Chapter 1009 That Diligent… Old Dog

The first to make contact between the two armies were their respective central armies, the ones with the most formidable forces.

The knights on both sides wore bright armor, especially the knights at the very front, serving as the spearheads of their respective sides, needing to have the words "Invincible" written directly on their faces.

Years ago, when Zheng Fan saw Li Fusheng liked to lead the charge himself, he felt that Li Fusheng was too impulsive; as a general, he should stand on the overall situation and oversee everything.

Also years ago, when Zheng Fan saw the Jingnan King leading the charge, he felt that he was relying on his own good martial arts skills, a peak martial artist paired with a Pixiu mount, making him look like a one-man army;

When it was no longer years ago, after that small garrison officer who used to lag behind silently during charges gradually grew up, he realized… actually, when both sides ended the previous series of transitions, detours, and groundwork, and began to show the most primitive confrontation and fight, the generals already had no other commanding role to play;

Life and death, victory or defeat, success or failure, all depended on this one tremble, it was better to lead the army and charge ahead, and further agitate the morale.

The same thing, depending on one's environment and one's own pattern, will naturally have different understandings.

Although for a long time, Zheng Fan was used to flying his own flag or the King's flag, as the central army's core, fully exerting his morale-boosting aura effect,

But in the last round of the great Yan-Chu decisive battle in Shanggu County,

Even the King couldn't hold back anymore,

Simply tearing down the King's flag and leading the charge himself.

Of course, for these young generals, they certainly didn't have their own King's rich "ideological transition experience";

What is purity, what is modification, what is more purity, what is more modification… they haven't reached this stage yet, or rather, they completely chose to skip the steps;

In short,

When the moment of truth arrives,

They just felt that they should stand here, stand here, and charge here.

Horse spears pierced through armor, arrows flew horizontally, constantly hitting warhorses and knights;

From an absolutely materialized perspective, the knights on both sides could be regarded as the most exquisite "class" in their respective countries, their food, clothing, and armor all writing one word… expensive.

But this kind of "expensive" seemed particularly cheap at this moment.

After Chen Xianba's horse spear overturned three knights, it broke, and he immediately let go, drawing out his two meteor hammers;

Dealing with these opponents in armor, the blunt weapon strikes were often more effective, one hammer for each, unable to break your armor didn't matter, directly knocking you into internal injuries, so at this moment, he was like a god of slaughter descending;

He enjoyed this feeling very much, leading the army to charge, especially towards an unpredictable fate, this process of using his own strength to personally turn the balance of victory to his side, was precisely what he was most fascinated by.

He… was a born strongman.

Zhong Tianlang's long spear was also full of blood, and as far as his eyes could see, he saw the Yan army general in the distance, but unfortunately the distance was too far, he couldn't go and confront him.

At the initial charge collision, Zhong Tianlang's heart was a little apprehensive, but after the collision, he was very happy;

The Great Qian iron cavalry he had personally trained had not fallen behind at the beginning, but had instead fought the Yan army on equal footing.

This meant that

A more sufficient actual registered troop quota, a more sufficient actual issued salary, a more sufficient supply of warhorses, armor, and weapons, etc., were indeed enough to create a truly elite existence;

Everyone knew that the Great Qian was rich,

But everyone could also laugh at the Great Qian's weakness.

But Qian's wealth, wealth was not in the people, Qian's extravagance, extravagance was not in the army.

In this confrontation, Zhong Tianlang saw hope, saw the hope that Qian's cavalry could stand on an equal footing with the Yan army's iron cavalry, knowing that this Yan army was the JIndong iron cavalry!

It was precisely in this hope,

Although after the initial evenly matched situation, the Yan army knights relied on their richer experience and more sophisticated practical strategy and cooperation, and were gradually taking back control of the battlefield situation with a visible attitude…

But Zhong Tianlang still didn't think it was anything shameful.

They were battle-hardened elites, real refined iron that had been quenched in fire, able to fight and even more able to endure and persist, which was only right and proper.

But as long as the Great Qian was still there, the Great Qian's territory and people were still there, give him Zhong Tianlang another five years, and he could create one hundred thousand or even more Great Qian iron cavalry, and then the battlefield situation would not be up to his Yan people to decide!

