Chapter 905: Envoys from the Fengwu Army are in Cuman!

April 21, Chizhou City in Jiangnan
"Kill! For Lord Xu, brothers, come on!"

"Kill all these rebels in the city, and the Marquis will reward us handsomely!"

"Lord Xu has issued an order that the first person to enter Chizhou City will receive a bounty of 100 taels!"

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Amid the shouts and cries of killing, countless soldiers of the Zhennan Army, under the cover of their own artillery and arrows, carried ladders, pushed battering rams, battering rams and other siege equipment, and launched a fierce attack on the Chizhou City in front of them.

The Jiangnan soldiers in Chizhou City were not willing to be outdone. Relying on the city walls, they used firearms, bows and arrows, rolling stones, wooden sticks and other weapons to resolutely resist the attacks of the Zhennan Army.

Standing on the watchtower in the rear, Xu Zhaojie looked at the battle situation in front of him with a gloomy face. He calculated that the Fengwu Army was in financial difficulties and could not make ends meet. Ye Mingsheng was unable to fight on two fronts and asked the First Division of the Fengwu Army stationed in Kangyin to cross the river and attack Shouchun.

But he never expected that Lu Yun, whom he thought was a fake, was actually a wise and good general who had dragged the war in Chizhou City to this day.

More than a month ago, when the Fengwu Army captured Jinyang and began to clear out the enemy in Pingyang, Xu Zhaojie also launched a new round of attacks in Jiangnan.

The attack went smoothly at the beginning. Xu Zhaojie led the main force of the Zhennan Army to attack Lanxi County where Lu Yun was stationed. Lu Yun did not dare to fight the Zhennan Army in the field and could only retreat to the county town for safety.

Seeing that Xu Zhaojie led the main force out in full force and Chishan Prefecture was very empty, the Jiangnan Army general Gan Sheng, as Xu Zhaojie had expected, led his troops straight to Chishan Prefecture, hoping to take advantage of Xu Zhaojie's opportunity...
Gan Sheng's plan was very good. If they could recapture Chishan Prefecture, the Zhennan Army under Xu Zhaojie would become a rootless duckweed and would be completely surrounded and strangled by the Jiangnan Army.

However, Liang Wei, the general in charge of guarding the Zhennan Army, had already prepared to defend Chishan Prefecture like an iron barrel formation under the guidance of Xu Zhaojie. Gan Sheng led his troops to attack for three consecutive days but was unable to make any progress.

Just when Gan Sheng was planning to continue attacking Chishan Prefecture, Xu Zhaojie led his troops lightly armed and rushed all the way back to Chishan Prefecture from Lanxi County.

As a veteran of the Jiangnan Army, Gan Sheng had actually been guarding against a sudden attack from Xu Zhaojie, but the speed of Xu Zhaojie's troops' attack was too fast, and Gan Sheng was caught off guard.

In this battle, 7,000 of the 25,000 Jiangnan troops, including Gan Sheng himself, were killed, and another 8,000 were captured by the Zhennan Army. Only a few thousand deserters fled back to Chizhou City in disarray.

After achieving such a great victory, Xu Zhaojie was very proud and wanted to strike while the iron was hot to capture Chizhou in one fell swoop. Although Chizhou was a big city in Jiangnan with a permanent population of nearly 300,000, Xu Zhaojie valued its geographical location more.

Chizhou is only two hundred miles away from Lin’an, the capital of Jiangnan Province. As long as Xu Zhaojie captures Chizhou, he can directly threaten Lu Jianchao. Then he can try to negotiate with Lu Jianchao...
Although Xu Zhaojie wanted to take over Jiangnan in one go so that he would have the capital to continue fighting Ye Mingsheng, he was also very clear that Jiangnan, as a wealthy region in the Great Zhou economy, was too big for him to take over in one go.

Therefore, Xu Zhaojie was thinking of taking every step carefully. He would first conquer a piece of territory to force Lu Jianchao to negotiate with him, and then digest the fruits of victory and gradually erode Jiangnan.

Xu Zhaojie's calculations were very careful, but just as Gan Sheng did not expect Xu Zhaojie to rush over from Lanxi County, Xu Zhaojie did not expect Lu Yun to lead his troops to Chizhou and stabilize the situation in Chizhou.

