After reading Nan Jiyun's urgent report, Liang Xiao was also overjoyed.
As for the Southern Barbarian Queen publicly declaring her love, such a matter was beneficial for appeasing the people of the Seven Commanderies of Southern China, and the imperial court naturally welcomed it.
However, Nan Jiyun still handled matters professionally and did not get married immediately. Instead, he notified the imperial court to let Xiao Qing decide.
Liang Xiao went with the flow, wrote a letter, and sent someone to the capital, suggesting that the marriage be supported.
"Once General Nan's army arrives, our Jiangnan will have sufficient military strength to launch a full-scale counterattack, all the way into Jiaozhou," Liang Xiao said to his generals.
Everyone was ecstatic.
The Great Qian Kingdom did not lack the will for a full-scale counterattack, but the area of Jiangnan was simply too vast. Every county city required garrisons for protection, and troops could not be withdrawn rashly to prevent enemy cavalry from launching surprise attacks, the fall of county cities, and the suffering of the people.
The number of cavalry in Jiaozhou was unknown, and the mobilization capability of the Tianri tribe was strong.
Therefore, the counterattack force that Liang Xiao could safely dispatch was only a hundred thousand troops from the Central Plains.
And Gongsun Ye's side, before defeating Daliang, dared not rashly dispatch too many troops to rendezvous, and could probably only bring seventy thousand.
If there were another thirty thousand from Nan Jiyun, they could muster two hundred thousand troops, which would be enough to counterattack the entire territory of Jiaozhou.
"Jiaozhou and the Peacock Dynasty are colluding. If our army can cut off their supply lines, we can make the Peacock Dynasty's forces come and go without return!" Yue Yun said anxiously.
Liang Xiao immediately mobilized troops to hold Yuzhang and be ready to deploy at any time to counterattack Jiaozhou.
Yue Yun led the Great Qian cavalry and commanded the Great Qian scouts to investigate the enemy's supply lines.
The Great Qian army in the Jiangnan region was more urgent than ever, wanting to reclaim Jiaozhou.
The people of Jiaozhou were ultimately people of Great Qian, but Jiaozhou had invited wolves into the house. Now, the people of Jiaozhou were suffering terribly and urgently needed to be rescued.
However, the enemy's offensive was insufficient, while their defense was strong. The soldiers of Jiangnan had to be patient and advance steadily, without suffering too great losses, lest they lose the core strength to retake Jiaozhou.
Xiao Chang's son, Xiao Feng, and others who were defending Jiaozhou City heard of the crushing defeat on the front lines and were shocked and uneasy.
"Our army is well-equipped and well-supplied, and we have my father and them to command and coordinate. Why would we suffer such a crushing defeat!" Dugu Xiao was furious.
Hannibal rushed over, also with an angry face.
"Alexander and Jianbei both died at Liang Xiao's hands??"
Yan Jun, the Pope of the Huichun Sect and the Queen of the Peacock Dynasty, who arrived with Hannibal, had a pale face under her veil and her eyes were filled with fear.
"Liang Xiao, as soon as he arrived..."
The people of Jiaozhou also shuddered, terrified.
A great battle had resulted in the deaths of two important figures, which was an immeasurable blow to the joint forces of Jiaozhou.
First, the morale of the Huichun Sect and the Peacock Dynasty troops suffered a devastating blow.
"What should we do? My father and the others intend to retreat!" Xiao Feng asked urgently.
Upon hearing this, Hannibal's eyes split with rage, and he roared at Xiao Feng: "We cannot retreat! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drag down Great Qian. Even if we exhaust the last person of Jiaozhou, we must not withdraw from Jiangnan!"
Xiao Feng, Dugu Xiao, Ouyang Sheng, and others were stunned and silent.
To exhaust the last person of Jiaozhou against Great Qian?
But the Tianri cavalry's plundering and burning in Jiaozhou intensified, and the people of Jiaozhou complained bitterly. How could they fight to the death?
"Marshal Hannibal, our army has suffered heavy losses, and Jiaozhou really cannot come up with more reinforcements..."
Hannibal's face was ashen, and he gritted his teeth, "I will lead the Tianri cavalry and personally head to Jiangnan to flatten the Great Qian army!"
The crushing defeat of the Tianri tribe on the Luzhou battlefield made Hannibal abandon his plan to seize Jiaozhou and forced him to continue to act as reinforcements, leading the Tianri cavalry to aid the Jiaozhou joint forces.
