 50,000-strong army was the strongest elite in the Daei army's march south this time, and could be called the elite among the elite.
If they were not strong, they would not have been able to fight Fan Wenzhong's 100,000 border troops for so long and retreat calmly.
This 50,000-strong army, with its various military services, is extremely well coordinated. If you want to capture it, you can't do it without the 200,000-strong border army encircling it.
The encircling troops quickly turned around. At the front was Tong Zhan. He walked quickly towards the front. In front of him, Fan Wenzhong and Xie Cang had been waiting for a long time.
Tong Zhan knelt on one knee and said, "Master Hou, my subordinate has fulfilled his mission and completed the task you assigned."
Xie Cang nodded, looking for something, "Where is Mr. Su?"
"Reporting to the Marquis, Mr. Su is behind and protected by a team of guards."
While the two were talking, Su Qian was escorted by a team of guards including Gou Sheng, who slowly walked over.
Xie Cang stepped forward quickly and was about to give Su Qi'an a hug when he soon discovered the injury on Su Qi'an's arm.
"Mr. Su, are you injured? Tong Zhan, how did you protect your husband? Is this what you call fulfilling your mission?" Xie Cang was surprised and looked a little unhappy.
Su Qi'an shook his head and explained for Tong Zhan, "Ham, I don't blame the Tong guards for this. There is no one who is not injured on the battlefield. I am not in the way. I just underestimated Man'etu's strength and accidentally injured him."
Fan Wenzhong beside him looked at Su Qi'an carefully and sighed.
"This Man'etu is a general under Ku Shu, Xiao Su, you can kill him, tsk tsk, tsk tsk, I'm surprised."
"You have made great contributions in this battle. I said that you will definitely be made a marquis for your merits."
"Yes, sir, Mr. Fan has already promised in front of the whole army. Sir, you, the Marquis, will probably not be able to escape. It seems that I will call you Sir, Marquis Su, from now on." Xie Cang chuckled beside him.
Su Qi'an was stunned. He didn't care much about the so-called marquis title. He had gone through a series of fierce battles deep behind enemy lines.
Along with the soldiers who died in battle, Captain Xu and others, Su Qi'an didn't value the status of Marquis that much.
He did not dwell too much on this matter and said, "There are a few things that I have to trouble Mr. Fan."
"As long as I can do it, it doesn't matter."
"The first thing I want to do is buy a coffin for the soldiers who followed me on this expedition. Even if the bodies cannot be found, they still have to set up a cenotaph. They are suffering too much."
"Secondly, I hope Mr. Fan can accept the 30,000 women and children I brought this time, settle them down, and give them a civilian status so that they can live well in Great Liang."
Fan Wenzhong nodded and said solemnly, "Don't worry, even if you don't say anything, I will do it. I will definitely handle these two things beautifully for you."
"Then juniors are here, thank you on their behalf."
Su Qian's words moved the group of soldiers behind him, as well as the women and children who followed them.
The former is because at this time, Su Qi'an seemed so indifferent to the Marquis's military exploits, but it was them who valued him.
There is nothing to say about being able to follow such a superior, even if he dies.
The latter is that Su Qi'an has truly fulfilled his promise to them. As long as Su Qi'an is alive, he will protect them for one day.
When had they ever seen a general who cared so much about his subordinates and the common people?
Not to mention them, even Fan Wenzhong also appreciated Su Qi'an's behavior.
Sometimes, Fan Wenzhong would wonder whether God, who was so versatile in both civil and military affairs and dedicated to the people, like Su Qi'an, took pity on the Great Liang and specially sent down a talented person.
After all, who would have thought that Su Qian would use a trick on Cook Shu at the critical moment just now.
The 30,000 troops that Kushu saw were just the movement of the 30,000 women and children who were being rescued in front of him.
On the eve of Kushu's attack on the city, Su Qi'an gave the 30,000 women and children in the city a task.
He sewed as many military flags as possible and collected long branches. When he gave the order, 30,000 women and children would wave the military flags and sweep the branches at a specific location.
The smoke rising all over the sky, combined with the momentum created by running back and forth, mistakenly led Ku Shu to believe that Su Qi'an still had 30,000 troops. In the end, he feared an encirclement and withdrew his troops.
Su Qi'an said it very easily, but it made Fan Wenzhong and Xie Cang feel numb.
This strategy was quite risky for him. If he wanted to implement it, he would have to rely on whether Su Qi'an's 5,000 new troops could withstand the pressure and defeat Man'etu's 20,000 elite troops in the early stage.
If it fails, this plan may be ruined on the spot.
But Su Qi'an was able to withstand the pressure in the brutal battles, and finally successfully joined Fan Wenzhong's border troops.
I'm afraid Su Qi'an can do this. None of them would have the courage of Su Qi'an.
It is no exaggeration to say that Su Qi'an's battle was the key to turning the entire Ningzhou war around.
Kushu's withdrawal this time is not just a matter of resting for a few days and then making a comeback.
