——On May 7, the fifth year of Jingzhi of the Great Zhou Dynasty, thirty miles southwest of Guangling City, the main camp of the Zhou army——

"Isn't there anything to report these days?"

In the camp tent, Li Xian, a son of the Great Zhou royal family and the king of the Eight Sages, leaned over and supported the side of the marching sand table in the tent with his hands, staring at the wooden squares on the sand table that represented the establishment of the camp on both sides, and asked the generals under his command with a straight face.

said that he was a general, but in fact, it was only Ji Hong, Guan Zhong, and Ding Qiu who could take on the heavy responsibility, and as for other generals like Fei Guo, Ma Dan, Li Jing, Su Xin, etc., they were all temporarily transferred from Jizhou by him, and they were not in the main camp at the moment, but set up camp in other positions.

Although it is inevitable that the number of 50,000 soldiers is a bit scattered, it is better than being served by Wu Heng, after all, there are still few generals under his command who can block one side.

On the side of Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages, Ji Hong, the secretary of the Great Zhou Dynasty, once again resumed his previous duties as Li Xian's adviser, and assisted the lord Li Xian as a member of the army. Hearing this, Ji Hong picked up a stack of papers from the edge of the sand table and said in a deep voice, "There is generally nothing important to tell you...... However, last night, Du Fang, one of the five generals under Wu Heng's command and the general of the right army, had a battle with Fei Guo, and the contact between the two armies was only a quarter of an hour, and the loss of troops was only more than 100 ......"

"Du Fang, the general of the right army? That fierce general who is said to be gifted with divine power and can wield hundreds of pounds of hammers with both hands? ——Isn't it the Chinese army general Zhao Shi who confronts Fei Guo? How could he fight with Du Fang, the general of the right army? Li Xian asked suspiciously.

"That's the case...... Ji Hong smiled when he heard this, and explained, "General Fei Guo wanted to sneak attack Zhao Shi last night, but he suddenly bumped into Du Fang halfway on the way, but he didn't expect this person to have a similar idea and was ready to take the opportunity to attack General Fei Guo's camp. As a result, two groups of people bumped into each other on the road, and this started a fight. ”

"Huh!" Li Xian was also happy when he heard this, after all, it was quite a coincidence that the two groups of troops who planned to sneak attack each other collided at night.

After thinking about it, Li Xian asked worriedly, "Fei Guo...... You haven't suffered a loss, have you? ”

"Your Highness underestimates General Fei Guo too much. General Fei Guo is a general valued by Lord Xie, how can he be a good person? - But that Du Fang doesn't seem to be a reckless person, seeing that things backfired, he withdrew from the army with the same tacit understanding as Fei Guo, ready to look for another opportunity. ”

"Since he is a general under Wu Heng's account, I don't think he is a brave and unscrupulous person!" Li Xian nodded and laughed to himself, "Then again, Xiao Wang is indeed too cautious...... If even Fei Guo suffers, then Xiao Wang can't imagine how powerful the generals under Wu Heng's account are. - That's right. What about Ma Dan's side? ”

"This ......" Ji Hong's face showed a little embarrassment, and he said in a sneer, "In fact, General Ma Dan has been lost three days ago, and the main road that His Highness ordered General Ma Dan to guard is actually only a half-percent camp, and there is no ...... for a guard."

"That Ma Dan ......" Li Xian laughed bitterly when he heard this, although he had long known that Ma Dan was a general with troops who preferred surprise attacks and did not like to go head-to-head. But I didn't expect Ma Dan to give up the position on duty.

[Looks like they've found some prey......]

Li Xian secretly guessed in his heart.

"Newspaper—"

At this moment, suddenly a soldier rushed into the tent. Knock on the ground to report, "General Ma Dan, the right side of our army, sent a good news!" ”

"Oh?" Li Xian raised his eyebrows, stepped forward in a few steps to take the good news, opened it and took a closer look, and then showed a little joy on his face.

"Your Highness, I don't know what General Ma Dan has done to make His Highness so happy?"

I saw Li Xian say with a smile when he heard this. "Didn't Mr. Ji just say that Du Fang, the general of the right army under Wu Heng's account, was going to attack General Fei Guo last night? No, General Ma Dan saw the opportunity, took advantage of the situation, burned his barracks, and did not retreat after succeeding. When the Taiping army was struggling to trace him, a small granary in the rear of the Taiping army was burned, and only a few dozen soldiers were lost before and after......"

"Uh-oh." Even Ji Hong was greatly moved when he heard this, and said in shock, "As far as I know, the Taiping Army's grain storage place is sixty miles away on the east side, so General Ma Dan can also succeed?" ”

Maybe Ji Hong doesn't know, Ma Dan is a northerner, once served as a guard in Yanmen in the north, in order to achieve the goal of annihilating the enemy army, he is in charge of the cavalry, and it is common to travel a hundred miles a day, and more importantly, Ma Dan's march is extremely secretive, sometimes even his own friends don't know where he is hiding, let alone the enemy army?

