Since the Jingning Army counterattacked at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, Duke Xuande's court led Zhu Zhenyou and Yan Yunhai to retreat to the front line of Jiqing and Qianjing, relying on the joint defense of the strong city and deep trenches, and they did not dare to take half a step out of the defense line.

Although Wang Ting had a resounding slogan of revolting against the Generalissimo, the only thing he could actually use was the 30,000-strong Central Army. The five towns in Hebei Province followed his unified orders and violated them, causing him unspeakable suffering.

He knew that although the rebel army still had the upper hand in terms of strength, it could no longer attack Mubiao City in terms of combat strength and momentum. The best strategy for now was to hold on to Ji Qing and firmly guard the throat of the rebel army heading south to the Hebei Plain until tomorrow. Reinforcements from the Spring Court arrived, and they combined the valley and Hongyuan City to attack in a pincer attack, so that they had enough chance to defeat the enemy.

Wang Ting's own military orders were still freshly placed in the capital, and his old face looked very dull. Fortunately, the imperial court was too busy dealing with other affairs in the west, south and southwest, and only wanted to hold on to the northern front, so there was no trouble for him for the time being.

At the end of the year, both sides, who had lost their vitality, needed to recuperate and recuperate. No one was willing to open the army lightly, but was busy adjusting food supplies from all sides.

There were more than 100,000 people fighting against the rebel army. Ji Qing Qianjing's original grain reserves were not enough to celebrate the festival. It used to be the fastest way to transport grain from the south of the Yangtze River to the north by sea. However, now that the North Sea is blocked, we have to use the grain stocks in Hebei and the valley.

A steady stream of grain trucks from Hebei Province were transported to the military camps, temporarily filling the gap in grain and grass. When the grain grains arrived, the soldiers could have a full Spring Festival.

New Year's Eve was approaching in two days, and the messenger from the valley arrived belatedly, asking the city to send troops to escort the grain trucks to prevent unruly people from stealing the grain.

This was a routine matter, so Wang Ting left it to the city lord Zhu Zhenyou to handle it.

Zhu Zhenyou sent a team of a thousand people to meet them thirty miles southwest, then picked up the grain trucks and supervised the transportation back to the city.

After returning five or six miles to the northwest, where smoke and dust arose, a group of cavalrymen came like the wind. From a distance, they saw a large wolfskin banner flying high in front of the army.

The Jingqing soldiers who were responding to the grain carts all recognized that this was the Wolf Banner Army, the sharp weapon of Mudiocheng. Judging from the formation, there were five hundred. The thousand Jingqing soldiers were still frightened. They were hesitating whether to fight or leave. Seventy-seven of the grain escort troops in the valley Ba Ba fled for a long time. When the Ji Qing army saw that the protector had all run away, they still waited stupidly to be stabbed, and then they also ran away.

Zhu Zhenyou did not punish the deserters, but was puzzled that only 500 cavalry dared to rob the grain. He expected that the rebel king must have a back-up plan, so he immediately ordered 2,000 cavalry to pursue the grain carts, and deployed 3,000 infantry to support them, just to protect the grain. , don’t argue with each other.

It didn't take long for them to catch up with the grain truck. Although Lang's army was brave, the enemy's force was four times larger than ours. The hero did not suffer the immediate loss, and withdrew after only a slight resistance.

The Ji Qing Army recaptured the grain cart, but before the shaft of the cart was boiling hot, smoke and dust rose again from the north, and this time a thousand wolf band troops came fiercely towards them.

The Ji Qing Army hastily formed a formation to resist, and the Lang Yu Army easily tore apart the middle army, charging from left to right without any hindrance.

Zhu Zhenyou received the battle report and immediately ordered three thousand elite soldiers to surround him.

Seeing that they could no longer gain any benefit, the Langzhen army rushed back to Mubiao City in a swarm.

The Jingqing Army firmly protected the grain carts and worked step by step. Finally, there were no more attacks, and all the grain and grass in the valley were collected into the warehouse.

Around four o'clock in the night, a clapper suddenly sounded in the city, and the flames illuminated half of the city, indicating that a corner of the grain depot was on fire.

The troops worked desperately to carry earth and water until dawn to put out the fire. Another check showed that 30% of the stored grain was burned. The military rations that could have provided enough food and clothing were now stretched.

The investigation revealed that the cause of the fire was a fire in the grain storage area of ​​the valley. The source of the fire was the igniting substance stuffed into the grain bags.

Zhu Zhenyou was extremely upset, and after all his calculations, he did not expect that the enemy's plan was to subvert the strength and replace the pillars.

Huang Mingju, the governor of Zitang Prefecture, has achieved initial results in his mediation in the valley. The seven cities in the east and north have secretly promised to surrender to King Jing, and will change their flags to King Jing as soon as the opportunity comes.

As soon as he received the grain adjustment order from the puppet Ning court, he secretly communicated with Mulie City.

King Jing made a plan to wait for the grain and grass to be transported to the outskirts of Jiqing from the valley. The Langqi Army pretended to rob the grain. Huang Mingjubu's insiders took the lead in abandoning the grain. After the Langqi Army seized the grain, they quickly stuffed the prepared bamboo tubes one by one.

Grain and rice bags.

