Ma Ying had a solemn look on his face. Although he was not an orthodox military general, he was not a young boy after so many days of fighting in Xuzhou City. He still had a deep understanding of the current situation:
"Brother Xiang, the situation is critical now. The troops in our hands are weaker than the opponent's, and our combat effectiveness is uneven. If we don't make a decisive decision, I'm afraid the consequences will be disastrous."
Xiang Xing also nodded. The Eastern Army's combat effectiveness is quite strong, but the Green Dragon Army is really not on the stage. If it is a city defense, it can still exert 80% of its combat effectiveness. But in such a field battle, it is still time to retreat.
, Xiang Xing didn't have any hope for them at all. Moreover, he was worried that the other party would disrupt his position when escaping.
But the Holy Sect of Paradise is different. Their fighting power and tenacity of fighting will are not comparable to that of the Eastern Legion. Moreover, Zhu Zhao and Yan Lege are the most capable generals of the Holy Sect of Paradise. Even Xiang Xing himself, in
When facing one of them, one must be careful not to be careless. Now that they are both together, Xiang Xing is also at a loss.
However, Xiang Xing still said confidently: "Old Ma, don't worry. Although the Holy Sect of Paradise is coming fiercely, if we fight head-on, we are indeed no match. However, now we only need to hold on for half a day and cover the army to cross the bridge.
Okay. I can handle this, Xiang Xing."
Having said this, Xiang Xing thought for a moment and then said: "Old Ma, you lead your soldiers of the Green Dragon Legion to leave first. They will be of no use if they stay and will only be a burden to us. I will lead the soldiers of the Eastern Legion to cut off the rear."
Ma Ying also knew that what Xiang Xing said was true. Compared with the Eastern Army, the soldiers of the Qinglong Army were like a group of refugees, without any organization or military awareness. It was easy to say that they won the battle, but if the situation reversed, they would be defeated.
The army was defeated. Thinking of this, Ma Ying couldn't help but regret that when he rebuilt the army, if he hadn't dispersed the 30,000 veterans and placed them among the 100,000 troops to bring the entire army to maturity quickly, then he still had 30,000 elites in his hands.
However, if we don't do this, it will take a long time for the Azure Dragon Legion to return to its original combat effectiveness.
The armies of Zhu Zhao and Yan Lege have approached the outer perimeter of Qingfeng's army. In order to ensure the smooth crossing of the river, Xiang Xing specially circled a huge semicircular defensive formation at the head of the bridge. Together with the cavalry of the Qinglong Legion, 30,000 cavalry were divided into three groups.
Two groups, located on the left and right sides of the defense line, launched counterattacks against the Holy Sect from time to time. However, Zhu Zhao was not a newbie on the battlefield, and had already responded to Qingfeng's cavalry advantage. The cavalry of the Eastern Legion did not have the capabilities of the Scarlet Cavalry.
They had strong breakthrough capabilities and did not have as good commanding generals as the Hetao Cavalry, so they charged several times. Not only did they not cause confusion to the opponent, but they themselves suffered considerable losses.
Xiang Xing sighed: "The Holy Sect of Paradise is not so easy to deal with. Just with Zhu Zhao and others, we Qingfeng don't have many generals who can compare with them. It's a pity that Your Majesty always wants to use the sword to kill people and take the opportunity to eradicate dissidents.
I don’t even think about it, if there is no support from Qinchuan and Huai River in Hetao, can our imperial court be able to put down the Holy Sect of Paradise with just this little force?"
Ma Ying's face was not good-looking either. Almost no one in the military generals was optimistic about Emperor Zhongxing's strategic plan. The way to war is to concentrate superior forces, but Emperor Zhongxing actually practiced egalitarianism and talked about attacking on all sides to divide and encircle.
, it is a fact that these four armies of ours are distributed to the other party and surrounded.
"Your Majesty is too narrow-minded." Ma Ying said suddenly.
Xiang Xing nodded. Emperor Zhongxing's mind was indeed too narrow-minded, and they were all old ministers who stayed before the death of Emperor Yinglie, so Emperor Zhongxing was very uneasy about them, military generals who held military power. So
, Emperor Zhongxing vigorously promoted civil servants and confidants, and tried his best to keep An Yongchang. This was the case.
Ma Ying said coldly: "If An Yongchang is not eliminated, the internal troubles in Qingfeng will continue. But why is Your Majesty so stupid?"
