Metasequoia City's armament battle has not been slackened in the slightest because of the victory a few days ago. Similarly, the Western Xinjiang Coalition Army did not choose to die because of the defeat in the first battle, and Alekjiang commanded the troops and horses of Loulan and Chechi, and continued to be stationed not far from Metasequoia City, waiting for an opportunity to move.

Li Jiangyao did not dare to underestimate the enemy, on the one hand, he ordered Ma Mu to mobilize the people in the city, seize all the time, and constantly strengthen the fortifications of the city, and prepare for the big battle that may arise at any time in the future; On the other hand, he asked Lin Feng to select a group of loyal and reliable warriors to quietly escort the leaders of the Shenhua family out of the city and back to their own territory.

Xia Lian took Hesijia and Effantia to organize medical officers and civilian women to try to treat the wounded who had been withdrawn from the battlefield.

Although Metasequoia City was rich in supplies and there was no shortage of medicines and gauze for the time being, they were still busy because there were too many wounded, and they couldn't sleep well for several days.

However, it is gratifying that the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Metasequoia City is extremely high at this time.

Although the Western Xinjiang Alliance is overwhelmed and aggressive. However, the iron-clad record made everyone in the city firmly believe that the current metasequoia was fully capable of repelling all the invading enemies.

As long as Li Jiangyao is there, as long as there are white-robed soldiers and soldiers, there is no need to worry about being afraid.

Inspired by this high morale, the little prince of Shenhua, who had just officially succeeded to the throne, refused to leave Metasequoia City with his subordinates. He made it clear that he was determined to stay and fight side by side with Li Jiangyao and others to defend the city together.

Even if Li Jiangyao, Xu Youchang and others said all the good things, Samore and Montenegro kept pleading, but they couldn't shake Curiban's heart.

In the end, it was He Sijia who came out to persuade the stubborn little prince.

"What did you tell him that would work so well?" Xu Youchang was full of curiosity about this, and couldn't help but ask He Sijia about it.

The Turkic princess smiled and said nonchalantly, "It's nothing." I just told Curiban that Master Lee might have important tasks for him to do in the future. For example, let him lead the tribe's soldiers and horses to attack Loulan and Chechi, so as to relieve the defensive pressure on the side of Metasequoia City. So, it's better to get out of here early and get outside and prepare in advance. ”

Hearing He Sijia's unbridled persuasion reason, Li Jiangyao and Xu Youchang couldn't help but light up: Yes, such a clever plan, why didn't we think of it before?

-

After Duolun was taught a lesson by the bigwigs of the tracing group, he immediately began a large-scale search work. He used the garrisons scattered throughout the western Xinjiang to cast a large number of eyeliners, between the towns and villages, carefully probing the traces of Hestya and Effantia.

Because they were worried that accidentally exposing the true identities of the two girls might cause some people with ulterior motives to covet and harm them, the search group did not dare to announce the background of the two of them in a big way.

At the same time, it is accompanied by brief drawings of Husky and Effentia.

Such a hidden and cautious search, of course, the effect has also been greatly discounted, not only has there been no gain, but also a lot of false positive news that seems to be true and false.

Kunli Mingtai was very dissatisfied with this, and he scolded and scolded all day long, either complaining about Duolun's stupidity and incompetence, or accusing Duolun of doing things badly.

While enduring the anger given to him by the Blood Guard General, Duolun continued to intensify his efforts to urge all troops and horses to immediately invest more efforts to find people even if they dug three feet into the ground in the entire Western Frontier.

At the same time, he was still thinking about the progress of the war in Metasequoia City.

Since he left the coalition camp and returned to the court of King Chechi, the Western Frontier Coalition Army under the command of King Alikjiang of Loulan had two more fierce confrontations with the Metasequoia garrison. These two battles were the same as before, they were chosen to start the battle on the plains and wilderness, and the mixed armies of the two sides came and went, and the killing was inseparable.

Although the Metasequoia soldiers and horses are still brave and abnormal, the unified and integrated Loulan Chechi coalition army has changed the previous unfavorable state of fighting separately, and has begun to fight steadily, and it has a bit of a "number one force in Western Xinjiang".

Even if they encountered the ghost-faced white-robed army, the soldiers of Loulan and Che Chi were no longer the same as before, they only knew how to run wildly with their heads and run wildly. On the contrary, they relied on the complete military system and the unique ferocity and bloodiness of the people of Western Xinjiang to grit their teeth and resist the impact of the other party, so they did not let Li Jiangyao and them have too many gains.

Seeing that the Western Xinjiang coalition army was gradually getting stronger, and at the same time, the leaders of the Shenhua family also left safely, Li Jiangyao decided to change his fighting style, and the whole army retreated to the city, relying on strong fortifications, waiting for work and consuming the Alik River.

The invincible King of Loulan really fell for it. After the Metasequoia army retreated back to the city, the Alekjiang launched several small-scale and tentative siege battles in succession, but with little success except for the loss of seven or eight hundred troops in vain.

At this time, it happened to coincide with the rainy season in western Xinjiang. It rained heavily for three days in a row, and the situation was really favorable for defense and unfavorable for attack.

As a result, Alikjiang and Gelhan reached a rare agreement, and the Western Xinjiang Coalition Army temporarily withdrew its troops to recuperate, and the offensive and defensive sides returned to the stalemate stage again.

