From the end of June to the beginning of July in the fourth year of the Great Zhou Jingzhi, Xie An turned to the defensive because he had achieved the task assigned to him by the virtuous king Li Xian in his letter, and the Taiping army did not launch a fierce offensive against Xie An's army for some reason, which made the 80,000 Xie An army and the more than 100,000 Taiping army present a strange stalemate on the battlefield of Poyang Hukou in the south of the Yangtze River.

By July 6, the military letters sent by Xie An to Nanyang were finally delivered to Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages.

Ignoring a large piece of Xie An's complaint in the previous part about his that he was bound to force the main force of the Taiping Army to show up in the short term, Li Xian directly glanced at the end of the letter, and saw that it was written in the letter that the main army of more than 100,000 troops of the Taiping Army had appeared at the mouth of Poyang Lake, and faced off with the 80,000 Liang army 30 miles away, Li Xian's heart was happy.

"Good! Good! Good! In front of Fei Guo and other more than 20 generals of the Jizhou Army, Li Xian's face flushed with joy, and he stroked his palms and said yes, which made Fei Guo and other generals confused, and said in his heart that the Taiping Army with more than 100,000 anti-thieves openly raised the anti-flag, what is there to say? This should be bad luck, right?

Ignoring the strange looks of the generals in the tent, Li Xian turned to look at Fei Guo, the commander of the Jizhou Army, and said in a deep voice, "Fei Guo! ”

Fei Guo's face turned pale, he came out of the column and clenched his fists, and said in a deep voice, "The end will be!" ”

"This prime minister ordered you to order troops immediately, and give me Nanyang within two days!"

“… Hearing this, Fei Guo subconsciously raised his head to look at Li Xian, and saw that Li Xian's face was serious, not like he was joking, his heart became more and more shocked, and he clenched his fists and asked tentatively, "Prime Minister, I will only turn my ears behind the back, and what the Prime Minister said is 'Xia Nanyang'"

Perhaps seeing through Fei Guo's thoughts, Li Xian smiled faintly, nodded and said, "Yes, what the prime minister is talking about is Nanyang, King Han丨 Li Xiao's fiefdom, Nanyang!" ”

The tent exclaimed, the generals looked at each other, you must know that a few days ago, Li Xian went to the palace of King Han and Li Xiao to eat wine, and talked about the wine with Li Xiao, the royal brother, and talked about the friendship when he was in Jijing.

What's more, the prime minister clearly said that he would wait for the three kings to make a treason and rebellion before attacking them militarily, why did he suddenly change his mind?

After thinking for a while, Fei Guo said cautiously, "Prime Minister, right now, our army is the first to attack Nanyang, I'm afraid it won't be able to stand firm in the general righteousness, right?" ”

As if he had seen through Fei Guo's thoughts, Li Xian said lightly, "It's simple!" -- Let's just say that Han King Li Xiao privately colluded with the Taiping Army! ―What is the problem of wanting to add sin? What's more, those three sons of the Li family are indeed secretly colluding with the Taiping thief army! ”

There is no excuse for the sin that you want to add......

Good guy・I thought that this prime minister was a benevolent lord, but I didn't want to be a ruthless character.

The generals in the tent subconsciously glanced at each other, and I have to say that Li Xian's remarks really changed his original gentle and elegant image in the hearts of the generals.

As if noticing the strange faces of the generals in the tent, Li Xian paused for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Don't think that you are unkind, the evidence that the three kings colluded with the Taiping thief army in private is conclusive, and this move is a conspiracy. -- The reason why we didn't take Nanyang earlier was because I didn't dare to determine where the main force of the Taiping thief army was, fearing that these thieves would secretly help the three kings, and now the main force of the Taiping thief army is confronting Xie Shangshu at the mouth of Poyang Lake, and the only opponent in front of our army is the three kings, so when will we wait? ”

When Fei Guo heard this, he suddenly realized, and remembered that Xie An had taken care of them and obeyed Li Xian's dispatch, so he immediately hugged his fists and took his life.

"Yes! - The last general obeys! ”

After noon that day, the Jizhou military camp stationed thirty miles outside the outskirts of Nanyang opened three 10,000-strong troops, led by Fei Guo, Tang Hao, and Ma Dan, respectively, and suddenly launched a fierce attack on Nanyang Wancheng

Although there were 20,000 city guards of Han Wang and Li Xiao in Nanyang City, in the face of the fierce offensive of the Jizhou soldiers, the city guards fell into a disadvantageous situation from the beginning.