Originally, because Gan Sheng died in the battle under Chishan Mansion, the Chizhou City he guarded was leaderless. Xu Zhaojie thought he could take over Chizhou City as easily as chopping monsters and cutting vegetables. However, with the appearance of Lu Yun, Chizhou City became a stinky and hard stone, blocking Xu Zhaojie's road to victory!

Although the combat effectiveness of the Zhennan Army is stronger than that of the Jiangnan Army, the two sides have equal strength and the Jiangnan Army is the one defending the city. It also obtained some firearms technology from the Fengwu Army. Therefore, although Xu Zhaojie tried his best to conquer Chizhou City, he is still blocked outside Chizhou City and cannot make any progress until today...

Seeing that the Fengwu Army had already captured Pingyang, Yang Chongqing, the Grand Marshal of the Army of the Luoan court, was forced to commit suicide to apologize, but he himself still saw no sign of victory.

Xu Zhaojie was very annoyed. He knew that the Luoan court was even weaker than he expected, and the Fengwu Army might completely eliminate the Luoan court in half a year at the earliest.

At that time, there will be no force that can restrain the Fengwu Army, and he will face hundreds of thousands of elite Tiger Guards under the command of his mortal enemy Ye Mingsheng!
Although the Zhennan Army under his command also had tens of thousands of armored soldiers occupying dozens of prefectures and counties, it was still dwarfed by the powerful Fengwu Army that occupied half of the Great Zhou!
Xu Zhaojie also knew that his only way was to annex Jiangnan, but now he couldn't even take down Chizhou, so how could he annex the entire Jiangnan?

Under Xu Zhaojie's gaze, the Zhennan Army that attacked Chizhou City was once again defeated by the Jiangnan Army. Seeing this, Xu Zhaojie's face became even gloomier.

Just when he was thinking about killing a few people to warn the whole army not to be afraid of death, Lieutenant General Hu Yunzhong walked over quickly and said:

"My Lord, Lu Jianchao has assembled another 30,000 Jiangnan troops in Lin'an, led by Jiangnan general Gao Cheng, and they are heading towards Chizhou!"

Upon hearing the news, Xu Zhaojie was shocked and realized that one of the things he was most worried about had finally happened!
Lu Yun's persistence in Chizhou bought Lu Jianchao some buffer time, allowing Lu Jianchao to recover. Now he has begun to mobilize the entire Jiangnan resources to encircle and suppress him!

Although Xu Zhaojie felt very aggrieved at the thought, he could do nothing about it. He knew that his best opportunity had passed, and what was past was past. If he continued to attack Chizhou now, things would become more counterproductive!

After a half-cup of silence, Xu Zhaojie exhaled a breath of foul air and ordered in a low voice to the people around him:
“Pass the order down, the entire army will withdraw to Chishan Prefecture…”

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In the eastern district of the capital of the Golden Horde, there is a remote mansion. Dozens of fully armed Golden Horde soldiers have placed the manor under strict martial law, and no one can enter or leave the yard without the permission of their leader.

Even some curious Kipchaks who wanted to approach the courtyard were immediately driven away by the cruel soldiers guarding it. The strict blockade of the courtyard also made the surrounding residents believe that the courtyard was locked up with Kipchak nobles who had lost their power due to the new Khan.

However, at this time in the yard, a Zhou man in his thirties was leisurely practicing Tai Chi, and behind him a Qincha maid came over and said:

"Master Sun, your lunch is ready!"

Sun Changxu was a little surprised to hear this, and couldn't help but look at the Qincha maid behind him. He had lived here for more than a month, and he had tried many times to talk to the guards and maids here to find out some information, but none of these guards and maids paid any attention to him.
If he was not allowed to leave the yard and if they delivered him three meals a day and some daily necessities every day, Sun Changxu would even doubt whether he existed in their eyes.

And today, the maid actually took the initiative to talk to him, which made Sun Changxu wonder if there was any major change in the situation...

As if she had seen through Sun Changxu's doubts, the Qipchak maid spoke again:
"Sir Sun, you have one stick of incense to eat. The Khan will see you in half an hour!"

After saying this, the Qipchaq maid bowed slightly to Sun Changxu and then turned and left. Looking at the maid's back, Sun Changxu was undoubtedly very excited.

