Li Yi had previously sat firmly in Shouzhou, hoping to wait until Xu Zhengye captured Hezhou before the two parties could meet and sit down to discuss cooperation in detail.
However, Hezhou could not attack for a long time, and he gradually became anxious.
After that, there was still no news that Hezhou City had been defeated. Instead, he heard the news that Xu Zhengye was defeated and retreated to Jiangning!
To Li Yi, this was simply ridiculous!
How could Hezhou, which was at the end of its strength, not be able to capture it?
How could Chang Kuo, who only brought less than 20,000 reinforcements, not die?
How could Princess Xuan'an, who always ignored disputes, suddenly intervene in this matter!
Li Yi was surprised, puzzled and unwilling.
But after all the emotions subsided, the panic and uneasiness in his bones still took over, and he began to fidget again, pacing back and forth in the camp.
"It's bad, Chang Kuo will definitely come back to seek revenge on me!"
"The saints and the imperial court... must have learned about He Wei's death, and they will send orders to everyone to jointly attack and punish me... Xu Zhengye has returned to Jiangning, what should we do now!"
The reason why he still dared to sit here after killing He Wei was that he was sure that Xu Zhengye would soon capture Hezhou. When he joined the Xu family's army, the entire Huainan Road would be in his pocket. Naturally, he does not have to fear the imperial court's crusade against him!
But the current situation is completely different from what he had imagined before, making his situation suddenly become more difficult and dangerous.
One of his two aides spoke at this time: "The general is right. Chang Kuo will definitely turn back when Hezhou is established. If he integrates the troops ordered by the imperial court to attack the general, he will definitely threaten the general..."
"Do you still need to remind me of this?" Li Yi was upset because of anxiety, and began to blame the two of them: "This is the good idea you came up with at the beginning! Didn't you two say it with certainty? Will he die in Hezhou?"
The two aides looked at each other and had no choice but to lower their heads and raise their hands to apologize to the incompetent and furious man.
Li Yi continued to walk around: "...These days, the Japanese army has been talking a lot about the war situation in Hezhou. They all suspect that I am deliberately trying to get rid of Chang Kuo!"
He was very angry as he spoke.
Although this is true.
But what makes him angry is not that those people guessed the truth, but that it can be seen from the attitude of the military that most people are obviously biased towards Chang Kuo!
During this period, some people even stood up and asked to go to Hezhou to support Chang Kuo. It was he who suppressed those people by using strong tactics on the grounds that "the commander-in-chief and General Chang Kuo had their own plans."
If Chang Kuo dies, these people will not be able to make waves if they have no backbone, but now that Chang Kuo is still alive... Under such circumstances, if Chang Kuo returns, those people will definitely fall to Chang Kuo!
"The two lower officials naturally understand the general's worries... The current situation is unfavorable, and it is not appropriate for the general to have a head-on conflict with Chang Kuoqi."
"That's right, the top priority may be to leave Shouzhou immediately!"
"Leaving Shouzhou?" Li Yi paused and looked at the two of them subconsciously: "Where to go!"
When the two were about to speak, the voice of soldiers sounded outside the tent.
Li Yi allowed the person to come in. The soldier was his own soldier. He quickly walked into the tent, saluted, and presented a secret letter with both hands.
Li Yi hurriedly opened it and took a look, his eyes immediately lit up.
It's Xu Zhengye!
Xu Zhengye also expected that he was in a bad situation, so he sent a letter inviting him to quickly go to Yangzhou, Jiangdu, to discuss matters...
Li Yi discussed it with his two staff and decided that this was the best choice at the moment.
The remaining 80,000 troops that were supposed to follow Chang Kuo to support Hezhou were "divided into two groups" by Li Yi and Chang Kuo in the name of attacking Yangzhou.
The attack on Yangzhou was a lie, but the deliberate delay in marching was true. Whenever Xu's soldiers and horses blocked the way, he repeatedly refused to advance, so he left for half a month and was still on the way.
"The general should break camp and leave Shouzhou as soon as possible. After joining the 80,000 troops who went ahead, they can rush to Yangzhou together."
