In the Holy Sect, there are trade-offs among the Tang army, and there are not so many things to do next, while Leng Zhuo just needs to continue to wait and wait and see what happens.

Five days later, the Holy Religious Army had begun to withdraw on a small scale, and judging from the news that had been transmitted back in the past few days, the withdrawal of the Holy Religious Army was very orderly, and along the way of the withdrawal, the camps that had been built before and the towns that had been breached came in handy at this moment, and the Holy Religious Army began to withdraw one after another, which seemed to be in an orderly manner.

There are capable people in the Holy Sect army, Leng Zhuo has never doubted this, and obviously the war for more than half a year has also trained many generals in the Holy Sect and has the foundation to command the army to fight, although the quality of the Holy Sect army is generally not high, it will also be a big trouble in the future.

However, at this moment, compared with the Holy Sect Army, Leng Zhuo cares more about the Tang Army in the north of the city, as soon as the Holy Sect withdraws, the Tang Army is lonely, the most critical problem is that the Tang Army's logistics have been in a lot of trouble, the Xiangyang Advance Army, and a number of elites sent are cutting off the Tang Army's rear road, and constantly attacking the Tang Army's grain collection team, which has led to the Tang Army's logistics tightening.

Now that the Holy Sect's retreat has been made with great fanfare, it is a certainty, and the defense of Vermilion Bird City has not relaxed at all, but the surveillance of the Tang Army has taken up most of the resources.

"This is the speculation of some Tang army directions sent by military divisions everywhere, and there are not many roads in front of the Tang army at present, one is to go north, one is to go west, and one is to go by water!" Liu Bowen Shu unfolded the map of Chuzhou and marked it with a stick.

"Sir, which way does Tang Jun think is more likely to take?" Leng Zhuo looked at these three routes, pondered for a while, and asked.

"It's hard to say, the news from the Zhuge Military Division of Xiangyang City, the Tang Army suddenly mobilized the Jiangshang Water Division yesterday, and it seems that it may go south at any time!"

"No matter which road the trapped Tang army takes, Tianhe is the focus, and if the Xiangyang Navy is not solved, the Tang army will not be able to land safely. Even if they can invest a large number of troops again, the grain and grass will be supported by the river. It won't be much better!"

"And if the Tianhe defense line is broken. The Xiangyang Navy suffered great losses and was unable to defend the waterway. The odds of the Tang army breaking the siege are very high. With the combat effectiveness of the Tang army, when we are cornered, the power that erupts is likely to cause us heavy losses, and as long as the Tang army occupies a place near the Poyang Sea, it will be able to retreat calmly, and even the Tang army is likely to attack Xiangyang, and when the time comes, it is likely to turn Xiangyang into the current Vermilion Bird City, after all, Xiangyang City is only a river away from Zhongzhou!"

"Is it possible for the Tang army to also cross the Xiangshui? If that's the case. It's also very difficult for us to encircle and annihilate the Tang army!"

"If the Holy Sect is not worried about the dove occupying the magpie's nest, but I think the Holy Sect will not let nearly 200,000 Tang troops enter their territory, after all, they are only a short-term alliance, in fact, the relationship is not so good, so the Holy Sect will definitely block the Tang army from crossing the river, and if the Tang army retreats, it is likely to take the road of Poyang Seaside, even if the worst case scenario, here, the Tang army can also get part of the support of the Holy Sect, and take the road of Guangling Mansion, not to mention the distance, all of them are land hinterland, which is more powerful for us. ”

Leng Zhuo touched his chin and said, "In this way, if the Tang army wants to leave, it must fight a big water battle with us on the Tianhe River, and the outcome will directly determine the future direction!"

Liu Bowen nodded and said: "Xiangyang can't be lost, once Xiangyang is lost, the Tang army will be able to look at the south of Chuzhou according to Xiangyang, as long as you cultivate for half a year, after getting enough supplies, the Tang army can make a comeback, and this time, as long as you take it step by step, it will restrain all our energy to deal with it!"

Leng Zhuo was a little creepy when he thought about that situation, and finally drove away these guys under Vermilion Bird City, and then repeated it in Xiangyang City, Leng Zhuo also felt a little unbearable.

"What is the strength of Xiangyang City?" Leng Zhuo is really a little worried about Xiangyang City now, although the walls of Xiangyang City are not as fragile as Vermilion Bird City, but the soldiers and horses in Xiangyang City are far less elite than the surrounding areas of Vermilion Bird City, most of the soldiers and horses left there are still reorganized and reorganized last year, and the most important thing is that in addition to the relatively abundant food in Xiangyang City, the equipment to defend the city is very scarce, and several major arsenals are either moved by the Tang Army or wasted, which cannot be compared with the situation in Vermilion Bird City.

If the navy loses, Xiangyang will face a siege by the Tang army.

"After the reorganization of the soldiers and horses in Xiangyang City, they were organized into two parts, the naval army part, under the jurisdiction of four water division battalions, and the soldiers and horses in the city were formed into four divisions and regiments, and two of them entered Guangling Mansion under the leadership of Yang Zaixing and General Meng Yi, and there were only two divisions in Xiangyang City for the time being, about 50,000 people!"

"In addition, in various parts of Poyang Mansion, there are six small divisions, which are stationed in other counties of Poyang Mansion, and the total number of troops is about 60,000, which is almost all our strength!"

The Xiangyang Legion cannot be said to be not strong, and the total number of troops is almost 200,000, but Leng Zhuo does not have the slightest peace of mind: "We must entangle this Tang army to retreat, and we must not let them enter Poyang Mansion!" Leng Zhuo said firmly.

