On the afternoon of July 17, Zhu Gaoxu followed the Central Army team to Libo County, Guangxi Administration Commander.

The vanguard Wang Bin's troops continued south along the Zhangjiang River the day before yesterday, and the camp houses left in Libo County were just allowed to live in the middle army. During the march, the baggage soldiers and some scouts were in front, and the baggage soldiers had already cleaned the houses before the army arrived.

Zhu Gaoxu led his brown horse to the bank of Zhangjiang River and asked the horse to drink water and eat grass by the river.

The sunset was shining on the river surface, sparkling. He turned to look at the west bank and saw the dilapidated earthen walls and the low houses around it; the backward and simple scene there was not as bright as the waves on the water surface.

Miao Jin also appeared in the west. She wore a hat and her face was tightly wrapped, just like a Middle Eastern man. She rode a horse and came close, turned over and got off the horse and threw away the reins. The horse walked to the river independently.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Miaojin, and the sunset in that direction was dazzling. He couldn't see her expression clearly, so he could only see her eyes.

"When marching outside, it is inevitable that you will sleep in the open for a long time." Zhu Gaoxu turned around and spoke to Miaojin, "Even if you live in a house on the road, you cannot compare with the mansion in a big city."

Miao Jin's voice came from the scarf, which was a little different from usual. "I once thought about going to the mountains and choosing Taoist temples to live in seclusion, and I really thought about the daily life in the mountains. I could think of the difficulties in it, but I was not so spoiled. This little bit of suffering in the army is nothing, and the King of Han doesn't need to worry about it."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said casually, "Yes, there are probably many mosquitoes in the mountains, and water sources and daily necessities may also be scarce. Living in seclusion is not that elegant. I am even more worried that there is no official shop in the mountains, what should you do if a woman encounters a bandit?"

After saying that, he turned around and took a deep breath to the river. He smelled the unique faint smell of the mud and sand on the river bank, mixed with the fragrance of grass leaves chewed out by horses and the smell of horse manure.

Zhu Gaoxu stood here and rested for a while, and suddenly spoke again: "After our people came here, this place seems to be a little different?"

Miao Jin thought for a while and said softly: "Sound. This place was originally sparsely populated, but suddenly there were 10,000 or 20,000 people, and there was always a buzzing noise in the air. You don't have to go and see it specifically, you can feel that there are many people around you."

Zhu Gaoxu listened for a while and nodded thoughtfully.

At this time, he heard the rushing sound of horse hooves. He turned around and saw a man wearing a green official robe coming here. After a while, Zhu Gaoxu confirmed that the person was Hou Hai, the right chief of the Han Palace.

Hou Hai got off the horse and walked over, clasped his fists and said, "Report to the prince, the central army has received some reports, you'd better take a look at these three of them!"

Zhu Gaoxu reached out to take the thing and saw that the envelope had been opened. The rules he set asked the officials of the Chief Secretary's Office to review various reports first in order to screen for priorities.

The first letter was written by Sheng Yong. Sheng Yong and Ping'an led the Southern Army to approach the Guangxi governor Tianzhou Tufu (around Baise City); Ping'an has transferred a group of troops to open up the road from Tianzhou to Qingyuan Prefecture (near Hechi City), and is setting up strongholds along the way to ensure the news exchanges between the Central Army and the Southern Army.

After seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu was calm and thought that Sheng Yong and Ping An were all good generals who had experienced many battles. Everything was going well and they would not have any problems easily.

The second letter was Mr. Li. For a moment, Zhu Gaoxu was not sure whether the official document came from Yunnan or Guizhou.

When the Central Army set off, the Han King Changshi Mansion was still in Kunming City, but it had decided to migrate to Guizhou in the near future. Mr. Li, the head of the Han King Governor's Office, and the left chief of the Changshi Mansion Qian Xun and others who exchanged Guo Zi for the family and officials of the Han King's Office should be in the same place.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Mr. Li's letter and found that there was a piece of paper inside the envelope. He took it out and saw that the words were Veda's handwriting.

Veda has been ordered to command the naval and land army in eastern Sichuan to replace the defense in the east. The outpost scouts at the camp in eastern Sichuan discovered that the enemy's Jingzhou troops were unknown and were mobilizing westward! The enemy's water and land advance together, and there are signs of attacking Kuizhou and other places...

Zhu Gaoxu, who had been riding a horse for a whole day, had just relaxed for a while, and his expression gradually became a little solemn.

Although Zhu Gaoxu had expected Sichuan to be in danger of attack in advance, he still couldn't help but worry when he heard the news.

After all, the troops in Sichuan are very empty now. A small half of the Han Wang army are soldiers from Sichuan, and their families are there; if the Sichuan Provincial Administration Commission is captured again, it will not only greatly affect the morale of the army, but will also make the Han Wang Mansion's already stretched finance worse!

Zhu Gaoxu was silent for a while, and his preliminary judgment did not change from previous expectations, because the water and land situation in the river channel east of Sichuan was dangerous and it would be difficult to break for a while. But the time cannot be delayed too long. If Sichuan was attacked from Shaanxi and Huguang, the terrain would be dangerous. From ancient times to the present, Sichuan has not been defeated by the army outside the mountain once.

