In the face of Sima Fa's strict defense, Ning Ze used a hot air balloon to prepare for a wave of phosphorus fire throwing.

When the hot air balloon slowly rose into the air from the Ningze military camp, of course the other party could see it clearly.

"Ning Ze is using demon magic again!" Lu Yuan hurriedly said to Sima Fa when he saw this, "I heard that this boat can walk in the air and release demon fire. ”

Sima Fa looked at it carefully, and then shook his head: "This is not a demon law!"

"If it weren't for the demon law, how could the wooden boat fly?" Lu Yuan was puzzled.

"This object bears some resemblance to a dragon-shaped kite," said Sima Fa, "of course, the dragon-shaped kite rises against the wind, and it is not known why it flies, perhaps it has something to do with the round sail on the head of the wooden boat." ”

A hot air balloon relies on a huge balloon overhead, plus a thermal, to take off. Sima Fa said that it was a sail, and in a sense it was true. The wind blows the sails, and the hot air balloon blows the balloon, and the reason is similar.

"According to the intelligence, this boat can release demon fire, but the bow and crossbow can't hurt it, so what can I do?" Lu Yuan asked worriedly.

Sima Fa was not flustered, and immediately ordered: "Take my divine machine ballista!"

"Divine Ballista?" Lu Yuan looked at him suspiciously, hearing this name for the first time.

Not long after, a soldier launched a giant iron crossbow from the pass. This iron crossbow has a peculiar shape, ten times the size of an ordinary bow and crossbow, and it is made of metal, and even the crossbow string is made of metal, and it can't be pulled at all without a dozen strong soldiers.

Seeing this giant crossbow, Lu Yuan was dumbfounded: "This ......"

"I've been concentrating on more powerful offensive and defensive weapons for a long time. Sima Fa stretched out his hand and stroked the cold crossbow body, "The Divine Machine Ballista is one of them, its power is far more powerful than ordinary bow and crossbow, and even several times stronger than ordinary city defense ballistae. ”

"Great!" Lu Yuan was surprised, "Ning Ze's flying wooden boat can't be shot by ordinary bows and crossbows." This magic ballista may work!"

Sima Fa replied: "No, it is not perhaps, such a distance must be shot!"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Lu Yuan said busily, "If the wooden boat flies over and releases the demon fire, it will pose a great threat to our army, so it is the right way to shoot it down quickly!"

"You wait quietly!" Sima Fa waved his hand, causing a dozen strong soldiers to desperately pull the crossbow string apart and place a special giant crossbow arrow. Aim according to the direction of the hot air balloon afterwards.

Ning Ze couldn't see the situation in the rear of Sima Fa's army, and the virtual map would not show the divine ballista, so he couldn't know, and he was bent on expecting the hot air balloon offensive to work and disrupt the local formation.

Several soldiers who were skilled in operating the hot air balloon slowly lifted off into the air and adjusted the direction to let Sima Fajun float away.

After Sima Fa aimed, he gave an order.

The "Tom ——!" special crossbow arrow flew up in response to the sound, drawing a graceful arc and shooting into the air.

However, the first design did not grasp the parabola, and the crossbow flew slightly higher, passed over the hot air balloon, and landed in the far clearing.

"What's that?!" The soldiers flying the hot air balloon were frightened and looked at each other with a blank expression.

They had never seen any weapon shoot to such heights, even over a hot air balloon.

Not only the soldiers who operated the hot air balloon, but also Ning Ze himself, as well as the soldiers under his command, were also shocked, showing incredible expressions.

"Oops!" Seeing this situation, Ning Ze reacted instantly, and hurriedly ordered the flag officer beside him, "Hurry up and recall the hot air balloon!"

The flag officer received the order and hurriedly waved the flag to the soldiers who were manipulating the hot air balloon, demanding that they descend immediately and stop the mission.

The soldier received the order and hastened to do so.

However, Sima Fajun's side began to shoot special crossbow arrows one after another, constantly passing around the hot air balloon.

Finally, when the hot air balloon slowly descended, a crossbow arrow accurately penetrated the balloon, causing it to be destroyed, and the hot air leaked out of the hole, and the balloon lost control and staggered and fell in the direction of Ning Zejun.

