Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

On the muddy official road, hundreds of thousands of Wuzhao soldiers trudged forward with difficulty.

The unusually slow marching speed caused Fu Heng, the commander-in-chief, a great headache.

Fu Heng was considered a capable and valiant general during Li Hong's reign, but the number of troops he personally commanded in his lifetime was only around 10,000.

Lacking experience in organizing large-scale troop movements, Fuheng was unable to adapt to the allocation of various camps in a short period of time. Coupled with the irreconcilable conflict between the military camps and local garrisons, the army found itself in a predicament of being unable to attend to both ends once it left the capital region.

"Report~"

Fu Heng, who was supervising the army's advance, suddenly received a report from Ming Rui.

"General Fu, the soldiers of the outer vassal state have reported to me that they believe that the local officers and soldiers are discriminating against them by riding horses. Please allow General Fu to confiscate their horses."

Fu Heng frowned: "Who says garrison troops can't ride horses? That's ridiculous. They're all friendly forces, why make such a distinction?"

Mingrui: "Then shall I go back and send them away?"

Fu Heng thought for a moment, then sighed, "Fine, my Wu Zhao Kingdom has military ranks, and since the outer vassal states have this request, I'll just agree to it."

Go and inform the garrison officers and soldiers that they are no longer allowed to ride horses in the army, especially in front of the outer vassal states.

"Yes."

After Mingrui left, Fuheng felt a wave of exhaustion.

Only five days after the army set off, there were already dozens of conflicts every day between the military camps and the garrison troops.

Even though he knew the fault lay with the outer vassal states, Fuheng always sided with the military camp's outer vassal states.

After all, once the war breaks out, the garrison troops cannot be relied upon; in the end, it will be the military officers and soldiers who will be relied upon.

It is obvious which of the two is more important.

Of course, we can't blame Fu Heng for being so biased. In fact, he wanted to treat everyone equally, but the objective conditions didn't allow it.

Strictly speaking, these 40,000 garrison troops were just there to make up the numbers. He couldn't expect them to have any combat power at all, even though they had now been equipped with firearms that the Wu Zhao Army had just developed.

All he could rely on was the less than 70,000 elite troops of the dynasty under his command.

However, his biggest problem right now is that the marching speed is too slow.

"It's too slow. They can't even march forty li a day. At this rate, when will they ever reach Southern Zhili?"

The land distance between Shengjing and Jiankang is 4,500 li. If you take a boat (sailboat) from Zhongdu, you can reach them in 15 days if you go south with the wind.

Unfortunately, Shengjing's maritime transport was very backward, and there was no fleet capable of carrying more than 10,000 people at a time. They could only rely on land to travel.

However, the official road from north to south for Wu Zhao had been in disrepair for many years, with many muddy and bumpy sections, which naturally hindered the efficiency of the army's march.

In addition, 200,000 laborers were transporting grain over a thousand miles, and most of the manpower and livestock were lost along the way. Very few of them could actually reach the troops.

Just as Fuheng was racking his brains over this matter, Lou Shide offered his advice: "My lord, I suggest we advance in separate routes. Let the military camp and the two outer vassal states take provisions and set up camp outside Jiankang City to await orders."

The garrison and civilian laborers continued their slow march, ready to quickly engage in battle once the main army arrived.

Fu Heng: "Who are the officers and soldiers guarding the garrison?"

Lou Shide: "We can't worry about anything else now. We can promise them money and supplies and let them speed up their march."

Fu Heng thought for a moment, but still looked hesitant.

In fact, he was unwilling to divide his troops, but at the current marching speed, it would probably take three months to reach Jiankang.

"That's all."

In the end, Fu Heng had no choice but to follow Lou Shide's instructions.

"Order the military camp and all outer vassal states to rush to Jiankang as quickly as possible. All garrison officers and soldiers are responsible for escorting the supplies and should meet at the city walls of Jiankang as soon as possible."

