"What? Where did you get the news? "Guangling Mansion is desecrated, the Qi army is in a big camp, and Murong Cheng roared again. He got the news of Qidi, in addition to Jingzhou being attacked by the Tang army, Yuzhou being occupied by the Yanzhou army, and Yangzhou being attacked by the Xuzhou army, Jiaozhou and Jiangzhou in the south and west were also attacked by his great enemy Situ Lei.

Zhang Tu's face was solemn, and he said urgently: "Back to the Lord, this news was obtained from the Yanzhou Army in Huaiyin Mansion. ”

Murong Cheng said with an ugly face: "Yanzhou Army? Will they be kind enough to pass the news on to us? Is it fake news? When we left Huaiyin City, we slaughtered the people of Huaiyin City and made it a white land. In addition, the news of his peace with us has also been disseminated, how can they be happy to pass the news to us? ”

Zhong Yan smiled bitterly: "Lord, our slaughter of the people of Huaiyin City and its surrounding six counties has no immediate loss of interests for the Yanzhou army. In other words, the Yanzhou army hated us on the surface. But in fact, we are still thanking us for the slaughter of the people there. In this way, after they take over the Huaiyin Mansion, they will turn the people's hostility towards them into hostility towards us. What about spreading the news that we are making peace with him? Now the princes of all walks of life are fighting their own wars, and no one can sanction him. ”

"This news should be true, because the Yanzhou army hopes that we can return to Yangzhou as far south as possible, which is better than the fierce battle of the Xuzhou army. His Yanzhou army occupied Huaiyin Mansion and had touched the interests of the Xuzhou army. Now, the Yanzhou Army is busy cleaning up the internal affairs of Yuzhou. Therefore, he hoped that there would be no enemy harassment from the outside world. And we are the important people who contain the Xuzhou Army, the great enemy in the east of the Yanzhou Army, so he passed on the news of the invasion of Situ Lei, the land in our rear. ”

So, nine times out of ten, this news is true. And we're in enemy territory, so I can't get the news. If Situ Lei and Zhao Xun fight, I am afraid that the Xuzhou Army and the Yanzhou Army have already begun to spread wildly, and there will be no news. After all, the Zhao army was directly north of these princes. ”

"Now that Situ Lei and Zhao Xun are not at war, what will Situ Lei do? Recharge your batteries? At this time, our Qi army encountered the counterattack of the princes of Zhulu and was at a disadvantage. At this time, will Situ Lei still be indifferent? Lord, my subordinates think about it, this Situ Lei will definitely take this opportunity to attack our rear on a large scale. ”

"And most of our army is concentrated in the north, especially now that the Tang army is attacking Jingzhou and the Xuzhou army is attacking Yangzhou, it is even more limited to contain the limited military strength here. Therefore, the western part of Jiaozhou and the western part of Jiangzhou have become empty places. It is impossible for a person as treacherous as Situ Lei not to seize this opportunity. ”

"I'm ......" After listening to the opinions of the two, Murong Cheng went limp, and immediately sat on the main seat, unable to speak.

After a while, Murong Chengcai muttered: "This king calculated and calculated, but he failed to calculate the Xuzhou army, but was calculated by the princes from all walks of life, and let Situ Lei take a big advantage. Is this how it should be? Should the king fail? ”

Hearing Murong Cheng say this, Zhang Tu. Zhong Yan and the others' faces suddenly changed greatly, Murong Cheng is the lord of the Qi army, and now he is still in the territory of the enemy army, if the commander loses his fighting spirit and gives up his ambition, then the Qi army will be over.

Zhang Tu hurriedly said: "The lord is worry-free, this is also our inference, besides, if Situ Lei wants to attack the rear of my Qidi, it will not be an easy matter." As for the Tang Army and the Xuzhou Army, it is not a big problem. Now the top priority is for us to immediately return to Yangzhou, find out the situation, and make plans. ”

Zhong Yan also said: "Yes, Lord, you must not lose your fighting spirit because of the unknown situation in front of you. What about Situ Lei, who is already old, even if he has the advantage now, how can he be the opponent of the Lord? His sons have all begun to fight for the position of heir, and Situ Lei will die in the future, and this land of Yongjun is not at our disposal. As long as we can hold the fundamental places such as Yangzhou and Jiangzhou, the rest of the land, even if it is occupied by these villains, what can we do. ”

Thinking of Situ Lei's current situation, Murong Cheng suddenly felt a wave of pride in his heart. That's right, according to intelligence, Situ Lei's current physical condition is already very bad, as long as he dies, Yongjun will no longer be a threat. As for his sons, they are not very powerful people, and it is easy for this king to deal with them......

