Hope for luck

Chapter 361
The sudden defeat report made Ning Yan flustered and disbelieving.

Gao Pan had mentioned the issue of Yan Bing's combat strength in front of her many times before, but Ning Yan never believed how powerful Yu Bing, who had already been corrupted in military affairs, could be.

But this big defeat made her suddenly understand that the effect brought by a general cannot be compensated by the number of people.

Guo Haifu, the general who conquered the north on the North Road, was just a member of Pangzhi of their Ning family who had served in the army. Because he knew how to march and fight, he was discovered by others, so he was given an important task.

However, an ambush outside the city of Gumen Mansion completely exposed Guo Haifu's huge lack of command ability and overall perspective.

In the end, Ning Yan could only let them abandon the county town they had already captured, retreat to Lingzhou City, and enter a defensive posture from the original offensive posture.

The other two armies, apart from being able to capture one or two county towns at the beginning, struggled to attack the city for the next few days without making any progress.

The army of the West Road was trapped outside a county town in Fuyang Mansion, unable to advance an inch, and with the gathering of officers and soldiers from various places, it was basically impossible to break through Fuyang Mansion.

However, Pengcheng has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. It strangles the entrance of Dongshan in the north, protects various places in the south of the Yangtze River in the south, and occupies Huining and the Central Plains in the west.

As long as Pengcheng is captured, there are enough choices, especially for Ning Yan and the others, occupying Jiangnan has been considered clearly for a long time, other places do not need to be captured, and all parts of Jiangnan must be captured.

But it is such a place that military strategists must contend for. For thousands of years, this place has become an important military town, and the city walls are getting higher and thicker.

Although Yan Bing South Road also has an army of [-], it is after all some strong men who have not been trained. As Gao Pan said, strong men wearing armor are not soldiers at all.

Therefore, the South Army has been attacking the city here for seven or eight days, and Pengcheng is still intact and intact.

Even if another [-] troops came and besieged to death, it would still take three months to start.

But in just a few days, the 3-strong army has dropped by [-] to [-], and there are deserters every day, and morale is very low.

The rewards originally issued by Ning Yan have gradually become ineffective for these Yan soldiers. Seeing the death of their companions around him, these Yan soldiers who were originally only young men have begun to fear.

If it weren't for the strict military law, I'm afraid half of them would be deserters. After all, for these Yan soldiers, they had a good life in their hometown, but they were recruited by Ning Yan and the others, and they followed them to fight after making a promise. .

But on the battlefield, human life is like a mustard, maybe he will die in the blink of an eye, and it will be like this for several days in a row, which makes these Yan soldiers lose the slightest fighting spirit.

Zheng Chengwu, the commander-in-chief of the South Road Army, naturally also noticed it. He didn't want the soldiers of Yan Kingdom to be wasted here.

Moreover, he also heard that the officers and soldiers of the Yu Dynasty who came back to aid from the southern provinces are already on their way. If they continue to spend, I am afraid that if Pengcheng is not captured, they themselves will be wiped out first. By then, they will not even have to guard Dongshan, the base camp. , directly surrender and destroy the country.

Therefore, Zheng Chengwu hastily sent an urgent letter to Ning Yan, explaining the situation. With their current situation, it is basically impossible to take down Jiangnan and other places with lightning speed.

The military affairs of the Yu Dynasty were not as bad as they imagined. Zheng Chengwu suggested to Ning Yan to shrink back to Dongshan, slowly train the soldiers, and go out again when the morale is high in the future.

When Ning Yan received Zheng Chengwu's urgent letter, it was already the fifth day of February, and it was also the third day after she received the defeat of the North Army.

Seeing the situation explained by Zheng Chengwu in the letter, Ning Yan was not indecisive, and directly agreed to Zheng Chengwu's request, asking him to retreat to the border of Dongshan and station in Yancheng County, Lanhe Prefecture, and prepare for the counterattack of Yu soldiers in a defensive posture.

Although Nie Qizhong of the West Road Army did not send her a letter, but after receiving the battle report before, she knew that Nie Qizhong was also trapped outside a certain county and could not advance half a step, and she understood that the problems facing the West Road Army were even more serious.

With the same order, Ning Yan asked Nie Qizhong to lead his troops back to Dantang County and wait for the Yu Dynasty to counterattack.

The situation took a turn for the worse, which Ning Yan did not expect. She originally thought that Gao Pan's talk for a month was just to delay the time, but now it seems that she understands that she has overestimated the generals of Dayan and underestimated Yu Chao's reaction speed .

The next step is to counterattack and defend. Ning Yan understands that their biggest test is coming. As long as one of the three directions of north, south and west is breached, the whole game will collapse, and she will also be arrested and smashed to death.

In order to stabilize the situation in the north, Ning Yan ordered that several prefectures and counties in the north immediately recruit [-] soldiers temporarily.

At this time, Ning Yan and the others' shortcomings appeared. Although they had prepared enough armors when the incident occurred, they had no other armors to equip new soldiers at this point.

Even if the new soldiers were recruited, they all wore some hastily made soft armor and various improvised weapons, and just participated in the city defense.

……

When Gao Pan was busy with the water diversion project, he also heard people talking about this situation, and he was slightly startled in his heart, thinking, this restoration of Beiyan to the country may be a flash in the pan.

Unexpectedly, what he said really came true. Ning Yan and the others were afraid that they would not be able to last for a month.

Thinking of this, Gao Pan's heart tightened suddenly, thinking that such a delicate and beautiful Ning Yan was about to die, so he couldn't help being a little nervous and worried.

After handing over all the matters in his hands to Xie Yujun, Gao Pan hurried back to Dantang County and came to Xiangmanlou.

Seeing Ning Yan standing in front of the window, Gao Pan didn't know what to say.

Ning Yan naturally knew that Gao Pan came in, but she was still like a proud swan, she didn't turn around, but looked into the distance through the window, and said in a low voice:

"If you want to mock Gu, go ahead! Gu overestimates himself and underestimates the enemy!"

Seeing this, Gao Pan felt the sadness and helplessness in her words, walked gently to her side, stood side by side by the window, and responded slowly:

"Ning Yan, you should be sober now, right? Listen to me, it's too late to stop now, I can keep you safe forever!"

As soon as the words fell, it was rare for Ning Yan to get angry in front of Gao Pan. Her willow eyebrows were erected, her phoenix eyes were wide open, and she scolded loudly:
"Presumptuous! I haven't been defeated yet...Little thief, don't be complacent now. I still have millions of soldiers and civilians, enough to guard for a year or so. When I have trained enough soldiers, I will fight again!"

Seeing this, Gao Pan shook his head slightly with pity on his face and said:

"Don't be stubborn anymore. From the very beginning, you will never succeed. Promise me, it's still too late to quit now. I have plenty of ways to protect you. Trust me, okay?"

After Ning Yan heard this, she became even more annoyed:

"Are you pitiful for Gu? You bastard! When will Gu need you to take pity on you? Gao Pan, even if they all surrender, Gu will not, because Gu is a direct descendant of Emperor Shenzongli, as a descendant of the Dayan royal family, How can you back down, you have to fight until the last moment!"

(End of this chapter)