During this period, Li Xiao, the king of Han, once went to the city tower to confront Li Xian, accusing Li Xian of attacking the feudal state for no reason, and Li Xian unceremoniously sacrificed the astonishing fact that Li Xiao, the king of Han, colluded with the Taiping army, and asked Fei Guo and others to storm Nanyang.

Han King Li Xiao had few soldiers, how could he resist the repeated attacks of 100,000 Jizhou soldiers, and on the 8th of July, Nanyang City fell, and Han King Li Xiao fled to Jingzhou with only a few hundred people.

As soon as Li Xiao, the king of Han, fled, the entire Nanyang completely fell into the hands of Li Xian, and it was too late to enter the city, let alone set up a wine banquet to celebrate the achievement, Li Xian immediately sent the generals Zhang Dong and Ou Peng to lead 5,000 soldiers to rush to the exit of the Hanzhong Pass, blocking the 60,000 white water army of Li Shen, the king of Qin in Hanzhong, and then leaving 2,000 people to collect Nanyang, with Fei Guo as the main general, Tang Hao, Ma Dan, Liao Li, Su Xin, Li Jing, Qi Hao and others as deputy generals, and went south to Jingzhou.

Obviously, Li Xian's next target is the fief of Li Yan, the king of Chu, Jiangling, Jingzhou.

I have to say that Li Xian is indeed a military strategist who is good at using soldiers, and he knows the truth that soldiers are noble and fast, and after conquering Nanyang, the feudal country of Han King Li Xiao, he galloped his troops and horses southward, not giving the Three Kings the slightest respite.

From Jingbei Nanyang to Jingzhong Xiangyang, the distance is thousands of miles, but Li Xian insisted that his army arrive in just four days, and this marching speed is amazing.

You must know that at this rate, Li Shen, the king of Qin, didn't even know that Nanyang had been conquered by Li Xian.

On July 11, Li Xian led 90,000 Jizhou troops to Xiangyang, summoned the prefect of Xiangyang Prefecture as the prime minister, and quickly called the Jizhou soldiers to take over the city defense, and took over the city guards of Xiangyang by the way.

The speed of such a march was simply appalling, and if nothing else, Li Xiao, the king of Han, would not even be able to escape to Li Xian's brother Li Yan of Chu, the brother of the alliance.

Ah, if it's an accident...

"Heh, I can't see it, the eighth child is still an acute child!"

In the Chu King's Mansion in Jiangling, Nanjun, Li Yan, the King of Chu, looked at the generals who came to report the emergency military situation with a smile, and then looked at the one in the guest seat.

I saw that on top of the guest seats, King Han and Li Xiao were drinking under the service of several beautiful women, and it could be seen that this pampered prince was not in a very good mood.

"Damn the old eight, how dare he do it!" Drinking a glass of wine angrily, Li Xiao said hatefully, "The king of loss was lucky to entertain him a few days ago, but he turned his face and took the king's Nanyang!" ”

"Hehehe," Li Yan, the king of Chu, smiled faintly and said as if comforting, "Doesn't others know about the eighth brother?" ――The scholar turned his face and added three points! - If I were the sixth emperor brother, I would have sealed it when the eighth brother entered Nanyang for a banquet! ”!

Li Xiao was stunned, his chubby face trembled, and he frowned and said, "The third brother has been ordered, I can't wait to take the initiative to provoke ......"

"So the third brother is too cautious......" Li Yan shook his head slightly when he heard this, and after thinking for a while, he said lightly, "But it's okay this way, the third brother's strategy is indeed more secure...... Even if the eighth child somewhere learned the news that we were colluding with the Taiping Thief Army, this time he took the lead in using troops against us, he couldn't stand up to the word morality! As he spoke, he glanced at Li Xiao's depressed expression, and said with a smile, "Okay, the Sixth Emperor Brother, don't be depressed anymore, the Third Brother explained earlier, your 20,000 city guards are just some bait・・・・・・

"That's what I said......"

Just as Li Xiao was muttering sullenly, several generals hurriedly rushed into outside the main hall, clasped their fists and bowed to the ground, "His Royal Highness the King of Chu, Li Xian, the King of the Eight Sages, led a large army to surround my Jiangling for some reason......

