Emperor Taizong's Growth Plan

Chapter 373

Dejiang County, Tianmen Mansion.

To the east of this place, about four hundred miles away, is Wuling Mansion, the most important town on the southwestern defense line of Xia Kingdom.Because of this, Tianmen Mansion became the place where the cloud army gathered in Dejiang County.

After the Yun army found out about the Xia army in Wuling mansion, after they had been mobilized frequently recently, together with Xiao Cheng's imperial decree and the detailed enemy information obtained from Dongchang and Niangan from Xia kingdom, they were delivered to Wu Zixu at this time.

Wu Zixu, who was still in Yixian County and was closely watching the dredging of Jiangdao, could only leave behind his soldiers and horses, and hurried back to Tianmen Mansion with only light cavalry guards.

As soon as he arrived in the army, Wu Zixu raised his tent and gathered generals, and began to inquire about the military situation of various places in detail.

"Master Hou, the frontline scouts found out yesterday that Wuling Mansion ruled Xiataoyuan County, with a total of 8000 defenders. The troops were dispatched early yesterday morning, and the forwards were directly approaching our Yuanling County!"

"Above the Lishui, our army also discovered that there is a navy of the Xia State, coming down from Cili County of the Xia State, and there are signs of intending to attack our army's Tianmen Mansion camp!"

"Jingzhushan camp, there are also traces of the Xia army's forwards visiting the horses!"

Ruanling County is the southern barrier of Tianmen Mansion. If it is lost, it will be difficult for the camp of Tianmen Mansion to defend for a long time.

Cili County is located in the northeast of Tianmen Mansion, and is now occupied by Xia Kingdom.Between the two places of Tianmen Mansion, there is the Lishui River, if the commander of Xia Jun's navy is allowed to drive straight in, the rear will be uneasy.

The camp of Jingzhu Mountain is the barrier to the east of Tianmen Mansion.When the army of Xia State in Wuling Prefecture attacked, Jingzhu Mountain was the first to bear the brunt.

Hearing the report from his generals, Wu Zixu frowned slightly, and said with some surprise:

"The army is divided into three groups, and the water routes are advancing side by side. This Xia army, really intends to attack me now, Dayun?"

Because in the previous battle of Rongzhou City, Wu Zixu wiped out tens of thousands of Xia's southwest frontier army, and completely lost Xia's southwest elite.

It was only because Yunguo had swallowed the four southwest counties in one go before, and had some indigestion, that it never took down the southwest in one go.

But even now, Xia Guo breathed a sigh of relief.

However, most of the [-] troops above the southwest defense line are local garrisons recruited temporarily.There is a huge difference between the soldiers and horses of these places and the elites of the two countries.

Therefore, Xia Kingdom's southwestern defense line at this time can only be called a sham.It is extremely difficult to defend, let alone attack Yunguo proactively?
Wu Zixu was thinking about it at this time, but he didn't want to understand what gave Xia Guo the courage to use troops in a hurry this time.

Hearing this, the subordinate generals said one after another:

"In Shaoyang County, it is said that the elite in the Wuzhou camp did not lose much, and they have already been transferred to Wuling Mansion. Seeing that our army is scarce, it must have moved my mind."

"The general also heard that the new emperor of the Xia Kingdom has just ascended the throne. Presumably the sudden use of troops this time is meant to take the opportunity to establish prestige and meritorious deeds!"

"By the way, the new emperor of the Xia Kingdom used to be in charge of the Southwest Frontier Army of the Xia Kingdom. This time, he came to us, perhaps because he wanted to avenge his old subordinates!"

"Hehehe, it should be so! Since Emperor Xia dares to make such a move, don't regret it!"

"Left and right, but let Xia Guo experience another defeat in Rongzhou."

"My big cloud soldiers look at the front, even if Xia Guo uses an army five times or ten times larger than ours, we can still stop His Majesty today!"

I heard that the Xia army is very likely to dispatch as many as 20 troops to attack Tianmen County. The generals of the Yun army with a total of less than [-] soldiers in their hands show no fear.

In the words, there are many meanings of being brave and leading, and even more of being proud, showing the momentum of a proud soldier.

At this time, Wu Zixu was not as proud as his generals, but his expression was extremely solemn, and he kept thinking in his heart.

Although the former King Qi was not a world-renowned first-class general, he was also a good general in the Jiuli battlefield.

He should be very clear that what the Xia Kingdom, which is much stronger in terms of background and national power than Yun Kingdom, needs now is precisely time.The longer the time dragged on, the stronger Xia's southwestern defense line would be.

With his temperament and understanding of the war, he should not be able to force his generals to attack in order to establish prestige.

So this time Xia Jun's attack, I'm afraid there are other preparations!

Although Wu Zixu wanted to attack Jinling City and destroy Xia Guosheji.But he is proficient in military strategy, and his mind is extremely calm after tempering, so he is definitely not a person who will be blinded by hatred.

At this moment, Wu Zixu frowned when he heard the generals in the tent say contemptuously and arrogantly, and couldn't help but scolded:
"In the previous battle of Rongzhou, our army defeated the strong with the weak. It was really a lot of luck. Back then, when the Xia army suddenly saw the vision of the army's cohesion, it was completely heartbroken and powerless to resist. This made me wait for a big fight. Great victory. But now, the vision is no longer as successful as before."