As the earliest Qian country's three-border general who would proactively attack and go deep into the roundabout,

When he was young, Zhong Tianlang even led his army to kill into the Silver Wave County defense line,

Asking Zheng, the garrison officer, himself where Zheng, the garrison officer, was,

And patrolled to Cuiliu Fort to ask where Cuiliu Fort was,

Although now thinking about it, it was a bit laughable, even a bit silly,

But at the beginning, it scared the complacent Zheng garrison officer into two consecutive shivers.

Even later, Zheng Fan, who was already the Regent, evaluated the few people who were once on par with him, the barbarian little prince and Eunuch Nian had long been swept into the ashes, but he didn't criticize the Qian country's son-in-law much.

From the collision to the fierce battle, the Qian country's cavalry began to gradually lose ground without a clear numerical advantage.

After both sides staggered, separated, and strangled each other,

Zhong Tianlang had to issue the order to withdraw the troops.

It was a retreat, not a rout.

And the Qian army, when retreating, also ensured the basic establishment and good morale, because they knew that there was a city behind them that could shelter them.

In addition, at the appropriate time, Chen Xianba ordered to stop the pursuit, gather the troops, and at the same time send a message to the other two troops.

This was a very pure battle,

Without too much dragging its feet,

Fighting a straightforward battle,

One side lost, one side won,

The losing side retreated, and the winning side didn't choose to continue biting.

Chen Xianba sat on the Pixiu's back, putting away his meteor hammer and hanging it on both sides of his mount.

The Qian people's progress surprised him a little, at least in the use and combat of cavalry, the Qian army in front of him, although not as good as the Yan army's elite, was much better than the Chu army's cavalry.

In terms of losses, the Qian army definitely suffered greater losses, but as long as it didn't collapse and turn into a situation where the Yan army was catching pigs all over the field, these losses were within an acceptable range.

Therefore,

The winning side only felt that the win was a bit astringent;

The losing side was a bit ambitious, with the intention of losing the present but winning the future.

By the afternoon, the Yan army had completed its confluence.

Chen Xianba sat there, watching Tian Tian and Zheng Man walk towards him.

Tian Tian was fine, without any injuries, Zheng Man had been stripped of his armor, and had bandages on his body.

Chen Xianba silently clenched his fists,

He really wanted to stage a show of "fraternal harmony" for his two younger brothers at this time, but he held back.

And Zheng Man, when he came with Tian Tian, after learning about the beautiful misunderstanding of "You and I are all empty brocade bags", when he saw Chen Xianba again, he was like a little quail seeing an unreasonable A'Huang;

Shrinking his neck, dodging his gaze, silently chanting in his heart: Xianba, you must control yourself.

Tian Tian was quite excited, because he had won a battle.

And to a certain extent, he actually had no fault, because he was doing things in accordance with the highest instructions of his own father;

However, his own father could not be wrong.

"Sit."

Chen Xianba said.

Zheng Man sat down obediently, and Tian Tian also sat down.

Chen Xianba leaned forward slightly,

And said:

"From now on, everything will be subject to my military orders and dispatch, who has any objections?"

Tian Tian shook his head, he had no objections.

Zheng Man nodded first, then immediately shook his head, then nodded again, indicating that he didn't have any either.

Chen Xianba said again:

"Next time we encounter this situation, we three, with our respective troops adjacent, and without a definite King's order, will still listen to my orders, who has any objections?"

Tian Tian hesitated for a moment, but still shook his head, indicating that he didn't have any.

Zheng Man then stood up with a "Teng" sound,

Staring at Chen Xianba,

And asked:

"What did you say!"

Chen Xianba glared back at Zheng Man, his ten fingers cracking.

Zheng Man continued forcefully:

"That's what it is!"

Having lost Chen Xianba's trump card of "ungratefulness",

Zheng Man was really worried that Chen Xianba would take revenge overnight and feed him dung.

After all, it was an affection that had been beaten out since childhood, and admitting defeat didn't really need any steps.

Chen Xianba also directly glossed over everything that had happened before and didn't plan to pursue it further.

Because the source of everything was the King's almost free and unrestrained empty brocade bags,

But criticizing the King at any time was a "heinous crime", not to mention other people's reactions, even Chen Xianba himself couldn't get past this hurdle.

And after this incident,

They had defeated the Qian army, reversing the situation on the Jiangdong battlefield, even if he had been given full command from the beginning, the most he could have done was probably this situation.

