"So it's not too long for more than 100,000 people to gather under the city." Zheng Yunming said: "Either retreat the army to Dengzhou and Tangzhou to wait for food and grass, or adopt the strategy of last year to siege Xiangyang with one, and the rest plunder downstream along the Han River."

"This year, the prefectures and counties in the north have become deserted. Even if they retreat to Tangzhou and Dengzhou, they cannot raise enough food." Zheng Yunming twisted the short beard under his jaw. Although he looked similar to the generals in Xiangyang, it always seemed a bit funny in Bai Yijie's opinion. "They will definitely wait until the food from Henan is delivered before attacking."

"As for what I am worried about, are the lowly prefectures and counties such as Suizhou, Fuzhou, Yingzhou, and Huangzhou. Although Xiangyang is their barrier, on the other hand, these prefectures and counties are also the wings of Xiangyang. If these prefectures and counties are all captured by the Mongols, the lonely Xiangyang City will lose its meaning of defense." Zheng Yunming shook his head. Last year, he intercepted Tasi's plunder in Shatou City. Who would substitute him in Xiangyang to intercept the brutal nomadic regiment?

But at the same time, Bai Yijie was worried about another thing.

After besieging Xiangyang City for ten days, despite the problems of insufficient manpower and lack of materials, the Mongolian army still roughly built the outer siege for attacking Xiangyang. Although such fortifications siege had little effect on attacking the city wall, it could ensure that the army in the city was not easy to attack from the city, and that the military and civilians could not escape smoothly. At this stage, the Mongolian army had enough as long as it did this step, and they could only do this step.

The grain reserves in the army were about to come to an end, and the Mongolians had to start collecting food and husband service, and wait for the arrival of the northern part of the army to fight and food. The army had been guarding the city of Xiangyang for too long, and it was time to move.

The soldiers watching the city at Xiangyang were surprised to find that the Mongolian army gathered under the city began to evacuate in large numbers. The number of Mongolian military tents in the distance decreased significantly compared to before. While the soldiers and civilians in the city breathed a sigh of relief, the generals guarding the city also began to hold a banquet to celebrate the completion of the first phase of the city defense. However, Zhao Kui did not see Zheng Yunming during the banquet.

Zheng Yunming was standing at the east gate at this moment, watching ships of Mongolian soldiers sailing downstream on the ships, and there were endless cavalry brigades on the land. They followed the usual routine of nomadic peoples attacking the Central Plains for thousands of years, and bypassed the strong cities when they encountered a strong city, and plundered all places that could be plundered. When the prefectures and counties behind Xiangyang were turned into white land, Xiangyang could not be defeated.

"I knew this before. *Shi *Love*Sheng*Sheng*Ship" he said to Bai Yijie: "Is it better for me to take the initiative to apply to garrison Ezhou? Xiangyang City is so strong that even if I don't guard here, Zhao's command is determined. Wan Du Tong is known as the general, and Xiangyang City will not be in danger. And I will sit in Ezhou and support Xiangyang City from the rear, and at the same time be able to block the Mongolian army going south. Isn't the situation much stronger than guarding the lonely city now?"

"How the enemy attacks is the enemy's attitude, but not to guard the lonely city, but to look at your attitude." Bai Yijie smiled and said, "Will you really sit in a 60,000 army and watch the Mongolian soldiers easily plunder the hinterland of Jinghu?"

"We must never sit in the lonely city and wait for the enemy brigade to leave Xiangyang. We must also take the initiative to attack." Zheng Yunming said firmly: "Even if it is not for the friendly forces in the hinterland, even for ourselves and for the brothers guarding the fortresses in the countryside, we must also take the initiative to attack."

"This is exactly what I worry about." Bai Yijie said: "The Mongols not only conduct local work on Xiangyang. They are also preparing to attack the outer fortresses of Xiangyang. Even if the brigade of enemies has left, the remaining enemies will still attack these fortresses with all their strength, so as to clear all early obstacles to attack Xiangyang City when the brigade returns."

Bai Yijie's concerns were confirmed that night.

At midnight, someone called under the south city wall, and the defenders put down the hanging basket and hung two Song troops covered in blood.

"Wanshan Fortress fell!" A small school with a flag-headed look gasped and said, "The enemy army attacked us with about two thousand people! Our army had only one hundred and fifty people, but they fought bravely and blocked the enemy for a whole day and night! The next day, the enemy used a rope ladder to climb the city wall and broke through the city wall from three sides. Except for more than 20 people who escaped from the secret passage, the rest of the army was wiped out!"

Zheng Yunming nodded, straightened his waist and called the medical officer to treat the two of them quickly. He turned around and shouted, "Get the topographic map!"

Soon, Beiwei's personal soldiers took the topographic map, and Zheng Yunming hung the topographic map in the South Gate Tower, holding an oil lamp in his hand to study it.

After a while, the generals and staff of the Jing-E Prefectural Office arrived together. Everyone stood in a circle beside Zheng Yunming. Bai Yijie asked, "What is the news outside?"

"Wanshan Fort is lost." Zheng Yunming looked at the map without looking back and replied simply: "This is the first stronghold that was confirmed to be lost on the outside. Where should the enemy's next target?"