As for going freely under the noses of the enemy, that is exactly what Ma Dan values by the eldest grandson Xiangyu.

I have to say that in the Battle of Hangu Pass that year, the rebel commander did not promote Ma Dan to the commander of the partial division and used him as an ordinary general guarding the pass, which was overkill, it was simply stupid, and it was not wronged at all to be defeated by Xie An.

"Fei Guo's strong attack, Ma Dan's surprise attack, these two sharp swords under Lord Xie's account are really extraordinary!"

Although he already knew about Fei Guo and Ma Dan's skills, Ji Hong couldn't help but praise him sincerely.

Li Xian also chuckled when he heard this, but after laughing a few times, he sighed slightly, shook his head and muttered, "It's just that a small fight like this does not affect the strength of the Taiping Army......

"Does Your Highness want to expand the results of the battle?" Ji Hong frowned and persuaded in a low voice, "Your Highness should think twice!" -- Our army's current confrontation with the Taiping Army Wu Heng has not fallen behind, relying on the two generals Fei Guo and Ma Dan, with the so-called small fights in the mouth of His Royal Highness, and gradually accumulating morale; But if His Royal Highness is in a hurry, anxious to recover Guangling, and forcibly attack the city, I'm afraid it won't be good......"

"Xiao Wang knows!" Li Xian nodded when he heard this.

Speaking of which, it is still a problem of insufficient generals to lead the troops, after all, Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages, is too lacking in generals who can stand alone at the moment, and most of the generals who are good at fighting in Jizhou are still under Xie An.

In this case, Li Xian wants to storm Guangling, which is obviously an extremely stupid act, after all, there are no generals and no army, even if there are many soldiers, if there are no generals who can take charge alone, most of them will not play a role. Unless it is like the eldest grandson Xiangyu, he pursues the art of war that does not require generals, and thinks about everything that will happen before the war.

However, it is obvious that Li Xian does not have the conceit of his eldest grandson Xiangyu, after all, the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, how can the plan catch up with the changes? The night Qi Sik died in battle is the best example.

"It's better to wait for Xie Shangshu with peace of mind...... After all, the purpose of our waiting is to drag Wu Heng down! After thinking about it for a while, Li Xian sighed slightly and said softly.

"Your Highness is wise!"

As he was talking, suddenly a general hurriedly walked in outside the tent. Clenched his fists and said in a tight voice, "His Royal Highness King Xian, just now, the Taiping Army has reinforcements!" Number...... As many as forty or fifty thousand people! ”

"Reinforcements?" Li Xian was confused when he heard this, you must know that the war has reached this point, and the Zhou army knows the situation of the Taiping army. Where are the reinforcements of the Taiping Army? Not to mention as many as forty or fifty thousand reinforcements.

[Could it be that Wu Heng still has a secret army so far?] ]

Li Xian couldn't help but have a guess in his mind, but after thinking about it, he felt that something was wrong.

You must know that Wu Heng, the fourth commander of the Taiping Army, was dragged to death in Guangling by him Li Xian, although the Taiping Army had conquered Guangling, but because of the relationship between him Li Xian and the army approaching the city of Guangling, Wu Heng did not dare to lead the army north to expand the so-called Southern Tang Dynasty, so he could only choose to waste troops with Li Xian in Guangling. On the other hand, if Wu Heng really still has an elite, how can he sit back and watch him Li Xian set up camp here. Eyeing Guangling?

Frowning and thinking for a while, Li Xian's eyes rolled, and his heart suddenly moved, and then he laughed loudly, "Xiao Wang understands!" - It's not a reinforcement, it's just a defeated army! ”

"Huh?" The general looked at Li Xian suspiciously, but saw Li Xian caressing the thin beard on his chin and chuckled and said, "I was defeated and retreated to Guangling." It seems that Jinling has also been lost...... Xie Shangshu is so fast! ”

At this time, Ji Hong also understood, but still said with a little suspicion and a little puzzlement. "It's strange, Lord Xie's last good news only said that he had defeated the withered sheep in Hengjiang and waved his army to approach Niuzhu, and only a few days later, Lord Xie had conquered Jinling...... Unbelievable! ”

As soon as the words ended, a soldier outside the tent hurriedly walked into the tent. He shouted, "Report! Good news in the west! ”

"From Xiao Wang!" Li Xian stepped forward in a few steps.

The good news from the west, isn't that what Xie An sent? After all, Li Xian's west flank only had Xie An's army.

Opening the envelope and looking at it, Li Xian only glanced at it a few times before showing a look of joy on his face and muttered. "Sure enough...... The withered sheep were defeated, Wei Hu was killed in battle, and even Wu Heng's left army general Wei Zhuang also died......"

