Two hundred and twentieth seventh chapter country action (15)
Immediately after learning that Cao Lin and the main force of Dongdu suddenly appeared in Hanoi, Zhang Xing, the chief of the gang, issued a military order, requiring the entire army to abandon Jijun and Liyangcang and evacuate north and east to avoid the edge.
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However, the execution of this order was obviously met with some resistance.
Some people were bewildered by the huge warehouse itself and were reluctant to part with it; while other people were bewildered by the previous successful raid and the huge follow-up impact, and felt that the Grand Master might not be able to fight, and felt that the Dongdu soldiers and horses
Vulnerable... As the saying goes, you have a grand master, I also have a grand master, and there are four or five Cheng Dan, and more than ten or twenty Condensation Dans. You can't make too much difference if you make do with it. As for soldiers and horses, Dongdu soldiers
The horses and the army have clashed many times in the past few years. It is obvious that Wang Xiaoer's New Year is not as good as the previous year, but the army is growing day by day, so he can only treat the Dongdu army as nothing. In this case, why not give it a try?
This is opportunism.
Frankly speaking, Zhang Xing is not qualified to accuse others of being opportunists, because some of the things he himself does are also suspected of opportunism... He is even considered a half-nihilist, a dogmatist, an adventurist, and has no bottom line.
A flexitarian, and sometimes, like now, he can hardly be called a capitulationist.
Because back to the matter itself, Chief Zhang resolutely reiterated the order and refused to leave any room for discussion.
Not only that, after the military order was issued, he quickly added a series of details... For example, the last troops must destroy bridges and block roads to delay as much as possible; for example, all leaders are no longer allowed to use whale bones.
To avoid being targeted, all vehicles and livestock must be moved into the war barracks, and the war barracks will be evacuated first; all field soldiers will also be withdrawn across the board, but if it is really due to
If the numbers are not enough to evacuate decisively, we are allowed to unite with the officials of the original Ji County and surrender the troops to defend the city on their own; if the officials of the Ji County surrender their troops, those who are willing to go can go together, and those who are unwilling are not forced; the soldiers who are too late to leave are allowed to join the original Ji army.
The county officials will surrender their troops and take flexible and independent measures to survive, and will not be held accountable for this matter.
The reason for being so determined is actually very simple.
First of all, although he doesn't know the power of the Grand Master, he will not underestimate the power of the Grand Master after meeting Fenshanjun as soon as he traveled through time, especially since the previous plan to conduct a large army array experiment in the reform failed.
; Secondly, Lingxun isolated the reinforcements from the south bank, making it impossible for the gang to gather all its strength to deal with the attack in the short term; in addition, the most important point is that this time it is not the Grand Master who comes alone, but someone like the Grand Master.
The high-end combat power arrived together with an entire army. There were also many masters of Cheng Dan and Dan Condensation in the army... The addition of these is definitely not a simple addition and subtraction, but constitutes a systematic and powerful violent machine.
...This means that once the two armies face each other, it is very likely that starting from the strongest point of Cao Lin, the great master, a situation will be formed where one point is broken and then the whole line collapses.
Zhang Xing didn't dare to gamble.
In contrast, the attitude of Zhang Bofeng, another great master who came to Hebei, can be left alone. Although this is also very important, we must first avoid the edge.
"Chief, withdrawing like this is not an option."
Faced with this situation, Xu Shiying couldn't continue to sit on the sidelines. In fact, he came from Linqing Pass at the intersection of Ji County and Hanoi County on Pegasus, and then outside Qingqi City on the south side of Zhiwei County in Ji County.
I saw Zhang Xing.
It is worth mentioning that Wei County and Qingqi City are a full thirty miles west of Liyang. In other words, while Zhang Xing ordered an all-round retreat, he took the initiative to come in the opposite direction.
He came to supervise the retreat and also came to see the ice conditions on the river.
"What do you say?" Zhang Xing, who was standing on the embankment of the river with his clothes ruffled by the south wind, turned around and looked at Xu Shiying who was under the embankment.
"Two explanations." Xu Shiying answered with a dark face as he walked up. When he reached the river embankment, he couldn't help but turn his face to hide from the wind. "First, there are too many of us and we are too scattered. We have no time to evacuate.
