Wei Zhang's return to Suizhou was the second day of August, and Luo Xiancheng also returned to Suizhou from Fancheng.

Wei Zhang presented the secret letter of the king minister, and Luo Xiancheng sat on the high seat in the hall and opened the secret letter to read it.

Luo Xiancheng has a rough understanding of pen and ink, and often boasts of it, but Wei Zhang knows that Luo Xiancheng's pen and ink in his belly are limited, and Wang Xiang is a serious man, but he doesn't know if Wang Xiang wrote any deep words in the letter that Luo Xiancheng couldn't understand.

Not only did Wang Xiang not return to Suizhou, but even Wei Zhang, who went to Chaishan on his behalf, couldn't even see Wang Xiang, so he sent a letter back, and Luo Xiancheng's good temper ran out, and his black face was so gloomy that it seemed like he had smeared ink.

But seeing Luo Xiancheng open the letter, his face turned from black to red, his eyes were as open as copper bells, his eyes were cracked, and he slapped his palm angrily on the long case of Nanmu, and slapped a letter written on rice paper to pieces, and the wine and fruit plates on the long case fell to the ground, and the wine pulp and fruit were splashed everywhere.

Luo Xiancheng is brutal by nature, and he can grasp big things, but he often angers the people around him in small things.

Luo Xiancheng's letter to Wang Xiang provoked him so much that Wei Zhang and the people who were waiting nearby were so frightened that they didn't even dare to breathe.

Wei Zhang lowered his head, he could guess that Wang Xiang's attitude would anger Luo Xiancheng, but he didn't know what Wang Xiang said to Luo Xiancheng in the letter, and it just so happened that a piece of broken letter floated to his feet, and he glanced at it, and could only see "self-destruction", "Han people are well-dressed" and other words.

"I'll pick him up when I get back!" Luo Xiancheng did not anger others in the end, but left such a sentence and walked to the dormitory, leaving Wei Zhang and the others behind.

Wei Zhang picked up the fragments of the letter, pieced them together and read them, and was surprised: In this situation, Wang Xiang actually wanted to part ways with King Luo? Thinking that it was okay to be like this, there was no one else to compete with him in front of King Luo, Wei Zhang thought so in his heart, so he completely shredded the letter, as if this had never happened.

This is just a small episode that happened in Changle Palace, and in Suizhou City, the atmosphere is solemn.

The soldiers and horses of the brigade got up the day before yesterday, and they continued to gather from the counties in the south to Suizhou City, and then went to Yindian in the north through Suizhou, and the soldiers and horses that passed through Suizhou in two days were no less than 20,000 people.

In addition to the original 80,000 soldiers, Luo Xiancheng also ordered the garrisons in various places to assemble in the township as a unit to stand by.

Although the 80,000 soldiers of the Changle Army are not fully armoured, which can be called elite, but three or four out of ten, at this time, a larger scale of 120,000 soldiers will be incorporated into the camp, and the combat power is not much higher than that of the rabble, but it cannot withstand the number of people, and it suddenly stirs up a sudden change in the southern foot of Huai Mountain.

****************

In Suizhou City, at this time, even ordinary people can feel that the war is coming, not to mention the eyes of other forces lurking in Suizhou City?

And at the moment when Luo Xiancheng made up his mind, he ordered a complete blockade of the southern foot of Tongbai Mountain and cast a big net in the deep mountains and old forests.

Huaixi deployed in Suizhou's eyeline, seeing the sudden change in Suizhou's situation, was anxious to return to Huaixi to report the news, and was arrested in Tongbai Mountain. However, Tongbai Mountain and Huai Mountain stretch for more than 1,000 miles, and no matter how many soldiers and horses there are in the Changle Army, it is difficult to blockade the two mountains without leakage. In August, the situation at the northern foot of Tongbai Mountain and the counties in the southern border of Nanyang Province also suddenly became tense.

Although it is not that Luo Xiancheng is unguarded against the possibility of using troops against Xinyang, but precautions are precautions, and when this moment really comes, the pressure exerted on the heads of the people in Xinyang is also completely different.

The fast horse galloped away in Xinyang, and the sound of the horse's hooves seemed to trample on people's hearts.

Seeing that it has only been stable for three or four years, it is now involved in a war again, and this war is completely different from the past.

Although Nanyang is the main direction of Yanhu's troops, in the north of Xinyang, Chen Zhihu led 50,000 elites to enter the north bank of the Huai River along the Yingshui, and Luo Xiancheng was even more imposing to move. From the valley road between Tongbai Mountain and Huai Mountain, there will be up to more than 100,000 soldiers and horses pouring into the hinterland of Huaixi.

