The situation has taken a turn for the worse.

On the eighth day of the second month, Ye Ji Duodi led more than 10,000 elite cavalry to capture Jingcheng, entered the north and south of Yan on the ninth day of the first month and entered Pingshan County, the first ten fell into Lingshou and Xingtang two counties, the eleventh fell into Quyang, and the thirteenth fell into Dingzhou......

In just a few days, the three prefectures of Yannan destroyed a big horn for the captive cavalry that broke through with light troops.

In the ninth year of Chongguan, Donghu entered the Kou, the three prefectures of Yannan and the two prefectures of Shandong Plain and Jinan, in addition to the loss of more than one million people, the livestock power was even more lost, and the livestock that were carried out of the customs for the Donghu people alone were nearly 400,000 heads.

The rebellion of 300,000 people who repaired the embankment of the Yellow River destroyed the last bit of vitality in Jinan, Pingyuan, Xingzhou, Dingzhou and other regions.

The Liang family came to control Shandong, but they were unable to enter the relatively wealthy area east of Qingzhou, which had not been damaged by the war, and could only build their line in the dilapidated city of Jinan.

In the past two years, the Liang family has to raise 60,000 or 70,000 soldiers and horses, and the repair of the city wall in the outer city of Jinan is only an earth-rammed version, not to mention the restoration of the city defense of other states and counties. In the north, under the direct jurisdiction of Yanjing, Xingzhou, Dingzhou and other places are even more pitiful, the city is dilapidated, in addition to Dazhou, Fucheng, the county guards are only more than dozens of people, like Quyang County can hold on for a day before falling, it can be regarded as a miracle.

The galloping road built by the Liang family starts from Jinan, goes north through Pingyuan Mansion, connects Dingzhou, and then connects to the Wei River.

As early as the end of last month, Jinhai suspended the supply of grain and grass to Gyeonggi, just in case the captives would suddenly insert themselves into Yannan; The Liang family obviously didn't take precautions. A team of mules and horses of the Liang family intercepted the outpost of the Dongyu in the south of Dingzhou City, and about seven or eight hundred mules and horses, nearly 5,000 stone rice grains, and more than 1,000 troops with little combat effectiveness became the trophies of the captives.

On the 13th, the main force of the captives rested in Dingzhou, but they divided into several elite cavalry, ranging from more than 100 to hundreds of cavalry on each road, interspersed with attacks to the north and east, and the enemy appeared in Tangxian, Wangdu, Gaoyang, Qingyuan, Boye, Anxian, Raoyang, Suning and other counties......

Suning is a county of Hejian Prefecture, forty miles west of Hejian Prefecture.

Wu Qi stood at the head of the ruined city in Suning County, looked at the more than 400 captives who were hesitating in the distance, and said to Yang Yihang behind him: "Withdraw, the second batch of soldiers and horses from the east is almost about to enter Yannan......

"Wu Ye will go first, and I will leave after two more days." Yang Yihang said stubbornly.

In the two cities of Suning and the river, which are only forty miles apart, Yang Yihang can directly transfer more than 3,000 soldiers and horses. They are all the foundations left over from the battles of Yannan, the generals have been trained, the supply armor and bows and crossbows can keep up, and the combat effectiveness is very strong. Even if two or three thousand elite captives rode over, Yang Yihang dared to lead his troops out of the city to fight, but the captives relied on the high-speed mobility of one horse and two horses, and watched Yang Yihang's troops sharp and strong, avoided them, and hung far away on the periphery, not engaging him.

There is only one battalion of cavalry in the Tianjin Navy, and Lin Xuwen is still in Jinhai, mainly to guard against the outpost of the captive cavalry to intersperse the inner line of Hejian Mansion, and Yang Yihang has 3,000 soldiers and horses, all of whom are foot soldiers, and there are only more than 100 scouts to explore the horses.

There were more than 10,000 captive cavalry in the first group of captives who entered Yannan, all of whom were elite cavalry with one person and two horses; The second group of captives re-entered Yannan, and the size of the eastern captives around Dingzhou would be more than 20,000.

In this case, Yang Yihang did not dare to rashly take 3,000 elite lone troops to the west.

Yang Yihang guarded Suning to give the refugees more time to evacuate eastward.

