Jiangling, the thunder continued to sound, and the attack and defense sides continued to throw thunderstorms. The fire, thick smoke and sound generated during the explosion made the entire battlefield feel like it was shrouded in a storm. It seemed that a god from the sky came down to earth and was using his magical powers to fight.

The attacking party was the Zhou army, the defending party was the Liang army and the Zhou army, and there were both sides of the catapult and the sky-bombing thunder, so the offense and defense around Jiangling City were always in a state of equal strength.

Liang State was a vassal of Zhou State. Zhou State established the Jiangling General Administration in Jiangling. The troops garrison had dual responsibilities, one was to protect Jiangling, and the other was to monitor the king and ministers of Liang State. At this moment, it was with the assistance of the Zhou army that Jiangling did not fall.

Cui Hongdu, the marshal of the Xiangxi Road, led his army to attack Jiangjin, and then the troops arrived at Jiangling City. After the attack failed, he shot countless silk books into the city, indicating his identity in the book, claiming that he was ordered by the court to attack the rebel Yuwen Liang and his son, and asked the monarch and ministers of Liang to perform their duties as a vassal state to assist the official army in rebellion.

The Zhou army guarding the city claimed that Cui Hongdu, who was outside the city, had to join Chen State to make a profit for the enemy's vanguard. Seeing the internal strife of the Zhou army, the ruler and minister of Liang, who were sandwiched in the middle, could only be speechless.

Since the Hou Jing Rebellion broke out, the national fortune of Liang State has been cut off, and it has been lingering to this day. The Jiangling General Manager is from the Yuwen family, and Cui Hongdu is from the Yuchi family. Now the two families have nothing to do with the Xiao family in Lanling. Whoever wins will be their sect leader.

In the palace, Emperor Liang Xiao Cong was helpless when he heard the continuous thunder coming from afar. He was asking Empress Dowager Zhang at this time. Zhang was unwell recently and needed to rest. As a result, there was such a big noise outside, and I don’t know when it would stop.

Empress Dowager Zhang was in poor spirits, and Xiao Cong stayed for a while before leaving. Empress Dowager Zhang was his legitimate mother and not his biological mother, so there was always some gap.

It is certainly wrong for the legitimate mother to be a different son to not greet her. If the greetings take too long, they will be criticized and said that they are inconsiderate. As the saying goes, Xiao Cong, who is already upset, can only act according to etiquette.

Of course, the children of the Xiao family of Lanling should have the style of a famous family. However, the Liang Kingdom is now in a state of disgrace. Xiao Cong sighed whenever he thinks of this. His grandfather and father feel the mood back then.

The country's despair was not only blamed for the damn Hou Jing, but also for their internal strife in the Xiaoliang clan, otherwise they would not have taken advantage of by outsiders. Now seeing the internal strife in the Zhou Kingdom, Xiao Cong didn't know how to describe his mood.

If it were Xiao Cong who was young and energetic more than ten years ago, he might have thought of taking advantage of the situation and allowing Liang State to rise again, but after he succeeded to the throne, he learned about the real status of the country and felt that everything was irreversible.

How long the Liang Kingdom's destiny can last is a question, let alone the revival.

So for Xiao Cong, one day, even if the Liang Kingdom really perishes, the Xiao family of Lanling still exists, and is still a high school, and is a high school known for its literature.

Perhaps, he, the king of the country who lost his country, was able to finally get rid of his burden and behave in writing with other talents from the gentry as a clan.

Xiao Cong saw clearly that Chen State has become increasingly weak and the world is about to be unified. So no matter who wins between the Yuchi and the Yuwen, the winner will not allow the small Liang State to continue to exist.

But the Liang Kingdom was already a vassal of the Zhou Kingdom, so if the country really perished, he would not be as unlucky as the emperor of Qi, Gao Wei. As the king of the deceased country, as long as he should not act too high-profile, it would be fine to be a rich man. Then it would be a good choice to indulge in the mountains and rivers at that time.

Or go to the school club to be the editor-in-chief?

