The three countries of Suzhou, Song, and Xichuan each received news and expressed their willingness to join the alliance.

This good news also made Lu Yuan let go of his last worries.

This time, there was a union of four countries, and there were 270,000 soldiers and horses dispatched, including four innate grandmasters.

This kind of strength is not much weaker than the last Northern Expedition before the fall of Dayue.

Attacking the Southwest Yi with this strength, even if the three major Yi countries of the other side join forces, they are at most evenly matched.

There is no obvious difference in strength between the two sides.

On the side of the Chu State, after this period of preparation, the armies of all parties have been assembled on the border with the Great Changhe State, and all materials have been raised.

All preparations are made and a big war can be launched at any time.

However, Lu Yuan still did not order an immediate attack.

Because he's waiting, waiting for an answer.

On Li Xiong's side, Li Shou has been back for almost a month, but there has been no news back.

For the former emperor of Xishu, who is now stirring up Dachang and domestic strife, Lu Yuan still values it very much.

If you can really subdue the other party and make it use for its use, you will suddenly have an extra innate and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, which can be said to be of considerable help to the great cause of this expedition to the southwest Yi.

Therefore, regarding the other party's attitude, as to whether Li Xiong can accept his conditions, Lu Yuan still wants to wait and see if he can get a response in the end.

Fortunately, the wait was not too long.

After going back for nearly a month and a half, Li Shou, who had left earlier, came to Lu Yuan again with Li Xiong's attitude.

"I've seen the King of Chu."

More than a month after leaving, when Li Shou met Lu Yuan again, the whole person was tired and depressed.

"Let's be flat."

In the marching tent, Lu Yuan looked at Li Shou who was saluting below, looked at the other party slightly, and then asked, "You came again, but Li Shou already had an answer." ”

Li Shou nodded heavily: "Back to King Chu, my brother does have an answer." The previous request made by the king, the brother agreed to it all. From now on, I am willing to be the vassal state of the Chu State, and guard the land for the Great Chu for generations.

It's just that I asked the king to send troops quickly, but the offensive of the Great Chang and the country is becoming more and more intense, and my brother really can't hold it. ”

In the end, Li Shou, who had already gotten up, knelt down again, his old head slammed on the ground, pleading, and his attitude was extremely humble.

Don't blame him for that.

In fact, in the past two months, the situation in the barbarian country has been too bad.

Since the last time Li Shou sent an envoy, after digesting the fruits of the last great victory and integrating domestic forces, Dachang and the country launched a fierce offensive again.

With Li Chuan, the innate master of the Great Changhe Kingdom, as the commander, and the Great Witch Sacrifice of the Great Shrine as the sacrifice, the two commanded the 200,000 troops gathered in the country, starting from Zhedong City, and continued to take advantage of the victory to fight the Barbarian State.

Li Xiong led his troops to block the attack at Qucho River, wanting to block the enemy in the west of the river in the place where the Dachang and the National Alliance Army were defeated last time.

However, the two sides have set up camps, and the battle has not yet begun.

The Great Witch Festival of the Divine Palace personally came to the front of the battle, and in the name of the Great God of Chili, called on the Chili people on the other side of the river to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, and no longer be deceived by foreigners, and kill each other with their own people.

…

Otherwise, anyone who turns his back on Chili will be cursed by the great god after death, and he will not be able to return to the great god.

As soon as this spiritual blow came out, the effect was immediately remarkable.

The many soldiers of the Barbarian State on the other side of Sichuan were not very loyal to Li Xiong, and some of them even resented this outsider and made the Barbarian Country into such a situation.

It's just that he is afraid of the other party's strength, so he has to give in.

At this time, the Great Chang and the country set things right, and the 200,000 army pressed the border, and there were even priests in the shrine who personally persuaded them.

The soldiers of the Barbarian camp on the opposite side of Sichuan were instantly shaken.

Suddenly, there was a commotion among the soldiers of several phalanxes, and some people even directly announced that they were anyway and turned against their partners next to them.

Seeing that the army mutinied, Li Xiong, of course, immediately asked people to suppress it.

But before he could stabilize the morale of the army, the Great Chang and the country on the opposite side seized the opportunity and immediately sent the elite to cross the river and attack.

And Li Chuan and the high priest of the Divine Palace immediately took action to restrain Li Xiong, so that he had no time to take care of it.

The army has no fighting spirit, internal strife is everywhere, the enemy is attacking, and it is too busy to take care of itself.

In this case, the strength of Li Xiongling's army is not as good as that of the other party, and where can it withstand it.

