April 21st, Chizhou City, Jiangnan
"Kill! For the sake of Mr. Xu, brothers, do it for me!"
"Kill all these rebels in the city, and the Marquis will reward us generously!"
"Master Xu has ordered that the first one to enter Chizhou City will receive a reward of one hundred taels!"
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Amidst the shouts of killing, countless soldiers of the Zhennan Army, under the cover of their own artillery and arrows, carried ladders, pushed rams, battering rams and other siege equipment, and launched a fierce attack on Chizhou City in front of them. .
The Jiangnan soldiers in Chizhou City were not to be outdone. They relied on the city to resolutely resist the Zhennan Army's attack with firearms, bows and arrows, rolling stones and wood.
Standing on the watchtower at the rear, Xu Zhaojie looked at the battle situation in front of him with a gloomy face. He calculated that the Fengwu Army's finances were tight and it could not make ends meet. Ye Mingsheng was simply unable to start a war on two fronts and let the Fengwu Army's First Division stationed in Kangyin cross the river to attack. Shouchun
But he never expected that Lu Yun, whom he thought was a parallel import, turned out to be a wise general who was good at fighting and dragged the war to this day in Chizhou City.
When the Fengwu Army captured Jinyang more than a month ago and set out to wipe out the enemies in Pingyang, Xu Zhaojie also launched a new round of attacks in the south of the Yangtze River.
The attack went smoothly at first. Xu Zhaojie led the main force of the Zhennan Army to attack Lanxi County where Lu Yun was guarding. Lu Yun did not dare to fight with the Zhennan Army in the field and could only retreat to the county for safety reasons.
Seeing Xu Zhaojie leading the main force out of Chishan Mansion, Chishan Mansion was very empty. Jiangnan Army General Gan Sheng also led his troops straight to Chishan Mansion as Xu Zhaojie expected, thinking of giving Xu Zhaojie a move and taking advantage of the opportunity... ····················
Gan Sheng's plan was very good. If he recaptured Chishan Mansion, the Zhennan Army under Xu Zhaojie would become rootless duckweeds and would be completely surrounded and strangled by the Jiangnan Army.
However, Liang Wei, the general of the Zhennan Army who was responsible for guarding the Zhennan Army, had already prepared to defend Chishan Mansion like an iron barrel formation under the guidance of Xu Zhaojie. Gan Sheng led his troops to attack for three consecutive days but could not get past the thunder.
Just when Gan Sheng was planning to continue the attack on Chishan Mansion, Xu Zhaojie led his lightly armed followers from Lanxi County back to Chishan Mansion.
As a veteran of the Jiangnan Army, Gan Sheng had actually been on guard against Xu Zhaojie's return attack, but the attack speed of Xu Zhaojie's troops was too fast, and Gan Sheng was caught off guard without any precautions.
In this battle, 7,000 of the 25,000 Jiangnan troops including Gan Sheng himself were killed, and another 8,000 were captured by the Zhennan army. Only a few thousand deserters fled back to Chizhou City in defeat.
After completing such a big victory, Xu Zhaojie was very proud and wanted to strike Chizhou while the iron was hot. Although Chizhou was a big city in the south of the Yangtze River with a permanent population of nearly 300,000, Xu Zhaojie valued his geographical location more.
Chizhou is only two hundred miles away from Lin'an in Jiangnan Province. As long as Xu Zhaojie captures Chizhou, he can directly threaten Lu Jianchao. At that time, he can try to negotiate with Lu Jianchao... ·······
Although Xu Zhaojie really wanted to take Jiangnan directly in one go so that he would have the capital to continue fighting Ye Mingsheng, he also knew very well that Jiangnan, as a prosperous region in the Zhou Dynasty, was too big for him. , it was difficult for him to eat it in one go.
So Xu Zhaojie was thinking of making a step-by-step plan. He would first seize a piece of territory and force Lu Jianchao to negotiate peace with him, and then digest the fruits of victory and encroach on Jiangnan step by step.
Xu Zhaojie's abacus was also very precise, but just like Gan Sheng did not expect that Xu Zhaojie would rush over from Lanxi County, Xu Zhaojie also did not expect that Lu Yun would lead his troops to Chizhou and stabilize the situation in Chizhou.
Originally, because Gan Shengzhan died under Chishan Mansion, the Chizhou City he was guarding was leaderless. Xu Zhaojie thought he could take down Chizhou City like chopping monsters and vegetables. However, with the appearance of Lu Yun, Chizhou City turned into a smelly and hard piece. Stones blocked Xu Zhaojie's path to victory!
