Li Yi had previously been firmly seated in Shouzhou, hoping to wait until Xu Zhengye captured Hezhou so that the two sides could meet and sit down to discuss cooperation in detail.
However, Hezhou could not be attacked for a long time, and he gradually became anxious.
After that, there was still no news that Hezhou City had been defeated. Instead, he heard the news that Xu Zhengye was defeated and retreated to Jiangning!
To Li Yi, this was simply ridiculous!
How could Hezhou, which was already at the end of its defense, fail to capture it?
How could Chang Kuo, who only brought less than 20,000 reinforcements with him, survive?
How could Princess Xuan'an, who always ignored disputes, suddenly come forward to intervene in this matter!
Li Yi was surprised, puzzled and unwilling.
But after all the emotions subsided, the panic and uneasiness that was about to break out in his bones still took over, and he began to fidget again, pacing back and forth in the camp.
"If it breaks, Chang Kuo will definitely come back to seek revenge on me!"
"The saints and the imperial court... must have learned about He Wei's death, and they will send orders to everyone to jointly attack and punish me... Xu Zhengye has returned to Jiangning, what should we do now!"
The reason why he still dared to sit here after killing He Wei was because he was sure that Xu Zhengye would soon capture Hezhou. When he joined the Xu family's army, the entire Huainan Road would be in his pocket.
Naturally, he does not have to fear the imperial court's attack on him!
But the current situation is completely different from what he had imagined before, making his situation suddenly become more difficult and dangerous.
One of his two aides spoke at this time: "The general is right. Chang Kuo will definitely turn back after Hezhou is established. If he integrates the troops ordered by the imperial court to attack the general, he will definitely threaten the general..."
"Do I still need you to remind me of this?" Li Yi was upset because of anxiety, and began to blame the two of them: "This is the good idea you came up with at the beginning! Didn't you two say it with certainty at the beginning?
Will he die in Hezhou?"
The two aides looked at each other and had no choice but to lower their heads and raise their hands to apologize to the incompetent and furious man.
Li Yi continued to walk around: "...these days, the Japanese army has been talking a lot about the war situation in Hezhou. They all suspect that I deliberately want to get rid of Chang Kuo!"
He was very angry when he spoke.
Although this is true.
But what made him angry was not that those people had guessed the truth, but that it could be seen from the attitude of the military that most people were obviously biased towards Chang Kuo!
During this period, some people even stood up and asked to go to Hezhou to support Chang Kuo. It was he who suppressed those people by using strong tactics on the grounds that "the commander-in-chief and General Chang Kuo had their own plans."
If Chang Kuo dies, these people will not be able to make waves without their backbone, but now that Chang Kuo is still alive... Under such circumstances, if Chang Kuo returns, those people will definitely fall to Chang Kuo!
"The two lower officials naturally understand the general's worries... The current situation is unfavorable, and it is not appropriate for the general to have a head-on conflict with Chang Kuoqi."
"Yes, it is urgent to leave Shouzhou immediately!"
"Leave Shouzhou?" Li Yi paused and looked at the two of them subconsciously: "Where to go!"
When the two were about to speak, the voice of soldiers sounded outside the tent.
Li Yi allowed the person to come in. The soldier was his own soldier. He quickly walked into the tent, saluted, and presented a secret letter with both hands.
Li Yi hurriedly opened it and looked at it, his eyes immediately lit up.
It’s Xu Zhengye!
Xu Zhengye also expected that he was in a bad situation, so he sent a letter inviting him to quickly go to Yangzhou, Jiangdu, to discuss matters...
Li Yi discussed it with his two staff and decided that this was the best choice at the moment.
The remaining 80,000 troops that were supposed to follow Chang Kuo to support Hezhou were "divided into two groups" by Li Yi and Chang Kuo in the name of attacking Yangzhou.
The attack on Yangzhou was a lie, but the deliberate delay in marching was true. Whenever Xu's soldiers and horses blocked the way, they repeatedly refused to advance, so they left for half a month and were still on the way.
"The general should break camp and leave Shouzhou as soon as possible. After joining up with the 80,000 troops who went ahead, they can rush to Yangzhou together."
The staff said: "Xu Zhengye has just lost the battle, and it is the time for his men to hire people. The general will lead more than 100,000 troops at this time, and he will be treated as an honored guest... By then, the general will be defending Yangzhou, and the court will be unable to do anything.
, let alone be afraid of a mere Changkuo!"
Li Yi didn't hesitate at all and immediately ordered the camp to break out.
This order spread among the army and caused a shock.
"...Vice Admiral Chang originally chose to camp in Shouzhou because he wanted to use the Huai River as a line of defense to defend the capital's key road and prevent the Xu rebels from invading the central plains of the east capital... How could he break camp easily with such a strategic location?
Leave!" Several captains stood up and questioned.
"Yes, if we all leave Shouzhou, what will happen if the Xu family's rebel army lurking near Huainan Road takes the opportunity to enter?"
