"General, there is Xiangling ahead, and after Xiangling, there is Ningling, which is not far from Songzhou, and I don't know how the war in Songzhou is going now?"

On the official road from Kaifeng to Songzhou, an army of 5,000 people was marching rapidly.

This army was the army led by Wang Yanzhang to rescue Song Prefecture.

After falling out with Zhang Hanjie, Wang Yanzhang immediately led the army south, wanting to rush to Songzhou as quickly as possible.

Hearing the adjutant general's inquiry, he replied expressionlessly: "Who knows!" The Wu army is menacing this time, and there must be a lot of troops dispatched, but there should not be too many people who can really invest in Songzhou in a short period of time. As long as General Huo Yanwei commands properly, there should be no problem holding Songzhou and waiting for reinforcements. ”

"General, in fact, General Huo Yanwei's ability is not worried, but the last general heard that our army stationed on the front line of Songzhou is some old and weak army, and the combat power and morale are not high, if you rashly encounter the Wu army, I am afraid that you may not be able to win!" Adjutant General Tang Ming voiced his concerns.

Wang Yanzhang was silent, he was also worried about this in his heart, with the situation of the Liang army on the southern front, it would have been a difficult task to fight with the Wu army, which had an absolute advantage in all aspects; What's more, now the Wu army is still taking the form of a surprise attack, and the Liang army is not prepared in all aspects.

He pondered for a moment and said: "It is precisely because the morale of our army on the southern front is not high, so the general has to rush to reinforcements quickly, so that they all know that reinforcements are coming in a steady stream, only in this way can they have the confidence and determination to persevere!" ”

He sneered, and continued: "If it is according to what Zhang Hanjie said, wait until the imperial court edict arrives before going south to rescue, I am afraid that the big event has gone, and Songzhou has already been conquered by the Wu army." ”

"The general is right, but in this way, the general will completely offend General Zhang, and I am afraid that my life in the court will not be easy in the future!" Tang Ming smiled bitterly.

"Humph!" Wang Yanzhang's face was ugly, and he said angrily: "If Ben Jiang succeeds in relieving Songzhou this time, when he returns to Beijing, he will definitely kill this thief to revitalize the dynasty!" ”

"Yes, yes, the general said yes." Tang Ming was submissive and did not dare to speak.

Wang Yanzhang was especially puzzled, and said: "Not only Zhang Hanjie, the thief, but also his accomplice Zhao Yan, the two of them have been in cahoots in the DPRK for so many years, and they have made the government into a miasma, and they will also kill this person after returning to Beijing!" ”

As he spoke, he slapped the sitted war horse hard, as if the war horse was Zhang Hanjie, Zhao Yan and others.

Being whipped by him like this, the war horse ran quickly with a scream of pain and pain.

Wang Yanzhang didn't know that when he was rushing away, Tang Ming's eyes began to flicker.

"Although General Wang Yanzhang is proud of himself and often has no one in his eyes, he is still good to us generals; However, General Zhang also has the grace of knowing the general, he ordered me to spy on General Wang secretly, and now the two have fallen out, and the general is really embarrassed to be caught in the middle! ”

Yes, this general, who is regarded as a confidant by Wang Yanzhang, was actually bought by Zhang Hanjie a long time ago and was responsible for helping him monitor Wang Yanzhang.

Wang Yanzhang's current position is to recruit deputy envoys from the north, and he is usually stationed in Huazhou, while Tang Ming is a commander under Wang Yanzhang.

After Zhang Hanjie and Wang Yanzhang officially fell out this time, they soon secretly sent someone to find Tang Ming and let him be responsible for delivering the news.

"That's it, anyway, General Zhang just wants General Ben to pass on some news, they have fallen out now, even if General Ben tells General Zhang what he just said, it's not a big deal. But if Ben Jiang did not listen to General Zhang's words, then Ben Jiang would also be liquidated in the future. General Wang is certainly good to Ben General, but in comparison, Ben is still concerned about his future. ”

He sighed in his heart: "If you want to blame General Wang, you don't have power!" ”

Thinking of this, he finally decided to reveal Wang Yanzhang's words to Zhang Hanjie as they were, as for how Zhang Hanjie would deal with Wang Yanzhang after learning the news, he didn't know about it.

After continuing to march forward for five miles, the army arrived at Xiangling, which happened to be noon.

Therefore, Wang Yanzhang ordered to stop and rest for a while, and while sending people to the front to inquire about the news, he began to bury the pot and cook rice.

Soon after, after the rest was completed, the army continued to advance.