In an instant, the thought flashed in Murong Cheng's mind, and he immediately settled down, and asked in a deep voice: "Previously, we retreated to the west of Yangzhou and directly attacked the Jiangdu Mansion in Xuzhou in the east and it was difficult to decide, so now, do you think that our marching route is to go directly south and drive the Xuzhou army from Yangzhou or directly attack the Jiangdu Mansion and force the Xuzhou army to withdraw?" ”

By three days, the Qi army had already defeated several counterattacks by the Xuzhou army. The Qi army first slaughtered in Guangling Mansion, and then plundered all the people in the territory. Although this behavior frightened the defenders of Guangling Mansion, it also made the Xuzhou army unite to fight to the death with the Qi army. Therefore, after the Qi army occupied most of the territory of Guangling Mansion, the defenders of Guangling Mansion, the reinforcements who came to help, and the local young people all joined together to strongly counterattack the Qi army, so that the loss of the Qi army was not small.

It is also because of the continuous war in Guangling Mansion, which suddenly made the people of Guangling Mansion flee from this place one after another. Taking advantage of this situation, coupled with the policy of the Yanzhou Army, a lot of people were accepted in Guangling Mansion, and they continued to flow in far away. Whether it is the Qi army or the Xuzhou army, they have no time to take care of anything else, and most of the counties of Guangling Mansion have been broken by the Qi army, so there is no Xuzhou Military Office to stop them, which is extremely convenient.

After defeating the reinforcements sent by Li Chi, the local soldiers in the land of Guangling Mansion were no longer the opponents of the Qi army, and they could not stop the Qi army. Therefore, there are two roads in front of the Qi army, one is to go directly south to Yangzhou, return to the western half of Yangzhou and Jingzhou, and then reorganize the men and horses, and fight with the Xuzhou army in Yangzhou. The other is to directly attack Jiangdu Mansion in the southeast of Guangling Prefecture, cut off the connection between the Xuzhou Army in Yangzhou and the rear of Xuzhou, and cut off the grain and grass of the front-line army. The Xuzhou Army on the front line was forced to withdraw in order to ensure the safety of Yangzhou.

There are two strategies, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, and each with its own support. For a while, neither side could convince the other, so while continuing to move south, they plundered the food of the people in Guangling Province to prepare for the next march of the army. In addition, the Qi army also suffered a lot of losses in the battle of Guangling Mansion, and Murong Cheng also recruited tens of thousands of soldiers here to supplement his own shortcomings, which could be used as cannon fodder.

Now that they have Situ Lei attacking the rear of Qidi, they naturally can't continue to delay here. Therefore, there is an urgent need to solve the crisis in Yangzhou.

Zhang Tudao: "My subordinates think that at this moment, we should rush south, withdraw to Yangzhou as much as possible, find out the details of our army's territory, and make plans." ”

General He Tian said in a deep voice: "Why don't we divide our troops into two routes, go all the way south back to Yangzhou, and go all the way to Jiangdu Mansion?" In this way, the Xuzhou army on the Yangzhou side is bound to retreat, and our army going south to Yangzhou can completely besiege the Xuzhou army when the rear road is cut off and retreats in a panic, giving the Xuzhou army a hard blow and completely solving most of the strength of the Xuzhou army. ”

Zhong Yan shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it won't work, if we fight the Xuzhou Army alone, it's not bad." However, we are now surrounded by enemies on all sides, and we do not know what is going on inside our borders. The division of troops into two routes will inevitably lead to the strength of both armies being reduced by half. And it is not easy to hit Jiangdu Mansion directly. Jiangdu Mansion has Li Chi, the lord of the Xuzhou Army, personally in charge, and if it cannot be taken quickly, then the men and horses of our southward journey will not be able to reverse the disadvantage, and will even be suppressed by the Xuzhou Army in Yangzhou and the Tang Army in the north of Jingzhou. At that point, things are going to be very bad. Not to mention, we also have an unidentified Yanzhou army to the north, and they are also extremely hostile to us. ”