After only one hour of fighting, the whole line was defeated.

Seeing that nothing could be done, Li Xiong had no choice but to withdraw from the battle group and flee in embarrassment from the siege of two strong enemies.

led a remnant of the army and fled back.

By the time the Changjun City that had fled to the rear was counted, there were originally 90,000 soldiers and horses, but there were only more than 50,000 left.

There were 40,000 people, and they were lost in Qushuchuan.

However, the battle between the two armies was not fierce at that time, and of these 40,000 people, it is estimated that only a few thousand people died in the battle.

The rest are estimated to have either surrendered or fled.

But no matter what, Li Xiong's defeat in this battle is undoubted.

And what made him even more uncomfortable was that after the great victory of Dachang and the country in Quchochuan, he continued to lead his troops westward, and only two days later, he called Changjun City.

At this time, Li Xiong had just gathered the remnants of the army, and he hadn't had time to rectify and re-stabilize the army's morale?

At this time, the enemy army is coming again, where can it be stopped?

It was only that he held on to the city for more than ten days, and finally couldn't withstand the opponent's attack, and at the same time, the army in the city mutinied again, killed the henchman general sent by Li Xiong, and opened the door to let people enter the city.

So the city was not defended for a few days, and Li Xiong had to lead the remnants of the army to flee again.

This escape was more than 300 miles, and he fled back to Shicheng, the capital of the Barbarian Kingdom.

After returning to China, Li Xiong, who was a little relieved, counted the people again, and found that there were only more than 20,000 people left under his command at this time.

And half a year ago, he had an army of 1670,000 in his hands.

Thinking that in just half a year, he lost consecutive battles, not only lost thousands of miles, but also lost the results of several years.

At this time, even the Barbarian State, which was originally regarded as a bag, was difficult to preserve, and it was about to be beaten to the national capital.

Under these successive blows, Li Xiong, who was still ambitious, thinking of swallowing the entire Great Changhe Kingdom and restoring the foundation of the Shu Kingdom, couldn't help but feel sad and suffered a big blow.

The original arrogance has almost disappeared under the successive failures.

So when Li Shou came back with the conditions of the Chu State, he told Li Xiong the original.

…

This Xishu hero, however, could no longer maintain his pride, and chose to lower his head under Lu Yuan's almost harsh conditions.

No way.

A few years ago, I tossed around in Xichuan, and in the end, I didn't have a good time for two years, and I was beaten and fled. Not only was the country lost, but even the Qiang people were abandoned, so they could only flee with a hundred henchmen and come to this barbarian land.

finally arrived here, and after stabilizing his foothold, he made persistent efforts, worked hard, and gradually infiltrated the court of the barbarian country and controlled the army of this country.

Then he launched a rebellion, wanting to unify the entire Great Changhe Country and create a new foundation.

As a result, after two years of no glory, his army of more than 100,000 was beaten clean, and thousands of miles of territory were also lost.

At this time, under the loss of the division and land, there were only more than 20,000 soldiers and horses and a stone city left in his hands. The more than 100 cronies who originally brought, under the successive defeats, there are only more than 40 people left.

Even with this last bit of belongings, I don't know how long I can keep it?

Under such a reality, under such a blow, how can Li Xiong still have the mind to toss, and how can he still have the confidence to negotiate.

And seriously.

He has been hit too much, and he has some doubts in his heart, is he really not that entrepreneurial ability?

Under this kind of psychology, Li Xiong didn't want to toss anymore.

Now that Da Chu is willing to accept him, he will take advantage of the fact that he still has some money in his hand and sell himself a future.

Let's get Shikoku.

How to say that it is also the territory of two and a half governments, and if you find it, it also has a population of two or three hundred thousand, and a territory of nearly 1,000 miles.

After more than ten years of struggle, it is somewhat good to finally have this foundation.

It's better than being defeated by someone, and then turning into a lost dog again, losing everything, and running away in embarrassment, okay?

So in the end, Li Xiong, who had already accepted his fate, even though he knew that the conditions he signed were very humiliating and very inconsistent with his identity as a grandmaster.

But in the end, I chose to agree.

Then he arranged for Li Shou to continue to come to Chu State, anxious to ask for help.

"Now my brother counted the remnants of the army, and recklessly strengthened the country, and finally gathered 40,000 troops and stuck to Shicheng. However, the Chili people are menacing, and the hearts of the people in the city are also fluctuating, even if the brother is stubborn, it will be difficult to hold on for too long.

If the king does not send reinforcements, I am afraid that in January, Shicheng will be lost.