As long as the opponent insists on letting their horses chase, even if Jijun can escape, they will be caught up in Weijun and Wuyang, not to mention the densely packed field soldiers; secondly, if they pursue closely, they will not care about anything.
, what should we do if we attack Jiang Ling directly? What if we continue to pursue him and catch up to Dengzhou?"
"What you said makes sense." Zhang Xing nodded with his hands behind his back. "But the problem is that if we resist in Jijun, it will probably be even worse... Cao Lin and the main force of Dongdu have arrived. I don't know when this wave will happen.
Only then can we end it. If we can't come up, we will be defeated and we will lose our backup power."
"Of course." Xu Shiying nodded.
"Then what do you mean?" Zhang Xing asked immediately. "Did you think of any way?"
"No." Xu Shiying paused for a moment, and then answered with his hands behind his back. "I just didn't know what to do, so I came to find the chief... The one way I can think of is to withdraw first and wait until
When the drifting ice is over, let the Henan soldiers and Dengzhou soldiers and horses cross the river from the lower reaches to join us and pool their strength. The other side will also lengthen the front line and divide the troops to occupy the city layer by layer. One will decrease and the other will increase to see if they can defeat him.
battle."
"My meaning is the same as yours." Zhang Xing also nodded. "The current situation is that it is impossible not to withdraw, but it is nonsense to expect that withdrawing will solve the problem... We can only try to seize the opportunity while withdrawing.
Take all opportunities, change the situation, find opportunities to solve problems."
Xu Shiying nodded: "Does the chief have any specific ideas?"
"Yes." Zhang Xing answered immediately. "The first one is, as you said, the Henan troops will be mobilized immediately after the Ice Age, but it does not necessarily have to be gathered together to harass the back roads and cut off the access between Dongdu and this troops.
It may not be a solution, because Cao Lin's momentum is so fierce that the biggest loophole is actually the grassroots soldiers. If the morale of his troops is reduced and the combat effectiveness is lost, then the grand master will also be implicated in turn.
If there is no chance, there will be an opportunity; the second is to use diplomatic means as much as possible, and make negotiations with Beidi, Youzhou, Hejian, and Li Ding. It is best if you can pull them in, but if you can't pull them, you must try to avoid a pincer attack;
Three, that is Zhang Bofeng... At present, this is not the only one that can have an immediate effect."
"Zhang Bofeng..." Xu Shiying reluctantly nodded when he heard the previous one, but sighed when he heard this. "Even if Old Master Zhang is not from the same family as Uncle Cao, he is not from the same family as us. He is one of the first aristocratic families in Jin."
First of all, the great grand master is naturally a dragon who is 'good at benefiting the world', so how can he recognize our help?"
"We don't expect him to be the same as us, but if two great masters appear in the same place, they will restrain each other." Zhang Xing answered seriously. "I definitely don't believe that they are in the same group. If you take ten thousand steps back,
On the surface, we are a group, but there must be differences and conflicts inside. Otherwise, speed is the key to success. Why did Zhang Bofeng send us a letter of invitation when Cao Lin just crossed the river, instead of directly following the letter to find me and come here?
Capture the thief and capture the king, and take me? Therefore, Zhang Bofeng can definitely take advantage of it."
Xu Shiying nodded, then was silent for a while, blew the south wind, and continued to ask: "But we can't take chances... What if, I mean what if, these methods are useless, the retreat process
The opportunities here were of no use, and the situation even got worse. Xue Changxiong also came, and Li Ding didn't help us. Then Uncle Cao really chased us all the way to Jiangling, and then to Dengzhou. What should we do? Third brother, you
What should I do? What should I do with help?"
Zhang Xing glanced at the other party and asked again: "If that's the case, what would you do?"
Xu Shiying was silent for a moment, just stepping on his linen-lined Liuhe boots to press down on the soil that was gradually becoming softer under his feet.
Zhang Xing smiled and did not press the question further. Instead, he sighed: "Xu Dalang came to talk to me about this matter today, which shows that he has help in his heart. For this reason alone, I will not abandon you."
Xu Shiying was confused for a moment: "What...abandoned me...I'm asking what if we don't seize the opportunity, but the great master is more stable than anyone else and just bites us to death and chases us all the way to Dengzhou?"
