"Report! The whole army of the rebel army in Hulu Valley retreated! ”!

The latest news of the battle situation reached Xie An's ears from the scouts of the Zhou army, but after hearing the specific situation, Xie An's expression suddenly became strange.

"What? Li Shen retreated ninety miles in one breath? Xie An looked at the scout who came to report the news in astonishment. You must know that according to his and Liu Qing's previous estimates, Li Shen, the king of Qin, would retreat fifty or sixty miles at most, and would not give the Zhou army too much space to build a camp, but as a result, Li Shen retreated ninety miles very generously.

Are you afraid that my Zhou army will attack him while he is rebuilding the camp?

Xie An shook his head with a smile, picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, suddenly, as if he had thought of something, his face changed slightly, and he muttered, "Ninety miles northwest of Hulu Valley・・・・・・ if this mansion is not mistaken, it is ......."

"Wheat City!" At the table about half a foot away from Xie An, Liu Qing said in a calm tone.

"Hey, this isn't good-ah......" Standing up and walking to the table, Xie An looked at the marching map on the table, frowned and said, "In this way, isn't it our army in a dilemma?" ”

Liu Qing was silent when she heard this.

After all, according to the original plan, Li Shen, the king of Qin, abandoned the existing camp and retreated, and the Zhou army also abandoned the camp to pursue, and the two sides were also in the same situation without the cover of the camp.

In this way, the gap between Liu Qing and Li Shen can be reflected, after all, Liu Qing is also a military advisor who advocates offense, and Li Shen's cautious character determines that he will choose the tactics of defensive counterattack, and in this situation where both sides lose the camp as a cover, why should Li Shen block Liu Qing's attack?

But now, Li Shen, the king of Qin, retreated thirty miles back and settled in Maicheng, which made Liu Qing's original plan almost go up in vain. After all, although Maicheng is just an ordinary county seat, the city wall is at most two zhang high, and with the agility of the Jinling people and the Dongling Assassins, there is no need to use other tools to climb over this kind of earthen wall, and you can easily cross it by finding a companion to take a handle and put your feet on it. But even so, it was a city wall after all, and it could play a defensive role to some extent, at least for the ordinary soldiers of the Zhou army. In this way, the position and situation of the rebel army and the Zhou army changed.

Originally, while the rebel army was rebuilding the camp, they also had to watch out for the sneak attack of the Zhou army, after all, Liu Qing would not let Li Shen rebuild a camp so easily. But now it's okay, Li Shen directly led his soldiers into Maicheng, and there was no need to build any more camps, but the Zhou army had to beware of the sneak attack of the rebel army this time, after all, Li Shen would not be stupid enough to watch the Zhou army gain a firm foothold and not take any action.

This is the real meaning of Xie An's dilemma, if he does not enter the army, everything that Liu Qing planned before is completely meaningless, and after Li Shen, the king of Qin, absorbs the army of the vassal kings, his military strength will obviously increase instead of decreasing, and he will no longer be in the same situation as before, so the pressure on the Zhou army will be much better than before.

At that time, the advantages that the Zhou army had created with great difficulty would disappear little by little until the two sides were equal, thus falling into a protracted war, which Xie An did not want to see, after all, he hoped that it would be best to defeat Li Shen, the king of Qin, before the end of the year, so that he would have enough time to rush from Nanyang County to Jiangdong, thousands of miles away, to aid Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages.

But if you enter the army, think about it, and know that the Zhou army will inevitably enter an unfavorable situation...

"Let's go into the army!" Liu Qing's faint words interrupted Xie An's thoughts.

"What?"

Glancing at Xie An, Liu Qing said calmly, "Didn't you plan to end the war before the year?" There are less than forty days left・・・・・・" Speaking of which, she paused, with a little anticipation, a little inexplicable, and whispered, "By the way, let me also see the tactics you used under Chang'an City...... One Night City! ”

“… Looking at the expectation in Liu Qing's eyes, Xie An nodded thoughtfully.

On the same day, Xie An received a battle report that Li Bo, the prince of Qiuyang, near the Sichuan Valley, had retreated 90 miles to the northwest with the remnants of more than 30,000 people under his command at the same time that Li Shen, the king of Qin, had retreated to the northwest and retreated to a county town called Zhijiang. Seeing this, Fei Guo immediately reported the matter to Nanying, and after consulting Liu Qing, the acting military division, he raised his troops and advanced, stopping at a position twenty miles away from Zhijiang County, preparing to set up camp for all things.

