On the morning of the fourth day of August, on the south bank of the Juma River, the large camp of the Union army.

Li Zixiong suddenly galloped over, which surprised Zhen Baoche, Lu Xingxing, Huo Xiaohan, Xiahou Zhe and other army commanders, and they didn't know what Li Zixiong's purpose was.

Zhen Baoche and others respectfully welcomed Li Zixiong into the handsome tent. Out of respect and politeness, Zhen Baoche regarded himself as a junior, and told Li Zixiong in detail about the current situation in Shanggu and the future trend of the Juma River blocking battlefield.

Li Zixiong behaved very kindly, and gave a brief introduction to the battle on the north and south lines of the Flying Fox Mountain, the attack of the army on the left side went smoothly, the Lingqiu and the Flying Fox on the southern line of the Flying Fox Mountain have been "in the bag", and the towns of Ulcheng and Pingshu on the north line of the Flying Fox Mountain have also been "pocketed for peace", at present, Han Shige and Zhou Zhong are moving north along the Qiyi River, fighting on the Sangganshui line, and advancing to the hinterland of Yanbei, while Li Min and Niu Jinda are garrisoning Lingqiu and moving in the direction of Shaquan to block the Weifu army in the two directions of Yanmen and Daibei.

However, Li Zixiong, as the supreme commander of the left army, shoulders the heavy responsibility of opening up a foothold for the alliance, and should sit in the overall command of the flying fox at this moment, instead of appearing on the flank battlefield, and should not appear on the front line of the Juma River, which is really incomprehensible.

Li Zixiong also explained this, but his reason was too far-fetched, "The reason why I came to Shanggu in a hurry was because I was asked by the white-haired handsome to do a confidential and important thing for him. "Since it is a confidential matter, of course it cannot be announced and made known to everyone.

Li Zixiong is an old man, and he knows that his abnormal behavior has caused Zhen Baoche and other managers to be on high alert. Although Zhen Baoche and the others are not worried about interfering with or seizing military power, they are indispensable to defend against others, and their military authority is unmatched, once they deliberately influence the offensive and defensive decisions of the middle army, and use their strength to achieve some ulterior even damage to the alliance, then the problem will be serious. Therefore, Li Zixiong bluntly told Zhen Baoche and others that his trip was highly confidential and could not be leaked in the slightest, and the implication was that I would not interfere with or influence any decision-making of your left army, I would do my thing, and you would fight your battle and not interfere with each other.

Zhen Baoche was reluctantly relieved this time, and asked tentatively, "If Ming Gong wants some help, just ask." ”

"I really need your help." Li Zixiong said, "The response of the Zhuojun side this time is very slow, and it is very different from our previous prediction, although I don't know why, but there is no doubt that the situation is developing more and more in our favor." Now the army on the left has reached the front line of Sangganshui, directly endangering the safety of Yanbei Town; And the army on the right has successfully surrounded Gaoyang and grabbed the food we need; Your mid-lane army is also attacking the city in the upper valley, and has set up troops on the Juma River, blocking the way for Zhuo County to support in the south. ”

"The three armies of the alliance came out together, burning and killing and plundering at the north and south foothills of Taihang Mountain, and the momentum was huge, which will definitely give a great shock to the Holy Lord and the center, so that the powerful strength of the alliance can be fully demonstrated, but what are the consequences of this move? Will it help King Qi to go north to the border? Will the Lord and the Center reach some kind of limited tacit agreement with the Alliance, as we have speculated? And what is the real intention of this tacit understanding? Is it a delaying tactic to encircle and suppress us on all sides when the time is right, or is it deliberately using us to drive away the tiger and devour the wolf in order to kill people with a sword, or is it the kind of tacit understanding we need that will help the alliance grow and grow? ”

Speaking of this, Zhen Baoche, Lu Xingxing and other alliance managers had already understood it and had already estimated the purpose of Li Zixiong's hurried rush to the front line of the Juma River. In addition to Li Zixiong, the alliance really can't find a second person with this kind of "heaven" ability.

"So, I need you to stay on the front line of the Juma River for a longer time." Li Zixiong finally said.

Li Zixiong's request is not too much, and Li Fengyun has not evacuated Gaoyang so far, Zhen Baoche and Lu Xingxing must continue to stick to the front line of the Juma River, even if the time of holding on exceeds their previous expectations, even if they have paid a lot of losses in the process of sticking, even if they have the idea of "retreating with their whole body", but as long as Li Fengyun has not evacuated Gaoyang, they must grit their teeth and persevere. From this point alone, Zhen Baoche and Lu Xingxing and other league managers cannot refuse Li Zixiong's request.

Zhen Baoche did not directly refuse, but he did not agree, but said tactfully, "Ming Gong, according to the order of the white-haired handsome, when he leads all the troops to evacuate Gaoyang, that is, the moment when we evacuate the Juma River, therefore, if the white-haired marshal sends a message that he has evacuated Gaoyang, we will evacuate the Juma River." ”

The implication is that we must absolutely obey Li Fengyun's orders, even if your mission is very important, but since Li Fengyun did not order us to cooperate with you unconditionally, then we can only cooperate within the scope of our own authority, beyond this authority, we can do nothing, after all, the "boss" of the alliance is Li Fengyun, not your old man.

Li Zixiong smiled and bowed, "I also have to listen to the orders of the white-haired handsome." If the white-haired marshal orders you to retreat, of course you will obey your words. ”

Since mutual respect and understanding, things are easy to do, hello and me, a group of harmonious, talking and laughing happily, Zhen Baoche and Lu Xingxing and other alliance managers even took the opportunity to humbly ask Li Zixiong for some offensive and defensive tactics.

