From Tongzhou to Lanzhou, there are 3,000 miles of road. Although these sturdy warriors marched faster than ordinary soldiers, they could only travel about a hundred miles a day because of the large amount of baggage. In this way, it will take a month to rush to Lanzhou.

110,000 horses, about 10,000 or so horses. However, the soldiers who rode war horses were not equal to cavalry, and among the 10,000 people, only 3,000 people from the Jianghe Gang and 1,000 people from the Jinyi Guard had received special cavalry training. These 4,000 cavalry alone, even if they are sent first, are of little use.

So, let's be honest.

The Demon Cult's operations in Gansu are accelerating.

On May 3, Jin Gang, the leader of the Ruijin Banner of the Demon Sect, set out from Xihe Town with 1,000 Ruijin Banner and 20,000 sect members, captured Yongjing, Linxia, and Guanghe, and then went straight to the important town of Yuzhong.

At the same time, the army of about 20,000 Demon Sects in Gulang, under the leadership of Wu Lie, the owner of the Fire Banner, went straight to Silver City.

Baiyin and Yuzhong, one is in the northeast of Lanzhou and the other is in the southeast of Lanzhou, if these two cities are lost, then the Demon Sect will immediately encircle Lanzhou.

At present, 20,000 of the 110,000 troops near Lanzhou are stationed in Baiyin and 15,000 are stationed in Yuzhong.

In the end, Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng agreed to withdraw and give the silver and Yuzhong to the Demon Sect!

As a result, the 110,000 imperial army was retreated within an area of less than a hundred miles near Lanzhou City. For the operation of the Great Army, an area with a radius of 100 miles is really not considered to have any strategic depth. It can be said that this is a taboo for soldiers.

But why did the two do this?

There are two reasons for this. First, they are not afraid of the Demon Sect attacking Lanzhou. Lanzhou City is very strong, and there are 110,000 troops to hold on, and among these 110,000 troops, there are 40,000 of the most capable troops in the imperial court, they do not believe that the Demon Sect can break through in a short time. Second, they are not afraid of the siege of the Demon Cult. There is enough grain and grass in Lanzhou City, which can last for the army to last for more than two months, and Qin Shuhuai will have already arrived by then!

As long as Qin Shuhuai arrives, then the martial arts alliance army will move from east to west, and the Lanzhou official army will be able to attack the Demon Sect from both sides, and it will be easy to destroy the defense line from the Demon Sect's silver to Yuzhong.

Never giving up troops until you are sure, that's their shrewdness.

At the same time, they built a large number of fortifications near the city of Lanzhou, including widening the moat, digging subsidences, increasing the number of horses, building high platforms, and building earthen ramparts along the city walls.

And before that, most of the Francoguns, firearms, ammunition, arrows, grain and grass in the cities near Lanzhou were transported to Lanzhou by them, so Lanzhou lacked nothing, and what they wanted!

Lu Xiangsheng's strategy is to operate Lanzhou into a "point" waiting to blossom, once Qin Shuhuai's army arrives, this point will echo with Qin Shuhuai's internal and external aspects, and annihilate the Demon Sect in one fell swoop!

And so it was, about ten days.

After the Demon Sect occupied Yuzhong and Baiyin, Ma Shouying's men and horses frequently haunted these two places, and judging from all indications, Ma Shouying had surrendered to the Demon Sect.

This is not unexpected, Ma Shouying has been active in the southeast of Gansu, and now the official army has deployed heavy troops in the east of Gansu in order to prevent the Demon Sect from advancing eastward. The Demon Sect is advancing into Yuzhong and Baiyin, and repeatedly sweeping in the central and eastern regions of Gansu, Ma Shouying will either be suppressed by the official army or be suppressed by the Demon Sect, so surrendering to the Demon Sect is his best way out - it is said that the Demon Sect gave excellent conditions in order to recruit An Liukou!

Ma Shouying claimed to have an army of 100,000, but in fact it was only 30,000 or 40,000. However, his 30,000 or 40,000 people can fight more than ordinary rogues, because one-third of Ma Shouying's troops are Huihui, and everyone understands the truth here.

Ten days later, the situation changed abruptly.

On May 15 of the third year of Chongzhen, the Demon Sect sent troops from Baiyin, Yuzhong, and Dachuan, with a total of about 90,000 troops (including 30,000 horses guarding the department) to Lanzhou!

The Demon Sect is ready to attack Lanzhou!

Lu Xiangsheng was shocked!

Hong Chengchou was shocked!

Gansu General Soldier Cao Wenzhao was shocked!

Gansu Governor Wang Gulun was shocked!

After receiving the news, Lu Xiangsheng immediately ordered Hong Chengchou to lead Shaanxi troops to aid Lanzhou! As for Shaanxi's shortfall in troops, he would transfer it from Shanxi.

