Careful planning made Zhao Yu not be questioned by Xue Ao at all because of Tong Yan's matter, but Xue Ao's insistence on the strategy of 'nailing the rebels to Xianping County' made Zhao Yu feel quite a headache.

You must know that on their side, there are only more than 12,000 Yingchuan troops, 56,000 Liangcheng troops, plus 5,000 Taiyuan cavalry, but on the opposite side, the three rebel armies have converged again, with a total strength of 100,000 people, more than 20,000 people, how to stop 100,000 people from retreating?

Even Zhao Yu felt that the difference in strength between the two sides was too great.

When he informed his subordinates of Xue Ao's request, Wang Qing, Zhang Ji, Cao Wu, Qin Yu, Jia Shu, Le Gui, Liu Tu and others all showed solemn expressions.

It is no wonder, after all, once the two sides start a fight, his more than 12,000 Yingchuan troops will undoubtedly become the main force, and becoming the main force means suffering huge casualties.

But unfortunately, they couldn't refuse that General Xue.

"Let's see what he wants to do, right?"

During the meeting, Wang Qing said to Zhao Yu with a sneer: "If he is really as brave as rumored, then it doesn't hurt for us to follow him and take a risk, but if that General Xue is just in vain, then there is no need for us to let our brothers go to death......

Zhao Yu smiled bitterly and said, "It's not easy to stop that General Xue." ”

"It's not easy, you have to find a way." Wang Qing chuckled and said, "You are our big leader." ”

Hearing this slightly ridiculous remark, the generals in the meeting invariably showed all kinds of different colors.

I have to say that these generals under Zhao Yu, except for Zhang Ji, actually represent two factions, namely the 'Black Tiger Village' line headed by Wang Qing, and the 'Righteous Master General' line of Cao Wu, Qin Yu, Jia Shu and others.

Interestingly, there is a tacit understanding between the two sides on one thing, that is, neither side thinks that they want the Jin State to pay their all, or to put it simply, if there is another choice, they are not even willing to work for the Jin State.

After a long time, Zhao Yu nodded slightly: "I will think of a way to do this, but before that, I will do it according to the order of that General Xue, Zhang Ji, you are responsible for getting in touch with the brigade wolf at any time and monitoring every move in Xianping County; Cao Wu, Qin Yu, Jia Shu, the three of you are stepping up to boost morale so that you can fight the rebels if necessary. ”

"Yes!" The generals clenched their fists and took orders, leaving Zhao Yu to ponder in the barracks.

He was not worried about the safety of his brother Zhao Yin, after all, with his brother Zhao Yin's status in the rebel army, even if the rebels were wiped out this time, the Jiangdong branch of the rebel army would find a way to escort Zhao Yin back to Shandong, and what Zhao Yu was worried about was indeed the safety of the Yingchuan army under his command.

After all, with more than 20,000 Jin troops against more than 100,000 rebels, this is really a very risky thing, and the Yingchuan army under his command will suffer heavy losses - unlike the Liang Cheng army, which will not feel distressed no matter how many Zhao Yu is killed or injured, the Yingchuan army is his team!

"If you want me to go crazy with you, at least let me see your strength, Xue Ao......

Zhao Yu thought secretly in his heart.

At the same time, Xue Ao was taking Dong Dian and Zhong Liao, two generals, and about 500 cavalry, to peep at the city on a dirt slope on the south side of Xianping County.

When Xue Ao carefully observed the county town of Xianping, which was close at hand, Dong Dian said seemingly casually: "A small city like Xianping cannot provide more than 100,000 rebels to hide for a long time, I think that in a few days, the rebels will have to continue to evacuate south, and I am afraid that there will be a big war ......."

"Are you afraid?" Xue Ao asked with a smile.

Dong Dian smiled and said, "The last general is not afraid, but he is worried that our cavalry will be outnumbered...... General, what did Zhou Hu say about blocking the enemy army? ”

"Zhou Hu, ......"

Xue Ao moved his arms on the horse's back and said with a chuckle: "Although he didn't dare to disobey me, I could see that he had objections...... In the final analysis, it is nothing more than the fear that his soldiers will suffer heavy losses. ”

"It's not surprising."

Zhong Liao, who was beside him, chuckled and said, "I think there are not many people in this world who can match the courage and bravery of a general......

"Courage and Bravery...... What?'

Xue Ao's gaze as he looked at the city in the distance was slightly dazed.

At this time, in his mind, a burly image on a war horse suddenly popped up, charging into battle among thousands of horses.

It was a memory of his childhood, but even today, it is still the longing in his heart.

Abruptly, Xue Ao said in a conceited tone: "This time, we must defeat the rebels and make these rebels remember the name of Lao Tzu!" ”

Dong Dian and Zhong Liao were stunned, and then they all smiled.

