In Tanzhou, Xu Zhaojie looked at the secret message in his hand in a certain mansion, and his hands could not help but tremble slightly...
During his stay in Jingchu, Xu Zhaojie had been looking forward to the news from Anqing. With the Jingchu battlefield at a deadlock, Xu Zhaojie very much hoped that Xu Hu could send him good news on the Anqing battlefield and help the town. The Confederate army found a way to survive in a narrow escape!
But at this time, in a sealed letter, Xu Hu, who was enthusiastically expected by Xu Zhaojie, told Xu Zhaojie that they suffered a disastrous defeat in Anqing. Although Xu Hu tried several times to gather the defeated army and regain his strength, he wanted to fight with the Fengwu Army in There was a fight, but in the end they were defeated by the Fengwu Army led by He Jingyun.
At the end of the letter, Xu Hu told Xu Zhaojie that the vanguard of the Fengwu Army had entered the Huainan territory. Xu Hu was ashamed of his trust in Xu Zhaojie, but he would lead the troops to fight to the last soldier and fight the Fengwu Army in a bloody battle. After all, I wish Xu Zhaojie had planned for this early!
If no news came back from the Anqing battlefield before, Xu Zhaojie still had the last glimmer of hope in his heart, thinking that Xu Hu could win a big victory for him!
So now this secret letter sent by Xu Hu has undoubtedly shattered Xu Zhaojie's last hope, making Xu Zhaojie realize that the Zhennan Army he created is on the verge of collapse at this moment... ···············
Thinking of this, Xu Zhaojie couldn't help but close his eyes in pain. However, even though he closed his eyes, the figure of Ye Mingsheng could not help but appear in his mind!
Then Xu Zhaojie couldn't help but recall the last time he met Ye Mingsheng. That was when his class returned to Luo'an and Ye Mingsheng provoked him at the city gate!
Although Ye Mingsheng escaped his killing moves several times at that time, Xu Zhaojie still didn't take a look at Ye Mingsheng, thinking that the man named Ye was just a bug!
Therefore, although Xu Zhaojie was very angry when faced with Ye Mingsheng's provocation, because he had to face Shangguan Hongyuan's suspicion at that time, Xu Zhaojie, who was thinking of a small outburst and a big plan, did not have an attack!
But Xu Zhaojie never expected that Ye Mingsheng, who left the Forbidden Army and his subordinates, would become out of control just thinking about the dragon returning to the sea!
Thinking of this, a hint of regret appeared in Xu Zhaojie's eyes. If God gave him another chance, he would shoot Ye Mingsheng, the bastard, with one arrow. He would never give Ye Mingsheng another chance to develop, so that Ye Mingsheng could have today!
However, it is a pity that there is no medicine for regret in this world. Even if your intestines are full of regret, you cannot change the reality!
After suffering for a while, Xu Zhaojie's expression gradually became firmer. Although the current situation for him, Xu Zhaojie, could be said to be on the verge of collapse... ·········
But fortunately, it has not completely collapsed. Shouchun has not yet been captured by Fengwu's army, and he still has most of Jingchu and tens of thousands of troops under his command. Xu Zhaojie is far from reaching the end of his rope!
Thinking of this, Xu Zhaojie once again turned his attention to the sand table. He handed over the 50,000 people with the strongest combat effectiveness of the Zhennan Army to Xu Hu, but Xu Hu achieved such results.
There is no doubt that Xu Zhaojie is extremely disappointed with Xu Hu and wants to chop Xu Hu to vent his anger. But at this moment, Xu Zhaojie must still use Xu Hu. After all, although Xu Hu is a bit of a dish, he is from a general in the Xu family. There is no problem with Xu Hu’s loyalty!
And this is also an important reason why Xu Zhaojie asked Xu Hu to take charge of attacking Anqing in the first place, so now Xu Zhaojie can only choose to continue to trust Xu Hu!
After all, if it were someone else in this situation, he might have led his troops to surrender to the Fengwu Army and dedicated Shouchun to the Fengwu Army!
Although he knew that once the Fengwu Army attacked Shouchun, it would be enough to shake the rule of the Zhennan Army, but at this time, Xu Zhaojie no longer cared about the prefectures and counties around Shouchun!
Xu Zhaojie can only ask Xu Hu to do one thing now, and that is to gather all the troops in Huainan and defend Shouchun until the last moment!
After deciding on the idea, Xu Zhaojie immediately wrote a letter to Xu Hu, and then sent someone to send the letter back immediately...
