After capturing Langzhou, Li Congjing did not go to Suizhou and Hezhou to join Xia Luqi and Guo Wei in person, and after the task of assisting the two armies was handed over to the Hundred Battles Army, Li Congjing immediately changed his route from Langzhou and led the army straight to Zizhou. As for the defense tasks of Lang and Guo Prefectures, Li Congjing was assigned to serve in the Tiger Guard.

After the Jingyan Army, the Protector Army, the Baoyi Army, the Rampage Army, the Longxiang Army, and the Hundred Battles Army successively served as vanguards, Li Congjing took the Tiger Guards as the vanguard when he returned to Zizhou.

There is no doubt that when Li Congjing led the army into the territory of Zizhou, Li Shaobin had already returned to Zizhou City.

On the battlefield in the north, the two armies of Hengchong and Longxiang, with absolute superiority in troops, coupled with equipment superiority, after many days of fierce fighting, were already about to take Mianzhou, on the day when the city was almost breached, Wang Hui led the Dongchuan reinforcements to arrive, and joined forces with the defenders in the city to stop the offensive momentum of the two armies of Hengchong and Longxiang.

On the same day, the two armies of Hengchong and Longxiang were forced to withdraw from the city.

Subsequently, Wang Hui defended the city of Mianzhou, and the two armies of Hengchong and Longxiang could not be attacked.

After that, Li Shaobin returned to Zizhou, although he did not send reinforcements, but he strongly supported Mianzhou, coupled with Li Shaobin's death order, Wang Hui fought to the death, and Mianzhou's defensive momentum was more solid.

However, Li Congjing, who immediately entered Zizhou, tilted the balance of victory in the Mianzhou Battle to the two armies of Hengchong and Longxiang again. Li Congjing clearly ordered Gao Xingzhou and Huang Fulin to break the city within a time limit, otherwise the military law will be punished. At the same time, Li Congjing sent Li Congke and Shi Jingjiao to lead the two armies of Protector and Baoyi to support Mianzhou, and threatened that if the two armies could not capture Mianzhou, the two armies of Baoyi and Protector could do it for them.

Not to mention whether the Baoyi and Protector armies have the intention to make meritorious deeds, there is no doubt that Li Congke and Shi Jingjiao's idea of making meritorious contributions is beyond doubt, but for the Hengchong and Longxiang armies, it is undoubtedly a great shame to let the Protector Army and the Baoyi Army help in the war, or even replace the position of the two armies.

Not to mention that the two armies of Protectorate and Baoyi together are only 4,000 soldiers and horses, and the two armies of Hengchong and Longxiang are forbidden armies!

Gao Xingzhou and Huang Fulin were ashamed and angry, so they braved the arrow stone and fought in front.

At this time, Su Yuan also arrived in Zizhou and discussed with Li Shaobin about the Xichuan Army's assistance to Zizhou. At that time, Li Shaobin agreed to Meng Zhixiang's "request" without hesitation and agreed to the Xichuan Army to fight in Zizhou.

After that, Xia Luqi, Guo Wei, and Meng Ping led the first part of the Wuxin Army, the Wanzhou Army, and the Hundred Battles Army into Zizhou, and the Wang Division's momentum swept the entire territory of Zizhou, and the majesty was greatly inspired. This situation spread to Mianzhou, which greatly affected the morale of the Mianzhou defenders, and before the Xichuan reinforcements entered Zizhou, the two armies of Hengchong and Longxiang finally conquered Mianzhou.

Wang Hui was defeated again.

It's just that this time is different from the Battle of Jianzhou. In the battle of Jianzhou, although Dongchuan was defeated, Wang Hui retreated early, so he retained most of Dongchuan's troops, but this time, when Wang Hui fled back to Zizhou, there were less than 100 soldiers around him.

The troops in Zizhou City are mainly the main force of Dongchuan brought back by Li Shaobin from Langzhou, except for the troops brought by Wang Hui to rescue Mianzhou, there are about seven or eight thousand, plus the troops left in the city, the total number is about 123,000. After Meng Zhixiang contracted the front, Li Renhan's 30,000 soldiers basically did not suffer much damage, which was also the main force of Xichuan, and Meng Zhixiang wanted to use it to rescue the troops of Zizhou, mainly these troops.

In terms of the Wang Division, there were 50,000 forbidden troops, more than 10,000 Wanzhou troops, and the Wuxin army brought by Xia Luqi was actually not much, but there were only two or three thousand people, plus 4,000 people from the two armies of Protectorate and Baoyi, which was originally huge, but guarding Jianzhou, Longzhou, Mianzhou, Langzhou, Hezhou and other states, a lot of troops were allocated, and there were about 40,000 or 50,000 who could be used for the battle of Zizhou.

All in all, there is little difference between the enemy and us.

The battle of Zizhou is about to break out.

On September 29, the day after the Hengchong and Longxiang armies captured Mianzhou, Li Congjing convened a group of staff and generals for an emergency military meeting outside the city of Zizhou. The reason for the emergency military meeting was that Li Congjing had learned through the military intelligence department that Meng Zhixiang had decided to send reinforcements to rescue Zizhou.

