Time went back half a month ago, when the siege of Shouzhou broke out, Meng Hu, the governor of Haozhou in Southern Tang, finally overcome all difficulties and entered Xiapi City.

Meng Huo was very difficult and dangerous. After leading two hundred light cavalry to cross the Huai River from Haozhou north, he had just reached eighty miles and ran towards him and ran into a wandering cavalry of Zhou.

Although the number of enemies and us is comparable, these enemy cavalry have fought against the Tang army at the city of Xuzhou. At this time, when they saw Meng Hu in the Southern Tang official uniform, they all looked red. Fortunately, their subordinates fought hard, Meng Hu was finally able to escape, but there were less than eighty cavalry left by their side.

This was the first time that Meng Hu had seen the cruelty of the war. While he was still scared, he was even more worried about the Yan King Li Hongji and the Northern Expedition Army in Xia Pi City. It was not because of the strong combat effectiveness of the Zhou army he encountered, but because he had clearly realized that the war reports from the north had been significantly lagging behind.

According to Chen Jue's latest report, although the army was defeated in Xuzhou and then retreated to Xiapi City, the Northern Expedition did not have any results. Because Guo Wei personally led the expedition, the main forces of the Zhou army have been transferred to Yanzhou. The Zhou army outside Xiapi City is just a partial army and cannot take the south. Now the newly occupied prefectures and counties from Suzhou to Haozhou, the Tang army is still in control and has recruited prefectures and troops to guard it.

This is also the direct reason why the weak Meng Hu dared to wear the Southern Tang official uniforms to go north, but this is obviously a big pit.

I met the Zhou army just eighty miles across the river. It was almost on the border. It must have shown that shortly after the report came, all the so-called newly occupied land had been recovered by the Zhou State. Now the Northern Expedition Army in Xia Pi City is a truly lonely army.

With the determination to live a life of death, Meng Hu and his party did not retreat. Instead, they accelerated their pace and decided to avoid the official road. Instead, they went north along the banks of Si Shui and hiked in the morning and night. Although they met many scouts of Zhou army along the way, they still advanced 400 miles in the northeast direction.

After finally reaching outside Xia Pi City, Meng Hu had less than twenty cavalry beside him at this time, but he saw a lot of Zhou army camps in despair.

When he was in a dilemma, Meng Hu and others endured it in the gentle slope until midnight. They happened to meet the Tang army's light cavalry out of the city and attacked. After witnessing the Zhou army's defeat for several consecutive battles, Meng Hu suddenly burst into tears, and finally took advantage of the chaos to retreat to the city with the Tang army.

On the way to meet Yan King Li Hongji, Meng Hu happened to run into the general who led the army to attack Zhou camp, so Meng Hu walked along with him. When he felt moved, he couldn't help but ask: "The general's bravery is what he saw with his own eyes, and I admire him very much! But since our army has a way to repel the Zhou army, why has it been trapped in Xia Pi City?"

For some reason, the general named Zhou Xingfeng stared at Meng Hu with a gloomy face for a moment, without giving any answer, and then accelerated his pace.

The situation in Xia Pi City does not seem to be very good.

The city was not big, but it squeezed into a 50,000 army, including many injured people, and there were shortages of doctors and medicines. Meng Hu walked along the street all the way, and his eyes passed by were all broken houses. Except for the people who were traveling in three liang, soldiers lying on the streets everywhere, and then were hurriedly carried away by other soldiers who rushed over. The depressed scene made people sigh.

When we arrived at the headquarters of King Li Hongji of Yan, it was a completely different scene. Even though this Xia Pi city was small and dilapidated, there would be a place where people live, such as poverty, wealth and honor.

Li Hongji's headquarters was set up in a mansion that was originally a wealthy businessman in Xiapi City. This extraordinary mansion not only had a spacious and gorgeous inner hall, but also had a small bridge, flowing water, pavilion and flower garden in the courtyard. At this time, the personal soldiers of the Yan Palace were already full of the soldiers inside and outside. The expressions of these soldiers were obviously different, looking without any fatigue, and their upright posture seemed to be full of fighting spirit.

