When Han Xiao arrived at Shulan City, a rebellion here had just been put down, and Shulan City was already a long distance away from the original territory of Huating Kingdom, which was the place where Huating Kingdom fought all the way east after the decisive battle of Hengjiang. The current Shulan City is nominally considered the territory of Huating State, but because there are many rebel forces roaming in the city and even outside the city, the situation here can be said to change three times a day.

When Shen Zhuo saw Han Xiao and them appear, his originally lifeless eyes suddenly became full of brilliance: "General Han, are you back?"

Although Han Xiao's impression of Shen Zhuo was not very good, it was only because of Shen Zhuo's attitude towards Bai Yi at the beginning, Shen Zhuo's strong ability in war, and his absolute loyalty to Hua Tingguo, Han Xiao and they still admired it very much. It's just that in Han Xiao's impression, Shen Zhuo has never had such a decadent state even on the battlefield of the original Hengjiang decisive battle, Han Xiao really remembers the moment he just saw himself appear, the feeling of exhaustion in Shen Zhuo's eyes that couldn't be dissolved.

"The current situation is not good?" Han Xiao asked.

Shen Zhuo smiled bitterly: "It's not just bad, it's just, alas, it's ......."

Shen Zhuo really had too much bitter water to vomit in his stomach, but it was a pity that as the commander of the Huating Kingdom's fleet, he had even become the actual commander of the Huating Kingdom's Eastern Expeditionary Army, even if he had many troubles in this army of monks, he really couldn't find anyone to talk to. Even if it was a deputy who had been by his side for many years, he didn't dare to show the slightest anxiety in front of the other party. It's just that in the face of the current situation, Shen Zhuo really felt powerless.

"There's not enough manpower. Shen Zhuo said helplessly: "The pace of the Eastern Expedition is too fast, of course, this is not the biggest problem, if you look at it according to the original plan, the speed of such a campaign is slow, after all, what I have been pursuing is to fight steadily, I just never thought that those old things in Huating Kingdom would be shameless to such an extent, allowing the army of monks of the Holy Alliance to invade Jinghua City." Now that the city is under siege, and the situation is becoming more and more critical day by day, even if my campaign here has stopped, it will not be of any avail. ”

In the end, Shen Zhuo sighed and said, "There are too many people who want to take advantage of the opportunity to make trouble." ”

This kind of situation had been thought of before Han Xiao and the others came here, in fact, the strength of the Huating Kingdom's fleet still maintained a very strong combat power until now, even if it had already penetrated into the inland battles of these small countries, because of the existence of the Imperial Spirit Terrace, the Huating Kingdom's monk army also had a huge advantage. But now the most fatal point is still in Jinghua City, because of the crisis in Jinghua City, the base camp of Huating Kingdom is even gone, and now these monks of small countries who have just been conquered, or who have just succumbed, will naturally have different hearts.

It was only at first that Han Xiao and the others realized the seriousness of this problem, but after they really understood it, they understood why Shen Zhuo was so embarrassed now. Originally, Shen Zhuo's plan was very clear, that is, to steadily occupy the cities of those small countries that had collapsed one by one, and then with his strong overall planning ability, the surrendered monks and the original Huating Kingdom monks were grouped together to start the formation again, although this would greatly reduce the combat power of the Huating Kingdom monk army, and even affect stability, but in this way, it was easy to encroach on these small countries, and in the end, it only took a little time to settle down, and the situation here could be completely stabilized.

But when the accident happened, because the battle line was too long, many of the monks of the small countries that had just been pacified were suspicious, and even some of the nobles in the small countries saw that they could not do anything, and they had fled before the outbreak of the war, and now seeing that Hua Tingguo was facing this situation, the monks of these small countries immediately began to think about it again, and it was precisely because of these nobles with a certain foundation who were secretly organizing their forces that Shen Zhuo was so anxious now.

Han Xiao really has a deep understanding of this, and he has seen too many such situations in the more than ten years he has been a pirate in the South China Sea. At the beginning, the South China Sea was completely a pirate den, but it was also pirates, those were a group of pirates formed by a group of monks with a ruthless spirit, maybe there was indeed a group of pirates who could survive after the wind and waves, but once there were some huge changes, these pirates would naturally have to be cut as easily as leeks.

In the face of the powerful Western forces at that time, as well as the aristocratic forces that took refuge in the Huating Empire in the past, pirates who did not have any backing were actually not worth mentioning at all. And what is really terrifying are the aristocratic forces that have fled with all their belongings and the elite monks of all their families before the invasion of Western forces. Maybe these aristocratic forces are also weak in front of the current Huating Kingdom, but they are not rootless duckweed after all, in the face of the current wave of impact of Huating Kingdom, because they have a deep foundation, they can withstand the repeated offensives of Huating Kingdom.

