(Thanks to okman for his support, thank you!)

"Shi Wansui was defeated by Yang Su?" Yang Xiu asked.∷

"Yes, Your Majesty." The voice of the messenger who reported the message was filled with fatigue, and there were dry blood stains on his sweaty clothes.

It's over, Changsun Hong thought to himself. He lowered his head, sat silently without saying a word, thinking about the bad situation. He reached out and wanted to pull open some sweat-soaked collar. When he raised his hand, a severe pain rushed straight from his elbow to his mind, reminding them of the failed attack that had just ended. Although he was loyal to the emperor, the current situation kept reminding him that the situation had reached its worst time. Yang Su defeated Shi Wansu at this time, that intention

It means that Xiaoguan, the northwest Xiongguan, one of the four gates in Guanzhong, is no longer safe. Xiaoguan, also known as Longshanguan, is located in the southeast of Yuanzhou in the northwest of the capital. The Longshan Mountains lie across the northwest of Guanzhong and serve as the northwest barrier of Guanzhong. The main passage from Longshan to Guanzhong is the lowlands of river valleys formed by rivers such as the Wei River and Jing River. The mountains in the Wei River are very steep, while the Jing River direction is relatively simple. Xiaoguan stands at the Longshan Pass under the danger, guarding the passage from the Jing River to Guanzhong.

Xiaoguan is the most important pass in the northwest direction of the capital, protecting the security of Guanzhong and northwest. Once Xiaoguan is lost, Yang Su can immediately go to Jingzhou and move down to Daxing, which will become a high-level situation. Not to mention, Guanzhong is now extremely empty.

In the camp under Nanyang City, Yang Xiu's subordinates and generals all calmed down one after another, listening to the messenger telling the details. There was no wind in the sultry tent, and everyone was sweating profusely, listening to the even more deadly news.

After Yuan Heng rebelled and surrendered, Yang Xiu refused to retreat and vowed to capture Nanyang. He let go and wanted to seize Nanyang first. He then occupied Xiangyang, and fought with Yang Lin in Jingxiang, and refused to retreat into Guanzhong and wait for death. However, although Yang Xiu's will was firm, the attack did not improve. Facing the whole city of Nanyang City, the soldiers and civilians went up to the city to defend, and the Guanzhong army's siege equipment was not ready yet. At this time, the siege was just carrying a simple and small number of ladder ants to attack the city and fill it with human lives. I don't know how many civilians who followed the army died just to fill the moat in Nanyang City. Most of the moats filled were actually filled with the bodies of the dead soldiers and civilians.

After Yang Xiu personally directed the siege, he sent people to dig tunnels under the city wall, but the city was prepared for a long time, so he had a circle of water tanks under the city wall. As a result, they worked hard to dig most of the tunnels, and the other party was prepared. When it was about to be completed, the other party immediately cut the tunnels, then burned fire on them and fanned the smoke into the area. Sometimes they even poured oil into the tunnels and set fires. Sometimes they directly poured water and dug dozens of tunnels. The final result was that all the tunnels were dug.

All the people died in the tunnel, and they were neither able to attack the city nor escape. After each round of siege, there were corpses everywhere in the city. This tragic siege situation had already made many soldiers feel afraid. At night, many people began to escape and became deserters under the cover of the night. But Yang Xiu had already sent many foreign cavalry to patrol, and he immediately executed the deserters when they encountered deserters. He took the heads back to the camp. Now, outside the camp, the heads of deserters have piled up into a capital.

Company commander Sun Hong had the urge to escape with the deserters.

Just now, someone was lying in a hammock under the shade of a tree, enjoying the rare coolness. Then his guards rushed over to wake him up and reported that someone was riding a horse to bring important news from Guanzhong. He immediately understood that it must be a bad thing. The court army was all in Nanyang, and Guanzhong urgently reported that what else could be besides bad news? He tried his best to go out to Xiangyang to fight for Xiangyang. Now there is no Nanyang city yet. If even the hometown in Guanzhong is lost at this time, then they will be in vain.

"How is this possible?" Duke Chen, Dou Kang, took a breath of air conditioning, "How is it possible? Although Shi Wansui failed to attack Yang Su before and was defeated for a while, there were still 30,000 troops. In addition, His Majesty still has 20,000 troops in Xiaoguan. Shi Wansui has retreated to Xiaoguan. How can Yang Su defeat him?" Dou Kang's father is Dou Rongding, and his mother is the sister of the late emperor, Princess Wan'an, so Dou Kang and Yang Xiu are cousins. He had asked Shi Wansui to send troops to attack Yang Su before.

