"Captain Zhou has an order to reward an additional one million dollars on the southern city wall, as long as the soldiers in the city stick to it and repel the rebels, they can share this reward!

When Liao Guang, who was at the West City Gate, received this order from Zhao Yu, Tian Qin, a scholar at the East City Gate, also received this order almost at the same time.

Just like Liao Guang praised at the time, Tian Qin was also overjoyed when he heard this order, and he was glad that this order came in time.

He waved his hand and immediately shouted: "Quick, quickly convey to every soldier in the city, Captain Zhou has an order, and reward me with one million dollars on the east city wall, and those who will not retreat can share this reward money!" ”

Immediately, Tian Qin's guards ran on the city wall to tell each other.

Just like on the west side of the city wall, when this order was conveyed to the ears of the soldiers on the east wall, the county guards on the entire east wall also erupted in an astonishing cheer.

Immediately afterwards, these county troops broke out with a momentum no less than that of the guards on both sides of the south and west walls, and did their best to resist the fierce attacks of the rebels, and successively repelled the rebel soldiers who attacked the city wall.

Seeing this scene from afar, Zhou Gong, the army of Jiangxia Yishi, who was observing the battle situation at the rebel base outside the city, frowned deeply.

He instructed one of the guards beside him: "Go to the front immediately, I want to know why the guards in Xuchang City suddenly burst out with such amazing morale." ”

"Yes!"

The named guards immediately rushed to the battlefield ahead.

After a short time, the guard returned to Zhou Gong, clasped his fists and said: "General Qiyu, the soldiers of Xuchang City have significantly improved their morale, and it is said that it was the 'Zhou Duwei' on their side who gave a heavy reward to the East City Gate, saying that as long as they repel our army, the soldiers in the city can share a heavy reward of one million dollars. ”

"Captain Zhou...... Is it the Zhou Tiger? ”

Zhou Gong raised his eyebrows, and suddenly, his face also showed a bit of solemnity.

He still remembers that a few days ago, when Xiang Xuan invited him to attack Xuchang with Zhong Fei, Xiang Xuan said that Xuchang's soldiers were "weak" and "only the number of people was larger", which made him and Zhong Fei agree to Xiang Xuan's plea at that time and make an appointment to attack Xuchang together.

In the final analysis, they were also afraid of that Zhou Hu, after all, that Zhou Hu had defeated Guan Shuo and Chen Miao, the two commanders in Kunyang, just like Xiang Xuan insisted, and Zhou Gong didn't want to give that Zhou Hu time to completely control the Xuchang army - in case that Zhou Hu built Xuchang's army like Kunyang's pawn, then they would have to pay a heavier price if they wanted to capture Xuchang.

In view of this, Zhou Gong and Zhong Fei listened to Xiang Xuan's suggestion and agreed to attack Xuchang today, and as soon as the war began, they would use the most ferocious offensive to take Xuchang in one go.

I have to say that this ferocious offensive once tore through Xuchang's city defense, but unfortunately, Xuchang obviously will not sit still, no, that Zhou Hu used the 'coin offensive', spending a huge amount of money to boost morale, so that the morale of the city guards skyrocketed, and they were able to block the attack of his righteous division.

"The opportunity has been lost, our opportunity to take Xuchang in one go has been lost, and the next step is to fight each other's forces......

Zhou Gong straddled the war horse, pinched the reins, and a little hesitation flashed in his eyes.

To be honest, he didn't want to fight with Xuchang City, because he had another thing to do, that is, to reinforce his Jiangxia Yishi's Qu Shuai Chen Miao.

As far as he knew, Chen Xuan, the commander of his Jiangxia Righteous Division, was currently attacking Chen County with insufficient troops, and more importantly, the 'insufficient troops' army under the command of Chen Qushuai was not composed of elites, at least sixty or seventy percent of them were recruited from the Runan County captured by his righteous division, and the armaments used were also old items stockpiled in Runan counties.

Leading such an under-forced, under-trained, and under-armed army to attack Chen County and Chen Liu, Zhou Gong really pinched a cold sweat for that Chen Qu Shuai.

Therefore, Zhou Gong was eager to lead his army to reinforce Chen Xuan, starting from Yanling County, smashing the hinterland of Chen County to the east, going around to the rear of the defenders of Chen County, and cooperating with Chen Qushuai's army to launch a two-sided attack on the local defenders.

But despite this idea, he did not dare to move, because Xuchang had not yet been captured.

Because of this, he was very supportive of Xiang Xuan's strategy to capture Xuchang as soon as possible.

However, at present, Xiang Xuan's strategy of 'quick victory' has obviously encountered obstacles.

Although Zhou Gong believed that as long as the three of them continued to attack at the cost of casualties, they would eventually capture Xuchang, but he did not dare to do so, because the loss of troops would make him lose the ability to reinforce Chen Miao.

"Someone."

After some thought, Zhou Gong summoned two guards and privately instructed: "You two immediately go to Zhong Fei and Xiang Xuan's army to see if there is any progress on those two sides, and in addition, inform Zhong Fei and Xiang Xuan in my name that I don't want to pay too much sacrifice in Xuchang, if I can't take Xuchang in one go, I reserve the right to withdraw my troops on my own." ”

"Yes!"

The two guards clenched their fists and left.

Not long after, one of the guards took the lead in coming to the rebel camp in the southern suburbs of Xuchang and met Zhong Fei, the general who commanded the rebel army.

After seeing Zhong Fei, this Zhou Gong's guard told Zhong Fei what his general said, only to hear Zhong Fei smile bitterly.