As an envoy of the Fengwu Army, he was ordered to represent the Fengwu Army to visit the Golden Horde and deliver the Marshal's letter to the Golden Horde Khan Esdogan. However, he did not expect that when he crossed the grassland and the desert and arrived at the capital of the Golden Horde, Lesa, he was immediately detained by the Golden Horde people.

Although the Cumans abided by the principle of not killing envoys when two countries are at war and did not harm him, they took the letter from the Marshal to Eskil from Sun Changxu directly and locked Sun Changxu in the yard, not allowing Sun Changxu to have any communication or contact with anyone, including his subordinates.

Although Sun Changxu was very angry about this and thought that these Cumans were uncivilized barbarians, he was powerless after all as they were under someone else's roof!
Although he was locked up in this courtyard during this period, unable to contact the outside world and unable to complete the tasks assigned by the Marshal, Sun Changxu knew that it was useless to be anxious. Although Esidogan was unwilling to see him now, as long as the situation changed, Sun Changxu believed that Esidogan would summon him...
And now it has undoubtedly been proved that Sun Changxu's idea is correct!

It only took Sun Changxu a cup of tea to finish his lunch with a piece of Hu pancake and mutton soup.

During the time he was locked up in the courtyard, although the Cumans did not abuse Sun Changxu, he was only given enough food to eat, such as mutton soup and Hu Bing.

But for more than a month, Sun Changxu had to eat either mutton soup or barbecued meat Hu pancakes every day. His mouth was blistered and he was very irritated. Sometimes he even had trouble going to the toilet. Now Sun Changxu only wanted to go to Yijing's restaurant to have a good meal after completing this task to comfort his stomach.

After quickly finishing his lunch, Sun Changxu began to dress up, wash his hair, shave, etc.

As an envoy sent by the Fengwu Army to the Golden Horde, Sun Changxu knew that he was not just representing himself, but also the face of the Fengwu Army, so he had to meet Asdogan in the best condition.

It took Sun Changxu half an hour to finish his preparations. He put on his robe, picked up his scepter, and followed the guards into the Cuman Palace.

Walking into a magnificent palace, Sun Changxu discovered that in addition to the guards, there were three other people waiting for him...

The three people were a middle-aged man and two white-haired old men. The middle-aged man sat on the throne in the middle, while the two old men stood on the left and right of the middle-aged man. Although it was the first time I saw these three people, but combined with the Cuman intelligence collected by the Coordination Office before, as well as some portraits of Cuman dignitaries.

Sun Changxu immediately recognized that the middle-aged man was the recently ascended Golden Horde Khan Eshidoyan, and the two white-haired old men were the great nobles of the Golden Horde, Asu and Bahat!

Feeling the look of Asdogan looking down at him, Sun Changxu leaned forward slightly and touched his chest and said:
"The Fengwu Army envoy Sun Changxu meets with the Khan of Asdoan!"

Seeing that Sun Changxu did not kneel to him, Asdoan narrowed his eyes slightly. The nobleman Bahat beside him also understood his thoughts and immediately stepped forward and scolded him:
"You are such a bold envoy, how dare you not kneel before my Khan!"

Sun Changxu was not surprised that these Kipchaks wanted to intimidate him and said with a smile:

“The foreign policy of our Fengwu Army has always been based on the principle of mutual respect. We, the Fengwu Army, also treated your envoy with respect and courtesy, and did not ask your envoy to kneel…”

"Now, Great Khan, you want me to kneel down before you. This is unreasonable! If you insist on forcing me, I still have two strong bones. I will bleed in your palace!"

As soon as these words came out, Esiduoan's expression suddenly froze. Just when Bahat was about to ask someone to force Sun Changxu to kneel down, Sun Changxu changed the subject and said:
"But then again, I, Sun, am just an insignificant little figure in the Fengwu Army. If the Khan asked me to kneel under normal circumstances, I would kneel. Kneeling to a hero like you, the Khan, is not a humiliation to me!"

"Great Khan, how about this, when I, Sun, am no longer an envoy, I will see you and you kneel down to me a hundred times?"

Hearing what Sun Changxu said, Asdogan's originally serious expression also eased by three points. He looked at Sun Changxu deeply and said in a deep voice:
"Your Marshal Ye really sent a sharp-tongued guy here..."

Hearing this, Sun Changxu smiled and leaned over to Esidoan and saluted. He knew that he had barely passed this level, but the next levels were still waiting for him!
(End of this chapter)