"General, why don't you continue to attack Yingyang?"

On the way back to Yingyin, the general Guo Huai finally couldn't hold back the doubts in his heart and asked Xiang Xuan questions.

Guo Huai is a general that Xiang Xuan values a lot, so Xiang Xuan explained: "I just ordered to attack Yingyang, just to see if we can quickly take Yingyang at a small price, but you have also seen that Yingyang is not weak, especially the soldiers under Ju Sheng and Cao Wu who turned their backs on my righteous division, and their strength is almost the same as our soldiers. …… It makes no sense. ”

"But ......"

Guo Huai hesitated for a moment, clenched his fists and said: "If the general can deliver these 8,000 soldiers to the last general, the last general will definitely be able to recapture Yingyang." ”

Of course, Xiang Xuan understood that Guo Huai wanted to recapture Yingyang and wash away the shame of the defeat a while ago, he smiled and relieved: "Don't worry, when the time is right, I will give you the opportunity to wash away the shame, but for now, I want to determine the whereabouts of Zhou Hu first and see if he is really in Xuchang......"

At this, his expression became solemn.

He knew that Xuchang's army was very weak, and since he sent troops to attack Xuchang last year, Xuchang's army had not won, and if it weren't for the fact that his troops were really insufficient, he wouldn't have asked for help from Guan Shuo, the commander of his Changsha Yishi.

But then again, Xuchang's army was weak and weak, but the number was really large, so that after winning consecutive battles, the more than 10,000 troops under his command were once consumed to the point that only five or six thousand remained.

Judging from the size of Xuchang City, Xiang Xuan estimated that there should be almost 50,000 troops in the city, or potential troops.

These forces have almost exhausted the last strong men in Xuchang, if it is replaced under normal circumstances, Xiang Xuan does not care very much, after all, Changshe, Yingyin, Linying, and Yanling adjacent to Xuchang are all under the control of his righteous teacher, Xuchang is just a turtle in the urn, and he is completely sure that he can take Xuchang.

But now, the situation has changed, and the damned bandit leader Zhou Hu has actually mixed in with Xuchang under his nose.

You must know that Xuchang is not short of soldiers, what is lacking is an excellent general who can really fight, and that damn bandit leader Zhou Hu is a commander who knows how to use soldiers, these two are combined, even Xiang Xuan inevitably muttered in his heart.

"Let's try it first."

Xiang Xuan thought secretly in his heart.

On the tenth day of the sixth month, that is, the day after Xiang Xuan led the return from Yingyang to Yingyin, he and Yan Xuan made a total of 15,000 troops to Xuchang.

At this time, Zhao Yu had been the governor of Xuchang City for six days.

After inspecting the four city gates, with the assistance of Shi Chenlang, the county guard, and with the unavoidable cooperation of Tian Qin, Liao Guang, Han He, Liu Jian and others, Zhao Yu successively inspected the army camps in the city, inspected the training of the soldiers, and then inspected the armory in the city and counted the status of the weapons in the armory.

After a few busy days, Zhao Yu finally has a general understanding of the position of 'Du Lieutenant'.

I have to say that the authority of the lieutenant is really great, compared with it, what county lieutenant and ministry lieutenant are not the same, not to mention anything else, even the gate marquis guarding the city gate, his Yulu is actually equivalent to the county lieutenant, and Tian Qin, Liao Guang, and several people, their Yulu is actually equivalent to the ministry captain.

At this time, Zhao Yu finally understood why when he came to Xuchang, Tian Qin and Liao Guang did not take him as the 'upper captain' in their eyes, just because it was strictly more serious, the power of the upper lieutenant was not much higher than that of Tian Qin and Liao Guang, the only difference was that the lieutenant and the upper lieutenant could lead the troops alone, while the sergeant was the auxiliary officer of the lieutenant and could not lead the troops alone, nothing more.

By the way, during the inspection of the army and armory, Zhao Yu dismissed some people according to his own preferences and promoted some people for the purpose of establishing authority.