Zhong Fei knew very well that Zhou Gong did not smile on weekdays, since he said this, then he would do what he said, and when he thought that the battle situation was unfavorable, he would 'ruthlessly' abandon him and Xiang Xuan.

"Guy, can't you hold on a little longer?"

Zhong Fei complained with a wry smile.

But complaining is complaining, but he can also understand Zhou Gong's thoughts.

Take the battle situation on his side as an example, the casualties of the army under his command are about 3,000 at present, of which almost 40% are wounded, which is not a high casualty figure for a siege battle, but the battle situation is somewhat unfavorable. Romance 888

Just like Zhou Gong's side, his side also lost the opportunity to 'fight a quick battle', and could only fight and sacrifice with the Xuchang defenders to see who couldn't survive first.

This is a very unfavorable situation for them who want to 'support Chen Miao'.

"Send someone to ask Xiang Xuan."

After sighing, Zhong Fei also summoned a guard and instructed the latter: "You go to General Xiang and tell him that the east city wall that Zhou Gong is in charge of, and the south city wall that I am responsible for, the 'quick attack' of our two sides has encountered strong resistance from the Xuchang defenders, and if we want to continue the siege, we can only fight for casualties, which is unacceptable to me." …… Zhou Gong and I must reserve a certain number of troops and wait for the opportunity to reinforce Chen Shuai, and we must not suffer too many casualties in Xuchang. If Xiang Xuan has no other way, then I ...... Forget it, this last sentence doesn't need to be paraphrased, there you go. ”

"Yes!"

The guard clenched his fists and walked away.

Not long after, Zhou Gong's guards and Zhong Fei's guards came to Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan's army one after another, and relayed their generals' opinions to these two generals in person.

I have to say that after perceiving that Zhou Gong and Zhong Fei had the idea of withdrawing their troops, Xiang Xuan was inevitably a little angry.

Because in his opinion, Xuchang - or rather Zhou Hu, this person is a great threat to his three righteous divisions, if he can't capture Xuchang today, let that Zhou Hu hold Xuchang City, then Zhou Hu will undoubtedly gain the trust of Xuchang up and down, if his three righteous divisions still want to attack the city next time, they will be more strongly resisted.

Unless you give up attacking Xuchang.

Of course, being angry is angry, Xiang Xuan can also understand the considerations of Zhou Gong and Zhong Fei, and know that these two are forced to be helpless, rather than deliberately not cooperating.

This made him hesitate.

After pondering for a while, Xiang Xuan said to the guards sent by Zhou Gong and Zhong Fei: "Okay, I agree to withdraw the troops, but I hope that the two generals Zhong and Zhou will not immediately withdraw to Linying and Yanling, and I hope that they will immediately build camps to the south and east of Xuchang, within a distance of twenty miles from the city." …… The intention is that after this battle is over, I would like to discuss it with the two generals again, and I will explain it in due course. ”

"Yes!"

The guards sent by Zhou Gong and Zhong Fei left in response.

About a moment later, the soldiers of Zhou Gong outside the eastern city wall of Xuchang began to retreat one after another.

They left behind the few remaining ladder carts, took the corpses of the sacrificed robes as much as they could, picked up the weapons that had fallen from the ground, and retreated one after another.

"The rebels have retreated?" Hou Song, the gate of the East City Gate, was greatly shocked, because as far as he could see, the rebels obviously still had the strength to attack.

Tian Qin cautiously ordered: "Beware of the rebels' deception, and tell the soldiers to be vigilant. ”

But it turned out that Zhou Gong's army did retreat.

And soon after, Zhong Feijun, who was outside the southern city wall, and Xiang Xuanjun, who was outside the west city wall, also withdrew their troops one after another, retreating with corpses and weapons as much as possible.

"Lord Lieutenant, are the rebels retreating?"

Hou Xu Ke of the South City Gate immediately came to Zhao Yu and told the latter about this incredible thing.

"Hmm, it should be ......"

Zhao Yu nodded slightly.

From the initial ferocious attack to the current sudden withdrawal of troops, even he felt quite strange.

Seeing this, Xu Hark was puzzled and asked: "I see that the morale of the rebels has not been discharged, and they still have the ability to continue to attack the city, why did they suddenly withdraw their troops?" ”

"Probably because they realized that they couldn't attack Xuchang in one go."

Zhao Yu slowly walked to the battlement, looking at the orderly withdrawal of the rebels in the distance outside the city.

"Seeing that they couldn't attack and capture Xuchang quickly, they immediately withdrew their troops, they were avoiding fighting with Xuchang...... It's really calm, or rather, is there any reason why they are unwilling to pay huge casualties to capture Xuchang? That's good news.'"

Secretly thinking in his heart, Zhao Yu suddenly raised his arms and shouted: "In short, this is my victory in Xuchang!" As I said before, I will give a reward of more than 1,330,000 to the soldiers on the west, south, and east walls! ”

"Oh-"

The soldiers on the entire southern city wall cheered for a while.

Immediately afterwards, this cheer spread to the west city wall and the east city wall, making the entire Xuchang City seem to be shrouded in this long-lasting cheer.

Even, even Xiang Xuanjun, who had already retired from the army, heard the cheers from Xuchang behind him.

『…… Don't be complacent, Zhou Hu."

Sitting on horseback and glancing back at Xuchangcheng, Xiang Xuan subconsciously tightened the reins in his hand.

"Since you want to defend Xuchang, then I will attack Yingyang and threaten you in Kunyang, Xiangcheng, and Runan counties...... Can you still sit still? Hmph!'