Chapter 704: Defeat is inevitable, but force yourself to smile!
At 1:00 p.m., Murong Qingwu walked out of the room slowly with a calm expression, and then smiled at Pei Zhixiu who stood up to see her off and said:

“Sister Pei, please stay! I’ll visit you another day…”

After saying this, Murong Qingwu bowed to Pei Zhixiu and turned to leave with the maids. Pei Zhixiu watched them for a moment with a complicated expression and then returned to the room. At this time, a hidden gaze was still quietly watching Murong Qingwu leaving.

At 11 p.m. at night, just when An Miaoyi had coaxed little Jingren to go to bed, Qiqige walked into the room and handed a small note to An Miaoyi. After opening the note and taking a closer look, although her expression did not change, a hint of solemnity emerged in her watery eyes.

Seeing that An Miaoyi didn't say anything, Qiqige couldn't help but say:
"I knew that Murong Qingwu's sleepiness during this period was not a normal thing. She almost fell asleep at the old lady's place a few days ago. As expected, she went to see Pei Zhixiu again. She must be pregnant with a bastard now!"

Listening to Qiqige's indignant words, An Miaoyi did not say anything but asked:
"Did Madam Zeng send the message?"

"No! She sent it!" Qiqige explained:
An Miaoyi nodded slightly when she heard this. Seeing this, Qiqige said with some pride:
“Even though this bitch is as cunning as a devil, she still wanted to drink Madam’s foot washing water. She would never have thought that Madam you deliberately let her discover Madam Zeng. This slut is really just as Madam expected, pretending to know nothing, but she doesn’t know that Madam you have arranged a chess piece next to her…”

After saying this, seeing that An Miaoyi had not made a decision, Qiqige could not help but dissuade her anxiously:
"Madam, as the old saying goes, if you don't make a decision, you will suffer the consequences! Although the Lord loves Master Jingren, he has never decided on a status early on. I'm afraid he is waiting for that bitch Murong Qingwu to get pregnant!"

"The Murong family now has only one governor and one censor in our Fengwu Army. The whole family is very proud and prosperous. If Murong Qingwu really gets pregnant with a son, I'm afraid there will be endless troubles!"

Listening to Qiqige's words, An Miaoyi didn't say anything but her brows were furrowed. It was obvious that Qiqige's words touched her heart!

After pondering for a while, An Miaoyi asked again:
"What else did she hear besides this?"

Qiqige shook her head without hesitation and said:

"Bae Ji-soo is too dangerous. If I get too close to eavesdrop on the conversation, she'll definitely find out!"

An Miaoyi nodded slightly. Seeing that An Miaoyi still didn't express her opinion and looked very worried, Qiqige was undoubtedly more anxious to persuade her:

"Madam doesn't have much time to think about it. If we wait until Murong Qingwu announces her pregnancy, it will be even more difficult to take action against her!"

An Miaoyi, who looked serious, was obviously somewhat moved by Qiqige's advice, but in the end her reason prevailed and she said to Qiqige:
"Let me think about this matter carefully!"

"lady··············"

Seeing that Qiqige wanted to say something, An Miaoyi interrupted her and said seriously:

"Qiqige, you are not allowed to do anything without my order!"

After hearing these words, Qiqige felt the severity in An Miaoyi's words, and although she was unwilling to do so, she said:

"Yes!"

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Jiyu, Shenzhou City
In Xu Zhaojie's temporary residence, Gao Song, who had broken out of Shangzhou, was like a victorious general. He stood with his hands on his waist and said proudly:
"That Yuan guy is the most powerful general in the Fengwu Army! In front of our Lord, he is just a turtle bastard hiding in his shell!"

"It's only because the Fengwu Army's artillery is so powerful that they keep firing day and night as if they don't need any money. Otherwise, I would have killed that bitch-raised bastard with my own hands and presented his head to our Marquis. Killing Yuan Song is like cutting off Ye Mingsheng's arm, and Ye Mingsheng would definitely cry like a chicken or a bird, hahaha!"

When Gao Song got excited, his face flushed and he laughed, as if he was not just talking nonsense, but had really killed Yuan Song.

