Although the conditions offered by Ganling were particularly tempting for the Lu family, after thinking about it again and again, Lu Yan still did not dare to agree to the enemy general in Hedong in person, he only promised to bring Ganling's words back to Lu Yi without a word, and the final decision on whether to make a private peace was in the hands of Lu Yi.

Ganling also has nothing to discourage, but there is also a requirement, that is, the sincerity of the Koji family must be seen again before tomorrow night.

Taking advantage of the night, Gan Ling asked his personal guards to quietly send Lu Yan and several henchmen he brought out of the camp.

···

In the besieged Yewang City, Lu Yingzheng, who wanted to see him, was tied to his horse in humiliation, and together with other captured Hebei soldiers, he was sent to Yewang City as a prisoner of the Hedong army to show off the martial arts of the Hebei reinforcements, so as to break the morale of Zhang Yang's guards in Yewang City.

Lu Ying and several Hebei soldiers were tied to horses shirtless, lined up at the front of the team, and other Hebei soldiers were not treated so well, they were tied up by ropes before and after, lined up in a long line, and staggered around the periphery of Yewang City in the order of the Hedong sergeant, shouting weakly that the Hebei reinforcements had been defeated and the guards in the city surrendered quickly.

These two or three hundred people were naked, tied up in a long line, shouting like this outside the city, which naturally quickly aroused the idea of the guards in Yewang City, which city wall this team went to, the guards on that side would poke their heads out, look at these defeated prisoners in amazement, and then look at the armor and banners that were set up by the Hedong sergeants to show off, and couldn't help but whisper in twos and threes.

"It's the armor of the Hebei soldiers, and the flag, it's not wrong, it's really the Jizhou soldiers and horses."

"Really, it's impossible, but I heard General Tun say that Taishou promised that the Hebei army would arrive in the city within a few days."

"Ridiculous, why should I lie to you, I went to the old age, but I witnessed the soldiers and horses of Jizhou, at that time, ah······"

In the corner of the city wall, an old soldier was spitting to several new soldiers around him about his experience of witnessing the soldiers and horses of Jizhou, and then swore that the armor and flags outside the city belonged to the soldiers of Hebei.

However, some of the new soldiers did not believe it, and asked with doubts:

"But General Tun has obviously said that this reinforcement has arrived in the past few days, and it is unlikely that this will be broken by the enemy army outside the city, right?"

As soon as the old man saw that someone was questioning his authority, he immediately snorted disdainfully, and sneered and scolded unceremoniously:

"You bastard, relying on a little strength, not even a little brain, sooner or later you will die on the battlefield in vain, let me ask you, have you found that the enemy army outside the city on our side has been reduced by pulling out the camp and leaving?"

After the new pawn was scolded, he didn't dare to speak out, but the others thought about it, and immediately nodded their heads, these days, the enemy troops outside the city are frequently mobilized, and there are indeed signs of troops and horses pulling out the camp and leaving, I heard that the siege outside the east city wall was also withdrawn by the enemy army outside the city.

"That's it! Let me tell you, learn a little, this is the art of war in the 'siege of the city', that is generally the art of war only known by generals and captains, if I hadn't been a soldier under Wang Taishou's account back then, I still don't know the way of it! ”

Hearing that only generals and lieutenants know the art of war, several new soldiers suddenly became excited, and tirelessly listened to the explanations of the old soldiers, they are all new soldiers who have been forcibly conscripted into the army in recent months, although they have also hastily trained the blades and formations, but the doorways in these armies are very little understood.

It's just that the old pawn can't say too much truth about the "siege of the city and reinforcements", so he can only brag about how powerful the person who knows this art of war is, and then secretly lowered his voice and guessed.

"I estimate that the Hebei soldiers outside the city who were defeated and captured were defeated by the part of the enemy army in Hedong that suddenly left the camp these days."

"Otherwise, if the reinforcements from Hebei are going to reach Yewang, how can they not send cavalry envoys to contact the prince in the city, but these days, can you see knights breaking through the siege from outside the city and knocking on the door near the city? So, according to my years of experience, this Hebei reinforcement must be ······"

The old soldier's chattering voice became smaller and smaller, but the few new soldiers around him could listen attentively, because the old soldier's speculation was traceable, and ordinary soldiers could detect it, so it sounded like it was much more reliable than the black-faced Tun general's words, and the Hebei reinforcements who had not arrived for a long time.

When the new pawns were listening excitedly, the new pawn who was originally scolded by the old pawn suddenly shouted and jumped up, startling everyone.

