Xingyang is close to the east of Luoyang, the eastern capital, and is bordered by the Yellow River in the north, and the southern section of the canal in the territory is traversed by the Tongji Canal. In Xingze County, the Yellow River, the southern section of the canal, the southern section of the canal, and the northern section of the Yongji canal all converge here, leading directly to the eastern capital Luoyang.

In addition to the two major rivers of the Yellow River and the Canal, the territory is also in the Jishui that runs from the east of the river through Henan and Shandong and finally enters the sea. In addition to the three major rivers, there are four rivers: Bishui, Suoshui, Liangshui and Zhengshui.

With such a developed and smooth water canal, and close to Luoyang, the center of the world, Xingyang was very prosperous in the early years of the emperor's reign, with a large population and prosperous commerce. Xingyang County has a total of 11 cities, including Bishui, Xingyang, Xingze, Guancheng, Xinzheng, Kaifeng, Putian, Yuanwu, Yangwu, Sujuo, and Daliang. Moreover, Guancheng, as the county seat of Xingyang County, is even more prosperous, with a population of hundreds of thousands.

But these are already the past and the prosperity of the past. In the early years of the Great Cause, Xingyang County, which was even more prosperous and wealthy than several counties in Shanghexi, was already left with ruins and broken walls everywhere and barren grass.

As the center of the world, the most prosperous place in Henan, since the beginning of Wang Bo's uprising, Xingyang, which was originally close to the eastern capital Luoyang, began to suffer from rounds of impact and looting.

Bandits, bandits, horse thieves, water thieves, mountain thieves, poor people who have no way to live, and peasant rebels who simply kill officials and rebel, come and go in this land like horses changing lights.

Yang Xuangan Liyang raised troops and besieged the eastern capital. But it was Xingyang that hurt the most. Later, Yang Guangyanmen was besieged, and the soldiers and horses of the Qinwang soldiers and horses of the southeastern counties and the southeastern counties of Hebei and Shandong drove all the way from here to Taiyuan, Hedong, and the soldiers and horses that passed by each way were a larger bandits. The generals who led the troops clearly asked for food, and the soldiers below ate and looted along the way, which was not much better than bandits and bandits.

Yang Guang died in Taiyuan. Li Mi broke through the Jindi Pass from Dongjun and entered Xingyang County. The Wagang Army and the left-behind soldiers and horses of the Eastern Capital fought back and forth in Xingyang, turning many originally prosperous cities and rural towns in Xingyang into ruins one by one. The large population of Xingyang did not escape this catastrophe in the end. Either he was forcibly conscripted into a soldier by various forces, or he was arrested and became a civilian man.

The strong men were all captured as soldiers, and the remaining old and weak women and children became the targets of the bandits and rebels who came and went from all sides. When the last bit of food in the house was also looted, the young women were also taken away.

Spring goes to autumn, wars continue year after year, and soldiers and bandits continue to be chaotic. Until there is no more lively village and town in the countryside, and there is no more field to be cultivated.

The white bones are exposed in the wilderness, and the artemisia grass is all over the sky!

After waiting in the tiger prison until the afternoon, the 20,000 soldiers and horses immediately embarked on the road to the east. 20,000 soldiers and horses, after collecting the horses in the Tiger Prison City, Chen Kefu had 5,000 light cavalry and 15,000 infantry. In order to better control the 10,000 surrendered troops, Chen Kefu integrated the 10,000 surrendered troops with the 10,000 Hebei Army.

Although he was in a hurry, Chen Kefu didn't want to fight against the Wei army again.

The 10,000 Wei troops were all incorporated into the 10,000 Hebei Army, and the original establishment of the Hebei Army did not change. But the number of men in the ministries has doubled. Originally, there were 10 people in a team, but now there are 20 people in a team, and there are 50 people in a team, and now there are 100 people in a team. In order to strengthen control, the newly integrated 20,000 horses, middle and low-level officers are still all held by Hebei officers, and those officers in the surrendered army. then all changed to the deputies of the Hebei officers.

Even Niu Jinda, the five newly awarded eagle strike generals, has now become the deputy commanders of each battalion, and although the official position is still there, he cannot directly transfer and command the troops and horses. Regarding Chen Kefu's arrangement, Niu Jinda and others have no complaints. In their opinion, Chen Kefu's doing this is also in line with the usual practice. And when Chen Kefu did this, they let go of the last bit of worry in their hearts. If Chen Kefu continued to let them take their original subordinates, they would be a little suspicious. …,

A march of 20,000 men, it doesn't sound like much. But walking on the road, it is vast and dusty. This is still because the Hebei Army and these newly surrendered Wei soldiers are elite soldiers, otherwise, as soon as they start the march, they can make chickens and dogs jump, and people will neigh on their backs.