"The sixth emperor brother only cares about drinking here to suppress the shock, and when the imperial brother goes to meet the eighth brother!" patted the shoulder of Li Xiao, the king of Han, and Li Yan, the king of Chu, shouted to the waiters in the palace, "You wait for a good life to wait for His Royal Highness the King of Han here, if there is any neglect, this king will not spare it!" ”

"Yes, Lord Wang・・・・・・" Zhong Meiji looked frightened when she heard this, and she only agreed.

Seeing this, Li Yan, the king of Chu, strode out of the main hall and went to his palace to the west city wall.

When he arrived at the top of the city tower of the western city wall, when Li Yan, the king of Chu, climbed to the top and looked at it, he saw that the periphery of the city was full of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

"Old eight, what are you doing here?" Li Yan shouted loudly.

As if hearing Li Yan's shout, Li Xian, who was sitting on a white war horse, came to the outside of the city, arched his hand, and said gently, "Brother Seventh Emperor, don't come unharmed!" - Oh, the prime minister should be called His Royal Highness the King of Chu! ”

"Hey!" Li Yan sneered, as if he couldn't see the black and oppressive soldiers and horses under the city, leaned on the city wall, and said with a chuckle, "Whether it's the Seventh Emperor Brother, or His Royal Highness the King of Chu, you led a large army to surround my Jiangling this time, this is not good!" - Nanjun is the king of this feudal country, even if you are now the prime minister of the imperial court, you are not allowed to lead a large army into my feudal country without permission, you don't know about such things, right? ”

Li Xian frowned when he heard this, and he didn't want to talk nonsense with Li Yan, so he took a deep breath and shouted in a deep voice, "Li Yan, the king of Chu, you fornicated with the Taiping thief army of the remnants of the Southern Tang Dynasty and plotted against you, and now the conclusive evidence is in the hands of the prime minister, if you are interested in moving the city and surrendering, the prime minister can still read it in the brothers, and it will not harm your life, but only demote you to a commoner, and go to the imperial mausoleum of my Li clan to guard the tomb!" ”

Li Yan laughed, pouted and said, "This king doesn't want to be like the fifth child, not only to be stripped of his royal status, but also to endure the pain of not seeing the light of day for the rest of his life!" - Eighth child, you said that this king colluded with the Taiping thief army? And what is said to be conclusive evidence...... But in the eyes of this king, this is nothing more than your words. If you want to add sin, why should you do it? - This king is here, if you have the ability to take it! ”

“… ・・・" Li Xian's two sword eyebrows were twisted together, he glanced deeply at Li Yan on the city tower, turned his horse back to the main formation, and commanded Fei Guodao in a deep voice, "Siege the city!" ”

"Yes!" Fei Guo clenched his fists and immediately ordered Liao Li and Qi Hao to lead 5,000 troops to try to attack the west city wall of Jiangling.

I have to say that the Jizhou Army is worthy of being the Central Army, although it is extremely tiring from the long journey, it is also more heroic and good at fighting than the newly formed city guard army of Li Yan, the king of Chu, which has been formed for less than three years, so that although it is a siege, it is not lagging behind in terms of the situation on the battlefield.

But despite this, Li Xian still did not order a strong attack, and after a round of tentative siege, he called Mingjin to withdraw his troops, which was only a short time before and after.

Obviously, he ordered the siege of the city this time for nothing more than a demonstration, how could he really storm Gangneung City, which has strong walls? You must know that Li Xian is also a military strategist who is proficient in the use of soldiers, how could he ignore the fact that his soldiers have long been physically exhausted after a long journey?

That night, Li Xian ordered 30,000 city guards from Xiangyang to build a barracks, and instructed Fei Guo to send a large number of soldiers to cut down trees on the spot to make wells, after all, Jiangling is an important city in Jingzhou, and the towering city wall is tantamount to natural danger, if there is no siege equipment support, even if he has 70,000 Jizhou soldiers and 30,000 Xiangyang city guards under his command, it is impossible to conquer Jiangling in a short time, even if the troops under the command of Li Yan, the king of Chu, are less than half of him.

On July 14, Li Xian, who had ordered his soldiers and horses to rest for three days, finally gave the order to launch a fierce offensive against Gangneung, and more than 20 towering well trucks were put into use.

This battle was really quite tragic Rao is Li Yan on the defending side of the city, and the city guards under his command also killed more than 10,000 people, while Li Xianjun on the besieging side killed as many as 20,000 people.

Li Xian gasped in shock at such an astonishing loss of troops, although he had thought of taking Jiangling in a short period of time at all costs, and then leading his army to the southeast to support Xie An and flanking the Taiping army in front and back, but he never expected that the loss of troops would be so serious.

