Inside the palace, Zhao Gou's face finally turned pale. The 30,000 imperial battalion army was about to collapse at the touch of a button, although more than 10,000 people ran into Yangzhou City, but they lost their armor and could not afford to fight again. Zhang Jun, who had high hopes, is now kneeling under His Royal Highness, shirtless, revealing three tragic knife cuts, carrying a bundle of thorns on his back, and is performing a joke about pleading for the guilt of thorns.

The reason why Zhao Gou did not push Zhang Jun out of the noon gate and behead him was because there were no generals in Yangzhou City. No matter how unbearable Zhang Jun is, the commander of the city can only fall on Zhang Jun.

"Rubbish! Useless waste! Zhao Gou scolded fiercely, and his saliva sprayed on Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun just knelt on the mountain and shouted long live. After Zhao Gou finished scolding Zhang Jun, he turned around again and scolded the two important ministers who hung their heads and pretended to be asleep. "Huang Qianshan, Wang Boyan, do you two have a strategy to retreat from the enemy?"

Huang Qianshan sweated on his forehead, and he was so frightened that he didn't dare to breathe. just scolded Zhang Jun in his heart, you, the puppet of the Western Army, can be regarded as making the old man miserable.

Zhao Gou saw that he was the privy envoy of the Great Wall who was in danger, and his heart was even more angry, and his handsome face showed a trace of hideousness. "Two waste! I really regret being bewitched by you and demoting Zong Ze out of the Central Plains. If Zong Aiqing was here, how could Yue Fei dare to attack Yangzhou? Alas, it's a pity that Zong Aiqing is now far away on Jinghu South Road, and the water can't quench her thirst. ”

Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan were even more frightened when they saw Zhao Gou say such words. What they were worried about was not that Zhao Gou would kill them, but that once Li Bao broke through Yangzhou, he would definitely kill them. It's a pity that these two have first-class skills to harm people, and their ability to resist the enemy is really lacking.

"Rubbish! It's all rubbish! "Faced with a crisis, the courtiers of the palace have all become stuffy gourds. This made Zhao Gou even more angry. These are all important ministers he personally promoted, but he didn't expect that when he was in danger, none of them would be useful.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty!" Minister Zhao Ding finally walked out of the queue and said loudly, "Although the old minister is useless, if the emperor is willing to use the old minister to defend the city, the old minister can definitely hold Yangzhou." ”

Zhao Ding was demoted to Jinghu South Road as an official by Zhao Gou because of negotiations with the Protector Army, and he had just returned to the court not long ago. Seeing the tens of thousands of horses in the Golden Palace, Zhao Ding also felt a little sad in his heart. How can such a courtier save the day when the country is in danger?

Zhao Gou's face finally showed joy. "Zhao Aiqing is loyal and brave to the country, and he is really the pillar of the country. Since this is the case, Zhao Aiqing quickly left the palace and led Miao Fu Liu Zhengyan, as well as Zhang Jun, and the three generals to the city to defend the palace. If I can defend this city, I will reward him heavily. ”

After Zhao Ding thanked him, he continued, "Your Majesty, for today's plan, in addition to defending the city, you must also send people to the field to transfer troops as soon as possible. Yang Yizhong, Liu Guangshi, and Lu Yihao's three military horses received the holy decree and would rush back to rescue them day and night. At that time, the traitor Li Bao will be annihilated under the city. ”

Zhao Gou said in a loud voice, "What Zhao Aiqing said is extremely true. I will immediately send the palace guards to the field to transfer troops. Yangzhou's safety is now on Aiqing's shoulders. ”

Zhao Ding said resolutely, "Even if the minister is broken, he must guard Yangzhou and not let the traitor gain his will." ”

After Zhao Ding and the four of them left the hall, the hall finally regained a little vitality. Both the ministers of civil and military affairs breathed a sigh of relief. As long as you don't go to the battlefield, you will never die under the sword and gun. What's more, as long as he doesn't go to the battlefield, after the city is broken, presumably Li Bao will not kill everyone. The Protector Army has a very good reputation, although the imperial court has repeatedly smeared the Protector Army, but these qualified ministers know that the Protector Army has never killed indiscriminately or indiscriminately. At least one-third of the ministers in the court, the family has invested in business in Yingtian and Xuzhou. So they weren't too worried about Yangzhou being broken. The Protector Army is not a golden army that does all kinds of evil, what is there to fear!

In fact, Zhao Gou's worries were purely unnecessary. Li Bao never dared to use thousands of men and horses to conquer Yangzhou City. Unless Yangzhou City automatically opens its gates. After Li Bao collected more than 10,000 imperial battalion fat troops, although he made a lot of noise under the city, he never launched a substantial attack.

