Li Yu turned his horse around and left. Since Wang Shichong could not be destroyed, he would change someone. Yu Wenzhi and Qu Tutong were both candidates. Among these two people, Yu Wenzhi had the most soldiers and horses, but he was also the most incompetent one. Qu Tutong was a veteran. He might not have many soldiers and horses, but he had elite soldiers from Hedong with strong combat effectiveness under his command. Li Yu still did not have much confidence in dealing with such a person.
"Where is the general going next?" Xie Yingdeng couldn't help but ask.
"Go to Nanyang County and defeat Yu Wenzhi." Li Yu felt helpless facing such a turtle shell. It was not right to attack or not to attack. He could only look for a target to attack, that is Yu Wenzhi, a guy who led hundreds of thousands of brave soldiers to the north and was defeated by Li Mi. He was a third-rate guy in both command ability and martial arts. No matter how many soldiers he had, he might fail.
"Nanyang County?" Everyone was stunned when they heard this. They didn't expect that Li Yu's ambition was so big that he wanted to defeat Yu Wenzhi, who had the largest number of people.
"Wancheng is a fortified city. If Yu Wenzhi is still stationed in Wancheng, we have enemies chasing us from behind and a fortified city in front of us. What should we do? Why not go south and enter Xiangyang from Xinye and Dengzhou and manage the south? How about that?" Wu Yunzhao said hesitantly.
Xie Yingdeng and others were slightly moved after hearing this. What Wu Yunzhao was considering was definitely a problem . If the army attacked Wancheng and was blocked by the enemy, the Qihuo Army would probably be wiped out.
"That's no other way." Li Yu shook his head. If he hadn't been forced to do so, Li Yu wouldn't have done so. He whipped the warhorse, and the warhorse galloped away, and soon disappeared in front of Wang Shichong's camp.
Half an hour later, the Beggar Army set off and headed towards Wancheng again. Fortunately, the roads along the way were all roads that the Beggar Army had walked before. The benefits of Li Yu's fighting against the local tyrants and dividing the land and food were finally reflected at this time, and the army had a smooth journey along the way.
"Wang Shichong is really a tortoise. The army has marched a hundred miles, but the enemy's troops have not made any moves. It seems that he will really stay there. " Li Yu said to Cen Wenben beside him while riding on his warhorse: "He can endure until now. This person is not simple!"
"One of the three armies has been blocked. I have sent a message to the Gu family and the Li family to find Qu Tutong. I believe they will find Qu Tutong soon. What I am most worried about now is that Yu Wenhuaji will defend Wancheng, and Qu Tutong and Wang Shichong will drive us to the city." Cen Wenben's words were a little more worried. Wu Yunzhao was unruly, but he had to admit that he was quite intelligent in military affairs. Qu Tutong and Wang Shichong joined forces to reduce Li Yu's living space and could indeed force Li Yu to death.
"It would be fine if Wang Shichong doesn't move. If he moves, I will lead the army myself to destroy him." Li Yu said gritting his teeth. If it weren't for Wang Wugui blocking the way in front, he would have entered the Jianghuai area by now, completely leaving behind the pursuers and would never have taken the return route.
Three days after Li Yu's army set out, Wang Shichong finally received Qu Tutong's message and immediately led his army forward, preparing to continue to encircle and kill Li Yu. However, his advance was relatively slow, only thirty miles a day, and he set up camp before dark, leaving Li Yu invulnerable and forcing him to continue on his journey in silence.
"Uncle, why is it so strange? There are a lot of wheel marks here. Isn't this heading towards Wancheng? Could it be that Li Yu changed direction?" Not long after the army set out that day, Wang Renze came on horseback. He pointed at the road in front of him and said nervously, "Uncle, could it be that Li Yu knew that there was a large group of people blocking the way ahead, so he changed direction?"
"This situation is not impossible. Li Yu may have gone to the south and marched towards Xiangyang. Although the population in the south is small, the power of the southern court is also small. After passing Xinye and Dengzhou and crossing the Han River, he can enter Xiangyang." Wang Shichong couldn't help but say: "Originally, Yu Juluo was asked to block the direction of Xiangyang, but later because of Yu Juluo's identity, the Han River has the Han River Navy there, and all the ships are in the hands of the Navy. If Li Yu can't get the ships, it will be fine, but what if he gets them?"
"But what should we do now?" Wang Renze suddenly didn't know what to do. He was very glad that it didn't rain in the past few days, otherwise, he would not know that Li Yu had changed direction and the army deviated from the defense line and headed towards the south of the Yangtze River.
"Don't move, wait." Wang Shichong looked at the two roads in front of him, hesitated for a while, and said: "Send someone to tell Yuwen Shu and Qu Tutong to send out scouts, or speed up the march, and quickly find the direction in which Li Yu's army is moving."
Wang Shichong was still very timid. Faced with this situation, he did not dare to go to Wancheng at all.
"Uncle, if we don't chase him now, and if Li Yu really leads his army to Dengzhou, and we are late, he will have enough time to attack the Hanshui Navy, right?" Wang Renze was a little dissatisfied. He didn't understand. Li Yu was now fleeing in a panic. If he didn't chase him at this time, wouldn't he let him escape? He didn't believe that Li Yu still had the mind to attack his 20,000 troops at this time.
Wang Shichong thought for a moment and said, "You have a point. Li Yu is a treacherous man. He may not be unaware of our plan. That's why he didn't want to go to Wancheng." Wang Shichong nodded. He also thought that Li Yu had changed his direction at this time. Wancheng was strong. Everyone knew that once he was blocked in Wancheng, he would be unable to escape. So it was not strange for him to go to Xinye.
"Then shall we go to Xinye?" Wang Renze said impatiently, "It would be bad if we were late at this time. The imperial court might cause trouble for us because of us."
If I lose the person I'm chasing, that would be great. Being defeated by Li Yu would not be a problem. As long as I give him some money, Yu Shiji would help me solve it. But if I lose the person I'm chasing, Yu Shiji wouldn't be able to help me either.
"Then divide the troops, ten thousand to the south, ten thousand to the west. Remember, you can only follow from a distance and never take the initiative to attack." Wang Shichong instructed Wang Renze.
Wang Renze was brave in battle, he did not deny that, but he had a hot temper and was happy to hear about war. What Wang Shichong feared most was that Wang Renze would take the initiative to attack, which would lead to the loss of troops and generals, which was not what Wang Shichong wanted to see. Now he just wanted to preserve his own strength, his 20,000 troops, and the strength of the Wang family, which was the most important thing.
"Don't worry, uncle." Wang Renze patted his chest, looking confident.
"Which one is the suspected enemy? This is the most crucial thing." Wang Shichong's brows became more solemn. There must be suspected enemies among these two armies. At this time, if there was no conspiracy in Li Yu's division of troops, Wang Shichong would definitely not believe it.