The fierce battle between the Zhenjiang army and the rebels at the ancestral hill was like two giants trying their best to wrestle their wrists, and the price of defeat was something that neither side could afford. Li Zhi constantly urged his soldiers and horses to enter the battlefield, in a vain attempt to take advantage of the numerical advantage, frantically consume Xu Youchang's combat power, and finally drag down the Zhenjiang army. And Xu Youchang's First Army and Sixth Army, with their tenacious will, withstood the siege of the main rebel force.

When the hardest night had finally passed, and the early morning sun had stained the plains a pale gold through the dense woods on the ancestral hill, a large cavalry corps appeared on the eastern horizon.

The flying eagle flags, the formation like a mountain, and the dense bayonet spears and long knives glittered in the sun.

The Ninth Army of the Wild Sands, arriving on the battlefield!

The rebels' horn sounded hurriedly, and the soldiers and horses who were fighting immediately retreated, quickly broke away from the battle, and shrank and assembled in the direction of their own formation.

A look of panic flashed in Li Jiong's eyes, staring closely at the new force of Zhenjiang that was approaching the battlefield, pursing his lips and not speaking for a long time.

Ye Rongcheng next to him said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, it's time to collect the troops." We must return to Huzhou as soon as possible, otherwise ......"

He didn't go on with the rest of the sentence, but everyone knew what he wanted to say.

The appearance of the Zhenjiang Army in the east at this time proved that the mountain defense line set up by the rebels had lost its effectiveness, and it was learned from the routs who had fled one after another yesterday afternoon that the Eighth Army of Zhenjiang had taken over from the Fifth Army and stormed Fangshan and Badujie, and the situation in the direction of the rear road was precarious.

It is precisely because of this that last night Li Jiong ordered his subordinates to attack Xu Youchang frantically at all costs, in a vain attempt to solve the opponent here one step earlier.

However, the heavens did not grant the wish.

The tenacious First and Sixth Armies successfully withstood the tremendous pressure of the enemy and waited for reinforcements.

At this time, if the rebels do not move eastward in a hurry, it is very likely that Li Jiangyao's main force will completely cut off the back road and become a lone army with no support in the depths.

Li Wei sighed in distress, and hummed unwillingly: "It's only one step away!" Last night, he was only one step away from being able to defeat Xu Youchang, and then occupy Guangde, and attack Li Jiangyao before and after Bao Yuchun. Alas, God has no eyes! ”

"Your Highness, the battlefield is changing rapidly, and there is no way to do it." Ye Rongcheng persuaded: "Xu You's long army has suffered a lot of casualties, and his physical strength has reached the limit, while they are unable to pursue, let's quickly break through the enemy's interception on the east side and transfer to Huzhou." ”

Li Bing was silent for a moment, and then shook his head: "You can't go east!" Li Jiangyao will definitely lay down layers of obstacles on the way to Huzhou, waiting for us to obediently send it to the door, and then gather and annihilate it. ”

Ye Rongcheng was stunned: "Then where are we going?" ”

"Go south!" Li Zhi pointed with a horsewhip: "Sixty miles to the southwest, it is Anji County, and the whole army can quickly move to that place, so that you can rely on the cover of the city to avoid being attacked by the Zhenjiang army in front and rear." General Ye, I will work hard for you, lead 30,000 soldiers and horses to cover the rear of the whole army, especially to withstand the pursuit of the enemy in the east, and ensure that the king and the main force reach Anji smoothly. ”

"The last general obeys!" Ye Rongcheng replied: "Your Highness, don't worry, I will fight to stop them!" Please leave immediately. ”

Li Bing nodded expressionlessly, then urged his mount to gallop south under the cover of his own soldiers.

-

The rebels did not return to Huzhou, but turned around and moved to Anji, much to Li Jiangyao's surprise. It's not that he can't understand Li Jiong's intention to do this, under the threat of the east and west sides of the Zhenjiang Army, the road to Huzhou is indeed not easy to walk, and there is even a danger of being attacked from front to rear and annihilated at any time.

It's just that Li Jiong is almost equivalent to giving up Bao Yuchun directly, or Huzhou City.

After receiving the news that the main force of the rebels was moving to Anji, Li Jiangyao immediately made a decision and ordered the Sixth Army of the First Army, which had experienced a bitter battle, to return to Guangde County for rest, while the Ninth Army turned around and went to Xisai Mountain, setting up a blocking position on the road between Huzhou and Anji to prevent Li Zhi and Ye Rongcheng from rushing north to help.

At the same time, the Fifth and Eighth Armies immediately waved their divisions to the east and launched a fierce attack on Huzhou.

In addition, Du Jian's Second Army divided its troops to fight, approaching Suzhou all the way, threatening and monitoring the city of Suzhou with the assistance of thunderstorms and the Intelligence Department; On the other hand, board the boat on the north shore of Taihu Lake, and after crossing the entire Taihu Lake, land from the northeast of Huzhou, cooperate with the Fifth Army and the Eighth Army, and attack Bao Yuchun.

The Zhenjiang army of all walks of life was immediately ordered to take action, with Huzhou City as the core, and rushed to different targets at the same time, moving quickly and resolutely.

Bao Yuchun, who was guarding Huzhou, originally planned to lead his troops westward to reinforce Li Jiong, but he didn't expect that His Royal Highness the King of Jin saw that the situation was not good, so he immediately ran to the south, and immediately understood his situation at this time.

In comparison, Huzhou is in the northeast of Anji, and the distance between the two places is more than 90 miles. To the east of him was Li Jiangyao's Fifth Army of the Great Stone and the Eighth Army of the Cold Wave, and further afield, there were Xu Youchang's First Army of the Wind and the Sixth Army of the Angry Waves, and the Ninth Army of the Wild Sand, which was mobile and flexible, was moving towards Xisai Mountain at this time, and the speed was extremely fast.