It was him that Yang Sujiu was not obeyed the imperial edict, so Dou Kang suggested that he should take action first and destroy Yang Su to relieve his confidant's problems. As a result, Shi Wansui failed that attack and lost more than 10,000 troops. Finally, Yang Xiu followed Dou Kang's advice and sent him to send a decree to Shi Wansu to lead his troops to retreat into Xiaoguan to prevent Yang Su from breaking into Guanzhong. But now, with a very dangerous city like Xiaoguan, Shi Wansui is also a famous general, and has more troops than Yang Su, so why is he still defeated by Yang Su?

Even if Shi Wansui can fight, what's the use if his soldiers are unwilling to fight, Changsun Hong thought. And when he heard Shi Wansui's defeat, he immediately thought of Shi Wansui's mind that Shi Wansui must not stick to Guanzhong and could not come out. This reckless guy must not be able to stand Yang Su's provocation and went out of the pass, but was defeated in Yang Su's hands. Changsun Hong knew Yang Su very well. This terrible guy, sinister and cunning, could he play with Yang Su like Shi Wansui's innocence and cunning, and how could he play with Yang Su? And maybe Yang Lin took a lot of money and a high-ranking official to buy Shi Wansui's subordinates.

"Yang Su attacked Xiaoguan for many days and could not capture the enemy. He lost his troops and retreated. Then Shi Wansui sent troops to pursue the attack at night. However, Yang Sui was prepared and set up an ambush on the way. In fact, it was just a trick of Yang Su to lure the enemy. Many of the soldiers who attacked the enemy were even the young and strong people temporarily recruited by Yang Su, disguised as Lingzhou soldiers. His real soldiers were already ambushed halfway, waiting for Shi Wansui to be fooled." Dou Kang's brother Dou Qing said on the side.

"What is the situation now? Is Xiao Guan still in the hands of the court? What is the loss of Shi Wansui's troops?" Changsun Hong didn't want to know what happened, he just wanted to know the result.

"Shi Wansui brought 30,000 troops out of the city, and all the troops were gone, and none of them came back." The messenger replied.

"The entire army is gone, this is impossible."

"There are also news that Shi Wansui was captured and surrendered, and his subordinates surrendered. There are also news that Shi Wansui was seriously injured. His general Zhang Xutuo rescued him and fled back to Ganzhou with his remaining troops."

Changsun Hong shook his head and said to Yang Xiu, "Your Majesty. I think I should make the worst plan now. Shi Wansuiruo died in battle. Then no one in Longyou can resist Yang Su, and the remaining 20,000 defenders in Xiaoguan City will be difficult to defend Xiaoguan. And Shi Wansui is seriously injured and his subordinates are taken back to Ganzhou, the consequences will be bad, and Xiaoguan is also in danger. If Shi Wansui leads his troops to surrender to Yang Su, it is no longer a matter of whether Xiaoguan will be in danger, but whether the capital can be defended. I think that we should go back to the capital immediately. The capital cannot be lost. Once the capital is lost, we will have no foundation."

Yang Xiu was also silent.

Before, he had vowed to take Nanyang and never withdraw his troops. But now, Guanzhong is in crisis and his nest is about to disappear. Guanzhong is his foundation. Without Guanzhong, how can he fight for the world? Changsun Hong saw a trace of fear flashing in Yang Xiu's eyes, and the emperor was not fearless.

"Tonight, the entire army retreated, threw away all the supplies and retreated back to Guanzhong immediately." Yang Xiu finally spoke, with deep fatigue and frustration in his words.

"If you want to retreat quietly, you cannot bring those hundreds of thousands of civilian craftsmen with you."

"Then don't take them." Yang Xiu said in a low voice.

After thinking about it, Yang Xiu said again, "Dou Kang, you lead 20,000 cavalry to rush back to the capital first. If Yang Su has not captured Xiaoguan, go to reinforce Xiaoguan immediately. If Xiaoguan falls, stay in the capital and wait for me to lead the army back to the capital."

Dou Kang was an unreliable person. Changsun Hong thought. Moreover, since Yang Su had defeated Shi Wansu, Xiao Guan would probably not be able to save him.

The orders were conveyed one by one. After dark, nearly 100,000 soldiers in Guanzhong retreated to the camp and then packed their luggage. In the middle of the night, Duke of Chen, Dou Kang, led 20,000 Han cavalry first, and then all kinds of soldiers left the camp. They did not raise fire, and the camp was already dark. In order to evacuate as soon as possible, Yang Xiu ordered the throw away all the burdens, and the large amount of food and grass transported by the civilians, as well as some equipment, and even tents, were thrown into the camp. Yang Xiu did not even care about the hundreds of thousands of civilians, but only took away a small number of craftsmen. The rest were thrown in the camp, and they could not even tell them that the army had retreated.

