In the evening, after a day's rapid march, the 1,000 men and horses of the Iron Staff were exhausted. The county town in front of it is already in sight, but when it reaches Xiangcheng, it is far less than half the way. Seeing that it was already dark, if you continued to advance, you had to camp in the wilderness.

"General, let's rest in Xiangcheng County tonight, set off early tomorrow, hurry up and fight to have dinner in Luyang City, and then we don't have to camp on the road." Qian Shixiong said.

The Huainan army is still a little weaker, Mai Tiezhu sighed in his heart. It is estimated that it only traveled 100 miles on this day, and if it was the northern army, such as the prince's cavalry infantry, it was estimated that it would not be a problem to march 200 miles a day, and the rapid march might reach 25 or even 300 miles.

Looking up at the sky, and then at the tired soldiers, Mai Tiezhan shook his head, "It's still early now, enter the city to rest at this time, then you won't be able to catch up with Luyang Pass tomorrow anyway." Let's hurry up and continue on our way for a while, and now evening is a good time to hurry up. When it gets dark, with the current weather, there is no need to camp, rest for the night, and continue to hurry at dawn. When I arrived at Luyang Guanzhong, I had time to rest. ”

Qian Shixiong and Mai Jincha's lips moved, and they didn't dare to mention it again, so they had to go down to give the order and continue to move forward.

"What's that?" Suddenly, Qian Shixiong shouted.

Mai Tiezhu looked down his fingers when he heard the sound, and he was stunned for a moment.

He ran quickly, and as he expected, there was a horse corpse.

And at a glance, you can see that this is a horse corpse that has just died, and the most fatal thing is that this is a war horse, even the saddle bridle is there.

Something is wrong, something is thickly wrong. It's not normal everywhere.

It is impossible for a horse corpse to be abandoned on the road like this, not to mention that it is not far from the county seat of Xiangcheng. A live horse is a fortune, but a dead horse is worth as much. At least there are hundreds of catties of meat after being slaughtered, not to mention that horse skins are also valuable. Not to mention, the saddle bridle is even more useful, and no one would abandon their mount like this. Immediately afterwards, Mai Tiezhu found that there was a human corpse next to the horse's corpse, but it was not found on the other side of the horse just now.

Horses are killed by arrows, and so are people.

"It's our Huainan sergeant who died." The Iron Staff recognized the dead knight from the sergeant's armor as one of them.

"Alert!" Qian Shixiong roared loudly, sweeping away the tired feelings of the soldiers, and a thousand Huainan sergeants raised their spirits one after another. Raising his shield with his sword, he quickly formed a hollow circle with two hundred people, and finally five small hollow circles formed a large hollow circle. Shieldmen and pikemen were outside, and archers were behind. The mule baggage was enclosed in the middle, a large hollow array designed to deal with cavalry.

"The corpse is still warm." Mai Tiezhu inspected the corpse, frowned and said in a deep voice, "Carved arrows." The high-grade feather arrow is not an ordinary bandit robbery, he encounters an elite cavalry. ”

"Ahh Meng Jincha and Qian Shixiong both exclaimed, "Could it be that Yang Xiu's cavalry has already come?" ”

"If it's Yang Xiu's forward cavalry. That Xiangcheng is only afraid that it will not be protected, so let's rush over immediately. Mai Tiezhu gritted his teeth and stared at the small black dot in front of him, which was Xiangcheng County. It's a pity to stand so far. Nothing can be seen.

"I have to immediately send someone back to Nanyang City to report to General Guo, and send a few more people to report to Luyang Pass immediately. Let them be prepared. For the rest, immediately search forward. Maybe Xiangcheng hasn't been lost yet. Brethren, take up your spirits and fear not, this is an opportunity given to us by God, and the time has come for us to make meritorious contributions! With that, a sense of excitement suddenly rose in Mai Tiezhu's heart.

"Yes!" The scout cavalry who were named immediately turned on their horses and left, they were the few who had horses, and they had been leading their horses on foot along the way, maintaining their horsepower. At this time, when I received the task, I immediately got on the horse and went separately to report the news.

Mai Tie staff mounted his horse, and continued to move forward cautiously with his soldiers and horses.

Starting from the discovery of the corpse of the Huainan knight, they marched all the way to the city and county, and along the way, they could encounter corpses from time to time. In addition to the corpses dressed as Huainan knights, some corpses in other costumes were gradually discovered. Sure enough, as expected by Mai Tiecane, those corpses were the corpses of the Guanzhong sergeants, and even some of them were not Han Chinese, but some barbarians in the southwest and Qiang people in the northwest.

The further north they went, the more corpses there were, and the more ugly the faces of Mai Tiezhu and Qian Shixiong became. Even the corpses were not cleaned in time, suggesting that the war may still be ongoing.

"General." A scout who had ridden forward to inquire on horseback galloped back. "The rebels in Guanzhong have been discovered."

"The rebels have broken through to Xiangcheng, and now the defenders in the city are still resisting, the rebels are all cavalry, but they seem to be not many in number, it seems to be just a striker."

When the three of them heard this, they immediately shouted, and rushed towards Xiangcheng with a horse. Soon, Xiangcheng was clearly displayed in front of them, this small county town standing on the plain, at this time there was fire everywhere, the city gate had been lost, and a shout could be heard in the city. The enemy had clearly not taken the county seat, and there was still resistance in the city.

Mai Tiezhu took off his big knife and shouted, "Come with me, rush together, kill!" ”

Ruzhou, Liang County.

