The next morning, when the sun rose from the horizon and shone on this ancient city, Hezhou, which had been noisy all night, finally felt a little peaceful. However, the fire in the city was still raging.
The corpses of common people were everywhere. On the tower of the north gate, Li Tiehe's white-haired head was still staring into the distance with wide eyes, but under his neck was the bare flagpole he was holding.
Cheng Xianqing felt that he was a very artistic person. Looking at Li Tiehe's body that survived, he suddenly realized something, so he cut off his head and stuck it on the flagpole. As for the body, he didn't know.
Thrown in that corner, perhaps the corpse with tattered armor and missing head among the thousands of remains on the gentle slope of the north gate is this respectable old man.
At dawn, after Zhu Zhao killed hundreds of soldiers who disobeyed orders, the army of more than 200,000 was finally assembled. He burned the already crippled Hezhou City with fire, and Zhu Zhao joined the Bing Heng troops outside the west gate.
After that, they rushed towards Baidi City on Yizhou Road to the west without stopping. Li Bicheng's troops, who were originally blocking them, had already led their troops north after knowing that nothing could be done last night, abandoning Hezhou and preparing to concentrate their forces to defend Changzhou.
Waiting for a while. Inadvertently, they just avoided the front attack of the Holy Sect of Paradise.
Zhu Zhao was very satisfied with yesterday's battle and last night's venting. The Holy Sect's sudden westward advance was completely beyond everyone's expectations. Not only did his army of more than 100,000 successfully fight a bloody path out of the opponent's encirclement, but also
It disrupted the opponent's arrangement. After the fall of Hezhou, the Li family would definitely be unable to send troops to encircle and suppress themselves. In this way, their own strategic room for maneuver would be greater.
And after one night of indulgence, those Qinchuan Jingzhuang who were originally chasing ducks to sell products have now integrated into the Paradise Army. They have no chance to look back. They have no other place to go except to follow the Paradise Holy Cult.
As a result, the Holy Sect of Paradise has added one hundred thousand troops. Moreover, their family members who were sent back will inevitably have rifts with the Qinchuan soldiers in the future, which can provoke some internal conflicts in Qinchuan.
Thinking of this, Zhu Zhao couldn't help but feel unhappy. Even his marching speed increased a bit faster.
But when he thought of his good brother Minghui, Zhu Zhao felt cold in his heart. Minghui was ill, and not seriously ill.
Minghui's illness was completely caused by anger. Just last night, after Zhu Zhao's Ji Le soldiers had indulged in Hezhou City for half a night, Minghui suddenly received a notice from Zhu Zhao, saying that he invited Minghui to discuss
The next step in military strategy.
Naturally, Minghui had no doubts about his eldest brother. As a result, as soon as he walked out of the military camp, the military supervisor Min Chengdong, who had already had orders, ordered all the soldiers of Minghui's army to enter the city for a carnival. At dawn, Minghui left Zhu Zhao's military camp
When he staggered out, he realized that he had fallen into Zhu Zhao's trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain. But at this time, it was useless to say anything. He didn't know whether it was because he thought that his brother actually used such a despicable trick to plot against him or if it was true.
Feeling that he had taken the wrong path, Minghui spat out a mouthful of blood and was so dizzy that he didn't respond for a long time.
Zhu Zhao sighed in his heart. Although his position seemed beautiful, how could there be such a happy thing on the dangerous peak? Cheng Xianqing was already dissatisfied with Minghui, and Feng Mo and others were under Cheng Xianqing's ear all day long.
While talking about the slanderous words of himself and others, it happened that Minghui and others were still old-fashioned, so the contradiction between the two sides became more and more serious.
Just like last night, Cheng Xianqing personally ordered the army to enter the city for a carnival, but Minghui ordered the army to retreat. If he had not taken this method to mobilize Minghui, then when Cheng Xianqing's envoy arrived at Minghui's military camp,
There will inevitably be a dispute with Minghui. When Cheng Xianqing gets angry, who knows what the consequences will be?
The ways are different, but they are brothers after all, his biological brothers! Zhu Zhao smiled bitterly and said.
"Commander, good news, good news!" A soldier caught up with Zhu Zhao and shouted loudly while panting.
"What's going on?" Zhu Zhao stumbled out of the marching team and asked with an unchanging expression.
The Ji Le army was preparing to attack Baidi City. Cheng Xianqing and Bing Heng led the army to follow up, while Zhu Zhao led Wei Shaofu and others as the vanguard, marching in a hurry along the way. In order to express his gratitude to the soldiers, Zhu Zhao
Sharing the joys and sorrows, he did not ride a horse, but ran at the front of the team carrying his Fangtian painted halberd.
"We, we met General Wuyan and General Zhu Yaping on the roadside!" the soldier said with joy on his face.