Ning Ze hurriedly ordered, and the army immediately retreated.

Even so, in the falling hot air balloon, many phosphorus fire canisters still fell out and burned Ning Zejun, causing dozens of casualties.

And after the hot air balloon fell, the soldiers who operated the balloon also fell to their deaths.

Ning Ze's army retreated urgently, but Sima Fa's army did not take advantage of the chaos to pursue, and still maintained a defensive posture to guard the Chi Bo Pass.

Temporarily retreating to the camp, Ning Ze saw that the morale of the generals under his command was low, so he said: "Victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, why care? Sima Fa's talent is not idle. The tactics of the past, which worked wonders against the rabble, were not so easy in front of him. Cheer up, it is a good thing to meet an opponent in chess now! Our army is accustomed to smooth sailing, but it is difficult to accept it when it suddenly encounters a headwind, and this is not right. It's time to get used to encountering a strong enemy and do your part to defeat them!"

With Ning Ze's face-to-face encouragement, the soldiers under his command recovered some of their morale.

On the other side, Ding Mu led his troops to attack Jiyang, Danjun and Yuetai sent troops to help, and under the siege of the three parties, all the counties in Jiyang were forced one after another, and the army attacked all the way and arrived at Jiyang County.

Ji Yang Taishou Zheng Pu held the city and fought hard with the soldiers and horses of the three roads for dozens of days, but Ding Mu broke through the city gate and the army poured in.

The general trend has gone, and Zheng Pu can only surrender.

So Liu Yuanxiang's forces won the four counties of Bozhou and opened up the passage between Jinzhou and Chizhou.

When the news reached the front, Lu Yuan asked Sima Fa: "Ning Ze occupies Bozhou, how is it good?"

Sima Fa said: "Jiyang is a lonely city, and there is no power to rescue. Wait for me to think about a plan and slowly regain the lost ground. ”

It's just that before he thought of a way, he suddenly received a message from the flying pigeon, Ma Jian hit all the way to the imperial city, and Emperor Hui wanted to go out of the city to join him under the protection of Sun Pu, but the city gate was blocked. Sun Pu and his private soldiers were all suppressed, and the queen killed herself on the spot. Lu Cong wanted to welcome back Emperor Hui, but Emperor Hui committed suicide on the spot in grief and anger and failed to save him.

The most troublesome thing is that Emperor Hui shouted a sentence before he died, pointing out that Lu Cong was a national thief, and as an emperor, he didn't want to continue to be humiliated, so he killed himself.

It's good if you can suppress this matter, but it's a big deal to find another puppet to go up. However, the news spread far and wide, and it could not be stopped, and now it is spreading very quickly, and riots have broken out in many places in the prefectures and counties under Lu Cong's jurisdiction, and the situation is critical.

Lu Cong, who was at a loss, urgently asked Sima Fa.

Seeing the information, Sima Fa and Lu Yuan were shocked at the same time, this is not a trivial matter!

With the current speed of message transmission, I am afraid that the sixteen states of Dacheng will soon spread all over it. At that time, everyone in the world will know what Emperor Hui shouted before he died, and even if the emperor is a puppet in this era, his influence among the people is unimaginable. If you don't deal with it in time, you may fall apart from the inside!

Obviously, Lu Cong knew that the consequences were serious, so he hurriedly sought Sima Fa's assistance.

Sima Fa hurriedly said to Lu Yuan: "If such a big thing happens, you need to return to the court as soon as possible!"

"But Ning Ze is eyeing the tiger, how is it good?" Lu Yuan asked worriedly.

"Ning Ze is not a problem," Sima Fa said, "Participating in the civil and military conference a few years ago, Princess Yuan Xi is already pregnant. There are also two ladies in his family, who are not long behind the princess. Calculating the time, his children are almost about to be born, he knows it in his own heart. Originally, he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to carry out a counterattack, but now the imperial court is even more important. Once our army returns to the DPRK, Ning Ze will also withdraw to Huajun. ”

"If Ning Ze doesn't retreat, what is good?" Lu Yuan asked him.

"Ning Ze must retreat!" Sima Fa was very sure, "Of course, before evacuating, we need to urgently send the Lu clan to the imperial city." In this way, Ning Ze will lose his target and have a greater chance of retreating!"

