After reading it, Lin Shuhan sneered: "Liu Qing invited a good master, it was clear that he couldn't resist the enemy army, and he was beaten to his own door by the enemy, but he said it as if he lured the enemy to go deeper...... Although he avoided the important and trivial, he did not hide it at all. ”

Qiu Yizhi ignored Lin Shuhan, returned the letter to Cui Nan, and said: "Hangzhou is prosperous and rich, and it is second only to Nanjing in Jiangnan Province. If the defense of the city is unfavorable, there is a mistake, which is too big a blow to morale, and it seems that it has to be saved. ”

Cui Nan read the letter again, and only replied, "Yes." ”

Qiu Yi's way: "Salvation is indispensable." The difficulty lies in how to save the law? ”

Qiu Yizhi paced a few more steps and continued: "Liu Qing said here that the Lingnan army came across the sea, no wonder we can't hear the news of the king of Lingnan. But how many soldiers and horses can be transported by sea? In a hurry, there are only a few thousand people. It is estimated that the main force of the anti-army is still in Lingnan Road, and now these soldiers and horses attacking Hangzhou City are just soldiers to lure the enemy. It was to transfer the main force of the battalion here to the north to rescue, so that he could take the opportunity to attack the battalion and open up the passage of Lingnan Road into the south of the Yangtze River. I would like to ask General Cui to consider this. ”

The more Cui Nan listened, the tighter his brows locked, and he listened to Qiu Yizhi's words before asking, "What is His Highness Yi's opinion?" ”

Qiu Yizhi replied: "General Cui now has 100,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, and Lingnan Province should have 200,000 soldiers and horses according to the staff, and the actual number will probably be doubled." Even if Huguang Road is still guarded by General Wei, the king of Lingnan has to divide his troops into two routes, and I am afraid that there will be 200,000 people who actually attack our army. Although we are waiting for work at ease and guarding the danger, the strength of the army is still very tight. ”

When Qiu Yizhi said this, he swallowed and smeared, paused and said, "If you take my plan." I asked General Cui to allocate 10,000 elite soldiers, and send two or three cadres, and I led my headquarters to Hangzhou City to rescue, and strive to drive the Lingnan Army into the sea. General Cui can sit in the camp and guard against the main force of the Lingnan rebels. ”

Cui Nan pondered for a long time, shook his head and said, "It's not appropriate." Ten thousand against eight thousand, the odds are not great. ”

Cui Nan said the truth, of course Qiu Yizhi understands that although the forbidden army is elite and has 200 battle-hardened warriors under his command, the Lingnan Army is not an idle generation, and it is indeed quite risky to launch an attack when the advantage of troops is not obvious.

However, Qiu Yizhi witnessed the ability and strategy of Lingnan King Zheng Gui in Lingnan Province, and knew that his use of troops would inevitably be similar to his human being, and he would fall for his tricks if he was not careful, so he would rather take some risks himself than empty the army camp and let go of the road to the north.

So Qiu Yizhi shook Cui Nan's hand vigorously and said: "General Cui, don't worry, in addition to the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses we are waiting for, there is also the Jiangnan Province Jiedu Army to respond to the assistants, and the advantage in strength is still quite large." ”

Qiu Yi Zhiman thought that the reasons he put forward were enough to convince Cui Nan, a general who was not good at words, but he didn't expect to be rejected by Cui Nan in just a few words: "No." The Jiedu Army does not work. We have 10,000 people, not enough. ”

After that, he couldn't help but shake his head.

So Qiu Yizhi had no choice but to ask: "If General Cui thinks so, how should I deal with it?" ”

Cui Nan didn't think about it, and said: "Order 50,000 people to go to Hangzhou." ”

Qiu Yizhi gasped when he heard this, and said, "Fifty thousand people...... This is half of General Zuo's troops, in case the king of Lingnan comes to attack, how will the general respond? ”

But I heard Cui Nan say word by word: "If Hangzhou is a feint, 50,000 against 10,000, it is still too late to return quickly; If Hangzhou is the main attack, 50,000 will support it for ten days, which is enough to send reinforcements. ”

When Qiu Yizhi heard this, he couldn't help but admire Cui Nan even more.

