Not to mention that Ning Ze fooled Sima Fa and deceived the three forces, and recaptured the two counties of Xizhou with lightning speed.

On the other hand, Tang Niu ordered Zhou Yuan to stay in Dongcheng County, Bianzhou, and personally led his troops to the expedition, and led dozens of generals such as Mei Xu, Miao Ji, Lin Xuan to lead 80,000 troops into the wasteland.

Balin, the elder of the Di tribe, sent Subuzhan, who was familiar with the wasteland terrain, to help lead the Zhou army.

The roads in wasteland are rugged and bumpy, and vehicles cannot pass through.

Mei Xu asked the soldiers to put all their supplies on the horse's back and gave up the vehicle and moved forward slowly.

Although war horses are a bit extravagant to transport supplies from camels, there is no other way.

As long as you can arrive in Huajun, launch a surprise attack smoothly, or even conquer the Imperial City of Huaguo in one fell swoop, everything is worth it!

The soldiers of Zhou State were relatively tired. After all, most of them were infantry, and some cavalry also brought war horses to camels to transport supplies. They were particularly tiring to shuttle through rugged wasteland roads every day.

Tang Niu and the main generals in the army were fine. They rode horses all the way and didn't have to walk by themselves.

Of course, in this situation, the horses were very tired, so they walked for a while and took a break, and the marching speed was relatively slow.

There are many poisonous snakes and beasts in wasteland, most of which are no one-man's land and rarely visited.

If ordinary people travel through wastelands, they can be said to be very dangerous and will be killed by poisonous snakes and beasts at any time.

The Di tribe is best at dealing with poisonous snakes and beasts, and they know them best.

With various medicines prepared in advance by Xubuzhan, poisonous snakes and beasts will automatically avoid them along the way.

Under such a difficult situation, the Zhou army persisted all the way and finally arrived in Jinzhou successfully and arrived at the border of Huajun.

When the scout returned to see the city of Huajun, Tang Niu was overjoyed.

It turns out that all counties in Huajun are in the south direction, and the northern wasteland is almost connected to Huajun County.

After all, it is normal for the army to detour across the wasteland, which is basically impossible.

Who would have thought that someone from the Dike tribe would discover the rugged roads across the wasteland and bring the Zhou army over?

"Your Majesty, now the Chinese army is in Mizhou. Hua County has a maximum of 10,000 troops. There are only old and weak people in the city, as well as a large number of female officials." Mei Xu said, "Our army is eight times the enemy and has the advantage of surprise attacks. We should march at full speed to conquer this city! Once Hua County is taken down, your Majesty will be able to tremble the sixteen states!"

"Okay!" Tang Niu laughed, "Transfer my order, march at full speed, and capture Hua County!"

The troops of Zhou State crossed the border of Huajun and advanced rapidly.

There were no Chinese troops guarding along the way, nor were there any obstacles. The rugged roads lead directly to the destination.

But Tang Niu didn't know that hot air balloons fly over the sky above Huajun city every day. If you don't pay attention, you think it's a bird from afar, after all, there is only one black spot.

But looking down at the hot air balloon, the entire Huajun city was clear at a glance.

Especially the emergence of telescopes makes the vision even more distant.

At this moment, the scout of the Huaguo who was on the hot air balloon was holding a telescope to check around and happened to find the Zhou army that appeared on the border of Huaguo County and was heading here.

At their height, you can barely see the scene like an ant marching through a telescope.

The distance is still too far, and I can't see it clearly.

However, it can be determined that the army's flag pattern, color, military uniform style, and direction of coming to determine that it belongs to the Zhou Kingdom.

When he found something was wrong, the scout immediately gained weight on the hot air balloon and threw bags of sandbags out of the frame.

The heavy sandbag pulled the chains and slowly descended with a hot air balloon.

After Liu Yuanxiang retired from the court, he used some leisure to return to the harem with Chu Meiren, Mi Yan and Xiaodie to check the children's situation.

