Zhending City was actually lost!?

In an instant, Liu Bei felt a thunderous thunder on his head, thundering his head, and his head was dizzy and his whole mind was blank.

In front of him, the thick walls and towering city towers immediately appeared in front of him, and the scene of Wei army stone bullets spreading over the sky, but could only scratch Zhending City.

It was such a city that even the heavy city-breaking hammer of the Wei army could not break through, but was broken overnight?

How is this possible!

Not only Liu Bei, but also Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun and other Han civil and military officials, all of them were shocked and fell into a daze.

"Zhending City is as solid as a rock, how could it be easily broken?" Zhuge Liang calmed down first and asked in surprise.

The scout had to show the truth about how the sudden earthquake in Zhending City caused a collapse of the city wall and the Wei army took the opportunity to break through the city.

There was an uproar!

From Liu Bei to those ordinary soldiers, everyone who heard this explanation was shocked and fell into even more shocking.

The indestructible Zhending City was actually collapsed by an inexplicable earthquake. This is too coincidental and too incredible!

Everyone's minds couldn't help but see the scene of the southern expedition. At that time, it was at the critical moment of the decisive battle, but the earth suddenly quakes and a long ditch cracked, isolating Liu Bei from the south of the long ditch, almost killing Liu Bei.

Now, another earthquake has helped the pottery merchant break through the indestructible Zhending City. What a coincidence.

"Earthquake, earthquake, another earthquake. The sky has no eyes. Why do you always help the traitor? It's hateful, hateful..." Liu Bei, who woke up, clenched his fist and clattered, his face full of indignation, and he cursed with gritting teeth.

silence.

After the uproar, the Han monarch and ministers fell silent and didn't know what to do for a moment.

At this time, Zhuge Liang was still the first to recover his understanding. He shook his feather fan and sighed: "I don't want the Taoist thieves to be so lucky. Now that Lu Nu has fallen, the northern Jilin is no longer defended. Our army has lost its foothold, and it is meaningless to go south again. For the sake of the present, only by retreating to Yijing is the best strategy."

Retreat to Yijing!

These four words echoed in Liu Bei's ears, like steel needles, piercing Liu Bei's heart, piercing him to his heartache.

Retreat to Yijing, he declared his failure in the southern expedition. He was busy for more than half a year and finally returned to the starting point.

Liu Bei was unwilling to accept it, but he was helpless.

There is no way, who lets "God" help the pottery again at this critical moment?

After pondering for a long time, sighing for a long time, Liu Bei had to sigh deeply, wave his hand powerlessly, and said in a deep voice: "Forget it, I'll send my order, the entire army retreats, and retreat to Yijing."

The order was passed down. On that day, the 80,000 Han cavalry, who were coming in a fierce manner, had to return and retreat to Yijing in panic.

The Lu Nu infantry, commanded by Zhang Fei and several other generals, kept kicking each other. After receiving Liu Bei's order to retreat, he also retreated to Yi Jing in one breath.

The Yijing defense line is a solid defense line built on the Yishui River and centered on the Yijing.

In order to resist the invasion of Wei, Liu Bei mobilized a large amount of people and material resources. Based on the defensive fortifications built by Gongsun Zan, he was reinforced many times and became a Great Wall to the south of him.

Three days after Liu Bei's army retreated to the Yijing defense line, Tao Shang led 350,000 victorious soldiers of the Great Wei Dynasty to kill him in a mighty way.

More than 300,000 troops, including dozens of miles of battalion, formed an offensive posture against the Yijing defense line.

Yijing's defense line was strong, and Liu Bei's troops were 130,000, and the number of Wei troops was only three times that of the enemy. When the Han army turned into a defensive situation, it was not easy for the Wei army to break Yijing.

Therefore, at the end of the summer of the year, the Wei and Han armies formed a confrontation on the Yijing line.

...

The Wei army camp, the imperial tent.

The pottery sat high above, savoring the Ganjia wine, and listening to the discussions of the civil and military elites in front of the tent.

Even if there is no way to conquer Yijing's defense line at the moment, the pottery has enough capital to enjoy this leisure.

It is very simple. Qin State has been destroyed, Xianbei people have also been driven away, the five counties in northern Shanxi have regained three counties, and the Han State has invaded and repelled, and all the territory has been recovered. To this end, the strategic goals set before the war began.

As for whether it can break the Yijing defense line and destroy the Han Kingdom in one breath, that is an extra joy.

"Your Majesty, Yijing's defense line is very strong. Our army has been defeated one after another. The soldiers' physical and fighting spirit have reached their limits. I think it is meaningless to continue like this. It is better to return to Beijing. It is not too late to destroy the Han Kingdom in the future."

Han Xin was the first to stand up and proposed to withdraw his troops.

Many generals nodded, following Han Xin's proposal.

Xiang Yu said, "Now we finally repelled the Xianbei and defeated the Han army. We just attacked Yijing in one go and destroyed the Han country in one fell swoop. How could we withdraw our troops easily?"