If you are not careful, Huaixi will also be completely overturned.

Xinyang Prefecture governs seven counties and one state, the northernmost Zhengyang County controls the eastern foot of Tongbai Mountain, controls the valley road of Tongbai Mountain in the west and connects Nanyang Prefecture to the west, controls the main tributary of the north bank of the upper reaches of the Huai River, and protects the waterway of the upper reaches of the Huai River.

If you defend the enemy in the north and defend Huaishang, you will guard Zhengyang.

At this time in Zhengyang, with Xiao Kuian'an as the main general and Jiang Bao as the deputy general, Huaixi had a total of 20,000 soldiers and horses to defend the fortress, and waited for the 50,000 elites of Chen Zhihu who came along the Yingshui.

In the southwest of Zhengyang, all the way to the inner side of the western foot of Tongbai Mountain, in Pingchang and Changtai along the Huaihe River to the depths of the eastern foothills of Tongbai Mountain, Xinyang has built additional passes, which is also a key defensive place.

Dong Yuan considered that the Yanhu army did not have the ability to cross the Huaishui on a large scale at this time, and instead of scattering its forces in the thousands of miles of Huaibin, it was better to concentrate its forces to control the eastern foothills of Tongbai Mountain. The Huaishui source comes out of the eastern foothills of Tongbai Mountain, once the Yanhu soldiers and horses advance to the eastern foothills of Tongbai Mountain, Huaixi will also lose the control of the upper reaches of the Huaishui River, and then guard the Huai River, only to feel very difficult.

After entering July, although Xinyang's soldiers and horses increased to 40,000, they mainly focused on Zhengyang, concentrated in the northwest, and guarded the upper mountains of Huaishui and Shenshui.

To the south of Xinyang Prefecture, including Xinyang City, which is close to the southeast foot of Tongbai Mountain, the four counties of Luoshan, Guangshan and Huangchuan have less than 10,000 garrisons.

At this time, it is almost impossible to use these 10,000 guards to block the soldiers and horses of Luo Xiancheng's department, which may exceed 100,000 at most, from the valley road between Tongbai Mountain and Huai Mountain.

In Xinyang City, the wind is loud, the grass and trees are all soldiers, and the big families who got the news earlier have fled Xinyang with their families early before the end of July, seeing that the wind is not in the right direction, and went to Shouzhou and Haozhou in the east to escape the disaster of war.

Ordinary people were kept in the dark until August, not believing that Luo Xiancheng, who had been at peace with Xinyang all these years, would use troops in Xinyang. However, as the news of the sudden change in Suizhou came further from the south of Tongbai Mountain, Ding Zhuang and Xiangyong were also recruited on a large scale in Xinyang City, and ordinary people also became restless.

However, Meng Yi, the prefect of Xinyang, and Meng Zhixiang, the defense envoy, are still in Xinyang City, and for many years, they have led the township warriors and county soldiers to resist the looting of Xinyang City by the Liukou, and the ordinary people also have more confidence in them.

Meng Yi stood at the head of the city, looking at the mountains in the distance, and the gloom on his face did not decrease.

The city is full of villagers who have fled from the four towns and eight fields to Xinyang City for refuge, making the avenue in front of the city that can be passed by four horses become crowded and chaotic, and the fleeing crowd is mixed with cows, horses, chickens and sheep. The baby in the peasant woman's arms was crying loudly, as if more keenly than an adult sensed the coming of war.

Tong Judge Jiang Wenya climbed to the top of the city from behind, looked at the chaos under the city, frowned, and said to Meng Yi: "In the secret letter of the envoy, we must defend Xinyang City no matter what, what does Lord Meng think?" ”

"Although there are still 30,000 soldiers and horses in Shouzhou, it is not advisable to send them early," Meng Yi said, "General Xiao's 30,000 soldiers and horses are also unable to move to contain the north, only more than 10,000 guards in our hands, plus some village bravery, how to hold the four cities of Xinyang, Luoshan, Guangshan, and Huangchuan without fail?" It makes sense to ask us to focus on keeping our promises! ”

At this point, the situation became clearer and clearer, Yanhu's main attack direction was in Nanyang, and Luo Xiancheng used troops against Xinyang, mainly to contain Huaixi's troops and could not support Xinyang, not to meet Huaixi's soldiers and horses.

The 30,000 soldiers and horses prepared by Dong Yuan in Shouzhou, no matter sooner or later, it is impossible to catch Luo Xiancheng's main force in the north of Tongbai Mountain to fight the victory.

The most important thing is that at this time, no one can be sure how long Nanyang soldiers and horses can support.