At that time, the capital of this barbarian country will be lost, and the entire land of Lingdong will be lost.

And the Great Changhe Kingdom will also recover its homeland, reintegrate the country, and then try to confront, it will not be easy. ”

Li Shou sobbed a little, telling Li Xiong's hardships now, and once again expressed his request for help.

And Lu Yuan couldn't help but be shocked after hearing what he said.

Although he knew that after the Divine Palace intervened, Li Xiong should not be able to last long, and it was a matter of time before he was defeated.

But he never thought of it.

It's only been two or three months, and Li Xiong was beaten to his lair and was about to be destroyed.

That's more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, thousands of miles of territory.

With so many people, even if it is more than 100,000 pigs, if Dachang and Guo want to catch them, they won't catch them so quickly, right?

…

And thousands of miles of territory, even if you use it to run, you have to run for a month, right?

With so many soldiers and horses, and such a large territory, how could they be defeated so quickly?

This Li Xiong is really a guy who can't hold up the wall. No wonder Xichuan was lost so quickly that in the end, he didn't even dare to see me, so he just abandoned the army and fled.

With such a little ability, I really don't know how he became an innate grandmaster. ，

Lu Yuan secretly cursed in his heart, but this was not the time to blame this guy.

Li Shou is right.

If he loses Shicheng and the Barbarian Country, then if he wants to invade the Great Changhe Country, what he will face is the more than 200,000 soldiers and horses of the Barbarian Country led by Li Chuan.

For this army, which has just put down the rebellion, the morale is incomparably high.

Even if their quality is very poor in all aspects, and even many of them are equivalent to the militia townspeople, and there are few real elites.

But in this form, if Lu Yuan wants to defeat the other party and enter the Great Changhe Kingdom, I am afraid that it will be extremely difficult, even an impossible thing.

So now, while Li Xiong has not completely failed, it is already his last chance to lead his troops into the Great Changhe Kingdom first.

Only by relying on the stronghold of Shicheng can we run the stable rear of the Barbarian Country.

The state of Chu can rely on this and gradually encroach on the country of Dachanghe.

Therefore, after realizing the seriousness of the matter, in the face of Li Shou's plea, Lu Yuan immediately said: "This king will send troops to march into the Great Changhe Kingdom and rescue Shicheng." ”

After that, he asked people to raise drums and gather generals, mobilize troops and horses, and start to move the army.

In July of the fourth year of Shenwu, Lu Yuan led the army to pull out the camp, led the three armies with 60,000 soldiers and horses, and officially crossed the border and entered the Great Changhe Kingdom.

On the same day, two waves of messengers went to Wuling Mansion and Lingling Mansion respectively, and sent orders to Lan Zhaoyun and Li Liang respectively, so that they could march at the same time.

After a thousand years, after the Dongyang people touched the border of the southwest Yi, these seedlings of the three emperors finally began the battle of conquest against these Yi people.

The battle that will go down in history has begun.

……

Stone City.

The flag covers the sky, and the black clouds crush the city.

Countless camps stretched out of the city, all the way into the mountains.

Since the arrival of the counterinsurgency army of the Great Changhe Kingdom, the army has expanded to more than 200,000 people, distributed on this somewhat narrow plain, and suddenly squeezed this place tightly.

Compared with the army camp that stretched for more than 100 miles, the city in front of it was less than ten miles large, although it looked majestic enough.

But in the face of the dense army outside, it seems like a small stone in front of the torrent, so humble and fragile.

It was as if it was about to collapse at any moment under this thunderous blow.

And in fact, it is.

The sound of the vast bull's horn sounded, the unique war drums of the Chili people thundered, and tens of thousands of warriors with swords in their hands listened to the horn behind them at this time, accompanied by the rumbling drums, roaring towards the city in front of them.

These heroic Chili people want to destroy the last rebel city in front of them, and take back the land belonging to the Chili people.

At the same time, he killed those foreigners in the city, and used their heads to warn the world and declare the inviolability and heroism of the Chili tribe.

The men who guarded the city walls looked at the warriors below like a tide, and their faces also showed panic and paleness.

…

For these people of their own kind, for people who have the same beliefs as themselves, they really don't have much to resist.

However, when they saw the generals who had already walked over with calm faces, and even drew their swords, and looked at several people who wanted to escape, the hearts of these defenders trembled.

These are all foreigners, though.

But one by one, they are strong in martial arts, and their strength is terrifying. In particular, the leaders of those foreigners are like the gods, and they have the divine power bestowed by the gods of the Great Witch Festival of the Divine Palace.

