From beggar to emperor: I am not Zhu Yuanzhang

Yangzhou Sun Mansion.

Sun Ru called his trusted generals Ma Yin and Liu Jianfeng and said: "Listen, Yang Xingmi is in Xuanzhou now, and his hometown in Luzhou is empty. Now is the time for us to take action. You two divide your troops into two groups and fight overnight. Set out to attack Luzhou."

After receiving the military order, Ma Yin and Liu Jianfeng split up and unexpectedly appeared outside Luzhou City. At this time, there were only a few thousand people in Luzhou City, led by Cai Chou, the ninth among the thirteen brothers.

As mentioned earlier, when Yang Xingmi led his troops to Yangzhou, he left Dai Yougui, Gao Xu, and Cai Chou to guard Luzhou. Later, Yang Xingmi got into a tug-of-war with Sun Ru in Yangzhou. The situation was urgent and he had to call in Dai Yougui and Gao Xu to send troops for reinforcements, leaving only Cai. I am alone in Luzhou.

Unexpectedly, this actually allowed Sun Ru to take advantage of the loophole.

Cai Chou didn't have much experience on the battlefield, and he didn't have the opportunity to participate in large-scale battles. When he saw the dark army of Sun Ru outside the city, he suddenly became uneasy. What should he do?

Although Cai Chou was young, his fighting ability was not weak. He planned to send troops to attack Sun Ru while his army was not yet stable, catching him off guard and hoping to defeat him in a single battle.

All the generals advised him to play it safe and stick to Luzhou to wait for reinforcements. At present, holding Luzhou means holding on to capital.

Cai Chou considered that there was not much food in the city. If the stalemate continued like this, they would soon run out of food, and the reinforcements did not know when they would come back, so they could not sit still and wait for death. This is his idea, and of course he is very strong and does not allow others to question it.

Cai Chou took the initiative to attack. He led his troops to open the city gate and go out to meet the enemy, but he did not want to be surrounded by Liu Jianfeng and Ma Yin and fall into a tight siege. Seeing that the situation was not good, Cai Chou fought hard to find a way and escaped back to the city.

In this battle, Cai Chou lost more than 1000 men and his vitality was severely damaged. After returning to the city, Cai Chou stayed behind closed doors and stopped fighting. Ma Yin and Liu Jianfeng outside the city stepped up their offensive and launched a psychological war. They sent a message to Cai Chou to persuade him to surrender.

Cai Chou flatly refused at first and her attitude was very firm. I will never surrender!

It didn't matter, Ma Yin and Liu Jianfeng continued to write letters. At the same time, they placed good wine and food under the city to lure the defenders to surrender. They shouted that as long as the defenders surrendered with weapons, they could eat freely.

The hungry defenders became uneasy when they saw the wine and meat outside the city. Many people risked their lives to leave the city and surrender, but they could not stop them.

Some people even destroyed the city gates, cut off the suspension bridge, and trooped out of the city to surrender. Seeing that the situation was over, Cai Chou had to accept the reality and hung a white flag at the top of the city.

Cai Chou's surrender marked the fall of Luzhou.

When Yang Xingmi, who was far away in Xuanzhou, heard that Luzhou had been lost and Cai Chou surrendered, he suddenly felt bad. He didn't expect that Sun Ru was actually playing dirty tricks. This would cut off his escape route. Besides, Cai Chou was too embarrassed. He was the first person to surrender in Thirteen Miles.

The loss of Luzhou meant that Yang Xingmi's army was like a kite with a broken string and lost its direction.

At this time, Xuanzhou had just been captured, and the surrounding situation was not optimistic. There was Qian Liu from Zhejiang to the east, Zhong Chuan from Hongzhou to the south, Du Hong from Wuchang to the west, and Sun Ru from Yangzhou to the north.

Surrounded by powerful enemies, Yang Xingmi was in a very difficult situation.

What’s next? Should he return to the army and recapture Luzhou, or hold on to Xuanzhou?

Yang Xingmi was weighing the pros and cons.

The night was getting dark, but he was not sleepy. He sat in front of the desk with his clothes on, spread out the rice paper, picked up a pen and wrote a line of words. Following Yuan Xi in the past few years, he has learned a lot of knowledge and mastered a lot of Chinese characters. He can at least write an article.

However, tonight, he was so upset that he could not calm down, and his writing was not ideal. Yang Xingmi was a little irritable, and the hand holding the pen stayed in the air and hesitated to write. Maybe there was too much ink, and a drop of ink quietly fell on the rice paper.

Yang Xingmi crumpled the rice paper into a ball, threw it into the wastebasket, stood up and walked out.

This is to ask Yuan Xi for advice.

