Xia Kingdom, Yicheng County, Xia Army Camp in Shuzhou City.

In the commander's tent, a group of Xia army generals gathered here, with heavy expressions on their faces, and reported in a deep voice:

"Commander, the Yudaizhou Water Village was burned down by the Yun Army Navy last night. All the Yangtze River waterways in the upper reaches of Dongliu County have been controlled by the Yun Army Navy."

On top of the commander's position, Wu Zhengping's brows were furrowed, and his overall aura was extremely low.

Dongliu County is just west of Shuzhou City, less than three hundred miles away. The fact that the Yun Army Navy can advance here proves that the Yun State Army is about to arrive!

The other generals also looked worried at this time and reported one after another:

"Commander, Pengze County, which has been blocked for a long time, finally has news."

But unfortunately, this news is not good news.

"Due to the weak military strength, after the Yun army attacked, the soldiers and civilians of Pengze County managed to resist for a day, but the city was finally breached."

When Wu Zhengping heard this, he frowned with the word "Chuan" on his brows and sighed quietly.

"Commander, we are scouting the front lines. The left wing forward of the Yun army has arrived at the foot of Wangjiang County."

"Commander, Dongzhi County has been captured by Yun's army. The morale of the county soldiers stationed in the city was shattered and they fled in all directions. A thousand elite soldiers sent by the commander were determined to refuse to surrender. Eventually, in the end, the entire army was annihilated!"

One city after another fell, and one military stronghold after another was breached. A lot of bad news hit Wu Zhengping directly.

Especially the news of the fall of Dongzhi County was the most difficult for him to accept!

The Yudaizhou Water Village above the Yangtze River is Shuzhou City's waterway barrier. Once it is breached, Shuzhou City will face the Yun Army Navy.

As far east as the county, it is the land barrier of Shuzhou City!

If this place is defeated, the Xia army will have no chance of defending the city before the Yun army reaches Shuzhou City.

When he heard the news that Dongzhi County had fallen and a thousand elite troops were wiped out, Wu Zhengping couldn't help but shake his figure and said in disbelief:

"Why couldn't Dongzhi County withstand the Yun army for three days?"

Although Dongzhi County is the county seat, as a military important location, the city is also strong.

There are also a thousand elites trained by Wu Zhengping personally, and they can defend the city for seven or eight days.

But now, it has been less than three days since the Yun army began to attack the city!

There was a general in the tent who had been leading troops on the Yunxia front line for a long time. He looked bitter and lowered his head and said:

"The Yun army is at its peak, its morale is high, its bravery is not afraid of death, and its power is unstoppable!"

"You can defend the city only if you are twice as strong as Yun's army. If you want to defeat Yun's army head-on, you must be at least three times as strong as Yun's army."

The words that were so depressing and boosted the morale of the Yun army came from the mouth of the general.

Moreover, none of the generals in the account even refuted!

Wu Zhengping, who was sitting on the commander's seat, felt cold in his heart when he saw the reactions of the generals.

The morale of the army is so low. Is the Yun Army on the opposite side really so powerful that it can destroy the morale of the Xia Army?

No, we can't keep fighting like this!

Wu Zhengping knew very well that his current task was to find ways to delay the Yun army's advance and wait for reinforcements from the rear.

Therefore, he sent out all his elite troops, divided them into garrison, and defended the city.

But Yun Jun's bravery exceeded Wu Zhengping's expectations!

Of course, he was forcing the Yun army to slowly attack one city after another. However, the elite Xia army he had trained with his own hands was unable to withstand the Yun army's strong attack, and the strategy of delaying the enemy's army was transformed into a

Killing people one after another.

The consecutive defeats in this war have led to a loss of morale and a shaken military morale!

As a famous military general, Wu Zhengping naturally cannot fail to know the importance of military morale to an army.

Thinking of this, Wu Zhengping finally made up his mind and gritted his teeth and said:

"Order to gather all the soldiers and horses from all the cities, military villages, and water villages in Yicheng County to Shuzhou City!"

At this time, Wu Zhengping had decided to change his strategy and gather all the soldiers and horses in Shuzhou City, under his personal command, to resist Yun's army.

Upon hearing this order, all the generals immediately showed hesitation.

Someone had the courage to come forward and persuade:

"Commander, General Wu Zixu, uses his troops in an eclectic and unpredictable manner. He likes to surround the army with inferior troops. Whether it is Rongzhou City at the beginning or Qichang City today, it is a lesson learned from the past!"

"Commander, if Wu Zixu makes another dangerous move and sends light troops to cut off the retreat, I'm afraid we will also be in a desperate situation."

"Commander, please think twice!"

When Wu Zhengping heard this, he had a serious face and said sternly:

"In this battle, Wu Zixu ignored the hundreds of thousands of troops in Qichang City and Hongzhou City, and wanted to take my Shuzhou City by force. The Yun army that can come to my Shuzhou City is probably less than 50,000."