"Of course I boarded the ship from Dengzhou and went to the north to take shelter." Zhang Xing responded calmly. "After boarding the ship and entering the East China Sea, he would not dare to pursue him, otherwise the Governor of Dongyi would come to take care of him.
When we arrived in the North, we took advantage of the Demon Guard's shell to hide. Even if Cao Lin drove us away, we couldn't stand up. Instead, we would definitely be taken care of by other great masters because we left the Black Tower in the East Capital. When the time comes, we will make a comeback and deal with it.
That’s Hebei.”
Xu Shiying was stunned for a moment, and sneered in her heart, but it didn't show on her face.
In his opinion, if this is true, as long as Zhang Xing escapes to the north, the gang will inevitably split, and Li Shu will definitely take the opportunity to tighten the situation. More importantly, all the powerful men from Hebei and the East in the gang will rely on him.
How can someone who is attached to the land be willing to walk with Zhang?
It’s okay to leave. Just avoid his sharp edge. The Grand Master will surprise you. It’s not shameful to flee all the way to find a place to stay. If Li Shu wants to calm down the situation, there’s no problem. This guy will definitely do it, and he’s also qualified to do it. Even
Being able to do it generously... The problem is that, in Xu Dalang's view, if Zhang Xing leaves, these gang backbones from powerful families in Hebei and Henan will most likely not follow Zhang Xing, and will defect to Li Shu next.
Even betrayed the gang.
And once this happens, and Zhang Xing comes back again, these people will become enemies rather than friends.
Because the unity that the two sides had maintained disappeared, a betrayal was enough to completely dissolve the so-called organization that Zhang Xing had worked hard to maintain and build in the previous three years.
Thinking of this, Xu Shiying was about to say something else, but suddenly, he reacted and was shocked on the spot: "What does the chief mean, even if you escape to the North, you will definitely not abandon me?"
"That's right." Zhang Xing smiled half-heartedly and stretched out his hand to touch the other person's shoulder. "Actually, I was thinking just now that if it really comes to the point where Hebei cannot gain a foothold, it would be fine with others, but I really don't know what the outcome will be for you Xu Dalang.
, especially since your troops and horses are all staying in Henan, so you may really stay when the time comes. And if we really keep you, there is no doubt that we will not end up well... But since you are so fast today
The fact that you are here shows that you are helping the overall situation in your heart, but I am judging a gentleman with a villain's heart, so I will take you with me no matter what, so that there will be no consequences between us."
Xu Shiying looked sideways at the other party. Countless thoughts came to mind, but she put them all away. She just nodded, deciding to wait and see.
After all, even from the current situation, Xu Dalang had to admit that although Cao Lin and the Dongdu army were coming fiercely, the general trend was not in Wei, so it might not last long. It was said that they could not help but retreat. If the Dongdu army moved forward, the latter would
There are many fatal flaws exposed, and with Chief Zhang's ability and the current strength of the gang, he can catch the opponent's flaws without a doubt, and then move up to the next level.
In this way, after the two of them left, they continued to organize the entire army to retreat, while Xu Shiying, who had followed Zhang Xing, went to search for Zhang Bofeng's whereabouts.
The letter sent by Zhang Bofeng the day before was delivered to Zhang Xing by sending a letter to the troops garrisoned in Tangyin at the intersection of Jijun and Weijun. But strangely, although there was an invitation in the letter, there was no location provided.
and time, and no instructions for replying.
Under such circumstances, when the entire gang was impatient and almost all the leaders, big and small, were dispersed to various cities to organize retreats, Xu Shiying took the initiative to come to Tangyin to search for Zhang Bofeng's whereabouts... but found nothing.
In desperation, Xu Dalang turned back again and met Zhang Xing at the Acropolis. The two discussed for a while and came to the conclusion that either Zhang Bofeng had just learned about Cao Lin crossing the river and was quite surprised by it and went to inquire, or he was
Wandering around freely, waiting for Zhang Xing's public reply.
He couldn't control the former, but Zhang Xing didn't make up his mind after hesitating for a moment.
