Since Yang Sichang received the report from He Renlong and learned that Mei Zhihuan was leading the Chu army to fight with the bandits, he began to deliberately slow down the speed of the march, and he ordered the camp just after the afternoon yesterday. Then after dawn today, he directly ordered to continue to rest in place for a day.

Although Yang Sichang asked He Renlong and Li Guoqi to send some soldiers and horses to reinforce Mei Zhihuan, he thought that Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Ru were only 50,000 or 60,000 horses, and it was definitely not something that Mei Zhihuan could stop with those 10,000 recruits of the Chu army. And He Renlong only has 6,000 Shaanxi soldiers, and they must leave most of them to guard Dachang City according to his orders, even if they go to reinforcements, they can't send many soldiers.

No matter what, Mei Zhihuan will definitely lose. But Yang Sichang didn't plan to go to the rescue, and he even wished that Mei Zhihuan would be defeated. It doesn't matter if Mei Zhihuan defeats him, what he cares about is that Mei Zhihuan can hold the army of bandits for him for some time. He needed this time, not to use it to reinforce Mei Zhihuan, but to use it to set up an encirclement again and surround the bandits.

"That is, the tiger is mighty and as fierce as the two tiger generals, and quickly stationed in Fengjie to block the thief army from going south."

"Send someone to inform Zuo Liangyu again, let him capture Daning City, leave some soldiers and horses to guard Daning City, and then lead the troops to the south of Zhuyiping to garrison, echoing Fengjie and Dachang City to surround the bandits."

With Mei Zhihuan's victories again and again, Yang Sichang already felt that the civil and military officials and generals around him had doubts about him. This kind of questioning was not openly expressed, but Yang Sichang felt that the governors, governors, generals, generals, and guerrillas had already disobeyed him as a superintendent.

There was an undercurrent of suspicion in the army, and Yang Sichang could feel that Yuan Shuchu, the governor of Henan, and Zheng Chongjian, the governor of Shaanxi, were headed by these two governors, and these people were secretly questioning their own abilities, doubting his strategy and battle plan.

His own soldiers even found some rumors in the army, and the rumors said that he would only talk on paper. And Prime Minister Mei Zhihuan will use troops to fight, and the basis for what they say is that he predicted that the bandits would enter Shaanxi, and then deployed heavy troops on the Shaanxi side, but the bandits entered Sichuan. As Mei Zhihuan expected, everyone also said that he didn't know how to use people, and chose Zuo Liangyu, who had just been defeated at the hands of bandits, to be the general.

However, Mei Zhihuan boldly chose Liu Jun as his main general, but he defeated the bandits one after another, captured several bandit leaders, and made meritorious contributions.

"Who will have the last laugh is not certain, when Mei Zhihuan and the thief wave are defeated and die. But Ben Du has already laid an ambush on ten sides, annihilated the bandits in one fell swoop, and achieved the final success, and then it will be up to you to see what you say. "Yang Sichang now hates Mei Zhihuan to the core, this prime minister disagrees with him everywhere and does not obey his orders at all.

But at this moment, Yang Sichang suddenly heard the bad news reported by He Renlong.

Mei Zhihuan fought with the bandits, but not only was he not defeated. Instead, he won, and he captured Zhang Xianzhong alive!

How is this possible?

Yang Sichang was furious, and he wanted to draw his sword and cut down the person who came to report the news.

But after careful inquiry, Yang Sichang found out. He Renlong did not go to reinforce Mei Zhihuan, and before He Renlong could send troops, Mei Zhihuan had already defeated the bandits.

They actually ambushed Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Runan again in the same place where Liu Jun ambushed King Shuntian and King Chaoshi last time. And it worked.

Thousands of bandits led by Zhang Xianzhong were trapped in the valley, and Luo Rucai led his troops to rescue them, and the two sides fought fiercely all day. More than 10,000 people died in the battle on both sides, but Luo Rucai did not rescue Zhang Xianzhong, and in the end he just left more than 8,000 corpses, left Zhang Xianzhong, and fled in a hurry.

And Mei Zhihuan and Liu Jun's less than 20,000 Chu troops only suffered about 3,000 casualties.

How the fuck is this possible!

For Yang Sichang, this news is tantamount to a bolt from the blue. He originally wanted to be a fisherman, and when the sandpiper and mussels competed, he would have another fisherman to profit. He wanted to be that praying mantis catching cicadas, in the back of the yellow finch.

But Mei Zhihuan, who should have been defeated and then fulfilled his great achievement in suppressing bandits, actually defeated the bandits and captured Zhang Xianzhong alive, and he had nothing to do with him at all.

Mei Zhihuan won again, bigger and much more than the last time. Mei Zhihuan has been winning, and he has been one step late, in comparison, he is completely overshadowed by the prime minister.

Now, even if he brings all the remaining bandits, he still can't hide Mei Zhihuan's brilliance and achievements. The thief Zhang Xianzhong has become Mei Zhihuan's prisoner, Mei Zhihuan fought 50,000 or 60,000 bandits with 20,000 soldiers and horses, severely injured the bandits and captured the bandits alive, and he was able to escape with his whole body.

Yang Sichang felt tired for a while, and now the situation is becoming more and more passive. He had to take down Luo Rucai and other bandits, and he could only take down these bandits in order to retain some face in front of Mei Zhihuan.

But fortunately, Mei Zhihuan must have been seriously injured after a big battle just now, and for the time being, there is no need to worry about him and his Chu army defeating the bandits again, or capturing Cao Cao alive, or beheading a certain bandit or something.

As long as he can suppress bandits such as Cao Cao, he can also save face.

Wushan City.

