Bo Jinchen, who received the urgent report, finally saw the cunning of his opponent. Before his own side could take action, he had quietly withdrawn the main army back to Qinghe. What was placed in Pinglu was just an empty frame. It was ridiculous that he thought the opponent would be here. He will only make decisions when his army is moving. It seems that Nick's courage is far beyond that of ordinary generals.
With a wry smile, he ordered the guards to take the exhausted messenger to rest. Bo Jinchen could only pray secretly that Zhan Botao would be blessed with good fortune. Although there were two follow-up divisions following him, Bo Jinchen could not Knowing that these two divisions were hanging at least a hundred miles behind the two armies led by Zhan Botao, this hundred miles might be enough to determine the life or death of a general or even an army.
As the forward commander, Zhan Botao was unaware of the changes. According to Bo Jinchen's plan, he led his former empire's dispatched army division, which is now the division directly under the Nanjie Locke Corps, to cut off Yulin. The connection with Qinghe firmly controls the key pass between Yulin and Qinghe. Although this area is a flat river, there is only one main road, which is the main road connecting the two prefectures of Yulin and Qinghe. My own south The division directly under Jerok will guard this important road, and the 6th Ranger Regiment cooperating with him will center on his division and spread out from both sides to prevent the Kaman army from escaping northward from Qinghe.
Before leaving, Zhan Botao and Bo Kang also discussed the possibility of Qinghe and Pinglu Kaman's troops fleeing north. They agreed that Nick himself must have such an intention, but from the perspective of Kaman's domestic situation, Gomez definitely did not It will make Nick easily give up the Qinghe and Pinglu lands, because this involves the vital interests of the nobles in the Kaman Empire. If he loses the Qinghe and Pinglu lands after paying a considerable price in food, this will definitely make the nobles in the Kaman Empire lose. They felt deceived. No matter how courageous Gomez was, he would not dare to make enemies of the entire domestic nobles.
While Bo Jinchen admired Nick's boldness and sensitivity, Nick was not as decisive as Bo Jinchen imagined. Just before he issued the order to withdraw to the north, an order from the Prime Minister of the Empire's capital stopped him. The decision forced him to change course and adjust his deployment.
"Marshal Nick:
The empire has already informed Lu Song and Luo Bei about the confrontation with Li Wufeng, and has reached an agreement. However, Lu Song and Luo Bei are so afraid of Li that the empire has not dared to make this decision. Now Situ Tai We have taken the initiative to send envoys to the empire, and the comprehensive cooperation negotiations with it have entered a critical stage. We must not act rashly at this time, otherwise it will definitely affect the overall situation of cooperation between the empire and Situ Tai. If the negotiation with Situ Tai succeeds, Luzon Luobei will definitely By joining the alliance with peace of mind, the interests of the empire will be preserved.
The marshal said that the evacuation of Pinglu has already happened. It is useless to say more. The Qinghe river is related to the domestic political stability of the empire and has a great influence. It must not be abandoned. I hope the marshal will put the overall situation first and ensure the stability of Qinghe. Pinglu incident Don't worry, let's mediate on this day, so as not to affect the overall situation.
The cooperation between Situ Tai and the empire is of great importance. If we can support Situ Tai to successfully ascend the throne, we will be able to form a pincer attack on the empire. Marshal Baiyin in the north does not need to worry about the barbarian affairs. The truth has his own countermeasures. Domestic reinforcements have been sent, Marshal As long as the Qinghe Yulin is ensured, the truth has also secretly reached a reconciliation with Sisluo, and the Poole army will also send troops to Yulin to support the marshal. The marshal can rest assured. From March to May, the internal situation in Tanghe will definitely show a trend that is favorable to the empire, and the situation will A reversal will definitely bring about a turning point for the empire, so the marshal and generals must work together to create a prosperous age for the empire.
Gomez”
Nick has chewed this letter countless times in his hands. Even when he lay down, Nick could recall the Prime Minister's expression when he wrote this letter. Although the content of this letter is very short, it has only one purpose. , that is, he must never give up on Qinghe, and must lead his troops to stay in Qinghe and wait for the situation to change.
Thinking of this, Nick couldn't help but have an unspeakable bitter smile on his thin and thin cheeks. The opportunity was not to be missed and the time would never come again. He had made this decision with great difficulty. Now that he was disturbed by the Prime Minister's letter, Nick also I don't know what I should do. Nick knows a little bit about the alliance with the Luobei and Luzon people, but Nick doesn't think that it can have much of a containment effect on Li Wufeng unless the Luobei and Luzon people can He tried his best to use all his strength, but this hope was too slim. The Luobei people were frightened by Li Wufeng. Although they hated Li Wufeng deeply, but they wanted to face Li Wufeng's army in a decisive battle. It was not that Nick looked down upon them. Tu Da, who is known as the undefeated general of Luobei, probably would not dare to make such wild claims. As for the people of Luzon, although Frederick was amazing with his talent, the strength of the people of Luzon was limited. Luzon was not as strong as the people of Luobei. As a nomad, he had to consider the immediate consequences of failure. Before he was absolutely sure, Nick did not believe that Frederick would dare to make such a big bet.
