Wang Wu's disastrous defeat was one of those situations where even a true defeat would not be surprising.

Because no matter how sincere, submissive, and reasonable Wang Shuyong is on weekdays, it is impossible for him to change his fundamentally strong character in just half a year.

This kind of person suddenly gains a county and tens of thousands of people. Even though he probably knows in his heart that he is no match for the opponent, and probably knows that the two leaders behind him are right to remind him, he will still be reluctant to let go of the bottle, so that he will be beaten by others.

A battle is like a landslide.

Of course, Zhang Xing also had to learn a lesson from this, that is, even if he insists, he must put people first and land second. As the so-called last resort, and when the strength is compared to a sufficient chance of victory, we must not easily rely on the military.

decisive battle.

However, I am not surprised at all. Because of this defeat, it is natural that the military situation of the Deposed Dragon Gang has become extremely difficult.

In fact, after sweeping through the three counties in the past three months, the unstoppable eastward army was in a state of embarrassment after barely catching up with the defeated army in Jibei County. They almost fled and abandoned Pinglu, which was between Lu County and Jibei County.

Chang, Sucheng and other fertile places, directly choose to retreat westward.

It won't work if we don't retreat. If we don't leave, we will be completely surrounded by people.

During the retreat, the situation of the troops became worse and worse. Morale was low. It was common for them to lose their armor and recruits to flee. Quarrels between leaders and fights between troops were also common. And an even worse incident happened.

Incident - Two newly surrendered leaders from Dongping County, a county magistrate and a local powerful man, directly coerced a small number of troops to surrender to the official army.

Before leaving, he even attacked friendly forces.

In this situation, people are naturally panicked.

So soon, Ji Yin, the old leader of Dongjun, specifically the Zhai brothers and Shang Huaizhi, these two sub-level powerful and powerful factions, because of seeing the tragic situation of Wang and Shan, and

He was obviously frightened by the loss, so he gathered a group of people and proposed to return to his hometown.

Several big leaders who suffered a tragic defeat were also a little moved.

When you win, you can't wait to seize territory, but when you lose, you can't help but want to preserve your strength... This is the most troublesome problem for a feudal army built with powerful men as the main force.

Because this behavior is not even intentional, but an instinct, and even a sense of mutually recognized rules.

These guys, Zhang Xing and Li Shu, are the most powerful and capable anti-thief backbones they can find. No one thinks there is anything wrong with this behavior... This is precisely the biggest problem.

However, it was at this time that the leader of the left wing, Li Shu, stood up. With the prestige he had gained from successfully defending Pinglu, coupled with the strong support of Xiong Bonan and some scribe-type leaders, he forcibly suppressed all the noise, and then

He led the remaining soldiers and defeated the generals and retreated to Yuncheng, the capital of Dongping County, where he began to defend and prepare to face the enemy.

Yuncheng is considered a famous city in the east, a big city, and a crucial city.

This is because when Jishui came here, it spread out into a Juye Ze with a radius of a hundred miles. Yuncheng not only had Juye Ze at its back, with unobstructed water and land, making it easy to defend, but more importantly, because of the existence of Juye Ze,

The area between Jishui waters and Dahe becomes narrow here, with the straight-line distance being only fifty or sixty miles... This means that this city can easily monitor Dahe and Juyeze, as well as the land passage between the two.

Practitioners are stronger and can fly when condensing pills, but one person cannot be worth 10,000 mules and transport logistics independently... In other words, as long as large troops are required to operate, it is impossible in this era.

Some people are stupid enough to expose their logistics lines to this big city.

From this perspective, Li Shu's retreat and choice were undoubtedly the right choice.

Relying on this strong city, a large city, and a key city, they can hold on while resting and recuperating. Coupled with the parity in the high-level combat power of both sides, the officers and soldiers will never be able to break the city in a short time, and they will not dare to rely on victory.

The momentum can be overcome easily.

Sure enough, after winning the chaotic battle, the officers and soldiers hurriedly gathered from the east and tried to pursue the victory, but when facing Yuncheng, they fell into an embarrassing siege.

And they quickly withdrew the siege, because they found that the waterway in Juye Ze was open, but for them, if the city was not broken, how could they go westward to raid it?

Therefore, we can only occupy Shouzhang and Pinglu lines, and move into Liangshan to the north of Juyeze to monitor Yuncheng, forming a military confrontation.