Xiao Cong was shocked by his sudden thought. His half-brother Xiao Yu is now studying in Xiyang, Huangzhou, and his uncle Zhang Ke is the editor-in-chief of Xiyang's study club. He has endless books to read every day. Xiao Cong is really envious of this.

Even though he was envious, that idea was actually impossible to realize. Xiao Cong knew that studying society was the property of his cheap brother-in-law Yuwen Wen. If Yuwen was defeated, let alone studying society, even his half-sister Xiao Jiuniang would be in trouble.

Back then, Xiao Jiuniang was a concubine of Yuwen Wen. Such an ugly behavior was considered to have lost Xiao's face. Unfortunately, such a woman was born in the family. She should have cut off her relationship and stopped interacting with each other. However, as a member of the Zhou royal family, Yuwen Wen had a different status and status, and his family could only recognize him silently.

Although Xiao Cong was extremely dissatisfied with his sister's lustful behavior, he really envied his half-brother Xiao Yu.

The Huangzhou Prefecture School where Xiao Yu studied is now taught by many famous scholars. The city publishing industry is also very prosperous and has become a place that many scholars yearn for. Xiao Cong likes to study and hopes to have the opportunity to go there.

I chatted and laughed with all the famous scholars of the scriptures, and then I could read endless books every day, and even published books. This kind of life was really good for Xiao Cong.

The premise is that Yuwen can win, but according to the strength comparison, I am afraid that it will be difficult for Yuwen to win.

‘So I can only be a rich man who does nothing at that time, right?’

Xiao Cong thought so, staring at the scenery in the garden. Cui Hongdu came too quickly. The king and minister of Liang did not go out of the city to take refuge first as usual, so he could only wait in the imperial palace in the city to decide the victory or defeat.

After a while, Xiao Cong felt something was wrong, but he didn't realize that something was wrong. Finally, he realized that the thunder sound was gone, and it seemed that the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

About half an hour later, Xiao Cong received good news: the enemy troops besieging Jiangling had withdrawn.

"Have you withdrawn?"

"When I returned to the official family, the enemy did withdraw his troops. I thought it was too late to see that it was so beautiful today, so I took back my troops and returned to the camp and wait for another battle to come."

......

In the middle of the night, in the eastern suburbs of Jiangling, the place outside the temple is now the location of Cui Hongdu's camp. At this moment, Cui Hongdu is summoning the generals to discuss matters and intensively arrange the withdrawal of troops.

The battle situation changed too quickly, the original plan no longer worked, and the troops must be withdrawn immediately.

The Piba Temple is located on the east side of Jiangling, about fifteen miles away from each other. The reason why he led his army to station here was to command the army to attack Jiangling, and to take into account the southeast Jiangjin.

Jiangjin is the key to the north bank of the Yangtze River and the garrison of Cui Hongdu's naval army. Once it falls, it means that there are huge hidden dangers on the flanks of the army besieging Jiangling. Unless the city can be broken into pieces as soon as possible, the troops must be withdrawn.

This goes against Cui Hongdu's original intention, so he led his army to be stationed in Piba Temple to take into account both the east and the west. However, the current threat in Jiangjin mainly comes from the river surface, and it is necessary to rely on the navy to defeat the invading enemy troops. Now, the navy has been wiped out in the first battle of the public security.

The huge fleet of ships when they set sail from Jiangjin finally escaped only some of the fast ships. All the main warships were finished, and countless casualties were injured. Although Cui Hongdu knew that Shannan's naval army was very powerful, he did not expect it to be so powerful.

Before Cui Hongdu served as the marshal of the Xiangxi Road and attacked Chen State, his position was the general manager of Xinzhou. Xinzhou was located in the upper reaches of Jiangling. It has been prosperous since ancient times. There are many experienced boatmen, and they are all good naval bases.

The Shu navy in Xinzhou and the upstream were not very capable, but it was not cowardly. Therefore, Cui Hongdu dared to take the initiative to attack and let the navy go to the public security to fight the invading Jiangnan West Road naval army.

If there are benefits from the upstream, the water battle will at least be evenly matched. As long as the opponent's naval army is defeated, the one-sided naval army can assist in the defense of the public security. What is the result?