Xu Zhaojie believed that as long as Shouchun was not breached, he would have the last chance to survive, and he would use this opportunity to have a decisive battle with the First Division!
Since the last ambush failed and was defeated by the First Division led by Ma Zhongjun, the Fengwu Army and the Zhennan Army on the Jingchu battlefield have fallen into a strategic stalemate!
Even though the Zhennan Army suffered a defeat last time, there are still more than 30,000 people after gathering the defeated troops. They have been retreating to Tanzhou and relying on the strength of the city to engage in confrontation with the Fengwu Army!
Although the Fengwu Army won the war, it was unable to complete the siege operation because its overall strength was only more than 10,000.
Both sides understood each other's predicament, so no one acted rashly. Recently, small groups of soldiers have been testing each other!
Originally, Xu Zhaojie wanted to wait for news of victory from the Anqing battlefield, and then he would have the confidence to go to Jiangnan for money and food, and then regain his strength and attack Hanyang again!
But with the news of Xu Hu's defeat, in order to avoid being implicated by the Fengwu Army, Jiangnan must be eager to completely cut off the relationship with Xu Zhaojie. It is definitely impossible to not even think about money and food!
The relationship with Sichuan and Shu also completely collapsed as Xu Zhaojie swallowed more than 20,000 Sichuan and Shu troops, so now Xu Zhaojie knows that he can’t rely on anyone, and he can only rely on himself now... ···············
And now Xu Zhaojie needs to make a painful decision, that is, whether to choose to stay in Jingchu and give up Huainan, or to give up Jingchu and return to Huainan to protect Shouchun!
Xu Zhaojie is still very self-aware. He knows that under his aggressive military tactics, Huainan has changed from a land of plenty and affluence to becoming increasingly barren and miserable.
The common people were very dissatisfied with his arbitrary expropriation, so when the Fengwu Army came to kill him, it would be great if the people in Huainan did not help the Fengwu Army to fight him!
Without the support of the common people, it is almost impossible to defend Shouchun and Huainan with only Xu Hu and some other defeated generals defeated by the Fengwu Army!
If he wants to defend Shouchun, Xu Zhaojie must lead his troops to return reinforcements, but once he returns reinforcements, he will inevitably face the pursuers of Fengwu Army!
Although Xu Zhaojie's troops still had a clear advantage on the battlefield in Jingchu, many people knew that the troops should be more sophisticated than more numerous!
Although there are many soldiers and horses under Xu Zhaojie's command, many of them are Sichuan, Shu and Jingchu troops who have mixed in. The original Zhennan Army has less than 10,000 soldiers. How many of these 30,000 people can be relied on in a real fight? To be honest, Xu Zhaojie didn’t even know it in his heart!
On the Fengwu Army side, the First Division is the most elite, best-equipped, and best-paid division of the Fengwu Army...
The previous ambush battle has proved everything. Xu Zhaojie's nearly 60,000 troops were unable to defeat the First Feng Division, but were defeated by the First Division in the end. This easily explains the problem!
But now that there are only 30,000 troops left, can they really defeat the First Division and successfully return to Shouchun?
Thinking of this, Xu Zhaojie's face also became bitter. He knew that this was almost an impossible task, but Xu Zhaojie had to do it!
After all, if He Jingyun really succeeded in defeating Shouchun, then the Huainan-born soldiers under his command would inevitably collapse. And with their collapse, the Sichuan-Shu Army and Jingchu Army soldiers, who were not of the same mind as Xu Zhaojie, would have even less restraint. !
As a result, the more than 30,000 soldiers under Xu Zhaojie would be defeated without a fight. Therefore, even if the rush to rescue Shouchun was unlikely to succeed, Xu Zhaojie never wanted to give up!
He had already made up his mind that the only way to defeat him in this battle was to die, but even if he, Xu, died, he would bite off a piece of Fengwu's army!
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Just when Xu Zhaojie received Xu Hu's secret letter, Ye Pengchao, Ma Zhongjun and others in Hanyang City also received good news from the battlefield in Anqing.
However, Ye Pengchao and Ma Zhongjun had some differences regarding their treatment of the news.
Looking at Ma Zhongjun in front of him, Ye Pengchao said very seriously:
"General Ma, Hanyang is the top priority, and I don't think Xu Zhaojie will choose to rush to Huainan! The Zhennan Army has been defeated this time. They are destined to be unable to defend Huainan. I don't think Xu Zhaojie will do such a useless thing! "
Regarding Ye Pengchao's opinion, Ma Zhongjun said very calmly:
"Inspector Ye, you are a civilian official, not a military attache. You don't understand military matters. I don't want to explain too much to you, but what I want to tell you is that Xu Zhaojie will definitely rush to Huainan to help!"