Although Lin Xuwen said that he held the power of Hejian Mansion, he was restrained by Huang Jinnian and others in Jinhai, and only after confirming that most of the captives had entered Yannan could he sign the order of Jianbi Qingye. In the past, it was only to evacuate the people and materials of Lin Ji, Jiyun Society and other related forces scattered in Hejian Mansion to Jinhai, Yangxin and other places in advance.

Due to the negligence of criminal state, Dingzhou and other places, they were caught off guard again, and the captive cavalry who entered Yannan could get supplies from criminal state, Dingzhou and other places. Only the Liang family's mule and horse team in the south of Dingzhou City was robbed, in addition to 5,000 stone rice grain, 7800 mules and horses are almost nearly 200,000 catties of meat reserves.

The western Hebei region is ruined, but the base of more than one million people is there, and the amount of grain and grass supplies that can be plundered is still considerable, and it is more than enough to support the captives to fight in Yannan.

The clear of the fortified walls carried out by Hejian Province alone is of little significance, and a large number of refugees have withdrawn eastward and poured into Jinhai City, which will bring great pressure to Jinhai City.

From a purely military point of view, Wu Qi hoped that the Tianjin Navy would immediately abandon the outer cities of Hejian Province, stick to the coastal cities of Jinhai and Cangnan, and guide the refugees to evacuate to the south, so as not to carry the burden of hundreds of thousands of refugees.

However, the Tianjin Navy is under the direct jurisdiction of Lin Xuwen, and Wu Qi can't say anything about giving up the refugees directly, and Lin Xuwen can't only consider military issues in his position.

Without the protection of the army and the city, the retreat of the refugees south would be extremely slow under the harassment of the captive outposts. Perhaps more people will hide in the nearby attached cities and earthen enclosures, optimistically waiting for the rescue of the imperial court.

Under the current circumstances, it is the best choice that Lin Xuwen can make in front of him to carry out the clearing of the wilderness and evacuate people to Jinhai step by step. Jinhai has sufficient grain reserves, and even if there is an influx of three or four hundred thousand refugees, it will not be a big problem to support it for two or three months. As for the future, it will bring huge pressure to Jinhai, which is no longer something that Lin Xuwen can take care of at the moment.

Under the current circumstances, it is impossible for the captives to gather the main force to Hejian Mansion, and their goal is more likely to capture the Bauhinia Pass, open up the gap between Datong and Yanjing, and let more troops pour in from this gap. Or first rush to the Jizhou area and cut off the main force of the Jizhen Army, which was advancing north into western Liaoning, from the Gyeonggi and Changli logistics bases—leaving relatively plenty of time for Hejian Province.

Due to the large influx of captives and cavalry, it was already very difficult to spy on the military situation in the western Hebei region, and Wu Qi no longer stayed in Suning to accompany Yang Yihang to defend the city, and returned to Jinhai first on the same day.

On the way back to Jinhai, Wu Qi encountered captives who had infiltrated all the way. At that time, there were more than 200 captives on this road, and Wu Qi's escort only had more than 50 people, and they encountered it in an unobstructed field, and the situation was extremely dangerous.

However, at this time, Dongyu implemented the strategy of avoiding reality and hypocrisy in Yannan, and saw that Wu Qi's cavalry had more than 50 people, wearing armor and holding crossbows, like the elite cavalry of the Tianjin Navy, shooting dozens of arrows from a distance, so they avoided it from a distance, so that Wu Qi escaped the danger alive.

Wu Qi entered Jinhai City, and the Jinhai City that had been reorganized in the past was already a mess.

In the past few days, 60,000 or 70,000 refugees have taken refuge in Jinhai, and in addition to the refugees, a large number of livestock have made the city extremely dirty.

Of the three prefectures in Yannan, Hejian Mansion is the best restored, and the chaos of the people in the Yellow River embankment has not affected Hejian Mansion much. In particular, in the area around Jinhai, due to the vigorous promotion of rice cultivation, farming has even surpassed the level of Chongguan nine years ago, but the province as a whole is still very poor.

The existence of the Jinhai grain road has made Jinhai City extremely prosperous. In addition to rice and grain, a large amount of materials from the south had to be transferred to the Gyeonggi area through Jinhai, and in the past two or three years, there were as many as thirty or forty cloth shops and silk villages in Jinhai City.

It's just that such prosperity is like a flash in the pan, just blooming, and about to wither.

