When the Bianliang Army began to attack Zhengzhou and Huazhou, the Yunzhou Army finally joined the Pinglu Army and started a new war.

Looking at Yanzhou City in front of him, Zhao Ning showed a joking smile.

This smile is for Borshu on the tower.

After a year of fierce fighting, the Yunzhou Army completely broke through the iron barrel blockade of the 100,000 Tianyuan Army. With the cooperation of the Pinglu Army, they recovered Ji, Qi, Zizhou and other states.

At present, the Yunzhou army, which has continuously attracted practitioners from various states and counties and young and strong soldiers, has a total strength of 200,000. Together with more than 100,000 Pinglu troops, they arrived at Yanzhou City a few days ago.

Yanzhou, east of Yunzhou, is currently the base camp of the Borshu army.

Prior to this, with Yanzhou as the core, Borshu's troops captured Qilu to the north and advanced to the border of Qingzhou. They advanced to the south through Caozhou and reached the Songzhou city. In the middle, they besieged Bianliang. On the west route, they captured Luoyang and other places, and pushed forward.

Tongguan.

At that time, more than half of the Central Plains was under the control of Borshu, and it showed the trend of encirclement and pressure from the south. The military front threatened the Huaihe River Basin.

However, with the peg of Yunzhou in the north and Bianliang in the heart of the Central Plains, which is as stable as Mount Tai, the southward pressing force of Borshu's army is not in the shape of an overwhelming sweep, but in the shape of arms embracing each other.

If they embrace each other, Songzhou and Xuzhou will no longer exist. Bianliang in the heart will become an isolated island and be squeezed to death. Then Yunzhou, which is difficult to solve on the shoulder, will be easily captured.

It is a pity that as of today, Qilu has been recaptured by Zhao Ning, and Borshu's backyard is not safe;

In the south, Zhao Yujie invaded Caozhou in reverse. The Bianliang army attacked north and west, constantly conquering Huazhou and the city of Zhengzhou. One of the two arms surrounding it had its palm chopped off, and the other was being weakened.

As a result, the encirclement of Borshu's army was broken.

The territory controlled by the two armies is becoming more and more intertwined.

The difference from the 13th and 4th year of Qianfu is that the territory controlled by the Qi army is now spreading outward, while the territory controlled by Borshu is shrinking. Attack and defense are easy to do, and the one is declining and the other is growing.

Under this situation, the current war is of great significance.

After this victory, the main force of Borshu basically ceased to exist.

As for Da Qi, after gnawing away the heavily fortified Yanzhou, Borshu lost its base camp south of the Yellow River. It no longer had a solid foothold. There were only a few places to survive, and it was compressed into a very small area.

Inside.

From now on, whether it is the Beihu army to the west of Bianliang, or the Beihu army to the east or north of Bianliang, even if there is still some combat strength, in general they are just a group of scattered soldiers and trapped beasts. No matter what, the Qi army will

Can swallow it up.

By then, the entire Central Plains will be successfully recovered.

For Zhao Ning personally, capturing Yanzhou means taking the first step in recovering the Central Plains. No matter what others say after the war, his reputation and prestige in the hearts of the people in the world will be unparalleled.

Zhao Ning is determined to win Yanzhou City!

Yanzhou is so important, of course Bo Shu will risk his life to keep it.

At the top of Yanzhou City, Borshu looked at the endless siege camps outside the city with no end in sight, his face sinking like water.

Since the southern expedition in the twelfth year of Qianfu's reign, this was the first time he was besieged by the Qi army, and it was also the first time he experienced the feeling of an isolated island.

Before, he had always been the attacker, and both Yunzhou and Bianliang were besieged by his army. At that time, he never thought that one day, he would be surrounded by a sea of ​​enemy troops and be trapped in a corner.

Borshu knew that he could not be defeated. If he failed, not only would he be unable to do business, he would have to die to apologize, but the Tianyuan Royal Court's ambition and hegemony would also suffer a fatal blow.