When Yang Xingmi came in, Yuan Xi was studying the map under the lamp. He was so focused that he didn't even know that Yang Xingmi had come in.

Yang Xingmi did not disturb him, but quietly sat on the stool. Yuan Xi studied the map for a long time. Maybe he was thirsty, so he called out: "Qiao'er, here's the tea."

The little book boy carried the tea cup into the house. As soon as he entered the room, he was stopped by Yang Xingmi. Yang Xingmi took the tea cup, waved the little book boy to go down, and sent it to Yuan Xi himself.

The teacup was placed on the table. Yuan Xi was about to pick up the teacup when he looked up and saw Yang Xingmi standing in front of him. He quickly stood up and cupped his hands and said, "When did the general come? He didn't greet you from afar."

Yang Xingmi waved his hand: "Sir, there is no need to be polite. I can't sleep either, so I came here to ask for advice from you."

Yuan Xi: "General, it's about Luzhou, right?"

Yang Xingmi was surprised: "Sir, do you know that Luzhou is lost?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I'm thinking about this."

Yang Xingmi: "Does Mr. Do you think we should return to the army immediately to rescue Luzhou?"

No, don’t go back to Luzhou, go to Yangzhou.

Yuan Xi blurted out these words.

"To Yangzhou?"

Or Yang Xingmi's mind was spinning so fast that he murmured to himself: "Surround Wei and save Zhao?"

Yuan Xi nodded and said: "Now that Sun Ru's elite have been taken to Luzhou by Ma Yin and Liu Jianfeng, Yangzhou is an empty city. If we rush back to Luzhou, firstly Ma Yin and Liu Jianfeng will defend Luzhou, and secondly, Sun Confucianism may also send troops to attack from a flank. In that case, we will not be able to capture Luzhou, and we will be surrounded by Sun Ru, I'm afraid it will be over."

Yang Xingmi strongly agreed with Yuan Xi's analysis.

Yuan Xi continued: "If we abandon Luzhou and go straight to Yangzhou, Sun Ru will never think that we will attack Yangzhou by surprise. He will definitely call Ma Yin and Liu Jianfeng back to rescue Yangzhou. We will leave Dai Yougui and Gao Xu halfway. Intercept and kill his reinforcements."

Yuan Xi's plan made Yang Xingmi's eyes light up, and he instantly felt it.

Okay, I'll do as you wish.

In the first year of the Dragon Age (889), Yang Xingmi sent generals Tian Kai, An Renyi, and Li Shenfu to lead troops north to attack western Zhejiang, targeting the sacred places such as Suzhou, Changzhou, and Runzhou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu). The operation progressed smoothly, and soon Hezhou (today's Hexian, Anhui) and Chuzhou (today's Chuzhou, Anhui) were captured, forming an encirclement around Yangzhou.

Sun Ru panicked all of a sudden. He didn't expect that Yang Xingmi was coming so menacingly. Was he going to risk his life with him?

No, Yangzhou cannot be lost!

As expected, Sun Ru sent people to Luzhou and called Ma Yin and Liu Jianfeng back to rescue Yangzhou.

The boss had to listen to his words. After discussing with Ma Yin, Liu Jianfeng decided to leave Ma Yin to guard Luzhou. Liu Jianfeng led his troops back to Yangzhou to rescue Sun Ru.

As soon as Liu Jianfeng was dispatched, he was discovered by Dai Yougui and Gao Xu, who were active in guerrilla warfare in Tianchang. They set an ambush on Liu Jianfeng's only way back to Yangzhou and waited for his arrival.

As for Ma Yin, he did not escape bad luck.

After Liu Jianfeng left, he was left with very few troops, only 5000 men. Plus Cai Chou's 3000 men, this small number of men could barely hold the city. However, if there is a heavy attack, it will be a bit uncertain.

When Yang Xing's secret agent heard that Liu Jianfeng had rushed back to Yangzhou, he immediately adjusted his strategy. He would not go to Yangzhou himself, but ordered Tian Kai and others to continue to attack Changzhou, making the illusion of crossing the river to attack Yangzhou to confuse Sun Ru.

After making arrangements for Tian Wei, he ordered Tao Ya and Liu Wei to lead their troops and secretly rush back to Luzhou with him. This is called a soldier who is not tired of deception.

Sun Ru's attention was completely attracted by the war in Changzhou, and the activities of Dai Yougui, Gao Xu and others near Yangzhou made him uneasy and felt that Yangzhou would be lost at any time, so he sent several groups of messengers a day to urge Liu Jianfeng to come back quickly.

Liu Jianfeng did not dare to neglect and ordered the march to be accelerated and must return to Yangzhou within two days.

He would not have thought that as soon as he left, Yang Xingmi would return to Luzhou, while Ma Yin in the city was not aware of it.