Chapter 571: Defeat

Just as Lu Fang was talking to himself in the study, two soft knocks came from outside, and then he heard a man's voice: "Lord, there is military intelligence over Jiangxi!"

"Is it Mr. Chen?" Lu Fang heard that it was Chen Yun's voice. He looked at the leak beside him. It was already the first time to update. There were few entertainment activities in ancient times. It was already time to go to bed. At this time, Chen Yun still came to disturb him. Could it be that something bad was wrong? A trace of ominous sign flashed in Lu Fang's heart. He suppressed his emotions and said in a deep voice: "Come in and talk!"

With a creaking sound, the door was pushed open. Chen Yun came in. He saw his face gloomy. He walked quickly to Lu Fang, presented a letter with both hands, and whispered: "Reinforcements from Guangling, Huainan, arrived. The battle of Ivory Pond defeated Wei Quanshu, Wei Quanshu himself and more than 5,000 fang soldiers were all captured!"

"What?" Lu Fang couldn't help but be surprised. He quickly opened the letter and looked carefully, and asked anxiously: "Is the news accurate? Wei Quanshu, I was indeed a prisoner of the Huainan Army?"

Chen Yun's face was also cloudy, and he was obviously in a very bad mood: "I'm afraid it's true. The letter said that Wei Zai had already sent part of his family's small baggage to Raozhou. It can be seen that the situation is critical. He was Wei Quan's brother, and he also participated in the battle of Ivory Pond in person. The news should be true."

At this time, Lu Fang was extremely upset. After reading half of the letter, he could no longer read it. He threw the letter aside and sighed, "How could this happen? How could this happen? Wei Quan sarcastically claimed to be a 100,000 army. Even if he was in half, there were 50,000 people. He had been in the Ivory Pond for more than a month. For such a long time, the barriers and trenches must have been almost repaired. Even if the battle was not good, there were still some people who could refuse to defend it. How could he be defeated like this? Even if he was defeated, he would still run away? How could he get himself in? It's such a fool, a fool!" In the end, Lu Fang was anxious and even said the catchphrase of his previous life.

"Lord, I read the letter that the reinforcements of the Huainan army did not go to Hongzhou, but rushed directly to the front line of Ivory Pond. As a result, the Wei Gong did not know that the enemy had reinforcements. Then the Huainan army pretended to be in disguise and asked some old and weak to withdraw their troops. As a result, the Wei Gong thought that the Huainan army was retreating, so he personally led the pursuit of the troops, trying to capture them all in one place so as not to spend more effort to attack Hongzhou City. However, he did not expect that the enemy generals lurked in the camp. When the coalition forces crossed the river, they led their troops to attack fiercely. The coalition forces were defeated, and the troops all abandoned their armor and fed with food and fodder. Because the Fuzhou soldiers of the Wei Gong were at the front, the retreat route was blocked by the collapsed soldiers, so..." At this point, Chen Yun closed his mouth. He did not say what he meant later, and Lu Fang could also know.

Lu Fang sighed, picked up the letter again, read it carefully, and after a long time, he threw the letter aside, and sighed: "If you do a big thing, cherish your life, and forget your life when you see small profits. It is indeed a tiger-skinned sheep. I just satirized the danger and didn't like Jiangxi, but I didn't expect that he lost so badly, and even lost his life. Some family still hoped that he would restrain the Huainan army for me. I was really blind!"

Seeing Lu Fang's depressed look, Chen Yun quickly comforted him: "Actually, the lord is still visionary. He wanted to join our army before, didn't the lord refuse sternly? Since this is the case, will the plan to guide Jiangdong still be implemented?"

Lu Fang stood up, paced back and forth in the study, muttering to himself, and couldn't hear clearly what he was saying. Chen Yun stood aside, not even daring to make a sound, for fear of interfering with Lu Fang's plan. After a long time, Lu Fang sat back on Hu's bed and said coldly: "If you fight, you still have to fight, just send a side teacher to Jiangxi. You can't let Huainan get out of it so easily. Come on, take the map first."

Chen Yun responded. He was very familiar with the decorations in Lu Fang's bookstore. He found the map and spread it on Hu's bed. The two of them squatted on the ground to plan. Lu Fang looked for a while and sighed: "It's probably six or seven days since the Battle of Ivory Pond. Wei Quan was captured again. Fuzhou was too late. Fuzhou was gone, and Yuanzhou and Jizhou could not survive alone. Now he can only count on Wei Zaichang. Chen Zhanshu, you can write two books for me, one for Zhou Anguo, Raozhou, Niu Zhi

For their sake, they immediately sent two thousand soldiers to Xinzhou to support Weizaichang and defend the city. Another letter was handed over to Weizaichang himself, telling him that I, Lu Fang, did not have the idea of ​​fighting against his territory. If he was willing to stay and Shuxinzhou City, this Xinzhou City was his. The reinforcements I sent must obey his orders. If he was unwilling to defend, he could lead his family's wealth to the Zhenhai Army. He just needed to hand over the city to my generals. These two letters were sent to Raozhou with carrier pigeons, as soon as possible!"

Chen Yun spread paper and grind ink. He listened to Lu Fang's words and wrote Lu Fang's orders into an article without adding a little pen. After Lu Fang saw it, he immediately folded it and handed it to his subordinates waiting outside to send it away overnight with a carrier pigeon. After Chen Yun finished all this, he returned to Lu Fang's study and saw Lu Fang sitting on Hu's bed, staring at several feet in front of him. Obviously, he was thinking about something difficult to resolve. Chen Yun was afraid of disturbing him and was about to retreat aside, but he heard Lu Fang suddenly ask: "Do you know who the chief reinforcements of the Huainan army are?"

