The war is over for the time being, from Xiongxian and Sizhou to Zhending on the official road, the fleeing people are endless, and there is no end to it as far as the eye can see, and what is more conspicuous is the remnants of those who lost their armor and survived from the battlefield, but they can only support each other to go to Zhending.

Although it is now rumored among the people that the army of King Yan has strict military discipline and will not invade the people, everyone knows now that as long as it is the city occupied by King Yan, maybe one day it will attract the army of the imperial court. Therefore, the safest way is to flee south and escape to a place where King Yan can't hit.

Of course, the reason why there are so many refugees, the biggest reason is that Xiongxian and Sizhou opened the city, and the king of Yan, who laid down these two places, not only did not lock the city and defend it, but put on the appearance of letting the people go and stay, and even let the people spread rumors, saying that if there is really a hundred thousand troops gathered in the imperial court now, as long as they flee to where they are, they must be as stable as Mount Tai, which makes the people help the old and the young to go straight to Zhending.

In the fleeing procession, two scribes who had been walking for a day and a night, and their bodies were about to fall apart, and one of them was talking in a low voice: "King Yan's move... His heart can be punished, it is clear that he wants these people to flock to Zhending, and when the time comes, food, clothing, housing and transportation will be a big trouble, General Geng doesn't care, it is the reputation of the court that is ruined, but if you care... Did you send food out of the barracks? ”

"Silence!" Another interrupted him, "What is the difference between you and me and these fleeing people?" Don't say anything about this kind of thing, and then let's go back to Zhending first. ”

"Yes, too."

Between the conversations, there was a continuous sound of hooves in the distance, this movement was too much like a large army charge, like a frightened bird, the people suddenly became chaotic, the two scribes were naturally shocked, looking back, only to see the dust flying, a large group of officers and soldiers came in embarrassment, the crooked armor was stained with blood, all of them were gray-headed, and they looked like they had lost the battle, which made the people breathe a sigh of relief.

It can be seen that the continuous flight of people has also caused a lot of trouble to these officers and soldiers, and the leader of the cavalry scolds while waving his whip: "Get out of the way!" Blind your dogs, and can't see the march? The ox cart in front, stop Lao Tzu on the side of the road, don't fucking block the road! ”

"Stop, stop!"

The two scribes who were still talking in a low voice just now suddenly burst out of the refugee ranks, stopping the cavalry and waving their hands desperately, and the scolding general turned around and became even more angry: "Dare to disrupt the people, why are you blocking the way of the general?" If you mistakenly return to the camp to report the news, you will be cut off first! ”

"We are not the people, we are not the people!" The two scribes tore off the scribe crown on their heads, took out the big seal from their arms, and cried with joy: "This official is Wei Chunbin, the commander of Zhuozhou County, this is Lord Xu Buling, the county commander of Xiongxian County, Xiongxian County was lost, General Yang Song was killed in battle, and the official and Xu County Commander pretended to be people, so they escaped alive, and they also went to Zhending!" I don't know which way the general is, please take the official for a ride, the road is far away, the official... I can't walk anymore! ”

"Ah, it turned out to be Lord County!" The general hurriedly dismounted, hugged his fists and said: "The last general is Zhang Bao, a partial general under General Pan Zhongpan of the rear army, Sizhou is lost, the last general is lonely, and he is unwilling to surrender to Yan Shun, so he broke through in a bloody battle... It's just that there are no extra horses in the team of the last general, how about inviting the two county lords to ride the same horse with the last general's personal guard? ”

As long as you can not walk, who cares if you are not decent to ride a horse? The two county commanders were so moved that they almost cried, and thanked them again and again, and a personal guard turned his horse to Wei Chunbin's side and stretched out his hand: "Your Excellency, please get on the horse." ”

If it was a change on weekdays, a partial general's personal soldier, Lord Wei was too lazy to take a look, but at the moment he was flattered, only to see this personal guard with thick eyebrows and big eyes, heroic, and handsome, but a big birthmark on the right side of his face made him break his appearance, he pulled Wei Chunbin, put him on the horse, and said with a smile: "The official road is bumpy, my lord has to sit firm." ”

Wei Chunbin grabbed the saddle with both hands and said gratefully: "This official saves... I haven't asked your Excellency for your name. ”

"Oh, the lowly position is General Zhang's personal guard, and his surname is Gu Mingnian," the personal guard held the reins and shook it slightly, turned back to Wei Chunbin and smiled, "It's good for the adult to call the lowly Xiao Gu!" ”

……

August 18, the third day of the fall of Xiongxian.

