Liu Xiu smiled and said, "Xie Shangshu, there is no need to be in such a hurry. You can rest in Jincheng for a few more days."
Xie Gong said seriously: "The military situation is urgent and changing rapidly. I dare not waste time and delay the war!"
Liu Xiu stayed for a few more words, then stopped persuading him. He bowed and stood up, saying goodbye to Liu Xiu.
After Xie Gong left, Liu Xiu also left the Chinese army tent and returned to his own tent.
In Liu Xiu's tent, Guo Shengtong, who was newly married to Liu Xiu, was also there, as was Xu Xiling, who came to Gancheng with Xie Gong. Seeing Liu Xiu approaching from the outside, Guo Shengtong and Xu Xiling, who were sitting at the table drinking tea, stood up together.
Body shape.
The former said: "Husband!" The latter said: "My lord!"
It seemed that Guo Shengtong and Xu Xiling already knew each other. Liu Xiu waved to her and motioned for them to sit down.
Guo Shengtong returned to the compartment at the end of the tent with interest. After Liu Xiu sat down, he immediately asked: "Xiling, why did you come to Jincheng? But what happened to Che Ying?"
Xu Xiling smiled and said softly: "Master, don't worry, everything is fine with Senior Sister and Mrs. Shi, and nothing has happened."
Hearing this, Liu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief. Xu Xiling continued: "Xiling heard that Xie Gong led his army into Hebei, so he wanted to find out what kind of person Xie Gong was, so he infiltrated into Xie Gong's team in the name of his lord's family.
.”
That’s it! Xie Wendong smiled and asked: “Is there any gain?”
Xu Xiling said sternly: "Xie Gong is a very upright man and is upright in his work. He is just loyal to Liu Xuan and has no second thoughts."
Liu Xiu listened carefully. Xu Xiling's analysis of Xie Gong was similar to his judgment. Xu Xiling continued: "And..."
"what else?"
"Madam Xie Gong, she is quite scheming and extremely smart. She is a strange woman! If she were not a woman, her achievements would definitely be better than Xie Gong's!"
Liu Xiu didn't know this. Although Xie Gong brought his wife with him when he came to Yincheng this time, Liu Xiu and Xie Gong's wife had never met, so he couldn't judge her as a person.
Xu Xiling has been with Liu Xiu for so long, so Liu Xiu naturally knows her very well.
Although Xu Xiling is usually soft and frail, and is always polite to everyone, she is actually a proud and arrogant girl. To be praised like this by her, I think this lady who came to thank me must have something special.
"A mere woman shouldn't be anything to worry about."
"Xie Gong actually listens to his wife's words." Xu Xiling reminded.
Liu Xiu nodded, knowing what he was doing, and said with a smile: "If it is true as Xi Ling said, I would like to meet her."
Xu Xiling smiled at first, then stopped his smile and said seriously: "Xiling comes to Yincheng this time and doesn't plan to go back again."
Liu Xiu said: "That's fine! Shengtong has no companion in the army, and Xi Ling can just accompany her."
He originally planned to send Guo Shengtong to Lunu, the county seat of Zhongshan County, but Guo Shengtong refused and insisted on staying in the army to accompany him.
Guo Shengtong is indeed very virtuous. After marrying him, he did not make any unreasonable demands. Only on this matter, his attitude was very insistent.
Deng Yu and Zhu Ye both tried to persuade him. Guo Shengtong was now his wife, and her status was extraordinary. Hebei was at war, and Liu Xiu had a bounty of 100,000 households offered by Wang Lang hanging above Liu Xiu's head.
It would indeed be inappropriate and unsafe to leave Guo Shengtong alone in Lunu.
After repeated consideration, Liu Xiu felt that what Deng Yu and Zhu said was reasonable, so he left Guo Shengtong in the military camp.
After receiving Liu Xiu's approval, Xu Xiling looked happy and saluted Liu Xiu and said, "Thank you so much, my lord, Xi Ling!"
