Plan to cut off the nine states

Shan Yu suddenly announced his march to Xijing. Within two days, everyone had to leave the camp and hit the road, including many craftsmen. All items that were inconvenient to carry were left behind in Puban.

To everyone's surprise, Shanyu did not even leave a single soldier in Boban. He asked the confused adults: "How big is the Central Plains? How many cavalry does He Rong have? If you occupy a place, leave people to guard it. Too little and it won’t work, but too much and the people in He Rong will work together.”

In Qinzhou, Shanyu had been implementing the strategy of dividing his troops to plunder four parts, but suddenly he changed his strategy to concentrate his forces. Although the leaders did not dare to object in person, they were somewhat dissatisfied and felt that Shanyu should not repeat it.

"What about leaving the Central Plains people to defend the city?" someone suggested.

Shanyu shook his head, "The people of the Central Plains are lazy and cowardly. Their only advantage is that they have many people and equipment. They can only drive them and use them, but they cannot entrust them with important tasks."

Chanyu did not give the adults much time to think about it, so he led his troops out of the camp first. At the same time, he sent messengers to convey orders to He Rong's troops outside, asking them to stop whatever they were doing and come immediately to join the army at the designated location. Meet at the place.

Xu Chu set out relatively late. Along the way, he saw a large number of Jizhou soldiers urging the Bingzhou people to go faster. Shanyu's move was quite effective. The Jizhou people were happy to enjoy their status, while the Bingzhou people were eager to join the war and captured the Qinzhou people instead. own position.

The first two cities have been captured, but the third city refused to surrender. Shanyu left the Central Plains army behind and led his troops to go around. It only took a few days to set off. Every day, people from He Rong came to join him. The military strength expanded rapidly.

The people of Bingzhou took action immediately, cutting down wood and collecting stones nearby. They finished the work on one day, built equipment on the next day, and attacked the city on the third day. Before dark, the small town surrendered before the wall was broken.

Bingzhou was eager to capture the city. In addition to using weapons, they also sent a large number of soldiers to climb ladders to attack the city. They suffered many casualties. Therefore, they were resentful. They turned their anger on the soldiers and civilians in the city and carried out a spontaneous massacre without asking for permission. The generals At first, he tried to stop it, but soon he became involved.

Xu Chu had already caught up with Chanyu and did not see the scene of siege or massacre. When the news came, it was said that except for a few women and children, there was no one left alive in the city.

Chanyu was furious and punished the Bingzhou people to attack another city. He sent people back to tell the Bingzhou generals face to face: "If there are no prisoners, who will attack the city on your behalf?"

Although the news of the massacre spread quickly, most cities in Qinzhou chose to surrender.

Years of famine and military shortages have long exhausted Qinzhou. The officers and soldiers in the city, whether they are the remaining officers and soldiers or the bandits who took advantage of the situation, are unwilling to defend the abandoned city and would rather surrender, regardless of who the enemy is.

Almost all of He Rong's cavalry have arrived, and the number of prisoners is increasing day by day, which can be used to attack the city, but there is not much joy on Shan Yu's face.

Two things dissatisfied him.

Emperor Zhang Shiyu personally went out, but only brought back less than 10,000 Jizhou soldiers. More people refused to accept the imperial edict, claiming that they had never heard of the new emperor's ascension to the throne. However, they also refused to make enemies of He Rongren and voluntarily retreated to the northwest. Give up many cities.

Zhang Shiyu was filled with indignation and put all the blame on Yin Fu, "Fortunately, he is still a scholar and a veteran minister of the court. When he was in Yecheng, he pretended to be indifferent to the world and deceived everyone in the court. It turned out that he had The ambition of self-reliance! He said that he did not dare to fight with the imperial court, so he retreated to the scattered states and watched the situation in the nine states. When the world is unified, he will return to the court...Old slick, what an old slick. "

"The Sanzhou to the west of Qinzhou is Liangzhou, right?" Shanyu asked.