The next day, the main force of the southern camp of the Zhou army crossed the gourd valley and arrived at the west side of the Nanling.

"I'm really going to come along, then Xie An......"

In the early morning of October 25, Li Shen, the king of Qin, dressed in a fox velvet coat, stood on the top of the east gate of Maicheng, looking at the soldiers of Zhou who were busy in the snow in the courtyard.

On the side, Chen Zhao, the commander of the First Regiment of the White Water Army, looked at the courtyard with his arms crossed, grinned lightly and said, "The Zhou army is really not afraid of death, and it is even arrogant to build a camp under the nose of our army...... What a contempt for people! ”

"Does Your Highness plan to just watch the Zhou army set up camp like this?" Huang Shou, the commander of the Second Legion, asked in a low voice.

"Hehe," Li Shen chuckled lightly and asked rhetorically, "How many people are there in Tang Haobu outside the city?" ”

Hearing this, Chen Zhao raised his hand and looked into the distance, frowned and said, "Preliminary estimates, there are probably less than 20,000 people, it should be the vanguard army......

"How many people are there in the Zhou army?"

"According to the remnants of the Taiping army, the current situation of the Zhou army should be 30,000 people on the left flank, 20,000 Ma Dan troops on the right flank, and about 60,000 people in the main force of the southern camp, about 110,000 to 120,000 ......."

Li Shen smiled when he heard this, and said lightly, "In that case, why is there a hurry?" -- Over there, Tang Hao's 20,000 men are obviously here to explore the way, and Xie An and Li Xian's army is still behind! ”!

"However, in case the army has built a camp......"

"Build a camp?" Li Shen laughed when he heard this, shook his head and said, "You have also seen the speed at which Tang Hao cut down trees and built camps, no matter how fast he is, it will take two or three days to build a row of camps alone... ・・・Don't be in a hurry, when the Zhou army is about to be completed, it will be enough for me to send troops to attack his camp later! ”

The generals nodded suddenly when they heard this, after all, Li Shen's method was indeed the most worry-free and effort-saving.

"Report!" A scout hurried over and knocked on the ground and said, "The main force of the Zhou army has been discovered, and according to this, forty miles, it may be possible to reach this place at sunset!" ”

"It's coming quite fast・・・・・・" A hint of surprise flashed in Li Shen's eyes, after all, he didn't expect Zhou Jun to be so bold.

On the side, Chen Zhao licked his lips and whispered, "Your Highness, why don't you go to the end of the night to sneak attack?" ―The Zhou army is coming from afar, and the soldiers are tired・It's a good time for a sneak attack, so don't let it stand firm! ”

"Do you think that the wise men in the Zhou army can't think of a sneak attack?" Li Shen glanced at Chen Zhao, and couldn't help but think of the defeat two days ago.

In all fairness, Li Shen didn't feel that there was anything wrong with his original judgment, compared to the scattered army of the vassal kings, it was naturally more appropriate to attribute all those troops to his palm, but he didn't expect that the military advisor of the Zhou army was actually using this judgment against him, so that the rebel army, which had a full strength of more than 100,000 troops, was caught off guard by a mere 30,000 or 40,000 Zhou troops. Although Li Shen's White Water Army was not injured, the vassal armies of the vassal kings in various places suffered a lot of losses.

This resourcefulness, Li Shen thought to himself, it is difficult to match.

In his impression, looking at the size of the world, I am afraid that the only people who can come up with such an ingenious serial plan are the eldest grandson Xiangyu, Li Xian and Liu Qing, but even if the first two come up with such a clever plan, they do not necessarily have the courage to throw stones and ask for directions, after all, the key to that serial plan is whether he, Li Shen, will plan to use the hands of Tang Hao and Liao Li to eradicate the vassal kings in various places because of greed, so as to control the entire rebel coalition army. If he, Li Shen, didn't have that mind at that time, and directly asked the Baishui Army to exterminate Tang Hao and Liao Li's strange army, which was actually just a bait, not only would these two fierce generals of the Zhou army and the 4,000 people under their command have to die in the rebel camp, and even the follow-up Fei ** and Ma Dan army will have big trouble.

Only Liu Qing is gone......

Although it is not clear why Liu Qing, a former ally, would be in the Zhou army, or even why he would help the Zhou army in turn, with the strategy of that night, Li Shen had already guessed who he was defeated that night.

