On 29 May, the day before Zhao Yu personally arrived in Yingyang, Li Meng, the governor of Henan, who had been holding out in Changshe County for three days, finally led nearly 10,000 Henan troops to leave Changshe and retreat in the direction of Henan County.

Seeing that Li Meng sighed when he looked in the direction of Xuchang, he persuaded left and right: "The commander should have withdrawn to Henan two days ago, but our army restrained Xiang Xuan for Xuchang for two days, and he was really benevolent and righteous to Xuchang, and I believe that Li Junshou would never resent the captain." ”

Hearing this, Li Meng sighed with emotion: "I'm just worried that Xuchang will fall into the hands of the rebels, which will be unfavorable to me in Henan in the future, so why are I worried that I will be resented by Li Junshou?" ”

Sighing to sighing, but he had no choice but to hope that Xuchang had already thought of a countermeasure.

As for his side, as his left and right guards said, he has already done his duty.

"Tell the soldiers to evacuate as soon as possible, and beware of the rebel ambush."

He gave orders to his troops.

Sure enough, as soon as Li Meng withdrew his troops from Changshe County, there were rebel scouts who were responsible for monitoring the movements in Changshe County, and reported the matter to Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan.

Xiang Xuan was overjoyed, and immediately teamed up with Yan Xuan to lead troops to pursue Li Meng.

Unfortunately, Li Meng had long expected that Xiang Xuanhui would send troops to pursue, and did not evacuate in a hurry, and when he learned that the rebels were coming to pursue, Li Meng decisively ordered his soldiers to stick to their positions, set up a square gate formation in the wilderness, and engaged the rebels.

Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan tried to attack several times, but they all temporarily retreated because of the excessive losses of their own soldiers.

After the two sides stalemate for two or three hours, and each side paid as many as 2,000 casualties, Xiang Xuan finally retreated because of the loss of troops.

He discussed with Yan Xuan: "It seems that Li Meng has already guessed that you and I will take the opportunity to pursue, and I have been on guard for a long time, you and I have not much more troops than him, it is useless to chase him, and let him go back to Henan, let's take Changshe first." ”

"Okay!" Yan Yu nodded in agreement.

After the discussion, Xiang Xuan ordered to stop the pursuit, and immediately, while sending people to contact Xiang Ji and Zhou Zhong, ordering the two to be careful of Li Meng's return, and immediately lead the army to withdraw, while turning to prepare for the attack on Changshe.

It is a pity that Xu Gui, the county commander of Changshe, and Wu Bi, the county lieutenant, did not listen to Li Meng's advice, and did not take the opportunity to lead the soldiers and civilians in the county to evacuate to Xuchang when Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan pursued Li Meng's army.

On May 30, Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan led a storming of Changshe.

There are not many county soldiers left in Changshe County, how can they resist the offensive of Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan?

In just one hour later, the armies of Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan broke through the Changshe.

During this period, Wu Bizhan, the county lieutenant of Changshe, died at the head of the city, and Xu Gui, the sixty-year-old county commander, ordered the officials in the county government to lead the soldiers and civilians in the city to surrender to the rebels, and he committed suicide in the back of the county government by taking medicine.

I have to say that perhaps the righteous master does not represent justice and benevolence as it advertises, but compared with the green forest thief, the righteous master undoubtedly still has a certain moral standard.

This can be seen from the two orders issued by Xiang Xuan after entering the city.

First, he ordered that the soldiers and civilians who participated in the defense of the city must be incorporated into his army, and those who did not obey were immediately executed.

Second, he connived at his soldiers to plunder the rich families in the city, and in addition to grain, horses, carriages, cotton clothes, etc., which had to be delivered to the baggage camp, he allowed the soldiers to withhold gold, silver, jewelry, ornaments, money, and other things.

Under the guidance of Xiang Xuan, he and his soldiers slaughtered the rich families in Changshe City, plundering their wealth, money and food, but for ordinary civilians, Xiang Xuan strictly forbade the soldiers to harass and injure them.

