This order brought no hope to the defenders of the cities, and now defending the city is tantamount to self-destruction, the only difference is the question of dying first or dying later, Lecheng's loss proves that no city can withstand the offensive of the state army.

  Under this pessimistic and desperate mood, the morale of the Jizhou army is naturally conceivable.

  Fortunately, the order for a major withdrawal was given, and they finally didn't have to worry about whether to live and die with the city.

  As for whether they will be attacked by the Bingzhou army on the way out of the city and withdraw the army, whether someone will die, this question has become no longer important, after all, it is a matter of probability to die when they are attacked by the Bingzhou army, and it is better to have hope than no hope, as long as they can withdraw their troops to Xindu, the probability of survival will be greatly increased.

  The order issued by Lu Zhao is very clear in terms of time requirements, at the tenth day of the first month of February, it is not possible to do it one moment earlier, and it is not possible to do it one moment later, whether it is early or delayed, once it is discovered by Lu Zhao, it will be severely punished.

  Lu Zhao is the general of Zhenbei Jizhou, but he has the power to hold the festival, and the power of life and death of officials below 2,000 stone is in his hands, and whoever he wants to execute, Lu Zhao can directly order, so as soon as this order comes out, no one dares to try to challenge Lu Zhao's bottom line.

  So after receiving the order, the guards and guards of the cities did not dare to slack off, and they were all in full swing preparing for the evacuation affairs, of course, even without Lu Zhao's order, they were all eager to retreat, at this time, no one had the idea of fighting to the death with the Bingzhou army.

  Changshan Taishou Du Qi showed the most active in the retreat, after the loss of Lecheng, he was most worried that Zhending would become the next target of the Bingzhou army, because Zhending and Jingcheng Pass are not far away, and Jingcheng Pass is an important passage for the Bingzhou army to enter Jizhou from the east of Bingzhou, if the Bingzhou army from Youzhou to the south wants to meet the Bingzhou army advancing eastward from Bingzhou, opening Jingcheng Pass is undoubtedly the best choice, then there is no doubt that Zhending will become a stumbling block for the Bingzhou army to go south.

  Zhending City Defense and Lecheng are almost the same, the same garrison strength and defense configuration are destined to be as vulnerable as Zhending and Lecheng, and now the people in Zhending City are panicked and their morale is sluggish, and Du Qi is even worried that Zhending City will fall faster than Lecheng.

  The defense must not be able to hold it, and he has no courage to withdraw, and the reinforcements are not even the slightest thought, Du Qi really feels that this is a kind of despair!

  Fortunately, Lu Zhao's order came in time, otherwise Du Qi felt that he might not wait for the Bingzhou army to attack, and the defenders of Zhending would have already collapsed first.

  Two hours is enough for Du Qilai, and he still wishes to let the retreat time be earlier, and continue to stay in Zhending, but it is really a torment.

  Lü Zhao's order was to set fire to the city when they retreated, and nothing could be left for the Bingzhou army, and even if they got the city, it was just an empty shell.

  Since the city is going to be set on fire, the people in the city must not be left behind, and they must be moved to Sindu with the army.

  But most of the people are reluctant to move away, they must have their own houses and their own property, and if they really leave, they will be completely reduced to abject poverty and have nothing to lose

  But Du Qi cares about this, retreat is the order of the boss, and setting fire to the city is also the order of the boss, he is only willing to act according to orders, as for the life and death of the people, it is no longer Du Qi's consideration, if he is willing to move with the army, Du Qi can consider letting the army protect them, and if he is not willing to move away, Du Qi can't control it, anyway, when he retreats, when he should set fire, he will not delay for a moment.

  By the tenth day of the second month, the army had been assembled early in the morning, and the people were driven from house to house, and the whole city was full of complaints and weeping, but Duch was unmoved, and he reached the east gate first, and gave the order to the defenders of the city gate to open the door on time.

  As soon as the time came, the gate of Zhending creaked open, and the first batch of vanguard troops took the lead out of the city, kicking off the prelude to the great retreat.

  Due to the large number of people, the speed of the retreat of the defenders was not too fast, and the long line was like a long dragon that could not be seen at a glance, moving slowly, mixed with the cries of children and the cursing of Lao Rao, which was noisy and chaotic.

  The order of the army was not so strict, coupled with the flow of tens of thousands of refugees, which made the already chaotic order even more chaotic, and the evacuation that Du Qi originally planned to complete within two hours dragged on for more than three hours, and there are still many people stranded in Chengzheng

  The number of civilians who insisted on refusing to leave also accounted for a large number, and they turned a deaf ear to the propaganda of the Jizhou army, and did not seem to believe that the Jizhou army would burn the city, no matter what means the Jizhou army used, they insisted on staying in the city and resolutely refused to leave the city.

  The officers under his command reluctantly reported to Du Qi, Du Qi had a gloomy face, it was because of the existence of this part of the army, so that the withdrawal operation could not be completed so far, and now most of the troops have left the city, the longer the time is delayed, the more unfavorable the situation will be, so Du Qi no longer cares about these spare life and death, and issued an order to set fire.

  In order to set fire to Zhending City in the fastest time, Du Qi had already selected more than a dozen setting points in the city in advance, and piled up a large number of fire-starting objects, after the order to set fire was issued, the soldiers who had long been guarding the fire point did not hesitate to set fire.

  The fire spread rapidly in the city, and after the fire, the remnants of the Jizhou army also quickly retreated according to the established route, leaving only those people who refused to leave the city, shouting frantically in despair.

  They tried to extinguish the fire, but once the fire broke out in the city, most of the houses were made of wood, and they couldn't save it at all, and more than a dozen places were lit at the same time, and the entire Zhending City was completely reduced to a sea of fire.

  Even if they tried to escape at this time, it was already too late, the crazy fire had blocked most of the roads, and these people who did not want to leave the city and their houses were finally reduced to ashes.

  Du Qi was the last group to leave Zhending, he stayed at the gate of the city, and he stayed until he saw Zhending on fire, which was really relieved to leave.

  As for the people who are struggling in the fire, Du Qike has no pity at all, in fact, he has given them more than one chance, but these people have not cherished it well, and they are also to blame for being buried in the fire, and they can't blame anyone, these foolish people are really stupid!