After all, what he hadn't expected before was that this Qian army's cavalry was so capable of fighting.

"The problem now is…"

Chen Xianba picked up a tree branch and drew lines on the ground.

"I gave up Menhai Town, and now I've driven that son-in-law into Menhai Town. After this defeat, he won't dare to leave the city to fight again in a short time.

And behind him, there are two more Qian army wastes, according to what you said, these wastes are very cautious.

In addition, there are two more Qian army cavalry units totaling more than 10,000 troops, which will probably discover that they have fallen into a trap and have to return to aid.

We can rely on the momentum of just winning to continue to block that son-in-law here. The Qian people are also worried that we will encircle and attack the reinforcements, even if they send reinforcements, they will be very cautious, or even play the tactic of slowly grinding forward under the cover of turtle shells.

And for us, it's difficult to withdraw calmly."

Zheng Man nodded and said, "It's a pity that we didn't swallow him whole."

Chen Xianba shook his head and said, "The bones are too hard, we couldn't gnaw them down.

The situation has changed, before it was that son-in-law who was tying us down;

Now, it's us who are tying down that son-in-law;

It's impossible to just leave that son-in-law here and leave, then we'll be caught in a pincer attack.

In the end, we're still tying each other down,

So,

The King's side,

What to do?"

On the city wall,

Zhong Tianlang had just finished inspecting the wounded, and after making promises of rewards after the war to boost morale, Zhong Tianlang walked onto the city wall.

He didn't think that the Yan army would attack the city, so he didn't think that he would be in any danger.

He didn't panic after losing, the situation was still the same, his original task was just to keep these three towns of the Yan army in Jiangdong and prevent them from crossing the river.

His fingertips caressed the crenellations,

And muttered:

"Jinghai must be very lively right now."

…

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"

Boulders were thrown in, some hitting the city wall, and some directly smashing into the city.

Even though the residents inside were all Qian people, the attacking Qian army did not show any mercy.

For this one big pocket, the Qian people had paid a great price, not hesitating to let the south of the Yangtze River be affected by the flames of war, nor hesitating to let a huge gap appear in the northern defense line;

Therefore, this time, they spared no expense!

After the catapults finished throwing, the Qian army launched its third attack on the city today.

The Regent's flag had been standing on the city tower, encouraging the morale of the defending side, but the Regent himself was not on the city tower at the moment, he was in the house he had previously lived in,

Feeding the fish.

The blind man, Xie Yu'an and other generals wanted to come to see him, but were blocked by Zheng Fan's orders.

But there was one person that the guards couldn't stop, and that was the Heir Apparent;

Especially when the Heir Apparent said rarely:

"I want to see my father,"

The guards could only step aside and let him pass.

Outside on the city walls, the fighting was in full swing, but here his own father was holding a steamed bun and pinching crumbs to feed the fish, the corners of Zheng Lin's mouth twitched subconsciously.

When the Qian army appeared in the suburbs of Jinghai City, Zheng Lin was thrown out by his father to "take charge of the situation".

At any meeting, the King, who should have been sitting in the top seat, was replaced by the Heir Apparent.

His father had just envisioned with himself finding an opportunity to give him a chance to go to war with Tian Ge, but as soon as his front foot landed, he immediately put him there as a puppet… no, not even a string!

"You really have a good mood…"

Just as he was saying this in a mocking tone,

Zheng Lin saw his mother walk out with a plate of fruit;

"Good mood… Father."

"Hehe."

Zheng Fan smiled and continued to feed the goldfish.

The fruit was cut well, and even had toothpicks inserted in it, and, his own mother even picked it up and fed it to his father's mouth.

"It's a bit sour."

Zheng Fan ate a second bite and didn't want to eat anymore.

"I was afraid that your mood would be bad, so I specifically didn't choose sweet ones." Si Niang smiled.

"Good or bad mood doesn't delay eating and drinking." Zheng Fan said.

"Yes, Husband is still Husband."

Saying that, Si Niang pointed to the fruit plate,

And said:

"Son, eat it."

"…" Zheng Lin.

Zheng Lin finally walked over, picked up the fruit plate and started eating.

It was a bit sour, but not so sour that it was difficult to swallow, while eating, Zheng Lin couldn't help but criticize his old father even more in his heart.

Finally, he finished eating and put down the plate.

"Father, there's a war going on outside."