Heavenly Ji Liu Qing......

My hunch is really good......

Remembering that he had estimated that Liu Qing might become his fierce rival in the future, Li Shen rubbed his head tiredly and let out a long breath.

"Freeze the Zhou army all night! -- Even if the main force of the Zhou army arrives, it is impossible for the Zhou army to build a camp overnight, so it is better to ask them to freeze on the frozen snow for a night, and wait until sunrise tomorrow, our army will officially attack the Zhou army! After thinking about it, Li Shen took the most cautious countermeasures.

Although Chen Zhao's suggestion of a night attack is also good, the problem is that Li Shen doesn't think that Liu Qing will be negligent in such a trivial matter, since this is the case, it is better to let the other party spend a night in fear, freeze on the frozen snow that day, wait for the sunrise tomorrow, wait for the soldiers of Zhou to freeze one by one, their limbs are stiff, and their hands and feet are troublesome, how can they still have any combat power to fight with the rebel army?

Thinking of this, Li Shen chuckled, turned around and went down the city tower, and went to the mansion where he temporarily settled in the city to roast the fire.

No one thought about the possibility that the Zhou army could build a camp large enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people overnight, after all, such a thing that transcended the worldly concept seemed almost mythical to them.

"Rebel Army...... Looks like you're not going to leave the city! ”

While Li Shen, the king of Qin, and his subordinate generals were paying close attention to Tang Hao's army from afar, Tang Hao also paid close attention to Maicheng's every move, after all, in terms of situation, the Zhou army was far from being conducive to the rebel army.

"You're relieved, Tang Shuai?" With a teasing joke, Gou Gong turned out from behind and looked at Tang Hao with a smile.

Tang Hao smiled slightly when he heard this, nodded and said, "That's right, to tell me a joke, Tang really can't figure out where he offended that acting military division, why did he get such thrilling drudgery every time?" ”

"What Tang Shuai said, the night attack two days ago, even the adults said that Tang Shuai and General Liao Li are the first credit, and they are above Fei Shuai!" Gou Gong said with a smile.

Tang Hao shook his head with a wry smile when he heard this, after all, he and Liao Li were not men with chicken stomachs, and after being rewarded by Xie An, they were really embarrassed to find Liu Qing to theorize about anything. Besides, Liu Qing's approach is actually no different from when the eldest grandson Xiangyu held military power.

"What's wrong with Liao Li, Gou Shaoqing?"

Seeing Tang Hao ask about Liao Li's injury, Gou Gong put away the smile on his face, and said, "The medical skills are far inferior to the third lady, but I have also applied medicine for General Liao, according to the following, most of General Liao's injuries are skin injuries, and the wounds are not deep, but there is no big problem, the problem is ......"

"Mental condition?"

"Hmm!" Nodding, Gou Gong said in a low voice, "If nothing goes wrong, the reason why General Liao Li is unconscious is that his energy and physical strength have been drained, not caused by external injuries...... Is that thunder really so strong? ”

Tang Hao let out a long breath when he heard this, and said bitterly, "The gap is too big, and Tang can't judge the true strength of that thunderstorm...... But there's one piece! Tang can be sure that if that thunder really wants to kill Tang and Liao Li, I'm afraid it will be able to do it in ten moves! ”

“… "Gou Gong muttered slightly, "Is there such a fierce general in the rebel army?" In that case, I'll have to call my third brother out... ・・・”

"Lieutenant Mo Fei? - Anyway, I haven't seen Captain Modu in a few days, so it's said that the situation is not very optimistic? ”

Gou Gong shook his head with a wry smile when he heard this, and said, "That kid・・・・・・ Liang Qiuhao's death has hit him quite hard, in the past few years, that kid has worked hard to study martial arts, and he did not hesitate to pull down his face and beg the third lady to teach him a trick... I finally got the opportunity and the ability to compete with Liang Qiuhao, but that happened...... Tang Shuai should have heard about it, right? ”

"A little ・・・・・・ a little bit of a hearing!" Tang Hao said with some embarrassment. He also knew a little about Mo Fei, and knew that the current No. 1 assassin under Xie An's command was not even as good as the ordinary soldiers of Jizhou when he took off the black scarf on his face, but in front of Gou Gong, Tang Hao didn't say much.

"Anyway, that kid doesn't know where to hide now, I'm afraid it won't be useful until he sets his mind right・・・・・・ by the way, how is the construction of the camp going?" Gou Gong said with a sigh.