Su Qi'an's new army defeated his elite troops twice in a row, coupled with his ace army, they fought with Fan Wenzhong.
Both sides suffered heavy casualties this time, and within a few months, they were unable to launch the next large-scale war.
The location where Ku Shu retreated this time was not to Qingzhou, but to an occupied military city.
Su Qi'an and other new troops who joined Fan Wenzhong and Xie Cang also had no intention of retreating to the military city.
Instead, he chose an acropolis near the border of Qingzhou to rest.
The armies of both sides are now in a stalemate, and the direction of this stalemate looks very strange.
Before the war started, the armies of Ku Shu and Fan Wenzhong faced each other in the north and south directions.
But this time, after a month of fighting, the confrontation between the two sides became an east-west position.
Directly adjusted by 90 degrees.
Who allowed Su Qi'an to occupy Taning City in Qingzhou and the five surrounding acropolises.
And Ku Shu's army also occupied half of the ten military cities.
The two sides fought many times and suffered huge damage. They were unable to fight anymore and could only wait for reinforcements to arrive. Currently, there is such a strange confrontation.
Fortunately, the reinforcements from both sides did not delay for too long, and finally arrived three days after the war ended.
This time the reinforcements from both sides were huge. Da Rong's army increased its troops by 200,000, and Daliang's side increased its troops by 400,000.
Together with the remaining remaining troops on hand, an army of approximately 800,000 people faced off at the border.
The scale of this kind of war far exceeds the battle of one state. As the conflict escalates, it seems that it is about to reach the point of a national war between the two sides.
For a time, the atmosphere on the border between both sides became tense again.
The air is filled with a cold atmosphere.
There is a strong tendency to explode.
But at this time, both sides actually maintained restraint.
If a war breaks out in a state, at most the two courts will be a little wary, but if it escalates to a national war, it will have to make the senior officials think deeply about whether this war should be fought.
Even though Da Rong invaded Da Liang from time to time, it was just harassment at best.
If there is a national war, both sides will invest at least millions of troops. A war of this scale will bear the risk of destroying the country.
Da Liang's national power seems to be weak and somewhat in decline, but it is not to the extent that Da Rong can bully it wantonly.
After all, it is impossible for a fatuous and incompetent emperor to do nothing when faced with the risk of destroying his country.
At least for now, it is still difficult for Da Rong to eat Da Liang in one go.
If it was really that easy, it would be impossible for Ku Shu to launch a war in only one state, through slow entanglement, but a full-scale war.
We all understand the risks, but the atmosphere has reached this level. If anyone takes the initiative to withdraw troops, it will be a sign of weakness, and there is a danger of being eaten by the opponent at any time.
This confrontation did not last long. Soon, small-scale fighting broke out between the two sides, involving thousands of people, up to more than 10,000 people.
The cities that both sides broke out were limited to the other side's vassal acropolis.
This small-scale battle was fierce, with more casualties than in a large battle.
The frequency of battles is also getting higher and higher, and no one knows what the other side is planning.
Anyway, if there is someone in your hand and the other party wants to fight, then go ahead and fight.
In these small-scale battles that broke out frequently, every young general such as Zheng Liang, Su Qi'an, and Xie Cang participated to a greater or lesser extent.
This must have been done intentionally by Fan Wenzhong, in order to avoid Su Qi'an's limelight.
Su Qi'an stole the show in these battles in Ningzhou. These young men didn't say anything, but they probably hated Su Qi'an deeply.
In order to protect Su Qi'an, the experienced Fan Wenzhong sent young generals to fight in this rotation.
The scale of this battle was small and it was difficult to expand and escalate. Under Fan Wenzhong's control, the prince's princes were able to perform at their normal level and gain some military merit.
In this small-scale battle, Su Qi'an did not have any conflict with the powerful prince, but instead had a big conflict with the supervisor Wang Xian.
If Fan Wenzhong hadn't been present and Xie Cang tried his best to stop him, Wang Xian would have been shot dead on the spot by Su Qi'an.
Being able to make the usually calm Su Qian lose his composure is enough to show that this matter is big enough.
The cause of the incident was also very simple. Su Qian was assigned to command the Acropolis where the conflict broke out.
Because of the emergency of the war, Gou Sheng, as a messenger, needed to go back and forth to deliver messages back and forth. When passing by the acropolis where Wang Xian was, he ran into Wang Xian and was unable to dodge. The two of them were knocked to the ground.
This made Wang Xian so angry that he sent people to capture Gou Sheng on the spot. Although Gou Sheng was very strong, he was outnumbered and was caught by Wang Xian's men.
Wang Xian was not polite, he directly hung the dog up and beat him, and hung it on the tower to be exposed to the sun.
It has been three days since this matter reached Su Qi'an's ears.
Su Qian was furious on the spot and immediately led a convoy back.
Without saying a word, he slapped Wang Xian several times and beat up each of Wang Xian's men.
By the time Fan Wenzhong and Xie Cang arrived, Su Qi'an's arrow had already hit Wang Xian's head.