Rao is 20,000 veterans who have fought for many years, and when they walk on the road, they can't hide it, and their momentum is huge.

However, Chen Kefu had no other way to do this, and his only way was to speed up the march, especially to dispatch Cheng Yanjin and Huang Junhan to lead three thousand light cavalry to take the lead, so that they could quickly rush to Xingyang County, which was more than 30 miles away.

Along the way, Chen Kefu looked at the farmland covered with barren grass, as well as the dilapidated village houses that had long been gone with cooking smoke and no human figures, and couldn't help but sigh. Who can calmly face these, the most prosperous place in the Central Plains is now the most dilapidated and barren place. There were white bones exposed everywhere beside the wilderness road, and there were even many corpses that had not been dried, and the appearance was terrifying, emitting a foul smell.

"Pass the order and speed up the march!"

Looking at the scene along the way, Chen Kefu felt an indescribable discomfort in his heart. Henan in the Central Plains is the place where the war disaster is most serious in the world, and all parties are fighting and wrestling with each other, and they all regard this as a battlefield. Moreover, the Central Plains is not as good as all corners of the world, as long as there is still one day when the world is not unified and peaceful, then the Central Plains will have to endure many battles from the south to the north.

It was a land of death, full of burned villages, bare bones, and wild dogs that dared to stare at the army with bloody eyeballs in broad daylight.

Chen Kefu straddled Sa Zilu and stopped on the high slope beside the road, looking at the army that was constantly rolling forward. A wild dog turned out from the back of the slope, bald and disgusting, the wild dog drooled from its mouth, its eyes glowed red, and it made a low whining sound in its throat, staring straight at Chen Kefu, as if it was going to pounce on him and bite him.

"Whew!"

The wild dog had just pounced on it, but was immediately kicked in the head by a backkick dog from Sa Zilu. Directly kicked it in the air and flipped over, whining and running away with his tail between his legs.

However, after a few steps, an arrow pierced its skull like lightning, nailing it firmly to the ground next to a rotting corpse.

Chen Kefu looked back, but saw that Feng Wan was withdrawing the bow in his hand, and looked at the wild dog with some disgust.

"That dog is disgusting!" Feng Wan saw Chen Kefu looking at her. replied.

"In troubled times, people are not as good as dogs!" Chen Kefu's face was very solemn, and there was an indescribable depression in his voice.

After being silent for a while, Feng Wan suddenly said, "Why is His Highness so confident in Marshal Li Jing." What if Marshal Li Jing can't take the Jindi Fortress? ”

Feng Wan knew Chen Kefu's plans, but she was a little puzzled by Chen Kefu's confidence. You must know that although Li Mi's main force is now in the Luokou area, it is in the east of Luoyang that Li Mi really started. Xingyang County, Xiangcheng County, Yingchuan County, Huaiyang County, Ruyin County, Xingyang County, Liang County, Dong County, Jiyin County, Dongping County, Jibei County, Yuyang County, Henan County, Hongnong County.

Among the fourteen counties under Li Mi's current control, except for the four counties of Yuyang, Henan, Hongnong, and Xiangcheng to the west of Xingyang, the remaining ten counties are all east and south of Xingyang. These ten counties. Now they are all garrisoned by the leaders of the rebel army who defected to Li Mi from all over the country. Although Li Mi looked down on those rebel leaders in his heart, Li Mi still attached great importance to the territory on which he depended.

Except for the Tiger Prison Pass and Jindi Pass, which were garrisoned by elites led by cronies, the soldiers and horses in the rest of the places were all integrated by Li Mi who came from all walks of life to join the rebel army, and sent cronies to supervise the army. Among the counties, there were more than 300,000 of these miscellaneous soldiers. …,

In Feng Wan's view, Chen Kefu won the tiger prison, which does not mean that everything is fine. If Li Jing can't take the Jindi south and go south to the Central Plains on time, then Chen Kefu will take the initiative to leave the tiger prison and attack like he is now, which is equivalent to going directly to Li Mi's massive soldiers and horses to encircle and pounce.

"War is an adventure!" Chen Kefu calmly spat out a sentence.

Nevertheless, answer. But Chen Kefu is still very confident in this plan. Although Xingyang is an important place, most of the soldiers and horses are concentrated in the Tiger Prison and Jindi, and now the Tiger Prison has been taken by him, and Li Jing himself has come out of Jindi. He took the opportunity to take the initiative at this time, and before those miscellaneous armies were assembled, it was a good time to break through each one. As long as you break through the two places of Xingyang and Dongjun to the east of Xingyang. Chen Kefu will be able to connect Hebei with Henan. Hebei's army continued to move south to ensure their succession.

"Why don't we go straight to the Golden Causeway?"