At this moment, the scout who had been sent out to inquire about the news rushed to report: "General, I just got the news that the 20,000 army led by General Huo Yanwei was suddenly attacked by the cavalry of the Wu army thirty miles west of Songzhou, and the army was caught off guard and was defeated, and now General Huo Yanwei has retreated to Ningling!" ”

"What? Huo Yanwei was attacked? Wang Yanzhang let out a "groan" in his heart, secretly screaming that it was not good.

"Do you know what the losses of our army are, and how many troops the enemy has?" He hurriedly asked.

"This, the specific situation is not very well understood, and the little one and a few other brothers met a few of our army's routs in the front, and I just got the news." The scout replied hurriedly.

Wang Yanzhang's face was ugly, he came in such a hurry to boost the morale of the Liang army on the southern front, hold Songzhou with Huo Yanwei, and then wait here for reinforcements to arrive.

If this can be achieved, then they will be able to join forces with reinforcements to repel the enemy forces and achieve victory.

But now that he has not arrived in Songzhou, Huo Yanwei has been defeated, so even if he rushes to Ningling to join him, with Huo Yanwei's newly defeated army, its morale will inevitably decline even more, and it is even more impossible to hold Songzhou.

"Bring that rout here, I'm going to ask him personally!"

"Yes."

After a while, the scouts came with a few of the routs they encountered, and Wang Yanzhang learned about the story after some inquiry.

It turned out that after being raided by the cavalry of the Wu army that day, under the personal leadership of Huo Yanwei, the Liang army burst out with the last courage and was ready to fight to the death with the Wu army; However, at the critical time, the arrival of the Wu infantry under the command of Liu Renzhen became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The morale that was finally stirred up was immediately frustrated after seeing Wu Jun's infantry army; In particular, Li Chengding also ordered 500 people to be left in the woods to create a momentum, disguised as the arrival of a large army, which further frightened the generals of the Liang army and greatly reduced their morale.

After Liu Renzhen's infantry went on the attack, these most elite Wu soldiers quickly smashed the Liang army's defense line to pieces.

In this case, no matter how much Huo Yanwei ordered, he could not change the result of the army's rout.

In the end, she could only lead a few people to flee the battlefield while it was dark, and waited until the next day to begin to gather her army and retreat to Ningling.

However, Wang Yanzhang and the few defeated soldiers they encountered were soldiers who fled from Ningling, and they were unlucky to meet their support army.

After listening to the whole process, Wang Yanzhang was even more worried.

He immediately ordered: "Integrate these deserters into our army, and the army will immediately set off and rush to Ningling!" ”

"General?" The faces of all the generals were a little unnatural, obviously affected by the defeat in front of them, and now they had fear in their hearts.

Wang Yanzhang was furious, glared and shouted: "The Lu of the Eater, the Matter of Loyalty to the Monarch." You have received the grace of the king, and now is the time to repay the kindness, are you timid at this juncture? ”

The crowd was forced to respond, and immediately had to respond: "Don't dare, the last general and others will obey the general's order." ”

Under Wang Yanzhang's strict order, the Liang army picked up speed again and hurried to Ningling.

Xiangling is nearly sixty miles away from Ningling, and according to the speed of the Liang army, it is only difficult to arrive in time today, but Wang Yanzhang does not dare to relax at all.

Now that the Wu army has defeated Huo Yanwei, it is likely that they will further besiege Ningling, cut off the reinforcements of Songzhou, and then attack Songzhou; So now the situation is extremely urgent, he must rush to Ningling quickly, even if he can't relieve the siege of Songzhou, but at least he must keep Ningling and the remnants of Huo Yanwei's hands.

His decisive actions played an important role.

When he led the reinforcements to Ningling the next morning, the vanguard of the Wu army was already engaged with the Liang army under the city of Ningling, and the demoralized remnants of the Liang army could not stop the attack of the Wu army at all, and they were about to be defeated.

At this critical time, Wang Yanzhang arrived, which greatly boosted the morale of the Liang army, repelled the Wu army in one fell swoop, and even made the Wu army suffer a loss and lose some soldiers.

……

"Wang Yanzhang? I didn't expect this person to rush to Ningling so quickly, it seems that his army has been marching rapidly in the past few days. In the Wu army camp, Li Chengding was a little surprised after getting the news.

The scale of this battle outside Ningling City was not large, and there were not many soldiers invested by both sides, but Wang Yanzhang's timely arrival stabilized the situation of the Liang army and allowed them to hold on to Ningling, which was bound to contain part of the Wu army's forces and prevent them from attacking the city with all their strength.

At the same time, Quan Yan in Songzhou City was likely to put his mind at ease and hold on to Songzhou after learning that the reinforcements were in Ningling.

