"Why would this loyal servant suddenly challenge our army?"
"How is the situation in the direction of Xiangyang?"
"How is the situation in Guanzhong?"
Yang Cunzhong immediately asked.
"Return to the military division!"
"I heard that the bandit army has sent Li Mingzhong, who previously defeated our army, to lead a large army to press into the direction of Xiangyang. I'm afraid the situation in Xiangyang is no longer optimistic!"
"The news coming from the direction of Guanzhong seems that the thief leader Xu Xian himself has personally led the army into Guanzhong!"
The general responded.
"Since the bandit leader has led an army to attack our troops from the Western Route and Northern Expedition, and Li Mingzhong has led his army to attack Xiangyang, this servant San Zhongyi still dares to challenge us like this. Isn't he asking for his own death?"
"So there's definitely something wrong!"
"There's definitely something wrong...!"
"Could it be...could it be that the main force of the bandit army sent troops to Guanzhong and Xiangyang in name, but actually came to support Pusan Zhongyi?"
"You give the order immediately!"
"We will withdraw our troops tonight without any delay!"
Yang Cunzhong seemed to have expected something.
Xiangyang City, Fancheng to the north.
"Report to the Zhou Prefect!"
"The bandit army has arrived ten miles north of our city!"
A spy reported to the prefect Zhou Ding.
"The thieves came so quickly!"
"Quickly tell me to go down, and everyone will immediately follow me and retreat to Xiangyang City in the south of the Yangtze River!"
Zhou Ding said and ran out quickly.
"Lord Prefect!"
"Did we abandon Fancheng for nothing when the bandit army came?"
At this time, a general chased him and asked about this week's decision.
"Shao Dutong's 200,000-strong army was defeated by the rebels. Do you think we can still defend Fan City?"
"Instead of making fearless sacrifices, it is better to retreat to Xiangyang City in the south of the Yangtze River and defend it!"
Zhou Ding responded while continuing to go to the South Gate Pier.
After a while, Zhou Ding was the first to leave the water gate of Fancheng and boarded a warship on the pier.
"Prefect Zhou!"
"Prefect Zhou, walk slowly...walk slowly!"
At this time, the general from before followed him again.
"Why are you so annoying?"
"If you don't organize your soldiers to evacuate Fancheng, why are you chasing this prefect?"
Zhou Ding looked a little unhappy at this time.
"Prefect Zhou!"
"This Fancheng and Xiangyang in the south have been closely linked since ancient times. We cannot give up easily!"
"You can't give up!"
"I hope you, Governor Zhou, will do your best to organize the soldiers to defend Fancheng!"
"If Fancheng surrenders in vain, does the prefect think Xiangyang can be defended?"
The general tried hard to dissuade him.
"Did you forget that when the Tatar army marched south to Xiangyang?"
"At that time, I listened to you people and defended Fancheng, causing more than 10,000 casualties among the soldiers!"
"Later, by retreating to Xiangyang, we completely repelled the Tatar army!"
"If I hadn't spent all my family's money, bribed the envoys, and reported the victory to the court, you and I would have been demoted to civilian status!"
"You forgot the lesson you learned back then so quickly?"
"So now, the best way is to abandon Fancheng and retreat to Xiangyang City in the south!"
Zhou Ding seems to have already made his own plans.
"But…!"
"But the Tatars are different from the bandits!"
"The Tatars mainly used cavalry and were not water-savvy. They were unable to cross the Han River and capture our Xiangyang City at that time!"
"On the contrary, the rebel army knows how to fight on the water. If we give Fancheng to the rebel army and use it as a stronghold, how can we still defend Xiangyang City!"
The general continued to persuade.
"What are you afraid of?"
"The situation on the western front and the eastern front is now favorable to us in the Song Dynasty. The bandit army cannot waste too much time attacking Xiangyang City!"
"I believe that as long as we defend Xiangyang City, the rebel army will retreat within two months!"
"So stop making these alarmist remarks!"
"Hurry up and organize the army to retreat!"
Of course Zhou Ding couldn't listen to what the general said.
"sail!"
"Set the ship quickly...!"
Seeing that the general wanted to persuade him, Zhou Ding quickly ordered people to move the ship away from the shore.
"The imperial court entrusted all the military and political power in Xiangyang to you, Zhou Ding. It was a mistake to give the right to the wrong person! It was the wrong person to pay the right to!"
