Zuo Liangyu lost the beans that supported the war horses on their long journey, although the war horses can also be supported by eating grass, but he does not have authentic grass in his hands, as for the wild grasses, unless he can let those war horses spend most of the day eating grass, and slow down the speed of progress, otherwise those war horses will not be able to hold on. (War horses consume a lot of energy every day, but the calories contained in ordinary weeds are very limited, if you rely on these weeds to provide energy, war horses must keep eating and eating) But in this way, the speed of travel will be very low, and even, not necessarily comparable to the speed of Huang Zide's brigade of men and horses. For Zuo Liangyu, the most important thing now is to return to Huguang as soon as possible and prepare for contingencies.

"Your Excellency, as long as we can go back sooner, we will have time to recruit troops." Zuo Liangyu said to Ding Qirui, "Now there are homeless people in Xiangyang. As long as there is money and food, it is not difficult to gather people. Of course, such soldiers cannot be used in field warfare. But Xiangyang is a strong city in the world, and it is still good for such people to defend the city. Besides, the thieves were not good at attacking cities—as can be seen from the fact that they couldn't open the seal. As long as we hold Xiangyang, the situation will not be bad to the extreme. Therefore, now, the most important thing for our army is to rush back to Xiangyang as soon as possible. What does the Governor think? ”

Ding Qirui was already in a mess at this time, where do you have any opinions of your own, of course, you listen to Zuo Liangyu in everything. So the group went south again. Along the way, they no longer cared about horsepower, and in one day and one night, they traveled nearly three hundred miles in a hurry and arrived in Yexian.

When Zuo Liangyu rushed to the city of Yexian, it was already the morning of the second day. Speaking of which, this Ye County is still under the effective rule of the imperial court. There is also a county commander in Yexian County, and there is also a general, and there are probably more than 300 soldiers under his command. At this time, the soldiers guarding the city had already seen the galloping cavalry, so they hurriedly closed the city gate, and went to invite Liu Delong, the magistrate, and Zhang Kui, the general general.

When Liu Delong and Zhang Kui went up the city wall, Zuo Liangyu, Ding Qirui and others had just arrived not far from the city gate. After galloping for a day and a night, not to mention that the war horses are dying, even people can't stand it. Zuo Liangyu and the others are a little stronger, although they are tired, they can still stand and walk. But where did Ding Qirui suffer like this? The road was bumpy, and he was still in a semi-comatose state. If he hadn't been tied to the horse with ropes, he would have fallen off the horse long ago.

Everyone got off the horse, and Ding Qirui was also helped off the horse by the two family members. A family member approached the city gate and shouted to it: "We are the soldiers of Lord Ding Qirui, the governor of Huguang, to fight against the thieves. ”

Then there were people in the city who shouted, "What do you say you are, what are you?" Then Lao Tzu also said that he was the son-in-law of the Jade Emperor! ”

With these words, all the people of the city burst into laughter.

"Lord Ding is under the city, and General Zuoping is also under the city." The guy shouted again.

"Since Lord Ding and Zuo Ping are going to beg for thieves, and we don't have thieves here, what are you doing here?" One of the men in the city replied, "Besides, when do I have a rule for the entry of guest troops into the city?" Rest yourselves outside the city, and go to the thieves quickly! ”

Zuo Liangyu looked at the house Ding Ding and couldn't open the door, and then looked at Ding Qirui. Ding Qirui sat paralyzed on the ground, seemingly unable to breathe. Zuo Liangyu knew that he couldn't count on Ding Qirui, so he also stepped forward and said, "This general is Zuo Liangyu." I'm passing by here, and I don't know if your county has food and water for us. ”

Liu Delong, the county commander above the city, said: "General Zuo passed by Yi County, I don't know if there is a military department?" If there is a military department, at this time tomorrow, the lower officials will naturally send food and drinking water. ”

The rules of the Jokhang Dynasty, where the march passes, need to have the text of the military department. Moreover, even if there was a letter from the Ministry of War to provide food and grass to the localities, the rule was that the army would not start to give it until the second day. Liu Delong had long heard that Zuo Liangyu and his soldiers were more powerful than Liukou, how could he let Zuo Liangyu's people stay here? used this way to force Zuo Liangyu to leave quickly.

Zuo Liangyu listened, shook his head, but didn't speak, just walked to the side, and said to the people around him with a calm face: "Everyone take a rest first." ”

Everyone saw that Zuo Liangyu's face was not very good-looking, and they didn't dare to speak. So they all sat down, went to their bosoms, and found some dry food to eat.

"Look at this city, do you have to work hard to take it?" Zuo Liangyu suddenly spoke.

"General, such a small city, the city wall is only more than a zhang, throw a rope to put it on, you can climb it in a few steps, there are about two or three hundred miscellaneous soldiers who have never seen blood on the city, and we can beat twenty of them alone. As long as you go up to a dozen brothers, you can kill them all. A family said.

"When we take a breath and recover a little strength, we can take down this city with a cup of tea." Another family member also said.