"Lost two generals in one battle?" Ji Hong's face was slightly shocked when he heard this, after all, although Wei Hu was young, he was also the coach of the party trusted by Wu Heng, not to mention that Wei Zhuang was also one of the five generals under Wu Heng's account.

"Ah, two lost in the first battle...... Hey? Qi Zhi died in battle? After taking a closer look, Li Xian was slightly stunned, and then took a closer look, only then did he learn the whole thing from what was written in the envelope, and he sighed with emotion in his heart.

However, the most regrettable thing is that the withered sheep did not surrender to Da Zhou.

To be honest, Li Xian actually doesn't value the talent of the withered sheep, after all, the Jizhou army has generals who are good at fighting, there are not many withered sheep, and there are many withered sheep, the problem is that Xie An has already died of an uncle-in-law Liang Qiuhao, if even the brother-in-law withered sheep is dead, even Li Xian can't bear it.

"Mr. Ji, order your subordinates to prepare for Xie Shangshu's victorious coming......"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

-- At the same time --

As Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages, guessed, the army that numbered as many as forty or fifty thousand troops stationed in Guangling was actually the Jinling army and the Niuzhu army that retreated from Jinling.

It has to be said that the fall of Jinling City brought an extremely huge blow to the Taiping army, because this not only meant that the Zhou army pushed the entire southern battlefield to the front, but also meant that the main division of the Taiping army under the command of Wu Heng might face the embarrassing situation of being attacked on the back of the enemy and lose control over most of the territory in Jiangdong.

No, when Wu Heng learned that Jinling in the rear had fallen, he stood up abruptly while he was taking a nap, and asked Li Ping, the general of the Taiping Army, who had told him about it.

"What did you just say?"

Seeing Wu Heng's angry face, Li Ping, the general of the Taiping Army, swallowed his saliva and whispered, "The last general came to enlighten Wu Shuai, our army has lost Jinling, and General Wei Hu has also died in battle, and now the withered sheep is leading the Jinling army and the Niuzhu army to defeat the army into Guangling......"

"Wei Hu...... Jinling ...... Withered sheep ......" Wu Heng muttered these words, a burst of anger flashed in his eyes, and he said in a deep voice, "Call the withered sheep to come to me!" ”

"Yes!" The general Li Ping was ordered to retreat.

As soon as he walked on his front foot, a person walked into Wu Heng's house on his back foot, and said with a smile, "The situation doesn't seem to be good." My lord, the fourth generation commander of the Taiping Army! ”

Seeing the person coming, Wu Heng's eyes changed slightly, and he called respectfully, "Wu Heng, I've seen His Highness the Thirteenth!" ”

It turned out that the person who came was Mo Yan, a scholar from Guangling who became Xie An's guard by mistake for his livelihood. That is, the thirteenth royal highness of the Southern Tang Dynasty who is incognito, Liu Yan.

Mo Yan, no, Liu Yan walked over, glanced at Wu Heng, and then casually looked at the calligraphy and paintings in Wu Heng's room, and said slowly, "I was in the corridor aisle, and I saw Li Ping's anxious face...... Could it be that something big is happening? ”

Wu Heng smiled slightly. said calmly, "Your Highness rest assured, all your subordinates are in control!" ”

"Including the Jinling has been lost?" Liu Yan asked with a smile.

Wu Heng's face changed when he heard this, he hesitated, and asked in surprise, "How did Your Highness know?" ”

I saw Liu Yan facing the wall and concentrating on admiring the landscape painting hanging on the wall, and said with a chuckle, "I just heard about it." Our Taiping army suddenly had a reinforcement to ...... I can't think of anything like this right now. How can our Taiping army still have a force of up to forty or fifty thousand soldiers and horses, unless ......"

"Unless?"

Turning his head and glancing at Wu Heng, Liu Yan said with a smile, "Later, I thought that Niu Zhu and the defenders of Jinling could indeed make up forty or fifty thousand together......

Ignoring the subtle look in Liu Yan's eyes. Wu Heng said firmly, "Your Highness is wise! - Your Highness is right, most of Jinling is lost, but even so, His Majesty still has full confidence......"

"Oh?" Liu Yan looked at Wu Heng with interest when he heard this.

Then. Li Ping, the general of the party, walked in again, and saw Liu Yan stunned in the house for a moment, and then immediately clenched his fists and said to Wu Heng, "Wu Shuai, the withered sheep are waiting outside the house!" ”

Wu Heng looked at Liu Yan when he heard this, and was about to speak, but saw the latter smile and said, "Dry sheep...... Am I a young man in the Taiping Army? I didn't have time to take a closer look at the future last time, but I don't know what it was like to be born......"