It turned out that he did not think that the Lingnan Army in the direction of Hangzhou must be a feint attack from the mountain, but made preparations with both hands: if the enemy army under Hangzhou really only had more than 10,000 people, then he could quickly defeat the enemy army and return to the camp with five times the enemy's strength; If the main force of the enemy army gathered under the city of Hangzhou, then with a force of 50,000 horses, it would not be easily defeated by the enemy, and as long as it held out for a while, it would be able to mobilize enough reinforcements to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Lingnan army.

Although this method of warfare may sound like the best of both worlds, it requires extremely high speed of maneuver and attack ability of the troops, and if you are not careful, you will find yourself in a situation where you will be broken by the enemy. However, Cui Nan is known for his quick and decisive actions and sharp and fierce attacks, and since he is confident that he can complete such a battle, of course others are not qualified to question it.

Xia Qiu Yizhi thought about it again and again, and finally said, "That's fine." If General Cui can trust me, please allocate 50,000 elite soldiers to me. I will be able to defeat the enemy army that invades Hangzhou. ”

Unexpectedly, Cui Nan shook his head again and said, "No." I led the troops to Hangzhou, and His Highness Yi stayed here. ”

Of course, Qiu Yizhi couldn't agree, and said: "General Cui is the commander of Xingyuan, how can there be a reason why the main general is not in the camp, but goes out lightly?" Although General Cui is assured, if there are only 10,000 enemy troops in Hangzhou, then the absolute superiority of our army will not be able to attack for a long time. If Hangzhou is the main force of the enemy, with the ability to do it, I am afraid that it will not be easy to fail, and then I will ask General Cui to lead the whole army to rescue. ”

Cui Nan was extremely resolute when he heard this, and shook his head vigorously in opposition.

In this way, you came and went with me sincerely for a long time, and Lin Shuhan on the side finally couldn't help it, and interjected: "Why don't you go with the two generals?" As for this side, I asked General Cui to send a capable general to guard the camp, and there would be no accident for a while. ”

Cui Nan's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he thought: My lieutenant generals are far from my opponents in terms of offense, but in terms of defense alone, they are not inferior to me in the slightest, and it is the same to leave them here to preside over the affairs of the battalion.

Thinking of this, Cui Nan finally nodded and said, "Mr. Lin is reasonable, so let's do it." ”

So Cui Nan selected 50,000 elite soldiers from the headquarters, led by himself, and more than 200 pro-soldiers from Qiuyi's department, all the way north to Hangzhou to rescue.

As for General Zuo's line, although Cui Nan chose the most powerful deputy general under his command to preside, he still felt uneasy in his heart, so he used General Zuo to defend and let the remaining 50,000 horses enter Wenzhou City to garrison, so that once the main force of Lingnan Road comes to attack, then only the Wenzhou city wall can support at least ten days and half a month, and then Cui Nan will be able to lead the army back to help.

Although Cui Nan and Qiu Yizhi were well prepared, the march was extremely unsmooth.

It turns out that the weather in Jiangnan Province in October is just in autumn, there is a road is "a burst of autumn rain and a cold", this year's rainfall is extraordinarily more than in previous years, when the army is still in Wenzhou, it has been shrouded in the boundless drizzle.

There are many dirt roads in the south of the Yangtze River, and when they are soaked by rain, they become extremely muddy, and stepping on such ground will of course greatly affect the speed of the march. Therefore, the army has been walking for two and a half days, and then it will leave the boundary of Wenzhou and come to Hangzhou.

But as soon as I entered Hangzhou, the rain actually increased sharply, from a miasma of smoke and lewd rain to a violent storm that split my head and covered my face.