At the same time, on the south gate tower of Xianping County, Chen Miao, Cheng Zhou, Wu Yi, and Zhao Yin were looking at the more than 500 Taiyuan cavalry outside the city with solemn expressions.

In fact, Chen Miao and the others did not recognize Chen Miao from those Taiyuan cavalry, not even Dong Dian and Zhong Liao, they just felt threatened by the fact that the Taiyuan cavalry was always staring at Xianping County.

After a long time, Chen Miao raised his hand and pointed to the hundreds of Taiyuan cavalry outside the city and said: "These Taiyuan cavalry have been wandering around Xianping County in recent days, staring at our every move......

"What if you know?" Cheng Zhou put forward a different opinion: "According to the scouts, in addition to the 5,000 Taiyuan cavalry, the Jin army on the opposite side only has 20,000 foot soldiers of Zhou Hu, and now that our three armies are gathered, more than 100,000 people are still afraid that they will not be able to defeat the opposite side?" ”

"You can't say that."

Chen Miao shook his head and said: "If the two armies fight, I am not worried that our 100,000 army will be defeated by the Jin army, but at the moment, our goal is to retreat south and withdraw to Chen County...... Once we wait for the 500,000 troops of Chen Zhong, the Grand Master of the Jin Kingdom, to arrive, then I am afraid that we will have to annihilate the entire army......"

From the side, Wu Yi heard the words and said: "How about forcibly breaking through?" ”

"Difficult."

Chen Miao sighed, frowned and analyzed: "When we evacuated from Liangcheng that day, the Taiyuan cavalry was not there, only Zhou Hu and Tong Yan led more than 20,000 foot soldiers to pursue our army, so they would not be able to catch up with our army for a long time, but now, the five thousand Taiyuan cavalry are eyeing the outside of the city, once our army forcibly breaks through, the Taiyuan cavalry will inevitably contact Zhou Hu immediately, and at that time, there will inevitably be some troops on our side who will be dragged by the Jin army...... In other words, the army of the queen of the palace is afraid of nine deaths. ”

“……”

Cheng Zhou and Wu Yi fell silent, and Zhao Yin, who was beside him, also frowned thoughtfully.

They knew that Chen Miao's judgment was correct.

After a long time, Wu Yi let out a long breath and said in a low voice: "Having said that, we can't sit still...... The people in the city have begun to complain about my righteous teacher. ”

"Hmm." Chen Miao nodded slightly.

Indeed, the people in Xianping City have gradually complained about his righteous teacher, and the reason is very simple, just because after more than 100,000 righteous soldiers squeezed into this small county, they almost ate all the vegetables and poultry in the city in just three days, and the grain stored in the city was consumed at a terrifying rate.

Although the people in Xianping City have not yet reached the point of running out of food, it is undeniable that the food consumption of more than 100,000 righteous teachers has begun to worry these people.

Of course, the most important thing is that the people in the city noticed the defeat of the righteous teacher, which made the people in the city who originally accepted and supported the righteous teacher gradually changed their position, and deliberately wanted to ask the righteous teacher to leave this morning, so as not to implicate them.

All of this forced the righteous master to retreat south as soon as possible.

"Let's draw lots!"

Abruptly, Chen Miao gritted his teeth and said with a calm face: "Use the lot to decide the candidate for the queen of the palace!" ”

“……”

Cheng Zhou, Wu Yi, and Zhao Yin looked at Chen Miao in surprise, but in the end, the three of them didn't say anything.

After all, in this case, it is indeed a fairer practice to draw lots to determine the candidate for the queen of the palace.

So, Chen Miao and his entourage immediately returned to the county office that served as the commander's office, and gathered all the generals of the three righteous divisions.

After waiting for the generals to arrive, Chen Miao looked around at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Previously, we used a suspicious tactic to successfully lead away Li Meng's Henan army, but Xue Ao and Li Meng will soon realize the plan, if I guess correctly, Li Meng's Henan army is rushing to Xianping day and night, we have been recuperating in Xianping County for two days, the soldiers have already recuperated enough, we must evacuate as soon as possible before Li Meng leads the Henan army to arrive here." ”

Speaking of this, he paused, changed his heavy tone, and continued: "Considering that once our army begins to withdraw, the army under Zhou Hu, as well as the five thousand Taiyuan cavalry, will inevitably entangle us to the death, and we must leave the broken army...... I won't hide it from you, I am afraid that the army after this break will be nine deaths. For the sake of fairness, I have discussed with Cheng Shuai and General Wu to decide the candidate for the queen by drawing lots. ”

“……”

The people in the room looked at each other, and it was very quiet.