"Jindi has an army of 50,000, and Jindi is a fortress, so we have 20,000 people who have rushed forward, and there is not much chance of victory. Not to mention. If the Jindi can't be defeated, it will allow other Wei troops in Xingyang County to assemble, and then we will be trapped in the pass, and the Wei army will be attacked inside and outside, and we will be in danger. Therefore, we left the Jindi to Marshal Li Jing to fight, while we came to sweep away the other Wei armies in Xingyang County, and then converged under the Jindi Pass, which was the best policy. ”

"Why are you so confident in Marshal Zhang of Luokou and General Guo and Lu of Luokou Cangcheng, if one of their two lines of soldiers and horses does not hold on, then we will lose all our efforts, and even fall into all kinds of difficulties." Feng Wan said with some concern.

"Don't worry, Zheng Xuanying just won a big victory in Luokou, and he is excited at this time, even if we let him return to the army, he may not be willing, how can he not be able to withstand Li Mi. What's more, there is Marshal Zhang here, we don't have to worry about them. As for Lu Shishen and Guo Xiaoke, they have always been bold, otherwise they would not have dared to change our military orders. However, although these two guys are bold, they are not stupid, they have 30,000 people to defend Luokou, even if there are 100,000 troops attacking the city, they will have no problem defending it for a month or two. So, it's still on our side that matters. As long as we can break through Xingyang and Dongjun as soon as possible, then we can ensure that the back road is worry-free, and then we can converge with Marshal Li Jing and lead the army back to attack Li Mi, and then we will completely annihilate Li Mi's besieged soldiers and horses, not just heavy losses. ”

"Report!"

A horse galloped to the horse, and immediately the knight turned over and dismounted and reported loudly, "The subordinate is under the command of General Cheng, and he was ordered to report the victory, General Cheng and General Huang rushed to Xingyang County on light horseback, and Zhang Shiyuan, the defender of the Wei army in the county, surrendered the city, and our army has taken Xingyang County without bloodshed, and the defenders of 3,000 men and horses all surrendered. At present, General Cheng has left 500 light horsemen in Xingyang to wait for His Royal Highness's army, and General Cheng and General Huang have already led the rest of the soldiers and horses, bought horses and rushed to manage the city! ”

"Congratulations, Your Highness, another city has been broken!" Feng Wan turned to Chen Kefu and smiled and congratulated.

Hearing this news, Chen Kefu was also very happy. Although the county town of Xingyang has long been damaged in the war, after all, there are still 3,000 defenders, and if they want to attack it, they will not only be damaged, but also delay precious time. Now these 3,000 defenders have surrendered the city, but it has saved a lot of trouble.

"Okay, Chen Lei, reward this messenger with ten gold coins, take it down and rest well. Another order was sent down, saying that Xingyang had been taken, and the soldiers were asked to speed up the march again. When you arrive in Xingyang County, you ask Luo Shixin to take over the surrendered army with a thousand soldiers and horses, and the rest of the army does not stop, directly bypassing Xingyang County, and we go straight to Guancheng! ”

"Yes!" Chen Lei rode away.

"Your Highness, Li Mi is strong and middle-handed, and now his henchmen are all near Luokou and Luoyang. Although there are many soldiers and horses in these eastern counties, they seem to be a rabble and are not vulnerable to attack. Now that King Chen's banner is here, I am afraid that all places will be looking at the wind. Congratulations to King Chen, you are one step closer to the success of the plan. Feng Wan said with a smile. …,

Chen Kefu was also in a good mood, "These people were originally bandits and peasants who took advantage of the chaos, and they just took advantage of the emptiness of the court to cause trouble in various places. But these people are not angry after all, even Li Mi looks down on these people, thinking that they can't support the wall with mud, and arranging them in various places is just to scare and scare ordinary people. Now that our army is here, of course, it is like the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves. There is nothing to be happy about defeating these people and winning the war. However, Guancheng is the city where Xingyang's county is located, and in the early years of the Great Cause, it was a large city with a population of hundreds of thousands. The city is high and strong, Zhijie and Huang Junhan are here, there are only 2,500 people around, we have to speed up and arrive before dark. ”

Under the afternoon sun, Chen Kefu stood on a high slope and looked to the east. There, there are six counties of Xingyang County, Liang County, Dong County, Jiyin County, Dongping County, and Jibei County to the south of the Tongji Canal in the southern section of the canal. These are also the six counties that are now close to the Shandong counties under his control, and it is also the goal that he is ready to swallow in one fell swoop after he changes his plan this time, so as to advance his territory on the south bank of the Yellow River all the way to the west bank of the canal.

Take the six counties, south of the canal and north of the Huai River, all under its control. From the Weizhou grassland in the north, to Liaodong in the east, to the Jiangdu on the north bank of the Yangtze River in the south, and to the west bank of the canal and Tongji Canal in the west, nearly one-third of the territory in the world will belong to him.

Male in the north, proud of the Central Plains, who is an opponent!