-- August 22, Xiakou --

Liu Qing knew very well that Xie An at the moment must be leading the army towards Xiakou quickly, there is no doubt about this, after all, she asked Jiang Xia's inner division to drive the warships to Xiakou one step in advance, as long as Xie An still planned to cross the river to support the Eight Sages King [Li Xian], then it was bound to recapture the warships from her.

It's really funny to say, in the more than one month of confrontation between Liu Qing and Xie An, the battle situation did not completely turn to either side, but Liu Qing and Xie An led the initiative for a certain period of time.

Xie Ansheng is in the strange moves, the victory is in the elite of the Great Liang Army under his command, and the victory is in the secret help of Qin Ke'er, while Liu Qing is better than she is quite familiar with the terrain and environment of Jing, Yang and other places, and the victory is that her Taiping Army has already infiltrated into the official government of the Great Zhou Dynasty in Jiangnan, which can facilitate Liu Qing to embarrass Xie An in the name of the imperial court, just like the matter of transferring the Jiangxia warship in advance.

It can be said that the two have their own advantages, so the battle situation in the past month has been very stalemate, the Great Liang army has sacrificed 20,000 people, and the Taiping army has also sacrificed 20,000 people.

Some people may think that Liu Qing exchanged 20,000 Taiping soldiers with equipment and training that are completely incomparable to the Liang Army's Taiping soldiers, in exchange for the lives of 20,000 Liang Army soldiers.

Indeed, in terms of the loss of troops, Liu Qing does have a slight advantage, but in terms of the overall situation, Liu Qing is still at a disadvantage.

Earlier, Xie An had 80,000 Liang troops, and she only had 50,000 Taiping troops, and now Xie An still has 60,000 troops, but she only has 30,000 left. Her inferiority in strength is becoming more and more obvious. In terms of the overall situation, Liu Qing has always been at a disadvantage, and was gradually forced by Xie An to the blind corner of Xiakou.

If Liu Qing could not cross the river smoothly by boat, then the Taiping army would be greeted by the annihilation of the entire army, after all, the Taiping army, which only had 30,000 troops, was not the opponent of the 60,000 Liang army at all.

I have to say that Xie An had calculated Liu Qing a few times before, reducing her strength by more than 13,000. This incident did seriously affect the Taiping army's victory, and it was unceremoniously said that as long as Xie An did not make mistakes and made major mistakes in the future, he would not be able to lose. Because he is invincible.

Compared with the Great Liang Army, the situation of the Taiping Army is obviously much worse, after all, the 60,000 Great Liang Army still has the ability to completely annihilate their 30,000 Taiping soldiers, if nothing else, Liu Qing has lost the opportunity to defeat Xie An, as early as when she was deceived by Xie An's tricks and lost 13,000 troops in six battles and six defeats.

And for now. The only thing Liu Qing could do was to conserve his troops as much as possible, withdraw to the other side of the river, and withdraw to Jingzhou.

Some people may think that Xiakou still has a Taiping army of nearly 10,000 troops? Led by one of the remaining two [Six Divine Generals]. Could it be that this can't win against Xie An?

But you must know that while Liu Qing increased his troops, Xie An's available troops also increased, and earlier he received 4,000 Peng Ze soldiers led by Zhang Yi, the Pengze County Army. After taking Jiangxia, more than 10,000 Jiangxia soldiers were added, and even reached 20,000, therefore. If Liu Qing wants to use the newly added more than 10,000 troops to fight Xie An to the death, it is undeniable that her chances of winning are too small. After all, Liu Qing is only a strategist and military advisor at best, and her talents can play a very small role in the frontal battlefield of the two armies.

I remember thinking that at the beginning, a military advisor like the eldest grandson Xiangyu who used soldiers like a god, was still forced into a desperate situation by [one-man army] Chen Bei on the battlefield, obviously it was an absolutely favorable situation that could concentrate troops to snipe Chen Bei first, but Chen Bei opened the situation by relying on his personal bravery, and finally if it wasn't for Liang Qiuwu and 5,000 East sergeants to arrive day and night, maybe she and Xie An, the future couple, would be like Wu Bang and Lu Fan, who were killed by Chen Bei on the battlefield.

The battlefield of real swords and guns is always a stage for generals to show their unparalleled strength, and it is by no means enough to firmly control the situation through ingenious stratagems.

And Liu Qing is also very clear about this, so even if there are nearly 10,000 elites of [Six Divine Generals' Yuheng Divine General] Qi Zhi, Liu Qing is still not sure to win against Xie An, unless the man she secretly admires is in the army right now, the peerless fierce general who is called [One Man into an Army], Chen Bei.

