On August 26, the fourth day after the fall of Zhaoling County, in accordance with the order of Guan Shuo, the commander of the Changsha Qu Commander, he commanded the Changsha Army and the Green Forest Army, and marched north at the same time, and met on the south bank of the Shahe River, where Huang Kang was stationed on the same day.

How many troops are there on this road in Guanshuo?

Of course, it won't be the hundreds of thousands of troops as they claim to the outside world, there are hundreds of thousands of troops in the east, hundreds of thousands of troops in the west, and how many people are there in total in the New Chu Army?

The real number of the Changsha New Chu Army under Guan Shuo was 80,000 when he led the army into Jiangxia County, which was already the gathering of all the troops of Changsha County.

However, after the uprising, these 80,000 people continued to have casualties, the casualties in the early stage were not serious, and there were only 1,000 or even less losses in the capture of a county, Guan Shuo directly recruited soldiers in the local area to make up for the number, but in Zhaoling County, the losses were huge, and the losses of his Changsha soldiers alone exceeded 10,000, and the casualties of the green forest thieves and pseudo-thieves were even greater.

Counting Huang Kang's losses and the losses at Zhaoling, Guan Shuo's current army is around 60,000 - including the 10,000 troops he sent to attack and contain Xuchang.

Of course, the 60,000 Changsha troops under his command at this moment are no longer just those of the people he fought when he left Changsha County, because along the way he also recruited soldiers in the captured county, otherwise his troops would be even less, and there might only be 40,000 left.

There is no way, the battle of Zhaoling and the battle of Kunyang, the losses of his Changsha army are too serious, and I am afraid that there are about 25,000 people in total.

If we don't replenish our forces and continue to fight like this, I'm afraid we will be wiped out in a few months.

Of course, these 60,000 troops do not count the number of green forest thieves and pseudo-thieves, otherwise there will be more than 20,000 more people.

On August 27, after a full day of marching, Guan Shuo led more than 50,000 Changsha troops and nearly 10,000 green forest thieves to the south bank of the Shahe River, and came to the place where Huang Kang tried to set up camp that day and waited for Guan Shuo's army to come to help.

I have to say that although Huang Kang suffered a defeat last time, as Guan Shuo's favorite general, he naturally has some foresight, for example, the place he chose to camp in is very suitable for Guan Shuo to garrison a large army, effectively exerting pressure on Yexian and Kunyang at the same time.

If Huang Kang could hold the camp he established, then Guan Shuo would be able to immediately attack Yexian and Kunyang, but unfortunately, Huang Kang was defeated by Yexian and Kunyang counties, so that Guan Shuo must give priority to the establishment of the camp at this moment.

After all, Huang Kang's defeat has proved one thing, that is, Kunyang and Yexian are not soft persimmons that can be easily captured.

In order to avoid following in the footsteps of the generals, Guan Shuo naturally had to be cautious.

As soon as Guan Shuo ordered the whole army to set up camp, they immediately attracted a group of uninvited guests - a cavalry of dozens of people appeared out of nowhere, watching them build the camp from afar.

"That's the cavalry of Ye County."

Huang Kang immediately explained to Guan Shuo: "Among the 10,000 Nanyang troops that Wang Shangde reinforced Ye County, there were almost 500 cavalry, and these cavalry were used as scouts by Ye County...... The last general was stationed at this time, and was under their surveillance all day and all night. Occasionally, these cavalrymen would shoot soldiers who had been sent out to cut down trees. ”

Guan Shuo nodded clearly, but there was nothing he could do about those cavalrymen.

The best way to deal with cavalry is to send cavalry, but unfortunately, the number of cavalry in his new Chu army is almost none, after all, they are the 'southern country', unlike the Jin kingdom that occupies the Central Plains and the north, which has a high-quality source of war horses.

"Is there anything else to pay attention to?"

Guan Shuo asked Huang Kangdao.

