Zhu Qidiao finally began the journey of unifying the world, and his first goal was Xiangyang, an important city in Huguang.

There is no doubt about the importance of Xiangyang. Whether it is from the Central Plains to unify the south, from Huguang to the Central Plains, or from west to Bashu, Xiangyang is a must-fight place.

This is just about the situation of unifying the world. Xiangyang has more important significance for Zhuqizi.

Because Xiangyang is on the edge of the Nanyang Basin, if Xiangyang is not taken down, the entire southern part of the Nanyang Basin is equal to an open hole, which is directly exposed to the enemy. In order to defend against the enemy in Xiangyang, Yunyang, Dengzhou, Xinye, Tangxian, Biyang, Tongbai and other places all need to station troops. This line of defense alone has dragged down nearly 100,000 troops under his command.

Therefore, Xiangyang must be taken first, so that Yunyang, Dengzhou, Xinye, Tangxian and other places will no longer need to send people to garrison, and he will be able to mobilize more people to conquer the world.

Zhang Xianzhong naturally would not take it as an important place in Xiangyang, especially after the last attack on Nanyang, he paid much attention to Xiangyang's defense.

Because those guys in Nanyang are so terrible, if those guys are asked to take Xiangyang away, Jingzhou Prefecture, Chengtian Prefecture, and even Wuchang Prefecture will be in danger.

For this purpose, he specially sent his generals, Ma Yuanli, the governor of the Left Army, to garrison in Xiangyang City with a rate of 50,000 troops. He also arranged 10,000 troops to guard Gucheng and Zaoyang in the north of Xiangyang.

Moreover, in order to prevent someone from stealing the city, he also issued a death order. No matter what the reason, no matter what excuses, no matter who is, he will not lead his army into Xiangyang City. Even if his own people hold his order, it will not work unless he personally arrives.

In this way, sneak attacks will definitely not work. Even if you can arrange dozens or even hundreds of masters to enter the city through various means, it will be useless. There are 50,000 troops in the city. If you are a hundred masters, you can never imagine that you can open the city gate under the beating of so many people.

In other words, if you want to take down Xiangyang City, you can only attack hard!

Fortunately, although Zhang Xianzhong was closely guarded, he knew nothing about the situation in Nanyang and Yunyang, because the spies he sent could basically not enter Nanyang or Yunyang. Even if he was lucky enough to enter, he would not be able to bring the news out.

Especially during this period, Nanyang Prefecture and Yunyang Prefecture have been blocked. Whether it is a businessman or a merchandiser, they are only allowed to enter but not leave. It is even more impossible for Zhang Xianzhong to know the situation in Nanyang or Yunyang.

Zhu Qidiao arranged a secret guard next to Zhang Xianzhong in advance, and he was very familiar with the situation in Xiangyang.

As the saying goes, knowing yourself and your enemy will never be defeated. In terms of intelligence alone, Zhang Xianzhong is at an absolute disadvantage.

Of course, it is not enough to have an advantage in intelligence alone. The most important thing is how to transform the advantages in intelligence into strategic and tactical advantages.

In fact, Zhu Qizhuo is about the same force as Zhang Xianzhong at this moment, both of which are about 400,000 or 500,000. If Zhang Xianzhong is head-on, he will certainly not be able to fight. If it is a decisive battle between the drums in front of the face, Zhu Qizhuo will not have to spend much to beat Zhang Xianzhong to make him urinate.

The problem is that Zhu Qizhu is now attacking Zhang Xianzhong's territory, that is, he defends the city. If he goes to attack the city without any strategy and tactics, he will do whatever he wants with his scalp and make a mess, the losses will be immeasurable.

Moreover, he would not finish his work after he beat Zhang Xianzhong. There were Li Zicheng, Jiannu, and even Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng who were not eyed. If he had to do anything, millions of people would probably not be enough to play.

Therefore, Zhu Qizhuo was quite concerned about this first stop to dominate the world. Not only did he block the news with all his might, Zhang Xianzhong was unable to understand the truth, but he also assembled an army of 200,000 to capture Xiangyang with lightning speed and control the entire Nanyang Basin in one fell swoop.

