Seeing that Zhang Yu accepted the order in a righteous manner, Hua An nodded with satisfaction and handed over this matter to Zhang Yu to handle, Hua An was very relieved.

Although relying on merchant sales cannot fundamentally solve the problem of food shortage for hundreds of thousands of people in Yecheng, at least this situation can be alleviated for a certain period of time, and it is good to let one more ordinary person survive.

In order to understand the real-time dynamics of the direction of Hebei, Hua'an continued to send scouts to Hebei to investigate, and asked these scouts to bring a certain amount of rations to avoid starvation to death in the Hebei region.

When the surroundings of Yecheng were still troubled by grain and grass, a fierce bloody battle was going on in Lukou, Jizhou, and more than 100,000 troops under the command of Murong Ke had successfully crossed the water and launched an attack on Lukou City.

The city of Lukou is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the main army of Yan State suffered huge losses under the city, but it could not break through the city, of course, the losses of the Wei army defending Lukou were also quite large, and many generals sacrificed their lives for the country.

For such a strong defense of Lukou City, Murong Ke originally planned to bypass Lukou and attack other positions, but Murong Jun, the king of Yan, was furious when he heard that the Yan army had failed in the first battle in the direction of Lukou, and felt that if he gave up attacking Lukou, it would damage the prestige of the Great Yan Kingdom, so he ordered that he must go all out to break through Lukou City and hang the banner of Yan State above Lukou City.

Of course, Murong Jun was just because of a momentary mood, but he never thought that the Wei defenders of Lukou City were so tightly defended, and the terrain around Lukou City was easy to defend and difficult to attack, which was very conducive to the defense of the Wei army, but not conducive to the attack of the Yan army.

Although the Yan Kingdom has the most warlike Murong Ke as its general. And successively added tens of thousands of troops, reaching the scale of more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, but in the face of unfavorable terrain and stubbornly defending the Wei defenders, still did not achieve substantial tension, although they broke through the defense line of the water and gave the Wei army a heavy blow, but their own losses were relatively large, and at the same time that the Yan State sent reinforcements to arrive, the Wei reinforcements also arrived in tens of thousands.

In a small part of Lukou City. The armies of both sides were already as large as 200,000. And a fierce battle began.

Of course, the combat power of the Yan army is superior, and if it is fought in the field, the Lukou defenders of the Wei State must not be the opponent of the Yan army. But Wang Wu, the commander of the Wei army, saw the advantages of the Yan army and his own disadvantages. Therefore. It completely relies on the terrain such as cities, mountains, and woods to fight with the Yan army, and does not have too much entanglement with the Yan army in open areas such as plains.

Wang Wu's tactics made Murong Ke, the commander of the Yan army, helpless. Although Murong Ke is very good at fighting, but also to give full play to the strength of the army under his command, at present, Wang Wu sticks to the city and the mountains and woods around the city, these are all extremely unfavorable for the Yan army, for this reason, Murong Ke wrote to Murong Jun many times to say that he wanted to withdraw the army, and said that he could not let the main army of Yan suffer unnecessary losses in a momentary anger.

But for the sake of his own face, Murong Jun asked Murong Ke to continue to strengthen the attack, and continued to send reinforcements, so that Murong Ke could command more soldiers and horses, hoping to take Lukou City as soon as possible.

Under Lukou City, in Murong Ke's Chinese army tent, Murong Ke and his subordinates were discussing how to break through Lukou City as soon as possible.

"General, in this battle, our army was defeated and retreated, and there were as many as 300 dead soldiers." A subordinate general said helplessly.

"General, the Wei army's defense is extremely tenacious, and it is not a way to attack so strongly, we must think of a better way." Another general complained.

Murong Ke frowned when he heard this, although he was very good at commanding battles, but in the case of the enemy army completely defending the city, he couldn't find a better way than to storm it.

Of course, if Lukou can be evacuated, it is best to attack the place where the Yan cavalry can give full play to their advantages, after all, as long as most of the land of Wei is occupied, a corner of Lukou will not be able to support it sooner or later, at least, the eager attack is very unfavorable to the Yan army.

"Fourth brother, let me personally lead the pro-guard army to attack, this time, I will definitely attack the city." Seeing that Murong Ke didn't speak, Murong Ba said loudly.

Murong Ke waved his hand and said softly: "Fifth brother, don't be reckless, the ladder, hail car, tunnel, all the methods that can be used have been used, but they have all been resolved by the Wei army one by one, and it is impossible for Lukou City to be breached in a short period of time, but the second brother is not dead." ”

"Why, is the fourth brother going to admit defeat." Murong Ba said loudly.

Murong Ke shook his head, and said with a straight face: "Soldiers are treacherous, when fighting a war should be based on the ultimate victory, how can they care about the gains and losses of one city and one place, let alone let the soldiers make unnecessary sacrifices for the sake of the so-called face." ”

Murong Ba nodded, and said loudly: "I understand what the fourth brother said, but the second brother is the lord of a country, and he has already ordered that our army must capture Lukou, as courtiers and brothers, how can we disobey the order?" ”

When Murong Ke heard this, he sighed helplessly, entangled in Lukou, which would make the army under his command fall into exhaustion, and gradually consume the sharp energy, thus losing the majestic momentum of the way south.