"If Fancheng is given to the bandit army for nothing!"
"What can we do to defend Xiangyang?"
"What should I use to guard it?"
After seeing Zhou Ding leaving, the general couldn't help but sigh.
"General Yang!"
"Ahead is Fancheng, the northern gateway to Xiangyang City!"
A general reported to Yang Polu.
"Fan City, the key to capturing Xiangyang!"
"I heard that Guan Gong tried to attack Fan City at all costs, but in the end Fan City was not captured, and Guan Gong even lost his life because of this!"
"What a pity!"
"Now it's my turn, Yang Polu, to attack Fancheng. I can't make the same mistake as Guan Gong did!"
"Go ahead and tell everyone to be careful and don't underestimate the enemy!"
Yang Polu ordered.
But when the army arrived under the walls of Fancheng, they discovered that there seemed to be no defenders on the walls, and even the city gates were wide open.
"what happened?"
"Why is there no one guarding the huge Fancheng?"
"Where have those Song troops gone?"
"Come here, go and check what's going on inside!"
Yang Polu was a little curious.
Then several spies immediately and cautiously entered Fancheng to investigate the situation.
After a while, a spy came back.
"Report to General Yang!"
"The Song army and the people in Fancheng City have all evacuated, and now the city is empty!"
The spy reported to Yang Polu.
"What?"
"How could the Song Army give up such an important place like Fancheng so easily?"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Back then, Guan Yu fought hard for half his life but failed to capture Fancheng. Now, I, Yang Polu, can actually pick it up for nothing!"
"Okay...that's great!"
"Go ahead and tell everyone to follow me immediately and enter Fancheng!"
So Yang Polu was pleasantly surprised and led his soldiers to capture Fancheng, which was across the river from Xiangyang without any bloodshed.
Qinzhou City.
"Report to Yu Dutong!"
"I heard that Xu Xian's army has arrived in Guanzhong with support!"
"The commanders on the front line asked me to come back and ask you whether we want to continue attacking Fengxiang Mansion?"
An envoy hurriedly came to see Yu Yunwen, who was in charge of the army of the Western Song Dynasty.
"Li Xianzhong surrendered to the enemy, Shao Hongyuan was captured, and the entire Central Route Army was annihilated. Now Xu Thief's army can use all its strength to deal with our West Route Army and East Route Army!"
"It seems that this Northern Expedition is destined to be a hopeless victory!"
"Go back and tell the controlling generals and let them wait for the opportunity to take action!"
"If Fengxiang Mansion can defeat them, then attack them. If they cannot defeat them, then withdraw them!"
"Withdraw!"
Yu Yunwen looked helpless at this time.
"withdraw?"
"Could it be that Yu Dutong means that we are preparing to withdraw to Shu?"
“Are we just going to give up on our hard-fought Northern Expedition?”
A general next to him immediately asked.
"Yes!"
"If you don't withdraw your troops, do you want to wait for the reinforcements of the thieves to launch a massive counterattack against us, causing our entire army to be annihilated?"
"The original function of our West Route Army is to contain Xu Thief so that the two armies in the middle and east routes can use their strength to destroy Xu Thief's main force in the Central Plains!"
"But now the East Route Army has not made the expected progress, and the Central Route Army has suffered a complete defeat. What else can our West Route Army do?"
"So returning to Shu and preserving our strength is the most important thing!"
Yu Yunwen explained.
"But...but now that we have returned to Shu, if we want to regain Guanzhong in the future, I'm afraid it will be hopeless!"
The general seemed unwilling to give in.
"Then what can be done?"
"With Zhuge Kongming's talent at that time, he made many northern expeditions and attacked Guanzhong, but he never achieved victory. Isn't it normal that we can't win Guanzhong?"
"Do you think that with our talents, who can compare with Zhuge Kongming back then?"
At this moment, Yu Yunwen could only comfort himself with the memory of Zhuge Liang, who was forced to withdraw his troops this time.
"Yes!"
"It is true that none of us can compare with Zhuge Kongming back then!"
"But... Xu Thief doesn't have the so-called Sima Yi back then!"
The general still seemed unwilling to accept the withdrawal.
"Who said Xu Thief doesn't have Sima Yi under his command?"
"Don't you know that Tu Dan Hexi's name is Xiao Sima?"
"If this disciple Dan Hexi hadn't been so cunning, imitating Sima Yi and avoiding fighting with our army, why would our army be in this situation now?"