To be honest, Zhang Xianzhong was really not prepared at this moment because it was extremely difficult to investigate the news from Nanyang and Yunyang. He gave up after trying many times. He really knew nothing about what happened in Nanyang and Yunyang. As for the 200,000 troops under the Crazy King gathered in Xinye, he had not received any news.

He thought that with the Left Army Governor Ma Yuan, interest-rate to defend 50,000 people, and 20,000 people from Gucheng and Zaoyang to support it, it would be no problem to defend Xiangyang City for several months, and a few months would be enough for him to mobilize the army to support him.

Is this really the case?

I can only say that he underestimates the Crazy King Zhu Qi too much!

With Zhu Qizhe's order, the two legions of imperial guards galloped all the way and headed straight for Xiangyang. The Qi family army and the imperial guards also drove with all their might and headed straight for Gucheng and Zaoyang. Pingdong Army, Pingxi Army, Pingnan Army, Pingbei Army, Annan Army and Anbei Army also followed closely behind, heading towards Xiangyang, Gucheng and Zaoyang at full speed, while the 100,000 Southwest Army followed in three groups, preparing to take over the cities.

Xiangyang, Gucheng and Zaoyang are exactly a triangle, about two hundred miles away from Xiangyang. With the pure chariots and soldiers on the way, they arrived in Xiangyang, Gucheng and Zaoyang in one day.

Although the mobility of the Pingdong Army, Pingxi Army, Pingnan Army, Pingbei Army, Annan Army and Anbei Army is a little poor, it does not take two days to get from Xinye to Xiangyang, Gucheng and Zaoyang.

As for the Southwest Army, it was just going to take over the city anyway, and it would not be a problem to run around a hundred miles a day without having to carry food and supplies.

As a result, Ma Yuanli, the governor of the Left Army in Xiangyang City, was confused. The scout at the junction of Xiangyang and Nanyang had just arrived at the Mad King's army to report and found that the Crazy King's army was heading south. That night, the 20,000 Crazy King's army rushed to the outside of Xiangyang City with dense chariots and surrounded Xiangyang City.

The hungry thief, 20,000 people dared to surround Xiangyang, a major city where 50,000 people were stationed. Do you think it would be great if you have too many chariots?

Ma Yuanli had not yet decided whether to concentrate his troops out of the city to teach the Crazy King a lesson. The next afternoon, another 20,000 people rushed to the chariot.

Forty thousand to fifty thousand, there were still many chariots in his arms, so he didn't dare to go out of the city to teach others a lesson. Of course, at this time he never thought that Xiangyang City would be broken by others. After all, Xiangyang City is a huge city with only a few people in the world, and he doesn't have many people yet. It is impossible to break the city.

However, the next morning, when he climbed the city wall again, he felt a little panicked because the enemy had nearly 100,000 more troops overnight, and Xiangyang City was surrounded by enemy camp tents, and he couldn't even see a gap!

The troops under the Crazy King are moving too fast, right?

In fact, he is still slow. Gucheng and Zaoyang have been conquered now!

The Qi family army and the Imperial Guards were not as polite as the Imperial Guards. They had just arrived in Gucheng and Zaoyang for a night to repair. The next morning, they set up cannons and tiger squat cannons and bombarded Gucheng and Zaoyang.

When they knocked the people on the city walls so hard that they didn't dare to show their heads, the city gates were red and opened several times. Pingdong Army, Pingxi Army, Pingnan Army, and Pingbei Army arrived immediately. Both county towns were swarmed in by 30,000 people, and they were conquered without holding on for a day.

After conquering Gucheng and Zaoyang, the Qi family army and the Imperial Guards conquered Gucheng and Zaoyang, they drove their chariots to the main road leading to Xiangyang from Jingzhou and the main road leading to Suizhou from Xiangyang, and ambushed at the dangerous places.

The Pingdong Army, Pingxi Army, and Pingnan Army and the Pingbei Army handed over Gucheng and Zaoyang to the Southwest Army that followed, and then drove their chariots to Xiangyang.
Chapter completed!