"It must be Lutu Ridge." Wang Deng, Yang Xuan and Bai Yijie responded in unison.

The Rituo Ridge is south of Wanshan Mountain, and is the southern part of the Xianshan Mountain system extending to the end of the west, and is only about three miles away from the Ridge. Because the entire mountain looks like a dromedary camel looking back cross-legged, it is named Rituo Ridge.

Wanshan is one of the outermost fortresses located in Xiangyang, close to Tanxi on one side, which makes the enemy more convenient for attack. Therefore, the Song army only built a small fortress, and the defenders equipped with only outposts. However, the status of the Lituo Ridge is completely different. The right side of the Lituo Ridge is close to Huiqi Mountain, and behind it are two important highlands of the Song army, Chushan and Hutou Mountain. If it is occupied by the Mongolian army, you can go straight to the Hutou Mountain Fortress along the high mountain, and then detour to the rear of Niujiao Fortress and remove Niujiao Fort in one fell swoop, then the Chushan Fortress and Xianshan Fortress will be destroyed without attacking.

Zhao Kui also knew the importance of the location here to defend the entire outskirts of Xiangyang. He built a large castle here, and placed a double-slight cannon chariot and a four-slight cannon chariot, as well as heavy garrison weapons such as three-bow bed crossbows, and placed a deputy general with 500 guards to garrison here.

"That's not enough!" Zheng Yunming shouted: "Send another 500 people!"

"The problem is not just that." Yang Xu looked helpless: "The Deputy General Wang, who is responsible for guarding the Tuo Ridge, has abandoned the city and fled, and his whereabouts are unknown."

Although his words were ordinary, they were like a thunder echoing in Zheng Yunming's ears. He subconsciously raised his voice: "What's going on? Who reported the news? All the guards of Tuo Ridge have escaped?"

The deputy general Wang was appointed by Zhao Kui himself. Zheng Yunming also heard that this person is quite famous in Jinghu. He dares to take the lead in the battle. He did not expect that the defense of a castle independently was conquered in the face of the battle. It didn't matter if he ran away, and directly exposed the fatal key of the entire Xiangyang outer fortress system to the Mongolian army.

"The guards of the castle have not collapsed. They are still defending the city wall under the command of a flag head. The flag head is Tian Sui. When the deputy general led several personal soldiers to escape, he took the initiative to take the responsibility of command. Not only did he calm the morale of the army, but he also sent two people to secretly bypass the Mongol blockade line to report the news."

"This person is available! When the war is over, if he is still alive, find a way to poach him to the Jingchu army!" Zheng Yunming asked again: "The blockade outside the city has been omitted to this point, and even someone can't find out if he secretly crosses the defense line?"

Wang Deng responded casually: "The army outside the city has been evacuated one after another. I have roughly estimated the remaining troops. It should be between 20,000 and 30,000 cavalry, and some of them should be used to monitor Fancheng. If thousands of cavalry are used to attack the fortresses outside Xiangyang, the cavalry curtain used to monitor and block the city will inevitably be thin."

He said to Zheng Yunming: "Now is a good opportunity to use troops."

Bai Yijie reminded: "The Camel Ridge is extraordinary and requires a tiger to guard it in the future. There are no carelessness."

Zheng Yunming nodded and said, "That's natural. We must send the best hero in our army to guard it. Unfortunately, Qin Wu is not here."

He shouted loudly: "Call Liu Zheng to come!"

Before the hour was over, Liu Zheng had already formed a formation with 500 Beiwei soldiers in the school review field outside the Deputy Chief Government Office. Even Wang Deng was surprised by how quickly these Beiwei soldiers gathered and acted quickly. Since Bai Yijie took over Zheng Yunming's shogunate, he proposed to Zheng Yunming to personally train the Beiwei army. Zheng Yunming did not express his objection, but in fact the generals were dissatisfied. The Beiwei army was the leader of the army, and they were either vanguards or used to save the crisis. Although Bai Yijie had to respect Zheng Yunming, he had no special performance since he entered the curtain, except for making a big fuss in the management of the Hanyeping mining and smelting system. However, the generals knew very little about economic affairs. If the officials of the Transportation Command were shocked by Bai Yijie, Zheng Yunming had heard more than once boycotting the military advisor who was more than real.

But tonight, just watching the Beiwei Army gathering this time, Wang Deng re-evaluated the military advisor's ability in his heart. The Beiwei Army is known as the elite. On weekdays, Zheng Yunming personally presided over the training, and two commander-level generals Ge Huai and Lu Xunzhi also needed assistance from the side. It was already quite impressive, but the result of the re-rectification of the White Army after taking over a month or two was more unusual than before.

Liu Zheng was going to take these unusual soldiers to start a thrilling battle time.

Zheng Yunming looked at Liu Zheng's excited appearance. This guy was always happy when he saw hunting. There was no war in the past ten days. When he heard the deputy commander summoning, his eyes were glowing. I hope that this difficult task could restrain his warlike mood and defend the Tuo Ridge with all his heart. Because the existence of the fortresses in the South Mountain is too important to the survival of Xiangyang. [End of this chapter]
Chapter completed!