"If he still dares to divide his troops and seize the city behind Shuzhou City, that is the way to die. I don't mind annihilating this Yun army for Your Majesty!"

At this time, Wu Zhengping's voice was filled with strong murderous intent.

Showing such a majestic posture, the other generals immediately shut up and stopped trying to persuade him.

"Immediately order all troops from all parts of Yicheng County to withdraw to Shuzhou City."

At this time, Wu Zhengping may have realized that his attitude just now was too intimidating and was not conducive to appeasing the lieutenant general. His face softened slightly and he said warmly:

"It has been more than a month since the war started. In Jinling City, His Majesty and the adults in the court must have gathered reinforcements and are on their way to support."

"As long as we hold on until reinforcements arrive, everything will be fine!"

When the generals heard this, they could only bow their heads and bow, cupped their fists and shouted:

"The general will obey your orders!"

After the generals were ordered to retire, Wu Zhengping's personal soldiers suddenly hurried into the tent and whispered a few words to Wu Zhengping.

Wu Zhengping's expression, which had just softened, condensed again and he said coldly:

"What?"

"It's absolutely true. The two generals have already apologized outside the tent and are waiting for the commander to summon them." The soldier said hurriedly.

Wu Zhengping immediately faced the outside of the tent and shouted sternly:

"Come in!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the curtain door of the handsome tent was opened. Two generals with damaged clothes and bloody bodies and a slightly embarrassed figure hurried into the tent and knelt down on one knee on the ground. They buried their heads in apology and said:

"I failed to fulfill the Commander-in-Chief's instructions and betrayed Your Majesty and the Commander-in-Chief's trust. I am willing to accept the punishment!"

Seeing the injured and extremely embarrassed two people, Wu Zhengping was about to scold him, but he couldn't say it.

After a moment of silence in the tent, Wu Zhengping took a deep breath, suppressed the evil fire in his heart, and said:

"Let you two lead elite soldiers and horses, hide in the occupied areas, and wait for opportunities to destroy the Yun Army's logistics and slow down the Yun Army's offensive. It has only been a few days, and you have been in such a mess, returning in a panic?"

The two generals in front of me were the trusted generals sent by Wu Zhengping to the rear of the Yun Army to fight "guerrilla" warfare.

I think back then, the Xia Kingdom's late general Qi Mo, who had died in the battle, was unable to block the Yun Army's offensive, so he learned the methods of An Guo's resistance forces, and sent a small group of elite troops under his command to hide in the mountains and forests to attack the Yun Army's logistics.

.

This kind of tactics also caused a lot of trouble for Yun State.

It was not until Xiao Cheng patrolled Jiangcheng County and used his body as a bait to attract the Xia Kingdom to gather experts to assassinate him that the Xia Kingdom abandoned this small group of elites and used them as bait to attack the city head-on. Only then was the Forbidden Army encircling and suppressing his energy.

Since it was such a useful move, Wu Zhengping would naturally use it in the current unfavorable war situation.

But for some unknown reason, the two confidant generals he carefully selected did not stay for more than a month before escaping hastily back to Shuzhou City.

Upon hearing Wu Zhengping's inquiry, the two generals quickly raised their heads and explained bitterly:

"Commander, although Yun's army occupied Xunyang County for less than a month, Yun's soldiers were strictly disciplined and did not harm the common people. After entering the city, they deliberately killed many people.

A few corrupt officials, unscrupulous wealthy businessmen, and local ruffians came to win people's hearts, making the people of Xunyang County unwilling to resist and willing to surrender."

"Not only that, there are also many ignorant people who turned their backs on me, Daxia, because of small favors, and took the initiative to spy on the Yun army."

"The two generals led their troops to hide in the mountains, but they were reported many times, and finally attracted the main force of the Yun army to attack. After several times, the troops suffered heavy losses and had to retreat to Shuzhou City."

Having said this, the two of them lowered their heads again and said sadly and angrily:

"Commander, please punish the general and others for their crimes that are detrimental to the battle!"

When Wu Zhengping heard this, his eyes widened and he stood up suddenly.

But the next moment, he felt that the world was spinning before his eyes, his body was weak, and he fell back directly.

"Commander!"

The soldiers on the side exclaimed and came forward, looking at Wu Zhengping nervously.

Wu Zhengping sat back on the chair, took a few deep breaths, adjusted his breathing for a moment, and then sat up straight again.

After a moment of silence in the tent, Wu Zhengping sighed helplessly and said quietly:

"Emperor Yun has a good reputation. In order to maintain his reputation for benevolence, he even spent millions of taels of gold and silver to treat and resettle the people of the six southwest counties that did not belong to the Yun Kingdom at that time, so that the people of the world would praise and admire him."
To be continued...