The army was speeding through the rain, and before they had taken a few steps, many people slipped and fell on the mud floor, breaking their hands and feet. Many soldiers and horses were drenched in the rain for a whole day, and they did not have a good rest at night, and when they were packed up the next morning, they found that many soldiers were sick with a high fever.

These people could not continue to march and fight, Cui Nan and Qiu Yizhi could only arrange for them to go to the nearest city to rest, and they led the remaining soldiers and horses to continue to Hangzhou.

Hangzhou is far from Wenzhou, the straight-line distance is only more than 300 miles, and it stands to reason that you can walk in three to four days by marching in a hurry, but there is just a Qiantang River between Hangzhou and Wenzhou. The estuary of the Qiantang River is in the middle of Hangzhou Bay. Therefore, if you want to rush from Wenzhou to Hangzhou, you must take a long detour, so that the distance is extended to nearly 500 miles.

After walking non-stop for two days, Cui Nan and Qiu Yizhi finally came to the vicinity of Hangzhou.

The vicinity of Hangzhou was originally uninhabited by the clear wilderness of the fortified wall, and after a sudden military disaster on Lingnan Road, the originally extremely rich place became extremely desolate.

Qiu Yizhi was afraid that he would not come in time enough and let this place suffer another military disaster, so he hurriedly urged the army to advance.

However, the army was exhausted to the extreme, except for Qiu Yizhi's newly recruited group of village warriors, the rest of the forbidden army under Cui Nan's command could no longer maintain the same high-speed action as when they first set off.

Finally came to the city of Hangzhou, Cui Nan and Qiu Yi saw that the city wall of Hangzhou was mottled, the east was blackened, and the west was destroyed, obviously after several rounds of competition for attack and defense, but the overall was still very stable, and there was no sign that the city would be breached. I also saw a camp set up under the city from a distance, and the banner of Lingnan Road used in the camp was quite neat and orderly, but it looked a little sluggish, which was obviously caused by exhaustion after the fierce battle.

Qiu Yizhi and Cui Nan finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw such a scene, but they didn't dare to slack off in their hearts, and hurriedly sent capable light horsemen to investigate the situation.

When the light cavalry came back, it was reported that the total number of military horses in Lingnan Road was about 10,000, and the four roads were divided into four roads to block the four gates of Hangzhou, and the number of troops per share was less than 3,000.

Qiu Yizhi heard such information, but fell into deep thought: There are not many troops and the division of troops is undoubtedly a taboo in the use of troops, it is said that a person like the King of Lingnan, who has experienced a hundred battles and is cunning, should not make such a mistake...... Could it be that the siege of Hangzhou City is really a partial division of Lingnan Road, and the King of Lingnan himself is not in this army?

Cui Nan was also puzzled, thought for a while and asked, "What is the situation in the city?" ”

The spy replied: "The four gates are tightly guarded by the Lingnan army, and they cannot be approached, and the situation in Hangzhou is unknown. ”

Cui Nan nodded with a calm face and said, "Got it, let's go down." ”

He pondered for a moment and said to Qiu Yizhi: "The situation is unknown, I will also go and see." ”

Qiu Yizhi also hurriedly greeted Zhao Chengxiao, asking him to lead two hundred elites under his command to protect himself and Cui Nan, and climb the prancing horse on a hill two or three miles away from Hangzhou City to carefully observe the enemy's situation.

At a glance, I realized that Fang Cai's Tanma did not say a word, the number of Lingnan troops besieging Hangzhou City was not large, and the organization and command were not very strict, as if they could be easily conquered in one go.

But the more experienced people are, the more they know the truth of danger and fierceness, and in this case, Cui Nan and Qiu Yizhi smelled a dangerous smell together, and always felt that things were not as simple as what they saw with their own eyes.

However, now that the situation is urgent, the Lingnan Dao army may be looking at its Wenzhou battalion, or it may have already dispatched the whole army to pounce on Jiangnan. However, he was delayed for three days on the way to here, and there was no time for Cui Nan and Qiu Yizhi to think about it again.

So Cui Nan gritted his teeth and said, "No matter, let's fight first!" ”