The Shu army that attacked the mountain capital was trapped in the city, and when more than half of the casualties were lost and there was nowhere to escape, the remaining more than 2,000 Shu troops all surrendered to the Han army.

According to the information provided by the Yunxi Pavilion spies, the commander of this Shu army is Lu Kun, but among the Shu troops who surrendered, Lu Kun was not found at all.

Liu Xiuren brought a captured lieutenant to him, and without superfluous nonsense, he asked straight to the point: "Who is your lord?" ”

The lieutenant looked at Liu Xiu cautiously and said hesitantly, "Yes...... It's General Lu Kun Lu! ”

Liu Xiu narrowed his eyes, there was no Lu Kun among the captives at all, could it be that he died in battle just now?

Or did you secretly hide it?

He asked casually, "Where is Lu Kun?" ”

"General Lu Lu is not in the city!"

"What?"

Liu Xiu raised his eyebrows and asked, "He's not in the city?" ”

The lieutenant looked at Liu Xiu again, lowered his head and said, "We are only waiting for the front army, and General Lu is in the main army in the rear!" ”

His words made Liu Xiu, Li Pan and other people present gasp.

These 5,000 Shu troops are just the front army, and there are more Shu troops behind?

This is not the same as the report that Liu Xiu received.

Liu Xiu narrowed his eyes and asked, "How many soldiers and horses does the main force of your army have?" ”

"Yes...... There were twenty-five thousand. ”

Li Fan's face changed suddenly, and he asked urgently: "Didn't Gongsun Shu only send you 5,000 people?" ”

The lieutenant whispered, "Your Majesty was originally ...... Originally, only 5,000 men were sent, but ...... But then an additional 25,000 men were sent. ”

"Why is that?"

Liu Xiu asked expressionlessly.

The lieutenant couldn't answer.

Li Pan held the saber under his rib and asked in a deep voice: "Until now, you still dare to hide it?" ”

"It's not that I want to hide it, but it's an order from the imperial court, and I ...... I don't dare to speculate. ”

"What your guess is, but it doesn't hurt to say!"

Liu Xiu said.

The lieutenant swallowed, his eyes rolling, not knowing what he was thinking.

Seeing this, Li Pan was furious, pulled out the saber under his ribs, and shouted angrily: "Death is coming, you still don't tell the truth?" ”

Seeing that Li was red-eyed and looked like he was going to eat people, the lieutenant's body was shocked, and he said: "Cen Peng guards Nanjun, Nanjun's defense is impregnable, the imperial court has repeatedly sent troops, but they can't take advantage, if you want to make achievements, the imperial court must change."

"This time Hongnong was affected by the disaster, and Nanyang hoarded the disaster relief grain urgently needed in the disaster area, if these disaster relief grains can be destroyed, Hongnong is bound to be in chaos, which will inevitably attract Luoyang's attention to Hongnong County, at that time, the 30,000 soldiers and horses who broke into Nanyang will do a lot, not only can capture Nanyang in one fell swoop, but also cut off the contact between Nanjun and Luoyang, so that the Southern Expeditionary Army led by Cen Peng will become a lone army.

At the same time, 30,000 soldiers and horses can avoid the defense line in the west of Nanjun and attack from the north of Nanjun.

"As long as the Southern Expeditionary Army is defeated, Nanyang and Nanjun can be recovered, and then occupy the entire Jingzhou, which is not difficult.

"As long as Jingzhou is taken, then Yangzhou and Jiaozhou, which border Jingzhou, will become the pockets of the imperial court...... You can start a family. ”

After listening to the captain's remarks, a cold sweat broke out.

Liu Xiu narrowed his eyes, stared at the captain intently, and asked, "Is this what Gongsun said?" ”

The captain said with a red face: "Little one...... The younger one is just a school captain, and he can't see His Majesty...... Gongsun Shu is not qualified to go to the court, these ...... These are all guesses by the villain himself, but they are not presumptuous speculations, they are all ...... There is a basis for ...... "Cen Peng has already laid a perfect defense system in the western part of Nanjun, Gongsun Shu sent troops to attack I don't know how many times, each time I can't take any advantage, from Shu to attack the western defense line of Nanjun, it turns out that this road is not going to work at all."