Seeing this, Chen Miao nodded and said, "Then let's draw lots." ”

At his signal, one of the soldiers brought a prepared wooden box, which had been placed in the paper that had been prepared in advance.

Looking at the wooden box, the generals looked at each other again, and there were a few people in the front row, but no one took the lead.

Finally, Xiang Xuan couldn't help it, and said indifferently: "Since you are humble, then Xiang Mou is not welcome." ”

With that, he gently pushed away the two Yuzhang Yishi generals standing in front of him, walked to the wooden box with a calm face, and reached out to find a folded piece of paper from the wooden box.

When he opened it, Xiang Xuan frowned slightly, because there was no word on the paper.

Clearly, he didn't make the cut.

Raising his eyebrows, Xiang Xuan stood aside.

It may be that with Xiang Xuan's head, the generals pressed the uneasiness in their hearts, and stepped forward one after another to grab a piece of paper from the wooden box.

Most people breathe a sigh of relief when they see that there is not a word on the paper they are grabbing.

It wasn't until Zhou Gong stepped forward that he grabbed the piece of paper with a fork drawn.

Is this a hit?

Zhou Gong turned his head to look at Chen Miao, but saw that Chen Miao's face was very ugly.

Seeing this, Zhou Gong immediately understood: yes, he was chosen.

Looking at the paper in his hand, he smiled with relief.

Xiang Xuan, who was standing on the side, changed his face slightly and opened his mouth slightly, but in the end he didn't say anything.

If it only involves himself, he is willing to exchange with Zhou Gong, after all, since he was in Yingchuan County, Zhou Gong has given him great help, although the opinions of the two sometimes diverge, but unfortunately, the matter of the queen not only involves the generals, but also involves the soldiers under them, even if they appreciate and respect Zhou Gong, Xiang Xuan must also be responsible for his generals Guo Huai, Zou Yuan, Xiang Ji, Zhou Zhong and other generals.

"Okay."

In front of everyone's eyes, Chen Miao said in a heavy tone: "It's up to Zhou Gong...... After the break! ”

His tone seemed to be gritting his teeth and struggling to say it.

It's no wonder, after all, Zhou Gong is Chen Miao's very important general.

"Yes!"

Zhou Gong calmly clenched his fists.

Judging by his attitude of not being afraid of danger and looking down on life and death, it is no wonder that Xiang Xuan appreciates him.

A moment later, when the generals left one after another to prepare for the retreat, Chen Miao left Xiang Xuan behind.

He said to Xiang Xuan: "I originally planned to ask Zhou Gong to go to Wei and Yan Ling to assist Yan Xuan and Zhong Fei in evacuating, but for now, I can only ask you." ”

In all fairness, it is not easy to go to Yingchuan County to assist Yan Xuan and Zhong Fei in evacuating, after all, once the Jin army has an advantage in the frontal battlefield, the Yingchuan army in Yingchuan County will inevitably respond to the pursuit, such as Chu Yan, who is now sitting in Xuchang, and is also a very brave general under Zhou Hu.

But compared to being behind the main battlefield hall here, this danger is really nothing.

Looking at Chen Xuan's sighing appearance, Xiang Xuan suddenly clenched his fists and said: "Chen Shuai, it is better to call Zhou Gong to Yingchuan County, after I come to break off, that Zhou Hu is eager to kill me to avenge that Tong Yan, I stay to attract the Jin army, maybe it will be more effective than Zhou Gong." ”

Hearing this, Chen Miao barely squeezed out a smile, reached out and patted Xiang Xuan's arm, and then shook his head slightly: "Zhou Gong will not agree." ”

"......" Xiang Xuan was suddenly silent.

In fact, he also understood that Zhou Gong's self-esteem was not inferior to him.

"Go get ready."

“…… Be. ”

The next day, February 21.

When the sky was just dawning, the city gate on the south side of Xianping County slowly opened, and the rebel soldiers holding high the banner of the word "Jiangdong" quickly walked out of the city and headed straight south.

Unfortunately, the Taiyuan cavalry wandering around the neighborhood soon arrived, dozens of horsemen, hundreds, thousands of horsemen, and in a short moment, two or three thousand cavalry were assembled.

Even Xue Ao heard the news, and rode his horse to stand on a dirt slope, peeking at the rebels less than two miles away from them, and watching them quickly retreat south.

"Actually ignored me and chose to forcibly break through ......"

Xue Ao licked his lips, as if he had seen a fierce beast of prey.

He instructed left and right: "Immediately send someone to send a message to Zhou Hu and order him to lead the army to pursue!" ”

"Yes!" Left and right in response to the sound of horses to ride away.