"What?" Zhu Zhao excitedly grabbed the soldier's shirt, but he also felt that he was too rude, so he quickly let go and said: "Quick, take this commander to have a look!"
Both Yan Wuyan and Zhu Yaping were covered in scars, especially Yan Wu Yan. There was almost no intact part of his body, even his hair was burnt black by the fire, and he was particularly depressed even when he spoke. Zhu Yaping's condition was slightly better, but
The left arm was hanging limply, and it was obvious that it was either dislocated or the bones had been completely shattered.
"Laojie, Yaping, how are you doing? Why are you two together?" Zhu Zhao excitedly grabbed Wuyan's arm and asked.
Yan Wuyan managed a smile and said with a forced smile: "Zhu Shuai, haha, I said in Yan Wuyan that I will definitely complete the task. Fortunately, I have lived up to my mission."
"Don't tell me yet, you're all hurt like this." Zhu Zhao said with a frown. However, the guards around him were still energetic, so they narrated the matter exactly as it was.
After Li Wuyan was ordered to enter Baidi City, he soon ran into Song Yu's main army. In front of the superior force, Li Wuyan was killed by the opponent without even being able to resist. However, Bai Di at this time
The city was in chaos. Seeing that the mission had been completed, his soldiers quickly carried him, who had fainted, out of the encirclement and came to the edge of the river. Then they grabbed a small boat and prepared to leave. As a result, he happened to be injured and fled to the river.
Zhu Yaping here, so under the protection of more than a dozen soldiers, the group got on the boat and headed south.
Because they didn't know where Zhu Zhao's army was attacking, the boat leaked again. After escaping from the Baidi City, the group abandoned the boat and landed, and then carefully observed the surrounding situation. Near noon, the group was
Heading towards Hezhou, the soldiers in front reported that a large army was coming in this direction. Both Wuyan and Zhu Yaping were shocked at the time, but after seeing the army's tactics clearly, they were overjoyed and hurriedly stopped the enemy.
After some chatting, I finally met someone who was the captain of the school, and then I had someone notify Zhu Zhao in front of him.
"Okay! It'll be great if you can come back. I'm worried that no one will support my next actions! Haha, you should cultivate your health first. We still have a long way to go." Zhu Zhao laughed, but after laughing, his expression changed.
became gloomy.
Zhu Yaping had followed Zhu Zhao for many years and naturally knew what his old superior was thinking, so he quickly said: "General, Marshal Yan, and General Jiang Meng, we don't know what happened to them. But when we retreated at that time,
, the last general vaguely heard the desolate and sad slogans near Xiaodu Ferry. I think they have all sacrificed their lives for the empire."
Zhu Zhao sighed, Zhu Yaping just said he wanted to come. Besides, Yan Lege and Jiang Meng have always been lucky, I hope they can escape this disaster.
When the Bliss army was heading towards Baidi City, Haotian's carriage had just entered Hongzhou City. Although the north bank of the river was in chaos, the situation in the south of the Yangtze River had stabilized, at least in form.
Come down.
The curtains of Haotian's carriage were kept open, and Haotian leaned against the wall of the carriage and silently looked at the world outside the window. Xin Jiao was behind him as usual, rubbing his back. Xian Lianchen was obviously in a good mood today.
She helped Haotian massage his legs very peacefully. Qiu Mu was still writing her biography on the small table above the couch. Xue Qingcheng did not stay in the car, but was discussing with Xue Sha and others outside.
A step-by-step strategic plan. Like Zhang Yuewan, she is obsessed with the military. It is not impossible for her to stay quietly in the carriage, but no one is talking to her, so she seems a bit boring and depressed.
On both sides of the official road from Xingzhou to Hongzhou, there should have been green rice fields. However, after the ravages of the Bliss Holy Sect and Jinhua Mitsukoshi, the rice fields were still the same, and the seedlings were messy and crooked in the rice fields.
Looking up, one can see a lot of corpses in the rice fields, which are obviously the remains of local people.
Haotian finally turned his head back, closed his eyes slightly, and sighed softly.
"Husband, why are you sighing again?" Xian Lianchen is a very lively person, and when he hears Haotian sigh, he feels a little depressed.
"I was thinking that it would take at least thirty to fifty years for Dahu Road to return to its pre-war glory." Haotian said softly.
"Didn't it only take us two or three years to build the Hetao?" Xian Lianchen stopped and asked doubtfully.
Haotian said: "That's different. Although our Hetao also experienced the ravages of the six tribes outside the Great Wall at that time, the time was too short, and their damage was not very serious. The population was only reduced by less than a quarter. But the Great Lake Road, ten
If you don’t save one, you can’t save one out of ten. Besides, we in Hetao had the full support of your Tianwu Xinghe at that time. At least the funds were satisfactory. Coupled with the extraordinary talents of Lord Chu, Mr. Luo and others, we were able to recover so quickly.