During his time in Shangzhou, he was bombarded by the Fengwu Army’s artillery every day. It seemed that the Fengwu Army’s artillery shells would never run out. Even if they couldn’t hit him at night, the Fengwu Army would still fire a few shells at him to make him sleep poorly. In such an environment, Gao Song really thought he was going to die in Shangzhou...
Therefore, although Gao Song was defeated in Shangzhou this time, he was still very excited to be able to come back alive. Just when Gao Song was about to continue talking, Xu Zhaojie walked into the room with his men. Gao Song, who was still talking big a second ago, now shrank into the crowd with his head down, like a mouse seeing a cat.

Xu Zhaojie ignored Gao Song. After accepting his subordinates' greetings, he looked around at his generals in the room and said calmly:

"Two hours ago, the enemy camp raised the flag with the word Ye on it!" As soon as these words were spoken, all the generals of the Zhennan Army in the room were stunned. The next second, everyone's expressions became serious. They were all people who led troops to fight, and they knew very well that this meant that the rumored Fengwu Army commander Ye Mingsheng had arrived at the front line in Shangzhou.

Although everyone knew that Ye Mingsheng would personally lead troops to provide assistance, no one expected that Ye Mingsheng would come so soon!
Looking at the solemn expressions of the generals, Xu Zhaojie continued:

"Ye Mingsheng didn't come alone. He also brought his personal guard battalion and the 9th Division of the Fengwu Army, a total of more than 20,000 people. Therefore, the total number of Fengwu Army outside Shenzhou has now exceeded 50,000. You can tell me what you think!"

In response to Xu Zhaojie's question, including Gao Song who had just boasted that Ye Mingsheng should cry like chickens and birds howl, everyone looked at their noses, then looked at their mouths, then looked at their hearts. No one spoke first. They were all smart people. Xu Zhaojie did not really want to defend Shenzhou to the death. He had already left a way out and sent 10,000 soldiers to Chengfeng County. Now the only question of how long Shenzhou City could be defended...
Although everyone said that the Marquis was wise and brave, and that he was a master at using troops, and that Yuan Song was a coward, everyone knew very well that under Yuan Song's policy of using artillery to clear the way and advance steadily, Xu Zhaojie's command ability could not play a decisive role. Under the thousands of artillery shells of the Fengwu Army, the city of Shenzhou was doomed to be lost!
Seeing that all the generals had fallen into silence, Xu Zhaojie also realized that they did not have much confidence in the next defense of the city, and he could not help but feel a little angry. However, just when he was about to lose his temper and encourage the generals, a messenger rushed into the room very rashly. Seeing this, Xu Zhaojie was about to curse, but before she could open her mouth, the messenger said to Xu Zhaojie in a panic:
"Governor, this is a letter from General Anqing!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xu Zhaojie immediately had a bad premonition. At this moment, he did not bother to scold the messenger, but took the letter and read it carefully.

After reading only one-third of the content of the letter, Xu Zhaojie felt dizzy and furious. Just when he was about to explode, he felt that all the generals in the room were secretly looking at him. Realizing this, Xu Zhaojie calmed down again. After thinking for a moment, he forced a smile on his face, raised the letter in his hand, laughed and said:

"Songhe wrote to me, saying that they defeated the Fourth Army of the Fengwu Army that invaded Anqing, and all these rabble have been driven out of Anqing..."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the generals became excited and flattered Xu Zhaojie one after another. Even a few smart ones saw some clues from the change in Xu Zhaojie's expression and pretended to know nothing and joined in flattering Xu Zhaojie.

Xu Zhaojie convened this meeting originally to arrange the next combat deployment, but he was in no mood to do so at the moment. His mind was full of the letter that he had not finished reading, so he ended the meeting hastily. After everyone left the room, he continued to look at the letter sent to him by Wang Songhe with pain and regret.

The letter was written by Wang Songhe from Anqing City to Xu Zhaojie three days ago. There are many words in the letter, but to sum up the main meaning is:
Zhao Daqi, a general of the Zhennan Army who was sent to support Anqing, ignored the dissuasion of his elder brother Wang Songhe and insisted on leading his troops out of the city to pursue the Fengwu Army when the Fengwu Army was frustrated in its siege in order to win credit. As a result, he fell into the trap of the Fengwu Army. Not only did Zhao Daqi himself die tragically on the spot, but most of the 30,000 Zhennan Army who came with him were killed or wounded, and thousands of them were captured by the Fengwu Army.