Shen Zhuo is now facing such a headache situation, it is precisely because those forces who escaped from the small country are extremely hidden, and they have taken away a lot of resources and elite cultivators, they are using sneak attack tactics to attack the weak links in Huating's defense line. It is conceivable that among those monks who have now taken refuge in Huating Kingdom, there are quite a few even small country monks who simply choose to stay here as meticulous workers, and then when they find an opportunity, they will spread the internal situation of Huating Kingdom.

It can be said that now the army of monks of Huating Kingdom led by Shen Zhuo is completely like a big fat man with flaws all over his body, it is true that this big fat man has infinite strength and is attacking like a tide, as long as he is given the right opportunity, it will inevitably be a shocking offensive, but after all, he is walking in the open, and the aristocratic forces that escaped from those small countries are hiding in the shadows like top assassins, rushing out anytime and anywhere to give this big fat man a hard blow. Maybe once or twice can't hurt the root, but the number of times I can't stand it is increasing, and the sneak attacks are getting more and more fierce, and now this big fat man is gradually completely defeated.

Shen Zhuo's face was pale, he put away all his disguises in front of Han Xiao, and now he was completely like a defeated rooster, he had completely lost hope of winning, and even lost the fighting spirit to continue fighting. He is certainly a very strong fighter, but this duel in the ring is unfair, his enemies can hide in the thousands of spectators below the ring and attack at any time, but he can't attack everyone just because he is suspicious.

Looking at Shen Zhuo's helpless appearance now, Han Xiao finally said after thinking for a long time, "Withdraw the troops." ”

"What!?" Suddenly hearing Han Xiao's words, Shen Zhuo raised his head suddenly, the appearance of defeat just now disappeared in an instant, and he now looked at Han Xiao with red eyes like a trapped beast: "Do you know what you're talking about?"

"Withdraw your troops, abandon your current position, shrink all your forces and go back to rescue Jinghua City. Han Xiao said categorically.

"But this is a position that has been fought down with great difficulty. This time it wasn't Shen Zhuo who spoke, but Pang Ying on the side couldn't help but speak: "Shen Shuai's current thoughts are actually not wrong, the crisis in Jinghua City can't really be resolved, so the most important thing now is to keep the position here." Although the forces attacking Jinghua City are very complicated now, in the final analysis, in the end, it is only the forces of the Western Holy Alliance that can really stay, but if things really come to that point, the Holy Alliance will also face difficulties. ”

Seeing that Han Xiao didn't speak, Pang Ying continued to explain: "If Shen Shuai can stabilize the situation here now, as long as we rush to Jinghua City to rescue Qin Wuyue and some important people in Huating Kingdom, it will be considered a great success." When the time comes, we will retreat to this side, and the Holy Alliance, which has only occupied Jinghua City, will face the problems we are facing now. As long as Qin Wuyue is still alive, those Huating Kingdom generals who have a wait-and-see attitude will not dare to really make a mistake, plus those old stubborns of Huating Kingdom will not continue to wait and see when they see the end of the Jinghua War, and when the Holy Alliance is under the attack from the left and right, they will definitely be tired of coping, and they can only retreat. No matter how bad it is, our living force has still been preserved, so if we keep the newly beaten territory now, we still have a chance to fight back, and once we go back to rescue now, it will be really too risky. ”

Shen Zhuo nodded slightly, and looked at Pang Ying with a little surprise, this was indeed his truest idea now. As one of the most loyal generals in Huating Country now, Shen Zhuo did not deliberately drag the army of monks here not to go back to support after knowing that Jinghua City was in trouble, but he still did not rashly lead his troops back to help after some consideration, as Pang Ying said, now he is trying his best to keep the territory here, Huating Kingdom can still have a chance to fight back, but once he goes back to the decisive battle, the danger is really too great.

Pang Ying's explanation was already very detailed, and Han Xiao nodded suddenly after listening to it, and did not insist on returning the help. In terms of the use of troops, Han Xiao knew that he lacked too much ability, but when he thought of the current situation here, and then thought about the crisis in Jinghua City, Han Xiao could also figure it out, even if he maintained such a situation now, Hua Tingguo was still full of crises.

"I need a group of monks to equip the hundreds of warships I have brought, and I will go to the rescue of Jinghua City. Han Xiao said after thinking for a while.

"Hundreds of warships?" Shen Zhuo was stunned, but when he thought of Zhao Gangdan beside Han Xiao, he still accepted this situation, but after understanding, he finally said in embarrassment: "Ordinary crew members are easy to handle, the key is that I don't have so many gunners in my hands now." ”