Today, the rule established by Xiao Yan in Hebei has been very stable. In the past year, although various rebel groups still exist, their scale has not grown as before.

This shows that the situation is under control.

If this situation continues, the Hebei garrison's encirclement and suppression of the rebels will make the latter weaker and weaker until they are eventually completely destroyed.

This was while the national war continued, and the taxes in Hebei were serious and the people's burden was heavy. You can imagine what it would be like once the national war stopped and taxes in Hebei were lightened.

During the encirclement of Yanzhou by the Yunzhou Army and Pinglu Army, Borshu had already made many responses, mobilizing surrounding troops and horses to return to defense, including asking for help from Hebei, collecting a large amount of supplies and rations, etc.

However, the Bianliang garrison had already been dispatched, and Zhao Yujie's troops in Songzhou were also rushing to attack. The main forces of the Beihu army in various places fell into fierce fighting almost at the same time.

Except for those around Yanzhou, the troops that had retreated in previous battles had basically no soldiers to mobilize, and even the soldiers and horses of Caozhou, which was adjacent to Yanzhou, could not be taken away.

After a fierce battle, there were only about 80,000 soldiers and horses in Yanzhou City. This was the absolute main force that Bo Shu could use.

Eighty thousand men and horses are not many, but there is nothing that can be done about it. After the wars in the past few years, his troops and horses have suffered many casualties, but the number of troops cannot be replenished well.

Xiao Yan in Hebei was able to form a Green Camp Army after all. The situation south of the Yellow River has never been as stable as in Hebei. Even the strong young men of the Beihu Army who were forced to conquer always fled and defected at the opportunity, let alone the Green Camp Army.

.

Especially this year, after the Yunzhou Army and Pinglu Army launched counterattacks, his troops suffered heavy losses.

During the war, the Yunzhou Army and Pinglu Army also suffered losses. Compared to his troops, the losses were much greater. However, as long as the opponent occupied the city and regained the lost ground, and one man was killed in the battle, there would be two more to replace them.

The Yunzhou Army and the Pinglu Army, if it were not for the purpose of ensuring the combat strength of the army, not to mention more than 300,000 people, but 500,000 people could be obtained at the moment.

In any case, now, Borshu needs to use these 80,000 troops to defend Yanzhou City under the siege of more than 300,000 Qi troops.

Both Bo Shu and Mu Hehua saw Wang Shihou hanging next to Zhao Ning in mid-air in the Qi army camp outside the city. As soon as he saw the other person's arrogant look, Mu Hehua was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

"I had persuaded Wang Shihou at the beginning, and the other party accepted the princess's seal. Seeing that the Pinglu Army was about to become our minions, unexpectedly, Zhao Ning, this little guy, suddenly arrived in Qingzhou and actually made Wang Shihou give up surrender!

The frustrated Mu Hehua was filled with resentment, "If the Pinglu Army had become our strength at that time, the entire Qilu would have been ours!"

"Let's not talk about whether Zhao Ning can break through the blockade and break out of Yunzhou. At least the combat troops under our command will not be as stretched as they are now!

"As long as Wang Shihou surrenders to us, and with this precedent, we will not worry that we will not have more military envoys from Qi Dynasty to become our people in the future. And with these military envoys joining us, how difficult will it be for us to recruit young men and form a green camp army?

"If that were the case, we would now have half a million troops under our command instead of a million troops. At this moment, the morale of the military and people of Qi people in the Central Plains should not be said to have completely collapsed, but at the very least they should be depressed and panicked!

"How come Yunzhou and Bianliang cannot be conquered for a long time? Even capturing the entire Central Plains is easy!

Speaking of this, Mu Hehua's face burst into blue and purple, and his chest heaved violently, as if his chest was about to explode with anger if he couldn't breathe smoothly.

He calmed down for a while, then gritted his teeth and continued: "The slightest loss can make a huge difference. The great situation that was supposed to belong to us was completely lost because of a sudden change overnight, and now we are reduced to this situation!"