Songzhou is also known as Suiyang, its city is not big, the circumference of the city wall is only eight miles, but it is built high and thick, and there are moats on all sides to protect it.

There are not many defenders of such a city, only 3,000 men, but if they are determined to hold on, it will not be easy to take it.

During the Anshi Rebellion, after Zhang Xun withdrew from Yongqiu, he led the people to retreat south along the Suiyang Canal, when he only had 300 horses and 3,000 soldiers, and retreated to Suiyang, a strategic place known as the Jianghuai barrier, and then held the city here with Taishou Xu Yuan, and Yao Yan and others from Chengfu County, facing the siege of nearly 200,000 rebels, and held on for as long as ten months.

It was precisely because of his persistence that the rebels could not go south to Jianghuai, so that the Tang Dynasty court could continuously obtain Jianghuai money and grain, so as to accumulate strength to counterattack, and finally successfully defeated the rebels.

The Battle of Suiyang has also become a famous battle in history to defend the city.

Of course, the Suiyang garrison of that year had as many as 7,000 troops at its peak, and Zhang Xun and other defenders were also very resolute in their determination to defend the city; And now the number of Songzhou defenders is not large, only 3,000 people, and the morale is far from being comparable with Zhang Xun's subordinates, and the determination of the defender Quan Yan to defend the city must not be compared with Zhang Xun and others.

However, the strength of the Wu army was also far less than that of the rebels, and the only advantage over the rebels was that the Wu army was better at siege.

It's hard to say whether the city will be successfully captured in this case.

At this time, a herald came in and reported: "Governor Qiyu, General Zhou Ye led the army to Songzhou, and sent people to persuade the Songzhou guards to surrender, but they were refused. At present, General Zhou is preparing for the siege of the city, and at the same time sent people to inquire about the strategy. ”

"Sure enough." For Quan Yan's choice to stick to the city, Li Chengding was not surprised at all.

In any case, the current Liang State is still a big country in the world, its strength is still very strong, and even occupies the name of orthodoxy in the world, in this case, no matter how great the momentum of the Wu army's Northern Expedition is, it is impossible for all the Liang army to surrender, and there will always be people who will choose to stick to the city.

Moreover, Songzhou, as the core of the southern defense line of Liang State, would be surprised if it really fell into the hands of Wu State so easily.

After pondering for a moment, he asked the person in charge of intelligence sent by the Long Sword Capital, "What progress has been made on General Liu Xin's side?" When will the Chongde army and Huizhou be captured? ”

"General Huiyu, according to the latest information, the Chongde army has now abandoned Dangshan and retreated directly to Huizhou, joining up with the Huizhou garrison. At present, General Liu Xin is marching to Huizhou. ”

"Just give up Dangshan? This guard is bold. Li Chengding shook his head, didn't think much about it, and then asked, "So where is the king's army now?" ”

"The king has passed through Sizhou at present, and it should not be long before he arrives in Xuzhou. By the way, after hearing that the king was very satisfied with the battle situation on the general's side, he also said that he would send further troops to support the general, and he would definitely capture Songzhou before the Liang army reinforcements came to help. ”

Li Chengding nodded slightly, now that the Chongde army has abandoned Dangshan and retreated to Huizhou, then the Wu army on the Songzhou side has no worries and can concentrate on attacking Songzhou, which is good news.

In addition, with the passage of time, Zhou Ben on the Jingxiang side and Li Jian from the Shouzhou side are now progressing equally well, and after they have consolidated the several prefectures and counties they occupied, they can further send troops north.

Whether it is from Caizhou and Yingzhou to the north, or from Dengzhou and Qinzhou to the north, the Wu army can directly point to Xuzhou, Ruzhou and other places, plus Chenzhou, which is occupied by Zhu Youneng, the king of Hui, then the vast area south of Kaifeng and Luoyang basically fell into the hands of Wu.

Thinking of Zhu Youneng, Li Chengding suddenly became interested and asked, "Is there any new news about Zhu Youneng, the king of Hui, now?" ”

"The last general doesn't know." Hearing this, the secret agent of the Long Sword Capital shook his head and said, "But since Wang Yanzhang has already come to Ningling, it means that the Liang army is not pursuing him at present, maybe this person has fled back to Chenzhou now?" ”

Li Chengding smiled, a little disapproving: "That's it, it doesn't matter what he does, it's just a lost dog." ”

After some deliberation with Liu Renzhen, Chai Kehong and other generals, he immediately made a decision and ordered Liu Renzhen and Chai Kehong to lead 7,000 troops to stay here to contain the Liang army in Ningling, and he himself led the rest of the army to begin to besiege Songzhou.