Of course, Liu Liangzuo actually has another choice.

That is, simply take this opportunity to rebel against the Hongguang puppet dynasty and lead the whole army to surrender to the Tang army. From then on, he worked for the revival of the emperor, so as to seek the most realistic and reliable way out for himself and his subordinates.

It's just that such a thought came to Liu Liangzuo's mind, and he immediately dispelled it.

I think that at the beginning, I had fought against Li Xiao with Liu Zeqing, the former general soldier of Shandong, and the two sides were mortal enemies of each other and formed a great grudge. Therefore, I am afraid that even if I put down my face and dignity and surrender to the Tang Army, I will not have any good fruit to eat.

Taking a step back, even if the Tang Army is willing to accept its own surrender, according to the practice of the Tang Army, independent forces have always been forbidden to exist in the army. Therefore, if I surrender to the Tang Army, I am afraid that from now on, I will no longer be able to be a local overlord who is good at Weifu in Huaixu and Xu, as I am today.

It is more likely that the soldiers under his command have been reorganized, the territory has been occupied, and he has become an almost vain existence, and from then on, shrinking his head and being slaughtered by others, no matter what grievances he receives, he can only obediently shut up and not complain more.

And in the more extreme case, Li Xiao ruthlessly turned his face and didn't recognize people, just like Cao Cao in history did to Cai Yu, after absorbing his subordinates and territory, he immediately found a reason to kill him, which is undoubtedly the most tragic ending.

In this way, it seems that there is only the first plan, which is the most feasible and in line with one's own vital interests.

After all, if you can take a gamble and let all of your nearly 50,000 soldiers retreat back to Huai'an Fucheng, with a strong city and sufficient food, it should not be a problem to hold on until Zuo Liangyu or Huang Degong's reinforcements arrive. 、

As long as the Tang army leaves, it should be able to recapture the entire Huai'an and even Xuzhou and other places, so as to regroup, reorganize the country, and restore the previous territory and power.

Thinking of this, Liu Liangzuo, who was pacing back and forth, finally stopped in the room and made up his mind.

"Go, call Zehan." Liu Liangzuo turned his head and said to the guard next to him.

The guards left in response, and after a short time, a young man in his early twenties walked quickly to Liu Liangzuo's room.

This young man is Liu Liangzuo's only son, Liu Zehan. Since he became an adult, he has been following his father Liu Liangzuo to do things. Youdao is a brother who fights tigers, and he goes into battle as a father and son soldier, and his only son can be regarded as Liu Liangzuo's right-hand man.

"What does my father command?" As soon as the young man entered the room, he asked a question urgently.

"Han'er, for your father's order, immediately go to the military forts north of Huai'an, notify the troops stationed there as soon as possible, and immediately return to Huai'an Mansion at full speed. It is necessary to lead the entire army back before the arrival of the Tang army. This matter is very important, and my father does not dare to entrust others lightly, I hope you can do it effectively! Liu Liangzuo touched his shoulder, with a serious expression.

"Don't worry, father, the child will definitely do a good job, and he will definitely return to Huai'an with the main force as soon as possible." Liu Zehan replied with an expression of indifference on his face.

Liu Liangzuo looked at his son in front of him, who seemed to be disapproving, and there was an indescribable worry in his heart, but he couldn't say much, so he could only pat his son on the shoulder heavily to show encouragement.

After his son took the order and left, Liu Liangzuo was not idle, he immediately ordered his subordinates to urgently dispatch to strictly guard against several military towns on the road that the Tang army must pass, and strive to delay the Tang army's march as fast as possible.

At the same time, Liu Liangzuo also sent a messenger south to Yangzhou to ask for help from Huang Degong, who was closest to him.

At present, the military situation is urgent, and the only military town that can be counted on is only Huang Degong's department.

Although, he and Huang Degong, who was Jingnanbo at the time and was appointed as the general soldier of Yangchu, had never had a very good relationship, and the two did not interact much. Now at this critical moment, it is unknown whether the function of Yang Chu's general soldier Huang De can save him for the sake of his colleagues in the imperial court. However, at such a critical moment of life and death, Liu Liangzuo is like a person who is about to drown, even if there is only a 1 in 10,000 chance, he wants to get a life-saving straw to survive.

It's just that Liu Liangzuo still underestimated the speed of the Tang army's advance and the intensity of their attacks.

After the Tang army captured Yukou Town, it immediately attacked all the way west, from Yukou Town to various prefectures and towns in Huai'an Prefecture, such as Maluo Township, Suzuikou and other places, under the strong deterrence and attack of the soldiers and horses of the Tang Army's Seventh Town, almost all of them were overcome with one drum. The subordinate generals sent by Liu Liangzuo surrendered to the death, and basically did not cause any noteworthy obstacles to the Tang army.

