Chapter 561: The Dilemma of Zhao Army

"Leting has been defeated, Pei County is out of the way, and there are no reinforcements in Gucheng. The Zhao army in the city knows the truth and quickly opens the city and surrenders!"

"Leting has been defeated, Zhao's army quickly opened the city and surrendered!"

On the second day after the battle of Shandao, Murong Ke sent people to shout outside the city day and night, saying that Yan Leting had been defeated and could no longer rescue Gucheng, so that the guards in Gucheng could quickly open the city and surrender.

Ling An on the top of the city frowned and looked at Deng Jun who was shouting outside the city, with a heavy heart.

"General, this is a trick of Deng's army to disturb our morale. General Leting has a 70,000 army in his hands. Even if he fights head-on with the main force of Deng's army, he is not afraid. How could he be defeated so easily?" Deputy General Zhou Kun saw Ling An's serious expression, fearing that Ling An would believe Deng's words, so he hurriedly said.

"Haha, how could I not know the trick you even saw? Don't worry, a few words are not enough to shake the morale of our army, but there will inevitably be some soldiers who are unclear. So, you go down to summon the soldiers and comfort them. The more Deng's army does this, it means that General Le Ting's reinforcements will arrive soon. As long as you keep this period of time, Deng's army will undoubtedly be defeated." Ling An said with a smile.

"Here!" Zhou Kun replied, and he felt relieved when he saw Ling An's expression becoming relaxed.

After Zhou Kun left, Ling An's expression was more solemn than before. Ling An knew that the defeat of Leting was very likely to be true, because Ling An found that there was Leting's general flag in the Deng army. This general flag was never lost after all. Now it fell into the hands of Deng's army. This one was not only defeated by the Deng army, but also likely to be a crushing defeat. Otherwise, how could the general flag fall into the hands of Deng's army? Of course, this may also be forged by the Deng army to disrupt their morale, but no matter whether the general flag was true or false, it could only be false, so that the morale of the army would not be shaken.

"General, General Le Ting's messenger has arrived!" At this time, the chief clerk of the army walked to Ling An and said.

Ling An was overjoyed when he heard this, thinking that Le Ting's reinforcements were about to arrive. Since this was the case, it means that what Deng Jun said just now was lies. However, when Ling An saw the unnatural expression of the chief clerk, he suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart, and said, "Take him to the county yard to see me!" After that, he walked down the city and headed towards the county yard.

After Ling An returned to the county government, the chief clerk came to Ling An with a messenger. After seeing Ling An, the messenger knelt on one knee, took out a piece of cloth from his arms, and said, "General Ling An, this is General Le Ting's handwritten letter. Please read it!" After that, he handed the cloth to Ling An.

Ling An took a deep breath, then took the cloth, opened it and saw that it was Le Ting's order to withdraw his troops. At this moment, Ling An finally believed Deng's army's words. Le Ting was really defeated. Thinking of this, Le Ting retreated from the left and right, and even the chief clerk shouted out. After only himself and the messenger were left, Ling An hurriedly asked: "Tell me how General Le Ting would be defeated?"

The messenger told Ling An a lot of the whole story of yesterday's battle. When Ling An heard it, his face felt as if he was ashamed. Especially when he heard that Leting lost more than 50,000 troops in the battle, only more than 10,000 defeated generals were left. Most of the generals in the army died in battle. After fleeing in a hurry, Ling An felt even more solemn.

"Where is General Leting now?" Ling An asked Leting's whereabouts again like a messenger.

The messenger replied: "Return to the general, when the villain left, General Leting was leading his army back to Zhuyi. As for where he was now, the villain was unknown."

"Are you retreating to Zhuyi? Then it should be not far from Zhuyi now!" After hearing this, Ling An thought carefully, thinking that since Le Ting retreated to Zhuyi as soon as possible after his defeat yesterday, according to time, he should be about to arrive at Zhuyi at this time.

After Ling An learned about the matter, he asked the messenger to rest. He sat alone in the lobby of the county government, silently thinking about his way out. Now Leting has been defeated and Gucheng has no reinforcements. Although the food and supplies in Gucheng are enough to support more than three months, what about three months later? And the biggest difficulty now is not food and grass, but the morale of the army. Zhuyi is not too far from Gucheng. If the Leting army has not arrived for a long time, the soldiers in the army can easily guess what went wrong. By then, Gucheng could not defend at all. In other words, there are only two choices in front of Ling An. One is to obey Leting's military orders, lead troops to break through, and go to Zhuyi to meet with Leting. The other is to open the city and surrender and protect the soldiers under his command.

Surrender is impossible. Ling An is a native of Zhao. His parents, wife and children are in Zhao. If he surrenders without fighting, his family in China will definitely be implicated. Besides, since he joined the army, both Li Rubing and Le Ting have valued him very much. He was able to lead tens of thousands of elite soldiers at his thirty years old. It is entirely due to the promotion of Li Rubing and Le Ting. His faith and loyalty in his heart do not allow Ling An to surrender to Deng Jun.

