Jiaohua

Chapter 1687 Nie Huimo is A Li's person
However, Chen Like was only briefly surprised. He wasn't very interested in Shen Lie to begin with; his target was Nie Huimo.

Two days later, he received news that Nie Huimo had indeed led a troop of soldiers after hearing that Shen Lie wanted to kill him.

Chen Like was very confident in his position in Nie Huimo's heart.

He was the one who fought the fiercest and tore into the most pieces among Nie Huimo's many opponents.

When Nie Huimo nearly captured Songzhou, it was Chen Like who was appointed to take over Cao Yijun's command of the attacking battalion and fought his way back to Nie Huimo.

How could Nie Huimo bear to let such an opponent die at Shen Lie's hands?

Chen Li Ke had already prepared his strategy, determined to ensure that Nie Hui Mo would die in Jiangzhou the moment he appeared.

But to Chen Like's surprise, someone rushed to kill him before Nie Huimo could.

Tian Yan'en, the sixth son of Tian Dayao.

Tian Dayao's sons have always regarded Nie Huimo as a thorn in their side. Nie Huimo took the initiative to avoid suspicion and stayed away from Tian Dayao's power center, deliberately retreating to Huazhou. Tian Dayao's sons did not want to let him go, believing that Nie Huimo's move was a strategic retreat.

In fact, Chen Like felt the same way.

Not long ago, Tian Dayao's fourth son, Tian Lingwen, was poisoned to death. Chen Like suspected that Nie Huimo was responsible, and seventy percent of Tian Dayao's subordinates also thought so. However, Tian Dayao insisted that it was their Daping Dynasty that did it.

Jin Hongkang didn't really care; let Tian Dayao throw as much mud at him as he wanted. Besides, Jin Hongkang was actually quite pleased to see Tian Dayao lose his son.

However, Tian Dayao's conviction was useless. Although Tian Dayao's sons disliked each other, they were united in their hatred of Nie Huimo.

The sixth young master, Tian Yan'en, who is now here, is the son of the fourth young master, Tian Lingwen, and the two brothers have a deep bond.

Tian Yan'en was the most heartbroken when Tian Lingwen was poisoned to death. Tian Yan'en's sudden appearance in Gongcheng County caught Chen Like completely off guard.

The trap he deliberately set for Nie Huimo was broken by Tian Yan'en. Although it was also a big fish, Chen Like didn't want it.

The key point is that Tian Yan'en's troops are almost identical to Nie Huimo's troops. No matter how well they are disguised, the batches of stirrups and weapons are similar. As soon as this group of people appears, Chen Like's men will immediately take action.

Tian Yan'en was seriously injured. After falling from his horse, he crawled twisted and twisted to the side of the road, rolled down the village road, and died in the ditch.

The trap was destroyed by the first prey to enter, and any wild animal that followed with a modicum of intelligence would not repeat the same mistake.

Enraged, Chen Like ordered his men to pack up Tian Yan'en's body and demand that Tian Dayao bring land to ransom it back.

But Chen Like couldn't understand why it was Tian Yan'en who came instead of Nie Huimo.

Three days later, he received an urgent military report from the Songzhou front, stating that Nie Huimo had never left Huazhou and that while he was in Jiangzhou, Nie Huimo had bypassed Fushang County and gone directly to attack Xiongchi.

Chen Like broke out in a cold sweat and quickly returned to Xiongchi.

After losing two sons in succession, Tian Dayao went completely mad. In mid-October, the war between Muye, which had been raging on and off, finally broke out. Tian Dayao also transferred naval forces from Youzhou and Kuozhou, dividing them into two routes to attack Daping's two ferry crossings in the northwest.

Nie Huimo gave Madam Qu advance notice, and Madam Qu, Zhao Ning, and Wang Fengnian's merchant ship urgently evacuated.

But the other chambers of commerce were not so lucky; all their supplies were looted.

Throughout October and November, trade and commerce in the central plains were disrupted, and wars raged on and on.

Yun Bozhong's territory was already small, and his troops were fewer than those of Tian Dayao and Jin Hongkang. He had to deal with Mu Ye on one hand, and prevent Tian Dayao and Jin Hongkang, who were fighting fiercely in the north, from turning around and taking advantage of him on the other. It was extremely difficult for him. But then again, who isn't struggling?

Driven by rage, Tian Dayao committed 60% of his troops, and now it's too late for him to regret it.

Jin Hongkang was also struggling. The Taiping Dynasty's resources had been greatly reduced, and he had to hold on to his existing territory.

Moreover, Ying Jinliang of Tongdu is gone, Zhuang Mengyao of Jiangnan is gone, and Li Qian of Hejing is gone. Those who only occupied a prefecture or a city, similar to the chaotic forces that dominated a region like Qian Xianmin of Huazhou and Lin Yao of Peifeng City in the past, as well as bandits like Xie Zhong and Qian Fengrong's Zhongxin Army who roamed many places roaming and plundering, have either been defeated and surrendered or wiped out over the years. Those that are still barely surviving are becoming increasingly rare.

Without them as a buffer, a major battle was inevitable for Tian Dayao, Jin Hongkang, and Yun Bozhong, and there was no way to avoid it.

It was only at this point that Yun Bozhong realized just how good Shen Lie and Ali's geographical location was.

The Tanzhou that Shen Lie visited before was in the far west, which is now in the southeast corner of Jiangnan.

And the place where he forged the Yan army was the plateau in the northwest, near Wanrong and Hechuan, which was also on the edge of the Central Plains.

Needless to say, Ali's Hejing was the hidden treasure chosen by Emperor Xuanyan when he abandoned the capital. It had a huge natural mountain as a barrier, completely isolating himself in the eastern corner.

Apart from Hejing, the Northwest where Ali is now located is also far from the Central Plains.

Even the Duke of Zheng's Mansion, which has close ties with the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion, is the most remote of the twelve mansions in the northernmost part of Zhengbei.

He, Tian Dayao, and Jin Hongkang's families have become trapped beasts on the Muye Plain, which spans three rivers and stretches across several prefectures. They have no other way to go but to fight each other to determine the winner.

But the despair is that even if they win, they will face Ali, who is now all-powerful and has a strong army. That will be another terrible and tough battle.

Both Shen Lie and Zhao Yu listened to Ali. Even Nie Huimo, who was next to Tian Dayao, was someone Yun Bozhong thought could switch sides at any time and might run to Ali's side.

He also seems to be like Ah Li.

“But it’s not just Nie Huimo,” Yun Bozhong said in a low voice. “Even I am starting to waver.”

Yun Bozhong's cousin, Yun Guangce, asked, "Commander, what are you hesitating about?"

Yun Bozhong snapped out of his reverie from the map, sat up straight, and said calmly, "It's nothing, it's fake."

I almost forgot, he didn't need to go to the point of wavering.

When A-Li came to see him a few months ago, she promised him that no matter what the situation was in the future, she would not harm him and their two families would not become enemies. However, whether Yun Bozhong could hold out until then depended on his fate.

Therefore, as long as he can get through the most difficult moment, he will win.

Yun Guangce thought that Yun Bozhong was distracted by military affairs and said with concern, "Commander, you have been working hard these days. You should rest early. You are talking nonsense."

Yun Bozhong said, "No rush, I'll sit for a while longer. I won't be able to sleep if I go back."

As soon as he finished speaking, the voices of messengers and guards could be heard outside.

In the absence of urgent military intelligence, messengers would not barge in without authorization, but would wait for the guards to report and give orders before entering.

Yun Bozhong raised his voice directly, "What is it? Bring it here."