"Report! Governor Lu sent an urgent letter, please take a look at it! ”

On the muddy official road after the snow, a Tangma cavalryman riding two horses, covered with sweat and black mud, exuding an unpleasant smell, galloped to Li Xiao's mount who was leading the army forward, and then dismounted and knelt. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"Oh?"

Li Xiao and Zu Dale glanced at each other unconsciously, and their eyes were full of surprise.

Li Xiao hurriedly ordered the team to stop marching, and then turned over and dismounted.

Tang Ma immediately wiped his hands covered with dirt on his body, then carefully took out a letter sealed with wax from his arms, and then respectfully handed the letter to Li Xiao with both hands.

Li Xiao waved his hand to let Tangma retreat to rest and eat, and immediately opened the letter to read.

After reading it quickly, his face was suddenly full of heaviness, and finally he let out a long sigh.

"Li Xiao, what is this urgent letter from Governor Lu?" Zu Dale asked in a low voice on the side.

"Father-in-law, Lord Lu said that now the situation is very critical on the north and south roads, and he hopes that you and I can divide our troops to rescue the two places, thinking that it is a perfect plan." Li Xiao sighed and finished speaking, while handing Lu Xiangsheng's letter to Zu Dale.

Zu Dale took the letter, read it quickly, and frowned deeply.

"Lord Lu, he is now forced by the critical situation of the North and South Roads." Li Xiao stared at the overlapping hills in the distance and said slowly; "Now the officers and armies of the North and South Routes are all invincible to the Liukou offensive, and they have lost cities and lands one after another, and it is difficult for Lord Lu to gather reinforcements for a while, and it is estimated that it is in desperation that he came up with this stupid trick to let our army divide troops to rescue."

"Then Li Xiao, what do you mean?"

"Will be outside, the king's order will not be affected. The whole army continued to march south, giving priority to the rescue of the southern road. Li Xiao said calmly: "Father-in-law, you and I have only more than 10,000 people in total, and if you divide the army into two places, each with thousands of people, you will not be able to resist the rogue with more than 50,000 people on each road." Only by concentrating on strength, making every effort to defeat one way, and after eliminating worries, can we plan another way. ”

Zu Dale nodded in agreement: "Li Xiao, you are right, now that our army is about to arrive in Nanyang Mansion, it is reasonable to go all out to assist the officers and troops of the South Road, so there is no reason to divide the troops here and then go north to rescue." ”

Zu Dale pondered for a while, and he muttered hesitantly: "It's just that the old man is worried that when our army solves the difficulties of the South Road here, the officers and soldiers of the North Road who have been defeated in a row are worried about a thousand miles away." ”

Li Xiao twisted his eyebrows and sighed: "I, Li Xiao, am just an ordinary general, not a fairy monster." Now that the situation is so bad, what can I do! We can only wait for our army to solve the enemy army on the southern road, and then make a calculation. What's more, our army has reached the realm of Nanyang Mansion, and there is no reason to seek the near and far. If Governor Lu wants to blame when he arrives, I, Li Xiao, will bear it alone. ”

Zu Dale hurriedly said: "Li Xiao rest assured, Governor Lu really wants to be held responsible, and the old man will definitely share it with you, and he will never let you suffer this pressure alone." ”

Next, Li Xiao thought for a while, and then wrote a reply letter to Lu Xiangsheng, explaining the specific situation and difficulties, as well as the hardships of not being able to divide the troops, to Lu Xiangsheng in the letter.

Subsequently, Li Xiao packed the letter, handed it to the Tang horse to bring back, and led the army to continue south.

Two days later, when he arrived more than 200 miles away from Nanyang Mansion, Li Xiao saw that from the official road to the south, several cavalry were rushing to the horse.

Li Xiao saw that these cavalrymen, all of whom were wounded, and the armor on their bodies was full of blood, as if they had just broken free from the enemy's attack.