Although the combat effectiveness of the Zhennan Army is stronger than that of the Jiangnan Army, the strength of both sides is comparable. The Jiangnan Army is the one defending the city, and has also obtained some of the firearms technology of the Fengwu Army. Therefore, although Xu Zhaojie used all means to conquer Chizhou City, it can be said that I tried my best, but to this day I am still blocked from entering Chizhou City...
Seeing that the Fengwu Army had conquered Pingyang, Yang Chongqing, the general of the Luoan court, was forced to commit suicide and apologize, but he could not see the dawn of victory for a long time.
Xu Zhaojie was very irritable in his heart. He knew that the Luo'an court was more complicated than he expected, and the Fengwu Army might completely eliminate the Luo'an court in half a year at the earliest.
At that time, there will be no force that can contain Fengwu's army, and he will face hundreds of thousands of elite tigers under Ye Mingsheng, his life-and-death enemy!
, although the Zhennan Army under his command also occupied dozens of prefectures and counties with tens of thousands of armored men, but compared with the Fengwu Army, which now has strong soldiers and horses and occupies half of the Zhou Dynasty, it really pales in comparison!
Xu Zhaojie also knew that the only way for him was to annex Jiangnan, but now he couldn't even conquer a single Chizhou, so how could he talk about annexing the entire Jiangnan?
Under Xu Zhaojie's gaze, the Zhennan Army attacking Chizhou City was defeated again by the Jiangnan Army. Seeing this, Xu Zhaojie's face couldn't help but become even more gloomy.
Just when he was thinking about killing a few people to warn the entire army not to be greedy for life and fear of death, General Hu Yunzhong walked over quickly and said:
"Master Hou, Lu Jianchao has assembled another 30,000 Jiangnan Army in Lin'an, and the Jiangnan Army General Gao Cheng is on his way to Chizhou!"
When Xu Zhaojie heard the news, he was shocked and realized that one of the things he was most worried about had finally happened!
Lu Yun's persistence in Chizhou bought Lu Jianchao some buffering time. Now that Lu Jianchao has calmed down, he has begun to mobilize the resources of the entire Jiangnan to encircle and suppress him!
Although Xu Zhaojie felt very aggrieved when he thought of this, he had nothing to do. He knew that his best time had passed, and the past was the past. If he continued to attack Chizhou now, things would become more than worth the gain!
After being silent for half a cup of tea, Xu Zhaojie took out a breath and ordered in a low voice to the people around him:
"Send the order, all troops withdraw to Chishan Prefecture..."
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Kipchak Khanate, its capital is Lysa
There is a remote house in the east district of the city. Dozens of heavily armed Kipchak soldiers have strictly guarded the manor. No one can enter or leave the house without their leader's permission.
Even some curious Kipchaks who wanted to get close to the courtyard were immediately driven away by the brutal soldiers guarding them. Such a strict blockade of the small courtyard also made the surrounding residents think that the courtyard was closed. The Kipchak nobles who lost power because of the new Great Khan came to power.
However, in the courtyard at this time, a thirty-year-old Zhou man was doing Tai Chi leisurely, and behind him, a Kipchak maid came over and said:
"Master Sun, your lunch is ready!"
Sun Changxu was a little surprised when he heard this, and couldn't help but look at the Kipcha maid behind him. He had lived here for more than a month. He had tried many times to talk to the guards and maids here to find out some information, but these guard maids But no one paid attention to him,
If he were not allowed to leave this courtyard and were given three meals a day and some daily necessities every day, Sun Changxu would even doubt whether he existed in their eyes.
Today, the maid actually took the initiative to talk to him, which made Sun Changxu wonder whether there had been any major changes in the situation... ·····
Seemingly sensing Sun Changxu's doubts, the Kipchak maid spoke again:
"Master Sun, you have a stick of incense to eat, and the Khan will want to see you in half an hour!"
After saying this, the Kipchak maid bowed slightly towards Sun Changxu and then turned and left. Looking at the maid's leaving figure, Sun Changxu was undoubtedly very excited.
As an envoy of the Fengwu Army, he was ordered to go to the Kipchak Khanate on behalf of the Fengwu Army and deliver the commander's letter to the Kipchak Khan Esdogan. However, what he didn't expect was that he crossed the grassland and crossed the desert. When he arrived at Lysa, the capital of the Kipchak Khanate, he was immediately detained by the Kipchaks.
