Under the night, the Shihe River is like a black ribbon, across the low hills in the eastern suburbs of Xinyang City, Ning Zechen led the first town division of the Fengli Battalion to camp on the east bank of the Shihe River, and Xinyang City Sandwiched the Shihe River.

Xinyang City was much darker, and the campfires on the east bank of the Shihe River were as dense as the stars in the sky. According to the plan, tomorrow the camp will be officially pulled out and attacked along the Shihe River to the upper reaches of the northern foot of the Huai Mountain, and the camp on the east bank will make the final preparations before the march tonight, so it will naturally be much busier.

Slightly upstream of the ferry, there is the Shihe Water Village, where 3,000 Huaidong naval troops and hundreds of warships of all sizes are stationed.

Meng Zhixiang stood on the ferry, looked at the camp on the other side, looked at Meng Yi who was wearing a crimson official robe on his side, and asked worriedly: "Dong Yuan's military order is countersigned by Liu Tingzhou, they are going to draw out all the troops around Xinyang and press them to the northern foot of Huai Mountain, Ning Zechen will see it like this, and the Chongguo Guild will treat it like this in the future?" ”

"Dong Yuan is too smart," Meng Yi waved his wide sleeves, as if he wanted to vent his full of resentment, and said angrily, "How can a character like him be willing to die in front of the knees of a beauty?" ”

Meng Zhishen and Meng Yi have the difference between the nephews and uncles of the same clan, he is only seven or eight years younger than Meng Yi, and he did not have much contact when he was in the clan, but when Xinyang was damaged by the rogue, he fought side by side with Meng Yi, and the stakes were high.

Meng Zhishen sighed:

The situation is obvious, Huaidong won another victory in Jingxiang, and the main force of the Yanhu Western Front that was lured into Jingxiang will completely reverse the pattern of confrontation between the north and the south, and where Huaixi will go must be the primary issue that Dong Yuan has to consider.

Before the war, the cavalry of the Yanhu clan plus the newly attached Han army had a total strength of more than 500,000, and after the annexation of the luxury family and Luo Xiancheng, the total strength reached more than 700,000; Compared with before, the forces in Jiangning, Huaidong, Chizhou, Jinghu, Xiangtan, Huaixi, and the Cao family, which retreated into Liangchuan, had a total strength of about 600,000, which was at a disadvantage, so they had to unite closely and fight the Battle of Jingxiang.

As soon as Huaidong's ambush in Chaishan came out, the balance of victory and defeat in Jingxiang would be completely locked, and the total number of soldiers and horses on the western front of Yanhu would be as high as 400,000, not to mention that half of them would be buried in the Jingxiang hills and forests - this was still the best ending for Northern Yan, and the total number of troops of Northern Yan would also be sharply reduced to more than 500,000.

Even if the north and south sides are about the same in terms of troops, after Huaidong recovers Jingxiang, it will be able to completely stabilize the defense line on the Huaihe River, and the Huaidong water camp will be invincible across the East China Sea, which can pose a serious threat to the northern Shandong, Yanji, and Liangliao coasts, and the overall situation will be dominated by the south.

And between the forces of the Southern Dynasties, even if the Jinghu army holds Jingzhou, the damage will not be light, the Cao family will have to lick the wounds in Liangchuan for a while, the Chizhou army has long lost the foundation of self-reliance, Huaixi can still have tens of thousands of soldiers on the surface, but there are many internal problems, and the elite of the Huaidong lineage will reach an astonishing number of 300,000, and even exceed, and further control Jingxiang and Nanyang and other places......

When the time comes, Dong Yuan is willing to be rich and noble for the rest of his life, and he will hand over the authority in his hand. Even if Chongguo Gong wants to protect his reputation and win people's hearts, it is impossible for him to do anything to Dong Yuan, who has only great achievements in his life and no great faults, and has no power in his hands.

As long as Dong Yuan hands over his authority and is crowned a rich and noble prince, he will not be stingy when he wants to come to Chongguo.

It's a pity, Dong Yuan is unwilling.

"What can Dong Yuan do if he is unwilling?" Meng Zhixiang sighed again and said, "The situation between the north and the south is settled, what tricks can he play?" ”

"This is Dong Yuan's cleverness," Meng Yi said bitterly, "Luo Xiancheng has 50,000 soldiers and horses on the northern front, scattered in the defense villages at the northern foot of Huaishan, and he can't gather at all in a short time, and Luo Xiancheng directly controls only 20,000 reinforcements in Lishan who can aid Suizhou." At this time, Cao Shuai led 40,000 troops to attack Suizhou, and Luo Xiancheng only had 20,000 soldiers and horses in his hands to aid Suizhou City. Luo Xiancheng did not aid Suizhou, Cao Shuai conquered Suizhou City, and Luo Xiancheng aided Suizhou, which would only make Cao Shuai eat more. Therefore, the soldiers and horses of the Suizhou army at the northern foot of Huaishan Mountain are no longer a threat. Dong Yuan is not moving, it is far better than pressing all his troops to the northern foot of Huaishan at this time, which is obviously to provide convenience for Chen Zhihu to pass directly from Zhengyang and enter the Nanyang Basin......"