Zhang Shiyu nodded, "Yes, the people of Liangzhou are fierce and tough, and they have never been too obedient to the imperial court. The imperial court only restrained them. The Emperor of All Things had made a plan to wait... and then go to Pingliang, but he didn't have time." Zhang Shiyu Yu restrained him in time. Emperor Wanwu originally planned to destroy He Rong first, and then clean up the surrounding semi-independent scattered states one by one. "Yin Fu is a civil servant and leads a group of Jizhou soldiers. They will be massacred when they arrive in Liangzhou."

That's not what Chanyu cared about. "Liangzhou is very close to the grassland. It stands to reason that the people in Liangzhou don't have the courage, but they have to be on guard. They have to send someone to warn them that outsiders are not allowed to enter."

Shan Yu first looked at Kou Daogu.

"Persuasion is not my specialty. I would like to stay by Shanyu's side and be ready for advisors at any time."

Shan Yu smiled and nodded, then looked at Xu Chu.

"I'm willing to go there. If I remember correctly, a daughter of the Lou family once married there, maybe..."

"You can't go." Shan Yu didn't want to let Xu Chu go out. "The people in Liangzhou bully the weak and fear the strong. I want them to obey orders. I can't send scholars. I have my own choice."

This matter was settled for the time being. Seeing that Shan Yu was not angry at him, Zhang Shiyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As for winning over Jizhou soldiers for his own use, his enthusiasm had long since disappeared, and he still passed the responsibility to Yin Fu, saying to himself : "Yin Fu has taken away the main force, and it is useless to draw the remaining people over. Instead, they will get into trouble."

There was another thing that made Shan Yu uneasy. He asked the emperor to step down and said to Xu Chu: "Does the World Coming Army have a banner and official position?"

"Of course, especially after being in Dongdu, unless they change back to their original state as soon as they return to Qinzhou, otherwise, the flags should be stricter."

"That's strange. The defenders of several cities claim to be the Advent Army, but there are few flags, and the official positions are just like the Great King and the Second King. They don't look like the real Advent Army."

"The Army of the Coming is a general term. If there is no fixed leader for those who rebel in various places, they often call themselves the Army of the Coming. There is only one true Army of the Coming, and it is under the command of the King of the Coming."

"It is said that the King who came to the world is still a baby, and the person who leads the army is his sister."

"Golden Saint."

"Yeah." Shan Yu knew about Xu Chu's relationship with the Golden Saint, but didn't mention it, "She has occupied Qinzhou for a long time, why doesn't she send her own people to defend the city?"

"It has just been a year since the Avatar Army returned to Qinzhou. During this period, they clashed with another Advent Army and were attacked by armies from various states. They probably couldn't spare any troops to occupy the cities."

Shan Yu shook his head slightly and said, "The World Army retreated to Xijing because they did not want to divide their forces and wanted to fight a decisive battle with our He Rong cavalry."

Xu Chu smiled and said: "What Shan Yu said makes more sense."

Shanyu looked at Kou Daogu: "You are right. Once a woman is involved, Xu Chu is even more reluctant to tell the truth."

Kou Daogu nodded.

"Want to hear the truth?" Xu Chu asked.

"Is it possible that I'm still willing to listen to lies?"

"The Shanyu is arbitrary in his heart. When he hears lies, the Shanyu is indifferent. But when he hears the truth, he will be in a dilemma: Should he stick to his own opinion or make a temporary change?"

"Haha, your ability to defend yourself is always top-notch. Tell the truth and see if I am in a dilemma."

"If I were the commander-in-chief of the Incarnation Army, I would never have a decisive battle with the He Rong Cavalry in Xijing."

"Why?"

"The Shan Yu poured all the power of the grassland into the fortress, and the front was unstoppable. This is an unstoppable force."

"Well, I'm somewhat self-aware."

"He Rong is a foreigner. Even if he is defeated by luck, he will be far away from his land and not close to his people. He will only get one name for nothing. These two cannot be fought."