Everyone thought that it was the general or the team leader who came to inspect the city wall, but found that no one had come at all, so they all glared at the new pawn who had just made a fuss, but the new pawn ignored everyone's gaze, ran to the battlement, pulled out an arrow, and muttered to himself:

"Why is there only one arrow, isn't there an enemy army attacking the city?"

After he finished speaking, the arrow in his hand had been snatched away by the old soldier, and the old soldier saw the strip of cloth tied to the arrow, and scolded and said:

"Fool, this is not a siege, it is the enemy army outside the city who shoots letters into the city!"

The handwriting on the cloth strip was still neat, but in the eyes of everyone, he couldn't understand it, and even the old man only understood a few of the words, and he couldn't piece it together, but he knew that the matter was very important, so he hurriedly brought this arrow and went down to the city to prepare to hand it over to the tun general who was resting in the pergola under the city.

The old pawn's expectation was still right, he took off his armor, lay down under the pergola, and shy his stomach to avoid the sun exposure Tun General saw the strip of cloth on this arrow, and immediately jumped up, and asked the old pawn how many such arrows with strips of cloth were still in the city, and then hurriedly rushed to the city with a soldier.

Subsequently, not only the tun general was alarmed, but also the Taishou in the city was also alarmed, and he personally came to the city wall to inspect it.

Zhang Yang came to the city wall with a black face, at this time, the Hebei soldiers who walked around the city wall outside the city were captured, and they had not finished walking, but they were also driven away by the bows and arrows on the city's head, and they did not dare to get close to the range and shout.

And the guards on the city wall were standing on guard, and even the generals were wearing armor and holding soldiers, and they didn't dare to relax sloppily.

But Zhang Yang was not comfortable, he clutched a strip of cloth torn from the arrow in his hand, and his brows were furrowed, as if the soldiers in front of him had become enemies.

The words on the cloth strip are very simple and straightforward, that is, to tell the guards in the city that the reinforcements in Hebei have been defeated and retreated, Yewang City has been isolated and helpless, and Zhang Yang is about to be destroyed.

If this kind of letter was at the beginning of the siege, the effect was not obvious, but now the reinforcements from Hebei have not arrived, and today there are suddenly defeated and captured Hebei soldiers, which naturally caused the guards in the city to panic, and it is difficult to guarantee, and there are not one or two ambitious people among them who want to take this opportunity to kill Zhang Xiancheng.

Zhang Yang crumpled the strips of cloth into a ball with some disgust, threw them outside the city, and then beckoned the soldiers around him to go down the city wall together.

As soon as he arrived under the city wall, Zhang Yang immediately shouted to his side from Sima Yang Chou, he looked at Yang Chou and said:

"Today, all these soldiers who are defending on the city wall have been removed for me, and the garrisons on the city are replaced by your soldiers and horses. And-"

At this time, Zhang Yang deliberately lowered his voice and said suspiciously:

"You must also be careful of the stubborn Black Mountain soldiers, they are desperate to vote, and the new ones will not be shortly surrendered, don't be gullible, don't let his soldiers get close to the city gate."

Last year, Yuan Shao's Hebei army cleared out the Black Mountain bandits in the territory, searched the mountains and cleared the wilderness, killed Yu Poison and other thieves, and had no choice but to take the remnants and defect to Zhang Yang in neighboring Hanoi.

Yang Chou hurriedly and cautiously agreed, Zhang Yang was worried and troubled recently because the reinforcements did not arrive, and he was in a hurry to the city wall.

At this time, under the daylight, I also felt dry and groggy in the morning, and after saying a few words one after another, I got on my horse and left, and returned to the official temple in the city with my personal guards.

And after Zhang Yang left, Yang Chou, who had been immersed in accepting Zhang Yang's reprimand, slowly raised his head, he looked at the back of Zhang Yang who was gone, and a strange evil smile appeared on his seemingly respectful face.

···

The restless and suspicious Zhang Yang did not realize that the danger around him was imminent, while Zhang Ji, who led the army back to Dayang, finally understood why there were warships and the enemy army suddenly attacked the grain and grass of the army he had hoarded in Shaanxi County.

In the past year, Hedong has built docks in Pishi and other places, and built an unknown number of Mengchong warships, which were sailed down the river that night, suddenly attacked and burned the pontoon bridge, cutting off the connection between the two sides of the river.