The Holy Sect army is still retreating in an orderly manner, although nearly 200,000 troops have retreated to Chuxi, but there are still 300,000 troops under Vermilion Bird City, and the Tang army is still not moving, I don't know what is waiting for.

On the night of July 10, the Holy Sect Army, which was still guarding outside the south of Vermilion Bird City, took advantage of the cover of night to retreat towards the west of the city, but Leng Zhuo did not let the Holy Sect Army be too safe, and after the Holy Sect Army in the south of the city retreated most of the soldiers and horses, the emperor ** inside and outside the city suddenly killed.

After a night of fierce fighting, Suzaku City, which had been blocked for several months, once again opened up contact with the outside world, and the Heian Army occupied the southern camp of the Holy Sect Army, and surrounded the Holy Sect Army with more than 30,000 soldiers and horses.

The Holy Sect Army didn't bother too much with these tens of thousands of horses, compared to the hundreds of thousands of troops who retreated safely, only losing more than 30,000 people had little impact on them.

In the early morning of the next day, the first troops of the Heian Army entered Suzaku Castle, announcing that the siege of Suzaku Castle had been completely lifted, and a steady stream of grain and grass trucks began to move towards Suzaku Castle.

On the same day, the Tang army suddenly retreated westward, retreating parallel to the Holy Sect army, Leng Zhuo immediately ordered all the armies to attack, followed behind to find fighters, and arranged for part of the troops and horses of the Nanwu Army to recover other counties and counties of Suzaku Prefecture.

On July 11, 558 of the Empire, the Battle of Vermilion Bird City, which began in the winter month of last year, came to an end, and this battle of more than two million soldiers and horses finally ended with the victory of the Imperial side, and in this great war, Leng Zhuo also officially stepped onto the stage of fighting for hegemony.

In Vermilion Bird City, it did not relax because of the retreat of the Holy Sect and the Tang Army, but was more busy, pursuing the Tang Army, naturally not letting the Nanwu Legion, which had just been formed for less than two months, go, and sent the elite, and the elite of the defenders in Suzaku City and the nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses of the Ping'an Legion combined the new Vermilion Legion to become the main force of pursuit.

The Vermilion Bird Army has seven divisions, which are still 25,000 people full, with a total strength of 175,000 soldiers and horses, and are directly adapted from the strength of the four cities of the Ping'an Legion, the North Battalion, the East Battalion, the West Battalion, and the Vermilion Bird City, and in the reorganization, Pingnan Hou Chen Nan also obeyed this big reorganization plan, and this also means that the Pingnan Marquis, who had stood at the peak of Chuzhou, bowed his head and recognized Leng Zhuo's current status in Chuzhou.

Then the Vermilion Bird Legion left Vermilion Bird City and chased after the Holy Sect and the tail of the Tang Army, and the city was completely replaced by the guards of the Nanwu Legion, which also meant that Leng Zhuo's position in Vermilion Bird City could no longer be shaken.

After handing over some of the chores in his hand to Liu Bowen, Leng Zhuo led the Guards Warrior Regiment and an elite composed of twenty Heavenly Spirits out of the north of the city and made a detour to Xiangyang.

On July 12, Leng Zhuo came to Xiangyang City first, and at this time, on the surface of the Tianhe River, rows of boats were coming and going, and these scouts on the water had entered a white-hot strangulation.

Tianhe, is the largest and widest river in the empire, originating from Yongzhou, flowing through Shu, Zhong, Chu, Qing, Yang five states, it is like a natural dividing line, flowing around the junction of the five states, the widest part of the water surface of the Tianhe River is almost more than 130 miles, the narrowest place is also more than 20 miles, there are many big rivers and lakes connected along the way, the water is abundant, especially in summer, the water of the Tianhe River is rising greatly, and the water surface of the Tianhe River at this moment is like a huge flat mirror.

On the wide and boundless river, a boatman equipped with a large bed crossbow is like a smart fish shuttling quickly on the water, and the shipyard is about five or six zhang, one zhang and three feet wide, with a streamlined hull, equipped with a triangular sail and a tail sail, which also ensures that they can speed quickly on the water.

"Captain, there are boats, there are a lot of ships! Damn, it's a large warship, and a big ship, no, there are shuttle ships coming towards us!"

A boat includes a total of eleven soldiers, five people on the boat, and the rest are wearing bamboo and wood leather armor, holding spears, bows and arrows, war knives, and rattan shields, which are the standing weapons of the sailors on the ship.

The Lou warship is almost the main warship of a fleet, and a walker like them is like an ant in front of an elephant, which can directly hit you to pieces, and as for the broadside battle, it is a joke, the deck of the Lou warship is five or six zhang high, the same as a wall, and the height of the walker and the water surface is less than two feet.

Moreover, these scattered boats are the eyes of the water, and they are supposed to detect the enemy's situation, and now what they have to do is naturally to speed up and return, and to run as fast as they can.

"Turn the rudder, hold up the sails, Xiao Wu, take out the ringing arrows, let them out, quick!" The captain is the highest commander of a ship, equivalent to the captain of the team, and the biggest officer on this ship.

Whoosh, an arrow flew into the air, and then an explosion, this sound can be heard for three or five miles around, and as soon as this arrow sounds, the surrounding boats will get the news, and then relay, it does not take half an hour to send the news back to the main fleet on the river.

The boat is very flexible, and it will escape as quickly as a flying fish after a graceful arc on the water, and even the shuttle of the clipper on the opposite side will be difficult to catch up, and even if it catches up, the shuttle boat will not be the opponent of the boat.

And the transmission of this sound arrow, Xiangyang City also quickly got the news, Leng Zhuo's butt was not hot, he got up, rushed out of the mansion, summoned the blue falcon, and rushed straight into the air to the north of the Tianhe. (To be continued)