After Xu Xiling left, Guo Shengtong walked out of the compartment inside. She put a fur cloak on Liu Xiu's shoulders and asked curiously: "Is Miss Xiiling a subordinate of Axiu?"
Privately, Guo Shengtong also called Liu Xiu by his nickname. Liu Xiu smiled and asked, "What? It doesn't look alike?"
Guo Shengtong blushed and muttered in a low voice: "I thought Miss Xi Ling was A Xiu's concubine."
Liu Xiu looked up and smiled, took Guo Shengtong's hand, pulled her into his arms, and said, "Xiling has done a lot of things for me, and she can be called my right-hand man!"
Guo Shengtong leaned his head on Liu Xiu's chest, responded softly, and at the same time hugged his waist with his two small hands.
On the third day after he bowed and left, a 120,000-strong army led by Liu Xiu set off from Jincheng and began to move south.
The massive force of 120,000 troops marched all the way south, marching straight into the towns they passed. No one dared to resist and surrendered one after another.xdw8
At present, the counties and counties here in Hebei are basically all grass on the wall. Wherever the wind is strong, there will be collapse.
When Wang Lang was powerful, people would naturally submit to Wang Lang; when Liu Xiu was powerful, people would immediately abandon Wang Lang and submit to Liu Xiu instead.
For the towns that surrendered along the way, Liu Xiu basically adopted a strategy of not punishing them in any way and focusing on appeasing them.
As long as there is no resistance, as long as the city is willing to surrender, all past actions can be forgotten. Liu Xiu's magnanimity made fewer local officials hell-bent on resisting Liu Xiu.
Liu Xiujun first passed through Lixiang, and then arrived at Daluze. After passing Daluze, he continued southward and reached Julu City.
At this time, Liu Xiujun's detective reports were like a revolving lantern, running in and out of his own military camp, continuously transmitting battle reports from the front back to the army.
There were too many detective reports sent back, and it was impossible to give every one of them to Liu Xiu for review. As Yaoqi, who was in charge of intelligence, he had to screen and summarize them first.
This workload is not small. Yao Qi works almost from morning to night alone, and is so tired that he feels dizzy.
Seeing that the burden on him alone was too heavy, Liu Xiu temporarily sent Feng Yi over. With Feng Yi's help, Yao Qi's burden was reduced a lot. At least he had time to rest, eat, and sleep.
On this day, Liu Xiujun camped on the southern bank of Dalu Ze. Before the camp was settled, Yao Qi received an important piece of information. He took the detective report and went to find Liu Xiu immediately.
This battle report was sent back from near Julu City. It records that Li Yu and Zhang Shen under Wang Lang arrived at Julu City with an army of 200,000 people and were now setting up defenses in and around Julu City.
Li Yu and Zhang Shen were both core figures in Wang Lang's court. The former was the Grand Sima and the latter was the Grand General. These two men led an army of 200,000 and were stationed in Julu City. It was obvious that Wang Lang planned to fight with Li Yu in Julu City.
Liu Xiubu fought to the death.
After reading this information, Liu Xiu frowned slightly and asked, "How is the deployment situation in Julu City now?"
Yao Qi said seriously: "It is reported that there is a large amount of food, grass and city defense materials hoarded in the city. In addition, Li Yu and Zhang Shen have also set up three camps around Julu City to form a joint defense with Julu City!"
Liu Xiu asked: "Do you have any drawings?"
Yao Qi said: "The drawings have not been sent back yet, but they should arrive soon."
As soon as he finished speaking, Feng Yi entered the Chinese military tent with the defense map of Julu City that had just been sent back to the military camp, and handed it to Liu Xiu for review.
The three camps around Julu City form a triangle and surround Julu City. No matter which camp is attacked, Julu City and the other two camps can send troops to reinforce it as soon as possible.
If we avoid these three camps and directly attack Julu City, during the siege process, the attacker's back and even both wings will be attacked by the enemy at any time.