Meng Zhixiang asked: "What good can Dong Yuan do this, isn't it that Chongguo Gong made up his mind to clean him up after the war?" Moreover, Huang Zuyu and Zhou Bin have already established a foothold in Fancheng, even if Chen Zhihu can directly pass through from Zhengyang to aid Fancheng, it will take at least four or five days for his main infantry and cavalry to reach the periphery of Fancheng. ”

"Chen Zhihu is smarter, he should understand that the general trend has gone, and he will not go directly to help Fancheng...... Meng Yi said.

"Chen Zhihu doesn't go to Fancheng, where does he go?" Meng Zhixiang asked.

"This is what Dong Yuan is so powerful and hateful," Meng Yi said through gritted teeth, "If Dong Yuan cooperates with Ning Zechen, ignores Luo Xiancheng, who is bound to be in chaos, and immediately moves his army north, joins Xiao Kui'an, and bites Tu'an and Chen Zhihu to death, Chongguo Gong leads the main force of the Huaidong Army on the southern front and Cao Ziang leads the Chaishan soldiers and horses to cooperate, it is likely that all the soldiers and horses on the western front that Yanhu has entered Jingxiang will be ......annihilated."

Meng Zhixiang sighed.

If all the soldiers and horses on the western front of Yanhu can be annihilated, at least 300,000 soldiers and horses of Yanhu can be annihilated, and at least nearly 100,000 cavalry of Yanhu will be included.

This battle could have inflicted a heavy blow on Yanhu in one fell swoop, reducing Yanhu's total strength to less than 400,000.

At that time, with the strength of the Huaidong family, it will be enough to make a northern expedition to the Central Plains.

It is no wonder that Dong Yuan had an extreme reaction of "the cunning rabbit dies and the lackey cooks".

“…… Yan Hu's defenders in Guanzhong at this time were less than 20,000, and a considerable part of them were concentrated on the Western Front to prevent the Cao family from returning the carbines," Meng Yi continued, "In other words, once Yan Hu enters Jingxiang's Western Front soldiers and horses are completely annihilated, then it will be logical for Chongguo Gong to lead the army to take the opportunity to capture Wuguan and recover Guanzhong......"

"Dong Yuan let Chen Zhihu go to Wuguan?" Meng Zhixiang suddenly understood.

Meng Yi nodded and said, "It should be this meaning." After Chongguo Gong recovered Jingxiang and Nanyang, but because Nanyang was five or six hundred miles away from Hezhong Mansion, but the western Henan Plain was always under the threat of the cavalry of Yanhu's eastern front, even if Chen Zhihu did not retreat to Hezhong Mansion, Chongguo Gong had no way to immediately send troops to recover Hezhong Mansion. Guanzhong is different, taking Wuguan is Shangzhou Mansion, the two wings are protected by Qinling and Funiu Mountain, and then entering is the Weinan Plain and Chang'an Mansion, and the cavalry of the eastern line of Yanhu has no way to support Guanzhong in a short time. In addition to Dong Yuan's move, Chongguo Gong lost the opportunity to completely annihilate the enemy soldiers in Jingxiang and take advantage of the situation to recover Guanzhong, Chen Zhihu took the first step to enter Wuguan, strengthened the defenders of Wuguan to Baiyang Pass and Danjiangkou, and held the last exit channel of the enemy army in Jingxiang. He is not raising self-respect, he is raising self-respect for the enemy and self-respect for the enemy! ”

Meng Yi has been in Xinyang all these years, watching Xinyang before the invasion of the rogue and the war, the city is ruined, the people's livelihood is withering, and hundreds of thousands of people have died - tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Nanyang slaughtered Ye Ji Luorong, Dong Yuan actually wanted to let Ye Ji Luorong flee at this time to protect Huaixi's status, how can Meng Yi not hate?

Meng Zhixiang's back was also chilled, and he said in his heart: Dong Yuan is so vicious!

Only by asking Ye Ji Luorong to preserve a certain strength, join forces with Chen Zhihu to retreat to Guanzhong, and occupy the mouth of Wuguan to attack Nanyang and Jingxiang, can Lin Jian have no way to free up his hands and feet to clean up Huaixi.

