Chapter 123
The risk of being caught between two fires
The sound of galloping horses in the distance broke the three women's thoughts! After a while, Liu Feiyan brought up a nearly exhausted messenger.
"Madam! Lord Lü Qinghou has ordered me to come and deliver the message!"
Seeing that the soldiers around had noticed the tower where they were, Liu Buqi took the tea handed to him by Gongsun Wuhui and stuffed it directly to him.
"Don't be in a hurry, drink some water first!"
Fortunately, the messenger was also a veteran who had served in the army for many years. He was very sensible. Seeing this, he realized that he was a little impatient. After taking the water and drinking it all, he calmed down and continued to speak.
"Madam, a large army from the Tiance Palace is approaching Tai'an Prefecture from the Great River defense line. There are no fewer than 80,000 of them, and the vanguard has already reached the gates of Tai'an City! They have written to Lord Lu, expressing their desire to assist in the defense of the Great Wall!"
Upon hearing this news, Yue Hanxin and Xu Ningmei stood up in surprise and confusion!
Yue Hanxin knew that Han Zhiruo was going to the river to mobilize troops. He had left two letters to the prince before. The second letter stated that if he took control of Youzhou, nothing could be done, and he must not use troops to oppress Youzhou lightly!
But at this time, troops were sent from the direction of the Yellow River to Youzhou, which should have been in accordance with the contents of his first letter. Could it be that something went wrong when he was delivering the letter?
Xu Ningmei was extremely worried. She had been in frequent contact with Liu Buqi these days. She was absolutely convinced that Liu Buqi would definitely do something like dying in glory rather than living in disgrace for Yue Lingxi!
The 80,000-strong army of the Tian Ce Mansion invaded Youzhou. If Liu Buqi was willing to perish along with his enemies and mobilized the entire Youzhou to fight against the current orthodox court, I am afraid that the empire would be in chaos for years!
Although the two people had rich expressions, Liu Buqi didn't even look at them!
He just turned his head quietly and continued to look at the grassland camp in the distance! But beneath his seemingly calm expression, his heart was actually in turmoil!
The Tian Ce Mansion's advance on Youzhou at this time really posed a difficult problem for him. He definitely couldn't agree to it. Eighty thousand troops were enough to make Youzhou change its allegiance!
But the imperial army is under the pretext of supporting Youzhou. If they don't agree, people around the world who are watching will probably fabricate a story that Youzhou is an independent system and doesn't respect the royal order. Then the Tian Ce army will have no choice but to fight head-on!
As for who wins or loses, it is not a good thing for both sides. At least it will be very difficult for Tiance Mansion to get rid of the reputation of taking advantage of others' misfortunes and playing tricks!
After pondering for a long time, Liu Buqi was already certain that the key to breaking the deadlock was not in Tai'an Prefecture, but in the grassland army!
Judging from the intelligence about Taiyue and Youzhou that was previously displayed by the grassland, it would not take long for Zhuanqu Yanshi to find out that Youzhou was under attack from all sides!
So, if I were Zhuanqu Yanshi, what choice would I make?
Asking himself honestly, Liu Buqi would most likely choose to drag it out. As long as he could hold off the Great Wall defenders, the rear of Youzhou would be unstable and they would be unable to hold on for long. At that time, he would have no choice but to either take the initiative to attack or withdraw some troops to support Tai'an!
After thinking about it, Liu Buqi has made up his mind. So why not go for the big one?
"Go back immediately and tell Marquis Lu Qing that I will allow him to make his own decision regarding Tai'an's affairs! I will not care, ask, or pursue any of his methods! But he must ensure that not a single soldier from the Tiance army can enter Youzhou within ten days!"
After receiving the order, the messenger rushed back to Tai'an Mansion overnight to report the news! Yue Hanxin's mouth twitched, as if he wanted to say something, but Xu Ningmei beside him gently pulled him, and the words were swallowed back!
Liu Buqi closed his eyes tightly and thought silently, how great it would be if Yue Lingxi could be by his side at this time?
…
Yue Hanxin and Xu Ningmei were escorted out of the Great Wall first and settled down on a hillside more than ten miles away. Accompanying them were two thousand cavalrymen led by Guan Ying!
After daybreak, Liu Buqi led the defenders of the Great Wall to resist three rounds of grassland attacks. Afterwards, the grassland army returned to the main camp and did not attack the city again!
The next day, the same thing!
Liu Buqi sneered. It seemed that Zhuanqu Yanshi should have received the news that the Tiance Palace’s army was approaching Youzhou!
The next things were much easier. Under her arrangement, all the soldiers and generals who followed Liu Buqi from Yanjing began to retreat in batches to ten miles outside the city.
Another day passed before all these troops had retreated, leaving only the original defenders on the Great Wall!
On the third day, Liu Buqi led the army and marched straight to Tai'an Prefecture. Although they passed by Yanjing, they did not enter and continued to rush towards the territory of Tai'an Prefecture anxiously!
On the evening of the fourth day, they had just set foot in Tai'an Prefecture when they received a battle report sent by express horse. The grassland army had launched a tentative attack on the city in the morning!
On the morning of the fifth day, just as the main force was about to continue its march towards Tai'an Prefecture, they received another report of the Great Wall battle: the grassland defenders had once again breached the Great Wall gap and were pouring in! The Great Wall defenders were once again trapped in the fate of being squeezed!
After the army continued marching for half a day, Liu Buqi suddenly ordered everyone to bring only enough dried meat to last for three days and to go all out and return to the Great Wall defense line as quickly as possible!
At the same time, a large number of cavalry were released to cruise within a five-kilometer radius around the main force. They had to ensure that no one could penetrate the gap between them and the main force, and at the same time, fully mobilize all the people along the way to follow the army!
By the time they crossed Yanjing City and arrived at a place less than ten miles away from Zhenbei Prefecture, it was already the early morning of the sixth day. If they went further, they would most likely encounter a large number of grassland rangers who were also on guard against the Youzhou Army.
This is to be expected. A smart person like Zhuanqu Yanshi will naturally learn from his mistakes and is unlikely to fall for the same problem twice!
For the entire sixth day, the Youzhou army rested in a place thirty miles away from the Great Wall! Aside from the strict order not to leave the camp and not to light lights at night, everything seemed no different from before.
On the seventh day, the Youzhou army remained motionless for the entire day. Even Yue Hanxin, who had been following Liu Buqi, was completely confused!
Xu Ningmei was secretly worried about Liu Buqi. She paced back and forth in front of her, wanting to ask something but hesitating, which made Liu Buqi's already anxious heart even more anxious!
But on the surface, Liu Buqi always maintained an unfathomable look as if he was confident and confident!
On the morning of the eighth day, a scout who had fought desperately finally brought back the latest news from the Great Wall battlefield!
"Nearly one-third of the Youzhou section of the Great Wall has collapsed. Zhuanqu Yanshi has mobilized all his forces from the grasslands and stationed them at the Great Wall, continuing to work overtime to destroy the Great Wall's foundation!"
"The gap in the Great Wall has nearly doubled in size in a short period of time! In addition, there are over ten thousand grassland wolf riders roaming between the Great Wall and Zhenbei Prefecture."
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