Huang Kang thought for a moment and said, "Compared with the cavalry in Ye County, the last general thinks that Kunyang's 'pack of wolves' is a greater threat. ”

"Wolves?" Guan Shuo was slightly stunned, puzzled and said, "Let's talk about it specifically." ”

Huang Kang hugged his fists and explained: "The last general was defeated that day, although it was mainly Ye County who sent the Nanyang army to attack our camp at night, but before that, the last general was annoyed by the 'wolves' in Kunyang...... In terms of head-to-head confrontation, Ye County's strength is better than Kunyang's, after all, Ye County still has nearly 7,000 Nanyang troops, but in terms of harassment of our army at night, Kunyang's black turban thieves are much more powerful...... Every night, those black turban thieves operate in the suburbs of this area like a pack of wolves, hunting and killing our lone patrol soldiers, and even daring to attack our army's camps...... They will hunt for prey during the day and go out at night, and if they come across prey that they can't nibble on, they will gather their companions nearby by howling wolves......"

"Howling wolf?" Guan Shuo raised his eyebrows, as if he was feeling a little interested.

"Yes." Huang Kang nodded, and said in a low voice with a bit of depression: "Thanks to them, the soldiers under the command of the last general were tense as long as they heard the wolf howl, and that group of black turban thieves also took advantage of this to deliberately harass the soldiers under the command of the last general, making them unpeaceful at night." ”

He exhaled, and added with a little resentment: "If it weren't for the exhaustion of those black turban thieves, when Ye County sent the Nanyang Army to sneak attack, the soldiers under the command of the last general would not have collapsed at the touch of a button......"

Guan Shuo nodded slightly, stood at the station and looked at the direction of Kunyang and then at the direction of Yexian.

According to Huang Kang, Kunyang and Yexian can be said to have quite a tactical cooperation: Kunyang is responsible for harassment, and Yexian is responsible for waiting for an opportunity.

This kind of cooperation allowed the black tiger thieves in Kunyang who were good at fighting in small groups of troops to give full play to their abilities, and also allowed the Nanyang army in Ye County to avoid the physical exertion caused by harassing the enemy again and again, and could concentrate on staring at the enemy army, and then give a fatal blow when they showed fatigue.

Considering that Kunyang County is currently very likely to be ruled by a bandit leader named Zhou Hu, this tacit understanding between him and Ye County really makes Guan Shuo feel quite interesting.

Unfortunately, this trick did not work for the army under his command.

The reason why Huang Kang was recruited at the beginning was because he had insufficient troops, and he needed to guard against the 7,000 Nanyang army in Ye County at all times, and he did not dare to send a few small troops to fight with the black tiger thieves.

However, he Guan Shuo has overwhelming troops under his command, Ye County does not dare to act rashly at all, he Guan Shuo can send several teams of hundreds of people to concentrate on killing those so-called Kunyang 'wolves', at least to force those black tiger thieves back to Kunyang County.

Then, it's time for regular siege warfare.

With nearly 60,000 troops, can't you beat a county seat?

Of course, before that, Guan Shuo planned to give the guy named Zhou Hu a chance first, if the other party knew each other and was willing to submit to his Changsha New Chu Army, then he could avoid a siege battle and concentrate on attacking Yexian.

Thinking of this, Guan Shuo wrote a letter to Zhou Hu in his makeshift Chinese military tent, a simple grass hut, with pen and ink and white silk, and immediately sent someone to Kunyang.

At Guan Shuo's behest, one of his henchmen arrived outside Kunyang County with more than 100 soldiers and shouted loudly towards the South City Gatehouse: "I, Guan Shuo, the commander of the new Chu army in Changsha, have a letter sent to Zhou Hu, the leader of the Black Tiger Army. ”

"Black Tiger Army?"

Liu Tu, the black tiger thief who was temporarily appointed as the guard of the South City Gate, couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this.

Because no one has ever called them that, not even themselves—after all, the word 'army' is still quite significant.

Just when Liu Tu was stunned, Guan Shuo's henchman outside the city had tied the bamboo pipe containing the letter written by his own Qu Shuai to the arrow, pulled the bow and shot it at the south city gatehouse, and shot it on the stone bricks on the city gate tower with a bang, and rolled to Liu Tu's feet.

Immediately, Guan Shuo's henchmen outside the city did not talk nonsense, and immediately returned with the more than 100 Changsha sergeants.

Looking at the other party's departing back, Liu Tu bent down and picked up the arrow on the ground and untied the bamboo pipe on it.

After glancing at the county guards on duty near the city gate, Liu Tu initially intended to let a few black tiger thieves behind him pass the letter, but considering that the few black tiger thieves behind him were also newcomers who had just been recruited in the city, he still decided to personally hand over the letter to Zhao Yu.