Because there was really no way to attack, no crashes, no arrow towers, no ladders. All siege engines were to be made locally. Although Zhao Ding was not good at martial arts, he guarded the city for a day, but he also discovered Li Bao's weakness, and immediately prepared to send Miao Fu to lead a group of elite horsemen out of the city to attack.

Who wants Miao Fu to refuse immediately. "Lord Zhao, the emperor can be in the city. It's not that the last general is timid, it's just that the soldiers are in danger, and if something happens, the emperor's golden body will be frightened. ”

Liu Zhengyan also immediately echoed. "General Miao is right. Lord Zhao, let's not take risks. ”

Zhao Ding knew that the two of them were just greedy for life and afraid of death, but they were helpless. You must know that Miao Fu Liu Zhengyan is also a military minister who has followed Zhao Gou for a long time, and he also has thousands of descendants in his hands. If you want to hold Yangzhou, you can only count on them.

On the third day of Li Bao's siege, hundreds of simple ladders had been built. The defenders at the head of the city suddenly tensed. When Zhao Gou heard the news, he was even more nervous. At this time, Wang Boyan led his son-in-law into the palace again.

After Qin Hui's return, although the strategy of combining the north and the south was quite in line with Zhao Gou's meaning. However, because the ministers of the DPRK and China suspected that Qin Hui was a spy of the Jin people, Zhao Gou had not reused Qin Hui for the time being.

Seeing Qin Hui coming from Shi Shiran, Zhao Gou's face sank and said fiercely. "Qin Hui, you offer a good plan!"

Qin Hui hurriedly knelt on the ground and pleaded guilty. "Your Majesty, the ministers are public-minded, only for Zhao Song. Presumably, the emperor can now see that the greatest threat to the imperial court is not the Jin people, but the people's protectors. ”

Zhao Gou snorted. "Not bad. Now the Protector Army has been killed under the city of Yangzhou. The Jin Ren Second Route Army, which you had high hopes for, has not yet been able to attack Ying Tianfu. The strategy of the joint attack between the north and the south has made people all over the world talk about it, and it has also damaged the reputation of the imperial court. Your good plan! ”

Qin Hui smiled slightly, and said loudly, "It turns out that the emperor is worried about this. Weichen believes that Li Bao is not worried. On the contrary, it was precisely because Li Bao came to Yangzhou that it showed that the situation in Ying Tianfu was extremely critical. ”

Zhao Gou's spirits perked up, and he hurriedly urged, "Aiqing said carefully." ”

Qin Hui said, "Li Bao's attack on Yangzhou is just a plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao. The minister heard that General Han Shizhong was approaching the city of Xuzhou, and although he failed to capture, he also dragged down tens of thousands of elites of the Protector Army. Although the Protector Army is now huge, the soldiers are brave and brave, and the soldiers are intimidating half of the Central Plains. However, the foundation for the survival of the Protector Army is still only Yingtian and Xuzhou. Although Xuzhou has only been submissive to the Protector Army for half a year, as far as Weichen knows, seventy percent of the wealth of the Protector Army now comes from Xuzhou, and the six major salt merchants in Xuzhou are all recruited by the Protector Army. Once Xuzhou is lost, even if Yue Fei has the ability to reach the sky, he can only starve to death. Therefore, Weichen concluded that Li Bao's attack was the strategy of encircling Wei to save Zhao. Therefore, Weichen supported Lord Zhao Ding's mention. Stick to the city, wait for Yang Yizhong and Lu Yihao to arrive, and then break Li Bao. But General Han Shizhong's place, the emperor wanted to issue another holy decree and ordered General Han to capture Xuzhou at any cost. ”

I have to say that Qin Hui did see Li Bao's intentions, and also saw the hole cards of the Protector Army. Zhao Gou knew that Qin Hui was right. Still, he was a little worried. He was worried that before Han Shizhong conquered Xuzhou, Li Bao had already captured Yangzhou. In the past few days, Zhao Gou has been hesitating whether to withdraw Han Shizhong's army from Xuzhou. Zhao Gou has now tacitly acquiesced in his heart that Han Shizhong is the number one general under him, and Liu Guangshi and Zhang Jun are not to be ashamed.