The deputy general who came to deliver the order sneered: "The battle situation is unpredictable. One moment and another moment, there is no stupid reason to hold on to one place and hold on to the end!"
"But it is said that Hezhou has been decided, and Deputy Commander Chang is coming back soon. For such a big matter, why don't we wait until the Deputy Commander returns to camp before discussing it..."
"Absurd!" The deputy general interrupted them in a solemn voice: "Who said that Deputy Commander Chang is going back to Shouzhou? Deputy Commander Chang has sent a message back to the camp to attack Yangzhou from Hezhou, and the commander led the army to withdraw from the camp and march with him.
Go, this is the countermeasure agreed upon by the coach and the deputy coach!"
Finally, he said loudly: "Vice Commander Chang defeated the Xu rebels in Hezhou. Now is a good time to take back Yangzhou in one fell swoop! The rebels are to be wiped out in one fell swoop. Whoever dares to ignore military orders and spread rumors will do so to disrupt the morale of the army."
Punish the crime!"
In order to frighten everyone, two captains who had doubts about this were killed with military sticks on the spot.
Soon, the army was preparing to break camp.
The army had been camped here for a long time and could not leave immediately. Li Yi felt uneasy and was afraid that Chang Kuo would come back with his men to kill him at the next moment. He did not want to wait for a moment, so he took his trusted confidants and cavalry and left first.
The staff originally advised him not to rush for a while, but Li Yi couldn't wait any longer. He was like an ant on a hot pot, unable to compete with each other for a moment.
After hearing the news that the commander had led the cavalry out of the camp, some people in the army soon felt that something was wrong.
Ever since he left Beijing to attack Xu Zhengye, their coach had always been able to retreat without advancing, and could escape without fighting... When had he ever shown such a positive attitude?
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Being so active, it is more like running away for one's life than taking back Yangzhou, right?
There were quite a few people who sensed something was amiss, but the military orders were coming from a mountain, so they could only obey them for the time being.
Naturally, the movement of the army breaking out of camp was not small. Xi'er, Azhi, Adian, Lao Kang and others who had been staying in Shouzhou City following Chang Suining's instructions, heard the news and left Shouzhou City that night.
This happened three days before Chang Kuo and Chang Sui Ning left Hezhou.
As early as the day after returning to Jiangning, Xu Zhengye sent a secret letter to Li Yi.
Therefore, Chang Kuo and others had just left Hezhou City two hundred miles away when they met Lao Kang and his entourage.
Hearing that Li Yi had ordered to break camp and leave Shouzhou for Yangzhou, Chang Sui Ning immediately frowned and said, "He doesn't have the guts to fight Xu Zhengye."
Chang Kuo's eyebrows were also furrowed. He didn't want to fight, but he dared to do it... Then he could only hook up!
Chang Suining raised his eyes, looked at Chang Kuo, and said in a wary tone: "We must intercept him on the way, and we must not let him reach Yangzhou with his head and soldiers."
Although Li Yi is a idiot, his status as a clan member and the military strength he currently holds will definitely cause serious trouble once he falls under Xu Zhengye's command.
Chang Kuo solemnly nodded, and at Chang Suining's signal, he immediately ordered to continue on the road, changed the route to intercept Li Yi, and let Lao Kang and others talk about the rest while walking on the road.
"I had expected that Li Yi's grandson would escape, so I sent someone to go back to Shouzhou to find out the news...but I never thought that he would go to Yangzhou!" Chang Kuo cursed on the road: "This guy is not very courageous and ambitious.
But not small!”
How dare you collude with Xu Zhengye? You are planning to seek skin from a tiger.
Chang Sui Ning asked Lao Kang and others about the news in the court.
The news of He Wei's death must have been sent back to the capital, and the imperial court must have measures to deal with Li Yi's rebellion.
Although she carries the imperial edict entrusted by He Wei in her arms, she and the 10,000 troops led by Lao Chang alone are not 100% sure that they can stop Li Yi. If there is help from the imperial court, the chances of victory will be natural.
Can be bigger.
Lao Kang replied: "When we left Shouzhou three days ago, we secretly heard the news that the imperial envoy had left Beijing. He must be on his way here now."
If the imperial envoy arrives, he will immediately mobilize his troops to restrain Li Yi and recapture the imperial troops.
Following this, Li Yi's reputation as a rebel will soon spread everywhere.
But it takes time to mobilize troops and horses everywhere, and if Li Yi has really colluded with Xu Zhengye, then Li Yi will definitely have an unimpeded journey to Yangzhou and wait for the imperial envoy to arrive, fearing that it will be too late.
Therefore, she and Lao Chang still had to rush to intercept first.
"... He Wei has been dead for more than twenty days. I don't believe that Li Yi kept everyone in the dark in Jiangnan! In the end, no one was willing to speak out. They were just pretending to be deaf and dumb.
!" Chang Kuo spat on his horse and cursed: "It's really rotten, it's all rotten!"