"Therefore, the intention of the subordinates, now we can only be with the army, and only by attacking the weak with the strong can we change the current disadvantage. And to attack Jiangdufu, after all, it is necessary to have the support of the rear, but our rear is already unstable, therefore, we cannot continue to stay in Xuzhou. Secondly, we have been separated from the state capitals under the rule of our army for a long time, and we have severed our ties with the rear. The longer you stay here, the more likely it will be that something will happen in the rear. Therefore, we should gather our troops, immediately move south, and withdraw to Yangzhou. In order to integrate the military and political affairs of Yangzhou, and then make decisions. ”

"Okay, pass the order, assemble the army, and immediately go south, we must withdraw to Yangzhou as quickly as possible." Murong Cheng said sharply, "In addition, give an order to Yangzhou to gather in the west, wait to meet our army, and then make a counterattack." After thinking about it, Murong Cheng said again, "In addition, plunder the people in Guangling Mansion and drive them north to Huaiyin Mansion." Since the Yanzhou army sent news to us, we will give them a little benefit. I want to see if this Li Chi is still indifferent to the Yanzhou army occupying their Huaiyin Mansion and plundering their population? ”

"Situ Lei! You old bastard, sooner or later, this king will swallow up your Yongjun land! Finally, Murong Cheng gritted his teeth and whispered. Now, the princes from all walks of life are besieging, but none of them are as great as the threat that Situ Lei gave him.

…………

Jingzhou, the heavy city of Bei'an Prefecture, Xiangyang Mansion, and Fancheng, the important place north of the Han River, were also attacked by the Tang army at this moment. Tang Xian spliced the foundation of the former generals in the north of Jingzhou and the remnants of the former family, and in just over two months, he occupied the land of Nanyang Mansion, Huai'an Mansion and Danyang Mansion in the north of Jingzhou, and now, Bei'an Mansion has gradually fallen and entered Tang Xian's pocket. Tang Xian was very satisfied with the current situation, and he had now negotiated with Zhao Xun to cede the territory occupied by the Tang army in the north to the Yanzhou army in exchange for the transit of his army and some grain and grass supplies.

Fancheng is located in the north of the Han River, and after the Han River, it is Xiangyang Mansion, which is the center of the entire Jingzhou. For this, the pacification envoy of Jingzhou and the governor of Jingzhou did not have a lot of soldiers and horses, but it was difficult to resist the attack of the menacing Tang army. The current Tang army, after collecting Jingzhou's soldiers and recruiting new soldiers, has strengthened Jingzhou's garrison. And the Qi army in Jingzhou still has to guard against the Yong army in the west.

In a vast open space under Fancheng City, the 60,000 troops who had been waiting in formation for a long time raised their arms and shouted! With an army of 60,000 people, the black pressure seems to have no end, and people can't help but feel fearful when they look at it.

Tang Xian is the general of the Twelve Guards of Dayan, and he can be regarded as a veteran. For the formation of the army, it has always been extremely sophisticated. The attack formation of the Yun 60,000 army is a more traditional attack formation, and the entire army formation is divided into infantry army formations and cavalry on both wings.

The infantry army formation consisted of several phalanxes of comparable size, divided into two parts: the front and the rear. The phalanx at the front was the siege phalanx, and at the front of each phalanx were the sword and shield soldiers, followed by the assault soldiers carrying ladders or pushing the carts.

The phalanx at the back generally does not participate in the siege, their task is to press the formation, this kind of pressure formation is generally called the Chinese army, and the generals in charge of the command are generally in this Chinese army. In addition to these infantry formations, there were nearly 20,000 cavalry on both flanks of the infantry formation, and their task was to deal with possible enemy raids. Secure both flanks of the entire army.

"Command the army to attack the city immediately! Before the sun goes down, you have to take this place! Outside Fancheng City, in the land of the Tang Army, the high-spirited Tang Xian shouted loudly.

"Kill! Kill! Kill ......"

A burst of cheers followed, and at the same time, hundreds of war drums in the Chinese army suddenly rang out together. Suddenly, the "boom" rolled in mid-air like thunder before a storm, roaring up. As the drums of war sounded, tens of thousands of troops were dosed as if they had been dosed. Loudly shouted. It's like thunder.

"Defend! Defend with all your might! "Seeing the situation of the Tang army, the face of Gao Wu, the defender of Fancheng, changed dramatically, the morale of the Tang army is so high, it seems that the next battle, Fancheng, is very likely to be...... Can't hold it......

Despite this, Gao Wu did not give up resistance, and hurriedly shouted, and the 20,000 garrison troops in the city quickly mobilized, and all kinds of city defense equipment were pushed to the top of the city.