If Dong Yuan's 30,000 soldiers and horses in Shouzhou entered Xinyang too early, and Nanyang's defense told Yanhu to quickly break through, then Yanhu's main force could quickly enter Xinyang through the valley road in the northern vein of Tongbai Mountain for a general battle.

At that time, the enemy's troops and horses in Xinyang, including Chen Zhihu's troops, and Luo Xiancheng's troops, will far exceed Huaixi's troops, and Huaixi's mobile forces at the last point are also very likely to be encircled and annihilated.

In this situation, even if Huaidong's 30,000 elites in Luzhou enter Xinyang, they will not be able to change the balance of forces between the two sides.

Throughout the ages, wars have been won by the combination of regular soldiers, and when the war is launched, who will gamble on the last of the troops?

When the enemy's forces are large, only to defend the key cities first, and wait for the war to drag on, once Liang Chengchong holds Nanyang, and Xinyang City is not lost, then Dong Yuan can find a turning point to change the situation of the war.

Jiang Wenya saw that Meng Yi actually agreed to Dong Yuan's military deployment, and said in surprise: "If we obey the order of the envoy, then we can only give up the three counties of Luoshan, Guangshan, and Huangchuan immediately." Is it better to send people to Luzhou immediately, even if the defense of Luoshan, Guangshan, and Huangchuan counties is handed over, than to give up directly. ”

Luoshan, Guangshan, and Huangchuan are all east of Xincheng, once these three cities are abandoned, so that Luo Xiancheng can go, Huaidong's soldiers and horses in Luzhou want to aid Nanyang's channel will be cut off, and it is difficult to quickly aid Nanyang in the north. And Dong Yuan didn't want to immediately use his last 30,000 mobile troops in Shouzhou, and wanted more than 10,000 defenders in Xinyang City, and it was impossible to hold four cities at the same time.

Jiang Wenya meant that even if they couldn't defend the four cities at the same time, before giving up the three counties of Luoshan, Guangshan, and Huangchuan, it would not lose a choice to hand over the defense of the three counties to Huaidong's soldiers and horses in Luzhou.

Although Jiang Wenya and Meng Yi made such a decision behind Dong Yuan's back, which was likely to anger Dong Yuan, as representatives of local forces, it was their fundamental interest to protect the countryside from the devastation of war.

Meng Yi shook his head and said: "The envoy can't send the last 30,000 soldiers and horses from Shouzhou to Xinyang, how can Huaidong's 30,000 soldiers and horses in Luzhou be in a hurry to go north?" ”

It is Dong Yuan's responsibility to keep Xinyang, Dong Yuan has to keep 30,000 mobile troops in Shouzhou, how can Huaidong go beyond his position and send reinforcements into Xinyang first?

Jiang Wenya's expression was gloomy, as a local person, no one would want to see the villagers devastated by the war, and once they gave up the three counties of Luoshan, Guangshan, and Huangchuan, it would mean that Huaixi and Huaidong would give up rescuing Nanyang at the same time.

If Nanyang wants to escape, it must support the most difficult early war alone, and it is possible to usher in a turnaround.

Luo Xiancheng set out to send troops to Xinyang, and it was obvious that in Xiangfan, the elite of the remnants of the luxury family would march north along the Han River and attack Xinye south of Nanyang.

The morale-sluggish Nanyang soldiers and horses, without reinforcements, how long can they block the attack from three sides? Three months, a month, or ten days and a half months?

But then again, if the soldiers and horses of Nanyang can't even survive the first month or two of the war, if Huaidong and Huaixi send reinforcements to Nanyang, they will only be trapped in it and unable to pull it out. Even if you want to help Nanyang, you have to get Nanyang through the most difficult early stage of the war.

Of course, behind what Jiang Wenya didn't know, Meng Yi had already received a secret letter from Cao Ziang from Luzhou the day before yesterday. In the secret letter, Cao Ziang's instructions to Meng Yi were also to ask the Meng family to hold Xinyang City and wait for the situation to turn around.

On the surface, Meng Yi, Meng Zhixiang and other representatives of the Meng family are all officials in Huaixi, but the foundation of the Meng family is deeply rooted in Xinyang. The Meng family doesn't have too many ambitions, more hope that the clan inheritance can continue, and they will not lose their wealth in the local area, and they are not rigid and loyal to the Yuan royalists.

In fact, Dong Yuan did not give enough trust to Meng Yi and Meng Zhixiang.

Before Dong Yuan entered Huaixi, the Meng family independently led the township to defend Xinyang City from the destruction of the exile army, and at that time, there were nearly 10,000 township soldiers under the control of the Meng family. Up to now, the Meng family's soldiers and horses have not increased much.