After Liu Xiu read the drawing, he handed it to the generals in the Chinese army tent for circulation.
When people saw this, their expressions became solemn. Regardless of Li Yu and Zhang Shen's origins, their defense in Julu City was still unique.
The three outer camps and the Julu City in the center are interlocked and form an angle to each other. They can be attacked when advancing and defended when retreating. It is not suitable to deal with them.
Deng Yu frowned and said: "With such a defense and two hundred thousand troops stationed, it will be very difficult for our army to capture Julu City by force."
He said it quite politely, with 120,000 people fighting against 200,000 people, and it was a tough battle, there was no hope of winning, not to mention that the defense of Julu City was so sophisticated.
The generals lowered their heads and were silent in thought. Liu Xiu looked around at everyone and said: "Julu City is the northern gateway of Handan. Wang Lang's army will focus on the defense of Julu City and set up heavy defense forces in Julu City. This
It was already within our expectations. I still had the original idea of bypassing Julu City and attacking Guangping City, the county seat of Guangping!"
Before the generals present could speak, Yao Qi said: "Lord, it is reported that Guangping County's food has almost been requisitioned, and many people in Guangping County have moved elsewhere. Even if our army bypasses Julu City,
If we successfully capture Guangping City, I'm afraid we will only get an empty city, and there will be no food, grass or supplies in the city."
Liu Xiu took a deep breath and said: "I have already said that I will solve the problem of food and grass. Now everyone just needs to tell me whether it is feasible to bypass Julu City and go straight to Guangping City without considering food and grass!
"
People got up and left the table one after another, and stood around the map in the center of the Chinese military tent, looking at it carefully.
Deng Yu looked at the map with deep eyes, pondered for a long time, and then slowly said: "The general believes that the lord's strategy is feasible, but the key depends on when Xie Gongjun can reach Handan!"
Xie Gong's 30,000 soldiers and horses launched an attack from the Sili area toward Handan. The distance between the two was much closer than Liu Xiu's side.
Moreover, the road from Sili to Handan was flat, with water and mountains. In addition, Wang Lang deployed his main military forces in Julu City and Handan City, so there would not be too strong troops to block Xie Gong's advance.
Thinking about it, Xie Gong's troops will arrive in Handan soon.
In fact, this was indeed the case. The 30,000-strong army headed by Xie Gong advanced unimpeded to the outside of Handan City without any decent confrontation.
Looking at the nearby Handan City, Xie Gong was overjoyed and ordered his soldiers to launch a fierce attack on Handan City.
He originally thought that the main force of Wang Lang was restrained by Liu Xiu to Julu City and that Handan City was empty. However, as soon as he took over, Xie Gong suddenly realized that this was not the case at all.
There were many defenders in Handan City, at least no less than 100,000. When 30,000 soldiers stormed Handan City, which was garrisoned by 100,000 troops, it was not considered a head-on collision with a wall, but rather a head-on collision with a steel plate.
Just when Xie Gong was bracing himself and commanding the army to attack Handan, a soldier quickly came to him and handed him a piece of cloth.
Xie Gong unfolded the cloth and took a look. It was written in beautiful handwriting: Handan City is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and there are many defenders in the city. If we continue to attack by force, there is a danger of the entire army being annihilated!
Xie Gong was very familiar with the handwriting on the note. It was exactly the handwriting of his wife.
After reading the note sent by his wife, Xie Gong gritted his teeth and looked at Handan City, which was very close at hand but had caused heavy casualties to his own soldiers. He sighed quietly, sent orders to the left and right, and ordered the troops to retreat.
Xie Gong's army came quickly, fought quickly, and retreated quickly. In just this moment, the soldiers who attacked the city had already suffered more than 2,000 casualties.
Although he ordered the withdrawal of troops, he did not lead his troops to leave Handan. Instead, he camped outside the city of Handan, still eyeing the city of Handan.