Thanks to this, Zhang Dalong's head was at the rear, and he acted as if nothing had happened for a while.

"Li Gong has arranged for Cheng Dalang to leave Juluze?" Facing the messenger in the lobby of Jiyin County Mansion, Zhang Xing was surprised for a moment, but then he realized. "He was asked to contact the people in Dengzhou and let those people

Going to scratch Qi County?"

The messenger, who was Li Shu's confidant, was Du Caiqian who was squeezed out by Zhang Xing in a sense. He was obviously startled by Zhang Xing's quick reaction, but he nodded immediately and verified: "Yes.

this means."

Zhang Xing thought for a while and nodded heavily: "There is nothing wrong with Mr. Li's arrangement. In addition, his behavior of sticking to Yuncheng can even be called a powerful force...Does he have any other explanations?"

"He still wants to ask about the trends of the Huaiyou League and Xuzhou." There is nothing surprising about the questions brought by Du Caiqian. "Especially Xuzhou, because if the elite of Xuzhou goes directly north and crosses the Jishui River,

Then if you pass to the west of Juye Ze, Yuncheng will lose the significance of defending the city..."

"I specially invited Leader Du of the Huaiyou League to come back, because I temporarily knew a piece of information at that time, and it was related to Xuzhou..." Zhang Xing was silent for a while, and then chose to reveal part of his story in front of some leaders. "According to me,

I know that the Xuzhou direction may choose Sima Zheng as the leader to march to the east, so I made some arrangements... Alliance leader Du and Zhou leader went to deal with this matter, mainly hoping to promote a change of generals before the formation."

There was a moment of silence in the lobby of Jiyin County Mansion.

After a while, Du Caigan, who was born on the edge of Guanlong, struggled to speak: "Sima is the second son of the Sima family? The one who ranks first on the list of talents?"

"Yes." Zhang Xing replied simply.

"Are Leader Zhou and Leader Du sure?" Du Caigan asked with difficulty.

"Do your best and obey fate." Zhang Xingyi said. "But this is the most effective method I can think of... and it also coincides with Li Gong."

"That's true." Du Caiqian thought for a long time and could only nod. "Then next..."

"Prepare for war and defend the city!"

Zhang Xing responded simply.

"Whether it's the east side or this side, you have to endure it and accumulate strength...and then make your decision with the camera!

"Things are ebbing and flowing. Before, the general trend was with us, so naturally everything went smoothly. Now, the general trend is with the enemy, and it is our turn to persevere...

"I will tell you nothing from Chief Du, or I am about to ask Chief Du to go back and inform Mr. Li. No matter whether Sima Erlang can be replaced or not, and no matter where he comes from, I will mobilize my troops to renovate Jiyin County and prepare for it."

When necessary, abandon half of Jiyin County and defend Jiyin.

"As for it, if it is absolutely necessary, for example, if the Xuzhou Army inserts itself into the Heze and Leize areas among us, then we will all retreat to Puyang together, and prepare to move to Hebei if necessary, taking advantage of the division between the north and south of the army to try to survive."

Du Caiqian was sweating profusely, but he could only nod.

Several people in the hall, whether Zhang Jinshu, the so-called leader of the central wing who is in charge of military law, who has been obviously moving closer to Zhang Xing in the past six months, Yan Qing, who has always been Zhang Xing's confidant, or Jia Yue, an old friend from the countryside and innocent leader, are also confused.

All looked pale.

You must know that Jiyin County and East County have always been regarded as the rear area of ​​the Deposed Dragon Gang. Now according to the words of this big leader, not only are they ready to abandon half of Jiyin County at the beginning, but they are even ready to abandon the entire East Territory.

Preparations for escaping to Hebei. This is in stark contrast to the situation a few months ago when they once occupied the land of five counties and were about to complete the great project of supporting the Dahe River, Jishui, and penetrating the eastern border.

After all, Zhang Dalongtou talks about the ebb and flow of the tide every day. He shouted it every day as early as when he was in power. How come these people don't know? Even Du Caiqian, who has experienced Yang Shen's rebellion and is a close confidant of Li Shu, how can he not know this?

reason?

I just know that I know, now that I have experienced such a turbulent time and experienced such enterprising achievements, how can I let go easily?

From this perspective, it is not easy to laugh at Shan Dalang and Wang Wulang.