As soon as Wu Qi entered the city, Lin Xuhong greeted him and shouted from afar: "General Wu, the eldest prince invites you to come over......"

Lin Xuhong was originally the chief shopkeeper of Lin Ji, and after coming to Jinhai, he became a close confidant of the eldest prince, and all the business of the Lin family in Hejian Mansion was presided over by him.

The streets and alleys were full of people, Wu Qi handed over the horse to the people behind him, he and Lin Xuhong went to the superintendent of the army and the palace under the entourage of the entourage, and asked as they walked: "What is the situation in the north, has the court made any recent moves?" ”

Lin Jian sent Wu Qi to the north in person, just to accurately grasp the situation in the north. Although more than 200 sentinels were released, as the war deepened, the control of the field area would become stronger and stronger by virtue of the superiority of the cavalry.

"The news that I just arrived today is that there is a captive cavalry of about 5,000 people rushing across Liaodong Bay to attack Ningjin," Lin Xuhong said, "At that time, nearly 10,000 reinforcements from Linyu had just arrived in Ningjin, and outside Ningjin Fort, they hastily met with the captive cavalry and fought a battle. Linyu reinforcements were defeated, some of them retreated to Ningjin Fort, and some troops retreated to Linyu - the men and horses who withdrew to Linyu suffered heavy casualties, only a few hundred people fled back, and the specific casualties are not known - the imperial court has decided to transfer the Xuanfu army to resist the enemy, and has not yet ordered the Jizhen army of Liaoxi to withdraw north......"

Wu Qi frowned, the Donghu people already had elite cavalry cut into the retreat of western Liao, even if the imperial court made a decision, it would be difficult for the Jizhen army to retreat, and I don't know if Hao Zongcheng had the courage and ability to retreat with a broken arm.

Xuanfu is one of the three towns in Yanbei, and it has not been hit much in recent years, but the actual number of soldiers and horses is less than 30,000, and I don't know how many soldiers and horses the imperial court has transferred in. Looking at the current deployment of the imperial court, it is still hoped that this side can grit its teeth and hold on, and Liaoxi can conquer Liaoyang and win a great victory.

Wu Qi only had hatred and ruthlessness towards the Yuan court, and sneered in his heart: At this time, Yannan, Gyeonggi, Jizhou and other places still have the will to resist, once the main force of the Jizhen army is destroyed in Liaoxi, this will to resist will also collapse - this has nothing to do with how many soldiers and horses the imperial court can transfer, in difficult times, the will to resist is more important.

Wu Qi followed Lin Xuhong into the official hall, and in the official hall, in addition to Lin Xuwen, Sun Shangwang, Ma Yigong and others, the right attendant of the household department, Huang Jinnian, the general system department of the Jinhai General Consulate Department, and the household department member Wailang, and the supervisor Zhang Wendeng of Jinhaicang were also present.

Huang Jinnian's quality is higher than Lin Xuwen's, he actually controls the transportation of grain from Jinhaicang and Gyeonggi, and Lin Xuwen controls the military and political power of the Tianjin Navy and Hejian Province and the transportation affairs of Cao grain before it enters Jinhaicang. In Jinhai, Lin Xuwen's authority is heavier, but the situation is in danger, and Huang Jinnian is still nominally headed in Jinhai City. In front of the official hall, Huang Jinnian sat on the left side, Lin Xuwen sat on the right side, and Zhang Wendeng, Sun Shangwang, Ma Yigong and others sat on the bottom.

"General Wu, I plan to send someone to invite you back!" Huang Jinnian watched Wu Qi step over the threshold and come in, stood up and greeted him.

Wu Qi was slightly stunned, in the eyes of Huang Jinnian in the past, Wu Qi was just a thin Huaidong military man, and he didn't even bother to give him a straight look when he came to Jinhai on business.

In the blink of an eye, Wu Qi figured out that even if the imperial court still had illusions about Liaoxi, this situation should also consider the serious consequences of the collapse of Liaoxi. At this time, those who could come to aid Gyeonggi, in addition to Chen Zhihu's department, Chang Huaijun, and Liang family, were the Huaidong Army.

Moreover, if Yanjing could not hold on in the end, and the imperial court wanted to move the capital in a hurry, it could only retreat to Jinhai first and take the sea route from Jinhai to Jiangning.