Nagato has a thin waist

A war that everyone thought would last at least three to five years was instantly changed because of the surrender of the enemy general.

Zheng Shoushan opened the gate of Chuzhou, and the Beiyong Army turned from defense to offense and crossed the Tonghui River. The iron hooves were like sharp swords that cut through the dark night, tearing a long hole in the tight defense of Li Zongxun's legendary 500,000-man army that was as solid as a rock and as strong as an iron barrel.

Wen Xingsu ordered Ao Qi, Shi Yin, and Yu Zhong to divide their troops into three groups and go up the Tonghui River to block the ferry and the dock and attack the Yecheng Army.

The three had been on the battlefield for a long time and their actions were extremely swift, as fast as a sword out of its sheath. In just half a month, they eroded a large area of ​​the Yecheng court's territory, and Ningcheng, Yuncheng, and Shou'an were successively lost.

After Zheng Shoushan surrendered to Xijing, he had no other choice but to fight with his back to the river.

To show his merit, he led the Chuzhou troops to fight hard on the battlefield, and wrote letters to several close friends in person, detailing the grievances and hatreds with Li Zongxun, and exaggerating his own backstabbing...

As a result, several local warlords who had previously flirted with Li Zongxun immediately closed their doors and drew a clear line with Yecheng.

Zheng Shoushan added another merit.

Within a month, Wen Xingsu sent as many as fifteen reports of victory to Xijing, shocking the court and the public. Including Ruan Pu, the old ministers who had previously doubted Wen Xingsu all praised General Longji for "his flags covering the sky and the sun and the moon, and his sword shining coldly on the border"...

As soon as the court's commendation arrived, Wen Xingsu also cleared Pei Cong's name.

He showed the world with his own actions that he could become the commander of the Beiyong Army not because of nepotism, and even if he was not Pei Cong's brother-in-law, he deserved it.

The Beiyong Army was unstoppable and became more and more courageous.

The Yecheng army was defeated step by step. As they were mostly infantrymen, their speed of movement was far slower than that of the Beiyong army. They had to fight hastily every time, and were exhausted physically and mentally...

But——

With hundreds of thousands of troops and heavy defensive fortifications, it was difficult to defeat them in one blow even if they were outnumbered.

In June, Li Zongxun appointed his confidant Li Shen as the governor of Fengzhou to supervise the military affairs of Fengzhou.

At the same time, he sent his eldest son Li Zaidao to travel around the country to recruit civilians to join the army, and to select talented people from the people to offer advice and promote good generals in the army to calm the army.

In July, Wen Xingsu arrived in Fengzhou.

Ao Qi volunteered to be the vanguard and led 10,000 elite cavalry to attack Qinhuangguan in Fengzhou at night and burn food and grass...

That night, the two sides fought for an hour. Ao Qi was light and simple, and he advanced and retreated quickly, catching the other side off guard...

What was more serious than the loss of the war was the morale of the army.

The people cleaning the battlefield found that Ao Qi had left a large number of leaflets persuading Li Zongxun to surrender, listing dozens of Li Zongxun's major crimes, and bluntly saying that if he surrendered at this time, he could still be treated leniently, but once the Northern Yong army reached Yecheng, there would be no chance to surrender.

Three days later, Fengzhou was in internal strife again-

Li Shen was a straw bag who only talked about war on paper. In order to shirk responsibility, he severely punished two generals who were not effective in guarding Qinhuangguan.

The two generals of the Yecheng army were unwilling to give up, and took their confidants to escape from the camp at night and surrender to the Northern Yong army.

This made the Yecheng army, which was already seriously injured, panic.

Li Zongxun got the news in Yecheng and was furious.

He ordered Ge Pei to lead 80,000 Yecheng troops to attack Yunzhou that day in order to contain the Northern Yong army and reduce the pressure on Fengzhou and Yecheng.

The Northern Yong army had to adjust its strategy because it was fighting on two fronts.

Wen Xingsu deployed defenses in Chuzhou and ordered Shi Yin to lead 50,000 purple lightning troops to attack Ge Pei. He personally led the main force of the Northern Yong army to besiege Fengzhou.

In September, Fengzhou fell.

After two months of desperate defense, the Yecheng army had to retreat to the north of Yishui.

On the day of retreat, a group of people had broken armor, low morale, and silent horses. They were exhausted from top to bottom and at a loss.

The shadow of the Northern Yong army loomed over their heads.

Ge Pei led such an army and retreated while fighting, and could no longer engage in direct battle with the Northern Yong army.

The front line quickly advanced to Xiangzhou.

The painful price brought by several battles made Li Zongxun, who was at the end of his rope, unwilling to be trapped again.

He recalled Ge Pei, concentrated his forces, and prepared to hold Yishui and fight a decisive battle with the Northern Yong army-

Yishui is the border of Xiangzhou and the southern gate of Yecheng.

Once lost, Yecheng would be in danger.

-

Fangyun Palace.

Li Sangruo was extremely anxious when she got the news.

Several months had passed since the start of the war, and she was in a state of confusion and had not slept a single day.

She was like a madman, often walking back and forth in Fangyun Palace, hysterical and crazy, and beating and killing palace people at any time.

In Fangyun Palace, everyone was in danger.

The people of Yecheng were also panicked and helpless, crying everywhere.

The Beiyong Army killed countless people, and how many people survived when the iron hoofs passed?

Rumors spread in the city, and there were countless rumors that Pei Cong ate raw meat and drank blood, and the Beiyong Army ate human blood raw.

