Chapter 575 No Obstacles

Outside Gaoyou City

Xie Wei asked, "Mr. Jiang, what should we do next?" He stood there stupidly for a while. Whether to attack the city or not, he had to make a decision.

Jiang Boya thought for a while and said, "Retreat to Xinghua."

If Gaoyou had not been captured by the Pingzhou Expeditionary Force, they would definitely go forward to help. Now that Gaoyou has been lost, it would be very difficult to recapture Gaoyou with their current strength against the Pingzhou Expeditionary Force.

Xinghua is the closest to them.

After a night of rapid march, the soldiers were also tired.

They retreated to Xinghua first, reported the situation to the Grand Commander, and then made plans. In addition, it was necessary to station troops in Xinghua and guard Yancheng.

"All soldiers, listen to my orders--" Xie Wei led the soldiers to evacuate in an orderly manner.

At this time, Qin Zhao, Guo Chong and others stood on the city wall and watched them evacuate silently.

Qin Zhao: "Are they not going to take back Gaoyou?"

Guo Chong smiled and said, "Jiang Boyan is not stupid. If we attack by force, the chances of success are not high. It is better to retreat to Xinghua."

After they could no longer see anyone, the two turned around.

Looking at the soldiers who were waiting in battle array, Qin Zhao said, "Thank you for your hard work. It will be fine after this night."

For the expeditionary army in Pingzhou, this night was destined to be a busy and exciting night.

Over there, Xie Wei and Jiang Boya had just arrived in Xinghua with their troops, and the scouts ahead detected something different.

"Who is it?" Xie Wei shouted.

At this time, a group of people stumbled out of the woods, "It's me, General Xie."

Xie Wei looked closely and saw that the one in the lead was still wearing the armor of a general of the imperial court. He had a hard time recognizing him as Hu Sha, the defender of Gaoyou, from the dark image of the other party.

"Why are you here?"

"The city has been broken, and I am planning to go to Yancheng to find General Xie."

Xie Wei: ... This Hu is also a talent, and he talks about abandoning the city and fleeing so refreshingly.

Jiang Boya asked him, "Why don't you hold on for an hour or two more?"

Hu Sha: Is this question asking if he doesn't want to hold on?

But Hu Sha said with a bitter face, "I can't hold on."

Xie Wei said impatiently, "Gaoyou has been lost, why are you asking this?"

Jiang Boya turned and asked, "Before you left, did you destroy all the food and grass in Gaoyou City?"

Hu Sha nodded quickly, "I destroyed it, I destroyed it."

Gaoyou City

After Qin Zhao and Guo Chong confirmed that Xie Wei and Jiang Boya did not choose to attack the city, but left with the soldiers behind them, they came down from the city wall and went to the food and grass storage in Gaoyou.

They learned from their subordinates that Gaoyou's general Hu Sha saw that the situation was not good, so he ordered his deputy general Fu Lianheng to lead people to burn the grain and grass, and then he led a team of people to run north.

When they arrived, they found that many court soldiers were tied up with ropes or handcuffed, and these people were guarded by their Pingzhou soldiers.

In front of Yue Shu, his confidant was holding deputy general Fu Lianheng, obviously questioning him.

Qin Zhao asked Yue Shu directly, "How is the grain and grass rescued?"

"Only more than half of it was rescued."

Sun Congyi had been following Qin Zhao and Guo Chong. Hearing this, he slapped Fu Lianheng on the shoulder, "You prodigal, so much food is burned just like that?"

Fu Lianheng was stunned and looked at the guy wearing a mask next to him. Are they familiar with this?

They are the court army, the two hostile parties. When they find that they are defeated, they burn the grain and grass to prevent the enemy from being defeated. Is this a routine operation?

Qin Zhao let go of his hand, "Why did you hit him? He was just following orders."

"Okay, we saved more than half of them." It's better than getting nothing, and it can save another wave of lives.

Qin Zhao used his eyes to signal Sun Congyi to take it easy.

