Not to mention the two of the Zhou army generals Liao Li and the Taiping army general Wei Zhuang, who have temporarily stayed away from the center of the battlefield, not to mention the confrontation that still continues in the Zhou army camp, that is, the battle between the withered sheep and the main force of the Taiping army under his command of 22,000 Niu Zhu attacked the seven or eight thousand defenders in the Zhou camp.

As Wei Zhuang expected, the withered sheep was pinned, and he, who led more than 20,000 soldiers under his command, was restrained by the Zhou army, so that he failed to break the tent of the middle camp of the Zhou army of the Taiping army as planned, and set fire to the center of the barracks to declare his victory.

Time is often like fine sand between the fingers, and its passing is unstoppable. And the more we watch the rate at which it is draining, the more irritable people become, like the withered sheep of today.

Dilemma, difficult to ride a tiger, using such words to explain the situation of the withered sheep at this moment can be said to complement each other, so far he said, finally thoroughly understand the terrible background of the strong Jizhou soldiers, the great Zhou Jinggi royal division. Although it occupies the advantage of the terrain, it only uses six or seven thousand people to block the attack of more than 20,000 people head-on, which is simply inconceivable in the mind of the withered sheep.

"I can't hold it back, little uncle......" shook the delicate little golden fan in his hand, and said to his lord Xie An with a smile.

At this time, Xie An was standing in a safe area far away from the battlefield and watching the withered sheep from a distance, he was slightly stunned when he heard this, turned his head and said with a little surprise, "Huh? Gou Gong? ――When did you come here? ”

Gou Gong smiled and said politely, "It's been a while, but seeing that the adults are paying attention to the battle situation, they don't dare to disturb ......"

"Oh." Xie An nodded suddenly in realization, and once again set his eyes on the withered sheep on the battlefield in the distance. Because of Yiyi's concern for the concubine, Xie An can be said to be very concerned about the safety of the withered sheep, after all, Liang Qiuhao's experience is in front of him, and he doesn't want to see a precious relative die in front of him again.

I have to say that the death of his eldest wife's uncle Liang Qiuhao will obviously be an irreparable pain for Xie An in his life. And it was precisely because he clearly understood the pain of losing his relatives that Xie An desperately wanted to persuade the little uncle of the withered sheep, otherwise, he really had no shame to go back to Yiyi, the beloved woman, to explain.

And Gou Gong beside him was waiting for the lord Xie An to pick up Fang Cai's words, but he didn't expect the lord to be distracted, smiled bitterly in his heart, and repeated again, "My lord, the little uncle can't hold it anymore......"

"Huh? Oooh. Xie An, who had just woken up from a dream, laughed at himself, glanced at Gou Gongguo apologetically, nodded and sighed, "Yes, that kid is in a hurry...... He underestimated the heritage of my Jizhou Army too much. ”

"Isn't it!" Gou Gong echoed when he heard this.

is simply catering to the lord Xie An, but Gou Gong himself thinks so. You must know that in this current war, the generals who should fight, except for Qi Zhi, the former general of the Taiping Army, are all generals who were recruited from the Great Liang Army, as for the generals of the Jizhou Army such as Liao Li, Tang Hao, Zhang Dong, Ou Peng, etc., they have not really joined the war yet, not to mention Fei Guo and Ma Dan, the two Jizhou military commander-level generals who were temporarily seconded by Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages.

It is no exaggeration to say that the withered sheep is difficult to deal with the current Zhou soldiers and generals, and it is difficult to imagine how he will resist if the best lineup of Jizhou soldiers is here.

"With 20,000 soldiers, the strong attack cannot be overcome, and the fierce battle cannot advance an inch...... The situation of the little uncle is not good! -- If it is a lowly position, it will be convenient to withdraw from the army at this moment......" Gou Gong said meaningfully to Xie An.

As if he understood the deep meaning of Gou Gong's words, Xie An shook his head and said with a chuckle, "Don't worry, the withered sheep will not choose to withdraw their troops here, so there is no need to take precautions in advance." The withered sheep was arrogant, and this time I gave him enough opportunity to give him the upper hand, but if he still could not defeat our army, he was forced to withdraw his troops...... For him, this is tantamount to defeat! ”

Gou Gong nodded and smiled when he heard this, and echoed, "What the Lord said is extremely true! - I hope everything goes well, and I have to make my little uncle return to my heart as soon as possible, and there will be no mistakes......"

"That's right!"