"I'm afraid it's not easy to move the Lu family to the Imperial City!" Lu Yuan said, "My Lu family has lived in Dangliang for generations, how can I leave lightly?"

"The current situation is different!" Sima Fa said, "If it is not handled properly, the internal chaos will set off, and it will not be able to protect Dangliang, let alone the Lu family." ”

"How do you persuade you to leave?"

"I know what I know!"

Sima Fa asked Lu Yuan to maintain the formation, continue to guard the pass, and personally retreated to Dangliang County, and explained the situation carefully when he arrived at Lu's house.

It took a lot of effort to finally persuade the Lu clan to quickly pack their luggage and rush to the imperial city.

When retreating, Sima Fa instead notified all the soldiers and horses to put on an offensive posture, so that Ning Zejun could deal with it cautiously.

Then taking advantage of Ning Zejun's inattention, he slowly retreated.

Of course, several important border cities and passes are still heavily guarded.

Ning Ze's side quickly got the information, and the news of what happened in Miliang in the Imperial City reached here.

The generals under his command became excited, but they didn't expect that Lu Cong and Emperor Hui in the rear were in civil strife, and even Emperor Hui killed himself in front of Lu Cong, leaving such a lethal word. Now that the news has spread, I'm afraid that Lu Cong will be in turmoil.

Not to mention that Ma Jian and Tang Niu were eyeing each other, so they hurriedly suggested that Ning Ze send troops and take advantage of this opportunity to exterminate Lu Cong.

Ning Ze shook his head and said, "Don't underestimate Lu Cong's forces, especially Sima Fa. What's more, Tang Niu and Ma Jian have their own thoughts, and now they seem to be incompatible with Lu Cong, once our army takes advantage of Lu Cong's internal strife to launch a strong attack, considering their own interests, they will definitely divide their troops to attack our side and prevent our army from destroying Lu Cong. After all, our army is dominant, and it is not a good thing for them. ”

The generals were a little unconvinced, and said in their hearts that Tang Niu and Ma Jian could help Lu Cong, especially the damage of Emperor Hui's words was so great, and the intelligence said that Ma Jian knew that Emperor Hui killed himself, and fainted on the spot, and he must have been fighting with Lu Cong, and he should help himself.

Seeing that the generals didn't believe it, Ning Ze let people spread rumors, saying that his soldiers and horses were preparing to take the opportunity to attack Yanzhou.

Soon news came back that Tang Niu sent 50,000 soldiers and horses to Daxing County and stood by at any time, and Ma Jian sent 80,000 troops to set up a battle in Chongwen County. This action is obviously not aimed at Lu Cong, as long as Ning Ze sends troops, Tang Niu will definitely send troops from Daxing County and bypass Duosi County to attack Ning Ze. Ma Jian will also start from Jiangzhou and fight with Tang Niu in the north and south at the same time.

The actions of the two forces made the generals under their command admire Ning Ze's judgment.

At this time, the envoy of Huajun hurriedly came: "Report that Princess ——! gave birth to Lin'er, and the mother and son are safe." Mrs. Chu and Mrs. Mi are approaching, and they are carefully preparing for production!"

"Congratulations to the Hou Ye, congratulations to the Hou Ye!!" The civil and military officials around him heard the news and fell to their knees.

Ning Ze immediately said: "Lu Cong withdrew his troops to deal with the civil strife. There was no fighting for a short time. It is estimated that there will be a major event that will shake the whole country next, and we need to return as soon as possible to deal with it!"

"What kind of big deal makes Hou Ye attach so much importance to it?" Ding Mu asked.

The rest of the civil and military officials also looked at Ning Ze, waiting for an answer.

Ning Ze looked around at everyone and said firmly: "This time, if Lu Cong wants to quell the civil strife, the only way to do domineering things is to suppress it with all his might! Presumably, after Sima Fa returns, Lu Cong will ascend the throne as emperor and divide hundreds of officials into titles! Dacheng's qi is exhausted, and he is powerless to recover! Once Lu Cong ascends the throne, the orthodoxy of the royal family will be destroyed, and the lord will be able to justifiably ascend the stage!"

Hearing this, all the civil and military generals in front of them all showed ecstasy.