It's one thing to expect Old Master Zhang to cause trouble and hindrance to Uncle Cao Huang, but when the opponent's Grand Master and the army are pressing down, publicly responding to the invitation is tantamount to openly asking for help. This is not impossible in normal times, but when the entire army evacuates in large numbers
At this time, publicly asking for help is likely to intensify panic, cause chaos, and cause irreversible serious consequences.
At this time, General Military Advocate Xiong Bonan and General Manager of Foreign Affairs Xie Minghe, who quickly returned from Yecheng, arrived. They discussed for a while and finally decided that the priority was to withdraw the troops first and not to make unnecessary moves.
Both Xiong Xie and Xiong Bonan went about their own business - Xiong Bonan accepted the task of breaking up the rear and urging soldiers from all over the country to retreat quickly, while Xie Minghe went north again with another letter from Zhang Xing, in order to
See Li Ding and ask him not to add insult to injury.
Therefore, the matter of publicly responding to Old Master Zhang was temporarily shelved.
In this way, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Cao Lin used the power of the great master to forcibly cross the river, which was already in the flood season. In fact, it had the effect of a surprise attack, but even so, the gang still managed to cross the river in just three days, that is, on the eighteenth day of the first lunar month.
At that time, all the soldiers from Jijun were withdrawn from Jijun. At the same time, the field soldiers and civilians were still evacuating in a steady stream.
Among them, Liyang Warehouse, where most of the warehouses had not been moved, was abandoned without hesitation.
This decision is indeed somewhat surprising.
In fact, by this day, people like Xue Changxiong didn't even know what happened, and Li Ding only knew that Cao Lin had launched a massive counterattack because of Zhang Xing's letter.
Of course, Ji County officials and the newly surrendered officers and soldiers stayed behind. These people who had just surrendered less than half a month ago, with the cooperation of the gang, calmly controlled the entire Ji County, and then still presided over the work of distributing grain.
He was mainly anxious, but with a very complicated mentality, waiting for the arrival of the Dongdu army.
However, an interesting thing happened.
The Dongdu troops did come, but they were only a few thousand men from Qu Tuda's group, and they only controlled a small half of Jijun on the west side of Qishui River, and invaded the county, Zhiwei County, and then only sent envoys to the east of Jijun.
His former colleagues and subordinates issued orders to guard the city, maintain public order, and coordinate military supplies.
Then it stopped moving.
The legendary army and grand master were not seen at all.
This actually caused the entire Ji County to fall into a kind of confusion. In just twenty days, they surrendered, and then surrendered again, and indeed experienced a vigorous grain release movement, but in fact, when they turned around,
But I was shocked to find that almost everyone’s positions and jobs had not changed at all.
It was as if the help never came.
Of course, the food and cloth in various cities and villages clearly reminded everyone that this was not a dream, but that the current situation was too weird.
Zhang Xing, who had already retreated to Yecheng, had a brief discussion with the dozen or so leaders gathered here and immediately realized that someone must have gone to talk to Uncle Cao to reminisce about the past.
"Old General Zhang." On the hillside north of Xiuwu City in Hanoi, Cao Lin's name for the thin but tall man in front of him was completely different from that of others. "So, did you deceive Li Twelve Lang, or did you deceive him?"
Did Li Twelve deceive me?"
"What did Li Twelve Lang say about me?" Grand Master Zhang Bofeng, who seemed to be in better spirits, twirled his beard and smiled. He was obviously curious, and his robes were also fluttering in the wind.
"He said that if I come to Hebei to attack the gang, General Zhang will never take advantage of others' danger and intercept me from behind. He also said that you are disapproving of some of Zhang Sanlang's actions and think he is audacious." Cao Lin looked at him.
, looking confused. "Is that so?"
"Yes." Zhang Bofeng thought for a while and immediately nodded. "That's right."
"Then the old general wants to live up to his words?" Cao Lin frowned slightly. "Deliberately deceiving Li Twelve Lang and me?"
"Why would I, an old man who is about to die, lie to such a boy? Why would I lie to you?" Zhang Bofeng spread his hands in response.
"Then why did the old general come to Hebei and persuade me to postpone the march?" Cao Lin became more serious. "Isn't this just going back on my word?"
