Zhou Shikai frowned, a little unclear.

It stands to reason that this kind of petty official will not easily come to meet him, unless there is something big.

"Let him in."

"Yes."

As soon as the guards lifted the curtain, a short and fat middle-aged man trotted into the camp tent, stood about ten meters away from Zhou Shikai, knelt on the ground respectfully, and kowtowed three times.

"The villain Wang Mi, the current quartermaster of our army, greets the prince."

The quartermaster named Wang Mi looked up, saw Zhang Di standing on the side, and hurriedly said, "Lord Zhang is also here." ”

Zhang Di nodded with a smile and did not respond.

This steward, whom he privately called Lao Wang, was still good at something, and he honored him with 5,000 taels of silver tickets a few days ago. Zhang Di thought about it, if Wang Mi said something wrong for a while, annoying the prince, he would open his mouth to solve the siege.

"What is it that makes you come to me?"

Wang Mi was a little embarrassed, but he still spoke: "Lord Wang, the surplus food in our camp is only enough to eat for ten days. ”

"What do you say? Why is there no food? Zhou Shikai sat up straight all of a sudden, and said angrily.

"This, this, this...... I don't know this, according to the plan, the grain pressing team should have arrived four days ago, and the other team should have arrived yesterday, but at this time, neither of the two grain pressing teams arrived. I went to ask a few generals, but they all said they didn't know what was going on, so I asked myself to inquire. I really have no choice but to come to see you. ”

Zhou Shikai and Zhang Di glanced at each other, and they both realized the trickiness of this matter.

In the past few days, the weather has been beautiful, I haven't heard of heavy rain anywhere, although the Sheng army grain pressing team has a lot of greed, but they never dare to be sloppy in time, and there is no news from the two grain pressing teams that should arrive, something must have happened.

"Okay, I know, you go down, this has nothing to do with you." Zhou Shikai waved his hand.

As soon as he heard that he was not responsible for this, Wang Mi, the quartermaster, finally breathed a sigh of relief, knelt down and kowtowed a few times, and then bowed and withdrew from King Ming's tent.

"What do you think?"

Zhang Di thought for a while, and said carefully: "Is it the grain pressing team that was robbed?" ”

"There's only one possibility."

"Yes...... But Chen Shi and their large army are all in the east, and our grain route is not under their control at all? The 200,000 Liang army is under our surveillance, if they had divided their troops to rob the grain road, we should have gotten the news a long time ago? ”

Zhou Shikai didn't answer, but closed his eyes to think, and after a while, he finally opened his eyes.

"The problem is not in Hegu Road, but in Jingqi Road."

"Lord Wang, are you saying that the Liang Army sent troops to Jingqi Dao to rob grain?"

"Nine times out of ten, specifically, we have to wait for the news of Linchang City, I guess it's soon."

As soon as Zhou Shikai's words fell, the guards outside came to report again.

"Lord Wang, a herald came to Linchang City and brought a letter from Yin Dongyao, the lord of Linchang City."

Zhang Di hurriedly spoke: "Quickly bring the letter in." ”

After a while, the guard sent the letter in, and Zhang Di quickly took it and opened it directly.

Zhang Di took a quick look, and his face became more and more difficult to look at.

"Lord Wang, Yin Dongyao came to report that the Jinjia Battalion of the Liang Army, after attacking Qushui County, did not return to defend Dachong Pass, but ...... Instead, he went all the way to the west, raided Ba'an Mountain in the north of Linchang, and cut off the grain route there, and General Liu Baiming led the Linchang defenders to attack, and the result was ......"

"How did it turn out?"

"As a result, of the 50,000 army, only 10,000 were killed by the Jinjia battalion, and they fled back to Linchang in embarrassment, and Liu Baiming was seriously ill."

The more Zhang Di spoke, the lower his voice became, for fear that King Ming would be angry with him.

But what he never expected was that Zhou Shikai didn't laugh angrily, and shouted hello.

Zhang Di was completely stunned at this time, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

Looking at Zhang Di, who was at a loss, Zhou Shikai smiled and said: "You, you still don't look at the problem comprehensively enough, and you can't look at the overall situation." ”

"Please also ask the prince to make it clear."

"What did we just say, what is the biggest obstacle now?"

"Withdrawal?"

"Yes, withdraw. Since I can't say that I withdrew in order to save my son, I have to think of a better reason, and this is not, the reason is coming. ”

Zhang Di finally reacted and said excitedly: "I understand, the grain road in the rear has been intercepted, and the soldiers in the front have run out of food, this is the best reason to withdraw the army!" ”

Zhou Shikai said with a smile: "This Liang Jun, he did me a big favor by mistake and gave me such a good step." Let's withdraw our troops temporarily, reorganize the grain routes, and think long-term. ”

"The prince is wise!"

"Okay, don't be a sycophant, give me an order, summon all the generals to the military tent, especially Gu Qingshan, he must arrive!"

"My subordinates understand!"

About a cup of tea, the generals of the Eastern Army, all up and down, gathered in the military tent.

"The prince has arrived!"

With a shout from the guards, Zhou Shikai strode into the military tent, and all the generals walked to the sides to make way for him.

Even Gu Qingshan, who had a bigger backer than the sky, moved back slightly.

"Just one thing, everyone go and get ready, we have to withdraw our troops temporarily."

One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and there were bursts of whispers in the big tent.

Gu Qingshan sneered and took a step forward, "Dare to ask the prince, now on the battlefield, our army is in a great situation, why did you withdraw your army?" Could it be because Ling Gongzi ......"

"General Gu!" Zhou Shikai let out a loud shout and interrupted Gu Qingshan's words.

"My son must be dead, you don't have to use this to stimulate me anymore, I can't wait to eat Chen Shi's flesh and blood raw and slaughter them all in Liangzhou!" However, now that the situation has changed, I cannot ignore the safety of the whole army because of my own selfish hatred! ”

Gu Qingshan frowned and stepped aside to see what reason Zhou Shikai could say.

"Just now, I got the news that the Liang army rushed to attack Ba'an Mountain in Jingqi Dao, cutting off the grain route from Linchang City to this point, and the lifeblood of our army has been strangled to death."

Inside the big tent, there was an uproar, and Gu Qingshan suddenly said urgently: "Then hurry up and let the Linchang defenders attack, doesn't Liu Baiming still have 60,000 troops there?" The people of the Liang army are all in Hegudao, and there must not be many people rushing to Ba'an Mountain. ”

Zhou Shikai snorted coldly, "Not many people? General Liu Baiming personally led the Linchang defenders to attack, but was defeated, and only 10,000 people fled back, and now they are sick in bed. With the rest of the people, Yin Dongyao can hold Linchang, and I will credit him! ”

At this moment, even Gu Qingshan didn't know what to say, if he opposed the withdrawal of troops again, he would probably be charged with a big crime.

Zhou Shikai didn't say much, leaving only one sentence, "Everyone immediately prepares for the withdrawal of troops", and strode out of the military tent, with Zhang Di following closely behind.

"Lao Zhang."

"The subordinates are here."

"Yan'er was arrested in Qushui County, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, you can help me do one thing, take 10,000 people and go to Qushui County."

"What do you mean?"

"Slaughter the city!"