In the inner hall, the generals were standing in two rows. Li Hongji was sitting upright in the purple robe on top, and at the bottom, someone was talking. He was Liu Yanzhen, the Shenwu Reunification Army who was "recovered from serious injury".

Before Meng Hu walked in, Liu Yanzhen was erecting the eagle hook and bent his nose, bowing to Li Hongji, and said with a sad face: "Your Highness! It's not that the general of the Mo is unwilling to lead the army to fight, but it's because General Mo was seriously injured before. Although he has improved now, he still can't get on the horse..."

"Oh?" Li Hongji smiled jokingly with his forehead and said, "Liu Tongjun, aren't you Xiang Zixu the Han Bai of the past? Han Xin, Bai Qi was like you in the past? He could defeat the battle and escape at the last battle? Besides, you were shot with an arrow in your chest, not an arrow with your waist and legs, why can't you even get on the horse?"

"Your Highness, please be aware! The so-called arrow in the chest is the one that moves the whole body, perhaps it is the old disease! Moreover, your Highness, the defeat of the army was not caused by the last general. On the day the Zhou army attacked the camp, the last general was seriously injured. How can he fight on the sickbed? He can only keep this body and think about serving the country again!"

Seeing Liu Yanzhen answering with such a shameless face, Li Hongji was furious. He closed his eyes and rotated the teacup in his hand, and scolded: "What a person who can keep this body and think about serving the country again! If my Northern Expedition Army had not been commanded by you and Chen Jue, how could it be defeated?! Forty-six generals below the Zhou army were killed in battle, and the 80,000 army lost six or seven in one battle! You can't even get on the horse, why did you run the fastest? Since you are determined to serve the country, why didn't you die for your country that day?!"

Li Hongji's voice was low and magnetic. He was wearing a gentle royal robe and his every move was elegant, but every sentence was filled with murderous aura.

Even though Liu Yanzhen was no longer eloquent, he couldn't help but tremble at this time, and then he didn't dare to speak.

Seeing that the generals in the hall stood up and said without saying a word, Li Hongji snorted lightly, and then quickly regained his calm tone and said, "Since you, Liu Tongjun, are injured, I can't force me! Why not hand over the tiger talisman and continue to recover from the wounds?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the generals' faces did not sensation at all. Several of them just sighed secretly, because everyone was used to the following lines.

Since the army retreated to Xiapi City, Chen Jue and Liu Yanzhen had long lost their fighting spirit and repeatedly demanded to retreat to the south. However, Li Hongji not only refused, but instead asked the two for military powers in their hands more than once, but the result can be imagined.

This is ridiculous. Others have military power in their hands often to fight all directions and make achievements. These two people now hold military power to ensure that the army can protect them and return safely. At this time, the military power is for the two to save their lives. How can they easily be handed over to Li Hongji to fight against the Zhou army?

Recently, due to Li Hongji's repeated pressure, Chen Jue simply claimed that he had not seen him in the camp, and Liu Yanzhen also claimed that he had not recovered from his injuries. Today, when Li Hongji was inspecting the city, he happened to meet this "Han Bai of the Times" who seemed to have recovered and was hugging a girl in the tent and drinking fine wine. Since he had been broken, Liu Yanzhen had no choice but to visit the headquarters.

As expected, Liu Yanzhen still said the previous words: "Your Highness! Please forgive the rude general! The last general is given by Your Majesty. You must never hand over the order without Your Majesty's edict! Moreover, as the commander of the entire army during this Northern Expedition, if your Highness wants to control the troops of the last general, you still need to ask the Chen Prime Minister!"

Li Hongji slammed the teacup on the table hard, clenched his five fingers hard, and said as if he was venting: "I have been seeing him for so many days? If you delay like this, the army will be trapped to death sooner or later! Liu Yanzhen, you--"
Chapter completed!