On the sixth day of the first month of March, Xiang Xuan, a rebel general in Yingyin County, received a message from his subordinate Qu General Guo Sheng from Yingyang County.

At that time, Xiang Xuan was discussing with Yan Xuan, the general of Jiangxia Yishi, whether to continue to attack Xuchang or seize Changshe County first - Changshe is located on the north side of Xuchang, as long as they can capture Changshe, and the Jiangxia Yishi general, who is currently preparing to attack Yanling County, can also successfully conquer the place, then Xuchang will be completely surrounded by his two righteous divisions, and just sit back and wait for it to collapse by itself.

The two were discussing, and as a result, they received the news that the 'black scarf thief had invaded Yingyang'.

The surprised Yan Yu immediately couldn't help but ask implicitly: "Black scarf thief? Could it be the black scarf thief in Kunyang? That Zhou Hu's subordinates? ”

"Hmm."

Xiang Xuan looked at the battle report sent by his subordinate Guo Sheng, and frowned slightly.

Last year, his Changsha Yishi Qu Shuai Guan Shuo was defeated in Kunyang, which was really difficult for the whole army to follow, and even Xiang Xuan felt incredible.

Xiang Xuan is very clear about Qu Shuai's ability, otherwise, he who is proud of the ancestors of the Xiang family in the Qin and Han dynasties, 'Xiang Liang' and 'Xiang Ji', would not be willing to live under others.

Because of this, Guan Shuo's defeat in Kunyang last year really surprised Xiang Xuan.

You must know that before this, Xiang Xuan also expected Guan Shuo to divide his troops to help him capture Xuchang after successively capturing Kunyang, Xiangcheng, and Runan counties, but who would have thought that Guan Shuo, who commanded nearly 100,000 troops, would be defeated in Kunyang, and the defeat was very embarrassing, not to mention that there were only one or two thousand people left in more than 10,000 green forest thieves, and 80,000 Changsha righteous teachers could not die more than 30,000 people.

After that, Xiang Xuan remembered a person's name - Zhou Hu!

And the 'black turban thief' he talked about during this time was Zhou Hu's subordinates, who were said to be a group of local gangsters.

"I also know some of the war ...... Kunyang"

While Xiang Xuan was pondering, Yan Xuan frowned and said: "This Zhou Hu, it's really not simple, it was just enough to resist my nearly 100,000 righteous teachers for more than a month with the strength of a county, and it was unbelievable that he could force the two Qu Shuai to retreat when a city wall was lost......"

"It's just taking advantage of the time."

Xiang Xuan said lightly: "If it weren't for the fact that the winter snow was coming, Guan Shuai and Chen Shuai were in a hurry to retreat, otherwise they would have just burned Kunyang." If Zhou Hu didn't want to be burned to death in the city, he would inevitably lead the crowd to break through, at this time, the two Qu Shuai only needed to send troops to block and kill outside the city, come out to kill one by one, and kill two when they came out. ”

Yan Xuan was a little surprised by Xiang Xuan's attitude, and explained on behalf of Guan Shuo, especially on behalf of his family Qu Shuai Chen Miao: "The two Qu Shuai were also forced to be helpless at that time, first that Zhou Hu wanted to 'lead the whole city of soldiers and civilians to move to Dingling', and then was attacked by Ye County in Dingling County...... This is the only way to do it. ”

"Hmph."

Xiang Xuan snorted lightly and said lightly: "The two Qu Shuai are too indecisive, if it is Xiang Mou, they will definitely set fire to the city first, and lead the troops to die outside the city...... What are you afraid of if you lose Dingling? As long as the Kunyang people are slaughtered, Ye County still dares to pursue them alone? …… Zhou Hu's so-called coercion was just a joke in Xiang's opinion! ”

“……”

Yan Yu frowned slightly.

He had long known that this Xuan was arrogant and conceited, so it was not surprising that the latter would make such an evaluation, but this evaluation involved his Jiangxia righteous teacher, Qu Shuai Chen Xuan, which made him a little unhappy.

If you are unhappy, you are not happy, and Yan Xuan didn't want to have any quarrel with Xiang Xuan, so he changed the topic and said: "Now that the black turban thief is attacking Yingyang, what is General Xiang going to do?" ”

Hearing this, Xiang Xuan looked at the battle report in his hand again.

