The night color enveloped the earth again, and the whistling wind of spring began to rage on the empty land of Zezhou again. The city that burned for a day in the distance still emitted dark red embers in the night, and the strong smell of burnt drifted from time to time with the wind, making people involuntarily recall the tragic scene of the day.

The enemy troops in the remaining two cities were obviously frightened by Li Ming's style and methods, so they gave up such a good opportunity to attack the night and huddled obediently behind the tall city wall, which also gave Li Ming's wounded soldiers some chance to breathe.

Li Ming summoned the military doctors in the army overnight and studied the prescription for rapid treatment of burns with them. These military doctors in the army were all students from Zhulin Academy. This time they went on the expedition by Li Ming, the King of Saints, Situ Yan, etc., and their own strength, they seemed to have become masters in front of them. Therefore, with a little guidance and reminder, these people could put forward their own opinions and methods, and after comprehensive sorting, they each took people to treat the burned soldiers. This accident during the day caused two-thirds of Li Ming's soldiers to be more or less affected. If they were not treated in time, it would probably seriously affect the future battle.

After all this, Li Ming discussed with the generals who led the troops for a while, then walked out of the central army's tent, and walked up under the escort of Zhuangya, stood on the observation deck of the central army camp, raised his eyes to the distance. Against the backdrop of the stars, the two cities in the distance were faintly visible in Li Ming's eyes.

Li Ming's heart was full of contradictions at this moment. In order to open up Mingyang City, he had to pass through the Third Ring Road area. To pass through this area, he had to destroy the 300,000 troops in front of him. However, although the method he used was very effective, it seemed too inhumane. He burned the 100,000 troops to death in the city. Li Ming could not let go of this guilt. Therefore, although it was already very late, he resolutely stayed on the high observation deck and looked at the still burning city silently.

As soon as the next day, Li Ming, who had not slept for a night, organized a large army to quickly surround another city, and the enemy had obviously reacted and started to counterattack at them frantically from the city. Yesterday they all saw that if they were surrounded by Li Ming's army, their fate would probably be as annihilated as the soldiers in the middle city. Therefore, under the strong hope of survival, they were asked to rush towards Li Ming's army regardless of their lives, trying to fight the other party to the death.

However, in the field, no infantry could face Li Ming's army head-on, especially in front of heavy cavalry, they had no power to resist. Although they were all determined to die and wanted to fight desperately, the gap in strength made them return to attack again and again without success. The only thing left on the ground was the corpses piled up thicker and thicker.

Faced with the enemy's crazy counterattack, Li Ming was not in a hurry to surround the city. The reaction of the enemy in front of him was just right. As long as the enemy did not hide in the city and fought street battles with him, he would be sure to win. Since the enemy took the initiative to attack, there was no need for him to use the hard-earned light-weight fuel. Moreover, now he has a little resistance to this method of fire attack. If he can't use it, he will never use it again.

For a whole day, the enemy's counterattack never stopped. The enemy troops from both directions kept rushing Li Ming's defense line like a frenzy, leaving a layer of corpses in front of the temporary battalion established by Li Ming. In the end, even the light-mounted rangers could no longer walk among the layers of corpses, and the heavy-armed cavalry had already left their base camp far away, looking for an open place to wait for the opportunity to snipe the enemy's troops.

The fierce battle continued until the sun set, and the enemies of the two cities no longer had the ability to stop Li Ming's troops from advancing. Taking advantage of the afterglow of the sunset, Li Ming led a large army to forcibly surround the city they wanted to siege, stepping on the enemy's dense corpses.

The enemy seemed to have given up the defense on the city wall. There was no trace of torches and lanterns on the wide and tall city walls. Compared with the bright torches in Li Ming's camp, Li Ming still issued an order to prepare for an attack. He did not want to waste too much time here. Although after a daytime massacre, the remaining enemy troops in the city were less than half of the original ones, if he rashly entered the city, it would still be possible to cause huge casualties to him. Therefore, he forcibly resisted the temptation to occupy the city, found a logistics supply base for himself, and asked himself to prepare the city massacre plan according to the original plan.