Only six days later, the Tang army, which had marched all the way west, went straight to Huai'an Fucheng, and the three battalions of soldiers and horses were divided into the east, south and west gates of Huai'an, cutting off all the escape roads on three sides of Huai'an City, leaving only the north gate to go out.

This is the Tang Army's plan to encircle three and one.

The city of Huai'an was very strong, and the Tang army was not in a hurry to attack, on the contrary, they deliberately left the north gate not to encircle, which seemed to leave a way for the defenders in the city to survive. What they did made Liu Liangzuo's troops in the city even more chaotic.

Now, the Tang army actually didn't particularly want to immediately take this Huai'an City, which only had more than 5,000 defenders, the reason why they did this was that their bigger goal was to encircle and annihilate the more than 50,000 defenders brought back by Liu Zehan from the north.

Since those generals verbally learned that Liu Liangzuo had sent his son Liu Zehan to the north to transfer back the soldiers and horses stationed there, Cao Bianjiao, the commander of the Tang Army, made up his mind to first eliminate the 30,000 soldiers and horses of Liu Zehan's troops in the form of encirclement and reinforcements.

After all, the key to combat lies in destroying the enemy's living forces. Only by eliminating all the more than 50,000 defenders can the Tang army have no worries, and after taking Huai'an Fucheng, they can immediately march south to Yangzhou to attack Yangzhou Huang Degong.

Therefore, after Cao Bianjiao surrounded the city of Huai'an Mansion, he immediately sent a large number of sentinels to the north of Huai'an Mansion to spy out, in order to discover the news and intelligence of Liu Zehan's return with his troops as soon as possible.

And at this time, Liu Liangzuo, he saw the Tang army soldiers and horses surrounded by people outside the city, and the sadness in his heart was indescribable.

The dignified Guangchangbo, the dignified Huai Xu General Soldier, how did he end up in such a situation!

Now that he has become a turtle in an urn, of course he knows that the real purpose of the Tang army keeping the north gate for him is nothing more than to wait for him to lead his troops to break through the siege, and then destroy them all outside the city.

This method can be described as the most economical and effective means for the Tang army to eliminate Liu Liangzuo's troops, and the damage to Huai'an Mansion is also the least.

It's just that now that he has made up his mind to defend to the death, he will never easily fall for the Tang Army, and he will not break through and leave stupidly.

Liu Liangzuo suddenly sadly found that the only thing he could do now was to wait, or wait, and there was no way to change the situation.

Now he can only wait for his son Yun to bring back the main force in the north, and at the same time wait for Huang Deyun in the south to send troops to help, to see if he can see his colleagues and send troops to help himself as soon as possible.

However, what are the chances that such a fantasy will come true? Liu Liangzuo's heart has no bottom at all.

So now, like an ant on a hot pot, he is going back and forth in the city, sighing and sighing, and he is at a loss.

What Liu Liangzuo didn't expect was that just when Liu Zehan hurriedly withdrew from the north with about 30,000 soldiers and horses, they were discovered by the Tang army's patrol sentry in Siyang, a hundred miles away from Huai'an Mansion.

Liu Zehan did this time, because the time was urgent, considering that the city of Huai'an was like a withered leaf in the wind and could fall into the hands of the Tang army at any time, so in order to avoid delay, he only had time to notify some of the nearby expatriate troops, and after collecting about 30,000 people, he hurriedly led the army back.

These returning soldiers and horses, who hurried day and night, would never have thought that when they arrived in Siyang now, the Tang army would hit under the city of Huai'an Mansion and besiege the city of Huai'an. Not to mention, they were in a hurry all the way, and they were quickly discovered by those Tang Army sentinels who were released from afar.

The sentinels immediately sent this important news back to Cao Bianjiao, the mayor of the seventh town of the Tang Army.

Hearing that there were more than 30,000 soldiers and horses hurrying back from the north, Cao Bianjiao immediately made a decision, and ordered the three battalions of soldiers and horses, all of which left only a general spearman and a general shield soldier, as well as all the artillery troops, and ordered the deputy mayor Jin Tongwu to lead his troops and continue to besiege the city, so as to prevent the enemy troops in Huai'an Mansion from escaping.

And he himself, with the main force of the Tang Army of about 20,000 people, went north, crossed the Huai River, and went straight to Siyang, preparing to completely eliminate Liu Zehan's troops here.

The main force of the Tang army rushed all the way, and finally collided head-on with Liu Zehan's troops and horses in Sanyi Town, dozens of miles south of Siyang.

