"I hereby order of the Privy Council, so that the prefect of Shouzhou, the left-behind Ding Zhiru, the supervising military officer, Chen Juxian, the deputy general of the left school of the Huaixi camp, and other generals of Shouzhou know: From now on, the commander of the Feng Lijun will also lead the Shouzhou garrison, and the Xinyang prefect Meng Yi will know the affairs of the Shouzhou Prefecture, and Ding Zhiru and Chen Juxian will hand over the fortresses of Shouzhou and Kip Shishan before the 27th, and the first town division of the Fengli Army will take over the defense, and those who are ordered will be punished as rebellion and will be killed!"

Liu Xilin took the lead in the 5,000 elite troops to take advantage of the grain ship out of surprise, rushed in from the mouth of Tanglin Lake, and landed from the wharf on the east bank of Tanglin Lake, after controlling the wharf on the east bank of Tanglin Lake, the soldiers pointed directly at the Kip Shishan military base and Shouzhou City, to put an end to the possibility of the defenders of Kip Shishan retreating to Shouzhou City, and only in the middle of noon did they send several horsemen to the north of Shouzhou City, and read out the Privy Council order loudly in front of the defenders of Shouzhou North City.

"Robber!" Yuan Hancheng fainted once, and when he woke up, he heard a number of horsemen reading out the Privy Council order under the city, and scolded, "Robbers, shoot these robbers to death!" ”

Ding Zhiru smashed the battlement wall fiercely, his palms were dripping with blood, why didn't he want to order these people under the city to be shot on the spot, so that the Huaidong army could see his face, but if he shot these horsemen on the spot, there would be no way out except to wait for help!

There were six battalions of defenders near Shouzhou, and they were divided into two places, Shouzhou City and Kip Stone Mountain, and there was no way to converge together.

Although only 5,000 Huaidong elites landed outside Shouzhou City at this time, Ding Zhiru had no doubt that the Xinyang Meng family had surrendered to Huaidong, otherwise Ning Zechen would not have quietly sent troops from Xinyang to attack Shouzhou, which meant that the main force of the first town division of the Fengli Army to aid Xinyang in the west and the defenders of Xinyang City controlled by the Meng family would soon enter Shouzhou City by water.

The six battalions of less than 4,000 defenders were divided into two places, and they would face 25,000 or 6,000 soldiers and horses, how long could they hold it? Ding Zhiru was not very familiar with military affairs, but the pale face of the guard general Chen Juxian knew that he was not at all sure that he would be able to defend Dong Yuan and lead the main force to return from the northern foot of Huai Mountain......

It is true that Chen Juxian is a descendant general trusted by Dong Yuan, but the other generals and the most ordinary soldiers are not puppets with no brains at all! Tearing his face with Huaidong, in the case of extremely slim chances of victory, there are less than 2,000 defenders in Shouzhou City, how many people need to carry the charge of "rebellion" to go to the black with Huaixi, and would rather die than fight Huaidong to the end?

"There is something wrong in Xinyang, and the envoy must be aware of it in Guangshan County, and there should be a secret order to return it soon." Chen Juxian said to Ding Zhiru that although he was loyal to Dong Yuan, he did not dare to provoke at this time and block the last retreat; Even if there is a battle, it should be Dong Yuan who makes the decision.

The Huaidong army is all under the city, and Dong Yuan has no news from him, so it can be expected that Dong Yuan was not aware of Xinyang's abnormal movement at least yesterday - what hole cards do they have to fight against Huaidong?

Dong Yuan wanted to adjust the deployment of troops south of Guangshan and lead his troops and horses back to Shouzhou, which was simply something that could be accomplished in three or five days.

And the Privy Council order issued by Lin Jian is very clear, Shouzhou City Defense must be ceded before tomorrow, otherwise it will be punished as rebellion, and the Fengli Army will directly attack Shouzhou City - there is no doubt that Ding Zhiru is not qualified to test the bottom line of the Huaidong Army at all.

At this time, there were several horsemen galloping from the southwest, they were Dong Yuan's cronies sent from Guangshan to rush back to Shouzhou to report the news, but when they saw the Huaidong Jiashu array on the east bank of Tanglin Lake, they wanted to cry without tears, and beat the horse's buttocks fiercely, and galloped towards Shouzhou City.

Dong Yuan did not have a straight gallop road between Guangshan and Shouzhou to transmit the message, the letter rode from Guangshan, traveled more than 500 miles day and night, ran and killed several horses, and still failed to rush to Shouzhou to report the news before the elite of the Fengli camp cut the Kipshan stone from Shouzhou City.