He picked up the last envelope, which contained several news reports from the Beisi of the Han Palace sent to Guangxi.

Wu Gao's army has left Nanning Prefecture and marched towards Laibin County (Laibin City) of Liuzhou Prefecture. The official road covers the sun, and the cars are like long dragons. There may be 150,000 enemy troops!

Zhu Gaoxu thought to himself: After Wu Gao arrived in Guangxi, he replaced Zhang Fu's army with a total strength of about 100,000; Wu Gao could not have a total of 150,000 people at this time. However, it was normal for the scout to observe carefully and it was difficult to see the accurate number of people, and it was often exaggerated.

"We have to go into the city." Zhu Gaoxu said.

Miao Jin nodded quietly and she shouted, and the horse eating grass by the river could understand the call, so she ran over.

Zhu Gaoxu asked Hou Hai, "Is the Central Army ready?"

Hou Hai nodded and said, "Go back to the prince, you are ready. The official led the prince forward."

Zhu Gaoxu and others rode into the Tucheng Wall County. Under Hou Hai's guide road, they arrived at the dirt road with some stone slabs in front of the county government and entered a tile house.

On the chair in the living room, Zhu Gaoxu sat down for a long time and didn't say anything, and was a little dazed.

Miao Jin, who followed in, had already arranged his maps, paper and ink and other commonly used items from the bag, and even Zhu Gaoxu was always the same tea cup for water. After spending a long time with Miao Jin, Zhu Gaoxu realized that she was an orderly and tidy person.

Zhu Gaoxu did not look at the map at this time, but was still thinking freely. Without a scale, the distance could not be expressed from above; however, Zhu Gaoxu remembered the distance of most places in his mind. The scout of the King of Han Dynasty's army made detailed explorations by estimating the distance through the time of running horses.

Laibin County is in the northeast of Nanning Prefecture, with an official roadmaster of more than 300 miles; from Nanning to Liuzhou Prefecture and Guilin Prefecture, they all go in that direction. So Zhu Gaoxu guessed that Wu Gao's first destination should be Guilin, the governor of Guangxi!

At this moment, Zhao Ping, Wang Yu and other generals walked into the living room. The right chief Hou Hai and Miao Jin were here before.

"The last generals and then pay homage to the prince." The generals stepped forward one after another to hold the salute.

Zhu Gaoxu looked up and said, "No gifts. I just learned the news that the soldiers of the Northern Division of the Guardian Mansion were moving towards Laibin County in the northeast. It seems that Wu Gao might be going to Guilin Mansion in Liuzhou Prefecture."

After a while, Zhao Ping clasped his fists and said, "Our middle army was originally scheduled to arrive at Qingyuan Prefecture (Hechi City), and then attack Nanning Prefecture in the south. Now that Wu Gao's army has left Nanning, our main force will not have to go south. If we change the route and move westward from Qingyuan Prefecture, can we meet Wu Gao in the north of Liuzhou Prefecture?"

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Using the time and distance estimates of the report in detail, if both armies march normally, Wu Gao would have arrived in Liuzhou Prefecture earlier. Because of this, Wu Gao's army would be mobilized to the northeast."

Although Zhao Ping was from a low background, he was a scholar who passed the exam for Tongsheng. He also followed Zhu Gaoxu and experienced a lot in many battles. He should have understood what Zhu Gaoxu said, so he asked at this time: "The prince has determined that Wu Gao wants to get rid of our army, rather than planning to defeat us in both directions?"

"He is not that kind of person!" Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Zhao Ping, "He should have 100,000 troops, only dealing with 70,000 people all the way, and the advantage is not great. When did Wu Gao become so courageous? I am sure that he can quickly defeat me before the Sheng Yong army meets?"

King Zhao bowed and said, "The King of Han is wise!"

Zhu Gaoxu said again: "Zhang Fu's main force is in Huguang. Wu Gao wants to move closer to Zhang Fu's army so that he can gather more troops in the future!"

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu had to admit that the British Duke Zhang Fu was a very thoughtful general.

Zhu Gaoxu even had a faint feeling that Zhang Fu had expected the war to break out in Huguang! That's why Wu Gaojun took the risk of mobilizing north and gave up a safer route towards Guangdong.

The generals of the government army no longer care about Guangdong, where the troops are empty. They only responded like this only if they believed that the Han Wang army was unlikely to continue advancing eastward.

The Jingzhou Army was also guarding against the fact that the Han Wang Army went too far to the east... Once Zhu Gaoxu advanced to the Fujian region of Guangdong and ignored the heavy troops of Huguang's official troops, the three empty southwest provinces would be seriously threatened.

Zhu Gaoxu repeatedly pondered the current trends of the government army and believed more about He Fugong's strategy. The enemy was trying to force Zhu Gaoxu to engage in a major battle!

The mobilization and deployment in the early stage of the war is a necessary process. Due to the limited efficiency of grain and military transportation at this time, the army will generally try to collect grain on the spot without gathering in one place, otherwise there will be no food for a long time. Only in a short time when the decisive battle is about to break out, the main generals of both sides will gather the troops in order to achieve the advantage of the front battlefield as much as possible.
Chapter completed!