Suddenly, the city wall, about 200 meters away from Li Ming, burst open, and an army was fired from the orderly inside. The difference is that the soldiers of this army have no weapons in their hands. Instead, many people are holding high white flags in their hands. The man walking in front is covered with a plain body, holding armor and weapons, and there is a yellow cloth wrapped in his armor. Looking at this, it seems that the enemy is coming to surrender.

Li Ming was immediately ecstatic about the enemy's reaction. He really didn't want to burn the city anymore. It felt like he was committing a crime. It was really ideal for the enemy to surrender voluntarily.

That night, all the officers and soldiers were unable to have a good sleep. The work of receiving surrendered soldiers was very cumbersome, requiring very good patience and strict organizational skills. Therefore, Li Ming would not preside over such a work. Fortunately, Zhang Meng and Yuchi Xiong both came with the army. Therefore, Li Ming naturally handed over this task to them. Although these two people were the head coaches of the command headquarters, they had actually been idle for a long time. Now they were ecstatic when they received this work from Li Ming. They heard their constant shouts and excited shouts all night.

Early the next morning, Li Ming's vanguard troops carefully entered the city under the leadership of the surrendered troops. In a short while, rewards came, telling Li Ming and others to receive the news about the city.

This situation is the most ideal for Li Ming. He not only accepts this city, but also gives himself a logistics base, which can avoid an excessively long logistics supply front and makes his subsequent offensive plan very easy.

As noon approached, Li Ming led his army toward another city. In the afternoon, he also included another city in his siege. Strangely, all the city gates were open, and the city was silent, as if the enemy had abandoned the city.

Seeing this situation, Li Ming hurriedly sent a vanguard force to the city to inspect. The result of the report was indeed as expected. While Li Ming's troops took over another city last night, the soldiers of this city abandoned the city and fled in the night.

After a day of rest, Li Ming regarded the two cities that were exchanged as his temporary logistics transfer base. The characteristics of the city being easy to defend and difficult to attack made him feel very at ease about the safety of the city. As long as there is no perverted fire attack like Li Ming, it is unlikely to occupy the city smoothly. Therefore, after Li Ming left 10,000 logistics transportation troops and 3,000 heavy infantry in each city, he led the army into the hinterland of Zhongzhou.

Zhongzhou is Li Jiao's base. It has abundant resources and rich people, but it is flat, which is very suitable for the actions of cavalry and large troops. Due to the natural danger of the Third Ring City, the defense in the hinterland of Zhongzhou is very weak. Once the Third Ring City area is broken through, Li Ming will jump thousands of miles away like he entered a no-man's land and quickly rushed towards Mingyang City.

Along the way, Li Ming encountered only a very weak resistance. Li Jiao gathered all his troops to the Third Ring City area, Mingyang City area and Qianye City area. In other places, he only arranged a few defensive forces. Therefore, Li Ming urged the city to pull out the village all the way, and arrived at the Lianshan Mountains in just ten days.

The Lianshan Mountains spanned thousands of miles, crossed the entire Zhongzhou, and divided the land of Zhongzhou into two halves. At the highest point of Lianshan Mountain Road, Li Jiao stationed 10,000 elite soldiers and guarded the pass from a high place. If he wanted to break through there smoothly, it would be impossible without a hard battle.

It took Li Ming a whole day to pass Lianshan, which shows that Lianshan's road is long. Although the road in Lianshan is very wide, it is very dangerous to pass through more than 300,000 combat troops and 500,000 logistics troops. Once they are intercepted by the enemy, it will be a chaotic situation. Therefore, Li Ming stationed his troops in Lianshan Town and then sent a scout of about 1,000 people to the mountain to inquire about information.

After Li Jiao occupied Mingyang City, in order to prevent Li Song's 300,000 Mengyin border army from breaking through Mingyang City and threatening his Zhongzhou, he established a city pass on the top of Lianshan Mountain, dividing the Lianshan Mountains into two, firmly blocking this traffic route, and pedestrians passing by had to conduct strict searches. When Li Ming and Lin Long returned from Mingyang City to Biquan Island, they almost had a conflict with the soldiers guarding the pass in this place. During the long time they returned, Li Ming had been considering how to break through this new natural danger, but he had thought of many ways, but none of them could make him pass easily.

Two days later, the scout returned to the camp to report to Li Ming about the situation on the top of the mountain. Based on the scout's information, the plan in Li Ming's mind gradually took shape.
Chapter completed!