"Hey." Shan Yu sneered, "When the world is unified, there will no longer be distinction between the inside and outside of the wall."

"All the heroes in the Central Plains stand side by side, swallowing up the small and bullying the weak. Everyone wants to put the blame on others and sit back and watch the two powers fight and profit from it. Even if the Advent Army defeats He Rong's cavalry, their own strength will be greatly damaged. In turn, Give others an opportunity to take advantage of. These are the three things that cannot be fought."

"I understand what you mean. Will the Advent Army surrender?"

Xu Chu shook his head.

"Fighting but not fighting, surrendering but not surrendering, the Jiushi Army...want to imitate the Jizhou Army and also flee to Liangzhou?"

"It may not be Liangzhou, there are many places to go."

Shan Yu laughed and said to Kou Daogu: "Mr. Kou, do you think Xu Chu is telling the truth this time?"

"Xijing is not far away, and the results will be known soon."

Shanyu thought for a while and said to Xu Chu: "You are wrong about one thing. For me, there is no so-called dilemma: no matter whether the World Army escapes or not, I will capture Xijing and open up Qinzhou and the grassland. From now on, He Rong’s cavalry can pass without hindrance!”

The next day, the Chanyu sent an adult with hundreds of cavalry to Liangzhou to announce the wishes of the Chanyu and the emperor, prohibiting them from accepting any foreign troops. At the same time, he would observe the movements of the Jizhou army led by Yin Fu. If there was any intention to go north, This means that the notification needs to be made immediately.

The vanguard from the front has arrived in Xijing and fought a battle with the World Army and won a great victory.

After Shan Yu learned the news, he specially summoned Xu Chu and said with a smile: "The World Army has not escaped. Three of your points cannot be fought, and none of them are allowed."

"I said that if I were the commander of the World Army, I would have such thoughts, but I am not."

"Of course you are not. With ideas like yours, you cannot be the commander-in-chief of any army."

Chanyu accelerated his march and arrived at Xijing in just one day. He left others to supervise the establishment of the camp and took a small number of followers to check on the enemy's situation.

When Xu Chu came to Xijing for the first time, when others were setting up tents, he looked towards the city and vaguely saw the densely packed flags. He couldn't help but think that even if the Golden Saint insisted on a decisive battle, Cao Shenxi should understand the difficulties of this battle. Perhaps like before, Cao Shenxi thought of it, but couldn't convince others.

Xijing is a big city, similar in size to the eastern capital, and the He Rong people were not able to completely surround it for a while. On this day and the next, small groups of the Avatar Army frequently came out to challenge. The two sides fought for more than ten rounds in a row, and the Advent Army was defeated and victorious. Young Master, when the He Rong people surrounded them, the gates of Xijing were closed tightly, and no one came out.

The troops from behind arrived one after another. Chanyu paired up Jizhou, Bingzhou and Qinzhou in pairs, with Bingzhou people supervising Jizhou people, Jizhou people supervising Qinzhou people, Qinzhou people supervising Bingzhou people, followed by He Rong's cavalry, and the three Each state attacks one side of the city wall, leaving one side unattacked.

All soldiers who had previously attacked the city became "supervisors" at the rear, but they were allowed to voluntarily participate in the siege from the front, and they could receive twice the reward for their meritorious service.

The cities he had attacked before were relatively small. Chanyu regarded the attack on Xijing as a large-scale military exercise and gave him enough time without excessive force.

As the war became increasingly tense, Xu Chu had more and more nothing to do. He even had fewer opportunities to see Shanyu. He repeatedly calculated in his tent every day: How on earth will the Advent Army defend the city? The heroes just watched He Rongren dominate the world, and no one dared to cut off his retreat?

On the third day after the siege began, Shanyu sent Kou Daogu to inform Xu Chu: "Good news, there is news about the whereabouts of Princess Tiancheng, and she is actually in Xijing City. God has a feeling and knows my heart, so he sent the princess to me In my hand, when the city is destroyed, I will give the princess to Pingshan."