Two-year-old Liu Xiu is quite naughty, and his other younger brothers and sisters are well-behaved and obedient, staying with her husband honestly. He is the only one who runs around, which makes the husband who specializes in taking care of him suffer a headache.

Fortunately, when Liu Yuanxiang came, he stopped playing and happily threw himself into his mother's arms to hug him.

As we were interacting with the child, a female soldier came in outside: "Report——! The army of Zhou was found on the northern border, moving towards Huajun! The number was about 70,000 to 80,000, and the situation was critical! The Prime Minister asked Your Majesty, Chu Taichang, and General Wei to hurry to the court to discuss matters!"

"What?!" Liu Yuanxiang, Chu Beauty, Mi Yan looked at each other, unable to believe it.

They have a good understanding of wasteland intelligence, and under normal circumstances, it is difficult for them to travel through this dangerous area.

The wasteland is like a natural barrier that completely isolates the north.

Although I heard that the Di tribes would pass through the wasteland to Huajun to exchange supplies, the possibility of the army coming over is very low!

Why did the Zhou army suddenly cross the wasteland and enter the Huajun area from the north?

Because Hua County is in the rear, there are wastelands in the north, oceans in the east, and mountains in the south, and normally they can only rely on the western passage to enter and exit, which is very safe. No one expected that the imperial army would cross such a terrible wasteland and suddenly attack from an unthinkable position. This time, Ning Ze led a large army to fight, almost taking away the main forces of the country, leaving only the most basic forces in each prefecture and county, which are enough to maintain public order.

There are only 13,000 soldiers in Huajun, and among these soldiers are 7,000 female soldiers.

The enemy has 70,000 to 80,000, several times more than oneself, which is indeed dangerous.

It was originally parent-child time, but now I don’t care about so much.

Let Xiaodie stay in the harem and watch the children, Liu Yuanxiang, Chu Meiren, and Mi Yan hurried to court.

As soon as he received the news, Prime Minister Chu Xun immediately ordered the Chinese civil and military officials to gather in the court, and sent someone to inform the whole city, so that the people could return to the city immediately.

When Liu Yuanxiang and the other two arrived, all the civil and military officials had arrived.

"Your Majesty!" Chu Xun stood up and bowed, saying respectfully, "The scout came to report that the Zhou army in the north was crossing the wasteland and wanted to attack Hua County. With the opponent's marching speed, it took about half a day to arrive outside the city. The enemy was at least 70,000 soldiers and horses, or even more. It is not clear who the commander was. The old minister estimated that the probability of Tang Niu personally taking the horse was extremely high. The number one general in the world was not a false news. The former general meeting was overwhelming the heroes! The only one who could defeat Tang Niu was the King of Danyang, but the prince was out of the expedition and it was difficult to return to the rescue. Our soldiers should close the city gate immediately, strengthen the city defense, and notify the surrounding counties and towns to send troops to provide assistance!"

"The Prime Minister is experienced and the arrangements are extremely appropriate!" Liu Yuanxiang said, "The enemy came suddenly, and it was unexpected that I would pass on my will and immediately seal the gate and the people were recalled. If all the ministers have a plan to retreat to the enemy, come quickly!"

"Your Majesty, don't worry!" Liang Teng stood up and said with his fists, "Although Tang Niu has the order of the world's number one military general, it is difficult to fight him. However, we can definitely defend the city. The Liang family, all defended the city for His Majesty, and the enemy's army could not move forward!"

"I swear to defend the city to the death!" Behind Liang Teng, Liang Kai, Liang Shun, Liang Jing, Liang Yun, Liang Dong, Liang Jing, Liang Hao, and other members of the Liang family who were officials in the court came out and responded in unison.

"I am willing to die for Your Majesty!" Li Shun, Zhao Qing, Sun Yan, Zhu Yan and all the civil servants and generals present, whether in the Prosperity Sect or the Ningze Sect, also stood up.