After reading Dong Yuan's secret letter, Ding Zhiru burst into tears of heartache, and showed the secret letter to Chen Juxian, Yuan Hancheng and others, saying: "The envoy has sent someone to Shouxinyang, Zhong Rong and other generals have led the Suizhou army to surrender, the situation is still promising, there will be a chance to make a comeback, and this world will not give Huaidong a hand to cover." I went out of the city to negotiate with the Huaidong Army, and I couldn't take the family members of the envoy and the king of Chu and the generals out of Shouzhou City, and I would rather die than surrender! ”

"Shouzhou can't let it," Chu Hancheng dragged his crying voice, his face was full of tears, that is, there was Dong Yuan's secret order, and he was unwilling to watch Shouzhou and Haozhou, which had been in business for several years, so Huaidong could easily take it away, grabbed Ding Zhiru's arm, and said, "Tao Chun is in Wuyang, only a hundred miles away from the camp in Kipshi Beishan, there are 30,000 soldiers and horses, and he can immediately send a letter to ask him to lead his troops back to help!" ”

Ding Zhiru smiled bitterly and shook his head, Tao Chun has suppressed them breathlessly over the years, from the beginning of the 50,000 elites, weakened and even 20,000 descendants may not be able to fully grasp it, which medicine does he have to take wrong to help them fight Huaidong?

Even if Tao Chun is willing to lead troops to help, how will he live in the mighty Huaishui?

The only little naval army in Huaixi was concentrated in the upper reaches of Huaishui, and in the upper reaches of Huaishui to guard against the Suizhou army fleeing north, there was no possibility of a duel with the elite naval army of Huaidong in Huaishui!

Yuan Hancheng was speechless and burst into tears, he gave up Shouzhou, Haozhou could not be guaranteed, Tao Chun would inevitably take the opportunity to break away from Huaixi's grasp, even if Dong Yuan still had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in his hands, but there was no place to raise soldiers, there was no food to raise soldiers, what to talk about to make a comeback, what to talk about the capital to confront Huaidong?

****************

When the sun was setting in the west, Ning Zechen led the main force of the Chinese army of nearly 15,000 soldiers and horses into Shouzhou.

After Liu Xilin led his troops to completely divide and blockade Shouzhou City and Kip Shi Mountain's military base, the main force of the Chinese army landed directly from the west foot of Kip Shi Mountain, and Ning Zechen entered Tanglin Lake by boat, and entered the temporary camp of East Lake to join Liu Xilin.

Ding Zhiru came out of the city and proposed various conditions for handing over the defense of Shouzhou, Ning Zechen raised his head and asked him: "After the destruction of Xuzhou City, the king of Chu moved to Shouzhou, what is the reason for the king of Chu to go to Xinyang with you without following the order at this time?" King Min is the emperor's youngest son, he was feudal at a young age, the emperor misses it very diligently, not to mention sending King Min back to Jiangning, what is your intention to take King Min away? Tao Chun guards the town of Wuyang, even if his family wants to accompany the army, the general will naturally send them to Wuyang, so what reason is there to go to Xinyang with you? Ben General was only ordered to take over the defense of Shouzhou, in case Hu Lu sent troops from Shandong to attack Shouzhou, Lord Ding, are you thinking too much? ”

Ding Zhiru almost spurted out a mouthful of blood, and said sharply: "Huaidong is too deceitful, so he is not afraid of changes in his elbows and armpits." ”

"Huaidong has no intention of deceiving people, and there is no intention of holding people hostage," Ning Zechen pressed his hand on the long case, staring at Ding Zhiru with sharp eyes like an eagle, and said, "But who should go, which people want to go, which people should not go, and which people don't want to go, how can there be no rules at all?" If you should go, if you want to go, Lord Ding can take it away, and he will not leave any of them; What should not go, and those who don't want to go, if Lord Ding wants to compete with Ben General for the benefit of his tongue and play any tricks, don't think that Huaidong is easy to bully! ”

"......" Ding Zhiru and Ning Zechen looked at each other angrily, and had no intention of backing down.

Ning Zechen waved his hand and said, "Please go back to the city, and I will come to take Shouzhou City at noon tomorrow!" "Ding Zhiru was not given a chance to argue at all, and asked the left and right servants to directly expel Ding Zhiru from the camp.

expelled Ding Yuan back to Shouzhou City, and Ning Zechen's actions were not slackened at all: 5,000 troops were divided into a tunzhai on the south bank of Dongling Lake, and the passage into Shouzhou from the southwest was controlled to prevent Dong Yuan from leading troops from Xinyang to rescue Shouzhou; Divide 5,000 troops to the northern foot of Kip Stone Mountain to cut down wood for a camp, and seal the 2,000 Huaixi defenders of Kip Stone Mountain in the camp; Overnight, 8,000 soldiers and horses were pushed directly to camp outside the north city of Shouzhou, and a heavy stone-throwing crossbow was erected, and that night in the name of military exercises, stone bullets weighing more than 100 catties smashed the moat outside the city one after another......