The battle of Jiangling is not at the same level as the battle in Nanyang a few days ago!

For this reason, Li Xian called Fei Guo, Ma Dan, Tang Hao and others to Shuai Tent that night to ask about the specific situation, after all, no matter how talented he is, he can't do everything on the battlefield, but after asking, the generals' answers made Li Xian a little suspicious.

"What? Are you waiting for Gangneung to be prepared? ”

Facing Li Xian's suspicious gaze, Ma Dan, who was in charge of attacking the southern city wall of Jiangling, nodded, clasped his fists and said, "Prime Minister Mingjian and the last general are definitely not trying to get away with it!" -- During the siege today, the walls were well prepared with oil and wood, and the arrows on the walls rained down, and most of the carts were burned by fire before they could get close to the walls...... It's not a hasty defense, it's a precaution! ”

"It can't be!" Li Xian said with a look of surprise, "After our army conquered Nanyang, we rushed to this Jiangling day and night, although there was a slight delay in Xiangyang, it would not be a day or two behind Li Xiao・・・・・・ even if Li Xiao, the king of Han, entered the city one step earlier and informed Li Yan of the matter of Nanyang, Li Yan could not be ready in just one or two days・・・・・・ what is the situation of General Tang Hao's northern city wall?" ”

Glancing at Ma Dan, Tang Hao clenched his fists and said, "Prime Minister Qiqi, it is the same as what General Ma Dan said, the well car was burned by fire before it got close to the city wall・・・・・・ and the general roughly estimated that the arrows used in the north city wall today are no less than 50,000 arrows!" ”

"What?" Li Xian's face changed slightly when he heard this, and he paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back, and there was a faint feeling of bad premonition in his heart.

In his opinion, if what Tang Hao said was true, no less than 50,000 arrows were used in the battle of the northern city wall of Jiangling alone, then the number of arrows used in the western city wall and the southern city wall should be about the same, in other words, Jiangling alone consumed a full 150,000 arrows in today's siege.

After thinking about it for a while, Li Xian felt that this matter needed to be soiled.!

The next morning, Li Xian ordered the siege of the city as usual, during which he secretly instructed Tang Hao and Ma Dan, the commanders of the other two city walls, to pay attention to the number of arrows consumed on the Jiangling city wall.

In this siege, the siege of Li Xianxi's city wall was all handed over to Fei Guo, and he himself focused on the consumption of arrows on the city wall.

As Tang Hao said, after a day of fierce fighting, there were as many as 50,000 or 60,000 arrows shot from the west wall of Jiangling alone.

Something is wrong, something is wrong......

Hurriedly ordering Mingjin to withdraw his troops, Li Xian returned to the barracks and thought about this thing that made him feel extremely strange.

In the past two days, Jiangling City has consumed as many as 300,000 arrows, not to mention whether there is an accumulated reserve of arrows in Jiangling City, this number of arrows alone is very problematic, what is he Li Yan doing with so many arrows when he is idle?

Even if Li Xiao had rushed to Jiangling a day or two earlier and informed Li Yan of the incident in Nanyang, Li Yan would never have prepared such a large number of arrows in such a short period of time.

In other words, the arrows were prepared well in advance!

Thinking of this, a question arose in Li Xian's heart: Are these arrows used by Li Yan and others for rebellion, or are they purely for the defense of Jiangling?

If it's the former, then it's fine, and if it's the latter, it's a bit of a problem, because it means that Li Yan put himself in the position of defending from the beginning, rather than raising an anti-flag to enter the country, in other words, the king of Chu丨Li Yan guessed that he, Li Xian, would strike first against the three kings.

I guessed this early, but I still sat back and watched Nanyang, the fief of King Han and Li Xiao, be conquered by myself, and the 60,000 white water troops of King Qin and Li Shen were still stationed in the pass, and although Li Yan, the king of Chu, said that he had 40,000 troops, he had no intention of supporting Nanyang at all, as if Nanyang was an outcast from the beginning......

Abandoned son?

Li Xian's complexion changed slightly.

Wait, could it be that Nanyang was deliberately abandoned to him by the three kings? In order to lead his army deep into Jingzhou?

Why did the Three Kings do this?