"The Minister of War and the two princes are also very dissatisfied with Your Majesty. It is a pity that the late Emperor died in Xuzhou in battle." Xiang Xing lamented.
"Report to the two legion commanders, the Holy Sect of Bliss, that the 100,000 troops of the Minghui Legion are already forty miles away and are rushing in. They can reach the battlefield in two hours at most!" At this moment, a scout gasped.
Come up and report.
"What?" Xiang Xing and Ma Ying were both shocked. The Minghui Corps was carried across the river by the Dongwa Navy and then followed the Huai River to the Shouzhou area. However, the water surface of the Tongshui River is not very wide, and
The depth is limited, so Dongwa Water
The division did not advance along the Tongshui River. Although Zhang Cangxiong's Huaishui Navy was transferred to Pennsylvania, it still had some eyes on the river. Therefore, as soon as he learned that the Minghui Corps was preparing to go north, Zhang Cangxiong immediately informed Xiang Xing
.
Xiang Xing is also a veteran who has been on the battlefield for a long time. As soon as he heard the news, he knew that the other party was preparing to kill him all. He did not hesitate and quickly retreated with more than 100,000 soldiers. Originally, he thought that the Minghui Legion should be the first to attack.
It took two days to reach the battlefield, so Xiang Xing was so confident in his retreat plan. However, facing the siege of nearly 300,000 troops, Xiang Xing really couldn't guarantee that he could block the opponent's path.
Xiang Xing tried his best to calm down: "Lao Ma, don't worry. Although the Holy Sect of Paradise has an absolute advantage in troops, the terrain here is relatively narrow, and the number of troops they can invest each time is limited. However, if they arrive, it will be a disaster.
It’s a very troublesome thing.”
Ma Ying thought for a while and then said to Xiang Xing: "Brother Xiang, now is not the time to talk about this. It is impossible for our defense line to stop the attack of the opponent's 300,000 troops. Especially in the final battle.
It is even more impossible when some soldiers have already crossed the bridge. Therefore, the best way is to leave a group of dead soldiers behind. Let them temporarily block the opponent's attack, while the army that has crossed the bridge will immediately break the bridge.
This is where there is a glimmer of hope.”
Xiang Xing laughed and said, "In that case, you take the first step, brother, and I will stop you here. Your Green Dragon Legion soldiers are too weak to block the opponent's attack..."
As soon as Xiang Xing said this, he suddenly felt a pain in his neck, and then he fainted.
"Marquis Anbian, what do you mean? Why did someone suddenly attack my army commander?" Hou Zhengchun shouted angrily.
Ma Ying smiled slightly: "If you don't knock your legion commander unconscious, will he leave?"
After saying this, Ma Ying's expression suddenly became solemn: "Now I am the highest military commander here. I have ordered that all the soldiers of the Qinglong Army stay behind and the rest quickly pass through Wangjiang Bridge."
"Master Hou, what do you mean?" Hou Zhengchun said dumbfounded.
Ma Ying's eyes widened: "What? You don't obey military orders?"
Hou Zhengchun hesitated for a moment, but finally straightened his back and said loudly: "I will obey your orders!"
The soldiers of the Azure Dragon Legion quickly moved to the forefront of the defense line. At this time, either I will kill you or you will kill me. The bloody spirit of the soldiers of the Azure Dragon Legion was also aroused. Most of them were from Tiandu.
The gangsters in Shengjing usually fought with great ferocity, but now when their lives were at stake, they naturally had no reservations. After fighting desperately, one by one, they actually temporarily curbed the offensive of the Bliss army.
Under Ma Ying's order, all 30,000 cavalrymen drove their horses into the Tongshui River and allowed them to swim freely to the other side. Bao Feng, who had already passed the Wangjiang Bridge, also organized people on the other side to search for ships nearby.
Speeding up the passage of soldiers. With the orderly cooperation of all parties, the retreat speed of Qingfeng's army was significantly increased.
Yan Lege's face was ashen. Seeing Qingfeng's army passing by the Wangjiang Bridge, he wanted to rush forward with his iron spear. However, Zhu Zhao's face was as calm as ever.
Yan Lege couldn't help but asked curiously: "Brother, why don't you let me attack? If I were to lead the team myself, I would definitely be able to smash a hole in the opponent's defense."
Zhu Zhao said nonchalantly: "It's okay, let them go. Xiang Xing is a strong general in Qingfeng. If he really wants to leave, we can't keep him. You see, isn't their Qinglong Legion still here?"