Just as Xie An and Gou Gong were discussing this matter in detail, suddenly several sentry guards hurriedly walked over, knocked on the ground and clenched their fists and said, "Lord Qiqi, the scout who is monitoring the field on the east side of the camp has come to report that the four generals have given up chasing Wei Zhuang, the general of the Taiping Army, and are preparing to return to the camp!" ”

"Good!" Xie An was overjoyed when he heard this, stroked his palms and smiled, "When Liao Li, Tang Hao and the other four lead the army back to the camp and arrive, this battle will be decided!" ”

"This ......" I saw one of the guards hesitate, clenched his fists and said, "My lord, according to the scout who came to report the news one step ahead, General Liao Li did not return with the army ......"

"What?" Xie An was stunned when he heard this, and asked suspiciously, "What did Liao Li do?" ”

"It is said that he continued to chase after Wei Zhuang, the general of the Taiping Army...... At that time, when the four generals turned around and were about to return, Na Weizhuang seemed to be aware of the incident, and also reversed the trend of defeat and retreat, wanting to follow the pursuit of the four generals, so General Liao Li took the initiative to stay behind......"

"......" Xie An opened his mouth wordlessly, then shook his head with a smile and laughter, and scolded angrily, "This Liao Li, this mansion has thousands of instructions, but he ......"

As Xie An's confidant, how could Gou Gong not know that Xie An's love for Liao Li was even above Ma Dan? It's no wonder, after all, Liao Li was once Xie An's guard general for a while, and he was loyal to Xie An, not to mention that Liao Li was the first to be loyal to Xie An like Zhang Dong among the current generals of the Jizhou army. Therefore, even if the eldest grandson Xiangyu was annoyed by Liao Li's self-assertion on the battlefield several times, it was also hindered by the affection of his husband Xie An, and he did not dispose of Liao Li, at most he left him idle.

It was precisely because he clearly understood this matter, and now that he saw Xie An talking like this, Gou Gong hurriedly said, "I think that General Liao Li made a decision immediately, after all, that Wei Zhuang is also a so-called five-party heavenly general, and there are also 3,000 people under his command, although the top priority of our army at the moment is to capture the little uncle, but if this is lax, I am afraid it will not be very appropriate...... That's 3,000 soldiers! ”

Xie An nodded slowly, after all, three thousand troops did have the ability to turn the tide of the entire battle.

"But in this way, our army's plan to attack from all sides will be in vain," Xie An said with a frown......

You must know that according to the original plan, when the withered sheep was bolted to death by Qi Zhi in the Zhou army camp like now, Tang Hao, Liao Li, Zhang Dong, and Ou Peng would return the same way, and enter the Zhou army camp from the east, west, south, and north respectively, and directly block all the ways and retreats of the withered sheep, so that it could not retreat or advance, and attacked from all sides, forcing the withered sheep and the remaining 17,800 troops under his command to surrender. This is Xie An's real purpose.

However, at present, Liao Li led the 5,000 troops that should have returned to the camp to chase after the Taiping general Weizhuang, causing the army to return to the Zhou camp from 20,000 to 15,000 at once. Some people may think that this 15,000 men is enough to decide this battle, but you must know that these 15,000 men are going to attack and persecute the withered sheep from the four empty gates of the Zhou camp, in other words, the overall number of troops is quite frightening, but in fact, there are less than 4,000 people in each direction.

As for the withered sheep, there are still 17,000 people up and down so far, and if he sees a direction to break through desperately, it is not impossible to break through. And at this time, it is necessary to be like Liao Li, Tang Hao, Ou Peng, and Zhang Dong who are good at fighting in the future to stop the withered sheep. Especially Liao Li, when Fei Guo was temporarily seconded to the Eight Sages King Li Xian to rush to Guangling, Liao Li had no choice but to become the most courageous general in the Jizhou soldiers here. Originally, Xie An was still counting on him to create pressure on the withered sheep, who would have thought that Liao Li was a good guy, and he didn't do the first thing, but went to chase after the insignificant person in Weizhuang.

Well, in fact, Wei Zhuang is not an insignificant person, but he is also one of the five most important henchmen under the command of Wu Heng, the commander-in-chief of the Taiping Army, and his status is similar to the six generals when Liang Qiu Hao commanded the Taiping Army, but in Xie An's eyes, ten Wei Zhuang is not as important as his brother-in-law withered sheep.

"Do you want to be even? -- Send someone to call the three generals Tang Hao, Ou Peng, and Zhang Dong to each allocate a thousand people to gather in one place, and then call Cheng Yang or Wang Huai to command the strength of this army, instead of General Liao Li, to defend one door and trap the little uncle? Gou Gong tentatively came out of the way.