"That's it." Zhang Bofeng was startled for a moment, then woke up and smiled again. "That's it, Cao Zhongcheng, it's like this. Li Twelve Lang passed by Nanpo that day and looked for me specifically. His question was very straightforward. ...I was asked earlier about my views on the situation in Hebei and Zhang Sanlang, and of course I answered in that way; and later on, I was asked whether I was colluding with the British government in an attempt to lure you out of the Eastern Capital so that you could deal with you? And my reply was: , I have never colluded with anyone, and I have no intention of being an enemy of Cao Zhongcheng, so how can I organize a siege?"
Cao Lin was slightly startled and immediately realized that Li Twelve Lang was so frustrated that he was so bold that he used his doubts and time constraints to create a verbal trap between the two masters, specifically to lure him to Hebei. To deal with gangs, leading to the current situation.
However, this matter seems not worth mentioning when Zhang Bofeng personally admitted that he did not collude with Bai Hengqiu.
Of course, Cao Lin quickly realized another problem - if Zhang Bofeng had never been connected with Bai Hengqiu, how could he explain that Jin was almost completely controlled by the British Duke? Almost all the children of the Zhang family were consistent with the Bai family?
As if he had read Cao Lin's thoughts, the tall and thin Jin Gefuzi smiled and continued: "The reason why I am like this is because I am older. If it were not for the obvious collapse of the power of the Wei Dynasty, I would have a little more earth energy blessing." , who managed to survive a little, but died almost three years ago... How can the Zhang family's children, who live in several counties in Hedong, still care about it? "
Cao Lin was completely stunned.
That's right, it's not that Zhang Bofeng has no position, it's not that the Zhang family has not merged with the Bai family, it's just that this Jin Gefu is getting old, and I don't want to bother with it in the past few years, that's all.
But if this is the case, the British public's idea of leaving the Eastern Capital to deal with it, is he overthinking, or does he have other helpers?
After thinking for a while, Cao Lin suddenly said: "The old general just persuaded me to postpone the march, saying that he wanted to ask Zhang Sanlang face to face, but in the end, Zhang San was forced to flee by me... What do you want to discuss with Zhang Sanlang? ?”
"Discussing his dethronement of 'good for the benefit of the world', 'the benefit of sharing the world', and his "Laws"." Zhang Bofeng once said. "I am old and have already seen the battlefields of the world. This time I am silent. I am very excited, but I just want to see the ideas and style of the younger generation... I don't agree with some of Zhang San's ideas, but even so, he is one of the few young people in the world who has his own ideas. , Different ways do not necessarily mean who is right or wrong. Stones from other mountains can attack jade, so it is worth seeing."
"There are so many hills all over the world, they are more than just a mere Zhang Xing?" Cao Lin said thoughtfully. "Even if he built a mountain, it was just a small hill. Since the old general came to Hebei from the south slope, he wanted to find a mountain on another mountain.
Shi, why not take this opportunity to bring together the heroes of Hebei and discuss it together? You can decide the place and time. I am also willing to attend. If you have the funds, I will be honored."
Zhang Bofeng couldn't help but laugh: "If Cao Zhongcheng is willing to sit down and discuss with me, I would be honored at that time. I am afraid that you just want to use my hand to gather the heroes of Hebei and then take the opportunity to catch them all?"
Cao Lin also shook his head and laughed: "Master Zhang, you think too much, let alone you, who would dare to make a mistake? Even people like Xue Changxiong and Xiong Bonan are not easy to deal with when they join forces... If you don't worry,
, why not invite the British Duke of Taiyuan to come to the meeting? It is naturally appropriate for all parties to contain it."
Zhang Bofeng's heart moved slightly, and he could instinctively sense Cao Lin's thoughts, but after thinking about it, he felt relieved: "That's right! With me here, who dares to make a mistake?!"
Cao Lin calmed down slightly and asked again: "When and where?"
"Let's go to Hongshan." Zhang Bofeng thought for a while and gave a definite answer. "The main thing is that I want to talk to Zhang Sanlang. It would be better if Mr. Cao and Mr. Yingying are willing to come... Seven days will be enough... I
Go and invite Zhang Sanlang to meet you."
Cao Lin squinted his eyes and nodded: "Before this meeting, I promise not to move."