Seeing that Gou Gong diverted the topic, Tang Hao also knew that he didn't want to talk about this matter in detail, so he didn't ask any more questions, and followed his words and said, "According to the instructions of the acting military division, cut down the forest unhurriedly, so as not to let Li Shen, the king of Qin, see any clues...... Most of Li Shen felt that our army would not be able to build a camp in a short period of time......"

Gou Gong nodded when he heard this, then lowered his voice and frowned, "Your Excellency's main force will arrive here this evening, if what Liu Qing said is true, tonight is the only chance for our army...... Li Shen, the king of Qin, will plan to freeze our army for a night, and officially launch an offensive tomorrow, if our army can't build a camp tonight......"

As if noticing the worried look on Gou Gong's face, Tang Hao raised a smile on the corner of his mouth, and said softly, "Haven't you heard of Gou Shaoqing, your lord's overnight city!" ”

"City of the Night?"

"Ah, build a camp for 100,000 people overnight!"

"How is this possible?!" Gou Gong's eyes widened in disbelief, after all, when Xie An and Li Shou were crusading against the Xiliang rebels, Gou Gong and many of his brothers from the Dongling clan were still attached to the former crown prince Li Wei and lived in Jijing, so they had never witnessed that grand event with their own eyes.

"Oh, by the way, the eldest grandson military division deliberately blocked the news and ordered me not to mention this matter, so Gou Shaoqing may not know・・・・・・ but Tang was fortunate to see it at the beginning!" As he spoke, he winked at Gou Gong and said with a chuckle, "Please wait and see, Gou Shaoqing, the lord's overnight city!" ”

“… Looking at Tang Hao's conceited expression, Gou Gong nodded blankly.

Can a camp with a capacity of tens of thousands of people really be built overnight?

Except for the soldiers of the Zhou army who were fortunate enough to participate in the Battle of Chang'an, I am afraid that no one believed this absurdity, until the next morning, a castle with ice crystals stood in the snow outside the city of Mai.

Even, due to the experience of the last time, and the help of Tang Hao, who had already understood the inner truth, the ice castle built by Xie An this time was built faster, and when the rebel soldiers reacted at dawn, they could only look at the city that was shining in the early sun.

"Report! Zhou Jun ・・・・・・ Zhou Jun has built a camp outside the city! Overnight, the camp was built! ”

At dawn, when the news reached the ears of Li Shen, the king of Qin, Li Shen, who was drinking tea in the hall of the mansion where he was staying, was so shocked that he accidentally smashed the tea cup in his hand on the ground, and hurriedly took a cadre to the east gate to take a look.

"Unbelievable・・・・・・" Huang Shou, the commander of the Second Legion of the White Water Army, looked at the ice and snow city with ice crystals in amazement, and couldn't come back to his senses for a while.

"It's true・・・・・・" Under the puzzled gaze of the generals, Li Shen, the king of Qin, looked at the snowy city in the distance in astonishment, and muttered, "Four years ago, Xie An helped Li Shou to defeat the Xiliang rebels, and legend has it that Xie An built a city overnight, and the rebels were scared to think that the Zhou army had the help of the gods, and their morale plummeted・・・・・・ this king thought it was nonsense, and he didn't want to ・・・・・・."

"Huh? Then Xie An is quite capable! Chen Zhao, the commander of the First Legion, said with a playful smile, "It seems that His Highness's original plan will not work!" ”

"That's right......," Qin King Li Shen smiled bitterly, and sighed secretly in his heart.

It's not that he sighed and missed any fighters, after all, even if he sent a sneak attack yesterday, he didn't necessarily succeed, after all, on the first night, the Zhou army would naturally take precautions, and moreover, when he went to sneak attack, the soldiers of the Zhou army had not frozen to the point where their limbs were stiff and their hands and feet were numb.

The problem is in the City of the Night!

In Li Shen's view, the unbelievable tactics that Xie An has mastered are almost impossible to prevent.

Liu Qing, Xie An......

Liu Qing, Xie An......

Looking at the ice and snow castle in the distance, King Li Shen of Qin muttered to himself, and suddenly, a smile rose on the corner of his mouth.

Oh, fortunately, it's Liu Qing, not the eldest grandson Xiangyu... ・・・

"Looks like it's going to take a bit of effort! - Send someone to tell Qi Zhi and Xu Le that it's time for them to appear! ”

"Yes, Your Highness!"