It was already dark, and Yi Feng entered the city, and the soldiers and horses camped outside the city.

In the temporarily vacated line, Yi Feng was discussing the situation in Jingxiang with a group of generals and discussing the battle plan. When Han Seng Shou talked about the shape of Jinghu, he said to Yi Feng, "The shape of Jingxiang wins, in Jiangxia, in Xiangyang or Jingzhou?" The minister thought that if Jiang Han said, the emphasis was on Jingzhou, if it was said in the southeast, it would be important in Jiangxia, and if it was said in the world, it would be important in Xiangyang. Xiangjiang Han is actually a relatively closed area, which has three directions to the northeast and west of Guò and has relations with other important places. In all three directions, the area is enclosed by a series of mountains. The Yangtze River and the Han River extend to the outside of the complex sentence in these three directions, becoming the channel for its communication with the outside, thus forming a situation that can advance and retreat, and can be attacked and defended. For enterprising, it can be used as a base for advancement, and for retreat, it is also a gateway for retreat, which can be advanced and retreated, and the Jingxiang area is a pivotal point in the entire south. As an important town, the location and role of Xiangyang City are of overall significance, and in the whole world, Xiangyang is not only a communication hub between the east and the west, but also an important connection between the north and the south. ”

"The location of Xiangyang is actually a huge basin, which has the characteristics of extending from east to west and north to south. Whether it is the dispute between the east and the west, or the dispute between the north and the south, Xiangyang and Nanyang are the places that must be contested. Xiangyang is located in the south of this plain, relying on Jianghan, through Guò Hanshui and the Yangtze River, east of Wuhui, west of Bashu, from the Nanyang plain, can go north out of the Central Plains, and can go west into Guanzhong, but also through Hanzhong and contact Longxi. Therefore, it can be said that Xiangyang has actually gone beyond the locality of his Jingxiang region, and has completely overall significance. ”

Liu Wenjing also fully agreed with the argument of Han Seng Shou, the deputy privy envoy, and he continued, "The current situation in our situation is a war between the East and the West, and the ownership of Xiangyang is also very important. After taking Xiangyang, it can be said that the entire Jianghan region and the entire Shannan region are under our control, and the rebels no longer have a foothold outside the Guanzhong, so they can only retreat from Guanzhong. And as soon as they retreat, they will be imprisoned and can only sit and wait for death. Take Xiangyang first, and then take Yingzhou Changshou City, then control the mountainous dangers on both sides of the Hanshui River Valley, and also control the throat between Xiangyang and Jiangling. If you take Jingmen again, the overall situation has been decided. ”

"In fact, today's situation is extremely favorable to us, Yang Xiu dared to go out of the customs to fight for Jingxiang at this time, it was a self-defeating way, after all, the Jianghuai army had taken the initiative to submit to the imperial court, and Jingxiang Zhudi could be regarded as in our hands. Yang Xiu did not shrink back to defend the pass at this time, but went out of the pass to fight, which was not self-sufficient, abandoning his own strengths to attack my strengths. ”

Yi Feng smiled, "You can't be careless, Yang Xiu has taken out all the family resources this time." There are 20,000 cavalry, 30,000 infantry of the Tibetan nationality, 50,000 cavalry, 80,000 infantry, plus 200,000 people and craftsmen, a total of 380,000 people, known as 500,000. It can be said that Yang Xiu has already fought with all his might. ”

"As long as we occupy Xiangyang, then even if Yang Xiu recruits all the people in the pass into the army and dumps the people in the pass out of the pass, he is simply looking for death."

"Then we must not let Yang Xiu take Xiangyang first." Easy air duct.

"Guo Yan is also a brave and famous general of this dynasty, leading 50,000 troops to defend Xiangyang, not to mention being able to defeat Yang Xiu, but it is enough time to defend for three or five months, not to mention that we have already sent troops, at most half a month can reach Xiangyang, and the forward cavalry only needs a few days to arrive, he can't even hold it for a few days." Liu Wenjing said with a smile.

"Report!"

A loud announcement interrupted the crowd's speech.

"Report to Your Highness, Luyang Pass is urgent, Yang Xiu sent five thousand cavalry to attack Luyang Pass, and there is currently a fierce battle in the pass, asking for support."

Hearing this, Yi Fengteng stood up and walked to the front of the sand table.

"Li Mi, where is our forward cavalry now?"

"Back to Your Majesty, the 10,000 elite cavalry forwards led by Qin Qiong and the two generals, have now reached the south bank of Rushui, and should have arrived at Longxing City at this time, about one hundred and twenty miles away from Luyang Pass."

"Immediately send an order to Qin Qiong, let him immediately reinforce Luyang Pass, and must hold Luyang Pass, tell him, I will immediately lead the army to arrive, don't hold on, don't lose." The importance of Luyang Pass, Yi Feng is very clear. The key to this war lies in the control of Xiangyang, and if you want to settle in Xiangyang, you must first pass through Luyang Pass before you can enter the Shannan area, and then you can go to Xiangyang after crossing Nanyang.

"Yes!" The herald stepped back and gave the order.

Dengzhou, north of Nanyang, to the city.

A caravan disguised as cavalry from Guanzhong arrived, and the bribes were easily inspected and entered the city gates. Then they suddenly attacked, slashed and killed the guards of the city gate, seized the city gate, and gave a signal, and the Guanzhong cavalry brigade waiting outside the city galloped to kill and rush into the city. The defenders of the city resisted desperately, but they saw that they were already falling, and the loss of the city was close at hand. (To be continued......)