The 20,000 troops of Li Xiao, the king of Han, have been annihilated by themselves, the 60,000 Baishui army of Li Shen, the king of Qin, is clearly blocked by Zhang Dong and others in the pass, and Li Yan's 40,000 city guards are also in a passive defensive situation, and the Taiping army, even if those thieves want to help the three kings, are also dragged to death by Xie An on the battlefield of Poyang at this moment......

Xie An had 80,000 Liang troops under his command, and he himself knew the art of war and had experienced the battlefield, so it was absolutely impossible for him to be defeated in a short period of time, so it was impossible for the Taiping army to quickly annihilate Xie An's 80,000 Liang army, and then rush to help the three kings.

Could it be that the appearance of the Taiping Army in Poyang was just a cover? The purpose is to lure yourself into using troops against the Three Kings?

Wrong!

Xie An was a clever man, and it was impossible for such an omission to occur, and if the Taiping army withdrew from Poyang, he would have held on tightly, and immediately wrote to himself about the situation there.

The Dongling people and the Jinling assassins under that guy are all elites who are good at hiding their figures, and it is impossible for the letter to be intercepted by the thief army, since he has not received the letter so far, it means that Xie An has not conveyed the battle situation to him, in other words, the main force of the Taiping army is still in Poyang and is contained by him in Poyang.

In this case, which door did the Three Kings sell?

At the expense of abandoning Nanyang, but also to lure his army into the huge pocket of Jingzhou, does the Three Kings still have any hidden forces that are enough to turn the tide of the current battle?

How can it be! Extrapolating from the quantity and date of each purchase of military rations in the fiefdom of the three kings, there are so many troops in the hands of the three kings, and it is impossible to have any private army, even if he misestimates a thousand people, what impact can those thousand people have on the current situation?

Not to mention a thousand people, even if an army of 10,000 people seals his rear, it is difficult to shake the nearly 100,000 troops in his hands, unless an army of at least 100,000 people attacks his rear, but where is there such a number of troops in the fief of the three kings?

Wait a minute......

Fief?

Fief!

Could it be ......

At that moment, Li Xian, who seemed to have figured out something, turned pale with blood on his face as if it had been removed.

"Someone! Come! ”

As soon as the words fell, a henchman guard hurriedly rushed into the tent and looked at Li Xian suspiciously, and said respectfully, "What do you command, Lord Prime Minister?" ”

I saw Li Xian hurriedly walk to the table, wave his pen and write a letter, and then handed the letter to the confidant guard, and said urgently, "Quickly send someone to send a letter to Xie Shangshu at the mouth of Poyang Lake in Jiangnan, day and night!" ――Tell Xie Shangshu that this appearance is probably not able to join him in Jingzhou as scheduled, and flank the Taiping army before and after, so he can only ask him to figure out his own way・・・・・・ what are you still stunned about? Hurry up! ”

"Yes!" The henchman hurriedly turned and ran out of the tent.

Looking at the back of the departing henchman, Li Xian's heart was cold, and he raised his right hand and kept pounding his head.

Damn it! Damn it!

only cared about the Three Kings and the Taiping Army, but ignored the fact that there were many vassal kings' fiefs near the Three Kings' fiefdoms・・・・・・

Then Li Shen, could it be that he actually said that thirty-one royal families were moved to help each other?

It's long overdue!

His policy of cutting the feudal domain against Li Shen, Li Xiao, and Li Yan over the years has undoubtedly harmed the interests of the thirty-one royal families, but I really didn't expect those guys to really have the courage to attach themselves to Li Shen and be enemies of the imperial court and the Li royal family・・・・・・

This time it's really troublesome......

He even caught the line of the thirty-one vassal kings without even realizing it, although it was impossible for all of the thirty-one vassal kings to rebel with him, at least half of them would take a wait-and-see attitude, but this was also proud......

is worthy of being the third brother, and he can endure this!

Sure enough, Ji Jing is too young, and it is like a cage for his third brother, but when he was crowned king, he released this fierce tiger from the cage・・・・・・

Third brother, this alone is not enough to defeat me Li Xian!

Suddenly, Li Xian's eyes flashed with a gleam, and after a moment, he frowned and touched his chin.

However, Xie An's side is more troublesome......

Originally, he was planning to fight the Taiping army with him back and forth, but now he has to rely on himself...

Don't underestimate the enemy, Xie An, this is just a slight negligence, and Li Shen calculated and fell to this point, and the person in front of you at this moment is much more terrifying than Li Shen.

丨Heaven Ji Jiaoqing!

That woman's strategy is enough to match Changsun Xiangyu!

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