"The one who came from the front, but the reinforcements sent by Governor Lu?" The cavalryman who led the way, when he saw Li Xiao's soldiers and horses from afar, immediately shouted in surprise.

"Exactly, who are you?" Li Xiao also shouted from afar.

The man galloped over with a horse, and when he was five steps away from Li Xiao, he immediately flew off his horse, then knelt on the ground, and reported loudly: "Under the cattle mark, it is the captain of the Ruzhou General Soldier Li Bei's family, and he is specially ordered by my lord to go out of the city to ask for help. It's a blessing to meet your army now, where are the soldiers and horses? ”

"We are the Red Phoenix Guards and the Shanhaiguan Soldiers, and this is the General Li of the General Army." Tian Wei, the commander of the Chifeng Battalion on the side, interjected.

Niu Biao's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said respectfully: "It turned out to be General Li who broke the Tartar that day, but I didn't expect that you personally led the army to come to the rescue, and now Nanyang Mansion can be regarded as saved!" ”

Li Xiao frowned: "What, now that the enemy army has begun to attack Nanyang?" ”

"Your Excellency, now the enemy army is only surrounding Nanyang Mansion, but I don't know when to start attacking the city, however, I think that the military situation is extremely critical now, and I ask you to send troops to rescue as soon as possible." Niu Biao said hurriedly.

"Oh, then how many soldiers and horses are there in the besieging city now, and how many officers and soldiers are left on the South Road, you can tell me one by one." Although Li Xiao was also anxious in his heart, he still asked about the situation first with a calm face.

"My lord, the officers and soldiers of my South Road originally had 5,000 soldiers and horses from Ruzhou Li, 3,000 soldiers and horses from Zu Kuan, deputy general Liu Zhaoji, and 1,000 soldiers and horses from guerrilla general Luo Dai, with a total of more than 12,000 soldiers and horses. It's a pity that in the battle to defend the county town of Neixiang, because of the enemy's lure tactics, they fell into the two-sided attack of the old Hui Hui Department and the scorpion block department, and the whole army lost nearly half of its strength, and retreated to Zhenping County. ”

"Niu Biao, the rout of the officers and troops on the South Road, there is no need to say more, you just need to tell the soldiers that the number and distribution of soldiers and horses of the officers and troops of the South Road are now." Seeing that Niu Biao's speech was unfocused, Li Xiao hurriedly corrected him.

Niu Biao promised, and said hurriedly: "Since Zhenping broke through, General Zu Kuan was a guest army from outside the country and did not know the path, so he retreated to the Wadian area in the south. The general soldiers of Li, Deputy General Liu, and Luo Guerrilla led their own troops and horses and withdrew to the city of Nanyang Prefecture, and all the soldiers and horses suffered heavy losses, of which General Li had only more than 1,500 soldiers and horses, Vice General Liu had more than 800 people, and Luo Guerrilla was more than 300 people, plus the remnants of hundreds of old and weak soldiers in Nanyang Mansion, the total number of soldiers and horses was only more than 3,000 people. ”

After Niu Biao finished speaking, Zu Dale on the side interjected worriedly: "Li Xiao, the total number of soldiers and horses on the South Road is more than 50,000, but the officers and soldiers guarding Nanyang Mansion are only more than 3,000 people, which is really dangerous. ”

Li Xiao's heart was also tightened, he frowned and asked again: "How many soldiers and horses are the rogue besieging the city, but the enemy army is pouring into the nest to attack?" ”

Niu Biao replied: "No, the one who is besieging Nanyang Mansion City now is the Liukou Lao Hui Division, and the Liukou Scorpion Block Department is taking control in Zhenping County, but the Lao Hui Department also has more than 27,000 people, which is nine times the number of soldiers defending the city. If there are no reinforcements, I am afraid that this Nanyang Mansion will be lost, but it will be overnight. ”

Li Xiao sighed, but there was a gleam in his eyes.