"The east and west rivers, the lips and teeth depend on each other, and if the lips die, the teeth are cold, it is not surprising that Meng Zhixiang will rescue Li Shaobin." At the military meeting, Mo Li first informed the participants of the general situation, and then said: "What we received from the letter is that the Xichuan reinforcements have set off and are rushing to Zizhou at night. ”

After Mo Li finished speaking, Li Congjing said to everyone: "The war is urgent, and we need to deal with it quickly, what do you think, but it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

The first to speak was Meng Ping, who stepped forward to clasp his fists at Li Congjing and said: "First set Dongchuan, then set Xichuan, and each one is broken, which is the inherent strategy of this time to cut down Shu." Therefore, the most important thing at the moment is to break through Zizhou quickly. And to break through Zizhou, with the strength of our army, although it is inevitable that there will be a fierce battle, it is not too difficult. The premise is that the Xichuan Army does not enter Zizhou to stir up the situation. Otherwise, the enemy and us will have equal forces, and the other side will have the advantage of geography and people, and once Xichuan and Dongchuan are allowed to join forces, the situation will be greatly unfavorable to us. And at the moment, the Xichuan Army has not yet entered Zizhou, which is an opportunity for our army. Therefore, the intention of the last general is to send a division to intercept the Xichuan army into Zizhou, to avoid the two divisions of the thief army, and the main force to conquer the city! In this way, the big picture can be determined. ”

Li Congjing nodded, this is the best answer to solve the current battle situation, so he didn't let everyone waste time by talking too much, waved his hand and asked Xie Yugan and Zhu Ying to unfold the map drawn by the Military Intelligence Department, got up and led everyone to the map, drew his sword and pointed to the map: "If the Xichuan Army wants to enter Zizhou, it is nothing more than three routes. First, from Hanzhou to the east into Zizhou; The two are from Chengdu to Zizhou in the east; The three, from Jianzhou to the north and then east to Zizhou. ”

Li Congjing crossed three lines with a horizontal knife in his hand and continued: "And these three routes will eventually pass through Xuanwu County, which is a hundred miles west of Zizhou City. In other words, no matter which route the Xichuan reinforcements take, or several roads at the same time, Xuanwu County is a must-pass place. Our army wants to intercept Xichuan reinforcements, and Xuanwu County is the best place. ”

Speaking of this, Li Congjing took the horizontal knife and looked around at everyone, "If you capture Xuanwu County, you will be able to isolate the east and west rivers." ”

"Xuanwu County is the throat of the lifeline connecting East and Xichuan, and Meng Zhixiang wants to send troops to rescue Zizhou, so Li Shaobin must have heavy troops stationed here." Wang Pu said in a deep voice.

"Not bad." Li Congjing nodded, "According to the report of the Military Intelligence Department, there are no less than 6,000 Dongchuan soldiers and horses stationed in Xuanwu County, and they are basically elites. ”

"Li Shaobin's movements are so fast, and he has sent so many soldiers and horses here?" Wang Pu was a little surprised.

"It's not that Li Shaobin moved quickly and the reinforcements were timely, but that there were already these soldiers and horses here." Don't leave the leisurely road.

"Why is that?" Wang Pu was puzzled.

"Since Xuanwu is the throat connecting Dongchuan and Xichuan, it is naturally also an important town for Dongchuan to defend Xichuan, with Li Shaobin's temperament, how can he not be heavily garrisoned here?" Sang Weihan reacted in time and couldn't help but sneer.

"However, this time it is a crooked attack, and it is not easy for our army to capture a county town with 6,000 elite garrisons before the arrival of Xichuan reinforcements." Du Qianshu smiled bitterly.

"And that's not even the worst part. The most disadvantageous point for our army is that the main force of our army will not be able to send many soldiers and horses to Xuanwu County if it wants to attack Zizhou. Mo Li opened the folding fan and said.

"Not to mention how difficult it is to capture Xuanwu, after the start of the war, although Zizhou has the main force to attack, but after all, this place is the foundation of Li Shaobin, and Li Shaobin personally defends it, and it is not possible to attack it in three or two days. And the Xichuan reinforcements are nearly 30,000 to say the least, and after the division captures Xuanwu County, it will have to fight with several times the Xichuan elite for many days, which is really not easy. Wei Dao sighed.

"How many soldiers and horses is the marshal going to send to Xuanwu County?" Meng Ping asked at this time.

"10,000 at the least, 15,000 at the most." Li Congjing glanced at Meng Ping.

"It's been a tough battle." Meng Ping couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"It's tough." Li Congjing said seriously.

"There are 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers in the army, and only one army can take on this heavy responsibility." Meng Ping shook his head in annoyance.

"There really is only one army." Li Congjing's eyes were deep.

"This army is the army of a hundred battles." The eyes of all the generals and officials looked over, Meng Ping did not evade, and said directly. The strength of the army is respected, one is one, two is two, but there is no atmosphere of humility and avoidance, you can not be convinced, but you can't help but admit it.

"It's true that there are only a hundred battle armies." Li Congjing said.

"How much time does the Hundred Battles Army have to take Xuanwu County?" Meng Ping asked.

"Three days. In four days at most, Xichuan reinforcements will arrive in Xuanwu County. Li Congjing said truthfully.

"Except for the time of marching, this world is really not rich." Meng Ping smiled helplessly, but he didn't hesitate and continued to ask: "How many days will the Hundred Battles Army hold on to Xuanwu County?" ”

Li Congjing looked at Meng Ping, and was silent for a rare moment, and then said eight words in an extremely solemn tone: "No military order, no evacuation!" ”

"The Admiral understands." Meng Ping pondered for a while, and then resolutely clenched his fists: "Please give the order!" ”

After Li Congjing returned to the Shuai case, he picked up a token and said, "Meng Ping listens to the order!" ”

"The last general!"

"I order you to lead a hundred battle troops, immediately rush to Xuanwu County, seize and defend it, no matter what the battle situation is, if you don't see the military order, you must not retreat!"

"The last general commands!"

"Lin Xiong listens to the order!"

"The last general!"

"I order you to lead the gentlemen of the headquarters to go to Xuanwu County with Meng Ping, and obey Meng Ping's dispatch in wartime!"

"The last general commands!"

"The two of you should quickly convene the trilogy, and later Ben Shuai will come to practice for you."