For example, someone like Hou Yansheng of the former South City Gate who didn't know how to lift was turned into an ordinary city pawn by him in one go.

As for those who are more knowledgeable about current affairs, such as the Marquis of Xichengmen, Zhao Yu stayed.

This kind of domineering approach, which is almost 'those who follow me prosper, and those who oppose me perish', made the generals of the county army fearful, and after Zhao Yu killed the chickens and monkeys, no one dared to challenge the authority of this Zhou Lieutenant head-on.

Of course, there are also some leading soldiers who will write complaints to the county Song through certain channels, and even to the Li county guard.

In this regard, Song wrote and pretended to be deaf and dumb, but Li Junshou summoned Zhao Yu to reprimand him, but after Zhao Yu swore that it would not affect the morale of the county army, although Li Junshou was suspicious, he no longer asked about the matter.

The acquiescence of the county guard Li Min and the county Cheng Song Shu made Zhao Yu in the county army can be said to be in power, covering the sky with one hand, after those who accused him of black status were all demoted to soldiers and driven to the city, no one in the county army dared to confront the new Zhou Du Lieutenant.

Even Tian Qin, Liao Guang, Han He, and Liu Jian became more and more worried.

"Captain."

On this day, Zhao Yu took Jingnu, Niu Heng, Chen Lang, Xun Yi, Tian Qin and a large group of people to inspect the military camp in the city, and when they returned to the Governor's Office, they saw Gong Cao Shi Wang Tao leading several officials on the department, standing in Zhao Yu's house and waiting.

After seeing Zhao Yu's return, Wang Tao hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "Qi Yu Du Wei, a few days ago, Du Wei ordered the city defense map drawn by the subordinate official, and the subordinate and several colleagues have completed it, please take a look at it." ”

As he spoke, an official behind him spread a piece of cloth about half a zhang long and wide flat on Zhao Yu's table, only to see that the cloth clearly depicted the city wall structure of Xuchang City, the entrance and exit gates, and the main streets and alleys and buildings.

"Well, well done."

Zhao Yu nodded with satisfaction.

Seeing this, Wang Tao and the officials breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat on their foreheads with their cuffs.

It's no wonder that these people are frightened, just because Zhao Yu sent a fire to a cadre of clerks in the Governor's Office a few days ago - the Battle of Xuchang has been fought for nearly a year, and the Governor's Office doesn't even have a clear city defense map, what are these people eating?!

That anger frightened Wang Tao and several Gong Cao officials to sue again and again, and in the past few days in the city to explore, draw, it can be said that day and night rushed to produce this city defense map.

It's no wonder, after all, the Zhou Lieutenant in front of them is not so easy to get along with, I don't know how many people have been stripped of their official positions by this Zhou Captain in the past few days and sent to the city as pawns, Wang Tao and others don't want to suffer the same fate themselves.

"Okay, you guys go down first, Tian Qin, you guys come here."

With the command in his mouth, Zhao Yu walked to the table where the city defense map was laid and beckoned Tian Qin and the others.

Tian Qin and the others did not dare to disobey, and honestly stood around the table, listening to Zhao Yu's deployment of troops.

From the side, Gong Cao Shuzuo Feng Ji held a booklet in his left hand and a pen in his right hand, recording every order of Zhao Yu as a memo for relevant officials to check afterwards.

During the whole process, these people didn't even dare to breathe, and quietly listened to Zhao Yu's narration.

Of course, in addition to Jingnu, Niu Heng, and He Shun, Chen Lang and Xun Yi are also exceptions, these two are the only two officials in the Governor's Office who can communicate with Zhao Yu without burden, and the rest, even if it is Tian Qin, have to take care of Zhao Yu's complexion - although he can't see the complexion of this Zhou Lieutenant at all.

Just when Zhao Yu was arranging the deployment of the city defense army, suddenly, a county official hurriedly broke in, bowed his hand and said: "Captain, the west city gate warns, it is suspected that the rebels are coming!" ”

“……”

Zhao Yu frowned, and immediately walked out of the room and looked in the direction of the West City Gate.