"General, the king has an order, let the general immediately lead an army of 100,000 and attack in the direction of Zhongshan County." At this moment, a small colonel entered the big tent of the Chinese army and said loudly.

Murong Ke and all the generals under his command were all shocked when they heard this, they didn't understand why Murong Jun suddenly changed his decision to attack Lukou.

"What happened, and why did the king change his mind?" Murong Ke hurriedly asked.

The little colonel clenched his fists and replied: "General Yu, according to Yecheng's detailed report, Ran Min personally led 8,000 elite beggar troops have left Yecheng and marched towards Zhongshan County, in addition, the main force of 30,000 beggar troops in Yecheng is coming to Lukou, the king means to capture the thief and capture the king first, let the general lead 100,000 main forces into Zhongshan, defeat and kill Ran Min, and destroy Wei in one fell swoop." ”

"There are 30,000 Wei reinforcements in the direction of Lukou, and as soon as the main force of our army withdraws, won't the troops left behind be dangerous." A general said worriedly.

The junior colonel replied: "The king has sent General Fubi to lead tens of thousands of troops to come, and the king will not give up attacking Lukou City." ”

Murong Ba smiled and said helplessly: "It turns out that the second brother sent Uncle Wang, Lukou City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the fourth brother and I can't attack it, it seems that Uncle Wang is busy." ”

"Fifth brother, don't talk nonsense, if Uncle Wang knows, he will definitely be very angry." Murong Ke hurriedly reprimanded.

"Yes, fourth brother, I won't say it." Murong Ba replied helplessly.

Murong Ke stared at the topographic map of Jizhou, for a long time, and said softly: "The main force of our army and the main force of the Wei army fought a decisive battle in Lukou, and Ran Min led the elite army to Zhongshan, there must be a conspiracy here." ”

"The fourth brother thinks that Ran Min has a conspiracy." Murong Ba hurriedly asked.

Murong Ke thought for a while, pointed to the map in front of him, and said: "Look, this is Lukou, this is Anxi City in Zhongshan County, the two cities are only more than 100 miles apart, that is to say, Ran Min led the elite army to Anxi City, and he only needs to run for more than 100 miles to reach Lukou City, and in this way, he can form an east-west attack on our army with the defenders of Lukou, so as to occupy an advantage." ”

"The fourth brother is right, Ran Min must be this purpose, fortunately, the second brother has already let the main force of our army go to Zhongshan County to intercept Ran Min, otherwise, let Ran Min succeed." Murong Ba said loudly.

The corners of Murong Ke's mouth smiled slightly, and he said softly: "Ran Min is too arrogant, he actually wants to rely on eight thousand elites to raid the flank of our army. ”

"Fourth brother, although Ran Min is powerful, however, our army has 5,000 iron rope cavalry, I expect that Ran Min must have no return this time." Murong Ba said confidently.

"General, our army will definitely capture Ran Min alive in this battle." The generals also spoke loudly.

Seeing that all the generals were in high spirits, Murong Ke was greatly pleased, and immediately ordered: "The whole army immediately assembles and retreats to the north of Rongshui, and the main army is ready to kill Zhongshan with the generals." ”

"Yes, General." The ministers will lead with a loud voice.

Subsequently, more than 100,000 troops of Yan State evacuated under the city of Lukou, returned to the north bank of Rongshui one after another, and assembled a little on the north bank of Rongshui, a few days later, after the arrival of the auxiliary general Murong Ping, Murong Ke personally led the main army of 100,000, with Murong Ba as the vanguard, and marched to Zhongshan County.

When the main army of Yan State retreated, Wang Wu, the defender of Wei State, did not order a pursuit, because he knew that Murong Ke was a person who was very good at using soldiers, and if the withdrawal was fake, it would be troublesome to fall into Murong Ke's trap, besides, the defenders in Lukou City suffered heavy casualties, and they did not have the strength to pursue out of the city at all.

Just when Murong Ke led the main army of 100,000 under his command to Zhongshan County, Ran Min and his 8,000 elite beggar guards had already entered the territory of Zhongshan County, and stopped in the area of Weichang and Anxi, and began to collect grain and grass for the purpose of waving the army eastward.

However, before much grain and grass had been collected, very bad news came that Murong Ke had led an army of 100,000 to kill Zhongshan.

"Your Majesty, our army has not raised much food and grass, the main force of the Yan army has already been killed, and the enemy is outnumbered, so it is better to retreat to Yecheng and make a good strategy." A subordinate general hugged his fist and built a yì road.

"Your Majesty, the soldiers of our army are hungry and tired, and there is no chance of winning the war, so it is better to withdraw for the time being to preserve our strength." Another subordinate general hugged his fist and built a yì road.

When Ran Min heard this, he said angrily: "I led 8,000 elite soldiers here in order to break the main force of the Yan Kingdom, and have been killing Jicheng and killing Murong Jun. ”

In fact, although Ran Min has a lot of confidence in speaking, he has no absolute certainty of winning, however, the shortage of food in the direction of Yecheng is becoming more and more strict, and he has no choice, in order to let the Great Wei State obtain a piece of grain-producing land, he must bravely kill the main army of the Yan State. (To be continued......)