After annihilating Li Chengwu's troops, Tang Chao and Yang Xin did not rush to capture Yingzhou and go south to Xingwangfu, but temporarily stayed in Shaozhou to rest. On the one hand, the two brothers need to observe the reaction of the Southern Han Dynasty to see if Pan Chongche, who has been stationed in Fengzhou, has any intention of advancing east or retreating south, and also to see if it is possible to transfer more Southern Han troops from the direction of Xingwangfu. On the other hand, in the first battle of Shaozhou-Shakou Town, the Southern Han army ambushed the corpse for 50 miles and killed more than 30,000 people. And now it is the fifth month of the lunar calendar, and the land of the Southern Han Dynasty has already entered the summer, and if these many corpses are not disposed of in time, it will cause a plague, which is what everyone does not want to see.

Tang Chao and Yang Xin were in Shaozhou to rest and clean up the battlefield without hurry, but Liu Gang, who learned the news of the annihilation of Li Chengwu's 100,000-strong army, and a group of civil and military generals of the Southern Han Dynasty could no longer sit still, and they were as anxious as ants on a hot pot. After all, there are only more than 50,000 soldiers left in the Xingwang Mansion today, and even if the Southern Han monarchs and ministers are confident and arrogant, they will not think that these 50,000 soldiers and horses alone can withstand the 50,000 troops from the Great Zhou Dynasty. However, the plan for now, on the one hand, is to try his best to urge Pan Chongche, who has been stationed in Fengzhou for nearly two months, to lead the army back to help, and on the other hand, to carry out a comprehensive mobilization in the Xingwang Mansion, recruit young and strong soldiers, and defend Panyu City.

According to the estimation of the Southern Han Dynasty monarchs, the population around the palace of Yixing should not be a problem to recruit 100,000 young people within ten days. If Pan Chongche's 50,000 soldiers and horses come back to help, he will have nearly 200,000 troops in his hands. Even if the Zhou army is strong in combat and defends the city with 200,000 horses, there is still a chance. In addition, the Zhou army's grain and grass need to cross mountains and mountains and travel thousands of miles to be transported to the battlefield, and now that the south has entered the summer, the rain continues, and the logistics supply of the Zhou army will definitely be greatly affected. Even if you can't defeat the Zhou army on the battlefield, as long as you resist the attack of the Zhou army for a period of time with the fortified city and high fortresses, the opponent will have to retreat because of poor logistics and inability to hold on for a long time. In this way, the danger of Xingwangfu will be solved.

It's a pity that although the Southern Han monarchs and ministers conceived very well, the actual situation was far from the imagination. First of all, Pan Chongche, who was stationed in Fengzhou, did not obey the order. Although the Southern Han Dynasty court issued many edicts ordering him to lead the army back to aid Xingwangfu, he always insisted on resigning under the pretext of "not being subject to the orders of the monarchs abroad". In this regard, although Liu Gang and a group of civil and military generals of the Southern Han Dynasty were very angry, they were afraid that the persecution would be too tight and make the other party take risks, and directly surrendered to the Zhou army with soldiers and horses, so they only surrendered and withdrew their troops, but they did not dare to accept Pan Chongche's military power and take his place with other generals. During this period, some ministers proposed to take Pan Chongche's family as hostages and coerce him to withdraw his troops. But the generals of the forbidden army who were ordered to go to Pan's mansion to get people found that there were only some servants left in his mansion, and Pan Chongche's close relatives had secretly left the mansion many days ago and did not know where to go. Thinking that Pan Chongche had already planned to support the army to protect himself when he was ordered to lead the troops to the battle, and was fully prepared for this, and at the beginning of the war, he let his family escape from the Xingwang Mansion and hide.

Secondly, the matter of recruiting young and strong people to join the army did not go smoothly. Since the beginning of the war, the Southern Han army has been defeated and retreated, and it has been losing ground constantly. And the Shaozhou-Shakou Town First World War, the Southern Han Army's 100,000 soldiers and horses were all wiped out, which proved that the so-called "Shakou Town" victory that was hyped by the Southern Han Dynasty was completely a big joke. In this case, who wants to be conscripted into the army to participate in this doomed war, to serve as the so-called "cannon fodder" often used by the Zhou army to describe its opponents. Therefore, when the "Dark Feather" Xingwangfu Branch, which was instructed by the main hall, quickly and widely revealed the news about the recruitment of young and strong soldiers to join the army, and exaggerated the Southern Han army's previous fiasco against the Zhou army, the people around Xingwangfu, especially Qingzhuang, fled one after another, or ran to other states and counties far away from the battlefield, or fled into the nearby mountains and forests to hide. Even those who didn't have time to escape for a while tried their best to deal with the officials who came to recruit Ding. If you really can't hide, it is usually the old one who replaces the small one or the thin one who replaces the strong one, in order to leave a pillar for the family. As a result, although the officials at all levels of the Southern Han Dynasty tried their best, the number of strong men who were requisitioned and transferred to Panyu City within ten days was only 30,000, and most of them were still old and weak, and they were not able to fight at all.