However, Nick still thinks that the cooperation with Situ Tai mentioned by the Prime Minister is somewhat questionable. It is already obvious that Li Wufeng supports Situ Biao against Situ Tai. There is not even a single soldier stationed in the entire eastern Kansai. This is obviously to Situ Biao felt confident and boldly headed north without worrying about anything else. According to intelligence, there was a continuous flow of ships transporting various strategic materials from Guanxi to the Five Lakes. Weapons, armor, food, and even horses and vehicles were continuously transported to Huanggang, which had just fallen into Situ Biao's hands. Although they are supplied at a fair price, given the clear internal situation in the Tanghe Empire, even a fool can understand what these actions mean.
Situ Tai's military strength was obviously stronger than that of Situ Biao, but Li Wufeng supported the weak and resisted the strong at this time. However, all parties knew well that they did not want to see a strong central Tanghe Empire appear, and it would be best to see one The Tang He Empire is constantly fighting with each other to weaken each other. On this point, the attitudes of his side and Li Wufeng are surprisingly similar. Nick can imagine that if Li Wufeng had not participated in the internal struggle of the Tang He Empire, his side would definitely have nothing to do with it. He hesitated to support Situ Biao, but now that Li Wufeng has made it clear that he supports Situ Biao, the balance of balance is tilted like Situ Biao, so he can only support Situ Tai without hesitation, although the war with Situ Tai has not been completely extinguished. , but in the face of national interests, whether it is war or peace, everything needs to obey the overall situation.
What makes Nick a little worried is whether Situ Tai can sincerely cooperate with the Empire. After all, the Empire's ambitions for this neighbor to the south are not a secret. Situ Tai's behavior seems to be a bit of a wolf in the eyes of the discerning people. Even if it is a secret agreement, it will be exposed sooner or later. One day, I don't know how Situ Tai will explain to the people under his rule. Nick can't figure out why Situ Tai would make such a choice. The words "Li Ling Zhi Fa" are probably the best explanation for Situ Tai's approach. Nick could only think so.
But Nick believed that the prime minister had a way to determine the sincerity of the other party. This was not something he should consider. Perhaps seeing Li Wufeng's aggressiveness made Situ Tai feel that if Li Wufeng's arrogance was not curbed, even if he sat on the throne I'm afraid it's still shaky, not much better than the current Situ Lang, and now it's really difficult to find anyone in the surrounding area that can really pose a threat to Li Wufeng except his own. This is probably Situ Tai's true thoughts. .
Nick didn't have much hope that Situ Tai would be able to play a big role in the future confrontation with Li Wufeng, but no matter what, a little more power was better than nothing. Nick felt suffocated when he thought of this. Once upon a time, tyranny was unstoppable. How could the Kaman Empire suddenly transform into a country that relies on alliances with others to survive? And all this happened in just eight years. The strong and the weak were changing positions. Nick had to admit that Li Wufeng was indeed a Born to be a hero in troubled times, the chaotic Eastern Continent has become the stage for his full performance, while people like himself have become pitiful supporting characters, and they are very likely to become tragic supporting characters.
Although he received the order from the prime minister, Nick did not intend to fully comply with it. Qinghe could stay behind, but he had to ensure that the 100,000 troops could smoothly retreat to Yulin in a critical moment. In Nick's own opinion, it is purely an idiotic approach to let these 100,000 troops take such a risk in order to satisfy the wishes of the damn nobles of the empire, but Nick has to abide by it. He can understand the prime minister's situation, The prime minister, who always only gave orders in a few words, actually made an exception to explain the importance of Qinghe to himself. It can be imagined how serious the situation between the DPRK and China was. Nick could only pray in his heart that the prime minister could replenish Yulin's army in time, and that the people of Puer could help him for the sake of money. Otherwise, Nick could not imagine that once the Xinjiang Army was determined to annihilate the 100,000 troops in his hands, How to deal with it yourself.
In order to smoothly implement his strategic intentions, the experienced Nick sent a team of 30,000 people to Yulin. Although it is hundreds of miles of plains from Yulin to Qinghe, there is only one road that can be used by vehicles and horses. This road happens to cross a small plain that is slightly sunken and resembles the bottom of a pot at the intersection of Yulin and Qinghe. And this pot However, there are intermittent large forest belts and rivers around the bottom, extending to the west to the Jeroke border, and to the southeast to the vicinity of Cangzhou Fucheng. In this way, Liujiatun, the center of the pot, became the hub connecting Yulin and Qinghe, and its strategic position was suddenly highlighted.