Chen Yun was stunned and thought for a moment and replied: "It should be Zhou Ben. A few days ago, Governor Zhou of Raozhou Navy said in military information that a large group of Huainan Navy ships passed by on Poyang Lake. He led the fleet to monitor it. The leader of the army gave it to him with money and silk. It was Zhou Ben. Judging from time, it should be Huainan reinforcements from Guangling."

Lu Fang nodded: "If it were him, it would be troublesome. Niu Zhijie may not be able to deal with him. Chen Zhanshu, you can ask Chen Zhang to lead three thousand soldiers and appoint him as the commander of the Southwest Camp. Control the military of the states and set off at dawn!"

"Yes!" Chen Yun responded, but did not leave immediately. Seeing whether Lu Fang had any other orders, after a while, he saw Lu Fang sitting alone on Hu's bed, and then turned around and left.

Xinzhou, that is, today's Shangrao, borders Quzhou, Raozhou, Jianzhou and Fuzhou, controls Liangzhe and Fujian, and exits the important places in Jiangxi. After Lu Fang controlled Raozhou, its northwest, east and northeast sides were controlled by Lu Fang or Lu Fang's allies. Only on the southwest side was a narrow corridor connected to Wei Quansha Fuzhou. Perhaps because Huainan was too powerful, Lu Fang did not show this small prefecture and county surrounded by itself on three sides.

Not only that, the number of troops deployed in Raozhou and Quzhou was very limited. Wei Zaichang was also very clear about this obvious kindness. He immediately returned the criminals and rebels who fled from the Liangzhe River to Zhenhai Army after he captured them, and trade and trade were very frequent. Therefore, in the years after Zhong Chuan's death, although the wars and chaos in other parts of Jiangxi were in chaos, Xinzhou could still maintain a rough and peaceful situation, which was very rare in the chaotic times of the late Tang and Five Dynasties.

But this peaceful scene had been broken, and the entire Xinzhou city was shrouded in a panic and horrifying atmosphere. The whole city was like a huge honeycomb. The frightened people made unconscious shouts, packed up the little pitiful house, took their wife and children, and rushed towards the city gate, wanting to leave here as soon as possible, as if a disaster would come sooner.

In the open space in front of the governor's mansion, dozens of large chariots were parked in the open space. The servants and soldiers were constantly transporting various boxes, cages and packing them on the car. The whole scene of escape was like a fleeing. On the veranda on both sides, women were crying quietly, looking at everything in front of them with panic eyes. These canaries growing in golden cages never expected that the situation of escaping from the family would fall on themselves. Since the Huang Chao Rebellion, Jiangxi has not encountered any major military disasters. Compared to the tragic phenomenon of changing children to the ground, the battle between the rich people in Jiangxi was like a playhouse for children. Many women here imagined the tragic war through the conversations of their elders. When all this suddenly came to them, many people could not accept it at all.

In the hall, more than ten maids and servants were busy packing large amounts of gold and silver utensils and jewelry and garments into boxes and bandaging them neatly. While urging back and forth, Wei Zaichang ordered his personal soldiers to move the packed boxes immediately to load them. A lady in a gorgeous dress stood aside, her face was anxious and sad. Suddenly, he saw a set of gold and silver utensils coming out of the back hall. Because of the irregular shape and too large, it was difficult to pack them. Wei Zaichang simply ordered his subordinates to flatten them and pack them. The woman quickly stepped forward and stopped them, turned around and grabbed Wei Zaichang's right hand and begged: "Mr. Lang, this is a treasure in the palace. How can we destroy it like this? Besides, do we really need to be so anxious? Nearly a thousand people from the Wei family have accumulated more than 30 years in Xinzhou. How can we move them all in a few days? Why don't you take it slowly!"

"Madam, how can I go? When the Huainan thieves come, they can't leave. No matter how many things are, they are all theirs!" Wei Zaichang was both angry and funny by his wife's words. He ordered the slave who was standing aside and didn't know what to do: "Don't leave her, just smash it and pack it. If there is a large item that cannot be taken away, then stay in the mansion. After leaving, let the people enter and grab it."

The slave of the family received the clear order from his master and immediately placed the big gold plate on the ground, smashed it with an iron hammer, and stuffed the pieces into the box. Mrs. Wei looked at it, and her heart was like a knife. She couldn't help but say what she thought: "Mr. Langjun, the Wei family has been working hard here for so many years to have such a foundation. If we lose our foundation and escape to Liangzhe, wouldn't we be at the mercy of others? It would be better to stay and defend the city. If it really doesn't work, surrender to the Huainan army. At most, we can get some wealth. The Tianmu family is not ours, that is the foundation of our family!"

Wei Zaichang sighed and smiled bitterly: "If I had been in the battle at Ivory Pond, I would have thought so before that battle, but after that battle, I realized that our brothers had been watching the sky over the years. With our little soldiers, the Huainan Army could even kill us. At that time, the Huainan Army would not have just taken some money and left, but I was afraid that they would uproot all of our families and migrate to Huainan, and then they would regret it."

After hearing what her husband said, Mrs. Wei suddenly lost her mind and threw herself to the ground and cried: "How could this happen? God, I can't even have someone to live a peaceful life. How can I live?" Seeing this, Wei Zaichang had to instruct two maids to help his wife to rest in the backyard, and then turned around and continued to urge his men to move quickly.
Chapter completed!