I have to say that Liu Qing at the moment regrets sending Chen Bei to Jingzhou to assist the [Three Kings] to deal with the [Eight Sages King] Li Xian, after all, at that time, she never imagined that she would be forced to such a point by Xie An.

Although she kept claiming that Xie An was just taking advantage of the troops, she also knew that this was just a word she used to stabilize the morale of the army, in her opinion, even if Xie An led an army that was equal to the Taiping Army's training level and equipment, she might not be able to defeat Xie An, after all, the latter was too cautious, and an enemy commander who was not greedy for small profits was definitely not what any general or strategist who advocated scheming to control the enemy wanted to meet.

Even, Liu Qing was secretly glad that Xie An's training and equipment were much higher than that of the Taiping Army, because if it weren't for the huge gap in the combat effectiveness of the soldiers on both sides, Xie An would not have launched that night attack at all, nor would he have asked Feng He, the cavalry general of the Great Liang Army, to lead the cavalry to pursue the Taiping Army, but in the end, the whole army was wiped out because of Feng He's rashness.

It can be said that the reason why Liu Qing was able to design and destroy Xie An's 20,000 cavalry was completely based on Xie An's confidence that he could annihilate the Taiping Army by relying on the strength of the Great Liang Army, and on the fact that the soldiers under his command were well-trained and well-equipped Great Liang Army, otherwise, Liu Qing would not have had the opportunity to obtain this brilliant result at all.

Of course, if this is the case, Xie An and Liu Qing are probably still facing each other at Hukou at this moment, if there is no third force involved, I am afraid that the stalemate will not be able to distinguish victory or defeat for a year or two.

It can only be said that things in the world are often dependent on blessings and misfortunes, and cannot be clearly predicted.

“…… After Xie An arrived in Jiangxia, he would inevitably notice that Jiangxia's warships had been transferred to Xiakou by us in advance, so he would definitely come day and night to prevent our army from escaping to the other side of the river. In the military camp in Xiakou Port, Liu Qing summed up the general meaning of her previous words.

In the tent, there are still those people. It's just that this time, there is one more Taiping Army general who is in the position of [Six Divine Generals], [Yuheng Divine General] Qi Zhi.

Under the secret scrutiny of [Tianji Divine General] Wei Xuan, [Yuheng Divine General] Qi Zhi smiled, hugged his fists and said, "Her Royal Highness the princess is really clever!" ――The last general wondered before, why did Her Royal Highness the princess drive Jiangxia's warship to Xiakou for no reason, it turned out to be like this......"

Aside from the reckless man Xu Le, the general of the Taiping Army, the rest of the generals successively understood what Qi Zhi meant. After all, Liu Qing had calculated that Xie An would definitely choose to give priority to Jiangxia and other big counties when he was in Hukou. Therefore, one step ahead of schedule, Jiangxia's warships were driven to Xiakou to prepare for the worst.

And it turns out that Liu Qing's prediction was really not bad, Xie An really went to Jiangxia, see this. She gave up Jiangxia and led her troops directly to Xiakou, winning a full two days, which made the Great Liang Army, which was originally one day ahead of the Taiping Army on the agenda, because Jiangxia's relationship was one day behind the Taiping Army.

It's called planning ahead. Before winning, first defeat, although Liu Qing is not as mature as the eldest grandson Xiangyu, but she gradually showed that she is beyond ordinary people in intelligence, and give her a few more years. Maybe she will become a terrible opponent like the eldest grandson Xiangyu.

"But the last general is a little puzzled," hugged his fists, Qi Zhi continued, "Her Royal Highness the princess has 30,000 soldiers. Together with the 10,000 soldiers of the last general, our army still has 40,000. didn't have the strength to compete with the Great Liang Army, why didn't he fight, Her Royal Highness the Princess thought about retreating? -- The last general thinks that Xiakou may be the perfect opportunity for our army to turn the tide of the war! ”

Liu Qing was stunned when she heard this, raised her hand and said, "[Yuheng Divine General], please elaborate!" ”

"Yes!" Respectfully hugging his fists, Qi Zhi said in a deep voice, "Twenty years ago, in Wuhu, tens of thousands of soldiers of our army were forced to the lake by the Eastern Army [Shenwu Battalion] led by Liang Qiujing, Zhou Guo [Dongzhen Hou]...... Brother Yang Yu should know, right? ”

Yang Yu, who was standing near the inside of the tent with his scabbard around his sword, let out a long breath when he heard this, and closed his eyes as if he was thinking about the tragic situation of that day.