Xiang Xuan even distributed some of the grain he looted from the rich families in the city to the civilians in the city, so as to buy the hearts of the people.

This move made the civilians in Changshe City feel a little at ease, whether they were willing or not, at least temporarily obeyed the rule of this righteous master.

The fall of Changshe County means the complete formation of the 'Xuchang Encirclement Network'.

Xiang Xuan, who was happy in his heart, ordered the army to be rewarded.

However, just when he was rejoicing, in the early morning of the next day, he received an urgent report from his subordinate Qu General Guo Sheng from Yingyang County: Zhou Hu personally led the army to the southwest of Yingyang!

This urgent report made Xiang Xuan very uneasy.

After learning about this, Yan Xuan said to Xiang Xuan: "Could it be that Zhou Hu's perfunctory trick to Xuchang again?" ”

There is also a basis for his remarks.

After all, two months ago, Kunyang sent Ma Gai, Huang Ben, and Zou Bu to lead 5,000 county soldiers to arrive in the Yingyang area, which made Xiang Xuan at that time frightened.

However, what I didn't expect was that the 5,000 county army seemed to have taken root in the southwest of Yingyang, and it seemed that they were preparing to attack the city, but in fact, they had not fought Yingyang City once.

Seeing this, Xiang Xuan at that time suddenly realized: it turned out that this was just Zhou Hu's perfunctory Xuchang.

He had no doubt about his judgment, after all, as far as he knew, when Xuchang was frequently attacked by his Xiang Xuan, that Zhou Hu secretly reached an agreement with Guan Shuo, the commander of his Changsha righteous teacher, to meet 'the three counties of Kunyang and the righteous master will not invade each other', isn't this tantamount to betraying Xuchang in disguise?

It can be seen that Zhou Hu in Kunyang is really ambitious, and he is by no means loyal.

Thinking of this, Xiang Xuan at that time continued to attack the Changshe with confidence.

However, this time, Zhou Hu went to Yingyang in person, which made Xiang Xuan feel that the situation was not quite right.

He discussed with Yan Xu: "Having said that, we have to guard against it, you and I should return to Yingyin immediately and wait and see the follow-up." ”

"Hmm."

Yan Yu nodded.

The next day, Yan Xuan left 3,000 troops in Changshe County to garrison, and led the rest of the army to return to Yingyin with Xiang Xuan.

However, on their way back to Yingyin, they suddenly got the news: Yingyang was captured by Zhou Hu, and the defender Guo Sheng led the remnants of his troops to retreat to Yingyin.

Unfortunately, Zhou Hu really dared to break the agreement?!

Xiang Xuan was shocked and angry.

Enraged, he immediately ordered a rapid march and returned to Yingyin County on the second day of the sixth month.

After returning to Yingyin County, Xiang Xuan immediately summoned the general Guo Sheng and asked in detail about the fall of Yingyang City.

Actually, there is nothing to explain about this process, because it is purely a contest of troops, what Xiang Xuan really wants to understand is that Zhou Hu Ke personally commanded the battle.

After hearing Xiang Xuan's inquiry, Guo Sheng affirmed: "The last general once saw Zhou Hu's banner of 'Captain of the Ministry' with his own eyes, if someone is not fake, it must be that Zhou Hu." ”

Xiang Xuan asked again: "What is the strength of the Kunyang pawn under the command of Zhou Hu?" ”

Hearing this, Guo Sheng's face showed a little embarrassment, and it wasn't until Xiang Xuan asked impatiently again that he hesitated and said: "The army attacking Yingyang doesn't seem to be the Kunyang soldiers under Zhou Hu's command, but the soldiers of my righteous division who surrendered to Kunyang...... The two generals who led the troops, one was called Ju Sheng and the other was Cao Wu. ”

“……”

Hearing this, Xiang Xuan's face changed slightly.

is also in Changsha, of course he knows the details of Ju Sheng and Cao Wu, and he also knows that these two have surrendered to Kunyang.