He secretly thought that the reason why these two gangsters did not send troops to attack Nanyang Mansion City together was probably for another reason, but such a reason was not something that Li Xiao could know now.

"Niu Biao, you lead the way in front and lead our army to Nanyang City." Li Xiao ordered Niu Biao.

Immediately, Li Xiaofu shouted to the officers and men of the whole army: "The whole army is ready for battle, march quickly, and be sure to rush to Nanyang Mansion City before dusk!" ”

The officers and men of the whole army shouted in unison, and they all quickened their pace.

。。。。。。

Standing outside Nanyang City, which is sixteen miles long around the city, covered with blue bricks, and the entire city is an irregular rectangle, looking at the sparse and scattered Ming army guards on the Nanyang Mansion City that has been surrounded by his own military corps, Ma Shouying, the leader of the Lao Hui Department, is indescribably happy and indescribably depressed in his heart.

Lao Huihui was a frontier soldier in eastern Liaodong, and was also promoted to the general of the Ming army, and later when he was stationed in Guangning, because the army was defeated by the old slave, in order to avoid being punished by military law, he absconded back to his hometown in Suide, Shaanxi.

In the first year of Chongzhen, Lao Hui led his hometown to rebel, and at first he was subordinate to Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, and wandered in eastern Gansu and western Shaanxi for a long time. By the fourth year of Chongzhen, he led his troops into Shanxi and incorporated them into one of the thirty-six battalions of King Zijin Liang, becoming an important leader second only to Wang Ziyong and Gao Yingxiang.

At the end of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Lao Huihui led his troops to participate in the Xingyang Conference and became one of the leaders of the thirteen families. After that, he and He Yilong, nicknamed "Geli Eye", as well as He Jin, Liu Xiyao, and Lin Chengcheng, the five main forces of the Liukou, were collectively called the "Five Battalions of Gezuo", also known as the "Five Battalions of the Hui Revolution". Lao Huihui and his subordinates eventually became a famous rogue with strong combat power.

The soldiers under the old Hui Hui are all ****, because of religious beliefs, this soldier and horse are quite united and can fight tough battles, since the beginning of the army, the old Hui Hui Liukou has never suffered a major setback, until now, all the soldiers and horses have developed to nearly 30,000 people.

Lao Huihui's division of soldiers and horses is also unique, he is not like other rogue leaders, appointing his generals as generals, captains and the like, but divides his soldiers and horses into several plates, each plate is led by a palm plate, and these plates are basically his brothers and relatives to serve. Among them, the most elite part, in addition to a plate of more than 5,000 soldiers and horses led by him, especially a plate of 4,000 soldiers and horses guarded by his brother Ma, and a plate of 3,000 soldiers and horses of his son Ma Chao are the most proficient at fighting.

The old Hui Hui troops, because they only recruit ****, do not need to supplement the soldiers from the captured Ming Dynasty army and the Han people, so they are particularly cruel to the soldiers and people under the conquered states and counties. Except for the happy women, men, women, and children, all of them were killed, and the lives of their subordinates were ruined and extremely miserable.

Since joining forces with Gao Yingxiang into Henan, according to Gao Yingxiang's arrangement, Lao Huihui and Scorpion Block have gone south from Ruxiang through Lushi County, intending to invade the entire Nanyang Mansion.

The battle to invade Nanyang Mansion was extremely smooth, the two confluence of the Liukou soldiers and horses, a total of more than 50,000 people, all the way to the township of Liankenei, Zhenping County, the Ming army blocked by the South Road was defeated, unexpectedly, in the old Hui Hui was full of ambition to take advantage of the Ming army's successive defeats to conquer the city of Nanyang Mansion, but was opposed by the scorpion block.

The objection of the scorpion block is that King Gao Chuang had said that this division of troops was ultimately to reunite the troops in Ruzhou in order to march to the more prosperous Nanzhili, so as to obtain an abundant supply of grain and grass, and not to really entrench in Henan, which has been in ruins for a long time in this continuous war.