Qin Hui saw Zhao Gou's worries, and immediately said loudly, "Your Majesty, Li Bao is not worried, Xuzhou is the key point of the Protector Army." The Protector Army is now in the dragon trapped pool, if you don't take the opportunity to destroy it, the general trend will go! The emperor is familiar with the people's feelings, should know where the hearts of the people in the world are at present? ”

Zhao Gou's face suddenly sank. Although Qin Hui's words were ugly, they hit the hidden worries in Zhao Gou's heart. For example, everyone knows the People's Army today, and they all call Yue Fei Yue Shuai, but they have a lot of criticism about him, the son of heaven. This is also the reason why Zhao Gou is infamous in the world and wants to join forces with Jin Guo to attack Yue Fei. If Han Shizhong is withdrawn, won't the infamy he have suffered for a while in vain?

Qin Hui finally persuaded Zhao Gou. But on the fifth day, Zhao Gou changed his hexagram again, and a holy decree, with a carrier pigeon specially trained by the royal family, flew to the city of Xuzhou, ordering Han Shizhong to withdraw his troops quickly.

"The enemy is coming to the city! Han Qing is the pillar of the country, please return to the army as soon as possible. If the army is slow, the kings and ministers will meet in the den of thieves. ”

The reason that prompted Zhao Gou to change his hexagram was that Li Bao suddenly attacked the city with all his might. Yangzhou City, which has high walls and dangerous walls, has been attacked by pirates for two consecutive days. What made Zhao Gou even more desperate was that as soon as the 1,000 people of Yang Yizhong's front army, who rushed to King Qin, arrived at the city, they were defeated by Li Bao's 800 pro-army. Yang Yizhong had no choice but to retreat to Zhenjiang.

Yang Yi was born in the Lieutenant General Sect, and his father and brother both died on the battlefield of the anti-gold war. Yang Yizhong is known as a brave general, second only to Han Shizhong. Now that Yang Yizhong has been defeated by Li Bao, let alone Lu Yihao, who was born in Wenchen.

Qin Hui didn't dare to say anything at this time. Zhao Gou promoted Qin Hui to the third level and served as the middle of the imperial history. Zhao Gou recalled Han Shizhong, but reused Qin Hui, in fact, it was Zhao Gou who recognized Qin Hui's opinion.

It's just that Zhao Gou didn't have the courage to gamble, so he could only withdraw Han Shizhong.

Li Bao besieged Yangzhou for 20 days, attacked the city of Yangzhou more than ten times, defeated the army and horses of King Qin five times, and more than 10,000 imperial fat soldiers also killed fat in repeated battles and became real strong men. This battle made Haikou Li Bao famous all over the world and quickly became the most famous general of the Protector Army.

It wasn't until Han Shizhong's vanguard arrived eighty miles outside Yangzhou that Li Bao led 6,000 Haikou and more than 8,000 strong men trained by the imperial camp to board a big ship and go down the river. On the way, by the way, he defeated Shao Yong, the commander of the naval army who had just arrived from Mingzhou.

In late March, the stormy Protectors turned the corner again. Zhang Xian took Bianliang and purged the Hu people in the city. More than 3,000 hard soldiers killed the Hu people in a river of blood. At the same time, Zhang Heng, the boat fire, captured Juzhou again, which was regarded as another important town on Jingxi Road. Although Zong Bi is brave, he is powerless against Zhang Heng, who uses water as a village. Mr. Yang Zaixing and Mr. Niu Gaochuang continued to stalk Zong Han. Wang Yan and Ma Kuo also joined the battle formation. Hundreds of thousands of righteous troops crisscrossed the West Hebei Road, which was regarded as completely dragging Zong Han's army on the north bank of the Yellow River.

Dong Xian's cavalry had already arrived in Dengzhou. Yue turned Zhao Wan not only successfully held Xuzhou, but also took Suzhou when Han Shizhong withdrew his troops. In the blink of an eye, half of the Jianghuai land has fallen into the territory of the Protector Army.

It's a pity that before Yue Fei had time to catch his breath, the Jurchen Western Route Army finally showed its sharpest fangs. Trap Luoyang, take Zhengzhou, and go straight to Bianliang City.

In the west of Bianliang, the thirty-six camps that Zong Ze painstakingly managed were attacked and broken thirteen times by Wanyan Lou's room. Luo Yanqing was invincible. Zhang Xian was invincible. Dong Xianhua Ruyu led 10,000 cavalry troops to Bianliang, and was defeated by Wanyan Saliyu in one fell swoop, and nearly half of the 10,000 cavalry were lost.

In the blink of an eye, the Protector Army, which was in a good shape, fell into the storm again. defeated Zong Bi, defeated Wang Jun, and defeated the imperial court, but Wanyan Lou's room became the last straw that pressed on the camel's body.