The Tang army began a major attack to the sound of thunderous war drums, only to see the two attacking phalanxes break away from the main formation. Lined up in a neat formation and slowly pressed towards Fancheng.

The strength of one phalanx was 5,000 men, and the two phalanxes attacked together. Then it shows that the Tang army invested enough troops in the first wave of attacks was 10,000 people. That's 10,000 troops, half of the army defending the city. And in Fancheng, the 20,000 army also includes the thousands of young men who were temporarily recruited.

More than 10,000 attacking troops slowly approached Fancheng, and at a distance of one hundred and fifty meters, the sword and shield soldiers in the front of the two phalanxes raised their shields at the same time, and the soldiers carrying the ladder and pushing the rushing cart behind them were also protected by other sword and shield soldiers with shields. Obviously, these Tang soldiers have been trained by Tang Xian, and they are not a group of reckless men who only know how to charge, they are all well-trained soldiers.

"Shoot the arrows! Catapults, projectiles! Although the other party began to advance on the defensive, Gao Wu no longer had a choice. After a little hesitation, he finally couldn't help but start using the weapons to defend the city, and ordered the crossbow machine and catapult to launch a counterattack. Suddenly, the crossbow arrows on the city wall and the stone throwers behind were fired one after another, and the crossbow arrows with the thickness of a baby's arm flew out with a whistling sound and went straight into the Tang army's formation; A huge stone the size of a grinding disc flew into the air together, covering the sky and the sun, the scene was really shocking! The boulder flew into the air, and the next moment it smashed into the two Tang military formations that were slowly advancing with shields on their heads.

Crossbow bolts fired, blood splattered, shields cracked; Boulders fell, stumps shot everywhere, and knives and guns were broken. Many of the besieging soldiers were shot by crossbows, knocked to the ground by boulders, their shields shattered, blood splattered, and then wails rang out......

But the living are still advancing, aren't they afraid? No, they are afraid, but on the battlefield, it is like this, there is no advance or retreat, there is still a possibility of life, once they retreat, they will definitely die.

The tragic battlefield continued in the sound of drums, and the offensive and defensive battles kicked off in the drums of this earth-shattering war......

The battle was very brutal, blood was flying all over the sky, crazy shouts resounded in the sky, the wounded were still fighting hard, the soldiers who died in the battle fell unwillingly, and the two sides were like red-eyed bulls fighting each other.

Time moved slowly in blood, from morning to noon, then from noon to afternoon, and finally in the evening, the battle continued, the sun set in the west, and it seemed that no other sound could be heard except for the endless shouts of killing, and the walls that flew out of the city wall left only a mountain of blood and corpses.

Obviously, the Tang army is determined to take Fancheng this time, and this city north of the Han River is also the last city to block the north of Xiangyang City. If you take here, Xiangyang City will lose the north gate.

Countless sergeants, wave after wave, regardless of the cost, in order to block the Tang army's wave after wave of terrifying offsets, the defenders of Fancheng paid an extremely heavy price.

Although Gao Wu resisted hard, the strength of his strength did affect the key to victory or defeat. Although Fancheng occupies a geographical advantage, the strength in its hands is far weaker than that of the Tang army. With the hard fighting, there were fewer and fewer defenders in Fancheng, and even Gao Wu was seriously injured.

Finally, when the sun was about to set its last rays, the city wall, which had been suffered countless times, collapsed for a while, and immediately, the Tang army roared like a flood that opened the floodgates and surged into the gap......

"Gao Wu is incompetent, ashamed of the Lord!" Seeing the Tang army swarming in, Gao Wu drew his sword and killed himself to express his loyalty to King Qi.

Seeing that his side had broken through Fancheng, Tang Xian of the Chinese army was overjoyed. But when he saw the guard killing himself, he said with a little pity: "It's a pity! Gao Wu, the defender of Fancheng, although he did not serve in the same army as me, but the governor of Pontus also knew about him, and he wanted to take it for his own use, but he did not expect him to be so ...... Ay...... That's it, taking this city is already a great joy, so why ask for too much? ”

"Congratulations to the lord, congratulations to the lord, take Fancheng and pacify Jingbei!" The generals of the Tang Army all expressed their congratulations.

Tang Xian laughed and said, "Okay, pacify Jingbei, and Jingnan will not escape the hands of the governor of Bendu." Let's go, let's go into town! ”