Liu Yuanxiang was quite moved: "With all the help of me, I will be free of worries! Censor Liang!"

"I'm here!" Liang Teng took a step forward.

"I hand over all the troops in the city to you, and the city defense is in trouble!"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty! I will defend myself to the death and not let the enemy step into the imperial city!" Liang Teng took the order and directly mobilized the military generals, took them out of the palace and rushed to the city gate. Mi Yan also asked her confidant to summon female soldiers to guard the city together.

All the rest were civil servants. Liu Yuanxiang looked around everyone and finally turned to Li Shun: "Li Yilang!"

"Here!" Li Shun stood up and saluted respectfully.

"You can go to the Communications Department and quickly send a message to the surrounding counties and towns, including nearby counties and cities, to send troops to support!"

"Here!" Li Shun quickly turned around and ran away from the palace.

"Prime Minister!" Liu Yuanxiang turned to Chu Xun, "You will take over all matters in the city for the time being, and make overall arrangements!"

"The old minister must do his best!" Chu Xun nodded and turned to the beauty of Chu. "Chu Taichang, with the existing troops in the imperial city, it is quite dangerous to block the enemy's army. If you want to retreat, you should defeat them with wisdom. Can you have a plan?"

In fact, Chu Xun had a few thoughts in his mind, but he just felt that it was not a perfect solution. His daughter was better than the top, especially in terms of military tactics. Of course, she asked her what she thought immediately.

Seeing Liu Yuanxiang and all the civil servants looking at him, the beauty Chu bowed her head and thought for a moment, and replied slowly: "Although Tang Niu is brave, there are no wise men around her. Mei Xu is good at military formations and is not good at planning. I have heard that many ghosts and monsters are believed in. If you send an army to the upper reaches of Mijiang, set up dozens of coffins with the main road, mourning flags everywhere, and spill paper money along the way, you must take a detour, which can be restrained for at least an hour and fight for the time for our army to consolidate the city defense. The prince had previously taken two assassins and ordered him to train the assassin team, and ordered him to leave the city and release dragon-shaped kites along the way. The soldiers of Zhou State must have been surprised and could also delay a little."

"Why are all procrastination strategies?" Chu Xun asked.

"Only after delaying time, there will be a good way to retreat the enemy!" Chu Meiren said, "If Zhou soldiers crossed the country and blocked two obstacles, they would use all the hot air balloons in the city, with phosphorus fire pots, and flew over the enemy's air to throw them. Then take out all the explosive crossbow arrows in the arsenal and let all the soldiers guarding the city be equipped."

"Those explosion crossbow arrows are the prince's treasures!" Zhu Yan said worriedly.

"I don't care about so much now," said Chu Meiren, "In this case, even if the prince is here, he will agree to use these treasures!"

"It's right!" Liu Yuanxiang nodded, "Retreatment to the enemy is the primary priority now, and all resources can be used."

Chu Xun thought carefully: "Using hot air balloons, phosphorus fire pots and explosive crossbow arrows can indeed cause a large number of casualties in the enemy army, weaken morale, and inspire our army. Chu Taichang's plan is quite appropriate. It is not enough to retreat the enemy army!"

"The enemy is coming too urgently, let me think about my plan again!"

"Since that's the case, let's make arrangements first!" Chu Xun stood up and looked at the civil officials, "Everyone, this battle is of great importance, and you must not be neglected! Wu Zongzheng!"

"Here!" Hearing his name, he immediately left the list.

"I ordered you to coordinate the city defense and move out all the Hyogo first. If it is not enough, you can raise funds from the people!"

"Here!"

The so-called urgent fundraising from the people means that when it is a last resort, heavy furniture such as stone mills need to be requisitioned, and any materials that can replace rolling stones and attack the enemy. At the same time, certain houses can be demolished and pillars and beams are used as slabs and wooden.

As for compensation, the loss will be settled after the war will be paid to the people.

The equipment to defend the city may not be insufficient, but you must also prepare for the future.
Chapter completed!