Yes, Yang Yu, Chen Bei's original lieutenant general and now the commander of Liu Qing's personal troops and the commander of the Tianfu Army, was a veteran who experienced the first Taiping Army in Wuhu, and was one of the people who escaped by luck at that time, although he was still very young at that time, only less than eight or nine years old.

This is also one of the reasons why Wu Heng, the third-generation deputy marshal of the Taiping Army, is annoyed that Yang Yu frequently goes against him, but it is not good to tear his face directly with him, not because Yang Yu has strong force, but also because he is the only old man left in the first generation of the Taiping Army, although he is only about thirty years old this year.

Twenty years ago, due to the misjudgment of Xue Ren, the commander of the original Taiping Army, he mistakenly thought that the Taiping Army of nearly 100,000 at that time could withstand the retaliation of the Zhou ** team, so he conspired with the inside and outside to take Jinling, so that he was completely annoyed by the Great Zhou Emperor Li Ji, who was preparing to hold a celebration in Jijing at that time, and planned to sing the praises of his great achievements far beyond any previous emperor, so it opened the prelude to the war in Jiangnan for more than 20 years.

The city of Jinling was broken, Yiyi and the father of the withered sheep, the old minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Ram Pei, died in the battle, and the door was slaughtered.

In the first battle of Wuhu, Xue Ren was also killed by Liang Qiuwu's father [Dongzhen Hou] Liang Qiujing on the battlefield, and a large number of Taiping soldiers were forced to jump into Wuhu to escape by the brave Eastern Army cavalry.

At that time, the panicked Taiping army still took into account that it was early winter, and as a result, tens of thousands of Taiping soldiers were drowned and frozen to death in the lake, and the river was full of floating corpses, and Yang Yu's father and brother were killed at the bottom of Wuhu Lake in that battle, becoming bait for fish and shrimp in the lake.

Even after 20 years, Yang Yu still feels cold all over his body when he thinks about it at the moment.

"What are you trying to say? Qi Zhi! Yang Yu's face was gloomy and terrifying, and it could be seen that he was in an extremely bad mood at the moment.

As if noticing Yang Yu's complexion, Qi Zhi was slightly stunned and explained, "Brother Yang Yu misunderstood, Qi just wanted to remind Her Royal Highness the princess that the current situation of our army is similar to that of the first Taiping Army twenty years ago, but the commander of the Zhou army who has been right is not [Dongzhen Marquis] Liang Qiujing, but a powerless civil official!" Moreover, although the Great Liang Army under the command of this person is also well-trained, it is not as good as the Eastern Army [Shenwu Battalion] of the [Four Towns of Jijing]! ”

"Last to the odds?" Liu Qing seemed to hear the meaning of Qi Zhi's words.

"Not bad! Fight to the death! Taking a slight breath, Qi Zhi said in a deep voice, "The shame of the defeat in Wuhu is well known to everyone in our army, and now our army has its back to the Yangtze River, and the situation is the same as it was back then." As long as it works smartly, there is no power to fight back! ”

Liu Qing lowered her head and pondered when she heard this, she knew what Qi Zhi wanted to say, it was nothing more than to show the soldiers under her command that they had no way to retreat, and if they didn't fight to the death, they would only be driven into the river by the Zhou army like they did twenty years ago.

I remember that tens of thousands of Taiping soldiers drowned in Wuhu and froze to death, and everyone in Jiangnan knew about it. It is impossible that the soldiers under Liu Qing's command are not clear, if Xie An presses it tightly, Liu Qing really feels that he can plan it, after all, the ferocity shown by people in the case of nine deaths and one life is far more than in ordinary days.

What's more. Twenty years ago, in the First Battle of Wuhu, there was no figure on the Taiping army who could be called a fierce general, but on the side of the Zhou army, there was a [Dongzhen Hou] Liang Qiujing who was born in a family of tiger generals. Therefore, after Xue Ren, the commander of the original Taiping Army, was beheaded by Liang Qiujing, the Taiping Army was completely defeated, and no one could lead the surviving Taiping soldiers.

If the Zhou army was not led by Liang Qiujing, the fierce general. Or at that time, the Taiping Army had Chen Bei, a fierce general who was unparalleled in the world, then the original Taiping Army would definitely not be so miserable.

