"Okay, when is it now? Why do you still say this?"

Zheng Ke was furious, thinking that Wu Qida's daughter was really spoiled, and the army of Mingyue Empire was approaching, and she still had the intention to sue someone else in front of Zhao Yue. She glared at Jing Tiancheng who had just followed, and shouted sternly, "And you, just cause trouble for me!"

After saying that, Zheng Ke looked back at Zhao Yue with some concern.

The matter of Zhao Qinghan being detained by Meng Hu was deliberately suppressed by Zheng Ke because he felt that it was big or small. Moreover, the war in the Hexi Fortress was very tense at that time. Meng Hu's Fifth Regiment had to face Tuoba Tao's nearly 20,000 troops. Zheng Ke didn't want to make the hearts of the frontline soldiers because of this little thing.

Zhao Yue's face was gloomy and no one knew what he was thinking at this moment. In fact, Zhao Yue no longer cared about being angry at this time. He was worried about Zhao Qinghan's safety, so he would definitely settle the score with Meng Hu afterwards, but there must be a premise, which is to defeat the invading Mingyue Empire Army first, otherwise everything would be meaningless.

If Zhao Yue can't even tell the point of priority, don't be the governor.

Zheng Ke took a breath and whispered: "Sir, the situation is not good now. The vanguard of the Mingyue Empire Army will be able to reach the Hexi Fortress as early as midnight today. We have just passed Sanjiang City and are more than 150 miles away from Hexi. Even if we hurry up overnight, we will not arrive until noon tomorrow as soon as tomorrow!"

There is another saying that Zheng Ke didn't say, that is, when the four supplementary regiments of the Fourth Division arrived in Hexi at noon tomorrow, they would not only be the vanguard of the Mingyue Empire, but they were afraid that even Situ Rui's Mingyue army would have reached the Hexi Fortress! If that were the case, these four regiments would be eaten by Situ Rui without any residue.

Zhao Yue asked in a deep voice: "Is it still time to order Lei Ming and Meng Hu to withdraw to Sanjiang now?"

Zhao Yue originally planned to sacrifice the Tigers and two additional wings, and used the Hexi Fortress to drag Situ Rui's Mingyue army to gain time for his strategy of firming the walls and clearing the field. But now Zhao Qinghan stayed in the Hexi Fortress, so Zhao Yue had to make temporary changes. In Zhao Yue's eyes, anyone could sacrifice, but Zhao Qinghan could not sacrifice.

"I'm afraid it's too late. When the military order is delivered, the cavalry of the Mingyue Empire Army is probably also here!"

Zheng Ke shook his head and said in a heavy tone, "Situ Rui has always been cruel in his military use, and he will never show mercy when he takes action. Since he sent a vanguard, the scale of the vanguard will definitely not be less than one division. At this time, the Tiger Regiment has at most two or three thousand people left. With two or three thousand light infantry, the result can be imagined!"

In fact, if Zheng Ke didn't say it, Zhao Yue had already understood that retreating was obviously impossible. If you order retreating at this time, you would let them die, and even send Zhao Qinghan's life away!

Thinking of this, Zhao Yue couldn't help but curse in anger: "Meng Hu! He actually made his brains on my daughter's head. After the battle was over, Ben Dufei peeled his skin and sucked his tendons!"

Zheng Ke smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, the most urgent task is to let these four supplementary corps advance overnight and try to rush to Hexi before Situ Rui's army arrives. As long as these four corps can enter the pass, the Fourth Division should be more than enough to defend Hexi for a month. With this month, we will have enough time to implement the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the field."

"I can't even keep my daughter, but I'm still strong and clear-headed!"

Zhao Yue turned around furiously and shouted at his guard captain, "Send an order immediately to let the first, second and third divisions gather in Sanjiang City immediately!"

Sanjiang City is located more than 100 miles east of Hexi Fortress and more than 200 miles west of Hedong Prefecture. It is named because it is located at the intersection of Tongtian River and Jinchuan River. Like Hedong City, Sanjiang City is also a large city in the western province and a solid military fortress.

Zhao Yue asked the first, second and third divisions to gather in Sanjiang City. He concentrated all his troops to prepare to fight Situ Rui to the death!