A probe horse galloped into the southern army camp on the Hutuo River, bringing a long-awaited news from Geng Bingwen: King Yan led 50,000 troops and arrived at Wuji City.

That's right, fifty thousand.

The 30,000 soldiers and horses of the headquarters brought down from the north, plus the Gu Ben troops of Toucheng, and some of the surrendered troops recruited these days, no matter from which point of view, the army of King Yan with a new victory, has been able to face each other across a Hutuo River with the southern army that was far ahead of the previous army.

The distance between Wuji City is only thirty miles, and it is even closer than the distance between Xiongxian and Lou Sang before, and at the first time he received the news, Geng Bingwen made a judgment very calmly: the matter of gathering troops can no longer be done, and the 120,000 soldiers and horses in the current camp are enough to fight Zhu Di in a decisive battle.

Since ancient times, in addition to setting up ambushes and running attacks, the confrontation between the two armies is often to see who first shows the flaws, and the generals on both sides are the chess players on both sides of the chessboard, but those black and white chess pieces are replaced by the lives of soldiers.

If you only look at the surface, then Zhu Di's chess pieces are undoubtedly a lot less than Geng Bingwen, just talking about the city, it must be much bigger than Wuji City, and the logistics supplies on both sides are not the same, the southern army camp has a steady stream of grain and grass equipment from the three prefectures in Hejian, and the Yan army can only rely on the grain and grass captured from Xiongxian and Sizhou to barely support.

As for the troops... The number of chasms between 50,000 and 120,000 is not as amazing as the previous 30,000 to 300,000, but the 300,000 is watery, not to mention that the soldiers have not arrived, and the imperial army is not only a northern expedition, but also must stabilize the place, Geng Bingwen needs to divide troops to garrison various places, but Zhu Di can unscrupulously concentrate 30,000 troops to attack, and the fall of Xiongxian and Sizhou is the best example.

But this time the battle of Zhending was different, both sides were really concentrating their forces, in a vain attempt to complete the battle, and the smoothly flowing Hutuo River was about to become a battlefield of flesh and blood.

In the face of Zhu Di's pressing step by step, Geng Bingwen did not dare to be careless, the first time he learned that Zhu Di was stationed in Wuji City, the more than 100,000 troops stationed on the south bank of the Hutuo River immediately pressed the whole army, the camp and Wuji City were far away, and the old general Geng Bingwen, who was already in his sixties, patrolled the camp and arranged it with great effort.

Of course, if the army moves to Zhending City, then Geng Bingwen really dares to say that King Yan has no chance, after all, relying on the city to defend and counterattack is his forte, but this is something he can never do... He is a rebel army sent by the imperial court, not a local garrison army, more than 100,000 troops have swept to Zhending, the front army and the rear army were swallowed by Zhu Di in one bite, he did not pose as an active attacker, but shrank into the city of Zhending... What do you want to explain to the people of the world, to the officials of His Majesty in Jinling City?

When the time comes, there will really be no need for Zhu Di to fight, and Jinling's excerpts and saliva can drown him Geng Bingwen.

So this first battle must be fought by him... It was Zhu Di who was anxious before, but now he is anxious.

More than 100,000 troops, 20 miles of company camps, the north bank of the Hutuo River is brightly lit, the herald officers shuttle through the barracks, the periphery is full of scouts, the elite soldiers are recuperating, waiting for the rebellious general of the imperial court to issue the first military order, at least at this moment, no one in this barracks will think about whether this battle will be lost.

The trend is mine!

Late at night, sixty-six-year-old Geng Bingwen once again put on his whole body of iron armor after 20 years, pressed the hilt of his sword, stood on a watchtower, and looked at the direction of Wuji City from afar.

The night breeze rose, Geng Bingwen's white hair was blown away, and he overlooked his carefully arranged impregnable camp, and the previous little decadence was completely covered by a pride.

"King Yan, come on! The old man used to guard Changxing for ten years under the order of Taizu, and Zhang Shicheng attacked the old man for ten years! In ten years, he has been unable to advance an inch, but today the old man wants to see how your Yan King is better than Na Cheng Wang! ”

"The great rivers and mountains are all behind the old man, waiting for you to pick them up!"

"It's up to you to see if you have the ability to do that!"