Of course, relying only on these warships and the dozens of boatmen on each Mengchong warship could only take advantage of the advantage on the water to burn down the pontoon bridges and destroy the boats that Zhang Ji used to transport grain, which did not pose a real threat to Zhang Ji's granary garrisoned by 2,000 elite soldiers.

But the problem is that then a large number of boats let an elite soldier and horse board the river bank and take advantage of the situation to attack the unstable granary of Shaanxi County.

In the end, those soldiers and horses who attacked the granary of Linhe in Shaanxi County, a fire, mercilessly burned Hongnong's 200,000 grains and grass, and also burned the only way for Zhang Ji's army to survive.

Zhang Ji didn't understand at first that even if Hedong could take advantage of the advantage in the water and transport soldiers and horses to avoid the guards of his land cities, where did Hedong get such an elite army to attack his granary.

It wasn't until he heard that Duan Xuan, who was in Huayin, took advantage of the chaos in Hongnong County to suddenly send troops and defeat the 5,000 soldiers and horses he had left in Huxian County to guard the west, that he completely realized it.

This elite soldier who attacked his grain and grass at night was the elite men and horses sent by Duan Xuan.

On the day when there is his own army in Hongnong, Hedong, which is across the river, needs to be on guard against its neighboring strong neighbors at all times, and Duan Xuan, who is in Huayin, needs to hold his tail and honestly guard the land of a city, making a harmless appearance to people and animals.

But in the hearts of both of them, they always want to solve the threats around them and replace Zhang Ji.

Perhaps, as early as when he thought he could reap the benefits of the fisherman, Yan Xing also secretly contacted Duan Xuan of Huayin.

The two hit it off, one side went out of the boat, and the other side sent troops, and only then did they stage a big drama of hiding from the sky and crossing the sea and secretly Chen Cang in the fog.

Zhang Ji wanted Duan Xuan's smiling face that seemed harmless to humans and animals, and only wanted to defend the land and the people, and immediately gritted his teeth with hatred, regretting that he realized it later, and let the greedy wolves around him sneak attack from under his nose.

And as the price of hindsight, Zhang Ji's army that invaded Hedong also fell into a dilemma, wanting to continue to advance, Yan Xingqin led the soldiers and horses, resisted to the death, and wanted to retreat.

In order to avoid the complete collapse of the army in Hedong after the military rations were cut off, Zhang Ji had to take advantage of the last opportunity that the grain and grass in the army could still support for a few days, and immediately retreated to Dayang, wanting to cross the river and return to Shaanxi County to clean up the mess.

Along the way, in order to block the news, Zhang Ji detained five or six horsemen from Dayang, from the direction of Shaanxi County to ask for help, to the back, in order to stabilize the military heart that has begun to waver, Zhang Ji sent Zhang Xiu to lead the fine cavalry, far ahead of the army, as soon as there is an urgent messenger, immediately shoot and kill, never let a horse emergency messenger, gallop into the army's field of vision.

In this way, Zhang Ji led the army whose morale was crumbling, and finally came to Dayang City without danger.

It's just that when he led the army to the edge of the river, Zhang Ji also ushered in the first big problem of withdrawing the army.

How to cross the river unharmed?

On the big river, there are also hidden in the shadows, and the warships of the Hedong Boat Division, which may appear at any time, will take advantage of the time when their army is halfway crossing, suddenly attack, like cutting off a pontoon bridge, cut their army into two on the water, and then Yan Xing on the north bank and Duan Xuan on the south bank will appear like hungry wolves pounce on food, pounce viciously, and completely swallow their isolated and helpless army from both banks.

The boats that crossed the river before had been burned by the Hedong Boat Division in that night, and even if the boats were collected temporarily, there were not enough boats to enable the army to cross the river, and in front of Zhang Ji, only by laying pontoon bridges, tying rafts and wooden rafts, could the army be able to cross the river and return to Shaanxi County.

And the speed must be fast, the situation of the military rations being burned, with the arrival of the army in Dayang, it is difficult to conceal it, and it is necessary to let the army return to Shaanxi County before the military rations are cut off and the army's morale collapses.

Even if the facts have become impossible, as many soldiers and horses as we can cross the river and try to recover, we must save as many soldiers and horses as we can.

Zhang Ji had already begun to order his subordinates to work day and night to cut timber, build wooden rafts, rafts, and wooden poppies needed to lay pontoon bridges.

They have to race against time to cross the big river moat in front of them before the soldiers and horses in Hedong recover and adjust, catch up and pounce.