This is completely to keep his own desire for power and give up all principles and bottom lines: is today's Dong Yuan still Dong Yuan, the little official who guarded Xianxia back then?

Only then did Meng Zhixiang understand that people really change. What a hero Dong Yuan was back then, and today's Dong Yuan has become a traitor who wants to harm the world with his own selfishness.

"Zhixiang is puzzled, why did Liu Tingzhou countersign the military order, could it be that he didn't realize Dong Yuan's intentions at all?" Meng Zhixiang was puzzled, although he didn't think so thoroughly, but after Dong Yuan's military order, he still immediately saw a lot of doubts.

"Jun and the people, which is more important in Liu Tingzhou's heart?" Meng Yi asked, "The sages of the ancients have a saying, for the sake of the society, do you cherish the people?" Although Liu Tingzhou is honest and upright, he is not all the way with us after all. ”

Meng Zhixiang sighed, and he didn't know what to say.

Compared with expelling Hu Lu and recovering the Central Plains, what is more important in Liu Tingzhou's heart is to prevent Chongguo from abolishing the emperor and becoming self-reliant, so he completely chose to wear the same pants as Dong Yuan at this time.

Meng Yi smiled angrily and said: "When Dong Yuan heard the news, he gathered troops to go south to fight Luo Xiancheng, and asked Xiao Kuian to lead those soldiers and horses to drag Chen Zhihu, and he can't say that he was at fault afterwards - rather than biting Chen Zhihu, the generals of Huaixi are also more willing to fight Luo Xiancheng This paper tiger to compete for war merits." In the future, if Chongguo Gong blames Huaixi for this, except for Xiao Kuian, who is full of grievances and has nowhere to say, the other generals in Huaixi will unite around Dong Yuan. It is Xiao Kuian, and Liu Tingzhou will come forward to appease him. In addition, Dong Yuan pressed his troops to fight Luo Xiancheng at this time, and he would not really fight, but would drag Luo Xiancheng's soldiers and horses at the northern foot of Huai Mountain to death - think about it, Luo Xiancheng saw that the general trend had gone, did he descend to Huaidong or Huaixi? Dong Yuan, he is too smart, and he has taken advantage of all the benefits! ”

Meng Zhixian became worried: he thought that the general trend of Huaidong had been decided at this time, and after winning the victory of Jingxiang, the time would be ripe for the abolition of the emperor to stand on his own, but he did not expect Dong Yuan's disturbance to make the situation so complicated.

If Luo Xiancheng's 50,000 soldiers and horses on the northern front surrendered to Dong Yuan, and Ye Ji Luo Rong fled to Guanzhong with Chen Zhihu's help, the general trend of the whole world would still be unclear.

Dong Yuan is not fighting for territory, but for the 50,000 troops who surrendered to Luo on the northern front - Dong Yuan may really say that the organs are exhausted!

Meng Zhixiang said: "Chongguo Gong should have taken precautions against Dong Yuan in advance, why didn't he just issue a warrant and force Dong Yuan to fight Chen Zhihu?" At least after the war, it may be possible to use this matter to weaken Huaixi......"

"It's useless, Dong Yuan is determined to support the enemy and respect himself, and as a solicitor, he has the right to arbitrarily decide the military and government, how can the military order of the Privy Council restrain him?" Meng Yi shook his head and said, "Besides, after the war, the Queen Mother and Emperor Yongxing and a series of people and horses are still desperate to protect Dong Yuan?" ”

Meng Zhixiang nodded, those people in Jiangning will not care about the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent soldiers and civilians in Nanyang, nor will they care how broken the Central Plains Dayuan is, in order to keep their precarious throne, what can't they do?

"Then Chongguo Gong is not prepared for this at all?" Meng Zhixiang asked.

"I don't know, maybe there is. If there is a plan, it should also be in Ning Zechen's hands, and if we go to see Ning Zechen, we will know everything," Meng Yi said, thought for a while, and sighed again, "Ning Zechen's Shuibu army here adds up to only 16,700 people, and with us, it will be 24,500 people." Even if you want to go to Zhengyang to intercept Chen Zhihu, you can't catch up...... Even if Chongguo Gong had to guard against Dong Yuan, he could only reduce Dong Yuan's harm as much as possible, but could not completely reduce the bad influence that Dong Yuan and Liu Tingzhou were about to bring. Alas......" Meng Yi sighed painfully and hatefully, patted Meng Zhixiang's shoulder with emotion, and said, "In short, we didn't make a wrong choice. ”

Meng Zhixiang nodded, if they hadn't decided to take refuge in Chongguo Gong a long time ago, they would definitely have given Dong Yuanwei Luo Xiancheng who was wrapped up in the northern foot of Huai Mountain, and they would definitely be the target of Chongguo Gong in the future-