While occupying Qingshui County was easy, actually building it up was quite difficult.

Even though Tang Tianxiang and Li Desheng fled, there were other towns and villages that refused to surrender or flee.

Therefore, it is still necessary to send troops to advance step by step.

It has been more than two months since the entire Qingshui County was captured.

Throughout the entire period, Chen Xi led his men and did not rest at all, sending out a portion of their forces to meet Zhao Peng.

Zhao Peng was already in a terrible predicament.

Tang Tianxiang from Qingshui County brought several thousand soldiers and joined forces with Tao Feng. In their first battle, Zhao Peng suffered a great loss.

Tao Feng and Zhao Peng's troops were exhausted from fighting, but then Tang Tianxiang arrived with a strong and well-equipped army, which routed Zhao Peng's troops in one fell swoop.

If it weren't for Cao Changgeng's help, they might have been driven out of Jianming Prefecture.

From that day on, Zhao Peng adopted Cao Changgeng's advice and retreated to a more advantageous position, focusing on defense.

This left Tang Tianxiang helpless, as the other side had the advantage of terrain, with the area consisting entirely of winding alleys.

Once the soldiers went inside, they were easily lost, so Zhao Peng adopted a street fighting style of defense.

Tang Tianxiang wanted to have houses and alleys demolished, but before the demolitions could begin, people started harassing him.

After a while, Tang Tianxiang was left with a face full of bumps.

Tao Feng's previous advantage was having more troops, and now he has even more, but he still can't drive Zhao Peng out.

When Tang Tianxiang entered Tao Feng's room, he was greeted by the strong smell of alcohol.

Tang Tianxiang frowned; the smell of alcohol was too strong.

Upon closer inspection, Tao Feng was found drinking heavily with his deputy Cui Pingwei and Wu Aimin, completely intoxicated.

"General, we can't stay locked in a stalemate with Zhao Peng right now. Chenxi has already taken Qingshui County and will probably send troops here to support them."

That would put us in a very passive position. Please advise, General.

Wu Aimin had a beautiful woman on one arm and a wine jug in the other, pouring wine into his mouth, but his hand was trembling.

More than half of the wine was spilled on him.

Upon hearing Tang Tianxiang's words, he pushed the beautiful woman aside and staggered off the couch.

Pointing at Tang Tianxiang, he said unhappily, "Don't you have any sense? Can't you see we're having a good time drinking? What's with all this talk about war?"

Who is Zhao Peng? He's dead already.

The moment Tang Tianxiang saw Wu Aimin, a nameless rage rose within him.

Before Wu Aimin came along, Tao Feng could control her drinking somewhat, at least she could keep her head a little clear.

But now that Wu Aimin and Cui Pingwei are with her, Tao Feng has returned to her old life of dreaming every day.

He drinks himself into a stupor every day, never stopping until he's completely drunk.

With such a commander, how could the morale of his subordinates not be low?

Many people are now saying that General Tao only cares about beautiful women and fine wine, and has no regard for his soldiers.

It should be noted that before Tang Tianxiang arrived, many soldiers had already started drinking porridge twice a day.

The people in the city couldn't stop them from looting, and those who could escape fled.

Many other people went to Zhao Peng's place.

Especially those aristocratic families, many of them were persuaded by Cao Changgeng of the Cao family and supported Zhao Peng.

As a result, Tao Feng's military expenses and food supplies were extremely tight.

Tang Tianxiang's arrival barely provided the troops with a much-needed boost.

Tang Tianxiang was filled with rage. Who did Wu Aimin think he was now? He had been rescued by Tao Feng and was still acting all high and mighty.

He is Tao Feng's man, not Wu Aimin's man.

So when Wu Aimin pointed at him again, he was so angry that he drew his longsword and stabbed it directly into Wu Aimin's body.

Wu Aimin let out a loud cry and fell to the ground.

By the time the guards arrived, Wu Aimin had already passed away.

Tao Feng continued to laugh heartily, "Aimin, get up, keep drinking. Why did you fall over? Did you really drink too much?"

Cui Pingwei wasn't completely drunk; he was only half-drunk.

He clearly saw Tang Tianxiang kill Wu Aimin.

"General, Prefect, he has been killed."

Cui Pingwei shook Tao Feng vigorously.

Tao Feng opened her drunken eyes, and Cui Pingwei swayed in front of her.

He couldn't recognize who it was anymore, but he knew who was making him uncomfortable.

I just reached out and pushed him. Even though he was drunk, he still had strength.

Cui Pingwei was caught off guard and was pushed to the ground by Tao Feng.

Tang Tianxiang, who had killed Wu Aimin, also came to his senses at this point.

Regardless of the circumstances, Wu Aimin was the prefect, and the Wu family was a prominent clan. If he killed Wu Aimin, not to mention what Tao Feng would do to him, Wu Aimin's family would not forgive him.

Didn't you see that Wu Aimin's guards had already surrounded him in layers?

Tang Tianxiang knew he had made a grave mistake, and given the situation, he couldn't just sit there and wait to die.

They went straight up and kidnapped Tao Feng.

Tao Feng was enjoying her drink when a familiar face appeared before her.

"Who are you? Come on, have a drink with me. Don't stare at me like that, it's suffocating."

Tao Feng was able to kick Cui Pingwei because Cui Pingwei wasn't paying attention, but he couldn't fight back against Tang Tianxiang.

Tang Tianxiang roared at the guards surrounding him below, including those of Wu Aimin and now Tao Feng, "Make way! If you don't move aside, I'll wipe him out!"

Tao Feng's guards, seeing that their master was in danger, could only retreat while surrounding him, not daring to go forward, nor wanting to leave.

But Wu Aimin's guards didn't care about Tao Feng; their master was dead, and they wanted to avenge him.

Therefore, Xiang Qian was determined to fight Tang Tianxiang to the death.

Tang Tianxiang kicked away several people, but as more and more of Wu Aimin's guards entered, Tang Tianxiang naturally had no way to escape unscathed.

Tang Tianxiang roared, "If you don't stop these people, I'll slit the General's throat!"

He was speaking to Tao Feng's guards.

At this moment, the soldiers and guards who had followed Tang Tianxiang also rushed in, and the three parties were locked in a stalemate.

The only one who can make decisions here is Tao Feng.

Cui Pingwei is only a deputy general; he's far from qualified.

Tao Feng, however, had drunk too much and was still laughing and joking, making others drink with him.

Just as chaos was raging, the main camp also descended into chaos.

It turned out that Zhao Peng's men had received information from scouts that Tao Fengzhong's military camp was in chaos. After discussing it with Cao Changgeng, Zhao Peng decided to risk a battle no matter what.

Tang Tianxiang quickly received the news when Zhao Peng's troops stormed in.

He directly ordered his men to prepare for resistance.

Cui Pingwei, unwilling to die, immediately gathered his troops to resist.

Even so, they still suffered a major defeat, losing more than a thousand men.

However, the enemy suffered fewer than two hundred casualties.

The battle was over, and Tao Feng woke up.

He was stunned when he saw Tang Tianxiang threatening him.

He was bound hand and foot...