What Duolun was most worried about was that Alekjiang fell for Li Jiangyao's plan and suffered the blow of the annihilation of the entire army, and now it seems that that the bad situation has not happened, and he is finally relieved. After all, as the attacking side, the Western Xinjiang Coalition Army has the advantage of taking the initiative, as long as it can calm down and deal with it steadily, even if it is slowly consumed like this, it may also consume Metasequoia City.

In any case, it's better than being reckless.

Given that the battle situation on the Metasequoia side was stable, Duolun no longer had to worry too much, so he planned to wait for the rain to stop and personally lead a team to the country of Qiuzi to find the whereabouts of the princess.

However, just when the rain showed a slight sign of stopping, an accident suddenly happened. In the vicinity of the Chechi royal court, a large number of unidentified armed troops suddenly appeared in the past few days. Those soldiers and horses traveled through the city and county, and they were getting closer and closer to the royal court.

At this time, the Chechi royal court, the main force of the 1st and 2nd Army Corps and the palace guards had already followed Gelhan to Metasequoia City, and the defense force left here was only more than 300 Chechi defenders. Even with the addition of the garrison under Duolun and the escort of Prince Gune, it did not exceed two thousand troops at most.

But according to the report of the spies, that mysterious army was five or six thousand people!

Since Prince Gune and the Persian merchant delegation were all here in the royal court, Duolun and Kunli Mingtai did not dare to be careless, and hurriedly set off with people to investigate the situation in person.

Unexpectedly, after some investigation, both of them also looked solemn. The suspicious men and horses were pure cavalry, moving quickly and erratically. But it can be clear that they are definitely coming for Chechi Wangting.

What is even more surprising is that although those cavalry are poorly armored and disorganized, their banner is very distinct - the Metasequoia Garrison of the Protectorate of the Territory of Shengtang Town.

"-!" Kunli Mingtai couldn't help but scold: "Why did the remnants of Metasequoia City come here?!" What do Alekjan and Gelhan eat? Isn't the Marquis of Durham over there, too? ”

Hearing him say this, Duolun's heart suddenly became uneasy. Could it be that something happened to the Western Xinjiang Coalition Army? It shouldn't be. Yesterday I received a report from the front-line army that everything was normal on the Metasequoia side, and the Alec River was preparing to launch another attack on Metasequoia City after the weather cleared.

But the problem is that the more than 5,000 cavalry in front of him are really there, and they have the posture of seizing the Chechi royal court. How did they escape the close surveillance of the Western Coalition Army and come here?

Duolun wanted to break his head, and he couldn't figure out this question. However, one thing he still knows very well, if the other party really wants to attack, judging from the current strength in his hands, he is not absolutely sure that he can hold the royal court. Prince Gunne and the Persian mission were of a noble status, and there was absolutely no room for mistakes.

Duolun consulted with Kunli Mingtai and immediately returned to the city to be on guard, and at the same time sent messengers to ask for help from the Western Frontier Coalition Army closest to the royal court, so that they could quickly send reinforcements.

For two days after the herald set out, the mysterious army wandering outside the city did not advance another half step towards the royal court. They kept a distance of about twenty miles, going back and forth around the Chechi royal court.

This situation made Duolun more and more uneasy. He had a flash of inspiration: not good! I'm afraid it's Li Jiangyao's trick!

The other party swaggered and appeared, just hanging out, but not attacking the city, could it be that he deliberately lured Gelhan to lead the army back to the division, and then robbed and killed halfway? From Chechi Wangting to Metasequoia, the distance is only two hundred miles. If the cavalry galloped at full speed, counting the rest on the way, it would have been able to arrive in two days and one night. According to the time calculation, the Che Chi army should have set off by now and is drilling into the ambush circle.

The more Duolun thought about it, the more frightened he became, and hurriedly sent a new herald to inform Gerhan to be on guard. But unexpectedly, before the herald left the city, Che Chi's large army had already returned non-stop.

Looking at the dusty Gelhan, Duolun was slightly puzzled: "Your Highness, you are in no condition along the way, right?" ”

"No, it's going well," Gerhan said in a relaxed tone: "As soon as I received your news the night before yesterday, I immediately gathered my troops and horses and galloped all the way back. There were no hostile encounters on the way. ”

Duolun put his mind at ease: "It's okay." However, if you come back like this, will Alekjiang let him go? ”

"Alekjan? That bastard left a day before me! Glehan muttered discontentedly.

Duolun was puzzled and hurriedly asked what was going on.

Gerhan explained to him that it turned out that a day earlier than Dolun's messenger, Loulan's messenger also arrived at the camp and reported that the Loulan royal court had suddenly been besieged by the Metasequoia army. Alekjiang didn't expect Li Jiangyao to play tricks, so he actually sent people to attack his lair. The king of Loulan was worried about the safety of his dozens of concubines, and regardless of the strong opposition of the Marquis of Durham, he directly led the troops back to the division in a hurry.

Of course, he didn't dare to offend the Turkic ministers too much, so he left behind 10,000 infantry, plus Geerhan's Chechi army, to continue to attack Metasequoia.

But unexpectedly, not long after Alekjiang left, Duolun's messenger arrived. Durham pouted his beard and asked coldly, "Gelhan, you won't be in a hurry to go back to save your wife, will you?" ”

"Master Hou, I don't have so many burdens," Gelhan smiled: "However, although I am not in a hurry, I wonder if His Royal Highness Prince Gune and Lord Emmeni are in a hurry?" “

Upon hearing this, Durham suddenly lost his temper.

After some deliberation, Durham decided to stay behind and contain Metasequoia himself, and let Gerham take his men back to defend the royal court and Prince Goune.