This time he took the initiative to lose all his money. It is conceivable that the police could not save it. Jiang Jin was the first to be hit, and then he had to lead his army back to Xinzhou and he had to immediately set off the camp, otherwise he would not be able to leave.

The navy was over, but the troops were still there. Retreat to Xinzhou, which could defend the gateway of Shu, and also could still restrain Jiangling.

Xinzhou Prefecture is under the Baidi City, and is adjacent to the mountains in the north and facing the Yangtze River in the south. The terrain is dangerous and easy to defend and difficult to attack. I boarded the ship from Baidi City in the early morning and usually arrived in Jiangling the next day.

So as long as he dispatched troops in Baidi City, Jiangling downstream would be in a panic.

The premise is that it can be withdrawn. Today, news of the navy's defeat came. Cui Hongdu ordered the withdrawal without hesitation, because the other party was very likely to send troops to land on the other side of the public security and directly attack Jiangjin by land.

In this way, the other party's landing location is only more than forty miles away from Jiangjin. Although there is no serious road, it is not impossible to attack at night. If the enemy really has such a plan, then when he touches Jiangjin, it is about midnight.

Cui Hongdu felt that if he was the head commander of the enemy, he would definitely divide his troops to attack Jiangjin, so he made all preparations to dig a trenches in the east of Jiangjin, and guard against the enemy's night attack.

There is also a big lake heading north to the Boba Temple, where there is an east-west lake. The enemy from the north can take a boat to attack the south bank on the north shore of the lake. This kind of battle is not without cases. The last time happened eight years ago.

At that time, Yuwen Wen, the Duke of Xiyang County, led his troops to cross the lake on a boat and attacked the south bank, burning Jiangjin. After Cui Hongdu learned about this old story, he specially chose the Piqua Temple as his camp to prevent anyone from using this to cut off the connection between the besieged army and the Jiangjin defenders.

Thinking of Yuwen Wen, Cui Hongdu thought of his younger brother Cui Hongsheng. He was ordered to attack Jiangling. He could probably guess that his younger brother would have actions in Jiangzhou. What is the specific action. It is unknown how it is now. Cui Hongdu doesn't care about so much, so he can only take care of his own affairs first.

The plan was decided, and the generals were about to disperse, but they heard the noise in the southeast direction. Everyone went out of the tent to look east, but saw fires flashing in the sky. After a moment, they were anxious to report that there was an enemy attack in the east, and now their troops were successfully intercepted.

Cui Hongdu expected the enemy to attack, so he was not surprised. Since the enemy attacked "as scheduled", as long as he killed it, he would be able to withdraw his troops safely tomorrow.

"What I have just discussed is implemented immediately, and we will set up camp in turn tomorrow, and we will..."

Before Cui Hongdu finished speaking, he heard a whistling sound from the west, which sounded very lively. He turned out the tent and looked west, but saw some fireballs on the horizon rushing into the night sky, and then colorful sparks burst out.

"Then...what is that?"

......

He Ruobi looked at the soldiers fiddling with something called "Fireworks". After a moment, he saw fireballs rushing into the sky one by one, and then burst out with brilliant sparks. At that moment, I don't know how to describe his mood at this moment.

His subordinates, all wrapped in white cloth, launched a night attack on the enemy camp under the cover of archers shooting rockets, and the "fireworks" blooming in the night sky sent signals to the defenders in the city.

Reinforcements have arrived, and they are out of the city to attack!

Such an incredible signal made He Ruobi find it difficult to understand. He had been through a long battle formation and knew that when he was guarding the lonely city, if reinforcements suddenly came outside the city and attacked the enemy's besieged in the city, he would never open the door and send troops, because this was very likely the enemy's plan to win the city gate.

What if the reinforcements come?

It depends on whether there is a signal agreed in advance, or it is entirely determined by the commander of the defending army. Generally speaking, it is difficult to determine the authenticity of the "reinforcement" at a long distance in advance. It is best if the other party can send cavalry to the city and shoot silk books or tokens to check it out before everything is foolproof.