"I know."

Zheng Fan continued to sprinkle steamed bun crumbs, without raising his head, he said:

"There's no problem in defending for another seven or eight days."

Although there were not as many troops in the city as the Qian army outside, there were at least more than 20,000 armored soldiers. If the city was defended properly and there was no shortage of food and grass, the Qian army would just grind and grind.

This grind would require time, and even life for life, and it would have to be pinched by the day to slowly exchange.

"But the situation won't last too long."

"I also know."

"You… don't you have any way?"

Zheng Fan shook his head,

But it seemed like he thought of something,

And said:

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes, after another three days, you can go sit under my flag on the city tower, it just so happens that you can boost morale."

"The Qian army's catapults are constantly smashing every day!"

"Have people been smashed to death?" Zheng Fan asked.

"Of course they've been smashed to death."

"Well, it's war, other people's sons can be smashed to death, can't my Zheng Fan's son be smashed to death?"

"If you're told to go, just go." Si Niang said, "If you don't go, I'll sew you to the chair."

"…" Zheng Lin.

Zheng Fan laughed and said, "Wait until after a few more days, when the situation collapses a bit more, then I'll replace you, think about it, everyone's expectations were originally on me, you go up first, if it doesn't work, it proves that you're not good, and then I come out, won't everyone be able to ignite a wave of hope again?"

"Is this your tactic, Father?"

"Isn't it very good?"

"Father, what kind of medicine are you selling in your gourd?"

"Tsk, how can I say it, so that you, you can believe it, I really didn't deliberately leave anything or arrange anything."

"So Father, you're just here feeding the fish to appease the military's heart?"

"If I really wanted to appease the military's heart, I shouldn't be secretly feeding the fish here, didn't I just say, it's not that time yet."

At this time, a messenger came in to report:

"Reporting, King, Chu army flags have appeared in the south direction!"

The imperial guards of Mingsu City had rebelled, this was something that everyone had guessed, but the problem was here, everyone was just guessing originally, but there were still some chances of luck.

Even, if it really didn't work, you could sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.

But now, the Chu army had defected, which was undoubtedly a great blow to the morale of the Jinghai garrison.

"Understood."

Zheng Fan waved his hand.

"Just understood?" Zheng Lin asked.

The fish in the pond seemed to finally be full.

Zheng Fan clapped his hands,

And said:

"Otherwise what?"

"I hope Father, you really have a way, otherwise…"

Si Niang raised her eyebrows slightly,

And said:

"Otherwise what?"

"I… can only try my best to protect Father and Mother and break through."

"Hehehe."

Zheng Fan laughed,

Reached out,

And patted his son's head;

"The south, we can let him go, the main thing is the north…"

"Tongyan City?"

"Yeah." Zheng Fan responded.

At this time,

Another messenger came to report:

"Reporting, a light cavalry unit of the Xie family appeared in the north of the city, but before our army could respond, it was annihilated by the surrounding Qian army."

"Hahahahaha…"

Hearing this military report,

The King laughed loudly,

The slightly leisurely atmosphere that had been formed by feeding the fish earlier disappeared at this moment.

Turning around, looking at the empty fruit plate, he couldn't help but say:

"Stinky brat, you ate it all, not leaving any for your old man."

"…" Zheng Lin.

"Husband, wait a moment, I'll go prepare some more."

"I want to eat hot pot."

"Okay, okay, okay." Si Niang got up to prepare.

Zheng Lin was still standing in place,

The King was a little puzzled and said:

"The city has been besieged for so long, there aren't many fresh ingredients, why, do you also want to share your old man's hot pot?"

"What exactly does it mean? Why are you suddenly so happy and your appetite has improved?"

The King put his hands in the belt of his python robe,

And said:

"That old dog of the Xie family, can, for Xie Yu'an's sake, definitely won't choose to merge with the Qian army like the imperial guards before Jinghai City is broken.

It can be said, everything is for his son.

But look,

How desperately that old dog is working now.

He can still send people over, knowing that it's throwing firewood into the fire, with no return, but he still wants our father and son to hear this sound.

Do you know why?"

"He… he wants to win."

"Hehehe, no, no…"

The King lowered his body,

Put his face in front of Zheng Lin,

And whispered:

"He not only wants to win,

He, ah,

Is also thinking about sharing our hot pot in the future."