But he never expected that Ju Sheng and Cao Wu would confront his righteous teacher head-on.

After scolding a few words, Xiang Xuan frowned and said, "What's going on with Zhou Hu right now?" ”

Guo Sheng shook his head and said: "According to the last general, after the capture of Yingyang, Zhou Hu stopped moving, but his 'wolf Ben' has appeared near my Yingyin in the past two days, and every night, he will sneak attack our patrol soldiers......

The 'wolf' in its mouth refers to the traveling wolf led by Xu Bai, Wang Ping and others.

Hearing this, Xiang Xuan frowned deeply.

Because of all indications, Zhou Hu in Kunyang is very likely to interfere in his attack on Xuchang, which is naturally very unfavorable to him.

After instructing Guo Sheng to retreat, Xiang Xuan invited Yan Xuan and said to him: "For some reason, it seems that Zhou Hu wants to interfere with our attack on Xuchang. ”

Hearing this, Yan Yu was very surprised, and said puzzledly: "I thought that Zhou Hu had an agreement with my righteous teacher in private?" ”

"In fact, Guan Shuai didn't disclose it, and I don't know ......"

Xiang Xuan shook his head slightly.

Indeed, as one of Guan Shuo's favorite generals, Xiang Xuan only knew that Guan Shuo did not allow him to take the initiative to invade Xiangcheng, Runan, and Kunyang counties, as for the reason, Guan Shuo did not explain - Xiang Xuan was based on this, guessing that Zhou Hu might have made a private agreement with his righteous teacher.

"Why don't you tell Guan Shuai first?" Yan Xuan said tentatively.

If he can, he doesn't want to meet with that Zhou Hu soldier, after all, in the first battle of Kunyang last year, Zhou Hu and his Kunyang pawn, their murderous reputation has already spread all over Changsha and Jiangxia.

Thinking that his own Qu Shuai Chen Miao and Changsha Yishi Qu Shuai Guan Shuo were both defeated in Kunyang last year, and there was nothing they could do about that Zhou Hu, Yan Yu was a little stunned in his heart.

Hearing Yan Xuan's suggestion, Xiang Xuan frowned and said, "Naturally, I have to report it, but I think I'm afraid it's useless...... Counting the days, Guan Shuai should have been attacking Ye County right now, and I don't think he would risk tearing his face with Zhou Hu......"

Having said that, Xiang Xuan still sent someone to report the matter to Guan Shuo.

At the same time, he sent scouts to monitor Yingyang's every move to see if there was a chance to inflict heavy damage on that Zhou Hu and recapture Yingyang.

After all, in his strategy, Yingyang is still quite critical, it can be used to contain Yang Zhai, and it can also block the army in the direction of Xiangcheng and Kunyang head-on, and now it falls into the hands of Zhou Hu, which means that he has lost the initiative in strategy.

"I knew that I should have sent more troops in Yingyang."

Xiang Xuan secretly regretted it.

However, he also understood that even if he stationed 5,000 more troops in Yingyang, he might not be able to stop that Zhou Hu.

"Let's wait and see what Zhou Hu is going to do that day."

He said calmly to Yan Xu.

Different from Yan Xuan, although Xiang Xuan was also a little jealous of that Zhou Hu, he was not afraid, if Zhou Hu didn't know how to measure, he didn't mind teaching the latter a lesson, and by the way, he avenged the soldiers and generals who died in Kunyang in Changsha.

At the same time, in Yingyang City, Zhao Yu said his decision to think twice in front of Chu Yan, Liu Tu, Ju Sheng, Cao Wu, Huang Ben, Zou Bu and other generals: "...... I decided to go to Xuchang with Xun Duyou and Na Chen Lang first. ”

Hearing this, not only Chu Yan and the others were full of shock, but even Xun Yi and Chen Lang were in disbelief.

In the eyes of everyone, going to Xuchang at this time is not a wise choice.

However, Zhao Yu has his own calculations.