Sure enough, from the direction of the West City Gate, there was a warning sound of 'bell bell', and it was obviously the guard on duty at the West City Gate who sounded the alarm bell.

"Xiang Xuan?"

Muttering a sentence in his mouth, Zhao Yu immediately ordered: "Han He, Liu Jian." ”

"In!"

Han He and Liu Jian, who served as Wei Shi, hurriedly rushed to Zhao Yu and bowed their hands.

I saw Zhao Yu say in a deep voice: "You two immediately go to inspect the north, east, and south gates of the city, and find out if there are rebels outside the city." …… If not, tell the three gates to be on guard, and the two of you will immediately go to the West City Gate Tower to meet me. …… Tian Qin, Liao Guang, you two follow me to the West City Gate Tower. ”

"Yes!"

Tian Qin, Liao Guang, Han He, and Liu Jian responded with fists.

After the order, Zhao Yu led everyone out of the governor's office.

At this time, the small officials in the bureau had prepared horses outside the house, and Zhao Yu took Jingnu, Niu Heng, He Shun, Chen Lang, Xun Yi, Tian Qin, and Liao Guang to turn over and get on their horses, and quickly rushed to the West City Gate Tower with a team of county guards and a team of black tiger thieves.

After about a stick of incense, Zhao Yu and his party arrived at the West City Gate.

Throwing the horses to the county officials here, Zhao Yu led everyone up the stairs on the inner side of the city wall.

At this time in the city, the Marquis of the West City Gate looked at the outside of the city with a solemn expression, and suddenly heard a sound of footsteps behind him, he looked back and saw that it was Zhao Yu and others coming, and hurriedly stepped forward and bowed and saluted: "Du Wei." ”

"Hmm."

Zhao Yu nodded slightly, crossed Wang Yan to the battlement, and looked out of the city.

I saw that about two miles away from the city wall, an army had been deployed in the dark, and countless flags were waving in the wind, some of which were written 'Yan', and some of which were written 'Xiang'.

"It's the army of Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan." Tian Qin's face flashed with a little uneasiness, and he exclaimed with a solemn face: "This amount ...... I'm afraid that the two of them are not pouring into the nest? ”

"Calm down."

Zhao Yu glanced at Tian Qin and said lightly: "Unless the rebels from Linying and Yanling counties participate in the siege together, otherwise, even if Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan exhaust their forces, they will not be able to help Xuchang." ”

Hearing this, Tian Qin's face was immediately full of shame.

In fact, he didn't blame him, after all, Xiang Xuan did bring many nightmares to Xuchang, so that Tian Qin and the others were inevitably a little frightened when they saw Xiang Xuan's banner.

At this moment, a small group of rebels outside the city slowly came to the west gate with the banner of "Xiang".

is the first one, sitting on a war horse, and his appearance is mighty.

"Xiang Xuan." Liao Guang said in a condensed voice: "That's Xiang Xuan!" ”

"Are you sure?" Zhao Yuhu glanced at Liao Guang suspiciously.

Without waiting for Liao Guang to answer, Tian Qin took the lead and said, "Captain Zhou, that person is Xiang Xuan. …… We have fought against him many times, and we will never admit mistakes. ”

"Oh."

Zhao Yu nodded slightly, and then looked at Xiang Xuan under the city in surprise, quite puzzled that this rebel general only came to the city with a small number of soldiers, and he didn't know what he wanted to do.

As Tian Qin and Liao Guang said, only a team of soldiers appeared under the city at this moment, and it was Xiang Xuan, a fierce general under Guan Shuo.

At this time, he was standing a stone's throw away, looking up at the people on the gate tower of Xuchang West City.

Suddenly, a figure wearing a tiger stripe mask appeared in his eyes......

『Zhou Hu ......』

The pupils in his eyes shrank slightly, and Xiang Xuan couldn't help but curse in a low voice.

“…… Damn it! ”