In the face of this kind of force that mortals can hardly resist, even if they are reluctant in their hearts, they can't give birth to the heart of resistance.

Thinking of the family members who were controlled in the city, under fear and scruples, he finally gritted his teeth, picked up the falling rocks and bows and arrows in his hands, and launched an attack on the people in the city.

But even so.

Under the powerful offensive outside the city, these counterattacks still seemed so weak and fragile.

The siege has been going on for more than half a month.

But no matter how many enemies the defenders in the city killed, or how high the corpses lying under the city were, the people outside seemed to be unclean, and there was no shortage of them.

Compared with the Chili army, which has swelled to more than 200,000, the defenders of 30,000 or 40,000 people in the city are really like small stones under the waves, splashing wind and waves at most, and they will eventually be submerged.

All the Chili people firmly believe in this.

"These rebellions won't last long."

In the camp outside the city, on a high observation platform, Li Chuan, the chief priest of the shrine and others watched the siege battle that was going on in the distance, and finally couldn't help but fall into this assertion.

After fighting for more than half a month, their side suffered heavy losses, and the best men in the fifty or sixty thousand tribes died.

But the defenders in the city, even if they have the support of the city walls, are not very comfortable.

Under the condition of low morale, it was impossible to make effective resistance and defense, and after more than ten days of fighting, more than 10,000 people also died.

Now the defenders in the city are in their early 20,000s at most, and their morale is even lower.

Especially yesterday.

During the siege, some defenders on the city wall were in a commotion, wanting to resist and surrender.

Although it was quickly quelled under the suppression of those traitors in the city, it did not cause much trouble.

But the emergence of this phenomenon undoubtedly shows how unstable the morale of the army in the city is, and the defenders in the city are not of the same mind as those foreigners.

It's just that now the situation is forced to obey the thief.

But it doesn't matter, I believe that as long as there is a little more pressure from the outside, there will be more Chili people who will realize how evil their actions are, and then follow the guidance of the Chili God and make the right choice.

"Those foreigners are very strong, especially their leaders, who are the same existence as you and me."

After hearing Li Chuan's words, the Great Witch Priest of the Divine Palace also nodded, but while agreeing with this point of view, he couldn't help but say in a cold voice: "These guys who blaspheme the Great God of Chili and want to usurp the inheritance of the descendants of Chili are the divine enemies who have been revealed by the Great God.

This time to break through the stone city, those clansmen who were bewitched and coerced were gone.

As long as they can realize their mistakes and repent sincerely, their sins can be forgiven.

…

But those foreigners, those divine enemies, must not let go of one.

All of them, including the leader of the thieves, Li Xiong, will stay, and I will sacrifice their blood to the great gods as a token of the loyalty of our gods. ”

This time, under his nose, he was deceived and almost usurped the country of the Chili tribe.

This kind of great shame, such a major mistake, I don't know how ashamed and angry this great witch priest is in his heart.

In the face of this shame, only with the blood of those divine enemies can it be washed away.

Therefore, for the killing intent of Li Xiong and the other foreigners, the Great Witch Sacrifice was definitely one of the strongest among the many people present.

And when Li Chuan heard this, he also said fiercely: "Don't worry, the Great Witch Festival." I had already made arrangements and set up a net outside the city. There is no way for the foreigners to escape. ”

As the grandmaster of the royal family who was almost usurped, the army commander's hatred for Li Xiong and them was not much inferior to that of the Great Witch Sacrifice.

If he didn't kill all those foreigners, how could he vent the hatred in his heart.

And how can you deter those careerists who are ready to move?

Where did the majesty of the Li clan come from to dominate the entire Chili clan?

So Li Xiong, he will also kill him.

However, while these chiefs were discussing with the highest level of the country, what to do with the foreigners after the city was broken.

Suddenly, in the distance, a large area of fireworks ignited.

I saw that dozens of miles to the southwest, a mountain forest, at this time had been wrapped in flames.

The fire burned so great that it enveloped the entire mountain in an instant.

"What's going on?"

Li Chuan and the Great Witch Priest looked at this scene, and their expressions changed instantly.

This sudden change made the two of them feel a little uneasy.

It's just that before they could send someone to investigate, they saw a horse flying in the distance, ran up in embarrassment, and said with a panicked face: "Great general, great witch sacrifice, there are enemies."

The southwestern battalion was attacked, and an enemy killed it. There are so many of them that I can't count them all! ”

The voice fell, and the atmosphere in the field instantly froze.