Lan Zhen immediately realized that this was a very critical matter after receiving the letter from Zhu Gaoxu, if he could prevent the army of King Yan from entering the city, then it could be said that the big thing had been decided, and he knew that Xu Huizu had led an army of more than 100,000 to go around Hebei. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

But unfortunately, at this time, Lan Zhen was on the east side of the city, far away from the north gate, and it was not too convenient for the cavalry to march from the city.

Lan Zhen then made a quick decision, and asked the deputy general Li Ding to lead a small number of people to continue to collect and surrender troops in the city, and he led 2,000 people to go out from the east gate to the north gate. Then the army led by Lan Zhen finally rushed over at this moment.

Lan Zhen led not only two thousand horsemen, but also two or three thousand horses that no one rode, which was not inferior to the Yan army commanded by Zhu Neng.

Although Zhu Neng was very angry at this time, he still had a remnant of his sanity, seeing that the reinforcements of the counterinsurgency army were coming, and if he continued to entangle, he didn't know how many reinforcements would come, his reason suddenly suppressed his anger and stopped the pursuit.

Zhu Gaochu was originally going to retreat, but Lan Zhen did not have many soldiers, and now it was far away, but it was not difficult to see the clue that it was close, so he didn't dare to pursue, and retreated after receiving Zhu Gaoxu.

After the two sides retreated, Lan Zhen and Zhu Gaoxu were naturally all kinds of happy. seized Texas before Zhu Di went south, annihilated Lu Yuan's army and the defenders of Texas City, and killed one of Zhu Di's generals, although there were a lot of losses, but it was completely worth it.

As for Zhu Di later, if he goes crazy and attacks the city, they are not afraid, Gu Cheng escorted the rebels to the city of Dezhou in the evening, they now have more than 20,000 troops, and more than 20,000 prisoners, they are not afraid of attacking the city at all.

And Zhu Di's side is all kinds of gloom. Zhu Di's face turned blue after hearing Zhu Neng's report that Qiu Fu died in battle and failed to occupy the north city gate, but in the end he didn't get angry, but called all the generals over to mourn Qiu Fu, and scolded his son Zhu Gaochu for a while, saying that after capturing Gao Xu, let Gao Xu kneel in front of Qiu Fu's tomb and beg for forgiveness, so that all the generals were very moved.

But when everyone dispersed and Zhu Di was the only one in the big tent, he couldn't hold back at all. Zhu Di looked panicked, he found that the previous plan had all failed, Shandong could not enter, whether Lu Yuan's army was still or not, he could not respond, they were completely divided into two parts, and then after the imperial army eliminated the Shandong rebels, he could come north to eliminate him.

Now his odds of winning have dropped from 20% to less than 10%, and there is almost no chance of winning.

Just when Zhu Di became more pessimistic the more he thought about it, he heard the sound of the curtain of his tent being lifted. Zhu Di looked up and saw that it was Daoyan walking in.

Zhu Di said to Dao Yan with a wry smile: "The previous plan has failed, and now we can only return to Beiping." I thought that if I would surrender like this, it would be a pleasure for me to become a monk with the master. ”

Dao Yan listened to Zhu Di's words and walked in front of Zhu Di, but today he did not salute Zhu Di, but stretched out his hands and grabbed the collar of Zhu Di's clothes, and said loudly: "Your Highness, we have already fought with the Southern Army, and we are already a rebellious minister and thief who has committed the crime of rebellion, if it is not successful, even if His Highness leaves a life, it is just a matter of surviving, is Your Highness willing to live such a life!" ”

Zhu Di was stunned for a while, and after a long while, he reacted, the expression on his face returned to calm, and said to Dao Yan: "I understand." ”

But after Dao Yan loosened the collar of his clothes, Zhu Di couldn't help but think in his heart: 'If I surrender now, is there really only one way to be under house arrest within the high walls?' ’

In any case, the next day Zhu Di led his troops to retreat north, wanting to withdraw to Beiping and fight again in the coming days.

Zhu Di's action was very fast, although his soldiers had just learned that they had become anti-thief soldiers and were unstable, but since they were going home, everyone was still very enthusiastic, and it only took one day to evacuate Shandong, return to Hebei and station in Anling Town.

But in Anling Town, Zhu Di learned a bad news: the army led by Xu Huizu had arrived in Jingxian County, just east of them, and the total number of troops was definitely above 50,000, which was more than their army!

Zhu Di knew that his brother-in-law, of course, is also Yunxi's brother-in-law now, and he is very capable, although he has never led the troops to fight alone before, but Zhu Di really can't pin his hopes on Xu Huizu's own command mistakes.

Zhu Di led his troops to continue northward, and at the same time, in order to prevent Xu Huizu's attack, the army marched in a large formation, although it ensured safety but sacrificed speed. After that, Zhu Di spent more than ten days, passed Dongguang County on the first day of November, and came to Botou Town on this day to settle down. Along the way, Xu Huizu just let the cavalry hang far away and did not attack.

In the evening, when Zhu Di had a meeting with his generals, he was very puzzled and said: "Why did Xu Huizu never send troops to attack, but only sent cavalry to hang from afar?" ”

Zhu Neng said: "It's to wait for reinforcements from behind." Xu Huizu only has about 60,000 people in his hands, and His Royal Highness has more than 40,000 people in his hands, and His Royal Highness has been repeatedly going to Mongolia at the border for a long time. ”

Dao Yan said: "The poor monk's views are similar to those of General Zhu. Moreover, why didn't His Highness want to persuade Xu Huizu to defect to His Highness? His Royal Highness's princess is Xu Huizu's eldest sister, and His Royal Highness has a good relationship with Xu Huizu, why don't you try to persuade him? Even if it is unsuccessful, it is nothing, maybe it can still separate the relationship between His Majesty and Xu Huizu, and let His Majesty change the general. ”

Zhu Di said: "If he is really waiting for reinforcements from behind, even if he doesn't fight with me, he should use cavalry flexibly to cause us more trouble." Now that our cavalry is similar to theirs, he can use them to cause even more trouble. ”

"As for persuading Xu Huizu to surrender, there is no need to mention it, it will not be useful. Xu Huizu is loyal to His Majesty, and it is absolutely impossible for him to throw himself on us. ”

"As for the discord, it's even more impossible. I also just learned that His Majesty married the small county lord of the Duke of Wei as a concubine, which has completely eliminated the estrangement between the monarch and the minister, and it can be seen from his confidence and bold use of Xu Huizu to command these hundreds of thousands of troops, it can be seen that His Majesty trusts Xu Huizu very much, and the plan of discord will not be useful. ”

Listening to Zhu Di's words, Tan Yuan hesitated and said, "Then, what should we do next?" ”

Zhu Di said: "No matter why Xu Huizu didn't attack, our plan remains the same, that is, to return to Beiping with all our might." ”

But the next day, when Zhu Di planned to lead his troops to continue to return to Beiping, the scouting horse he sent out yesterday brought news that stunned him.