Hearing that Ma Zhongjun used the reason that he was a civil servant and did not understand military affairs to excuse himself, Ye Pengchao couldn't help but feel a little angry. He also had something to say in his heart, but when the words came to his lips, looking at Ma Zhongjun who looked indifferent, Ye Pengchao finally said He still held back his words.
Theoretically, Jingchu Inspector and Ma Zhongjun are officials of the same rank, but after all, the superiors only appointed him as Deputy Inspector, so in fact, he, Ye Pengchao, is more than one level behind Ma Zhongjun!
Even though his surname is Ye and he has the status of "relative of the emperor", Ma Zhongjun is not an ordinary general, he is the general of the first division... ·····
As the general of the first division, Ma Zhongjun is only a general in name, but his status in the Fengwu Army is not much worse than that of the commander!
Therefore, if he really fell out with Ma Zhongjun, it would be Ye Pengchao who would suffer in the end!
Just when Ye Pengchao was reconsidering his words, Ma Zhongjun said in a deep voice:
"Inspector Ye, with my first division's main force of more than 10,000 people, facing Xu Zhaojie's 30,000 defeated soldiers, I don't know what you have to worry about. This is a battle that must be won!"
Seeing the confident look on Ma Zhongjun's face, Ye Pengchao couldn't help but said:
"General Ma, I know that your department is an elite force that is good at fighting, but the opponent is Xu Zhaojie! The commander-in-chief once said that Xu Zhaojie should never be underestimated. This is a person who does not follow common sense, and Xu Zhaojie has some weapons in his hands. With more than 30,000 people, I think we should focus on safety!”
Seeing Ye Pengchao pulling the commander out to suppress him, Ma Zhongjun couldn't help but snorted and said:
"Ye Jingcha, I was quite brave when I saw you before. Why were you so frightened by Xu Zhaojie today?"
"When I heard what you said, I thought Xu Zhaojie had the upper hand now and we were losing ground. Your words were too high-spirited and undermined your own prestige, right?"
"Since you are so worried about Hanyang, then I will leave Zhang Shengli's battalion in Hanyang. Coupled with the young men you have recruited, the garrison of Hanyang will be 10,000 people. Is it enough for Ye to inspect the envoy?"
"We warriors are not like royal relatives like you, Ye Jiancha, who can get promoted and make a fortune just by standing still. We brothers have to make contributions and fight to the death to win the favor of the commander-in-chief..." ············”
Ye Pengchao's expression suddenly changed at this last sentence, and Ma Zhongjun also felt that what he said was not over his head, and what he just said was a bit too much!
Moreover, the man opposite Ye Pengchao was born in the Coordination Office and his specialty is making small reports. If he were to seize the opportunity to participate in his own book, he would probably be left with nothing!
Thinking of this, Ma Zhongjun also hesitated to make amends for his words, but after all, Ma Zhongjun still had some good face. He wanted to make amends, but he couldn't stand it in front of Ye Pengchao!
Just when the atmosphere between the two was very solemn, a messenger suddenly walked over quickly, took out a letter and reported to Ma Zhongjun:
"General, congratulations, Commander, there is an order delivered!"
After hearing the news, Ma Zhongjun's eyes suddenly lit up when he realized what He Jingyun ordered at this time. He took the order directly from the order soldier and started checking it!
The order was exactly what Ma Zhongjun thought of, which made Ma Zhongjun proudly hand the order to Ye Pengchao and said:
"Inspector Ye said this is an order sent by Commander He. The Central Council and the General Staff Office have activated the plan left by the Commander, and appointed Mr. He Jingyun He as the commander-in-chief of the south to control the military and political affairs of the provinces. Mr. He is now ordering Our troops took the initiative to contain Xu Zhaojie from returning for reinforcements!"
Looking at the bright red seal of the order, Ye Pengchao had other thoughts at the moment, but in front of the military order entering the mountain, he could only nod his head and said:
"I understand, I will try my best to cooperate with you, General Ma!"
"Then I'll leave everything to Ye Xianchao!" After saying that, Ma Zhongjun left with some pride.
Looking at Ma Zhongjun's leaving figure, Ye Pengchao was silent for a while and then shook his head slightly. Because of the previous defeat of the Fifth Army, he was very afraid of Xu Zhaojie. Now I hope he thinks more... ·················
