"Is it going to come to this point?" Cai Yong's heart moved slightly.

He raised his head, squinted his eyes, his eyes were as sharp as a knife, and stared at Hu Zhao: "Kong Ming, if we abandon other cities and gather the main force in Nanxiang, then the success or failure of Nanxiang is the success or failure of the Minghou Mansion, can you be sure that you can defend Nanxiang City, if Nanxiang is broken again, we will not even have half a way out?" ”

"There is absolutely no problem if they can hold this winter, but whether they can hold it for half a year, it is difficult to say, once the ice and snow melt after spring, whether they will increase their troops is a question!"

Hu Zhao thought for a while and said, "But Cai Shangshu, we don't have a choice at all!" ”

At this time, no matter what, they can't disturb Mujing's plan to attack Hanzhong, after all, Hanzhong is where they will stand in the future, so whether they can hold it or not, they have to defend it.

"I'm for it!"

Liu Jin said: "Although it is a little difficult to abandon other cities, but now, only by keeping the Minghou Mansion can the lord rest assured that the troops are scattered, they will be broken one by one, and we don't have so many troops to defend, only by gathering troops in Nanxiang, it is possible to fight!" ”

Everyone looked at each other.

"That's the only way!"

"It's just a pity, I have to let down a lot of people!"

"No one thought that things would be so serious!"

"It is absolutely impossible to let the lord withdraw his troops, then I will have a fight to the death!"

"Don't let the lord be distracted, Lord Changshi's idea of gathering soldiers and horses to gather in Nanxiang and fight against the water is very good!"

Everyone nodded and agreed.

Next, Hu Zhao and Liu Jin began to move.

If you want to gather troops to fight in Nanxiang, it is not a simple matter, first of all, you have to clear the wilderness, move the people outside the city in, and then store enough grain and grass in the city, and prepare a large number of weapons to defend the city, such as rolling wood, tung oil, and stones, and finally you can hold the city.

The Minghou Mansion has now begun to see its scale, performing its own duties, and is running, like a war machine, and it has been prepared in a few days.

The Violent Bear Army returned to Nanxiang one after another.

The main general of the Storm Bear Army is now Zhou Cang, and the deputy general is Chen Nan, the captain of the Yangshan Battalion under Liu Jin, who is Liu Jin's confidant and favorite general.

The congregation will begin to deliberate on countermeasures.

"The Violent Bear Army has experienced losses, and the whereabouts of the soldiers and horses of the pioneer battalion are unknown, even if there is a supplement of the Yangshan battalion, the strength we can use is about 10,000, of course, if we forcibly gather young people to defend the city, we can gather 20,000 or 30,000 young people, but the lord once said that if the young strong people who have not undergone systematic training are pulled to the battlefield, it will be sent to death in vain, and I will not do it until the last resort, so we have to rely on these 10,000 soldiers and horses to defend Nanxiang!"

Hu Zhao, Liu Jin, Zhou Cang and others gathered on the main hall of the Beiwu Hall, discussing the march map, Hu Zhao took the lead in speaking: "I plan to divide the troops!" ”

"Division?"

Zhou Cang squinted his eyes and said, "What does Lord Changshi mean?" “

"Look!"

Hu Zhao pointed to one of the positions on the huge marching map: "This is Nanling Mountain, the mountain is constantly steep, but it is also a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the most important thing is that he can intersect with the county seat, if we deploy a part of the troops here, it will greatly limit the opportunity for the enemy army to gather the main force to attack the city and give the city wall huge pressure!" ”

"Nanling Mountain?"

Liu Jin glanced at it: "There are at least twenty or thirty miles between it and the county seat, and how to deal with it is a problem!" ”

"Lord Bookkeeper, I agree with Lord Changshi's idea!"

Chen Nan said in a low voice: "It looks like there is a distance, but its location is relatively special, in the east, north, not counting in the middle to block the enemy, the enemy army wants to step over, so the enemy army will not waste too many troops here, and if we stick here, it is equivalent to giving the enemy a counterbalance, which will play a great role in hindering their siege, and echo from beginning to end, maybe we can also fight a counterattack!" ”

Liu Jin is good at government affairs, although he is Liu Jin's subordinate, but he knows more about military affairs than Liu Jin.

"If you say so, then I have no opinion!"

Liu Jin asked: "But who will guard it?" ”

"I'll go!"

Zhou Cang stood up and arched his hand.

The Yangshan battalion has been separated from the Violent Bear Army for too long and too long, and now the Violent Bear Army can't order the Yangshan Battalion, and defending the city, I'm afraid that only the main force of Yangshan can be put away, and the main force of the Violent Bear, pressing on Nanling Mountain, is also a good choice.

"General Zhou, why don't I go!" Chen Nan thought about it, he is now Zhou Cang's subordinate, and there is no contradiction between the two, but if you want to completely cultivate a tacit understanding, you still need the tempering of war, but the boss is the boss, and he must be sensible.

"No!"

Zhou Cang shook his head: "The main force of the Yangshan battalion must stick to Nanxiang, and I will command the Yangshan battalion, I still owe a little tacit understanding, there is no time for us to run in at this time, so the Yangshan battalion is still commanded by you, and you are also needed to hold Nanxiang, and the outside will be handed over to me, although the flying cavalry battalion is fragmented, there are less than 1,000 soldiers and horses left, but I still have a bow and crossbow battalion, 4,000 soldiers and horses, enough to hold Nanling, unless they attack the nest, I don't think they dare, after all, if they attack my Nanling, the county side can be caught off guard!" ”

"That's it!"