After thinking for a moment, he said to Lou Shide, "Leave half of the supplies for the garrison troops to distribute as they see fit. Tell them that as long as they arrive at the Jiankang battlefield on time, I, on behalf of His Majesty, will reward each of them with ten taels of silver."

"Yes!"

After the two armies separated, the marching efficiency of the military camp and the outer vassal states improved significantly.

In contrast, the garrison troops carrying thousands of kilograms of artillery were still moving slowly.

What awaits them is not only the journey and the battle beneath Jiankang City, but also the utterly terrible road conditions before them.

Meanwhile, outside Jiankang City, the Chu army was already in a state of anxiety.

After the Chu army completed all its defensive fortifications, and even took the time to hold a tug-of-war, they were all dumbfounded to find that Wu Zhao's main force had not yet arrived.

More abstractly, it wasn't just the Chu army that was bored while waiting; the Wu Zhao garrison, located 30 miles away from the Zijin Mountain defense line, was also incredibly bored. It even got to the point where some local Wu Zhao garrison soldiers were taking advantage of the situation to bring local handicrafts to the Zijin Mountain defense line to exchange for tobacco cans.

Such days continued until early April, just as Shen Lang was considering whether to continue his northward march, when the Wu Zhao army finally arrived on the battlefield.

Upon arriving at the battlefield, Fu Heng climbed the Cloud Tower and glanced at Purple Mountain, his expression immediately turning grim.

"I didn't expect these Chu people to be so formidable. There are dozens of fortresses and watchtowers on Zijin Mountain. It will be very difficult to take them down."

Mingrui glanced at it and said disdainfully, "They are just some earthen fortresses, much smaller in scale than the fortress complex on Xuechuan. I can take them down with just one battalion."

Fu Heng: "Don't be impulsive. Have you forgotten how Fu Lin'an died? If it were really as easy as you say, how did he lose more than 10,000 elite troops?"

Mingrui stopped speaking.

Fu Heng summoned Quan Xiancheng: "You lead a thousand men to launch a probing attack. Remember, if you encounter an enemy attack, retreat immediately and do not linger in battle."

"understand!"

Quan Xiancheng loudly accepted the order, turned around and immediately led his more than a thousand men to launch the first wave of attack on Zijin Mountain.

Fu Heng then took out a monocular endoscope and carefully observed the details of the war.

At this moment, Quan Xiancheng led his troops to the foot of Zijin Mountain, and everyone decisively abandoned their horses and clung to the mountainside.

Taking a deep breath, Quan Xiancheng leaped several meters high, using the unevenness of the mountain wall to quickly climb upwards, arriving outside the stronghold in the blink of an eye.

bass--

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he drew his sword and ducked behind a rock.

At this moment, two more highly skilled guards flew to the outside of the stronghold.

After Quan Xiancheng gave them a wink, one of them decisively nocked an arrow and slowly walked to the outside of a watchtower.

A few seconds later, he gritted his teeth and charged straight into the stronghold's watchtower.

Quan Xiancheng, who was waiting outside, was on tenterhooks.

However, the next moment, a whistle rang out from inside the stronghold.

Quan Xiancheng immediately rushed into the stronghold.

But the guard said, "General, the stronghold is unguarded."

Quan Xiancheng frowned, glanced at the messy furnishings inside the stronghold, and was certain that someone had lived there not long ago.

But why are all the garrison troops gone?

Were they intimidated by the military might of Wu Zhao's army?

"Let's go check out the next place!"

To confirm his intentions, Quan Xiancheng once again led his troops to capture the remaining strongholds.

As it turned out, none of the strongholds were guarded by Chu troops, and Quan Xiancheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately went back to report to Fu Heng.

Little did they know that less than ten miles outside Zijin Mountain, on Coal Hill, Shen Lang's 115mm heavy artillery battalion had already marked the coordinates of all those strongholds.

"Now, we just need to wait for you all to enter the cage, and then we can..."

A ferocious look appeared on his face.

"They wiped it all out."