Thinking of Zhou Hu and the black scarf thief, he suddenly thought of a letter sent by Guan Shuo a while ago.

The content of the letter was very simple, that is, he was told to restrain the army and not to invade Kunyang, Xiangcheng, and Runan counties, but Guan Shuo did not mention the reason in the letter.

In all fairness, not to mention that at that time, even now, Xiang Xuan never thought of dividing his troops to attack Kunyang, Xiangcheng, and Runan counties, after all, in his opinion, it was of greater significance to capture Xuchang County.

But Guan Shuo, the commander of his Changsha righteous teacher, specially sent someone to send this secret order, which still surprised Xiang Xuan.

At that time, he wrote a reply to ask why, but Guan Shuo did not disclose it, but only asked him to 'obey the order'.

Xiang Xuan privately speculated that Guan Shuo might have reached some private agreement with Zhou Hu of Kunyang.

『……』

Thinking of this, Xiang Xuan couldn't help but shake his head.

He couldn't understand why Guan Shuo would give in to Kunyang, and why he would give in to Zhou Hu because he was defeated in Kunyang for a while?

"General Xiang?"

Seeing that Xiang Xuan didn't react for a long time, Yan Xuan asked tentatively.

Xiang Xuan came back to his senses at this time, looked at the battle report in his hand and said: "According to Guo Sheng, this group of black turban thieves is only a few hundred people, and they only haunt the south bank of Yingshui, and do not cross the river, I think the threat to Yingyang is not very big, so I don't need to pay too much attention to it." …… I guess Zhou Hu may just want to perfunctory Xuchang. ”

"Perfunctory Xuchang?" Yan Yu asked in surprise.

"Hmm." 678

Xiang Xuan nodded and analyzed: "Xuchang has been besieged by us for a long time, so he will naturally try his best to ask for help, that Zhou Hu repelled Guan Shuo last year and became famous in one fell swoop, how could Xuchang turn a blind eye?" will inevitably contact that Zhou Hu, use both soft and hard, and ask that Zhou Hu to send troops to support. …… That Zhou Hu was born in Kunyang, a local mountain bandit, presumably not treated by Yingchuan County, and now he was recruited by the government, and he did not dare to refuse head-on, so he sent a small number of troops to perfunctory Xuchang. ”

"Although this proclamation is arrogant and conceited, its wisdom is really extraordinary......

With emotion in his heart, Yan Yu nodded and said, "Like this, you really don't have to pay too much attention to it?" …… So, about the previous discussions? ”

"Let's take the long shrine first."

Xiang Xuan pondered and said: "Please General Yan garrison Yingyin, build siege equipment on behalf of our army, and I will lead the army to capture Changshe...... As long as Changshe and Yanling are all taken, Xuchang will be a lonely city, and even if the city wall is strong, it will not help. ”

"Good!" Yan Yu nodded solemnly.

After the two discussed, Xiang Xuan wrote a letter on the same day, sent someone to Yingyang, handed it over to Guo Sheng, and ordered the latter to gather his troops and deploy defenses on the north bank of Yingshui, unless a large number of men and horses attacked in the direction of Xiangyang, otherwise there was no need to entangle with those black turban thieves.

When Guo Sheng received the letter, he suddenly realized that he gave up patrolling on the south bank of Yingshui and only deployed defenses on the other side of the river.

For a time, although the brigade wolves led by Xu Bai and Wang Ping could come and go freely in the local area, they could not find a rebel patrol team that could sneak attack, unless they ventured to cross Yingshui.

At the same time, on the eighth day of the first month of March, Xiang Xuan led 5,000 soldiers to Changshe County.

Changshe County was originally frightened because the rebels were stationed in Yingyin, and did not dare to relax its vigilance at all, but today it suddenly learned that Xiang Xuan led the army to attack, and before the latter attacked the city, he took the lead in sending people to Xuchang for help.

However, how can Xuchang have extra troops to support Changshe County? Li Min, the county guard, could only send someone to Henan County for help, and asked Zhang Jian, the county guard of Henan, to send troops to help.

On 12 March, Zhang Jian, the warden of Henan County, received a letter from Yingchuan County asking for help.

At this time, Henan County had already learned that the rebels had invaded Yingchuan County, and had organized the county army early, but this Zhang County Guard was still a little hesitant about whether to aid Yingchuan County.