He stared at Zhao Ning outside the city fiercely, as if facing the enemy who killed his father, his eyes were red and his fists were clenched, and the veins on his forehead and neck were protruding, like a lion about to go crazy:

"How could Zhao Ning, that bastard, be aware of our attempt to lure Wang Shihou to surrender at that time? How could this guy show up and convince Wang Shihou to change his mind?

"For Zhao Ning, Wang Shihou is a traitor. If he knows that Wang Shihou wants to join us, he should kill him!

"Then Wang Shihou is also a top performer. Zhao Ning found out such a big thing, and yet he was able to join forces with Zhao Ning without grudges. He is not afraid that Zhao Ning will cross the river and burn the bridge, causing him to fall into a place of no return?

"Why should he trust Zhao Ning?!

"You bastards, they are all a bunch of bastards!

The more Muhehua talked, the more he couldn't control his emotions. The more he talked, the more excited he became. The more he talked, the more he couldn't stop. The more he talked, the more angry he became. In the end, he almost bared his teeth and claws:

"Zhao Ning, this bastard, can always turn the situation around at the critical moment and at the critical place. It's really a ghost in broad daylight! This guy has repeatedly ruined the great cause of our royal court. If we don't get rid of him, the royal court will never have peace!"

"Your Majesty, why hasn't the Great Khan come and taken off his head? How long will the Great Khan continue to allow this guy to harm the cause of my royal court?!"

At this moment, the furious Mu Hehua turned his head and glared at Bo Shu, shouting questions from the bottom of his heart.

He was extremely rude and rude to the extreme.

"shut up!"

Borshu looked at Mu Hehua, who was somewhat unconscious. Although he was annoyed that the other party was yelling at him and dared to question Yuan Mu's true words and deeds, he was also able to understand the other person's feelings and state of mind.

Isn't he feeling extremely aggrieved and angry?

I remember how relaxed and content he was when he led his army to break through Shanhaiguan and attack Hebei. At that time, he and his troops really seemed to dominate the world.

But who would have thought that when we arrived at the south bank of the Yellow River and encountered Yunzhou where Zhao Ning was in charge, everything would change.

After several years of fighting, the momentum of attacking cities and strongholds was gone, and the majestic wind that swept the Qi army was gone. It became increasingly difficult to attack fortified cities, and the army suffered more and more casualties.

Later, the progress was stopped, and the Qi army fell into a bitter battle. To this day, it is even easier to attack and defend. I am surrounded by heavy troops in an isolated city, and I am in danger of being destroyed if I am not careful.

If Zhao Ning hadn't led the Yunzhou Army and held back his 100,000 elite men, how could the war have turned out like this? Without the thorn in the side of Yunzhou, who could have stopped the 200,000 to 300,000 warriors under his command?

live?

The Central Plains can be beaten with just one drum.

Now it's better, the war has dragged on for several years, and the Qi army, which was weak in combat in the past, has grown into an elite force, with strong soldiers and horses, and can compete with his troops;

The Yunzhou Army, which he had beaten back then and could only retreat in the city, now became the most powerful army in the world. Not only did they attack the city and seize territory, they even surrounded him in the isolated city.

The situation was reversed, the circumstances changed, and they fell from the clouds into the quagmire. But in just three years, who could have been able to accept such a situation?

Was it because his skills were useless and he never realized the key to the war?

no.

He knew very early on that Zhao Ning was a serious nuisance to the royal court and must be eliminated.

To this end, he tried his best.

But what’s the result?

When he was helpless against Zhao Ning, he wanted to ask Yuan Muzhen to take action, but Yuan Muzhen refused to come.

Later, Borshu understood that Yuan Mu was seriously injured in Jinyang and did not have the power to kill Zhao Ning at all.

The war has turned into what it is now, and a great victory has turned into a battle between trapped beasts. Whose fault is it?

Borshu couldn't think of an answer.

Since the National War, no one seems to have made any obvious mistakes.
To be continued...