Wu Heng obviously understood the deep meaning of Liu Yan's words, but he didn't care, waved his hand and said to Li Ping, "Li Ping, let the withered sheep come in!" ”

"Yes!" Li Ping retreated with his fists clenched.

After only a few breaths, the withered sheep walked in under the leadership of Li Ping. Like Li Ping, he was also stunned when he saw Liu Yan in the house.

As we all know, although Liu Yan is nominally the thirteenth highness of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the power of the Taiping Army is in the hands of Wu Heng.

However, Liu Yan, a child of the declining royal family, does not seem to be keen on restoring the Southern Tang Dynasty, or even ascending the throne to become the emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, since he was received by Wu Heng into the Taiping Army, Liu Yan eats and drinks every day, recites poetry, paints, and hardly interferes or pays attention to any internal affairs of the Taiping Army, so it is difficult to imagine that this hermit-like Thirteenth Highness will be in Wu Heng's bedroom at this moment.

[What did he come to do?] ]

"The last general withered sheep, I have seen His Highness the Thirteen, and I have seen Wu Shuai!" calmed down, the withered sheep bowed to Liu Yan and Wu Heng with his fists, and at the same time secretly wondered Liu Yan's intentions. It's not that I have a good or bad impression of Liu Yan, in fact, there is almost no chance for the two to get in touch, at most they have met a few times.

But to the surprise of the withered sheep, Liu Yan smiled at him, and the kind smile made the withered sheep slightly stunned.

But then again, Liu Yan smiled kindly at the withered sheep, but it didn't mean that Wu Heng would be like this, and after seeing the withered sheep, Wu Heng's whole face sank.

"What the hell is going on, Dead Sheep?! - Why did Jinling lose?! ”

......Seeing that Wu Heng was asking about the fall of Jinling, the withered sheep was slightly stunned, after all, he thought that Wu Heng would be the first to ask about the cause of Wei Hu's death, after all, according to what he knew, Wu Heng should have taken Wei Hu very seriously.

Suppressing the unhappiness in his heart, the withered sheep told Wu Heng everything that happened in Jinling City at that time, including Wei Zhuang's stirring up right and wrong behind his back, and instigating the Niu Zhu army and the Jinling army to kill each other.

Wu Heng's face was cloudy when he heard this, and after watching the withered sheep for a long time, he suddenly said with a smile, "I see! It turned out to be caused by Weizhuang...... But it's really funny to say, Wei Zhuang, who was going to reap the benefits, actually died, but you took over the two armies logically...... Wei Zhuang is dead, Zhao Cheng is dead, Wei Hu is dead, Chu Ping is dead, Guo Sheng is also dead, and there are only a few people left who know about it, Wang Wei and a few others......"

The withered sheep's face changed slightly when he heard this, you must know that Wu Heng's words are very powerful, as if he was the withered sheep who dominated all this.

was about to explain, but saw Wu Heng suddenly laugh, waved his hand and smiled, "Don't blame it, don't blame it, this handsome is just a joke!" With that, he stood up, stepped forward and patted the withered sheep on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Withered sheep, you can lead the defeated army back to my Guangling, instead of taking this opportunity to vote for your brother-in-law who is a big official in the Zhou State, it is enough to prove your loyalty to Ben Shuai!" - If you lose Jinling, you will lose it, and then you will fight it back, this handsome will be you, won't it be better than a dead city in Jinling? ”

[This guy ......]

Liu Yan looked at Wu Heng with interest, after all, Wu Heng looked like he was eager to kill the withered sheep, but right now, he was appeased with all kinds of good words and bought people's hearts.

As Liu Yan expected, the withered sheep also felt warm in his heart when he heard the words. In fact, when he came to see Wu Heng this time, he was actually a little timid in his heart, after all, no matter how he said it, the loss of Jinling, he couldn't escape the relationship, but he didn't expect Wu Heng to say a word after asking, and he said good words to appease, which calmed the uneasy mood of the dry sheep a little.

"All right, withered sheep, go down first! - The marshal will send someone to prepare the mansion for you to live in, you have worked hard all the way, let's go down and rest first. ”

“…… Thank you Wu Shuai! I only felt that the withered sheep with complicated feelings retreated with his fists.

Seeing the withered sheep walking outside the house, Liu Yan snorted lightly, looked back at Wu Heng and said with a chuckle, "After all, the dead can't compare to the living?" ”

"It's not his fault!" Wu Heng said in a deep voice when he heard this, "Besides, it is the time to employ people right now, so let's ...... for the time being."

[For now...... Is it? ]

Liu Yan glanced at Wu Heng when he heard this, and seemed to understand something.

"Someone!"

"What does Wu Shuai command?"

"Reorganize and dismantle the Wei Hu Army, make up for the 30,000 dry sheep establishment, and fill the rest into the ...... of various armies"

"Yes!" (To be continued......)