The Yuan army's fierce attack on Gaoyou continued day after day.
At the beginning, an army of 200,000 yuan also attacked Xuzhou. Although Gaoyou's military strength is not as good as Xuzhou, it is surrounded by water. In a sense, it is more difficult to capture than Xuzhou.
With the concerted efforts of Gaoyou soldiers and civilians, ten days passed. Although the defenders suffered heavy losses, almost all of them were injured by bows, arrows, muskets, and cannons. The Yuan army still could not scale the city wall.
On this day, Zhang Shicheng heard that Lu Zhen had regained consciousness, and hurried to the wounded barracks, held his hand and said: "Brother Lu, great, you finally woke up!"
Lu Zhen struggled to kneel down.
"The final general is incompetent and cannot hold on to the treasure!"
Zhang Shicheng hurriedly helped him up.
"How can I blame you? No one could have imagined that the Tatars would support so quickly. If you hadn't sacrificed your life to save him, Shide would have died. You are my benefactor!"
That day, Chahan led troops to rescue Baoying. During the melee, Lu Zhen led thousands of people to rush out of the city first, but learned that Zhang Shide was besieged by Chahan's men.
So he took people back for rescue, and finally rescued Zhang Shide, but he himself was seriously injured.
Later, the two men led the remnant army to flee south. When passing through Mopeng Bay, they were ambushed by the encirclement. In the end, only a few dozen of Lu Zhen and Zhang Shide's 30,000 troops escaped, and Lu Zhen was seriously injured and fell into coma.
Lu Zhen asked: "Your Majesty, how is the situation in Gaoyou now?"
Zhang Shicheng smiled and said: "The Yuan army is nothing more than this. After ten days of attacking, they still can't attack our city wall. Just rest in peace and recover, don't worry!"
Lu Zhen knew that the situation was not as optimistic as Zhang Shicheng said. The Battle of Baoying caused heavy losses to the Gaoyou Army, and now there are less than 30,000 soldiers in the city.
The Yuan army attacked the city with hundreds of thousands of troops. Even if it could hold on for a while, when the soldiers and horses in the city were slowly exhausted, there would be only death!
"Can we communicate with the outside world?" he asked.
Zhang Shicheng raised his head and said: "Of course, the Yuan army seems to be surrounded by water, but in fact the east gate waterway is a big loophole, and our scouts can easily enter and exit at night!"
In addition to the Hangou Canal that connects Gaoyou from north to south, there is also the Xinghua Canal that runs from east to west, connecting Gaoyou Lake to the west and Xinghua to the east.
So there are four water gates in Gaoyou.
"What's the situation outside? Is there still no movement from Jiangdu's army?" Lu Zhen asked again.
Zhang Shicheng sneered and said: "Zhang Yangquan is just a coward, I don't count on him anymore!"
Lu Zhen knew that what Zhang Shicheng said was angry, so she was silent for a while and said, "Has General Li taken action?"
Zhang Shicheng hesitated for a moment and said: "Not yet, but I have already given the order to Bo Sheng to take action immediately. I believe that we can disrupt the enemy's logistics soon!"
After discovering the situation in Xuzhou, Zhang Shicheng not only built the city wall and recruited soldiers, but also sent Li Bosheng to lead 3,000 people to Xuzhou to fight against the enemy.
When the Yuan army launches a large-scale attack on Gaoyou, these three thousand people will harass the Yuan army's grain transportation routes in the name of rebels.
If we can successfully cut off the enemy's food and fodder, we may be able to force the enemy to retreat.
This is Zhang Shicheng's only backup plan now, but he knows very well that this backup plan probably won't have much effect.
Tuotuo was more sophisticated than he thought. He used the entire rear army of more than 70,000 troops to protect the smooth flow of grain transportation channels. Li Boxheng's 3,000 troops alone were unable to compete.
"Okay, you should have a good rest. The enemy is still attacking the city, and I can't leave for too long."
After leaving the wounded barracks, Zhang Shicheng went straight towards the north gate city wall. When he just arrived at the city gate, he heard the thunderous cheers of the soldiers on the city wall.
He hurried up to the city wall, looked up, and couldn't help but be overjoyed. It turned out that the Yuan army that was attacking the city was retreating, and the flags were scattered all over the place. However, our own side actually defeated the Yuan army by relying on the battle of defending the city!
Several generals came running from a distance, and the first one was Zhang Shide.
"Brother, did you see that the Yuan army retreated! Haha, they were repelled by us!"
Zhang Shicheng couldn't help but be happy: "Very good, you defended very well! After this battle, let's see if people in the world still dare to underestimate us, Dazhou!"
At this moment, a messenger rushed up to the city wall and said: "Your Majesty, the Yuan army at the east gate has retreated!"
Zhang Shicheng was stunned for a moment and asked: "When will we retreat?"
"Just now!"
Zhang Shicheng finally realized that something was wrong. The Yuan troops on both sides retreated at the same time. It could only be that the commander of the Yuan army gave the order to withdraw. Something must have happened outside!