After all, it was a letter sent by 'what handsome', although Liu Tu didn't understand it, but he also understood at least a little, and if it was related to 'handsome', it must be a big man in the rebels.

After instructing the guards of the two sides around him to say a few words, Liu Tu immediately went down to the city gate, rode a horse, came to the Black Tiger Righteous House, and handed the letter to Zhao Yu.

A moment later, when Zhao Yu listened to Liu Tu's account on the second floor of the Black Tiger Righteous House, a little surprise appeared on his face under the mask: "You mean, this letter was sent by Qu Shuai of the rebel army on the other side?" ”

Liu Tu nodded and said, "I didn't hear if it was a handsome Qu, I just remember to bring a handsome." ”

Zhao Yu nodded clearly, glanced down at the bamboo pipe in his hand, and asked casually while opening the lid, "Has anyone else seen it?" ”

Liu Tu nodded and said, "There are quite a few people who have seen it, but I didn't say anything about it." ”

"Hmm."

Zhao Yu nodded, took out a piece of white silk from the bamboo tube, and spread it on the palm of his hand to watch.

This letter is very simple, it is nothing more than a person who claims to be the commander of Changsha Qu Guan Shuo wants to ask him to talk to him in person, that's all.

As for what to talk about, Zhao Yu can come up with the answer at this time: it is nothing more than to persuade him to surrender the city.

Otherwise, he Zhao Yu doesn't know this Guan Shuo, what else can he talk about?

There was only one person he knew on the rebel side, and that was Zhang Zhai, the envoy of the Nanyang Canal.

"Young master, are you going to go to the appointment?"

The Jing Nu beside her also seemed to see the content on the white silk, and said with worry and hesitation, as if she didn't want Zhao Yu to be in danger.

"I don't know."

Zhao Yu shook his head, played with the white silk in his hand, and said with a smile: "Just shoot the letter on the city gate tower so casually, and ask me to go out of the city to meet, I am not afraid that this letter will fall into the hands of the county guard...... I really don't see any sincerity on the part of this man. ”

He really guessed correctly, although Guan Shuo learned the name Zhou Hu from the letter of Zhang Zhai, the envoy of Nanyang Canal, Guan Shuo himself didn't care very much.

In his opinion, no matter whether Zhou Hu was willing to surrender the city or not, Kunyang County would be captured by him sooner or later.

With such a thought, Guan Shuo naturally would not spend any energy on the matter of 'meeting Zhou Hu', if this letter fell into the hands of Zhou Hu, and Zhou Hu was willing to surrender to his Changsha army, it would be the best; otherwise, Zhou Hu was unwilling, and he didn't care.

Even if it is the worst, this letter fell into the hands of the Kunyang County Ya, which can also play a role in separating the black tiger thief from the Kunyang County Army.

And this is also the reason why Zhao Yu hesitated: it doesn't matter if he faces you, what are you going to do?

"Let's see each other."

After some contemplation, Zhao Yu finally made a decision.

In the case that Li Min, the commander of Yingchuan County, has not given him any promises and guarantees so far, he has not dispelled the idea of betting on both sides, after all, looking at the current situation, this turmoil may not be able to end in a year and a half, and more importantly, so far compared to the Jin State, the rebel army still has an advantage, so it is actually nothing to make a deal with the rebel army in private.

To put it more bluntly, if you can't even live tomorrow, what's the point of thinking about the day after tomorrow?

Of course, the premise is that this Guan Shuo can be a man, and at least he must acquiesce to the fact that the three counties of Kunyang, Xiangcheng, and Runan are his 'Zhou Hu's territory and must not be infringed upon; otherwise, if this Guan Shuo insists on reaching out to the three counties of Kunyang, Xiangcheng, and Runan, even if he becomes an enemy with all the rebel troops, he will do it.

He would never put his hope for revenge, as well as his and Jingnu's net worth and life, in the hands of anyone, and look up to others.

Whether it is Wang Shangde, Zhang Jing, Yingchuan County Guard Li Min, Nanyang Canal Envoy Zhang Zhai, or the Jin State and the rebel army.

Otherwise, he would not have embarked on this most difficult path back then.

Zhou Hu is like this, and so is Zhao Yu!