Of course, Liu Qing can only fantasize about this kind of thing in her heart. After all, Chen Bei's original name was Liang Qiu Hao, but he was the son-in-law of the Liang Qiu family. Again. When the First World War broke out in Wuhu, when his uncle was ordered to cover up the Taiping army. Nine-year-old Chen Bei is probably still in the ancestral tomb of their Liangqiu family in Hanoi, in a dead silence and dark mausoleum, crying helplessly for help, causing his sanity to gradually collapse.

"It's too dangerous! - If one is not good, I am afraid that our army will be wiped out! After pondering for a long time, Liu Qing shook her head and rejected Qi Zhi's suggestion.

It's no wonder, after all, it's not easy to get into danger, this is a common problem between strategists and military advisors, the more conceited people are about their own resourcefulness, the less likely they are to take risks, in this regard, Liu Qing is really similar to the eldest grandson Xiangyu. Because they felt that they could have come up with better ideas.

If there is any difference, it is that the eldest grandson Xiangyu's estimation of interests is heavier, if the eldest grandson Xiangyu and Liu Qing change positions, if she thinks that paying the lives of 40,000 Taiping troops can completely annihilate Xie An's 60,000 Taiping troops, according to the character of Changsun Xiangyu, most of them will try to do this, after all, this woman has already had a criminal record, and she exchanged the sacrifice of 80,000 soldiers and civilians in Gaoyang for the victory of the Northern Hebei Empire.

Of course, the premise is that Wu Heng has not yet expressed his obvious dissatisfaction, and even has the intention of killing and eradicating her with a knife. But then again, if it was really the eldest grandson Xiangyu sitting in Liu Qing's position, she wouldn't care if Wu Heng was the son of Wu Wei, the deputy commander of the original Taiping Army, and would inevitably eradicate this difficult chess piece first, after all, when the eldest grandson Xiangyu helped Xie An to quell the rebellion three years ago, he did this in Daliang, put a Hongmen banquet, and without saying a word, he directly shot and killed those generals of the Western Army who were dissatisfied with her and Xie An.

In contrast, Liu Qing seemed soft-hearted, he had appeased Wu Heng before, and now, he couldn't bear to exchange the lives of his soldiers for victory.

It's no wonder, after all, although Liu Qing lost her mother at a young age, and she didn't even know who her biological father was, but she grew up under the care of Chen Bei, Yang Yu and other generals, and almost never suffered any blame and setbacks, and the eldest grandson Xiangyu is different, this woman was used to seeing all kinds of ugliness in the human heart as early as a child, and once held a grudge against the eldest grandson family for the unfair treatment of her mother Wang, and her heart was cold and vicious, even if it was Yin Gong and Xie An, she was secretly frightened.

"Let's withdraw our troops!" Glancing at Qi Zhi, Liu Qing said with a straight face, "If Xie An is not as tight as forcing the ground, there is no need for our army to break the net with him, after crossing the river, go to Jiangling in Nanjun County to meet with Brother Chen, and first help [Three Kings] defeat [Eight Sage Kings] Li Xian, as long as Li Xian dies, Xie An will be alone and difficult to sing!" ”

I have to admit that Liu Qing's grasp of the overall situation is indeed unique, even if he was forced to such a point by Xie An, he never panicked, or planned to die with Xie An with the idea of breaking the can. On the contrary, even in such an unfavorable situation, she can calmly analyze the stakes and find a more secure chance to win.

It's a pity that due to the loss of Qin Ke'er, an important person who transmits information, Liu Qing doesn't know that the current [Three Kings], that is, [King of Qin] Li Shen, [King of Han] Li Xiao, and [King of Chu] Li Yan, their results are not so commendable, after all, [King of Anling] Li Cheng has led his troops to Jingzhou, and he is not a good person.

"Anyway, hurry up and cross the river! ――Before Xie An led the Liang army to arrive, our army crossed the river first! Stop the Great Liang Army here! ”

Just after Liu Qing said this, suddenly a Taiping sergeant hurriedly rushed into the tent, knocked on the ground and clenched his fists and said urgently, "Princess Qiyu, Qiqi generals." Boat...... Ship ......"

"What's wrong with the ship?" Liu Qing said suspiciously.

"Someone infiltrated our army and scuttled the ship! -- The bottoms of more than a dozen warships have been scuttled! ”

Liu Qing was shocked, subconsciously stood up, and said in surprise, "How are the soldiers of our army?" ”

The soldier hurriedly said, "Fortunately, the soldiers on the ship found it early, otherwise...... The consequences are unimaginable! ”

Isn't the consequence unimaginable, if you cross the river on a boat with the bottom of the boat pierced, I am afraid that before you reach the middle of the river, the soldiers of the Taiping Army will have to feed the fish and turtles in the river.