At night, the scouts dived back to Gaoyou City through the Dongmen Canal and finally brought back the information.
"You said Xinghua repelled the Yuan army?" Zhang Shicheng was surprised and happy, holding the scout's shoulders tightly with both hands.
The scout said excitedly: "Not only did they defeat the Yuan army, they also chased them out of the city for twenty miles, killing nearly ten thousand enemies. The enemy troops were forced to retreat to camp sixty miles away from Xinghua City!"
Zhang Shicheng slapped the table, looked up to the sky and said with a smile: "Okay! Bian Yuanheng is indeed a great general!"
Zhang Shide smiled and said: "It's no wonder that the Yuan army retreated today. It seems that they were also frightened by General Bian!"
The scout added: "There is also good news. I heard that Timur of Hezhou led an army of 20,000 to attack Zhenzhou. As a result, the entire army was wiped out. Only Yexian escaped back to Hezhou alone!"
Zhang Shicheng was shocked, and he and Zhang Shide looked at each other, and both of them understood that this was the real reason why Tuotuo ordered the retreat.
……
"Thank you, Prime Minister. I will conquer Jiangdu and not disappoint the Prime Minister!" Jia Lu cupped his hands and said.
"Go!" Tuotuo waved his hand.
Seeing Jia Lu leaving the commander's tent, he quickly said with a stern face: "Prime Minister, why did you agree with Jia Lu to attack Jiangdu? After the false trust, can he still be loyal to you?"
Tuotuo closed his eyes, sighed and said: "Yesu, do you know that the false letter not only made Jia Lu and Dong Tuanxiao hate me to the bone, but all the Han ministers under me also swarmed in to submit letters to ask for help.
Say goodbye!"
Yesu asked doubtfully: "Then you still use Jia Lu?"
Tuotuo said: "I don't expect Jia Lu to be loyal to me anymore, as long as he can win the battle!"
Yesu hummed: "Aren't you afraid that he will lead troops to rebel against Jiangdu Army?"
Tuotuo opened his eyes and said calmly: "I know Jia Lu very well. He is a person who attaches great importance to grudges. This time he asked for orders to attack Jiangdu. Firstly, he wanted to perform meritorious service to plead for Dong Juanxiao. Secondly, it was for
Revenge against Zhang Yangquan for framing him!"
Yesu was unconvinced and said: "Why do you insist on being a Han Chinese like Jia Lu? If there were no Han people, we could still conquer this beautiful country!"
Tuotuo sighed: "It's a pity that today's Mongols are no longer invincible eagles. Which one of my ineffective brother, King Xining and King Jing can be of great use?"
Ye quickly opened his mouth and closed it again.
Tuotuo said with a stern face: "Hezhou and Xinghua were defeated at the same time. The news will soon reach His Majesty's ears. If we can't win a big victory before then, I am afraid that my position as commander-in-chief of the entire army will not be secure."
!"
Yesu frowned and said: "Then we should attack Gaoyou with all our strength. Now that we are dividing our troops to attack Jiangdu, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult to succeed!"
Tuotuo glanced at him and said, "I asked Jia Lu to divide his troops just to attack Gaoyou with all his strength!"
Yesu was stunned.
Tuotuo explained: "Jiangdu's thieves are more difficult to deal with than Gaoyou's thieves. I know this very well, so I don't expect Jia Lu to conquer Jiangdu."
"Then you still let him go?"
Tuotuo raised his eyes and said: "Do you remember the Battle of Haozhou? Jia Lu defeated the many with less and besieged Haozhou City. As long as he can repeat his old tricks and contain the Jiangdu bandit army, it will be a great achievement!" Yesu's eyes lit up and he said: "If the Jiangdu thieves are restrained, Chahan Timur's right army can be liberated. Do you want him to join the siege?"
Tuotuo said in a deep voice: "That's right! When the three armies attack Gaoyou City together, I don't believe that this city is built of iron!"
Yesu hesitated for a moment and said: "If the right army is allowed to attack the city, His Highness King Jing may have objections!"
Tuotuo rubbed his temples and said: "This is indeed a trouble. He believes that Chahan deliberately let 10,000 thieves go, which led to his being ambushed! Is there anything you can do to persuade him?"
Yesu said helplessly: "This battle was His Highness King Jing's first battle after he went south, but he was defeated by the unknown Gaoyou thieves and was rescued by Chahan. With his temper, I'm afraid he won't listen to any advice.
!"
Tuotuo pondered for a while and said: "At this point, I don't care about so much anymore. You go to King Jing immediately and tell him that if Gaoyou cannot be captured within five days, I will let the right army participate in the siege."
!"
Yesu nodded and said: "Where is King Xining?"
Tuo Tuoshou said: "Give him the same five days. If we can't defeat Xinghua, I will re-activate Dong Tuanxiao and let him be responsible for attacking Xinghua!"