Just as the two were discussing, a cavalry suddenly rushed from a distance. Before the horse could stop completely, the horse jumped down from above and quickly ran to Li Dingguo, kneeling down on one knee. "General, emergency military report, He Jin's nearly 30,000 troops were surrounded by Zhou Xian in Chengshi."

"What?" Li Dingguo's face changed suddenly, and Wang Xingyun shouted out in shock.

Li Dingguo was a little calmer and waved his hand, "Get up! What's going on, let me know carefully."

From the words of the cavalrymen, Li Dingguo roughly inferred what happened.

Five days ago, the official troops confronting He Jin in Caozhou and Juye suddenly retreated northward. They walked along Zhencheng and along Yuncheng, joining the Wanglingdian in Shouzhang. Afterwards, Liu Konghe led the main army into Daming Prefecture from the direction of Fan County, leaving only a battalion of soldiers in Shouzhang.

He Jin had received news before that the government army had sent thousands of soldiers to the Ming Prefecture. In addition, Liu Kong and this unit, the government army had nearly 20,000 troops in Daming Prefecture. Although he knew that Li Mei was stationed in Hua County, he was afraid that the other party would not be able to stop the government army, causing the government army to cross the Yellow River from that direction and attack Kaifeng. He left more than 10,000 soldiers around Jining, and lit up the remaining soldiers to chase. At Wanglingdian, he defeated a group of government troops stationed in the local area and then besieged Shouzhang.

Seeing that Shouzhang was about to break the city, the situation changed. The Jining official army suddenly broke out and defeated the remaining rebels. Then the army went east and attacked Dingtao. The whole way was again occupied Juye and Caozhou, blocking He Jin's way back to the south.

After receiving the news, He Jin hurriedly retreated, but was blocked by the government army. The government army that had previously entered Daming Prefecture also returned to Shandong under the leadership of Liu Konghe, and the government army arrived continuously. Seeing that there was no hope of retreating north, He Jin led his troops eastward, trying to cross the canal and enter the hinterland of Yanzhou. However, he was blocked by the government army in Wenshang and had to retreat to the Chengshi northwest of Juye to defend.

Li Dingguo felt a little incredible and asked: "Jining only has six or seven thousand soldiers. How did they defeat more than 10,000 troops outside the city, and at the same time they had the remaining strength to attack Dingtao and recapture Juye and Caozhou? Did He Jin go north to pursue him, and even the soldiers guarding the city were not left?"

The cavalry replied: "He Jin had left troops, but the number was not large. The Jining defenders did not send reinforcements even when the situation in Caozhou was most urgent. They suddenly broke out of the city, and the rebels outside the city were caught off guard, which led to the defeat. In Jining, there were not six or seven thousand soldiers, but twice the number. The villain had just discovered that within half a month, the official army had transferred more than seven thousand Teng County defenders into Jining. Because they pretended to be ordinary people and went there in several batches, they deceived our scouts."

"Wait, do you mean there are only two or three thousand official troops in Teng County?" Li Dingguo looked shocked.

The cavalryman looked ashamed, "I'm afraid this is the case. And there was a scout just rewarded him. Just two hours ago, all the defenders in the city had retreated to Jining."

More information was subsequently rewarded, making Li Dingguo increasingly incredible.

After Dingtao was captured, the Jining army followed the north and participated in the siege of He Jin in Cheng's city. At this time, the number of official troops outside Cheng's city was as high as 40,000. The official troops in Daming Prefecture were restless and were attacking Hua County with all their might. The rebel army in eastern Henan dared not easily reinforce He Jin.

In southern Shandong, Linyi was not only the basic defense force, but all the troops were transferred north. It is said that Zhou Xian completely gave up Feixian, Tengxian, Zouxian and other places and moved all his troops to Jining and Rencheng.

Wang Xingyun came back on a horse and reported to Li Dingguo: "I have been to Teng County. There are only a few hundred people left in it. The rest have been moved to Sishui by Zhou Xian. The situation in Fei County is basically the same as it does. It seems that Zhou Xian is determined to destroy He Jin. The official troops besieging He Jin also found out clearly that more than half of them were recently recruited by Zhou Xian. Although He Jin was trapped, Chengshi City has high walls and the government troops have to chew for several days."

Li Dingguo nodded and lamented: "What a pity. If I had known that Zhou Xian dared to transfer so many troops to western Shandong, I should have stopped Xuzhou troops from being transferred to Yangzhou in the south. I might have a chance to take down the entire Shandong! Now most of the remaining ones are cavalrymen, and only the troops left to Xuzhou are left, and they have the will but lack the strength."

Wang Xingyun said: "It's no wonder that the Marquis. Who would have expected that Zhou Xian would dare to act so boldly and leave only a small number of soldiers to guard these cities. At that time, the emperor and the general had already issued three orders, and you had to obey the orders. I heard that the general wanted to take Nanjing directly."

Li Dingguo shook his head, "How is it that easy? Our navy is newly built, and the official army is still very deep in the south. It is a delusion to want to take Nanjing in one battle."

Wang Xingyun said: "Don't worry about him! Anyway, I will follow the Marquis. What do you say, we will do what we do?"

Li Dingguo nodded and said, "You send people back to Xuzhou and recruit some blacksmiths here. From now on, this will be our place to build weapons and armor. You will first lead a thousand cavalry to Teng County and recruit soldiers around you to defend yourself. I will also rush there later."

The generals gathered in the tent and were discussing how to attack the city next. The person sitting in the main seat was the deputy general Liu Konghe, while the two generals Li Kai and Yang Yan were in the lower head, and the other generals were on both sides.

Liu Konghe took out Zhou Xian's letter and showed it to the generals and said, "The commander has already issued an order. The city must be broken within three days. Otherwise, the military law will be used. I will not talk nonsense to you, but I will directly order it. Wen Guardian, half of the old soldiers and new soldiers in your army will be the vanguard of the city, and you will be the vanguard of the city from the west wall."

Wen Kai stood up and said, "I obey the order. But I hope Deputy General Liu can provide artillery support."

Liu Konghe nodded, "Mr. Liu Qian, you are responsible for this matter. Don't rest the eight red cannons, at least open a few gaps to facilitate the army to attack."

Liu Rui bowed and said, "I understand."

Liu Konghe turned to Yang Yan and said, "General Yang, you have many soldiers under you, but they are all new soldiers and have poor combat power. I will give you three thousand old soldiers, and you are responsible for attacking from the northern city to restrain the enemy. He Jin still has thousands of cavalry under him. If he leaves the city, he can block him back and there is no need to fight with him to death."

Yang Yan said: "Thank you, Deputy General Liu."

Liu Konghe continued: "Wu Guerrilla, I will hand over all the cavalry and soldiers in the army to you. Be prepared to reinforce the cities at any time. In short, He Jin cannot escape for me."

Wu Zhiying nodded and said nothing.
Chapter completed!