.”
Xian Lianchen smiled. The huge gamble in Tianwu Xinghe established the trust of Tianwu Xinghe in the hearts of Haotian and the military and political personnel of Hetao. And she herself also married into Hetao as a bet at that time, and got her dream
of happiness.
Xin Jiao said worriedly behind Haotian: "But now the court wants money and no one, and Dahu Road is easy to attack and difficult to defend. There are wolves around. If you want to restore the situation before the war, unless something happens here,
A unified and strong political power is not enough."
Haotian leaned his head back, leaning directly between Xin Jiao's soft and comfortable breasts, and said: "This is none of our business, and our hands can't be stretched so long. We will wait until we cross the river to sweep away the Holy Sect of Bliss.
After our home base, our 300,000-strong army will immediately return to the Hetao. Hebei Five Roads, Hetao Six Prefectures, Bloody Plateau, Thirty-six Kingdoms of the Western Regions, and the Beiting Hometown. What a vast place it is, we can exert our full force there.
Our talent.”
Qiu Mu finally had some reaction, put the pen on the pen holder, and said with a smile: "Husband, the hometown of Beiting is on the territory of the three tribes in the northwest, and the hometown of the Anxi Protectorate is now also the thirty-sixth tribe of the Western Regions.
Since our country is so entrenched, it may still be difficult for us to display our talents."
During the Tang Empire, the administrative areas at that time were not divided by the current state roads, but by local roads, and the highest official of the road was the governor. For example, the current Qinchuan Road was the Guanzhong Road at that time, and the Yizhou Road was the Jiannan Road.
Dao. The jurisdiction of the Beiting Protectorate is roughly the vast area in the southern region of the three ethnic groups in the northwest, including the Uma Dynasty. The Anxi Protectorate is the current Anxi Road and the Thirty-six Kingdoms of the Western Regions. However, with the expansion of the
With the decline of the Tang Empire, Chinese forces gradually withdrew from these places. So much so that the Beiting hometown and the Anxi Protectorate have become legends.
Haotian laughed: "What's so difficult about that? Whether it's Beiting's old place or Anxi's Protectorate, we must recover it. Hum, I want to reset the Anxi Protectorate and Beiting Protectorate."
"My husband is so heroic!" Qiu Mu smiled slyly, climbed over from his seat, sat in Haotian's arms and said, "In that case, how should my husband behave south of the river?"
Haotian gently rubbed Qiu Mu's round buttocks with both hands, and said with a smile: "I won't tell you about this for the time being, but your husband has already made plans in his heart."
If Zhang Yuewan and Xue Qingcheng were here, they would definitely pester Haotian and ask him to tell him what his thoughts were. But Xin Jiao and Xian Lianchen never cared about the war, and Qiu Mu only asked casually.
That's all. After hearing what Haotian said, I naturally wouldn't go into details.
Qiu Mu originally wanted to tease her husband in Haotian's arms, but after twisting a few times, she realized that there seemed to be something wrong under her buttocks, so she spat lightly and twisted back to her table.
Above. She knows very well about Haotian's virtues. If Haotian's interest is aroused, who knows whether Haotian will directly have a daytime show of prostitution in the carriage?
"Lord, Hongzhou has arrived. Mr. Jingnan is greeting him personally." Fortunately, Xuanji's voice came from outside the carriage at this time. Haotian quickly sat up straight and straightened his clothes with the help of Xin Jiao. Mr. Jingnan was
He is the commander-in-chief second only to Tie Zhen in the imperial military. Even though he is a highly respected person in the entire empire, he personally greets him at the gate of Hongzhou City and he cannot be rude.
"Bring me my official robe and crown." Haotian said hurriedly.
Xin Jiao said with a smile: "Those things were sent back to Loop half a year ago. Didn't you say that those things look ugly? You might as well take them back and use them as diapers for the two young masters."
Only then did Haotian remember that this was the case. After Emperor Yinglie conferred him the title of King of Jingbei, the court also distributed his official robes, scarves, etc. as usual. However, Haotian was originally a soldier and was used to simplicity.
This robe wrapped with gold and jewels was obviously not suitable for him, so he simply had someone take it back to God and let him keep it first.
"In that case, let's just clean it up casually. Jiao, just be more formal."
Xian Lianchen smiled: "Husband, please pay attention to your words when the time comes. It will definitely impress Mr. Jingnan more than what you wear."
Haotian was furious: "Are you saying I can't speak?"
Qiu Mu also laughed: "It's not that my husband can't speak, he just likes to speak in the simplest way. Alas, only people like us can tolerate his straightforward temperament."
Haotian rolled his eyes and decided not to argue with these women. A man must be open-minded, and since he has never been able to fight with them in a quarrel, he might as well let them go.