Xie An shook his head when he heard this, frowned and said, "Although the withered sheep is still unwilling to admit another defeat at the moment, if Tang Hao and the others arrive, he will definitely choose to withdraw when he sees that the general trend has gone...... 5,000 people guarding a camp gate is already quite tight, let alone 3 or 4,000 people? Don't forget that there are still 17,000 Niuzhu Taiping soldiers in the camp! - Moreover, it takes too much time to transfer troops like you, and the most important thing at the moment is to ask Tang Hao and others to block the four gates of the camp before the withered sheep reacts, otherwise, once the withered sheep senses that something is wrong and really retreats, the hard work and preparation of our army will be in vain! ”

"That's ......," Gou Gong nodded approvingly.

After all, Tang Hao and the others allocated troops to Cheng Yang and asked him to replace Liao Li to guard a camp gate, at least it would take nearly a quarter of an hour, and this moment was enough for the withered sheep to escape from the camp of the Zhou army. And once the withered sheep escaped from the Zhou army camp, Xie An still wanted to trap the withered sheep at that time, but it was not so easy.

"So be it!" After thinking for a moment, Xie An instructed the guards, "You and others will immediately send someone to inform Tang Hao and the others, Tang Hao and Ou Peng will hold the west camp and the north camp respectively according to the original plan, and Zhang Dong will replace Liao Li from the original east camp to guard the south camp, there must be no mistake!" ”

"Yes!" Several sentry guards clenched their fists and left.

Looking at the backs of those guards running away, Gou Gong asked suspiciously, "Aren't you ready to defend the eastern camp?" -- Could it be that this is a plan to encircle three and one? ”

"What a plan to surround three and one, it's just an expedient measure! - Although the main government does not defend the Dongying, the withered sheep does not want to escape from the Dongying, unless he has the ability to defeat Qi Zhi! Xie An said with a slightly wry smile.

"I see!" Gou Gong suddenly realized when he heard this, nodded and agreed, "Indeed! The Chinese army has Qi Zhi here, and it is rare for the little uncle to make inch. Unable to break through the Chinese army, the little uncle naturally could not escape from the center of this large camp to the east camp, so it did not matter whether to send troops to defend the east camp or not. ”

"Your Excellency is wise!"

At the same time, the withered sheep is still entangled with Qi Zhi, the former general of the Taiping Army. As far as the current situation is concerned, the withered sheep, the second-generation Tianshu Divine General of the Taiping Army, is obviously not the opponent of the original Yuheng Divine General Qi Zhi, and even though the troops in the hands of the withered sheep are far superior to Qi Zhi, he has never been able to help the latter.

It is really hard to imagine that the entire 17,000 people could not suppress the only remaining 5,000 Zhou soldiers under Qi Zhi's command. I have to say that, putting aside the gap between the Taiping army and the Zhou soldiers, the withered sheep who is now only weak-crowned is not the opponent of Qi Zhi, who is in his thirties, which obviously exposes his lack of command experience. Of course, the most critical point is that Mo Fei, the world's first assassin, led the Dongling people to snipe a large number of officers of the Taiping Army on behalf of Qi Zhi, so that although the Niu Zhu Taiping Army under the command of the withered sheep had empty troops, it fell into the embarrassing situation of inconvenient transmission of the order, so that the 17,000 Niu Zhu Taiping soldiers could not do the coordinated attack at all, but blindly engaged the nearby Zhou soldiers, and even a large number of soldiers were at a loss because the generals under their command were sniped. I don't know whether to advance or retreat.

All of this, the withered sheep saw in his eyes, he didn't try his best to remedy it, but unfortunately, the threat of Mo Fei's existence to his Niuzhu Taiping army was too great, and often the withered sheep were sent out to replace the generals who commanded the soldiers before, but these people were all sniped by Mofei, and they had no strength to fight back.

Thinking about it, Mo Fei is a great assassin who can fight with Liang Qiuhao alone for dozens of rounds, how can the generals of the Taiping Army under Niu Zhu under the command of Withered Yang be able to resist?

Reason told the withered sheep that the troops should be withdrawn at this time, because the 20,000 Jizhou soldiers that the Zhou army had deliberately sent abroad were on the way back to help, and the withered sheep knew this kind of thing even if they couldn't get the exact news.

But to let him withdraw from the army, the withered sheep felt unwilling. After all, withdrawing troops here not only means that he has no possibility of countering the Zhou army, but also means that he lost the bet with his brother-in-law Xie An. You must know that Xie An gave him a full 20,000 troops this time, although the Jizhou soldiers were originally stronger than the Taiping army, but who told the withered sheep to lose the Yangtze River natural danger due to his own negligence? If it is a Jizhou soldier who fights on the river and is accustomed to horse and land warfare but is not good at boat and water combat, how can he be the opponent of the Taiping army who are proficient in water surnames?

And just when the withered sheep hesitated and regretted, he suddenly heard a burst of cannon fire from the left, right and behind him, and then, countless Zhou soldiers quickly killed from the north, west, and south, with an irresistible momentum.