After this battle, the defense force in Anqing City was greatly reduced, while the Fengwu Army attacking the city received a batch of artillery reinforcements, and its firepower almost doubled. As a result, the situation in Anqing City became increasingly critical, so Wang Songhe asked Xu Zhaojie to return to Anqing for assistance, otherwise Anqing would most likely be captured by the Fengwu Army.

Xu Zhaojie was furious when he saw the news. He never thought that before he had the chance to compete with Ye Mingsheng, his old nest was dug out by the Fengwu Army...

Don't worry, Xu Zhaojie roared in anger:
"Zhao Daqi, Zhao Daqi, you bastard are ruining my business!"

Although he was extremely angry, Xu Zhaojie knew that he had to remain calm at this time. Otherwise, not only would Anqing be lost, but he himself might even die tragically at the hands of the Fengwu Army.

After taking a few deep breaths, Xu Zhaojie forced himself to calm down the anger in his heart. His mind also regained its rationality and he began to reinterpret the current situation.

With the appearance of Ye Mingsheng, the strength of the Fengwu Army on the Hebei-Henan front also increased. At this time, there were at least 50,000 Fengwu Army soldiers around Shenzhou, and this time Ye Mingsheng also brought his personal guard battalion. This force can be said to be the elite of the Fengwu Army's elite. Although it has only 3,000 people, its combat effectiveness is very strong, and one thousand of the 3,000 people are cavalry. Therefore, with the addition of these people, the Fengwu Army in front of them can gather a cavalry unit of two to three thousand people.

Although their number is not large, due to their high mobility, it will be very troublesome if we are entangled by them once we withdraw from Shenzhou!

Yes! At this time, Xu Zhaojie had begun to consider giving up Shenzhou City. Although he had never thought of defending Shenzhou City to the death, for the sake of the overall situation, before receiving Wang Songhe's letter, Xu Zhaojie planned to defend Shenzhou for ten days or half a month before withdrawing, even if he could not hold it. This would at least buy some time for Shangguan Hongyuan!
However, after receiving Wang Songhe's letter, Xu Zhaojie realized that he was in danger and could not care about Shangguan Hongyuan. As the saying goes, it is better to die than to die for a friend, so the most important thing at this moment is to save his own life...

According to Wang Songhe's letter, there were 100,000 Fengwu troops under Anqing City. Xu Zhaojie did not believe this number. He knew that Wang Songhe was exaggerating. On the one hand, he wanted to ask for help from him, and on the other hand, it was also paving the way for him to abandon the city and flee. It was not that Wang Songhe did not fight hard, but that there were too many enemy troops and Anqing City could not be defended at all!

Although he did not believe that the Fengwu Army that attacked Anqing had 100,000 troops, Xu Zhaojie did a simple calculation and found that the Fengwu Army had gathered 35,000 Qi troops to form the Fourth Army. Together with the Eighth Division of the Fengwu Army, there should be 50,000 to 60,000 Fengwu Army troops under the city of Anqing at this time.

After Zhao Daqi suffered a great defeat, the defenders in Anqing City were less than 10,000. Currently, Wang Songhe has recruited young and strong men in the city to defend the city together, but these young and strong men alone cannot stop the Fengwu Army!

Thinking of this, Xu Zhaojie closed his eyes in pain. He knew that Anqing, the place where he started his career, would most likely be taken away by the Fengwu Army this time!
After taking Huainan, Xu Zhaojie relied on Huainan's superior economic foundation to expand the army by tens of thousands, bringing the total number of Zhennan Army to more than 100,000. At the same time, his troops reached a new peak. This was also the reason why Xu Zhaojie dared to go north and compete with Ye Mingsheng.

However, among Xu Zhaojie’s more than 100,000 soldiers, more than half were newly recruited soldiers. Xu Zhaojie, who was full of lofty ambitions, went north this time and brought all his elite troops, basically all the old troops that started in Anqing. This was to support Shangguan Hongyuan while Ye Mingsheng and Shangguan Hongyuan were fighting each other, so he could reap the benefits...

(End of this chapter)