Although the Kipchaks abided by the principle of not killing envoys during war between the two countries and did not harm him, they also directly took the letter from the commander-in-chief to Esdogan from Sun Changxu, and locked Sun Changxu in this courtyard. Sun Changxu was not allowed to have any communication or contact with anyone, including his subordinates.
Although Sun Changxu was very angry about this and believed that these Kipchaks were uneducated barbarians, after all, he was powerless under the roof!
Although he was locked up in this courtyard during this period, unable to contact the outside world and unable to complete the tasks assigned by the commander, Sun Changxu knew that it was useless to be anxious. Although Esdogan did not want to see him now, as long as time Once the situation changes, Sun Changxu believes that Esdogan will summon his...
And now it is undoubtedly proved that Sun Changxu's idea is correct!
It took only a cup of tea for Sun Changxu to drink mutton soup and eat a piece of Hu biscuit, which was considered as his lunch.
During the period of being imprisoned in the small courtyard, although the Kipchaks did not abuse Sun Changxu, he only had enough to eat, such as mutton soup, biscuits and so on.
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But for more than a month in a row, he ate either mutton soup pancakes or barbecue pancakes every day. Sun Changxu's mouth blistered and he became very angry after eating it. Sometimes he even couldn't go to the toilet. Now Sun Changxu just wants to finish. After this mission, I went to Yi Jing's restaurant to have a good meal to comfort my stomach.
After quickly finishing his lunch, Sun Changxu started to freshen up, wash his hair, shave, etc.
As the envoy sent by the Fengwu Army to the Kipchak Khanate, Sun Changxu knew that he was not just representing him personally, he was representing the face of the Fengwu Army, so he had to be in the best possible condition to meet Esdogan.
After cleaning up for half an hour, Sun Changxu was satisfied that the familiarization was over. He put on his robe, picked up his staff, and followed the guards into the Kipchak Palace.
Entering a magnificent palace, Sun Changxu found that in addition to the guards, there were three people waiting for him inside...
The three people are a middle-aged man and two gray-haired old men. The middle-aged man is sitting on the throne in the middle, while the two old men are standing on the left and right of the middle-aged man. Although it is the first time to see this. Three people, but combined with the Kipchak intelligence collected previously by the Coordination Office, as well as some portraits of Kipchak dignitaries.
Sun Changxu immediately recognized the middle-aged man as Esdogan, the great Khan of the Kipchak who had just come to power, and these two gray-haired old men were Asu and Bahat, the great nobles of the Kipchak Khanate!
Feeling Esdogan's eyes looking down at him, Sun Changxu leaned over slightly to caress his chest and said:
"Fengwu Army Envoy Sun Changxu has met Asdogan Khan!"
Seeing that Sun Changxu did not kneel down to him, Esdogan's eyes narrowed slightly. The great nobleman Bahat on the side also understood his thoughts, and he immediately stood up and scolded:
"Bold envoy, you still won't kneel down when you see me, the Kipchak Khan!"
Sun Changxu was not surprised that these Kipchaks wanted to threaten him and said with a smile:
"The foreign policy of our Fengwu Army has always been based on the principle of mutual respect. We, the Fengwu Army, treated your envoys with respect and courtesy and did not ask your envoys to kneel down..." ················”
"Now, Great Khan, you want me to kneel down to you. It is unreasonable! If you insist on forcing me, Great Khan, Sun will still have two strong bones. Only blood will be splashed in your palace!"
As soon as these words came out, Estoan's expression suddenly condensed. Just when Bahat was about to ask someone to force Sun Changxu to kneel down, Sun Changxu changed his voice and said:
"But having said that, I, Mr. Sun, am just an insignificant figure in the Fengwu Army. If you asked me to kneel down in peacetime, I would kneel down. Kneeling down, Khan, as a hero, is not for Mr. Sun. What a humiliation!”
"Great Khan, why don't you wait until one of my grandsons is no longer an envoy? How about I kneel down to you a hundred times when I see the Great Khan?"
Hearing what Sun Changxu said, Esdogan's originally serious expression softened. He looked at Sun Changxu deeply and said in a deep voice:
"Your Marshal Ye really sent someone with a sharp mouth..."
Hearing this, Sun Changxu smiled again and bowed to Esdogan, leaning over and stroking his chest. He knew that he had barely passed this level, but the next level was still waiting for him!