The Guanzhong army marched at night and retreated to Wuguan.

It is difficult to march at night. Even on this summer night, with stars and moonlight shining, it is even more impossible to retreat in an orderly manner and to be silent.

The defenders of Nanyang City immediately discovered something wrong tonight, and immediately reported to Guo Zhen who was hurrying to rest. After Guo Zhen heard about the abnormal movement of the enemy camp, he immediately sent a team of scouts out of cavalry to inquire. Soon the scouts brought back a surprising news that the rebels were retreating, either to Luyang Pass north and south or to Xiangyang City south. They were retreating to Wu Pass west.

"Go north immediately to find His Highness the Crown Prince and tell His Highness that Yang Xiu is going to run away!"

When Yi Feng received the report from Guo Zhen’s messenger, he had arrived in Xiangcheng, only a hundred miles away from Nanyang City. At this time, it had been two hours since Nanyang City discovered that Yang Xiu retreated, and it was not yet dawn.

"It seems that Yang Xiu has received the news that Shi Wansui's defeat and surrendered to the court." Yi Feng seemed very excited when he was not concerned about the sultry heat, nor did he care about the bites of mosquitoes.

Han Sengshou, Liu Wenjing, and Qin Qiong rushed over immediately, and the officials of Han Sengshou, Liu Wenjing, and Qin Qiong immediately asked Yi Feng, "Your Highness, you can't let Yang Xiu run back to Guanzhong, we have to intercept and pursue immediately."

"Damn, Yang Xiu is well-informed. After we received the news, we have accelerated our marches and rushed to the road overnight. Unexpectedly, Yang Xiu still received the news so quickly and ran away immediately."

"Your Highness, please let us lead the light cavalry to pursue and hold them back." Qin Qiong and Lai Chiu asked for orders together.

Yi Feng thought about it and found that they were actually not far from Yang Xiu. Although they were still a hundred miles away from Nanyang, Yang Xiu was about to flee to the west, so Yi Feng's army did not have to go south anymore and went directly to the southwest. The Nanyang area was plains, which made the two armies march in the northwest and the other march in the southwest, and eventually rushed to Neixiang and Wuguan area. If they were sent to pursue the light cavalry, they could even run to Yang Xiu to intercept them.

Should I pursue? Yi Feng was also nervously thinking. Although the light cavalry could pursue and even intercept people, it would be out of touch with most of the people behind and there was a certain risk. But letting Yang Xiu escape into Guanzhong would undoubtedly miss a great opportunity to annihilate him. In the end, Yi Feng decided to fight.

"Qin Qiong came to mobilize you and led 20,000 light cavalry to set off immediately. Your goal is to enter Neixiangcheng before Wuguan, find a way to rush to Yang Xiu, seize this city, and intercept them. I will lead most of the people to arrive immediately, do you understand?"

"clear."

Qin Qiong and Lai Chi turned around and left, each summoned the cavalry of their headquarters.

Han Sengshou told Yi Feng, "Your Highness, will you take some risk? Now that Shi Wansui is defeated and surrenders to the court, the Military Information Department has successfully instigated Xiao Guan's guards and opened the switch and let Yang Su enter the pass. Now we are sure to win, should we be more stable? After all, Yang Xiu still has 100,000 troops in his hand, so beware of being bitten by him."

"Yang Xiu has 100,000 troops, and we have 100,000 troops. Besides, we have a large number of cavalry and infantry are all equipped with horses, so we can completely intercept him. What's more, we have more than 100,000 troops." Yi Feng smiled, "Immediately sending orders to Guo Yan, Xiangyang, and ask him to send troops to attack Yang Xiu together."

Dou Kang led 20,000 light cavalry to travel along the way with the moonlight. After a night of running, the sky was bright and Neixiangcheng was already in sight.

"Stop the march in Neixiangcheng, take a break and make some rest, and add some more." Dou Kang ordered.

After a night of running, the Guanzhong cavalry were exhausted. At this time, they couldn't wait to have a good rest, have a meal to relieve themselves, feed them a horse and then add some food and horse ingredients.

The cavalry all kicked the horses to speed up the horses, hoping to get out of the city as soon as possible.

The gates of Neixiangcheng have been opened. The battle a few days ago made the county town already dilapidated, and there were even no residents in the city. Only hundreds of left-behind soldiers were responsible for the temporary storage of the food and grass transported from the pass.

The Guanzhong cavalry had dismounted outside the city and began to seize the time to unsad the war horses, prepare to rinse the horses and drink them. Some cavalry had already started to build stoves and prepare to cook. Dou Kang led a team of personal guards to the city to prepare food and grass for them.

At this moment when they were most relaxed, when everyone unexpectedly saw arrows falling like rain.
Chapter completed!