What's worse is that the spies sent back a report that Du Jian's Agni Second Army was not in a hurry to attack Suzhou City, but divided its troops into Taihu Lake, which could appear east of Huzhou at any time.

In other words, the Zhenjiang army clearly intended to encircle itself.

Bao Yuchun is not Sun Chuanshu, he doesn't have so much hatred in his heart, and he has to fight with the court to the end. Seeing that Li Wei was so unrighteous, he retreated directly to Anji, further south, without even saying hello, of course, there was absolutely no need for him to defend Huzhou.

Before the Zhenjiang army could pounce, Lao Bao gave an order, and the 50,000 defenders immediately abandoned Huzhou and retreated with him to Tongxiang in the southwest.

At this critical time, to keep the military strength in hand, that is, to keep the capital to live and survive, is stronger than anything else!

The experienced Bao Yuchun retreated with oil on the soles of his feet, which indeed effectively avoided the danger of being completely surrounded by Li Jiangyao, but it was also tantamount to giving Huzhou City to the other party.

The vanguard troops of the Eighth Army arrived in Huzhou almost with the rebels, and as soon as Bao Yuchun ran, they arrived. Faced with an empty city that was unguarded, the soldiers occupied it bloodless and happily.

At this point, the Zhenjiang army successfully regained the southern important town of Taihu Lake, echoing Changzhou Zhenze in the north and Yixing Guangde in the west, except for Suzhou in the east of Taihu Lake, basically controlled the vast water network area around Taihu Lake, which also represented their final victory in breaking through the defense system built by the rebels in vain relying on the Taihu Lake water network.

Hangzhou, right in front of you!

-

"Sir, let's make a decision quickly." Huo Wen said in a deep voice: "His Royal Highness suffered a defeat on the Huzhou side, and has now retreated to Anji. Bao Yuchun's gang was even more exaggerated, and fled directly to Tongxiang with his troops. Huzhou fell into the hands of Li Jiangyao, and once the Zhenjiang army attacked from the north and south, Suzhou would definitely not be able to keep it. If it's too late, Hangzhou will be at risk of being besieged. ”

Lao Jianhua held the scroll in his hand, his eyes fixed on the words and remained motionless, obviously not reading, but stunned. After a while, he sighed faintly, put down the book in his hand, turned his head and asked, "Did the thief reply?" ”

"It's confirmed." Huo Wen nodded: "They can answer at any time, from Mingzhou or Quanzhou, it's okay." ”

"Bao Xinyan is still in Mingzhou," Lao Jianhua asked in a deep voice, "Did he notice anything?" ”

Huo Wenying said: "Sir, rest assured, Bao Xinyan's attention was all on Nie Xianzeng and Kunpengjun, and he didn't notice us at all. ”

Lao Jianhua pondered for a moment and said quietly: "Let's wait a little longer." After all, His Highness has not returned yet. ”

Huo Wen looked a little anxious: "Sir, I'm afraid I can't wait any longer." According to the report of the Huben battalion, Xu Youchang seems to have intended to end the rest and recuperation ahead of schedule, and some of the soldiers and horses of the First Army and the Sixth Army of Zhenjiang have begun to detour to the west of Anji at this time. If they bypassed Anji and went straight to Hangzhou, they wouldn't be able to leave at that time. ”

Lao Jianhua was silent for a while, then suddenly shook his head lightly, and asked, "Huo Wen, how long have you been following the old man?" ”

Huo Wen replied without thinking: "It's been almost ten years." Although I am not my husband's apprentice, I was also trained and cultivated by you. ”

"It's been ten years, so fast, if you think about it, it's almost a snap of a finger." Lao Jianhua said with a smile: "The old man remembers that you were the secretary of Lu Yaofeng, the secretary of the Ministry of War, right?" ”

"Sir is right." Huo Wen nodded and said: "Lu Yaofeng is Xie Guang's descendant, not long after the Imperial Capital Incident and the Xuanjia Legion were transferred to the Eastern Capital Luoyi, Lu Yaofeng fell ill and died, and I was transferred by Xie Guang to the Eastern Capital Bureau, and served as a soldier from Jiupin to join the army, specifically responsible for secretly monitoring Murong Xue. Later, you deliberately took care of me and supported me, and I have been following Mr. ever since. ”

Lao Jianhua bowed slightly when he heard this: "Yes, at that time, we overthrew Xie Guang together and led our troops to Jiangnan, how high-spirited we were." Looking at the Shengtang Dynasty, the Turks galloped across the country and were invincible; The court fled to the southwest, panicking; Li Jiangyao was still a dying lieutenant, struggling to survive under the siege of a gang of barbarians in Western Xinjiang; And what about Li Bing? It's even more unbearable, and it's hard to even live, let alone the big dream of the Ninety-Five Supreme. But now, the world has turned upside down, and time has changed. ”

Facing Lao Jianhua's great emotion, Huo Wen tried to comfort: "Sir, the current situation is just a temporary hardship, and it doesn't mean that we have completely lost. As long as you're safe and sound, we have a chance to make a comeback. As the saying goes, stay in the green mountains, and don't worry about running out of firewood. Are you right? ”

Lao Jianhua turned his head to look at Huo Wen, and his eyes gradually shone again: "Do you really think so?" ”

"Really!" Huo Wen replied in a firm tone: "Mr. is eloquent and strategic, and he will definitely be able to turn the situation around." ”

Lao Jianhua smiled faintly: "In that case, then why do you still secretly take refuge in Li Bing and lead the old man to the death of the thief?" ”