"Who is it? How many people are there? Liu Qing asked in a deep voice.

"Princess Qiyu. The shipwreck was a group of assassins dressed in black, about a hundred people, led by a guy who used to use a scythe, very powerful! ”

"The guy who is used to using a sickle is still very powerful......," Liu Qing thought for a while. He muttered, "The murderous ghost of one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Dongling Mountains, [sickle] Mo Fei? ”

"Hey!" Qi Zhi chuckled lightly when he heard this, and said lightly, "It seems that Master Xie didn't seem to want our army to escape to the other side of the river!" As he spoke, he glanced at Liu Qing intentionally or unintentionally. It seems that she is still persuading her to fight to the death with the Zhou army in Xiakou.

That Xie An...... Do you really plan to fight our army to the death in Xiakou?

At that moment, all kinds of thoughts turned in Liu Qing's mind.

Could it be that guy doesn't even understand the truth of [Wai San Que Yi]? Doesn't he know that if he sends someone to scuttle all his ships, he will lose the last way to retreat for the 40,000 Taiping soldiers under his command. Being forced to fight back to the death, and it's not a good thing for him!

Liu Qing was shocked and suspicious in her heart, after all, in a way, she and Xie An also had something in common. That is to cherish the lives of the soldiers under his command, unless he is sure. Otherwise, it is not easy to get into danger. Therefore, Liu Qing really couldn't believe that Xie An would risk the possibility that the Taiping Army would fight back to the death after falling into a desperate situation, and cut off the last chance of survival of her Taiping Army.

Besides, isn't that guy still planning to cross the river to support the [Eight Sages King] Li Xian in Gangneung, Namgun?

If he fought viciously with the Taiping army under his command in Xiakou and fought to the death, even if he was lucky to win in the end, how many troops could he have to support Li Xian?

Then Xie An shouldn't be so shallow.

Wait a minute......

Could it be that the guy didn't know that the warships near Jiangxia had been transferred to Xiakou by himself?

Thought that even if he destroyed Xiakou's warship, at most he would just force himself to attack Jiangxia? To escape from the warship of Jiangxia?

He wouldn't really think that Jiangxia still had warships, would he?

Liu Qing rubbed her head with a little headache. The impermanence of the world is reflected in this, and she who had secretly calculated Xie An a little in advance before, but now she is secretly sad about this matter.

In fact, she guessed correctly, when Xie An ordered Mo Fei to come to Xiakou to scuw the boat, he had not yet led the Liang soldiers into Jiangxia, so it was not clear at all that Jiangxia's boat had been transferred to Xiakou by Liu Qing in advance. Therefore, Xie An felt that as long as the warships in Xiakou were scuttled, then the Taiping army would inevitably attack Jiangxia in order to cross the river to survive. In this way, he could use the strong city of Jiangxia to fight an offensive and defensive battle with the Taiping army, completely trapping and dragging the Taiping army to death.

After all, it was the Taiping Army that was cut off from the back road, not the Great Liang Army under his command, even if the Taiping Army fought with trapped beasts because the back road was cut off, and fought back to the death, with the help of Jiangxia's strong city wall, Xie An was not worried about how much the Great Liang Army under his command would lose.

But who would have expected that Xie An later learned about the transfer of the warships from Zhou She, the new prefect of Jiangxia County. Therefore, he hurriedly led the 60,000 Liang army to the direction of Xiakou.

After all, if all of Xiakou's warships were scuttled by Mo Fei, it would be against Xie An's previous plan.

On the way to Xiakou with his troops, Xie An was also ready to fight to the death with the Taiping army, although he really didn't want to do so.

Oops, that's the worst of all situations......

Liu Qing muttered something similar to Xie An in her heart.

"Yang Yu, if you lead the Tianfu army, you are bound to stop Mo Fei! No matter how bad it is, I will drive it out of my Xiakou barracks! -- The generals took the lead in ensuring that the ships were safe and sound, and that there would be no mistakes! ”

"Yes!" The tent will clench their fists.

After that, Liu Qing wrote a letter in his own hand, instructing his henchmen and guards, asking him to wait at the Xiaxiakou intersection with this letter, and when the Great Liang Army appeared, it would be handed over to Xie An, the commander of the Great Liang Army.

[Do you really want to fight?] ]

I have to say that when Xie An received the letter the next day and saw the letter with only four words in the whole text, he was really taken aback, and he was full of the resolute meaning contained in the four words.