Not because he had any conflict with Li Min, the warden of Yingchuan County, but because he was concerned about Henan County under his rule - what if he sent his army to Yingchuan County, but the rebels took the opportunity to attack his Henan County?

Just when Zhang Jian hesitated, Li Meng, the lieutenant of Henan County, advised: "If the rebels take Changshe, they will take Xinzheng in the future, and if Xinzheng is lost, Xincheng and Henan will not be able to protect it!" ”

Under Li Meng's persuasion, Zhang Jian finally made up his mind and ordered Li Meng to lead 12,000 county troops to aid Changshe.

On 16 March, Li Meng, the lieutenant of Henan County, led 12,000 troops and galloped 160 miles in four days, and finally arrived in Changshe County before Xiang Xuan attacked the county.

Seeing that reinforcements were coming from Changshe, Xiang Xuan temporarily stopped attacking the city and confronted Li Meng in the territory of Changshe.

During this period, Xiang Xuan expected that Li Meng's army was 'traveling long distances' and 'the soldiers were tired', and took the initiative to force the battle.

So Xiang Xuan temporarily retreated, thinking about how to defeat Li Meng's army with a strategy, and Li Meng's army did not pursue, and honestly camped in the upper reaches of the Qinghe River on the west side of Changshe.

Knowing that Li Meng led the county soldiers of Henan County to relieve the siege of Changshe, Li Min, the guard of Yingchuan County, was relieved.

However, unexpectedly, although the siege of Changshe was solved, Yanling was in danger - Zhou Gong, the general of Jiangxia Yishi, led the army to storm Yanling County, and Yanling County urgently asked Xuchang for help.

On March 18, Zhou Gong invaded Yanling County, and Yanling County ordered Cai Cheng and County Lieutenant Tian Ju to surrender to the rebels when they saw that the general trend had gone.

Upon learning that Yanling had surrendered to the rebels, Li Min, the warden of Yingchuan County, was shocked and angry, and seeing that the battle situation was becoming more and more unfavorable, he couldn't sleep all night, and called his officials to discuss many times, but the discussion came and went, and there was no result of the discussion.

With nothing to do, Li Junshou had no choice but to send someone to contact Li Meng and implore the latter to help defend the Changshe, and at the same time, he sent someone to Kunyang to urge Zhou Hu to step up the use of troops against the rebels.

On March 21, Zhao Yu again received a letter from Li Junshou.

Unlike Li Junshou, who was anxious like an ant on a hot pot, Zhao Yu was not in a hurry at this time.

But don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry, the rebels on Xuchang's side are violent, and Zhao Yu is somewhat worried, after all, his agreement with Zhang Zhai, Guan Shuo and others is just a verbal agreement, once the rebels gain an overwhelming advantage in Yingchuan County, who can guarantee that Guan Shuo will keep his previous promise?

In case that Xiang Xuan turned south after defeating Xuchang County, and attacked Kunyang, Xiangcheng, and Runan with Guanshuo in the north and south, Zhao Yu was not sure that he would be able to win more with less again.

『…… You can't ask Xiang Xuan to take Xuchang so easily."

For the purpose of 'maintaining balance', Zhao Yu summoned Ma Gai and advised: "The two rebel forces of Guan Shuo and Xiang Xuan still have an overwhelming advantage over my Kunyang, if Xiang Xuan immediately takes Xuchang, I am afraid he will be unfavorable to my Kunyang." …… In order to prevent this incident, I decided to contact the two counties of Xiangcheng and Runan, and the three counties gathered a total of 5,000 soldiers to feint and attack Yingyang, so as to contain Xiang Xuan......"

"Okay." Margai nodded in agreement.

Two days later, Ma Gai led only 1,000 county soldiers to the north to the territory of Xiangcheng County, where he joined up with 2,000 county soldiers led by Zou Bu, the lieutenant of Xiangcheng County, and Huang Ben, the lieutenant of Runan County, and went to Yingyang with great fanfare.

Compared with the 'east', Zhao Yu was more concerned about the 'west', that is, the confrontation between the rebels led by Guan Shuo and Yexian.

As well as, some subordinates in the Reclamation Army, led by Qin Yu and Peng Fu, have not yet 'completely died'.

He's got an idea, tell these people to die completely!