Seeing this, the withered sheep chuckled in his heart, of course he knew the origin of those Zhou army reinforcements.

"Report! -- Marshal, there are three Zhou troops attacking our army from the rear and the left and right sides, our rear army has shown a trend of rout, General Wu Zhen begged the marshal to send reinforcements quickly! The herald who hurried in confirmed the suspicion in the withered sheep's mind.

[It's so fast......]

The withered sheep smiled bitterly in his heart, and ignored the herald's anxious urging several times, just looked up at the dark sky.

In all fairness, whether it is the strategy of the withered sheep or Xie An's strategy, the two themselves are not very clever, and the key is whether they have the courage to implement it. For example, does Xie An have the courage to ask Tang Hao, Liao Li and others to take the lead in leading a full 20,000 Zhou soldiers out of the camp, so as to wither sheep; And whether the withered sheep had the courage to attack the Zhou army camp when the Zhou generals Tang Hao, Liao Li and others could return to their camp at any time, and defeat the seven or eight thousand defenders left by Xie An in the camp before the 20,000 Zhou soldiers returned.

I have to say that this pair of brothers-in-law and brother-in-law are indeed quite courageous, and they have the courage to be dangerous in the army, which ordinary people cannot, but unfortunately, the withered sheep overestimated the lethality of the Taiping soldiers under his command, and also underestimated the strength of the Jizhou soldiers.

[Wrapping up......]

The withered sheep sighed slightly, and unexpectedly, when he learned that Tang Hao and the others had led their respective Zhou soldiers to kill from his rear and flanks, his original anxious mood calmed down.

He knew that he had lost to Xie An, and it was difficult to have a chance to save the situation. At the same time, he also realized that in accordance with the agreement with Xie An, he would give up the blood feud between his Jinling Ram family and the Zhou court according to the agreement.

But......

The Jinling Ram family has more than 100 blood debts......

[Is this providence?] Did God suggest that my ram withered and gave up avenging the blood debt of the family to the court of the Zhou State back then? ]

Bit his lip unconsciously, the withered sheep's mood was extremely heavy and complicated.

The ram withered, that is, the real name of the withered sheep. The withered, too. This name was given by the old servant of the withered sheep, which alluded to the fact that the withered sheep was the last heir of the ram family, after all, the old servant did not know that the ram family still had Yiyi, the daughter who was luckily adopted by Liangqiu Gong.

[Stop!] -- It's always an agreement with my brother-in-law, and it's been ...... so far. Not? ]

For some reason, a trace of astonishment suddenly flashed in the eyes of the withered sheep who had lost hope.

On the opposite side of the withered sheep, Zhou general Qizhi was like a mountain that was difficult to climb, blocking the route of the withered sheep to break through to the eastern camp of the Zhou army as Xie An hoped.

Seeing that the more than 15,000 Niuzhu Taiping soldiers were defeated and retreated under the attack of Tang Hao, Ou Peng, and Zhang Dong, Qi Zhi slowly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. It's no wonder that, after all, in the face of several times the strength of his own, even Qi Zhi feels nervous, depressed and uneasy. But now, all these negative emotions have long disappeared without a trace, after all, in Qi Zhi's opinion, as long as his Zhou army works harder, he can annihilate all the remaining 15,000 Niu Zhu Taiping soldiers under the command of Dry Sheep, so that the entire army will be annihilated.

However, just as Qi Zhi and his soldiers were paying all their attention to the withered sheep, no one noticed that in their unguarded rear, a strange cavalry galloped in, numbering about a thousand horsemen, and followed closely by tens of thousands of infantry.

And the brave cavalry who bore the brunt of the attack, taking advantage of Qi Zhi and the others' negligence in guarding against the rear, rode his horse and rushed behind Qi Zhi, and slashed at the unsuspecting Qi Zhi with a big knife in his hand.

"General, watch your back!" The left and right Zhou soldiers exclaimed loudly.

[Behind?] ]

Qi Zhi turned his head suspiciously when he heard this, but suddenly saw a flash of sword light in front of him. Instantly, blood splattered, his head flew high, and his stunned eyes stared at his headless body in disbelief, and it was difficult to see him to death.

In an instant, the nearby soldiers were silent, and the Zhou soldiers who had not yet recovered from this change looked at the cavalry general in amazement, watching the other party take a few steps forward on his horse, grabbed Qi Zhi's falling head with his left hand, held the handle of the big knife with his right hand and resisted it on his shoulder, and laughed at the withered sheep in the distance.

"Hahaha, what a mess, withered sheep! ――Pretty timely, right? Lao Tzu has come all the way to save you! ”

“……”

Looking at the familiar face, the withered sheep opened his mouth in astonishment, and spat out the name of a person who was once like a brother.

Wei ...... Tiger?! (To be continued.) )