Hu Zhao waved his hand: "Zhou Cang, you come to guard Nanling Mountain, now go and prepare quickly, I have prepared all the grain and grass for you, after arriving in Nanling, establish a camp offensive, defend according to the mountain, there is no military order, even if the enemy retreats, you must not attack!" ”

"Yes!"

"And Chen Nan, you don't have much time, when the enemy soldiers are in the city, you must arrange the defense line of Nanxiang County as soon as possible, this battle is a battle against the water, the Ming Hou Mansion is all here, once you lose Nanxiang, the lord is equivalent to losing the foundation, we have no regrets when we die, we can't affect the great cause of the lord, otherwise they will have no shame to face the trust of the ancestors!"

"Yes!"

The faces of the people were solemn, the expressions were resolute, and they were united as one

…………

……

Five days later, the time has begun to enter the middle of December, the coldest moment of the first year of Chuping comes, even if it is Nanyang, it is also heavy snow to cover the sky, half a step is difficult.

Nanxiang County.

Fifty miles away from the county seat, in the wind and snow, a group of soldiers and horses was marching with difficulty.

"Nanyang hasn't had such a big snow for many years!"

"It's going to be a march in such a cold weather, and you're going to die!"

"What are you fighting, can't you fight again after the beginning of spring?"

“……”

The soldiers stepped on a snowdrift and complained a lot, but the people of this era had a strong obedience, and although there were complaints, they did not stop and continued to march.

"How far is it from Nanxiang?" Even the main general, Chen Lan, who has extraordinary martial arts, was shivering from the cold weather at this time, he rubbed his hands, looked at the endless snow in front of him, and asked.

"It is estimated that there are at least thirty miles left!"

"It's been five days since I walked the two-day journey, and there are still fifty miles, hey!" Chen Lan sighed.

Marching in the snow is too difficult, not to mention walking in the snow, you have to be careful about what is under the snowdrift, you must let people explore the road ahead, the mountain road is rugged, and the snowdrift is like a mountain, just to explore the road, he lost nearly 30 soldiers.

"General, twenty miles ahead, I found traces of enemy troops!"

A scout rode back and gave his hand.

"Twenty miles ahead of the enemy?"

When Chen Lan heard this, she quickly tightened the reins of her horse, raised her hand, and pressed it to make the whole army pause the march: "Pass my military order, suspend the march!" “

"Marching map!"

He jumped off his horse, waved his hand, and sent a picture of the march to the left and right.

"In!" The guards on the left and right took out the marching map in a bamboo tube and spread it out in front of Chen Lan.

Chen Lan picked up the snowflakes that fell on it, he stared at the terrain on the marching map, and said: "Twenty miles ahead, there are no soldiers coming to the city, just a mountain, a valley, and the valley is not precipitous, why are they stationed like this?" ”

"The last general doesn't understand either, but the scouts have checked twice, and it is indeed the enemy camp!"

The scout marquis arched his hand and said: "This Nanling Mountain is still twenty or thirty miles away from the county seat of Nanxiang!" ”

"How many soldiers and horses are they stationed?"

"After preliminary inquiry, there will be no less than 5,000 soldiers and horses!"

"They are stationed here, it doesn't look like a sneak attack, but it's a bit of a strategy for the city wall......" Chen Lan thought about it, after entering Nanxiang, the terrain became more and more rugged, and the mountain road in front was difficult to walk, if he forcibly attacked, his eight thousand elites might not be able to break through: "Order, camp on the spot!" ”

"No!"

The generals took orders and began to look for a place to camp.

Two days later, Lei Bo led the main elite into the scope of Nanxiang County, and converged with Chen Lan's vanguard, a full 50,000 elite soldiers and horses, and established three camps before and after, connecting each other.

"Chen Lan, how is the situation of the herdsmen in Nanxiang now?"

After Lei Bo set up camp, he immediately summoned the pioneer Chen Lan and asked.

"Report to Lieutenant, there should be about 10,000 soldiers and horses in Nanxiang County now, but they have divided their troops, and some of the soldiers and horses are pressed in this position, that is, on Nanling Mountain, less than twenty miles away from us!"

"In addition, we found that the surrounding walls were clear, and we couldn't see the people, nor could we see a single grain, and they were intent on fighting us to the death!"

"I tried to attack Nanling Mountain, but their counterattack was too fierce, and I had to withdraw."

Chen Lan's report was very careful.

"Two points and one line, left and right support, good strategy, this is to die with us to the end!" Lei Bo squinted slightly.

"Captain, they haven't escaped in this case, they are already going to fight us to the death!"

A general said.

"I attacked Shunyang before, but there was no resistance, I thought they fled to Hanzhong and joined the main force of the herdsmen, but I didn't expect them to be so courageous, they gave up the rest of the county towns in Nanyang, and gathered all the main forces of the herdsmen to fight to the death with us in Nanxiang, what a guts!"

Three days ago, Lei Bo had already received reports from various county towns, and he was a little worried about the herdsman's move to shrink his troops, coupled with the current weather, it was not a good idea to storm Nanxiang.

But Yuan Shu gave a death order that Nanyang must be taken back before Mu Jing conquered Hanzhong, and he had to brave the snow to attack.

"But anyway!"

Lei Bo said coldly: "We all have to take Nanxiang in the shortest possible time and drive them all out of Nanyang!" ”

"Pass my military order, rest for a day, and start attacking Nanxiang at noon tomorrow!"

"No!"

The generals commanded.