"Yeah, it sucks." Chang Suining looked at the muddy official road ahead and frowned.
Through this rotten appearance, it can be seen that people's hearts are no longer aligned.
Since he came to power in the Ming Dynasty, all the accumulated dissatisfaction everywhere seems to be coming out through Xu Zhengye's cry of "supporting the Li family".
In the past two days, she also heard news of uprisings in various places in Hezhou.
Luo Guanlin's original slogan was very provocative, and now there are voices echoing Xu Zhengye's response in many places, not just in Jiangnan.
Those responses are true and false, just as Xu Zhengye's so-called loyalty to the Li family is just a banner of self-interest. Nowadays, everyone is Xu Zhengye, and everyone wants to be Xu Zhengye.
This means that the prestige of the court and the empress will inevitably be weakened, and when the prestige is weakened, the implementation of many government orders will be blocked or perfunctory.
Therefore, the imperial envoy who came this time was very important - if his capabilities were insufficient, under this situation, it would be difficult to mobilize sufficient troops in time.
If you are a fool again...
Chang Suining felt her scalp tightening when she thought of this possibility. If her teacher suffered from aversion to stupidity, then she had a phobia of idiots.
The world is so big that it can accommodate tens of millions of straw bags. It is not a fault to be born as a straw bag, but if the straw bag is placed in an inappropriate position, it will be a big disaster.
Li Yi is a good example.
This time she and Lao Chang had to rush to intercept Li Yi first. In a sense, she was taking the lead. Out of consideration of whether there would be support to arrive in time, Chang Suining asked: "Is there any support?
Who is the imperial envoy who came here with the order?"
Lao Kang said: "There is a military commander. I can't find out who he is, but what is certain is that the leader is Wei Shilang, who was born in Zheng Guogong's palace."
It was Wei Shuyi who came.
Chang Sui Ning was a little surprised.
Wei Shuyi, who is full of density of mind and body and can cause trypophobia, is naturally not one of those idiots.
However, the situation in Jiangnan is chaotic and dangerous, and he is a real civil servant... Let's not expect anything else for the time being, let's wish him good luck.
…
After another day of this journey, although Chang Kuo still could not receive any news from the imperial envoy, he also added 5,000 troops to help.
They met Chu Xing and his party who were looking for them.
Chu Xing was previously ordered to stop Xu's rebel army in the Surabaya area, but halfway through the battle, they encountered the dilemma of insufficient food and grass supplies. They repeatedly asked Li Yi for food and grass supplies, but received very little, like sending away ants.
Fighting a war without food and fodder can only lead to death.
Chu Xing tried to raise funds locally, but they could not hold on for long. They did not have enough to eat, and the morale of the army began to weaken. Later, they encountered a strong attack and suffered heavy casualties. Only 5,000 men of tens of thousands of horses managed to break out.
On that day, although Chu Xing had fought until he was unable to fight, he still paid complete greetings to Li Yi's eighteen generations of ancestors in his heart.
Then, when he heard that his general was resisting the rebels in Hezhou, he was heartbroken and simply ordered the remaining 5,000 troops to rush to Hezhou.
On the way, a scout sent by Chang Kuo to explore the road discovered their traces, and the two parties were able to meet here.
These five thousand men and horses were all like hungry people fleeing for their lives. Chang Kuo first asked people to bring out dry food to feed them.
Seeing Chu Xing and others devouring their food, Chang Kuo was angry and distressed.
And thanks to the loyalty of the people in Hezhou, they prepared enough dry food for them, otherwise Chang Kuo would not only feel sorry for his subordinates, but also secretly feel sorry for the food.
After filling his stomach, Chu Xing explained the process of the Battle of Surabaya to Chang Kuo in detail.
Finally, he knelt down and apologized to Chang Kuo with a heavy heart. Not to mention anything else, as a general in this battle, he had suffered such a defeat and faced such heavy casualties, and he felt sad, angry, guilty and self-blame.
"Get up, this is not your fault!" Chang Kuo said with a serious expression, "I will crush Li Yi's bones and raise them to ashes as a sacrifice to the soldiers who died in vain!"
Changsui Ning said nothing and only stretched out his hand to support Chu Xing's arm.
After this support, I realized that Chu Xing's arms under his robe were much withered.
Everyone gathered their spirits and continued on their way.
On the way, Chu Xingcai went to talk to Chang Suining: "When I came here, I heard about the girl's deeds of killing enemies in Hezhou. I thought it was a misinformation... I didn't expect that the girl was really here."
The girl's appearance here shocked him beyond belief, not to mention that he also heard: "When he was in Hezhou, that Ge Zong... was really killed by the girl?"
Chang Suining didn't need to speak, and Mrs. Shepherd's Purse next to her confirmed: "Can this be false? I was watching with my own eyes at that time. Mrs. Chang cut off the head of the thief with one knife!"
Chu Xing couldn't help but stare.
So, did he actually teach such a powerful apprentice?