Qin Zhao's attitude made Fu Lianheng even more confused. Isn't he a prisoner now? These people in front of him seem to be generals of Pingzhou, right? Their attitude towards him is so strange.

...

The news that the Pingzhou expeditionary army captured Gaoyou County was soon passed to Xie Zhan.

Xie Zhan was quite accepting of this. He had expected that the Pingzhou expeditionary army would not be so quiet.

Xie Zhan's subordinates talked about it.

"Why would the Pingzhou Expeditionary Army attack Gaoyou?"

"It's too unconventional!"

"The key is how should we defend ourselves next?"

"Yes, now we really don't know where the Pingzhou Expeditionary Army will attack next."

Xie Zhan said calmly, "Let's not be led by the Pingzhou Expeditionary Army!"

"The most important thing now is to encircle and suppress the King of Jin!"

Xie Zhan's reminder was very timely, and his subordinates woke up instantly. Yes, they only need to defend the places they think are important. Anyway, there are only so many people in the Pingzhou Expeditionary Army. The more places they attack, the weaker the defense.

After the King of Jin is destroyed, they can deal with the Pingzhou Expeditionary Army.

Judging from the current situation, it won't be long before they can take Jiankang.

It's a close call. They almost fell into the Pingzhou plan of Wei Wei to save Zhao!

…

The news that the Pingzhou expeditionary army had captured Gaoyou County was also received by the King of Jin. He immediately clapped his hands and cheered, "It's really a good turn of events. You, Xie Zhan, have also had this day!"

The Pingzhou expeditionary army finally gave him a chance to vent his anger.

The King of Jin said to Bai Xingzhi, "Pingzhou is a good place to live. With Qu Tao, they sent out troops so quickly."

Bai Xingzhi smiled, but the current situation was still worrying.

At this moment, the general under his command brought bad news, "Your Majesty, Jiankang can no longer be defended. It only takes one or two days, if we don't increase the number of troops."

King Jin didn't say anything. He understood what his subordinates meant. He had to decide whether Jiankang would defend or not.

The King of Jin discovered that since they gave Qu Tao to Pingzhou, the imperial army had become even more frantic in their encirclement and suppression.

Now he has to consider the issue of continuing to tighten the battle circle.

Everyone present was silent, even Bai Xingzhi was frowning. During this period, he glanced at King Jin who was pacing, and his eyes were hesitant to speak.

King Jin walked around for a while, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "Otherwise, shall we give up Jiankang to Pingzhou?"

After giving up Qu Tao and then Jiankang, the King of Jin was already very familiar with it.

Moreover, after giving away the city once for free, King Jin felt very calm and there was no obstacle at all when he gave it away a second time.

Hearing this, all his subordinates looked at King Jin in surprise.

Bai Xingzhi: Sure enough.

King Jin pinched his eyebrows and said, "Otherwise, it will be too difficult to guard Jiankang." If you can't guard it, give it away! Xie Zhan is so angry, Song Mo is so angry!

Bai Xingzhi thought to himself, if Jiankang gives way, will the Pingzhou Expeditionary Army go crazy?

At this time, everyone looked at the map. The prince gave Jiankang to Pingzhou, plus the Qutao he originally gave. Then the entire territory of their Jin King’s power faces the sea to the east and the Pingzhou Expeditionary Force to the north. It is quite large. From now on, they can relax a little more in defending the north and focus on defending the west and south.

With this concession, their possibility of holding on was greatly increased.

But, "My lord, it's all for free again?"

"Yeah, can we exchange something for Pingzhou?" Mainly because it's so cheap, ahem.

"What do you think the Pingzhou Expeditionary Army can exchange for?" King Jin was not short of food and grass.

"Pingzhou itself is rich, but didn't Xie Zhan block the Cao Gang and prevent him from transporting supplies to Pingzhou? Their supplies can't be sent in either."

Bai Xingzhi asked for orders, "Your Majesty, can you let your subordinates go down and talk to the other party about this matter?"

Let's see if we can point out the benefits beyond the East China Sea. As the saying goes, if a person has no long-term worries, he will always have immediate worries. He must make plans for the prince's future.