Liu Zehan, who was in a hurry, was exhausted, but when he saw the horizon ahead, the seemingly endless Tang army soldiers and horses suddenly appeared, and this young man who had been in the battle formation almost fell off his horse in horror.

Unexpectedly, the main force of the Tang Army has arrived here, and it is actually coming to snipe its own troops that have gone south to reinforce, doesn't that mean that Huai'an Mansion has been, has been ......

Liu Zehan didn't dare to think about it further, his miserable face was already covered with cold sweat.

Soon, he saw that the Tang army on the opposite side had already set up a formation, and the formation was arranged by the river with great momentum and order, and Liu Zehan's heart was even tighter.

He had no choice but to order his subordinates to quickly set up their formations, prepare for battle, and fight this unexpected encounter with the Tang army.

More than 30,000 soldiers and horses, who had been on the road day and night, and were already exhausted, hurriedly spread the width of the opposite formation, and put on a loose and rough formation of similar size.

Liu Zehan couldn't help frowning when he saw his subordinates so tired and arranged for things like this. He saw from a distance the scene of the Tang army on the opposite side being in a strict formation and killing solemnly, and he couldn't help but sigh even more in his heart.

In such a situation, with unpreparedness against preparedness, and with tired divisions against elite brigades, this battle is fought, but I am afraid that I will only be more auspicious......

Thinking of this, Liu Zehan felt chills all over his body and shuddered.

Just after the whole army was arrayed and the two armies faced each other, the opposite side did not immediately start a battle, but a general dressed in stainless steel armor and wearing a bright red cloak on his shoulders slowly rode his horse to a place about a stone's throw away from his own formation, and stopped his horse's hooves.

"The enemy general on the other side, this general is Cao Bianjiao, the mayor of the seven towns of the Tang Army, can you come out and have a face-to-face interview with me. Ben has something to say to you. ”

When Liu Zehan heard this, he was stunned for a while, and immediately rode out of the horse and came to the front of the formation.

He stared at the majestic Tang general opposite, and muttered for a while before saying: "This general is Liu Zehan, the son of Liu Liangzuo, Guangchangbo, Cao Bianjiao, if you have anything to say, you can say it directly to this general." ”

Cao Bianjiao saw the young man with a handsome face on the other side, but he was in his early twenties, smiled faintly, and said, "Liu Zehan, I want to say a word to you." Your troops and horses, tired and far away, are not in good array, they are really not the opponent of our army, if you insist on fighting, I am afraid that your troops will be quickly defeated out of control. I hope you can recognize the situation, and it would be a pity not to die in this riverside land at such a young age. ”

Listening to Cao Bianjiao's words, Liu Zehan's heart surged, and his five flavors returned.

Alas, surrender, surrender, it is easier said than done, but it is so difficult to do it yourself.

He lowered his head and pondered for a while, then raised his head and said in a loud voice: "General Cao, since ancient times, when two armies are facing each other, it is reasonable for the whole army to surrender without firing a single sword. Although the general is ordinary, he can't do nothing like this, and he will be laughed at behind his back in the future. Let's have a good fight, and if you can defeat me, it will not be too late to deal with it! ”

Hearing Liu Zehan's words, Cao Bianjiao couldn't help but sneer.

He didn't say much more, and when he returned to the formation, he immediately gave the order for the whole army to attack.

When the Tang army heard the order, the drums rumbled, the horns shook the sky, and the 9,000 firecrackers, one word in the lead, showed an extremely neat front and rear two rows, and pressed away towards the enemy troops who were scattered in the opposite formation and unstable.

When they approached more than 180 paces, the Tang army stopped its march, and the musketeers in the front row, all of whom had flint guns in their hands, all aimed at the panicked enemy troops on the opposite side.

"Ready, put!"

"Bang bang bang! ……”

The upper and lower rows of flint and flint, the muzzles of the black holes, and the rows of bright red afterburners flew together, like a long bright red ribbon. A large cloud of choked white gunpowder smoke poured up, instantly filling the entire position, and more than 8,500 tiny three-coin heavy lead bullets, like a swarm of death bees flying away together, let out a slight and cheerful chirp, and swooped towards the panicked Liu Zehan on the opposite side.

Countless swarms of whizzing death bees, chirping and smiling, quickly burrowed into the bodies of the enemy soldiers on the opposite side.

The soldiers of Liu Bu in the front row, many of them immediately bloomed like a trick, and the people who were hit fell on their backs as if they had been slammed with a heavy hammer.

In the first round of volleys, before reaching the range of accurate fire, the Tang Army's fire caused at least 2,000 enemy casualties on the spot. Liu's soldiers and horses, who were already exhausted and extremely frightened, collapsed in an instant and fell into an uncontrollable chaos.