Zheng Ke's face changed slightly, but he did not dare to say anything to stop him.

"yes!"

The captain of the guard took the order and left.

Zhao Yue said to Zheng Ke again: "You and you, hurry back to Xiling immediately and ask Ye Wentian to allocate 200,000 shi of military rations immediately, and escort to Sanjiang City within ten days!"

"yes!"

Zheng Ke agreed and took the order.

As soon as Zheng Ke left, Zhao Yue asked the guards to call the four corps captains of the supplementary corps and ordered: "You four are here to listen to me. You must arrive at the Hexi Fortress tomorrow before dawn. Even if you run to death, you must arrive! I don't care what method you use, I only need the result!"

▲▲▲

Hexi Fortress, Thunder Headquarters.

Meng Hu spread the map on the table, Lei Ming and Zhao Qinghan surrounded him without thinking. Zhan Ying hesitated for a moment, and then walked to the table to stand.

Meng Hu turned a blind eye to Zhao Qinghan and Zhan Ying, and pointed to Lei Ming with a finger map, saying, "Lao Lei, the western province and Qingzhou are separated by Qingyun Mountain by natural danger. If the Mingyue army wants to invade, there are only two roads to go, one is Tianlang Mountain Road and the other is Hexi Canyon. Tianlang Mountain Road is guarded by Tianlang Fortress. This road is not open, so the Mingyue army can only go to Hexi Canyon."

Zhao Qinghan's beautiful eyes could not stop showing a trace of worry, and she asked in a low voice: "What should I do with my Western Legion?"

Meng Hu tapped the map with his finger and said indifferently: "The Western Legion wants to defeat the enemy. One is to shrink its forces, strengthen its walls and clear its fields, and fight a protracted war. The advantage of doing this is that it is relatively safe and has little risk, but the disadvantage is that after the war is over, the entire western province will be greatly damaged and the people will live in poverty. The other is to keep the enemy outside the national gates and fight the enemy in Sanjiang City and Hexi Fortress! This is very risky and the possibility of defeat is very high. But if you win, you can retain the vitality of the western province to the greatest extent, and the people will not suffer from war disasters."

Lei Ming asked with concern: "The enemy has the advantage of military strength, so it is probably inappropriate to fight the enemy in a decisive battle?"

"Yes." Zhan Ying couldn't help but echo, "I can only sacrifice the people in the west."

"There is nothing wrong." Meng Hu said sneeringly, "Although the enemy has the advantage of military strength, for a strategic decisive battle of more than 100,000 people, the advantage in military strength is not decisive. On the contrary, the smoothness of the logistics supply line is really fatal. The Mingyue Empire Army is working on an expedition, and the logistics supply line is long and vulnerable to attack. This is their weakness!"

"The weakness of the Mingyue Imperial Army!?"

Zhao Qinghan's beautiful eyes suddenly lit up, and it felt like he suddenly saw a beacon in the dark!

"Here!" Meng Hu took a hard shot somewhere on the map and said, "This is the biggest weakness of the Mingyue Empire Army!"

Zhao Qinghan's beautiful eyes condensed and said in a lost voice: "Hexi Fortress!?"

"Report to the sir!" As soon as Zhao Qinghan finished speaking, soldiers' reports suddenly sounded outside the door, "A large number of enemy cavalry were found twenty miles west of the fortress!"

"It's just midnight, and the enemy has arrived! It's coming so fast!"

Lei Ming said sternly, "Immediately ignite the beacon and warn Xiling City and the Governor!"

▲▲▲

Hexi Canyon, on the banks of Tongtian River.

Under the cold moonlight, the vast army of bright moons was rolling forward in the darkness.

Under the flying flag of Mingyue, a black chariot was winding along the official road. Although Situ Rui, who stood proudly on the chariot, was not tall, in the hearts of all Mingyue soldiers, he was a giant, an insurmountable giant, an insurmountable mountain!

Situ Rui suddenly turned around and his eyes fell on Du Yu, the chief of staff standing solemnly, and asked: "Where is Du Yu? Calculate the time, Yao Mingyuan and Qin Qi should be almost at Hexi, right?"