"Our horses can't go." Another servant said, "If you enter this city, you will find some livestock." In this way, we can go faster and return to Huguang earlier. Besides, Huang Zide is also coming here, but he will be here in a few days. Just such a little broken city Huang Zizi can take it down with a little finger push. If we don't move it, it's just a few days later. ”

Zuo Liangyu listened, nodded, and looked at Ding Qirui, who had just gasped a little on the side, and said, "Why don't you persuade them again and let them send some food and livestock out?" ”

Ding Qirui reluctantly stood up, walked under the city wall, and shouted towards it: "The old man is Ding Qirui, the governor of Huguang. There's an official seal here, maybe let's go in and take a break? Can you give us some livestock? ”

But the people in the city replied: "Lord Ding, according to the rules of the imperial court, you are a guest army and cannot enter the city." As for the materials, there must be an official document from the imperial court! ”

Ding Qirui sighed, didn't say anything more, just walked back slowly, and shook his head at this Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu smiled at him.

After a while, Zuo Liangyu stood up and said, "I've rested enough, it's time for the event......"

……

Relying on the way of robbing all the way, Zuo Liangyu and the others ensured their supplies, and thus their travel speed, and finally returned to Xiangyang five days later.

As soon as he returned to Xiangyang, Zuo Liangyu first ordered the army that was still entangled with Zhang Bingzhong to be transferred back, and then he ordered Wuchang and Hankou to mobilize the army to the north as quickly as possible, and then prepared to recruit displaced people into the army in Xiangyang. He was so busy that there was smoke above his head, when suddenly a scout came to report that he had found Huang Zide's main force only fifty miles away from Xiangyang.

"What? Huang Zide came so quickly? This news was like a basin of ice water pouring down from his head, and it suddenly poured Zuo Liangyu's heart cold.

According to Zuo Liangyu's estimate, Huang Zide will not be able to reach Xiangyang for at least seven or eight days. At that time, Li Guoying's team, as well as the team from Wuchang Hankou, should have arrived. Coupled with the temporarily conscripted army, relying on a Xiongcheng like Xiangyang, Zuo Liangyu felt that he could still fight a dozen. But now, Huang Zide came so fast, there were only more than 3,000 troops in the entire Xiangyang City, and even fewer of them could really fight. Li Guoying's team and the reinforcements from Wuchang and Hankou are still on the way, and they will definitely not arrive in three or five days. With more than 3,000 people, can you support Huang Zide's army until they arrive? Zuo Liangyu felt that this was completely impossible. Although Xiangyang is a strong city in the world, the number of troops is so small, as long as the thief army besieges from all sides, it is easy to attack the city from a place where the troops are weak.

"Relying on 3,000 miscellaneous soldiers, you may not be able to hold it for a day." After thinking for a while, Zuo Liangyu made such a judgment.

Since this is the case, the countermeasures that Zuo Liangyu can take are very simple, since he can't beat it, then naturally he can only run. So Zuo Liangyu immediately ordered the whole army to prepare to go south.

……

Huang Zide's army was passing through a long suspension bridge and entering Xiangyang. Huang Zide rode a horse, looked at the high walls of Xiangyang City by the city moat, and sighed to Xuan Yi next to him: "This is really the world's most powerful city!" If it weren't for the fact that we annihilated Zuo Liangyu's main force near Kaifeng, we don't know how difficult it would be to take this city now. ”

There is some truth to this. The Han River made a turn in the place where the city of Yangyang was located, and Yangyang was at this corner. To the east and south of it are the turbulent Han River, while to the west, there are rolling hills. Relying on the Han River, Xiangyang has a natural moat in the east and south, and an artificially dug moat in the north and west.

The moat of the general city is only three or five zhang wide at most, and one zhang deep. But the size of Xiangyang's moat is much larger than that. It was forty feet wide, and five or six feet deep at its deepest point. Standing on the edge of the moat, it is not easy to shoot an arrow across the river. Because the moat was too wide, no drawbridge could cross such a span, so the drawbridge from the north and west gates of Xiangyang Castle was lowered and did not fall directly at the other end of the moat, but on an artificial island in the middle of the moat. On this artificial island, a fortified castle was built, and a drawbridge was lowered to cross the moat. The moat is directly connected to the Han River, so the water in the moat is also alive, and it is very difficult to drain it or fill it. And the wide river surface can even allow warships to sail in. Such a moat, coupled with the tall and sturdy city walls, made it very difficult to storm Xiangyang.

Generally speaking, there is also a common way to deal with those Xiongcheng that are difficult to conquer directly, which is a long-term siege. For example, the Tartars attacked Dalinghe City and Jinzhou City, using this trick. As long as a city is besieged, no matter how abundant its material reserves are, there will always be a day when they will run out. At that time, the city will naturally be unable to hold on. But this trick is useless for Xiangyang. Because as long as the waterway is not cut off, Xiangyang can continue to receive supplies through the Han water. Generally speaking, it is impossible for an enemy from the north to drag a fleet of ships thousands of kilometers on land to compete with the fleet of Xiangyang City for control of the waterway. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that after Zhang Bingzhong took Xiangyang by this sneak attack last time, when he retreated, he would have a torch Xiangyang. The boats of the water camp burned to the ground. That Zuo Liangyu relied on 3,000 soldiers, plus the warships of the water camp, and he really might not be able to hold Xiangyang.

After listening to Huang Zide's words, Niu Juming said on the side: "'The city is not high, the pool is not deep, the armor is not strong, and the rice millet is not much. 'The marshal will win the benefit of the people, and the world can determine it. ”