The staff member said: "Xu Zhengye has just lost the battle, and it is the time for him to employ his men. If the general leads an army of more than 100,000 people at this time, he will definitely treat him as an honored guest... when the time comes...
The general is stationed in Yangzhou, and the court has nothing to do, let alone a mere Changkuo! "
Li Yi didn't hesitate at all and immediately ordered the camp to break out.
This order spread among the army and caused a shock.
"...Vice Admiral Chang originally chose to camp in Shouzhou because he wanted to use the Huai River as a line of defense to defend the capital's key road and prevent Xu's rebels from attacking the central plains of the east capital... How could he easily break out of the camp with such a strategic location? Leave!" Several captains stood up and questioned.
"Yes, if we all leave Shouzhou, what if the Xu family's rebel army lurking near Huainan Road takes the opportunity to invade?"
The deputy general who came to deliver the order sneered: "The battle situation is unpredictable. One moment and another moment, there is no stupid reason to hold on to one place and hold on to the end!"
"But it is said that Hezhou has been decided, and Deputy Commander Chang is coming back. For such a big matter, why don't we wait until the Deputy Commander returns to camp before discussing it..."
"Absurd!" The deputy general interrupted them in a solemn voice: "Who said that Deputy Commander Chang is going back to Shouzhou? Deputy Commander Chang has sent a message back to the camp to attack Yangzhou from Hezhou, and the commander led the army to withdraw from the camp and march with him. Go, this is the countermeasure agreed upon by the coach and the deputy coach!"
Finally he said loudly: "Deputy Commander Chang defeated the Xu rebels in Hezhou. Now is a good time to take back Yangzhou in one fell swoop! The rebels are to be wiped out in one fell swoop. Whoever dares to ignore military orders and spread rumors will do so to disrupt the morale of the army." Punish the crime!"
In order to frighten everyone, two captains who had doubts about this were killed with military sticks on the spot.
Soon, the army was ready to break camp.
The army had been camped here for a long time and could not leave immediately. Li Yi felt uneasy and was afraid that Chang Kuo would come back with his men to kill him at the next moment. He did not want to wait for a moment, so he took his trusted confidants and cavalry and left first.
The staff originally advised him not to rush, but Li Yi couldn't wait any longer. He was like an ant on a hot pot, unable to compete with each other for a moment.
After hearing the news that the commander had led the cavalry out of the camp, someone in the army soon felt that something was wrong.
Ever since he left Beijing to attack Xu Zhengye, their coach had always been able to retreat without advancing, and could escape without fighting... When had he ever been so active?
Being so active, it's more like running away for one's life than taking back Yangzhou, right?
There were quite a few people who sensed something was amiss, but the military orders came from under the mountain, so they could only obey them for the time being.
Naturally, the noise of the army breaking out of camp was not small. Xi'er, Azhi, Adian, Lao Kang and others who had been staying in Shouzhou City at Chang Suining's instructions heard the news and left Shouzhou City that night.
This happened three days before Chang Kuo and Chang Sui Ning left Hezhou.
As early as the day after returning to Jiangning, Xu Zhengye sent a secret letter to Li Yi.
Therefore, Chang Kuo and others had just left Hezhou City two hundred miles away when they met Lao Kang and his entourage.
Hearing that Li Yi had ordered to break camp and leave Shouzhou for Yangzhou, Chang Sui Ning immediately frowned and said, "He doesn't have the guts to attack Xu Zhengye."
Chang Kuo's eyebrows were also furrowed. He didn't want to fight, but he dared to... then he could only hook up!
Chang Suining raised his eyes, looked at Chang Kuo, and said in a wary tone: "We must intercept him in the middle, and we must not let him reach Yangzhou with his head and soldiers."
Although Li Yi is a idiot, his status as a clan member and the military strength he currently holds will definitely cause serious trouble once he falls under Xu Zhengye's command.
Chang Kuo solemnly nodded, and at Chang Suining's signal, he immediately ordered to continue on the road, changed the route to intercept Li Yi, and let Lao Kang and the others talk the rest while walking on the road.