Since you can't open the city and surrender, you can only choose to break through, but it's not easy to break through? Leting was defeated, which means that even if you can break out from Gucheng, there is no support or support. You can only rely on yourself and the 30,000 elite troops under your command. Facing Deng's army, who are several times more powerful and elite troops, and it is too difficult to break through.

Just as Ling An was thinking hard, Zhou Kun walked in with a smile and said to Ling An: "General, the last general has successfully comforted the soldiers in the army. Moreover, when the soldiers learned that the reinforcements were about to arrive, they all had high fighting spirit and strong morale."

Ling An smiled bitterly when she heard this. If Zhou Kun had completed the task so smoothly before receiving Le Ting's letter, he would be very happy and would also praise Zhou Kun. However, if he told the soldiers that reinforcements were impossible and his side would break through immediately, it would definitely shake the morale of the army, and maybe it would cause changes.

Thinking of this, Ling An was filled with sorrow. Zhou Kun was very puzzled when he saw this. Logically speaking, he had completed what Ling An explained so well. Shouldn't Ling An praise him at this time? Why did he have this expression?

So Zhou Kun asked Ling'an carefully: "General, what's wrong? Is something happening?"

Ling An sighed and handed Le Ting's letter to Zhou Kun. Logically speaking, such matters need to be kept confidential to avoid disrupting the morale of the army. However, Zhou Kun has been by his side since he joined the army and is a trustworthy person. Moreover, at this time, he also needs someone who can give him advice, so Ling An would send Le Ting's letter to Zhou Kun.

Zhou Kun took the cloth with confusion and opened it. When he opened it, his face changed drastically. He said in panic: "General Leting is really defeated? The reinforcements in Gucheng have been cut off. What should I do?" A second ago, Zhou Kun also swears to the soldiers that Leting's defeat was just a nonsense of Deng's army, and his intention was to disrupt the morale of his own army, but the next second he was slapped in the face, and Leting was really defeated.

"I don't know what to do? General Leting ordered me to lead the army to break through in the letter and do my best to bring the elites of Gucheng back to Zhuyi. However, 100,000 Deng troops outside the city are eyeing me, so it's not easy to break out? And even if we can really fight out, we still need to face the crazy pursuit of Deng's army. I have no idea for a while." Ling An said with a wry smile.

"No matter how the general decides, the last general will always follow the general!" Zhou Kun knew that Ling An had already had a lot of thoughts in his mind, but it was difficult to make a decision for a while. However, based on his trust and loyalty to Ling An, no matter what decision Ling An makes, Zhou Kun would choose to follow.

"Zhou Kun, thank you for your trust. I still need to consider how to do it carefully. After all, this is related to the life and death of the 30,000 soldiers in my Gucheng City. However, before I make a decision, I don't want this news to come out. Do you understand?" Ling An was very moved by Zhou Kun's trust, but after all, he had not made a final decision yet, so he still reminded Zhou Kun not to spread the news, otherwise he would be really finished.

"Don't worry, General, these things will naturally be understood by the general. The general will not hinder the general. The defense at the city still needs to be supervised. The general will continue here!" Zhou Kun said.

Ling An nodded and waved his hand to let Zhou Kun go down.

"General Murong, I believe Ling An already knows the news of Leting's defeat. When will we release him out of the city?" Zhang Liao said to Murong Ke in the large tent of Deng's army.

In fact, the messenger sent by Leting to Gucheng had long been discovered by Deng's army. However, in order to let Ling'an know the news, Murong Ke could not stop it, so the messenger was able to enter Gucheng smoothly. Otherwise, under the siege of a hundred thousand troops, it would be impossible for a mere messenger to enter Gucheng. Now Ling'an has already known the news, and Zhang Liao really wants to know when Ling'an's army will be released.

Murong Ke smiled and said, "No hurry. Ling An just received the news. If we remove the encirclement now, Ling An would probably notice it. After all, Ling An is a little capable, and doing too obvious will backfire. Let's talk about it in a few days."

"Yes, Ling An doesn't have other skills, he is just cautious enough. Although he has received the news, Ling An will definitely think twice before doing it. If we do it too obvious and are too impatient, it will make Ling An suspicious. Since that's the case, then wait a few more days." Zhang Liao nodded and said.

After a long time against Ling An, Zhang Liao also had some understanding of Ling An's character. In terms of ability, Ling An was not outstanding, but compared with the generals of the Deng army, it was a world of difference. However, one thing is that Ling An was very cautious. It was with this calm personality that he was able to defend Gucheng and prevent Deng's army from advancing. If Deng's army did too obvious, Ling An would definitely not leave the city easily. Since that is the case, you should not be too impatient.
Chapter completed!