Are they behind? If we attack by force, they will also leave an army of dead soldiers to break up the rear. If we attack slowly now, they will still leave an army behind, and the result will be the same, so why should we lose more troops?"
Yan Lege hesitated and said, "But the second brother's army is coming here. If we let each other go, wouldn't the second brother's work be in vain?"
"It is also good to leave some foundation for Qingfeng. If we really leave all the opponents behind in this battle, then the strength of the Qingfeng royal family will definitely be even more exhausted. By then, they will have to rely more on Hetao Haotian. You should understand that we
The biggest enemy is not the Qingfeng royal family, nor the Qinchuan Li family, but Hetao Haotian. If you look at what Haotian did on our territory, you should know that he is different from Qingfeng and the Li family. He hopes
What they want is to kill us all. The Qingfeng royal family has soldiers in their hands, so they are qualified to fight against Haotian. Moreover, do you think Xiang Xing, who was defeated and returned to Tiandu Shengjing, will have a good end? That faint king only thinks about it.
If you reduce your power, you will naturally not miss this opportunity."
Yan Lege nodded as if he didn't understand. For him, these things are too troublesome. What he likes most is the Prancing Horse Yangge fighting on the battlefield. But there are still some doubts in his heart: "Brother, since we can solve the problem
, then why did second brother’s army of 100,000 people be transferred back?”
Zhu Zhao smiled bitterly, waved his hands to let the soldiers following the two of them disperse far away, and then said: "Fourth, there are some things you don't understand. The leader is no longer the bold, upright and upright leader of the past.
Haven't you noticed that when forming your legion, the leader set up a military supervisor in each legion to assist us in managing the affairs of the legion?"
Yan Lege rubbed his head and said: "This is a good thing. With the military supervisor, I feel that I have a lot less things to do."
Zhu Zhao also knew that his brother had this kind of virtue, but he was holding some things in his heart that he couldn't say out loud: "Fourth brother, this actually shows a problem. The leader is no longer trusting us brothers who are following him to conquer the world.
Yes. The establishment of military supervisors is to control the promotion and financial rights of generals in the legion. Once their status is determined, then we legion commanders can only lead troops to fight. Why was the second brother transferred back? He
You have only been at Jiangnan Road for a few months? The superficial reason is that you have been transferred back to fight, and Jiangnan Road is now empty. Garrisoning there will only be a waste of troops. In fact, the key reason is that the second brother is hanging too far away, and the leader can't reach it. I don't believe it.
You see, in three months at most, after the leader has settled matters within the sect, he will lead his troops to march to the south of the Yangtze River and plot the road to the Great Lakes."
Yan Lege smiled coquettishly: "Brother, I still don't understand."
"Don't you understand? Then let me be more straightforward. When we fought together to conquer the world, what we wanted was to lick blood from the edge of the knife, so the leader gave us the military power and let us go and fight. But now, the leader feels that we have
It’s a solid territory. And we old brothers have too much power in our hands, so we want to take back some of it.”
Yan Lege was stunned: "Brother, do you mean that the leader doesn't trust us anymore?"
Zhu Zhao nodded slowly: "Fourth, that's the truth. In fact, look at the leader, has he become a lot more gloomy over the past year or so? Power is something that you don't feel much about when you don't have it, but once you get it,
No one will let go of it. I’m afraid you don’t know that the leader already has the idea of establishing a country and becoming emperor?”
"What?" Yan Lege was shocked, and his voice became louder, which immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding soldiers. Zhu Zhao's face darkened, and he looked around slightly. The soldiers immediately lowered their heads and moved their gazes to the other side.
Yan Lege said somewhat amusingly: "Jianguo proclaimed himself emperor? How much land have we occupied now, do we want to found a country and proclaim emperor? Didn't the leader say at the beginning that the uprising was for the common people of the world? Now that the world is settled and the people are displaced, it begins
Proclaimed emperor."
Zhu Zhao sighed in his heart, among the Holy Sect of Bliss, only Yan Lege had such an idea, right? Among his four brothers, Yan Lege had the simplest head. He was passionate, generous and bold, while Hiragi was silent, restrained, low-key and simple.
Minghui attaches great importance to love and justice and works hard without complaining. However, Pinglang and Minghui have obviously noticed the leader's intention, but Yan Lege still knows nothing about it until now.
Taking a long breath, Zhu Zhao said with a wry smile: "Fourth brother, you have to remember that the leader is no longer the impassioned leader who drank with you in a big bowl. The leader will be crowned emperor next year at the latest.