After the Chu army returned to Wushan, they left behind the wounded soldiers, and asked Yuan Jixian to lead his battalion to stay in Wushan City, and then the whole army boarded the river boat and quickly rushed to Fengjie. Liu Jun's scout horse has been staring at the tens of thousands of bandits led by Cao Cao, who are rushing to Fengjie along the land route in the mountains.

Fortunately, the bandits had to take the mountain road, and they took the boat directly, so they could still return to Fengjie before the bandits.

"We also left a batch of ammunition in Baidi City, and there is also a Fubiao battalion in Wushan and Fengjie, although they are all new soldiers, they are still some new troops." Mei Zhihuan stood at the bow of the ship, pointed to the map and said, "The soldiers and horses led by Yang Gebu have arrived, we only need to hold the front line of Fengjie and hold on for another day or two, so that we can wait for the arrival of the army and annihilate the thieves here in one fell swoop." ”

Liu Jun said with some concern, "We are fighting in the muddy ditch, and He Renlong, who is close to eighty miles away, is leading thousands of Shaanxi soldiers, but they just sit back and ignore them. I'm just afraid that we are working hard here, blocking thieves with knives and guns, but some people are watching from behind, deliberately trying to see us defeated. ”

"It won't be like this."

"Teacher, the heart of guarding against others is indispensable." Liu Jun reminded Mei Zhihuan that on the battlefield, for those who are not trustworthy, of course, he will hand over his back to them for protection, otherwise, he will not know how he died. Although Liu Jun also thinks that the bandits must be stopped now, if they are the only ones who work so hard and the friendly forces do not cooperate, it will be too stupid and too dangerous.

Just after a big battle, several battalions of Chu troops are a little broken, but the bandits still have more than 40,000 people, Liu Jun is still a little selfish, he has won three great victories in a row, and also captured Zhang Xianzhong, he doesn't want to continue to fight with the bandits. He didn't want to exhaust the team he had built up with great difficulty.

The nine-headed bird in the battle of mud ditch was reduced by more than 500 people, and there were still several other battalions in front of it, and now the other battalions were all disabled, and if they fought again, the nine-headed bird would have to top it by itself. The last time the number of employees was reduced by 500, is it necessary to reduce the number of personnel by another 1,000 this time, or even more?

But Mei Zhihuan is unwilling to miss such a great opportunity.

"The bandits came to the southwest in the mud ditch, and there were only two roads to go, one was to walk along the road on the north bank of the river, and this road must pass through the White Emperor City. The second road is to go through the mountains, must pass through Tangjiawan, the thieves can go south to cross the Damei water to Fengjie, or they can go west along the Damei water. Therefore, as long as we hold the White Emperor City and this Tangjiawan now, the thieves will have nowhere to go. ”

"But the trapped beast is getting more and more ferocious." Liu Jun hesitated and said, if the way of tens of thousands of bandits is blocked, then they will not have to fight hard.

"We might as well send a force to garrison the White Emperor City, and then the rest of the soldiers and horses retreat to Fengjie. We just need to keep Fengjie and wait for Hou Yang's troops and horses to converge. "Liu Jun is 10,000 and doesn't want to fight hard anymore. However, it is possible that the thieves will march in the northwest direction, not necessarily to Fengjie.

The river boats soon approached the White Emperor City, and the fleet docked to take a batch of ordnance, firearms, grain and grass from the White Emperor City. However, as soon as they landed, Liu Jun and the others got an unexpected good news.

Zhendong general Qin Liangyu and hussar general Ma Xianglin led 5,000 white pole soldiers to Fengjie. This is simply great news, and Liu Jun is also very pleasantly surprised.

The elite combat ability of the white pole soldiers is famous all over the world, and it would be great if they could get such a new force.

"Please General Zhendong immediately send troops north to Tangjiawan on the north bank of Damei Creek to join our department!" Mei Zhihuan excitedly called his own soldiers and sent him to Fengjie to ask Qin Liangyu to lead his troops north to intercept the thief army.

"Youqing, please sit in the White Emperor City and guard the baggage, Jiye and I will immediately rush to Tangjiawan to join the white pole soldiers."

Li Changgeng didn't argue, nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll be in charge of guarding the baggage." "White Emperor City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, Li Changgeng took his Fubiao battalion to guard the baggage of White Emperor City, which reassured Liu Jun and Mei Zhihuan. As long as the thieves are not stupid, they will not fight the White Emperor City.

And Li Changgeng only needs to hold on to the White Emperor City, even if the bandits pass under the city, it doesn't matter, because they have to pass through Tangjiawan in the end. Liu Jun didn't have to worry about the bandits suddenly turning around and heading south, or marching to the south bank of the river, and heading to Wushan in the east, they could only turn around and go from the mud ditch to the city of Wushan, not to mention that Wushan was guarded by Yuan Jixian, and even if they arrived at Wushan, they would not be able to cross the river without boats. If you want to go to the south bank of the river, it is the same reason, fifty or sixty thousand horses, without boats, they cannot fly across.

Therefore, in the end, the thieves can only come to Tangjiawan, which is the place where they must pass.

After the White Emperor City was replenished with gunpowder, cannons, slingshots, arrows, food and grass, etc., the prime minister ordered six battalions to set off by boat again, this time to the upstream, but there was no need to go to Fengjie City, just go to the mouth of the Dameixi River, go up by boat, and then go to Tangjiawan on the north shore to land.

The Prime Minister ordered six battalions, minus the war dead and the wounded, leaving nearly 15,000 men. However, many of the soldiers were still wounded, but their morale was very high.

River boats full of soldiers chopping waves on the Yangtze River, riding the wind, the sky gradually darkened.

"Tomorrow will be a good day, no rain!" Mei Zhihuan looked up at Huitian and said to Liu Jun.

"Then it's really beautiful, God bless us!" (To be continued......)