Hong Chengchou knew that the situation was urgent, so without saying a word, he brought an army of 30,000 and immediately rushed to help.

As a great military strategist, he naturally would not go directly to Lanzhou, otherwise he would likely be ambushed by the Demon Sect on the way. So he went to Guyuan first, which was still the territory of Shaanxi, the Demon Sect had not yet been touched, and it was not far from Lanzhou, where he could act with a camera.

In the city of Lanzhou, the governor of Gansu entrusted all the power of commanding the army to Cao Wenzhao.

Cao Wenzhao, as one of the three tiger generals on the three sides, naturally has his strategy.

The Demon Sect attacked Lanzhou in the west, north, and south, and he set up an ambush on these three roads to consume first!

An army of 110,000 was divided into four by him.

One is on the South Road, with a total of 20,000 people, ambushed in the area of Changwa Mountain.

One group on the north road, with a total of 15,000 people, ambushed in the area of Dunwa Mountain.

One group on the West Road, with a total of 15,000 people, ambushed in the area of Chen Guanying.

The remaining 60,000 troops were all stationed in the city.

These three ambush areas were less than fifty miles away from Lanzhou City, and if it was expected to annihilate the enemy army, he did not rule out sending troops to reinforce them.

On May 17, among the three armies of the Demon Sect, more than 30,000 people from the South Road were about to arrive at Changwa Mountain first.

As the name suggests, Changwa Mountain is a depression in the middle and surrounded by mountains, which is very suitable for ambushes.

Cao Wenzhao's strategy is naturally correct.

The main force responsible for the ambush on the south road was 10,000 Changping troops, plus 10,000 Xining troops, led by Wang Zhuozhao, the deputy general of the Changping army.

The Demon Sect was very careful, and sent twenty horse sentries to investigate.

In this regard, Wang Zhuozhao was prepared, he reserved 300 cavalry in advance, pretending to patrol the official road under the mountain.

After discovering the Demon Sect horse whistle, he naturally immediately launched a pursuit.

The twenty horse sentries turned around and ran, and in the end, five horse sentries relied on light skills to stand out from the encirclement, and the rest were killed by the Ming army horsemen.

Now the problem is left to the commander of the Demon Sect's South Road army, Jin Gang, the Demon Sect's Rui Golden Banner Master.

The horse team of the Ming army, did they encounter their own horse sentry on normal patrols, or did the Ming army have already laid an ambush in Changwa Mountain, and those horse teams deliberately drove their own horse sentry?

Jin Gang acted cautiously and never used troops until he figured this out. However, the Demon Sect's three-way army had agreed that they would all arrive at Lanzhou City before dark, so he couldn't delay too long.

After learning of this, a person in the army came to Jin Gang with a smile and expressed his willingness to take a few people to the mountain to see what was going on.

This person is one of the five scattered people, and the one-eyed scattered people are not surprised.

Xiao Bujing ranked second among the five scattered people, and he had reached the fifth level of cultivation in the Xiaocheng Realm, and a cold spring sword was famous in the world, even if he met the second- and third-level opponents of the Xiaocheng Realm, he was not afraid.

He was willing to make a move, and Jin Gang naturally readily agreed.

So Xiao Bu took five good players and immediately set off to Changwa Mountain to check.

Changwa Mountain is a place name, not a mountain, but a group of mountains. If ordinary people want to find the Ming army in ambush, it will take a lot of twists and turns, and they may not be able to find it even when the sun sets.

However, Xiao Buyi and these five good players were all skillful, and they were walking on the ground in the mountains, and within an hour they found an ambush.

When the Ming army ambushed them and saw that they were discovered, they naturally immediately attacked them.

Crossbow arrows, bows and arrows, and infantry are all on the line, although Xiao Buyi is one of the five scattered people of the Demon Sect, but after all, he is a person, how can it be so easy to say and leave in the midst of ten thousand armies?

Six people went, five were killed, and Xiao Buzhen was injured in three places before escaping.

When the Ming army saw that the ambush had been discovered, some people proposed to withdraw to the city of Lanzhou.

However, Wang Zhuozhao, who commanded the army, categorically refused.

The mission of the 20,000-strong army is to intercept and consume the Demon Sect, how can they explain to General Cao if they withdraw at this time? And if the Demon Sect catches up, shouldn't the army be beaten passively?

Now that our army occupies the high ground on both sides of the official road, what if the Demon Sect sees through the ambush?

If they want to go up the mountain to attack, why should our army be afraid of it?

If they want to pass quickly from the official road, our army will go down the mountain and attack on both sides, and they will teach them how powerful our Changping army is!