"I had expected that Li Yi's grandson would escape, so I sent someone to go back to Shouzhou to find out the news...but I never thought that he would go to Yangzhou!" Chang Kuo cursed on the road: "This guy is not very courageous and ambitious. But not small!"
How dare you collude with Xu Zhengye, you are planning to seek skin from a tiger.
Chang Sui Ning asked Lao Kang and others about the news in the court.
The news of He Wei's death must have been sent back to the capital, and the imperial court must have measures to deal with Li Yi's rebellion.
Although she carries the imperial edict entrusted by He Wei in her arms, there is no 100% certainty that she and the ten thousand troops led by Lao Chang can stop Li Yi.
With the help of the court, the chances of winning will naturally be greater.
Lao Kang replied: "When we left Shouzhou three days ago, we secretly heard the news that the imperial envoys had left the capital. They must be on their way here now."
If the imperial envoy arrives, he will immediately mobilize his troops to control Li Yi and recapture the imperial troops.
Following this, Li Yi's reputation as a rebel will soon spread everywhere.
But it takes time to mobilize troops and horses everywhere, and if Li Yi has really colluded with Xu Zhengye, then Li Yi will definitely have an unimpeded journey to Yangzhou, waiting for the imperial envoy to come, maybe it will be too late.
Therefore, she and Lao Chang still had to rush to intercept first.
"... He Wei has been dead for more than twenty days. I don't believe that Li Yi kept everyone in the dark in Jiangnan! But no one is willing to speak out. They are just pretending to be deaf and dumb. !" Chang Kuo spat on his horse and cursed: "It's really rotten, it's all rotten!"
"Yeah, it sucks." Chang Suining looked at the muddy official road ahead and frowned.
Through this rotten appearance, it can be seen that people's hearts are no longer aligned.
Since he came to power in the Ming Dynasty, the pent-up dissatisfaction everywhere seems to be coming out through Xu Zhengye's cry of "helping the Li family".
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Then, when he heard that his general was resisting the rebels in Hezhou, he was heartbroken and simply ordered to rush to Hezhou with the remaining 5,000 troops.
On the way, a scout sent by Chang Kuo to explore the road discovered their traces, and the two parties were able to meet here.
These five thousand men and horses were all like hungry people fleeing for their lives. Chang Kuo first asked people to bring out dry food to feed them.
Seeing Chu Xing and others devouring their food, Chang Kuo was angry and distressed.
And thanks to the loyalty of the people in Hezhou, they prepared enough dry food for them, otherwise Chang Kuo would not only feel sorry for his subordinates, but also secretly feel sorry for the food.
After filling his stomach, Chu Xing explained the process of the Battle of Surabaya to Chang Kuo in detail.
In the end, he knelt down and apologized to Chang Kuo with a heavy heart. Not to mention anything else, as a general in this battle, he had fought such a defeat and faced such heavy casualties, and he felt sad, angry and guilty.
"Get up, this is not your fault!" Chang Kuo said with a serious expression, "I will crush Li Yi's bones and raise them to ashes as a sacrifice to the soldiers who died in vain!"
Changsui Ning said nothing and only stretched out his hand to lift one of Chu Xing's arms.
After this support, I realized that Chu Xing's arms under his robe were much withered.
Everyone gathered their spirits and continued on their way.
On the way, Chu Xingcai took the time to talk to Chang Suining: "When I came here, I heard about the girl's deeds of killing enemies in Hezhou. I thought it was a misinformation... I didn't expect that the girl was really here."
The girl's appearance here shocked him to the core, not to mention that he also heard: "When we were in Hezhou, that Ge Zong... was really killed by the girl?"
Chang Suining didn't need to speak, and Mrs. Shepherd's Purse next to her confirmed: "How can this be false? I was watching with my own eyes at that time. Mrs. Chang cut off the head of the thief with one knife!"
Chu Xing couldn't help but stare.
So, did he actually teach such a powerful apprentice?
