At breakfast time, except for Zhao Min and Yu Fei, everyone else had already arrived. As for why Zhao Min and Yu Fei did not come, the women present knew it very well.
Zhou Zhiruo glared at Zhang Wuji fiercely, but said nothing more.
However, just as they were about to have their meal, a scout brought a letter.
You should relax when you need to relax, and you should not delay when you need to do your work.
Zhang Wuji took a quick look at the contents of the letter, frowned at first, thought for a moment, and then relaxed.
Zhao Linger smiled and said, "Young Master, is there something wrong?"
Zhang Wuji said: "Some of the contents of the letter were beyond my expectations, but it seems to be within Min'er's expectations. Zhu Yuanzhang's troops stayed two hundred miles away from Fuzhou and did not advance further."
Zhao Linger said: "This should be considered good news, right? Could it be that Zhu Yuanzhang is afraid of you?"
Zhang Wuji shook his head and said, "How is that possible? The word 'fear' does not exist for a hero like him. The reason why he didn't come to fight me is probably that he has guessed something."
Zhou Zhiruo interrupted and said, "What can Zhu Yuanzhang guess? He still has an army of 200,000. After the battles of Ningde and Fuzhou, although we defeated the Wei army and captured Xu Da alive, we now have less than 40,000 soldiers who can fight."
"If Zhu Yuanzhang leads an army of 200,000 to attack us, it will be difficult for us to resist."
Zhang Wuji said with a smile: "Why should we resist? Using 40,000 exhausted soldiers to challenge Zhu Yuanzhang's 200,000 strong army, isn't that like hitting a rock with an egg?"
Zhou Zhiruo was still a little surprised after hearing this, but after thinking about it carefully, she felt that it made sense: "If that's the case, if Zhu Yuanzhang attacks, then we can only defend the city."
After hearing this, Zhang Wuji smiled again: "Zhiruo, if we defend the city, the situation may only get worse. If Zhu Yuanzhang besieges Fuzhou, I'm afraid it won't be long before we will run out of food."
"If you ask me, if Zhu Yuanzhang were to attack, we would probably just fight one or two harassing battles and then take the opportunity to escape."
Zhou Zhiruo thought for a moment and said, "What you said seems to make some sense, but at the moment, since Zhu Yuanzhang has a greater advantage than us in some areas, why is he still stagnant?"
Zhang Wuji laughed and said, "Maybe, maybe he figured it out and he can't catch me."
"On our side, we should just pay attention to Zhu Yuanzhang's movements first."
"Zhiruo, after breakfast, write a letter to Zhang Dingbian, telling him to be careful of Zhu Yuanzhang. If Zhu Yuanzhang turns his attention to you, tell him to be extra cautious. You can fight Zhu Yuanzhang, but you must not be defeated. Even if you lose, I can only endure one or two minor defeats."
"We don't have many soldiers capable of fighting. The key to whether we can defeat Zhu Yuanzhang still depends on the hundreds of thousands of troops in his hands."
Zhou Zhiruo thought for a moment and nodded: "I understand what you mean. I will write a letter to Zhang Dingbian later."
…
On the other side, after resting for a day, Zhu Yuanzhang turned his spearhead and pointed his troops directly at Zhang Dingbian behind him.
Soon, before Zhou Zhiruo's letter reached Zhang Dingbian, he had already heard the news that Zhu Yuanzhang had turned his troops around.
At this moment, Zhang Dingbian only had more than 120,000 soldiers and horses.
After all the battles along the way in Jiangnan, he had very few soldiers left.
Zhang Dingbian understood better than anyone that with the current military strength, they could only withstand one or two minor defeats at most. Otherwise, a major defeat would result in tens of thousands of casualties, which they could no longer afford.
After thinking for a while, Zhang Dingbian said to Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao beside him: "General Yang, General Wei, each of you will lead 3,000 soldiers to harass Zhu Yuanzhang on his way."
"Remember, it's just harassment, slowing them down, but you must not let Zhu Yuanzhang catch you."
"Even if Xu Da was defeated and captured, Zhu Yuanzhang still has an army of 200,000 under his command. In terms of total strength, he still has more troops than us, and he has many brave generals under his command. Now, the overall situation has become more and more favorable to us. Therefore, we must not fail at this time."
"Your Majesty and I launched a fierce offensive some time ago, so that the logistics and troop supplies have reached their limits. For now, we just need to maintain the status quo for a few days. As for other matters, we have to wait for news from Your Majesty."
Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao looked at each other and said, "The world seems to be right in front of us. They can naturally hear the implication of Zhang Dingbian's words, which is to act with caution."
"Things have come to this point. I have been separated from Zhang Wuji for too long. At least for these few days, I don't ask for any merit, but I hope to avoid making any mistakes."
…
When Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao led their troops out of the camp, Wei Yixiao said to Yang Xiao, "General Yang, don't you think that Old Zhang is a little too cautious?"
"Your Majesty has won a great victory, but we have an army of over 100,000 but haven't achieved much to show for it in the past few months. It's really a shame."
Yang Xiao naturally knew who Wei Yixiao was referring to as "Old Zhang". After spending such a long time together, Zhang Dingbian had already become friends with this group of old members of the Ming Cult, so in private, Zhang Shuai also became "Old Zhang".
However, in response to Wei Yixiao's question, Yang Xiao still answered very seriously: "General Wei, there's nothing wrong with being careful."
"If you ask me, Lao Zhang has done a very good job in the past few months. With more than 100,000 people fighting alone outside, at least he hasn't suffered a major defeat."
"His steadiness is something that people like you and I don't possess. Otherwise, Your Majesty would never let him be the head coach."
"As for His Majesty, a person like him will not appear in five hundred years. We can't compare with him."
"We are very lucky that you and I can bring our daughter to His Majesty's side."
"Now, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses on our side are the decisive factor in whether we can defeat Zhu Yuanzhang. His Majesty is only four or five hundred miles away from us. If a war breaks out in the near future, the person who commands the war must be His Majesty. Even if it is not His Majesty, it will surely be Zhao Min."
"As for people like you and me, we really don't have the ability to say things you don't want to hear."
"When His Majesty gave me an army of 100,000, I didn't have to do anything. There was enough food and grass, and I just had to defend Jinyang. But in the end, not only was the entire army almost wiped out, but the prince fell into Zhao Min's hands, and I almost had my head chopped off."
"The past is like smoke, and thinking about it now makes me feel fucking scared."
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