Du Yu responded respectfully: "The final time limit given to them by sir is to arrive before noon tomorrow, but Yibeizhi estimated that General Yao and General Qin should have arrived at this time."

As soon as he finished speaking, a small riot suddenly broke out in front of him.

When Situ Rui and Du Yu looked up quickly, they saw a bunch of beacons had already lit up on the top of the towering Qingyun Mountain in the distance.

Du Yu smiled slightly when he saw this and said to Situ Rui: "The beacon on Qingyun Mountain has been lit, which means that the two generals have arrived."

"Um..." Situ Rui nodded slightly and asked slowly, "Do you think Zhao Yue will send troops to rescue Hexi Fortress?"

Du Yu shook his head without thinking and said with great confidence: "Zhao Yue is a small person and jealous of talent. Meng Hu fought in the two battles between Tianlang Fortress and Hexi Fortress, which not only showed the courage of his military generals, but also showed the temperament of commanding the three armies as generals. With Zhao Yue's character, he would definitely not send troops to rescue him."

Situ Rui suddenly sighed and said with some regret: "Such talent cannot be used by the empire, a pity!"

Du Yu's heart moved and suddenly said, "If sir, if you can let go of your personal grudges, why not send someone to recruit Meng Hu?"

Situ Rui shook his head and said sadly: "There is no personal grudge between me and Meng Hu. Meng Hu killed Situ Biao just for the glorious empire. My governor raised troops for the empire. There is no personal grudge between us, so there is no problem of whether we can let go or not. However, Meng Hu cannot accept the recruitment of me."

Du Yu asked in confusion: "Why?"

"No, why." Situ Rui shook his head and said calmly, "This is my intuition!"

"Then I can only kill him."

Du Yu also sighed, "If a powerful character like Meng Hu cannot be used by the empire, he can only be eliminated, otherwise it will cause endless harm."

Situ Rui nodded and suddenly asked again: "Where is Du Yu, what kind of defensive do you think Zhao Yue will take this time?"

Du Yu replied confidently: "Zhao Yue's choice is nothing more than two types. One is to concentrate all his troops in Sanjiang City, resist the enemy outside the national gate, and choose to fight our army to a decisive battle. If Zhao Yue dares to do this, he is seeking death! If nothing unexpected happens, Zhao Yue should take another countermeasure, namely, to divide his troops to defend several big cities, and then withdraw all the people and food back to the city, and adopt the strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the fields to drag down our army."

"It should be like that."

Situ Rui said, "The reason why I spent so much effort to gather the army secretly was to cover up people's eyes and catch him off guard! Zhao Yue wanted to shrink his troops and strengthen the walls and clear the fields. It would be impossible to do it without a month, but in less than half a month, my army would be able to reach Hedong, hehe."

Du Yu said: "But Hexi Fortress is a hidden danger and must be removed."

"Yes, Hexi Fortress is indeed a hidden danger."

Situ Rui reached out and patted the guardrail, and said solemnly, "The Emperor of Glory built a city in Hexi and sent troops to garrison it. It was a high-level viewer and his foresight is admirable. Unfortunately, the emperor of the Glory Empire is worse than that of the generation. Zhao Yue, a fool, regards a crucial fortress as a beacon tower."

"However, it is even more regrettable that our army has never been able to capture this military fortress in the past eight years!"

Du Yu couldn't help but sigh. There were two excellent opportunities to conquer Hexi Fortress in the past eight years.

Once, when the Battle of Despair Valley ended three years ago, Zhao Yue's western legion had already been disintegrated. The Qingzhou legion could have taken advantage of the victory to pursue the fortress of Hexi. Unfortunately, the Mingyue Empire had civil strife at that time, and an imperial edict from the imperial capital made Situ Rui withdraw his troops with regret.

Another time was that Tuoba Tao attacked Hexi more than a month ago. Tuoba Tao led an army of 20,000 to attack the Hexi Fortress, which was less than 5,000 new recruits, but the final result surprised everyone. Tuoba Tao was eventually defeated, and he was defeated very miserably. Even his whereabouts are still unknown, and his life and death are uncertain!

...
Chapter completed!