Scorpion block believes that Nanyang Mansion City is the strongest stronghold of the Ming army in Nanyang Mansion, although the Ming army is now small, but if you want to defend the city, if you want to attack it, it may be difficult to conquer it immediately. I am afraid that it will be delayed for a long time and lose a lot of troops, so that the gains will outweigh the losses.

Moreover, if there are Ming reinforcements arriving during the siege of the city, they will fall into the dilemma of being attacked by the enemy, which is a situation that the scorpion block never wants to see.

According to the opinion of the scorpion block, under the condition that the Ming army on the southern route has been basically defeated, it is the most important thing to take advantage of the inability of the Ming army to pursue and counterattack, and the whole army of the southern route should go straight to Ruzhou Mansion, so as to meet with Gao Yingxiang's troops as soon as possible according to the plan, and strive to attack Nanzhili in the southeast direction as soon as possible.

The scorpion block's words made Lao Hui sneer. He retorted that now this Nanyang Mansion City, because the Ming army defending the city has suffered defeats, it is already bold, and the defense of this city is extremely weak. With such a piece of fat in front of you, there is no reason not to seize the opportunity to attack it and eat it.

The two argued for a long time, but in the end no one could convince anyone, and finally the old man was in a hurry, led the troops of the headquarters, and went to attack the city of Nanyang, and the scorpion block saw that it sent troops without authorization, and was angry, so he was angry and stationed in Zhenping County, and did not send a soldier to help.

Today, the siege has been four days, and he has made a lot of the instruments and utensils for the siege, and he has made a lot of the captured craftsmen and people.

He was convinced that the remnants of the Ming army stationed in it had already been frightened in the case of successive defeats, and as long as the strong soldiers under his command attacked the city, the Ming army defending the city would be immediately defeated.

He recalled again that the Ming army in the city had just broken through desperately, and although he was immediately intercepted, there were still three or four cavalrymen who escaped and disappeared.

Lao Hui secretly said, this Ming army desperately out of the city, it is estimated that they should go to move the rescue troops, but the strength of the Ming army in the entire Nanyang Mansion was destroyed in their own hands, and if they want to go to other places to ask for reinforcements, it is impossible to come back in ten days and half a month.

If by then, I am afraid that I have already captured Nanyang City and plundered it, and this group of Ming troops who came to the aid will have to follow behind their butts and eat ashes.

The old man returned to the corner of his mouth, and a mocking smile welled up.

His gaze turned from Nanyang City in front of him to the surging south river in the west of Nanyang City, but a fleeting light of greed quickly flashed in his eyes.

In this Nanyang Mansion city, there are as many as more than 100,000 children of the people, and there are abundant grain and grass and a large amount of wealth transported and stored in the entire Nanyang Mansion.

It's just that he soon began to sigh again, and scolded the scorpion block in his heart for being demolished, and hesitated. He thought hatefully, if this Nanyang Mansion was captured, he would never let the bastard Scorpion Block get a share of the benefits. At that time, if the scorpion block wants to be taken by force, even if he fights with him, he will not hesitate to do so.

When the sun in front of him was gradually slanting to the west, Lao Huihui inspected the soldiers and horses, and was about to return to the camp to rest, when suddenly his subordinate sentry cavalry soldiers hurriedly came to report, saying that there was a large force of Ming army reinforcements, which had suddenly killed outside Nanyang City.

Lao Hui looked shocked and incredulous, and he almost wondered if his ears had misheard.

Ming army reinforcements, why did they come so quickly?

How is this possible?!

"Naming Gouzi reinforcements, but how many soldiers and horses are there?!" Old Hui quickly came back to his senses and shouted angrily at the sentry.

"The leader, the reinforcements of the Ming army, the vast and endless, have come along the north bank of the river and to the north of Nanyang City!"

(This article has been recommended by VIP novels next week, thank you readers for your support, I hope you can count more votes and recommendations, so that the author is more motivated). (To be continued.) )