At this moment, Ding Zhiru, Yuan Hancheng, Chen Juxian and others all understood that Huaidong didn't want to directly force them to rebel for the time being, but they had no room to bargain with Huaidong at all.

Huaidong still has 30,000 water infantry troops in Shanyang, and rushing to Shouzhou to participate will not be slower than Dong Yuan's return from Guangshan, and he really wants to fight to break the bloodstream, I am afraid that it is really in line with Lin Tie's intentions: even if the 100,000 soldiers and horses of Beiyan on the west bank of the Han River are released, with this excuse, Lin Tie will not let go of the opportunity to completely annihilate the soldiers and horses of Huaixi.

At this time, Lin Tie made the water camp warship enter the Han River, and Cao Ziang led 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers and horses to hold the line of Fancheng and Zaoyang, so that the Yanhu soldiers and horses could be completely blocked in the north and west of Fancheng, and Lin Tie could lead the main force of the Huaidong Army to the north directly from the Huangpi line, cross the Huaishan Mountain and enter Xinyang to encircle and annihilate the Huaixi soldiers and horses - Huaixi lacked materials for long-term confrontation with Huaidong, and the internal factions were full of contradictions, and Zhong Rong and other 60,000 soldiers and horses were all undecided surrendered troops, and if they really wanted to fight to the death, Huaixi would never have a chance to win by luck......

Ning Zechen's meaning is very clear: King Chu and King Min, the youngest son of Emperor Yongxing, are not allowed to leave Shouzhou without being ordered; The Huaixi army generals who are willing to move out of Shouzhou will not be stopped and will not be held hostage; Those who were unwilling to leave were also forbidden for Ding Zhiru to use means to hold them hostage and leave.

Day and night, Yuan Hancheng, the king of Chu, grew old suddenly, hunched over.

Yuan Hancheng understood that he did not have an excuse to leave Shouzhou, and Dong Yuan at this time was not qualified to play with Huaidong at all. Since Dong Yuan chose to forbear, he would not have a showdown with Huaidong for him, and he stayed in Shouzhou, some of his good lives were house arrest to death, and some of his bad lives were violent illnesses and debilitation. As for his beautiful concubines, princes and grandchildren, it is impossible for them to live comfortably......

If Lin Jian wants to be self-reliant, the first thing he will eradicate is their imperial barriers.

In addition, as Ding Zhiru expected, he could not forcibly coerce, Tao Chun's relatives in Shouzhou refused to move to Xinyang with them even if they did not get in touch with Tao Chun, they would rather stay in Shouzhou to wait and see the situation - Huaidong Since Xu Ding Zhiru moved Dong Yuan's family away at this time, when Tao Chunzhen was determined to follow Dong Yuan and not break away from Huaixi, Huaidong would probably not tear them apart.

Ding Zhiru's heart was dripping with blood, what choice Tao Chun would have, it is not difficult to guess at all: once Lin Jian pinned the charge of rebellion on the head of the Huaixi army, and Huaixi could not see the hope of winning, I am afraid that Tao Chun would be the first to stand up and break away from Huaixi, and even attack them fiercely in order to curry favor with Lin Lian!

At noon on the 27th, the two gates of the north and west of Shouzhou City, which were tightly closed, were silently opened, and the defenders escorted a convoy composed of nearly 1,000 mules and horses out of the west gate, and under the supervision of the Huaidong army's guards, they went to Huoqiu in the west......

Ning Zechen sat on a war horse in armor, and Meng Yi also stood on a gentle slope in the northwest of Shouzhou City, watching the chariot and horse team go west, and Liu Xilin had led his troops into Shouzhou City at the north gate.

Meng Yi said: "Xiao Kuian's side may be able to send someone to lobby ......"

Ning Zechen shook his head and said: "What the lord means, since Dong Yuan is willing to give up Shouzhou City, then continue to pursue and annihilate the enemy on the west bank of the Han River according to the current strategy, and we will temporarily occupy Shouzhou City and the Kip Shishan military base. ”

Meng Yi nodded, Dong Yuan was the lesser of two evils, and Huaidong had to give priority to ensuring that the main combat intention could be realized.