In the afternoon, 100,000 scouts who inquired about the military situation on the east bank of Laishui hurriedly reported that Zhuojun came to reinforce the army, with a strength of about 10,000 people, and entered Zhuocheng before noon, and it was estimated that they would arrive at Zeban Town before dusk.

Zeban Town is about thirty miles away from Andingyi, and less than fifty miles away from the Juma River, that is to say, no accident, for safety reasons, this support army should camp in Zeban Town tonight, and then get in touch with the reinforcements who arrived at Andingyi in advance, learn more about the current situation in Shanggu and the battle situation of Juma River, and after recuperating their strength, they will rush to Juma River tomorrow to attack.

The atmosphere on the Alliance's side suddenly became tense. More than 10,000 reinforcements came from Zhuo County, most of which should be the elite army of Youzhou, and it is not excluded that there is the Xiaoguo army just formed by the Holy Lord at the beginning of the year, and there may even be the Holy Lord's guard forbidden army.

After urgent deliberations with Zhen Baoche, Lu Xingxing, Huo Xiaohan, Xiahou Zhe and other commanders, they immediately decided to ask Guo Ming, the governor stationed in Wuhui City, for help, and asked Cao Kun's Second Army of the Alliance to quickly move down the Yishui River to support the Juma River battlefield. He also urgently told the governor Wang Bo that while besieging Yicheng, he quickly strengthened the defense force on the west bank of Laishui to prevent the Zhuojun reinforcements from forcibly crossing Laishui, seizing Puyin, and cutting off the retreat of the alliance army.

Li Zixiong also participated in the military discussion, and disagreed with the defensive deployment of the middle road army, thinking that Zhen Baoche and others had serious problems with their defensive ideas, but they were not in their position, and they did not seek their own politics, he was the commander of the left army, and suddenly appeared silently on the battlefield of the middle road army, which made Zhen Baoche and other alliance commanders suspicious and very vigilant, if they "pointed fingers" in military command and openly interfered with Zhen Baoche's battlefield command, it would not only be arrogant and domineering, but also a move to make enemies on all sides with hatred. So Li Zixiong closed his mouth very interestingly and didn't say a word.

He sat on the side and didn't speak, which didn't mean that Zhen Baoche and other alliance managers could ignore him and treat him as "air". Now that the alliance is complex and there are many internal factions, Li Zixiong is no longer the original "lonely man", but as the supreme commander of the Qi Wang family in the alliance, he has more than 10,000 troops under his command, and he is strong, and he already has the potential to compete with Li Fengyun.

Zhen Baoche respectfully asks for advice, and his attitude is very sincere, after all, Li Zixiong's age, status, status and meritorious deeds are all there, although now "the tiger falls in Pingyang", but for Zhen Baoche and Lu Xingxing, these low-born juniors, Li Zixiong is still a "high mountain upright" existence, and he does not dare to have the slightest neglect. Besides, if King Qi can "win the championship" in the future, Li Zixiong will be the auxiliary hero, and these people can also "ascend to heaven", so it is beneficial and harmless to have a good relationship with Li Zixiong now, and there is really no need to offend him.

Li Zixiong wanted to say a few perfunctory words, but suddenly thought that in the future, Li Fengyun knew that he had arrived at the front line of the Juma River, and when Zhen Baoche and others took the initiative to ask for advice, he still did not say a word, and allowed the alliance army and the Weifu army to fight fiercely, so that the alliance army suffered too many losses, and there would inevitably be a misunderstanding between the two sides, which was obviously not conducive to future cooperation. In addition, whether the king of Qi can go north to the border and when to go north to the border is not only related to the development of the alliance, but also affects the victory or defeat of the upcoming war between the north and the south, so whether it is the Gaoyang battlefield or the Juma River battlefield, we must do our best to promote the development of the situation in the direction favorable to our own side to the greatest extent, so as to help the king of Qi achieve the goal of going north as soon as possible.

"It is indeed a good plan to concentrate the main force on the south bank of the Juma River and use the power of natural danger to block the attack with heavy troops to slow down the enemy's southward movement." Li Zixiong praised a few words kindly, then changed the conversation and said euphemistically, "Today is the fourth day of the first lunar month, according to a certain calculation, Han Shige, Zhou Zhong and Lai Yuan should have swept across both sides of the Qiyi River and are fighting in the war?" The first line of dry water is rapidly advancing to the hinterland of Yanbei. A chaotic situation in Yanbei will endanger the safety of the town, so Yanbei must tell Zhuo County to stay behind as soon as possible. Duan Da was cautious and steady, once he received the news that the white-haired marshal had entered Yanbei, he knew that he was in danger of being attacked by the enemy on his back and was in danger of taking care of both the beginning and the end, so he would definitely order the reinforcements to stop on the north bank of the Juma River. After all, the Holy Lord and the Imperial Palace are in the Linshuo Palace, and they are only more than three hundred miles away from Yanbei and Shanggu, and at present, our attack has threatened the safety of the Holy Lord and the Imperial Palace, and Duan Da has to have a choice. ”

As soon as these words came out, Zhen Baoche, Lu Xingxing and the others suddenly realized that there was an important omission in their grasp of the entire battle situation, and they didn't even consider that the attack of the alliance army in Yanbei would definitely affect Zhuojun's rescue decision.

Zhen Baoche was the first to understand Li Zixiong's hint, and immediately gave Li Zixiong a deep salute to express his gratitude.

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