Raid Nanyang, in fact, the soldiers and horses needed are not too many, 5,000 people are enough, but Gongsun Shu sent 30,000 troops, and the main general who led the army was still the general Lu Kun, so arranged, obviously not only for a sneak attack, not just for the 200,000 stone of grain, Gongsun Shu has greater ambitions for these 30,000 soldiers and horses, hoping to do more.

Li Pan turned his head to look at Liu Xiu, and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty......" Liu Xiu waved his hand to him, he looked at the captain, and asked, "What's your name?" ”

The lieutenant whispered, "The little one's name is Shisun Rong." ”

Liu Xiu muttered, "Shisun...... This surname is not common. ”

Shisun is a very rare compound surname, which was not common at the time, and in modern times, it is not very common.

Liu Xiu asked, "Where are you from?" ”

"Villain...... The villain is the Chang'an people's clan. ”

"Oh?

Since he is from Chang'an, why did he serve in Shudi? ”

Shisun Rong said bitterly: "After Liu Xuan entered Chang'an, the powerful people in the court, flying and domineering, oppressing the people, the villain was young and vigorous, and he once provoked a powerful person, and in desperation, he could only flee from Chang'an, and later transferred to Yizhou and took refuge under the command of Gongsun Shu. ”

From Chang'an to Yizhou, it is not easy to be helpless, but to be a captain all the way.

Liu Xiu looked at Shi Sun Rong with a little more appreciation, and he asked, "What you just said is your own speculation?" ”

"Yes, it's just the words of the villain's family, if there is something wrong, please forgive your majesty!"

"I think you're reasonable."

He changed his words and asked again: "Your family is in Chang'an?" ”

Shi Sun Rong hurriedly kowtowed forward and said, "The villain is alone, and it has nothing to do with his family!" His Majesty wants to kill or kill the villain, and the villain has no complaints, and I hope that His Majesty can forgive the villain's family! ”

Li Fandu almost laughed angrily, you are only a prisoner of one order, and now you are still qualified to negotiate conditions with Your Majesty?

Without waiting for Li Pan to speak, Liu Xiu nodded and said, "Yes!" ”

As he spoke, he stood up and drew the Chixiao Sword from his side.

Seeing this, Shisun Rongchang breathed a sigh of relief, then closed his eyes, kowtowed forward, and made a gesture of letting Liu Xiu behead.

Liu Xiu raised his sword and fell, and he heard the sound of sand, Shisun Rong's head was still there, but the bun fell off, and the hair immediately fell from his head.

He slowly opened his eyes, looked at his scattered hair, and then looked at Liu Xiu in front of him in surprise, and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, ......" "Sun Rong, the scholar who did things for Gongsun Shu, is dead, are you willing to serve the court now?"

Han court! ”

While Liu Xiu put away his sword, he asked word by word.

Shi Sun Rong was stunned for a long time before he came back to his senses, his eyes were red, he kowtowed forward again, and said in a trembling voice: "The villain's sin deserves ten thousand deaths, the body of the damned, thanks to Your Majesty's refusal to give up, the villain is willing to serve His Majesty's work of dogs and horses, and he will never give up!" ”

Liu Xiu took a step forward, pulled Shi Sun Rong up, and asked, "Where is Lu Kunbu now?" ”

Shisun Rong Zhengse said: "Back to Your Majesty, Lu Kun led his troops to hide in the mountains and forests in the north of Shandu County, if you do a rapid march, you can reach Shandu County in two hours!" ”

So fast! The hearts of everyone present tightened, and they looked at Liu Xiu in unison.

Li Pan said: "Your Majesty, the current enemy, Shandu City is difficult to protect itself, so we have to retreat quickly!" ”

Before Liu Xiu could speak, Shi Sun Rong hurriedly said, "You can't retreat!" ”

Li Pan glared at Shi Sun Rong angrily, and asked loudly, "What do you mean by this?"