Fear broke through the last line of defense. The streets of Yecheng were sparsely populated, and every household stored food and goods, and then closed the door, waiting for the day when the iron hoofs of the Beiyong Army broke through the city gate...

Fear, torment.

Li Sangruo was even more so.

She had a convulsion from a nightmare in the middle of the night, and she got herself drunk. She asked the eunuch to call Li Zongxun over, and she lay at his feet with her clothes in disarray, tears streaming down her face...

"Father..."

"Daddy..."

"Let's surrender."

She stretched out her hands and grabbed the corner of Li Zongxun's robe. She was drunk like a puddle of mud, mumbling and repeatedly saying "surrender."

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die yet..."

"I haven't lived enough..."

Li Zongxun was furious.

"It's not time for you to cry yet. Why are you crying? Look, what do you look like? You are the Queen Mother, do you look like the Queen Mother? It's embarrassing, why don't you get up!"

Li Sangruo raised his head: "Father, let's go."

"Leave?" Li Zongxun stared at her coldly, "How are you going to leave?"

Li Sangruo said: "How we left Xijing in the first place, how we can leave Yecheng... Father, let's leave quickly, let's leave quickly... We can't defeat Pei Madang..."

Every sentence she spoke was filled with tears and complaints.

Li Zongxun gritted his teeth and cursed "rice bucket", suppressed the anger in his heart, and said coldly:

"I have mobilized elite troops and generals to defend Yishui. Soon you will be able to see how the Yecheng army forced back the Northern Yong army and defeated Pei Ran."

Li Sangruo smiled.

His eyes were staring straight at Li Zongxun.

"Father...has also learned to lie to himself?"

Li Zongxun looked at her coldly.

"So what if the army is defeated? At worst, we can continue to go north. As long as we have the blood of the Jin clan in our hands, we can make a comeback..."

Li Sangruo shook his head gently, as if he was dreaming.

"Clan bloodline? Clan bloodline? Could it be that my father has forgotten that my Kuang'er is dead? My Kuang'er has died long ago..."

Seeing that her expression was abnormal, Li Zongxun took a breath and spoke a rare kind word.

"Don't forget, Yuan Shangyi of Xijing is also dying soon, and Emperor Xifeng has no other heirs... You are the queen of Emperor Xifeng, and the son of the clan you adopted is the legitimate orthodoxy of the Tian family. Who can disapprove? "

"Hahahahahaha, my father believed it... I deceived myself and others, my father believed it... Do you think everyone in the world will believe it?"

Li Sangruo cried and laughed,

Li Zongxun looked at her drunk and talking like crazy, and his eyes almost burst out with fire.

"If you hadn't been stupid and kept doing bad things, how could we have ended up in this situation?"

He slowly squatted down and stared at Li Sangruo.

Suddenly, he tightened his grip on her collar, lifted her up, and forced her to look up at him.

Then he said coldly:

"Sometimes, I can't help but suspect that the biggest traitor in Yecheng is you——"

Li Sangruo had no strength, his body was limp, and he looked at him with a strange smile.

"I... the Queen Mother came to court... you say I am a traitor? I think you... are the traitor. The country of Jin Dynasty fell into your hands. Living in Yecheng, you don't want to live, knowing that you are outmatched, He also wanted to counterattack Xijing, and he deserved to be suppressed and beaten by Pei Man. It was all thanks to you that my Kuang'er... was also killed by you!"

Li Sangruo's words were confusing and illogical.

She only focused on venting her dissatisfaction, speaking more viciously than ever before, with a slight sneer in her mouth, disheveled hair, and messy clothes, like a female ghost who had just crawled out of the tomb...

"Incompetent rage!"

Li Zongxun sneered, and slowly tightened his fingers, then suddenly moved up and strangled Li Sangruo's neck tightly.

"I shouldn't have chosen you in the first place - this idiot."

Li Sangruo was in pain and was mostly awake from the wine.

She saw murderous intent on Li Zongxun's face.

He was enraged.

There was no father-daughter feeling in those eyes.

"Someone is coming——"

Li Sangruo trembled.

She couldn't tell whether it was her imagination or something else. Her heart was choked by fear, and her voice was so sharp that it seemed to pierce the roof of Fangyun Palace.

"Someone come quickly - save uh -"

Li Zongxun increased his strength, the tiger's mouth was stuck on her neck, and his eyes stared at her coldly.

"The Empress Dowager suddenly contracted a strange illness and passed away in Fangyun Palace. On her deathbed, she assumed the true position of regent to assist Your Majesty..."

"No..." Li Sangruo's breathing suddenly became rapid, and a thin layer of sweat broke out on his forehead.

She looked past Li Zongxun hopelessly.

The hanging tent moved without any wind.

No one showed up.

No one came to save her.

"Father...I am...daughter..."

Li Sangruo's eyes widened in panic, and his mind went blank. For a moment, it seemed as if countless past events were passing through his mind.

Regret, helplessness.

Then……

She didn't know where the strength came from. She held Li Zongxun's hand tightly with both hands and stared at him hard, widening her eyes unwillingly. Her face gradually became distorted, and her lips trembled and turned purple.

"Prime Minister." A cold voice sounded like thunder.

In Li Sangruo's faint consciousness, he saw a corner of his robe walking around the screen towards her.

Getting closer.

As if a god had descended, he walked up to Li Zongxun and bowed with his hands in hand.

"Prime Minister, calm down..."