Hong Liao is not Li Xingzai's only enemy on this land, nor is he the most difficult one.
After Hong Luo's defeat, the morale of the Jiangnan soldiers was low. They only thought about escaping for their lives and could no longer form an effective block against the Jiangnan Army.
The main army was defeated and was completely defeated. Invisibly, the people who were on the bench at the beginning became the protagonists of this war.
Now, the toughest one is ready to take action.
He knows Li Xingzai too well and hangs out with Cheng Dalei all day long. What a good person he can be. He is ambitious and his ambitions are not small. How can a small person become famous and satisfy his appetite?
Li Xingzai's next target must be Yangzhou City.
This battle will be decided in Jiangnan.
Standing on the high platform, watching the clouds roll and relax in the sky, he felt a sudden surge of pride in his heart.
The soldiers under his command have been assembled and formed a square formation in front of He, waiting for He's orders.
He waved his hands and said: "Burn it."
Wang Da Chong led people to light torches and pour kerosene and hay on the granaries. With a command, several granaries were set on fire, and then the smoke rose like clouds and the fire was like an evil dragon.
"This, this..." Zhu Qi stammered: "Why is everything burned?"
"What are you going to do if you don't burn it? Leave it to Li Xingzai to raise the troops. Let's go. It's our turn to take action."
He patted Zhu Qi on the shoulder, got on his horse, and the soldiers followed closely behind him, and then embarked on the journey.
Zhu Qi came from a farmer's family, and he valued food most. If a grain of rice fell on the ground, he would feel distressed for a long time. Now, when one hundred thousand loads of food were burned down, Zhu Qi was so hurt that his heart and liver were trembling.
He is just starting out and can't understand the purpose of doing this yet.
Hong had an army of 200,000, and Li Xingzai had an army of 100,000. They suffered a number of losses along the way, but with the subsequent addition of prisoners, they now number almost 100,000.
And the number of troops under He... is now fully calculated, but only more than 5,000 people.
Under such a situation in Jiangnan, these five thousand people are like a stone thrown into the lake, unable to stir up any waves.
However, even if it is a small stone, it depends on where it is placed. If it is thrown into the lake, it will naturally not stir up big winds and waves, but if it is rolled down the snow mountain, a small stone can grow into a huge thing.
After He started taking action, he began to recruit the defeated soldiers along the way. He's team developed like a snowball. From the initial five thousand people, it slowly expanded... Soon, He's men had enough to participate in this battle.
The power of chaos.
But as a result, his own marching speed was naturally severely slowed down. At the moment, He only hoped that when he arrived at Yangzhou City, everything would be in time.
When masters fight each other, they can guess each other's intentions, move step by step, and adapt to changes. The rest is to see who God favors.
From this perspective, He Dang is qualified to be Li Xingzai’s opponent.
However, He is a meticulous person and will never rely on luck to win or lose.
He thought for a while, called Zhu Qi to him, and said: "Hurry up and go to Yangzhou City to remind His Majesty to be on guard against Li Xingzai stealing the city."
"Yes." Zhu Qi agreed and left immediately.
"Sir." Boss Zhu suddenly spoke at this moment and said: "Sir, my subordinates have taken refuge with you, but they still haven't accomplished anything yet. Let them do this."
He thought for a while and said: "That's fine. Zhu Qi worked hard on the previous trip. It's up to you to do it this time. Be careful along the way and don't miss anything important."
Boss Zhu agreed and left quickly, heading towards Yangzhou.
He was also marching in a hurry, and now he was fighting for time with Li Xingzai.
…
Li Xingzai was also rushing on the road non-stop. He was indeed a brave and ruthless man. He knew that the army was approaching and the marching speed would be slowed down. So he ordered Qi Jiguang to lead the army and divided three thousand people, led by himself and Ma Chao.
Heading to Yangzhou City.
With three thousand men conquering the mighty city of Yangzhou, Li Xingzai probably had the heart of a bear but the courage of a leopard, and he was no less a descendant of the Li family.
These 3,000 people took off their clothes from Jiangnan soldiers and dressed up as Jiangnan soldiers, with the purpose of defrauding Yangzhou City.
These three thousand people are like sharp daggers, very dangerous, dangerous to themselves and dangerous to the enemy.
After a day and a night, we arrived at Yangzhou City at dusk.
The guards at the top of the city drew their bows and arrows and shouted loudly: "Who is coming? What team are you from?"
Li Xingzai pinched his throat and said: "We are Marshal Hong's team. Open the door quickly and let us enter the city. We have something important to report."
"Marshal's team?"
The general guarding the city was named Murong Chen, and he was also Li Xing's capable general. Although Li Xingzai stepped up his march, news of the defeat at the front still reached here. Therefore, Chang'an City strengthened its vigilance accordingly.
"Let your leader enter the city. The others will stay outside the city for the time being. Only after confirming their identities can they enter the city." Murong Chen shouted from the top of the city.
Li Xingzai pushed a prisoner out, and the man shouted loudly: "Murong Chen, fuck your mother, I dare you to stop me."
Murong Chen paused and said in surprise: "You are...Sun Huzi..."
"What the hell are you talking about? We were defeated in the front and we are all scattered. Open the door quickly and let us in."
Sun Hu and Murong Chen were brothers who had worked in the trenches, so their friendship was not ordinary, so Li Xingzai planned to open the city gate in a false way and had done some homework in advance.
"Brother, don't worry, aren't we trying to prevent the enemy from stealing the city? By the way, there are so many of you, how can we be defeated?"
After getting off the city gate, he opened the city gate himself, Murong Chen said as he opened the door.
"It's already this time, can they still come back..."
As soon as the city gate opened a crack, it was forcefully pushed open. Li Xingzai raised his head, smiled, and stabbed out with his spear.
"Brother, leave quickly!" Sun Hu shouted.
But it was too late, Li Xingzai's spear pierced Murong Chen's heart. Three thousand tiger and wolf soldiers rushed into the city gate and started a fight against the city gate defenders.
The sword was caught off guard, and the Yangzhou soldiers were beaten straight away, completely unaware of what was going on.
In just a short time, Li Xingzai occupied the city gate.
When he learned the news, Li Xing almost fell off the dragon bed.
Why? Two hundred thousand soldiers and horses were dispatched to attack Li Xingzai. I thought he was bound to win. Unexpectedly, he was defeated. Defeat is a defeat. Why did Li Xingzai suddenly appear in Yangzhou City?
Li Xing hurriedly ordered the city defense troops to attack the city gate occupied by Li Xingzai. With three thousand soldiers, it was indeed a bit stretched.
But Li Xingzai had to hold on and buy time for Qi Jiguang, who was on the march in a hurry.
"Can we hold on?" Li Xingzai asked Ma Chao.
"Your Majesty, don't worry." Ma Chao said decisively: "We can defend it."