Although the conscription plan of the Southern Han Dynasty was greatly discounted due to Pan Chongche's refusal to obey the order and the flight of young people, no matter how thin the mosquito's legs were, they were still meat. Although the 30,000 Xinding was far from the 150,000 horses originally envisaged, it was still a large area of black pressure when it was lined up, at least in terms of numbers, which increased the strength of the defense of Xingwangfu by sixty percent. Therefore, on the one hand, Liu Gang ordered to step up the repair of the city of Xingwangfu, and on the other hand, he conducted "temporary cramming" training for the newly recruited young people.

At this time, Liu Gang encountered the same problem as before - who should be the commander to lead the three armies. If it is said that at the beginning of the war, Liu Gang could barely bow his head for the sake of his own country, and invited a veteran like Pan Chongche to lead the army to fight. Then, as Pan Chongche supported his troops in Fengzhou to protect himself and refused to obey his orders, Liu Gang no longer dared to hand over the last bit of new force in his hands to those veteran generals who had been taken over by himself and neglected - even if these old generals were far more capable and experienced than other generals in the DPRK and China.

So, after thinking left and right and weighing repeatedly, Liu Gang chose "cronyism", and listened to the palace maid Liang Luan, who had served by his side for many years, really Baoju, and the latter's adopted son Guo Chongyue was the envoy, and with the assistance of the general Zhi Tingxiao, he led 40,000 soldiers and horses of mixed old and new to the horse village about 100 miles north of Panyu to defend it, in order to block or more accurately slow down the southward movement of the Zhou army.

It's just that this Guo Chongyue is far less civil and military and invincible than Liang Luanzhen boasted in front of Liu Gang, but he is a cowardly, brave and incompetent person. After receiving the will to appoint him as a recruiting envoy to resist the Zhou army, he did not try to understand the situation of the Zhou army, second, he did not familiarize himself with his troops, and third, he did not communicate with Zhi Tingxiao and increase tacit understanding, but during the three days from accepting the appointment to leading the army, he had been hiding in his own mansion to burn incense and pray, praying for the blessing of ghosts and gods to help him repel the Zhou army. All the affairs in the army were handed over to Zhi Tingxiao to be responsible, so that many generals in the army regarded the latter as the commander in chief, and they didn't know that there was also a Guo Dazhao envoy.

Of course, it's impossible to be a turtle with a shrunken head all the time. The eighteenth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar in the sixth year of Jianlong is the date of dispatch of troops written in the will. Even if Guo Chongyue was unwilling, he had to bid farewell to the gods and ghosts, put on armor and robes, and led an army of 40,000 to leave Panyu with Zhi Tingxiao, and slowly marched to the north.

I don't know if Guo Chongyue's previous prayer for the blessing of the ghosts and gods worked, or God felt that instead of letting this devout believer travel hundreds of miles to die, it was better to let him walk a few steps less and die closer to home. In short, Guo Chongyue and Zhi Tingxiao led their troops out of the city for only fifteen miles before they were intercepted by the galloping court messengers. Because just an hour ago, Liu Gang received a report from the naval sentry ship that a huge fleet of nearly a thousand ships of all kinds was slowly sailing from the east, less than fifty miles away from Panyu. Moreover, judging from the other party's flag and the fierce attack after discovering the sailor sentry ship, it is judged that ten out of ten are the men and horses of the Great Zhou.

If it is said that the previous Zhou army's attack on Hezhou, Shaozhou, and even the annihilation of Li Chengwu's 100,000 troops in one fell swoop made the Southern Han monarchs and ministers panic and frightened, and they were as anxious as ants on a hot pot, they were still able to maintain relative composure and actively mobilize forces to deal with it. Then, as the huge fleet of nearly a thousand ships appeared only fifty miles away from Panyu City, the Southern Han monarchs and ministers felt a real and visceral fear at the same time, they were also completely panicked and confused. In addition to the horror, Liu Gang could only think of two things. The first is to immediately send people to recall Guo Chongyue, Zhi Tingxiao, and the 40,000 horses of his subordinates, who had just left the city for Maji, back to Panyu to increase the city's defense force - as for the 50,000 Zhou troops stationed in Shaozhou, although they are also a heavy threat, compared to the Zhou army from the sea and only fifty miles away from Xingwangfu, it can only be regarded as a distant worry, and it is not considered to be considered at all. The second is to immediately send an envoy to Shaozhou City with his own handwritten letter, and ask the commander Tang Chao, who was temporarily stationed there and responsible for the southern expedition of the Zhou army, to suspend the attack on land and water, so that he has time to beg for peace with the Great Zhou court and the Great Zhou Emperor - in Liu Gang's view, although the boat division of the Great Zhou naval army is close to Panyu, as long as it moves quickly, with the 60,000 horses in his hands, there is still a great hope that the Zhou army will be blocked on the beach, and hold on until the peace envoy arrives in Shaozhou and reach an agreement with the commander of the Zhou army.

After receiving Liu Gang's will, Guo and Zhisuobu were immediately divided into two. Guo Chongyue and Zhi Tingxiao led 20,000 horses around Panyu without entering, and went straight along the coast to Yonghe Town, where the Zhou army might land. The rest of the men and horses were led by the deputy general to return to Panyu City to strengthen the city's defenses.