In a short time, all the 40,000 Jiangdong volunteers left the city, followed by the 40,000 Yuzhang volunteers led by Cheng Zhou, and then the more than 20,000 Jiangxia volunteers led by Chen Miao.

In fact, Chen Miao, Cheng Zhou, Wu Yi, Zhao Yin and others in their respective armies at this time all noticed the large group of Taiyuan cavalry watching from the sidelines.

However, due to the tight time, they are still under this pressure and are ready to force a breakthrough.

They believed that those thousands of Taiyuan cavalry would never dare to raid his righteous division of more than 100,000 people.

However, they miscalculated, because they didn't know that Xue Ao was among the thousands of Taiyuan cavalry at the moment, this General Xue, that was a fierce general who dared to raid more than a thousand Taiyuan thieves with just a dozen horsemen.

After a while, the five thousand Taiyuan cavalry were roughly assembled, and at the same time, they also brought Zhao Yu's reply: "Report! Zhou Hu, the commander of Yingchuan, has led the army to attack! ”

"Good!"

Xue Ao, who was straddled on horseback, stretched out his hand to take the iron spear handed by his general, pointed the tip of the spear at the rebels in the distance, and shouted in a deep voice: "Before Zhou Hu leads the army to come, disrupt their formation!" …… Taiyuan rode to listen to the order, the target rebels were in the abdomen, and the whole army raided! ”

At the sound of an order, 5,000 Taiyuan cavalry aimed at Yuzhangyi, who was in the middle of the rebel formation, and launched a surprise attack.

For a moment, the earth was shaken.

Noticing the movement of the Taiyuan cavalry in the distance, the soldiers of the rebels warned one after another.

"Cavalry!"

"The cavalry is coming!"

"The Taiyuan cavalry has been killed!"

Under the reminders and warnings of their respective subordinates, Chen Miao, Cheng Zhou, and Wu Yi all learned about the incident, and their faces showed disbelief.

How can it be?!

The 20,000 Jin army infantry led by Zhou Hu had not yet arrived, how could the other side dare to attack them with those 5,000 cavalry alone?

The two sides are twenty times apart in strength!

But the reality told Chen Miao, Cheng Zhou, and Wu Yi that the other side dared to do this!

"Formation! Formation! Hurry up! ”

Deng Wei, the general of Jiangxia Yishi, who was on the side of the army, looked panicked and gave orders to his subordinates.

Although his troops were ordered to act as a guard to protect the evacuation of the army, and even Deng Wei himself had noticed the assembled Taiyuan cavalry early on, he never imagined that those cavalry would dare to launch a surprise attack directly on them who were twenty times their number.

"Hurry, hurry!"

Seeing the thousands of Taiyuan cavalry galloping close at hand, Deng Wei was very anxious.

Suddenly, a guard pointed to the cavalry in the distance and said, "General! ”

Deng Wei subconsciously turned his head, and at a glance he saw Xue Ao rushing to the front.

Although he didn't recognize Xue Ao, he instinctively realized that it was definitely a fierce general.

Bang –

Bang bang –

There was a loud bang, and the five thousand Taiyuan cavalry led by Xue Ao seemed to be pierced into the abdomen of Yuzhang Yishi, and the soldiers under the command of the general Deng Wei who had not yet had time to form a formation were knocked away by the war horses under the cavalry's crotch in a scream.

For a while, the screams and wails were accompanied by the sound of impact and bone cracking.

Looking at this scene, Deng Wei's eyes were split.

"General, be careful!"

"What?"

Hearing the exclamation of the guards, Deng Wei subconsciously turned his head to look, and then saw a rider riding towards him.

He subconsciously drew his sword for defense.

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, the rider slammed the iron spear in his hand against the raised sword.

Deng Wei immediately felt an irresistible powerful force coming from the sword body, and immediately after, he felt his feet off the ground, and his eyes swirled as far as he could see.

Bang!

After a few breaths, Deng Wei fell heavily to the ground, his right hand cracked and the sharp pain in his whole body made him sober up.

He struggled to raise his head, and was shocked to see that the rider had already ridden his horse before him, and with a look of contempt, he raised his iron spear in the air.

Immediately, he swung down heavily.

"No, no......"

"Smack!"

With a crisp sound, Deng Wei's head was severely denatured, and the whole person slowly fell to the ground, and the head close to the ground slowly flowed blood from the tangram, and there was even some white turbidity.

As a general under Cheng Zhou, Deng Wei became the first general to sacrifice when more than 100,000 righteous teachers forcibly broke through to the south.

"Hmph."

Glancing at the corpse that had fallen to the ground, the cavalry general, or the cavalry general Xue Ao, he snorted lightly and looked around proudly.

"I, Xue Ao!" He said indifferently.

In just three words, the nearby rebel soldiers changed color in shock.