However, this force, which arrived successively from the Peacock Dynasty, numbered a hundred thousand, with forty thousand cavalry alone. Xiao Feng could only forcibly conscript two hundred thousand people from Jiaozhou to assist the Peacock Dynasty's slave troops in transporting grain and fodder.
Among these people from Jiaozhou were two thousand young women, who were forcibly conscripted by Xiao Feng as military prostitutes to please the Tianri tribe.
Originally, Xiao Feng had forcibly conscripted five thousand military prostitutes, but half of the women could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide. As for the remaining two thousand, facing the fierce and brutal Tianri cavalry, the consequences were unimaginable...
In addition, Jiaozhou implemented a high-pressure rule, blocking roads. The people could not even escape Jiaozhou, and their household ironware had long been confiscated by Xiao Che's troops from house to house. Even the use of kitchen knives required the control of "village chiefs" arranged by the Jiaozhou government.
For a time, Jiaozhou was plunged into misery and suffering, and the people yearned more and more for Great Qian, which their elders missed from afar in the north.
Jiannan Feng, who was teaching Liang Xiao's children swordsmanship in the capital, finally received news from Luzhou.
Upon learning that his brother Jian Beihai had been executed by Liang Xiao and his head displayed, Jiannan Feng merely looked up at the sky and sighed for a long time.
"It also fulfills the saying, evil is rewarded with evil..."
Jian Qinwan and others who were resting nearby also sighed.
At least, compared to this so-called brother who brought ruin to their clan, Jiannan Feng cared more about these vibrant children.
The great victory in Luzhou was undeniably encouraging to the entire nation's military and civilians, greatly boosting their confidence.
In the areas north of the Yangtze River, hundreds of thousands of civilians borrowed carts from the government, brought their household grain and copper coins, pushed them north of the river, and delivered the money and grain to the northern officials, asking them to send them to Jiangnan to support the soldiers, hoping that the country would ensure the logistics of the front-line soldiers.
In the western regions, Mars continued to dispatch troops and generals from the rear, awaiting support from the King of Tianri.
The Kingdom of Guishuang built a temporary fortress a hundred miles outside Jade Gate Pass, cutting off Great Qian's westward path, and with the help of this fortress, they could attack Jade Gate Pass at any time.
The western regions still held firm and refused to advance. Lü Yi, having learned of the possible existence of the Tianri tribe in the northern desert, even dispatched thirty thousand troops to garrison the Qilian Mountains to prevent long-distance cavalry raids by the Tianri tribe.
This was one of Great Qian's most important horse ranches and could not be lost.
The northern desert was thousands of miles away from the Qilian Mountains. The desolate desert and the rule of the barbarian tribes over the desert relied on centuries of management and exploration. However, if the Tianri tribe had the maps and intelligence left by the barbarian tribes to assist them, it was still possible for them to march south and invade.
Great Qian Kingdom, Donghai Military Camp.
One hundred thousand soldiers guarded the Donghai region, strictly guarding against Japanese pirates.
On this day, Donghai Marshal Mu Hong once again confirmed the intelligence sent from the Liaodong region.
"The Kingdom of Taiji has indeed been destroyed and its people wiped out. At least, the潜狼卫 (Qian Lang Wei) and Great Qian scouts who infiltrated the Kingdom of Taiji have never seen any Taiji people again. The land is almost entirely covered with bones. In the capital area, there are only Japanese pirates..."
Mu Hong listened to his subordinate describe the situation and couldn't help but feel a shiver of fear: "The cruelty of the Japanese pirates is probably no less than that of the Tianri tribe."
Li Mou, the former commander of the Donghai garrison, said sternly, "At this point, Marshal, our country does not need to consider morality towards the Japanese pirates!"
Mu Hong understood and nodded, "Come with me to inventory the 'Great Qian Skyfire.' The soldiers have finished their drills."
A few days later, Japanese pirates from the Izumo Kingdom on the coast of the East China Sea became increasingly rampant. East China Sea fishermen even dared not fish in the coastal waters.
These Japanese pirates were regular troops trained day and night by the Izumo Kingdom, skilled in naval warfare, and were confident that Great Qian, fighting on multiple fronts, would not dare to attack.
The Donghai region also indeed defended the coast strictly and did not take the initiative to attack.
On this day, a fleet of Izumo Kingdom ships was fishing off the southern coast of the Kingdom of Taiji when they suddenly heard the sound of horns from afar, shaking the heavens.
"The Great Qian army is attacking!!"