In this way, Du Caiqian came and left in a hurry. Zhang Xing did not hesitate to issue a mobilization order, but requested to strengthen border patrols, dispatch sentries to monitor the border, and at the same time began to consciously concentrate the remaining troops in Jiyin close to Jishui

On the front line, we mobilized manpower by recruiting workers to carry out city defense repairs and ordnance rectification of Jiyin County.

This action cannot be concealed from others.

Coupled with the unavoidable defeat on the Eastern Front and the "rumors" that the imperial army was about to suppress it, people's hearts began to waver.

At the beginning, it was businessmen and wealthy people who had come to invest in the rivers and lakes before. They were the best at seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, and they were also the group of people with the most abundant information channels. They soon chose to evacuate... Those from Hebei returned to Hebei, those from Jianghuai went to Jianghuai, and the Central Plains.

back to the Central Plains.

These two counties, which have always been famous for their prosperous commerce, have seen an almost visible shrinkage in their commercial activities.

The most direct impact was that Zhang Xing's attempt to use Ziwei Palace's wealth to buy horses failed.

Immediately afterwards, some large local households were forced to burn their debts and release their private slaves under the rule of the Dragon Gang. They had accumulated a certain amount of dissatisfaction, and now they were even more wavering and conservative... Many wealthy households were recruiting people.

, hoarding supplies, and even trying to flee as a family.

Frankly speaking, these people have the right to be dissatisfied, because Mr. Zhang's policies are obviously perfunctory and have not penetrated deeply into the families of the three big leaders, Xu Shiying, Shan Tonghai and Wang Shuyong. They are the leaders who cannot be punished.

But now, Zhang Xing can't get used to these people. He can only strengthen border patrols and internal inspections, and issue warnings at fixed points. For a small number of people who react strangely, he directly forcibly relocates their residences and splits the manpower.

Of course, these actions have some effect, but at the same time, they also further solidify certain opinions, causing this wavering to spread further, and in both directions. First, some people who are considered to be middle-class people are hesitant.

, also tried to escape with him; secondly, some soldiers and gang members who had no permanent property within the Deposed Dragon Gang, as well as surrendered people, also began to waver.

Rumors are spreading, production and cultural activities are shrinking, and people's hearts are in turmoil.

Even Zhang Xing was caught off guard by the development of this situation, and even found it difficult to deal with it. But soon, after a night of suffering, he gritted his teeth and issued an additional order - that is, to step up patrols on the border and search for escapees.

Among the escapees, anyone carrying standard ordnance or armor will be arrested and brought back to Jiyin City to be used as laborers; those suspected of being members of the Deposed Dragon Gang will be brought back to Jiyin City after being verified and executed in public.

On the other hand, if ordinary people leave with their families, there is nothing to worry about.

However, even so, Zhang Xing was a little worried. In turn, he was afraid that Zhang Jinshu's department, whose powers and responsibilities had been greatly increased, would expand in the process, causing harm to innocent people.

But he is only a talker, so what can he do?

He could only give Zhang Jinshu some hasty instructions and ask Jia Yue to lead his personal bodyguards to supervise Zhang Jinshu's department like matryoshka dolls.

It can only be said that throughout early and mid-March, the weather suddenly warmed up, and the millet seedlings in the fields grew taller and taller, but the suffering of the people in the three counties of Zhang Xing and Qi Longbang was also no different.

The millet seedlings in the field are moving slowly.

This situation reached its peak on March 18th, when news came that the Xuzhou camp had officially dispatched troops.

When the news came, Zhang Xing appeared to be as steady as an old dog, giving constant orders to gather the troops as planned, and publicly declared that both Jiyin City and Yuncheng were indestructible, but in his heart he was completely panicked... because Xiao Zhou did not

Reply with exact information.

At this moment, according to the information from the sentry cavalry and Du Po Formation, the official general of Xuzhou is still Sima Zheng, and the logistics is still directed to Jiyin, but the first one to come out and move west is a mere Zhonglang general.

, called Ma Hu, led four to five thousand soldiers and acted as the vanguard.

In other words, Du Po Zhen has no news from Xiao Zhou.

The situation was extremely bad, but Zhang Xing had no other choice but to continue to wait passively for the information to become clear... There really was no other way. He asked Zhang Shizhao once, but the latter only emphasized "the document of one county".

Then I really went to deal with the general affairs of Jiyin City.

But soon, as time came to late March, a piece of good news suddenly came, which alleviated this suffering.
To be continued...