Han Xin sighed lightly, "Of course I want to destroy the Han Kingdom in one breath, but has General Xiang ever thought that although the Han army lost Zhending City, it only lost 20,000 troops and horses. One Hou Jing surrendered general, but it did not actually hurt its vitality. With the current strength of our army, if we want to swallow the Han Kingdom in one breath, we are afraid we are not sure enough."

When Xiang Yu was still waiting for his words, Han Xin immediately said: "There is another thing we should not forget. The Han army is mainly cavalry. Even if we can break through the Yijing defense line, the army will penetrate deep into the hinterland of Youzhou. The Han army will use their advantageous cavalry to wantonly plagiarize our army's food route. What can we deal with it?"

After a few words, Xiang Yu completely asked, and immediately became silent, with a look of silence in his eyes.

At this time, Liu Ji stammered: "General Han is right. Too few cavalry is always the weakness of our army. If we want to conquer Youzhou and even the grasslands in the south of the Mo River, it will never work."

Chen Ping also nodded and said, "Yes, instead of having a meaningless stalemate with Liu Bei here, it is better to withdraw troops as soon as possible to resolve the rebellion in Jiaozhou, and at the same time use the newly obtained Liangzhou to quickly expand the cavalry. When we have enough cavalry, we will then lead our troops north to wipe out the Han Kingdom. At that time, we will definitely be invincible."

Chen Ping's words were just about to reach Tao Merchant's heart, and he also strengthened his desire to withdraw from the army.

In fact, this is also the reason why he first destroyed Qin. On the one hand, it was because Cao Cao was weaker than Liu Bei, and on the other hand, it was because he wanted to obtain Liangzhou, a horse-producing land. Only in this way could he expand cavalry in large quantities and have the ability to destroy the Han country, which was mainly cavalry.

"I agree with you saying you want to withdraw your troops and expand your cavalry. But you said you want to deal with Hong Xiuquan, but are you doing something big? That guy is just a magician, so there is no need for us to mobilize all the troops. General Zhou and the others are enough to destroy him." Xiang Yu said disapprovingly.

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Qin hurriedly walked into the tent with a solemn look on his face.

"Your Majesty, the latest urgent report from Jinyi Nanwei, Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Army has captured Guiyang County, and the troops are heading north quickly and heading straight to Changsha."

As soon as this statement came out, the expressions of the ministers of the Great Wei in the big tent changed.

Xiang Yu also frowned, was surprised, and said anxiously: "What is Hong Xiuquan's ability? He actually attacked Jingzhou and killed Changsha County. How could this be possible?"

Su Qin sighed, "According to the information of our Jinyiwei, Hong Xiuquan has no special features except for being able to bewitch people's hearts. However, the fake kings such as Yang Xiuqing and Feng Yunshan under his command are all very wise, and generals such as Shi Dakai and Li Xiucheng are also very capable of using troops. It is said that Sima Hui, Pang Degong, and a man named Xu Shu gave him advice. It is precisely because of these talents that Hong Xiuquan was able to capture Jiaozhou in a short time, and now he has broken Guiyang and advanced to Changsha."

In the big tent, the ministers' expressions changed slightly, and they all showed unexpected expressions. Obviously, they did not expect that there were actually dragons and tigers hidden in the Taiping Army.

The Taoist merchant also frowned, and it was not Yang Xiuqing and Shi Dakai who made him feel afraid. The strength of these people was all within his expectations.

What surprised the Tao merchant was that a paranormal like Sima Hui and a top strategist like Xu Shu actually defected to Hong Xiuquan's command.

Thoughts flew around, and recalling the whole story, the Taoist merchant quickly figured out the reason, and a sneer rose from the corner of his mouth.

Sima Hui was the teacher of the Dragon and Fengchu, and was also a famous aristocratic scholar in Jingxiang. However, he implemented Shang Yang's reforms to push the aristocratic family to a dead end. This is probably the reason why Sima Hui escaped from Jingzhou and had to defect to Hong Xiuquan.

Besides, Xu Shu should have come out to help Liu Bei when Liu Bei fled to Xinye, but he never saw Xu Shu appear until the pottery merchant destroyed Jingchu.

Tao Shang guessed that Xu Shu should have been studying under Sima Hui at that time, and he should have fled to Jiaozhou with his teacher and joined Hong Xiuquan's command.

As for Duke Pang De, let alone the Pang family. The Pang family was originally one of the four major families in Jingzhou. His nephew was Pang Tong. As the representative of the Pang family who escaped from Jingzhou, he defected to Hong Xiuquan and wanted to return to Jingzhou and revitalize the glory of the Pang family. It is naturally not surprising.

"All these dissatisfied ambitious people jumped out and wanted to take advantage of Hong Xiuquan's strength to make a last try. Very good, I will take the opportunity to eliminate you clowns!" Tao Shang's fist hit the case with a murderous intent ignited.

All the ministers nodded and said yes. At this time, even Xiang Yu did not dare to underestimate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom anymore, which meant the severity of this threat.

At this time, Han Xin said again: "This time we retreated and went to deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. I think it was the best strategy, but I was worried that once Your Majesty uses troops to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Liu Bei will collude with the Xianbei people to take advantage of the situation and go south again to invade Hebei."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Yi arrived hurriedly again and said with a happy look: "Your Majesty, good news, good news!"
Chapter completed!