After they were able to capture and abandon again, the Jiqing army transported the grain and grass to the grain depot in the city, lit the Shanghan that had been lurking in the city one by one, and kicked the puppet imperial army back below the food and clothing line.

There was a shortage of food at the end of the year, and many soldiers secretly escaped from Jiqing City. The morale that had just recovered plummeted again.

The land in Muleocheng City is barren and it cannot support tens of thousands of troops. However, the two heroes of the You clan brought all the official treasury of East China Sea City. The East China Sea Fleet was rampant at sea. Youzhou used the money to purchase a lot of goods along the coast.

With military rations, you will have no worries at the end of the year.

Huang Mingju originally wanted to transport the grain and grass from the valley to Mulie City, but King Jing made a comprehensive consideration. Firstly, the valley was not yet settled, so Huang Mingju could not be exposed easily. Secondly, the army's food was temporarily sufficient, and it was better to harm the enemy than to enrich oneself, so he decided on a plan.

However, money was limited after all, and Muleocheng could not continue to rely on buying grain. For this reason, King Jing asked Cheng Xuanwei several times for advice, and the latter thought twice.

"The foundation of the great cause of Jingyi must be in Hebei. If we don't capture Jiqingqianjing within half a year, there will be changes later, and the valley may have dissent. Now that the army is exhausted, it is not appropriate to launch another expedition. The top priority is to eliminate Hongyuan City on the side.

Only then can we unite with the valley to suppress Hebei and subjugate the enemy without a fight."

Cheng Xuanwei originally suffered from cold illness, but before he could recover, he was besieged by wood turtles. Later, he went on a mission to the bitterly cold places in the north of the Great Wall. The cold illness became even deeper. Now he can't speak more than two sentences without coughing, and his body is getting thinner and thinner.

Already.

King Jing was furious when he thought of Hongyuan City. When the wooden turtles besieged the city, the allies who swore blood to the sky not only did not send a single soldier to relieve the situation, but even imprisoned Xia Wuming, his most capable adviser.

"Young boy Gao Zhizhi is too stubborn, how can I be willing to let go of him!" Prince Jing said bitterly.

Cheng Xuanwei coughed for a while, and Prince Jing personally beat his back.

"If my lord really thinks so, I will have no choice but to sit back and wait to die!"

"Teacher, what do you mean by this?"

Cheng Xuanwei wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and said: "When our army was besieged, although Hongyuan City said it would come to the rescue, it did not send troops to help. Although Xia Wuming was imprisoned, his life was not in danger. From this two points

It is not difficult to see that Gao Zhizhi and Shi Lixu are just watching from the sidelines, waiting for which side is weak, and then they will fall to the other side."

Prince Jing said angrily: "You are a snob and have no regard for justice!"

"It's only natural for this person. The Lord is fighting for the world, so don't care too much about it. Now that our Jingning army has defeated the puppet army, our fortune is booming. If we don't take this opportunity to win over Hongyuan City, how can we ask the puppet court to do it again?

?”

Prince Jing remained silent for a long time and asked: "Once the dust of Hongyuan City has settled, what should be the next step?"

"My lord is good at fighting, this is an advantage, but soldiers are fierce. If you rely too much on the power of the army, you will injure the enemy by one thousand and lose eight hundred. After all, it is not a long-term solution. Military affairs are not as important as national affairs, and national affairs are not as important as political affairs. If you want to win today

To remain unmoved amidst this monstrous wave, we must combine vertical and horizontal attacks with close attacks, and win more allies!"

"We already have strong support from Tuqu. I wonder if there are any other potential allies we can contact?"

"The Tequ people value profit over righteousness. They will sacrifice their lives for anyone who offers more benefits. This is someone who is hanging on with money, not a reliable ally."

Cheng Xuanwei once again analyzed the current situation for King Jing: "Now the four frontiers of Daning are in turmoil. Tinglei City in the northwest is trying to establish itself as a country. The Baiyue Tibetan King in the southwest is coveting the fertile land in the east of the mountain. The remaining party of Shun in Juzhou is building troops and horses. In the South China Sea, Hu Zhengxie is asking for punishment.

They are all looking for benefits because they want to be heroes in troubled times and have no ambition to stabilize the country."

"According to what the teacher said, since they are all short-sighted and profit-seeking people, who should we ally with?"

Cheng Xuanwei smiled mysteriously and asked: "I wonder who my lord wants to form an alliance with?"

Prince Jing smiled bitterly, twitching his index finger and said, "Because I once imprisoned Qi Jun, and heard that Qi Xiao, the lord of Leicheng City, had trouble with me, if Zhong Xuan had not come out to cause trouble when he seized power, great things might have happened!"

Prince Jing extended his middle finger again: "The Northern Dynasty was destroyed by my hands. The 'loyal ministers and old men' of the old Shun were eager to bite my flesh and drink my blood, so how could they be willing to unite with me?"

The third finger of the ring finger stretched out: "During the Southern Expedition, Baiyue was also attacked by our troops. Nine out of ten vassals had their clansmen die in front of our army. The old grudges are still lingering. How can we form a new alliance?"

The little finger finally stretched out: "As for Nanhai Hu Zhengzi, there is no grudge, but there is no friendship, and besides, his strength is weak, so he may not be able to play any role!"

Cheng Xuanwei smiled mysteriously, leaned forward, and stared at Prince Jing closely.
Chapter completed!