After Plug Yinxi, Li Guo and others returned to Hubei, they found that the shape was even more severe.

In the past few days, the Qing army captured two more county seats, most of the outlying strongholds of Zhongxiang (now Zhongxiang City, Hubei) of Chengtianfu City were lost, and it has become a lonely city, under the command of Kong Youde and Le Ke Dehun, hundreds of thousands of Qing troops rolled to Chengtianfu and Jingzhou Mansion like a mill, steadily and steadily, step by step, although the loyal battalion resisted hard, but it was still defeated and retreated, and it was never able to find a chance to counterattack.

What's even more dangerous is that Kong Youde and Luck Dehun mobilized the main force of the Qing army, and suddenly entered Qianjiang County on the south bank of the Han River, and killed them towards the combination of Chengtian Mansion and Jingzhou Mansion...... This punch is hitting the waist of the loyal battalion, if Qianjiang County is lost, the connection between Chengtianfu and Jingzhou Mansion will be severed, and Chengtianfu will also fall into the encirclement of the Qing army, and there is no way back to retreat.

Obviously, Kong Youde adopted the strategy of dividing and encircling and breaking each one, intending to clamp and drag a lump, first surround Chengtianfu as a bait, force Jingzhou Mansion to be saved, and finally wipe out all the loyal battalions north of the Yangtze River.

This is a conspiracy on the battlefield, the Qing army backs it up with strength, and does not hide its strategic intentions, and the loyal battalion knows that it will be defeated if it continues like this, so it can only resist first.

Emergency retreat? How can it be that simple!

The 200,000 army is not just leaving, if you abandon Chengtianfu and Jingzhou Mansion and flee in a hurry, there will be the Yangtze River in front of you to block the road, and then there will be a non-stop pursuit and killing of the Qing army, and there is a chance that the whole army will be wiped out.

Li Guo had no choice but to send troops to reinforce Qianjiang County, and strive to hold on for a while longer, so that the troops of Chengtianfu could be safely withdrawn across the Han River. But for the results of the battle of Qianjiang. Li Guo, Du Yinxi and others did not dare to have too much hope, Qianjiang was just a small county town, and under the fierce attack of tens of thousands of elite Qing troops, I am afraid that it would not be able to hold it for a few days.

Do your best, let it be the fate of heaven!

Li Guo and others had to admit that Kong Youde and Le Kedehun were indeed veterans of the battlefield, and the attack points were selected accurately and ruthlessly, and tens of thousands of elite troops of the Qing army had already reached the north bank of the Han River, which was only separated by a river from Qianjiang County, and would attack at any time. And the strength of the loyalty battalion is not enough. I could only sit and watch the situation deteriorate rapidly, and Li Guo and several other major generals talked late at night, but they never found a better countermeasure.

"If Qianjiang is lost, our army's Jingzhou Mansion must not fight, and should withdraw across the Yangtze River as much as possible. And the Chengtian Mansion Department should also immediately abandon Zhongxiang and retreat to the Kuidong area. If you can't cross the Yangtze River. Just retreat to Sichuan first......" Li Guo is planning for the worst, to put it simply, if Qianjiang County is lost, the troops of Chengtianfu and Jingzhou Mansion will disperse and break through, and they can run away as much as they want, so as not to be served by the Qing army.

Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi and other generals were silent. They all lowered their heads, and scattering and breaking through the siege was actually fleeing for their lives, and they were killed by hundreds of thousands of Qing troops from behind, and the loyal battalion must have suffered heavy losses. Vitality is greatly damaged,

However, this is also a way to do it, the combat effectiveness of the Qing army is too strong, the loyal battalion can barely deal with Luck Dehun, and the king of Sanshun is definitely not an opponent, so he can only disperse and break through.

At this time, an officer hurriedly walked in, presenting the latest information that had just been sent from the front line in Qianjiang County, Li Guo opened it, and couldn't help but be surprised and delighted, the information made it clear that the Qing army's forward suddenly stagnated on the north bank of the Han River, and there were signs of retreat.

"Huh? Is Kong Youde's brain broken? What the hell is he doing! Tian Jianxiu was also overjoyed, the Qing army delayed for one more day, the Ming army had one more day to retreat, and more personnel and materials could be retained, if the Qing army really gave up attacking Qianjiang County, the situation would immediately turn dangerous.

"Could it be a mistake? Quickly call the messenger from Qianjiang County in...... no, I'll go with you to find him!" Gao Yigong stood up and hurried out with the officer, trying to check the news with the messenger.

In the 200,000 troops of the Loyal Battalion, Gao Yigong's status is second only to Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu, and he is a general who controls and commands the overall situation. However, none of the generals of the loyal battalion felt strange, this information from Qianjiang County was too important, and they were eager to take a look.

Accident, it's so unexpected, how could Kong Youde make such a low-level mistake?

Du Yinxi has been frowning and thinking, and suddenly said: "This matter is a little strange, could it be that Wang Junmen has moved?" ”

"No, it won't." Tian Jianxiu shook his head: "It's only been more than ten days, even if Wang Junmen has already sent troops, at most he is attacking Xianning County, even if the Tartars send troops to rescue, they can also transfer troops from Wuchang Mansion, and it will not affect the Qianjiang side." ”

Xianning is an important stronghold of the Qing army, although it is only a county town, but there are thousands of elite troops stationed, and Wuchang Mansion will send reinforcements at any time, according to common sense, with Wang Kefan's troops to conquer Xianning, it takes at least five or six days of preparation time, and it has to go through several days of fierce fighting.

Even if the sky is broken, Wang Kefan has just conquered Xianning, and the threat to the Qing army is not great, Kong Youde and Le Kede will not adjust the overall strategic deployment and divide troops to deal with Wang Kefan.

I really don't understand!

But definitely good news!

In the apprehension and excitement, Du Yinxi and Li Guo and other generals all had sleepless nights.

Early the next morning, the messenger sent by Wang Kefan rushed to Jingzhou, and they finally received the latest battle report of the Chu army, only then did they know that the Chu army had already conquered Xianning, and then swept through the area of Huangzhou Prefecture on the south bank of the Yangtze River, Liankexing Guozhou, Daye, Ezhou and other counties, and was now attacking Huanggang, the capital of Huangzhou.

So that's it!

Xianning is just a peripheral stronghold of Wuchang Mansion, the Qing army can ignore it, but Huangzhou Mansion is stuck in the throat of the Yangtze River waterway, if it is conquered by the Chu army, the logistics supply of the Qing army will be affected by Yanzhòng, Kong Youde can't ignore it!

There is no doubt that Kong Youde has been forced to divide his troops and mobilize the main force to deal with the Chu army, no wonder they will abandon the attack on Qianjiang County.

Such allies are too reliable!

In order to help the loyal battalion, the Chu army did not hesitate to put themselves in danger, Li Guo and others were sincerely moved and admired, put themselves in their shoes, if the Chu army was replaced by the loyal battalion, even if they could conquer Xianning, they might not have the courage to cross the Yangtze River and attack Huanggang in a battle against the water.

When Wang Kefan first became the commander of Caojiang, Li Guo, Tian Jianxiu and others were happy to see this matter come to fruition due to factional reasons, but they still regarded Wang Kefan as an ally rather than a real boss in terms of mentality.

After the Battle of Huangzhou, their mentality was faintly changing. (To be continued......)