Now, there is a novel signal that can announce the arrival of reinforcements to the defenders in the city from a distance. He Ruobi is located on the river bank several miles southwest of Jiangling City. The "fireworks" set by his subordinates can definitely make Jiangling City several miles away see clearly.

Red, blue, green and other colors form colorful firelights, which are basically difficult to imitate, so He Ruobi's heart finally let go.

That day, the generals stationed in Ba and Xiang suddenly learned that the situation had changed drastically, and He Ruobi, who had a special identity, became embarrassed afterwards: many generals were originally from the Zhou army in Shannan and were old subordinates of the marshal Yu Wenming, and only a few were not, and he was one of them.

Yu Wenming did not say anything clearly about the so-called situation change, but anyone with a discerning eye could guess that it was because the conflict between Yu Chi and Yu Wen clans had intensified, so there were only two ways before He Ruobi: either be loyal to Yu Wenming or die.

Only fools will choose the second option. No matter what they think in their hearts, they must at least obey Yu Wenming on the surface, but the other party also knows it well. Therefore, He Ruobi, as a guest general, must make some statements, otherwise it would be a bad idea if he was mistakenly thought to support the Yuchi family's uprising.

How to express it? It’s very simple, let your son He Ruohuaikuo follow Yu Wenming to Anlu, that is, be a hostage.

He Ruohuaikuo is He Ruobi's eldest son. He has been fighting with the army since he went to war. He Ruobi and his second son He Ruohuailiang are in Guanzhong. He is very likely to have his son die, so this expression is enough to "confess his feelings."

Yu Wenming simply asked He Ruobi to stay in Linxiang and stay in Xiangzhou and Guizhou. However, He Ruobi took the initiative to ask for the battle. He was unwilling to stay in Linxiang and do nothing. The current situation was turbulent, which was a great opportunity to make achievements.

The Yuchi family and the Yuwen family need generals who can win the battle. After several efforts, He Ruobi won an excellent opportunity, which is to make a big splash.

According to detailed reports, the Xiangxi Road marching that besieged Jiangling, the Daying was located on the bank of the river in the southern suburbs of Jiangling City, and the Zhongjun camp of the commander Cui Hongdu was located in the Boba Temple between Jiangling and Jiangjin, which was for both the east and west.

Zhou Fashang led the main force to attack the public security on the land and water, attracting the opponent's navy to rescue him, and then defeated him in one battle. He Ruobi led his elite troops to the north through the Hu Du River on the west side of the Gong'an, and entered the river at the entrance of the Yangtze River, Taipingkou, and crossed the north of the floating river, and landed on the north bank of the Yangtze River on the southwest side of Jiangling.

At the same time, a cavalry landed in Jiangbei from north of the Public Security Bureau. Taking advantage of the night, the east and west armies attacked at the same time with pocket watches.

The cavalry attacked Jiangjin was a feint attack. He Ruobi led elite troops to attack the enemy camp in the south of Jiangling City to the west. They were the main force of the night attack. However, to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, the defenders in Jiangling City had to fight and attack at the same time.

The signal agreed with the defender is the magical "fireworks". Five or six rounds are placed in sequence, so that the defender can confirm that reinforcements are coming. This is the signal that Yu Wenming had agreed with Jiangling General Manager long ago. It was handed over to He Ruodun, which is a manifestation of trust.

However, He Ruobi couldn't wait for that long. The so-called surprise attack is about speed. Since the fangs have been revealed, then bite people quickly.

The elite soldiers floated north on the river and relied on temporarily building bamboo rafts and could not carry too many war horses. He Ruobi led a handful of cavalry and rode his horse towards the enemy camp. For him, it didn't matter if the number of people was smaller. As long as he had a horse spear in his hand, it would be enough.

"Blow up the horns and let them know that the man-eating tiger is coming!!"

The noise gradually arose, and the fires of the camps by the river were lit up. Jiangling City was disturbed and gradually became turbulent. After a long time, the city gates opened wide, and countless torches gathered into a river and rushed towards the camp.
Chapter completed!