Do you want Your Majesty to be trapped and die in the city of Shandu? ”

Shi Sun Rong said: "Our department attacked Shandu City, Zhongji was trapped in the city, the news must have already reached Lu Kun's side, and now Lu Kun must be leading his troops to Shandu City, if he withdraws now, he can't get it right, and he will collide with Lu Kun's department who rushed over." ”

As far as these old, weak, sick and disabled of the Han army are concerned, it is okay to ambush them in the city, and to confront the Shu army outside the city is to look for death! Liu Xiu thought about it for a while, and felt that Shisun Rong was reasonable, and he hurriedly said: "Pass the order, the whole army will strengthen the defense of Beicheng City, and prepare to meet a strong enemy!" ”

Li Pan had no other way, so he could only nod and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen will go and supervise the soldiers to strengthen the defense of Beicheng!" ”

Facts have proved that Shi Sun Rong was right, before dawn, more than 20,000 Shu troops led by Lu Kun appeared outside the northern city of Shandu City.

As far as the eye can see, there are lamp balls and torches, bright pine trees, and a large sea of fire seems to appear outside the north city.

Liu Xiu and the others stood at the head of the city, looking at the Shu army array outside the city, and they all showed a dignified look.

Li Pan whispered to Liu Xiu: "Your Majesty, the enemy army is menacing, this battle is ...... I'm afraid it's not easy to fight! ”

It's not easy to fight, it's still more polite, but in Li Fan's opinion, this battle can't be fought at all.

Shandu Castle is neither a strategic location nor a large city, and its defense is not very strong, and it is very difficult to defend against the enemy.

In addition, most of his soldiers are old and weak, how can they be the opponents of so many Shu troops?

But now if you want to run, it will be difficult to escape, so you can only retreat in the city and defend it.

Li Fan's brows tightened, and he said to Liu Xiu: "Your Majesty, according to Weichen's opinion, it is still ...... Let's ask the general for help! ”

At present, the closest soldiers and horses to Shandu City are the Southern Expeditionary Army led by Cen Peng.

Shi Sun Rong listened to Li Fan's words, gasped, and said, "Now Tian Rong, Ren Man and others are not attacking Nanjun?" ”

Tian Rong, Ren Man, Cheng Pan and others, led more than 100,000 troops, and attacked Nanjun in a big way, if you ask Cen Peng for help at this time, then Cen Peng has no choice but to lead his troops to Nanyang to rescue the Son of Heaven, but what should Nanjun do?

Gave up?

Let Tian Rong, Ren Man and others lead the army to fall?

Liu Xiu also felt that it was extremely inappropriate to ask Cen Peng for help now.

He shook his head slowly and said, "In this battle, our department can't ask for help from the Southern Expeditionary Army, we can only rely on ourselves to fight this battle!" ”

Li Fan's brows furrowed into a pimple, he first glared at Shi Sun Rong dissatisfiedly, and then whispered to Liu Xiu: "Your Majesty, why don't you ask Luoyang for help?" ”

Liu Xiu still shook his head and said: "Not long ago, the Jingshi Army just divided a part of the soldiers and horses to garrison the northern monarchs to resist the Huns, and now Luoyang has a shortage of soldiers and horses, and is unable to come to help!" ”

The Beijing division army stationed in Luoyang still has nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses, but these soldiers and horses cannot be moved, and they need to be stationed in the capital to ensure the safety of Luoyang.

The capital is where the imperial court is located, and it is the base camp of its own side, and it must not be lost.

"Then, ask Liu Taishou for help?"

Liu Xiu thought about it, shook his head, and said: "The Nanyang County Army, only more than 1,000 people, even if they rush to reinforce, they will hit the stone with eggs. ”

After talking around, Li Pan suddenly had a feeling that he seemed to be a lone army in Nanyang, and he couldn't find reinforcements who could come to the rescue.

Li Pan subconsciously pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the beads of sweat from his head.

Liu Xiu turned his head to look at him, and asked with a smile, "General Li is afraid?" ”

Li Pan hurriedly put down his handkerchief and said, "With Your Majesty here, Weichen is not afraid of anything!" Go to the soup and go to the fire, the liver and brain are smeared, and you will not hesitate! ”

Liu Xiu patted Li Fan's shoulder and said softly: "Back then, I was a brother with you, and I didn't know how many times I experienced a much more dangerous situation than now, didn't we still come over unharmed?"

Don't lose the face of your brother, let alone the face of a Han soldier! ”