Nan Yanxi arrived slowly: "Order all the troops outside the city to withdraw into the city. At the same time, order the garrison inside the city to leave only 30,000 troops. The other troops will be tidied up and you will lead them back to Jingzhou City."
"Ah? Why?" Xiang Ning'er heard this and was very puzzled: "Husband, we have just taken Lizhou a few days ago. Why, do you want to withdraw our troops?"
"With thirty thousand people, if the enemy attacks the city with all their strength, I'm afraid they won't be able to withstand it!"
Hearing this, Nan Yanxi smiled mysteriously: "It doesn't matter... Ning'er, just don't worry, as long as I don't withdraw my troops, they won't attack the city."
"When you lead your army to retreat, you must be careful and try not to be discovered."
"After returning to Jingzhou, I want you to do two things."
"First, order the troops to prepare fortifications and be ready to attack Xiang's army at any time. It is best to ambush and kill as many enemy troops as possible."
"Second, make good contact with Lizhou to prevent the enemy from suddenly encircling us and cutting off our troops' supply and retreat."
"However, I don't think they will do this easily."
"Anyway, just remember it, okay?"
Xiang Ning'er blinked in confusion. Although she still had doubts in her heart, looking at his confident look, she still nodded in agreement.
On the night of the second day, Xiang Ning'er quietly evacuated Lizhou City with an army of 150,000 troops and returned to Jingzhou.
However, not all of the 150,000 troops returned to the main city of Jingzhou, and a small number were left deployed along the line to prevent Xiang's army from cutting off the supply line.
Time passed day by day, and Xiang Jun outside Lizhou City did not do anything else except harassing the defenders inside the city with artillery every day.
Nan Yanxi ordered the suspension bridge to be retracted, the city gates to be closed tightly, and the troops went directly down to the city, leaving only a few observation posts still stationed on the city tower.
However, he asked his men to put up more flags under the city and put scarecrows in armor on the city walls to create the appearance of many people guarding them.
He ignored Xiang Jun's provocation outside the city and simply responded with guns and artillery.
In the city lord's palace, Nan Yanxi looked at the map with his hands behind his back and listened to the reports from his subordinates.
The Ming army on the southern front was also harassed by the enemy. Fortunately, facing the sea to the south, the Ming army's navy could rush in from the estuary at any time and support it with strong ships and artillery.
The situation is better than that of the Ming Army on the Western Front in Nan Yanxi.
It is indeed an unwise choice to rush into the enemy's hinterland without destroying a large number of the enemy's effective forces and without being able to defeat the enemy head-on.
Surile seemed to be aware of this and began to order his troops to defend the captured city behind him.
Be careful to prevent the enemy from suddenly cutting off the lifeline, leading to a large-scale rout.
After discussing with Ye Zhiyu and others, the deployment made was similar to Nan Yanxi's. It also left a small number of mobile troops at the front to bluff, and all of them were huddled in the city.
All its main forces quietly retreated to Tanzhou to make careful arrangements, and were ready to pick up the returning vanguard and fight against Xiang's army at any time.
...
Just as the Ming army was preparing for the future, Xiang Jun also began to make corresponding arrangements.
In the military tent, Xiang Tianxing was thinking about something. He looked at the map for a long time and muttered to himself: "Hmm... I don't know where the military advisor is marching to now."
"Have you been exposed? Judging by the number of days, we are probably approaching Zhongzhou City, right?"
While he was chanting, the voice of a soldier suddenly came from outside the tent: "My lord... there is a letter from the north."
"Oh?" Xiang Tianxing was delighted when he heard this and quickly ordered: "Bring it up quickly...!"
"Yes!" The soldier outside the tent agreed, and then walked in, holding a homing pigeon in his hand.
He quickly took two steps forward and kneeled down to send the carrier pigeon over.
Xiang Tianxing stretched out his hand and took something off the carrier pigeon's leg, then waved his hand, and the soldier withdrew knowingly.
Somewhat impatiently, I took out the secret letter from the small bamboo tube, unfolded it gently, and read it carefully.
"My lord, we have successfully entered Zhongzhou and plan to launch an attack in three days. I hope your lord will pay close attention to the enemy's movements and be ready to counterattack at any time."
Looking at this small line of characters, Xiang Tianxing was so excited that he almost burst into tears.
In order to wait for this news, he stayed away for more than half a month.
It was clear that they could fight the Ming army, but they had to retreat, and this retreat would cover the land of two states.
Now, finally coming to an end, Xiang Tianxing thought bitterly that this time, no matter what, he would let the Ming army know how powerful he was.
If possible, we should use one battle to completely inflict pain on the Ming army and annihilate a large number of the effective forces of the Ming army. It is best to achieve ten years of peace.
Only in this way can he recuperate, train his army, develop firearms, and compete with the Ming army in the future.
Thinking of this, Xiang Tianxing quickly looked at the date on the note and found that the time to launch the attack was tomorrow morning.
Seeing this, Xiang Tianxing quickly picked up a pen and paper and wrote a secret letter to Xiang Yang on the southern front, and loudly ordered: "Come quickly!"
"Lord!" The soldiers on duty outside heard the voice and entered the tent.
Xiang Tianxing handed him the letter and ordered: "You set out immediately. You must deliver this letter to the young master before dawn tomorrow."
"At the same time, the troops were ordered to prepare dry food, collect baggage, and be ready to break camp at any time... But this time it is not a retreat! It is an attack!"
"Yes! Lord!" the soldier agreed, reached out to take the secret letter, turned around and walked away.
Seeing the soldiers' backs disappear, Xiang Tianxing in the tent seemed to look much younger all of a sudden.
A long-lost smile appeared on his face that had been gloomy for many days.
He walked back and forth in the account a few times, then casually took off the sword from the shelf.
He pulled out the sheath with a "pop" sound, looked around in the candlelight, and started dancing with interest.