"If you have such arrogance again, and you don't know how to be cautious in dealing with the enemy, if you are a little careless, you will lead to the collapse of the army! At that time, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

The first battle in Rongzhou established Wu Zixu's supreme authority in the army.

At this time, the generals heard his words and scolded him, and they were silent like a cicada, they put away their arrogance, bowed their heads and saluted, saying:
"The last general is waiting, I know my mistake!"

Hearing this, Wu Zixu's expression softened a little, and he said in a deep voice:
"When you return to the camp, each leader should guard the camp strictly. If most of the Xia army comes, report it immediately, and don't take the enemy lightly! There are camps on both sides of the Lishui River, so as to guard against the attack of Xia Guo's navy. I ordered you to bring along the seal of the Marquis and transfer The Inland River Navy is here to help!"

"Your Majesty's imperial decree has been issued. More than [-] elite soldiers from Xiushan County and Shicheng County will arrive soon. And the [-] troops in Beijing can march to Dejiang County in less than a month. The most important thing now is to support the reinforcements Incoming..."

Having said that, Wu Zixu stood up, looked around again at the generals in the camp, with a slightly cold expression, and said solemnly:

"If anyone dares to go out of the camp to attack without hearing the military orders of the Marquis, he will be dealt with as a military law, and there will be no mercy!"

Hearing Wu Zixu's warning words full of killing intent, all the generals felt terrified, and immediately apologized and saluted, saying in unison:

"Follow Lord Hou's orders!"
-
And at this time, in Xingyuan Mansion of Anshun County.

The majestic Yangping Pass, which stretches for ten miles and blocks the mountain path, is extremely dangerous. At this time, the closed gate suddenly opened.

The sound of military boots hitting the ground was extremely crisp.There was also the sound of armor colliding and war horse neighing, and the momentum was astonishing.

Then I saw a large army of the Xia Kingdom coming out of Yangping Pass, and marching towards Jiangyang County and Xiangzhou County along the two mountain roads of Jinniu Road and Maming Pavilion Road in front.

The soldiers and horses of the Xia Kingdom in front of them are all well-armored, with long spears everywhere, and their swords are as bright as snow.When tens of thousands of sergeants lined up, there was no noise, the army was solemn and orderly, and the whole army exuded a chilling aura of killing on the battlefield.

With just one glance, one can tell that these Xia soldiers in front of them are well-deserved elites, and they are definitely not comparable to those surrendered rebels under Hao Yuanhua's command!
Prior to this, based on the information obtained from all parties, they all told the court of Yunguo that the next move of Xiaguo should be to use troops against Dejiang County where Wu Zixu was stationed.

But it never occurred to him that in Dejiang County, when the battle clouds were thick, there were already tens of thousands of elite soldiers from Xia Kingdom in Xingyuan Mansion thousands of miles away, leaving Yangping Pass and rushing towards Yun Kingdom.
-
Xiangzhou County, Cheng County, is located in a city at the intersection of Maming Pavilion.Although the city is small, it is an important city connecting Xiangzhou County and Anshun County.

On the small city wall of Cheng County, the flag of Yunlong fluttered.

In such an important place, Cheng Bushi, who has always been extremely cautious in using troops, naturally arranged for [-] elite cloud troops to garrison here.Although there are only three thousand, Cheng County is a small town in the mountains, which is enough to garrison here!
But at this moment, a flag fluttered and fluttered in the distance, and it suddenly appeared in Yun Jun's sight.

At this time, the flying horse galloped back from Yunjun's scouting horse, shouting in his mouth:

"The Xia army is attacking! The Xia army is attacking!"

In an instant, the entire Cheng County was shocked.Captain Yun, who was stationed here, learned an extremely astonishing news from Tan Ma's mouth at this time.

The [-] elite Xia army sent troops from Xingyuan Mansion and set off along the Maming Pavilion Road, and the soldiers pointed directly at Cheng County.

"Above Maming Pavilion Road, our army has set up sentry posts along the road. Why did our army not know until Xia Guo's army arrived at Cheng County?" the leader, Captain Yun, asked in disbelief.

Tan Ma, who came to report, heard the words and said with sadness:
"General, before the Xia army dispatched troops, An sent a master to quietly kill all the brothers who were sentry along the way. It wasn't until near Cheng County that we found out..."

Hearing the words, Captain Yunjun, the leader, first closed his eyes in great annoyance, then stood up abruptly, gritted his teeth and said:

"Decree, the whole army prepares for war, and defends the county. The reinforcements of the general who conquered the north will arrive soon!"

When the generals at the bottom heard the words, they immediately responded in unison.

And at this moment, the sound of "da, da, da" was heard in Cheng County.

Dressed in dark black armor, the elite Xia army, who could not see the end at a glance, had already arrived in front of Chengxian County, forming an army formation and making an attack.

Without dutiful hesitation, he heard the sound of passionate military drums in Xia's army, cheering up the army's morale.

The leading general of the Xia army drew out his sword at this time, pointed obliquely at Chengxian in front, and roared:
"attack!"

In an instant, only the sound of "Zheng" was heard, covering it like a rain of clouds and arrows, pouring out towards the center of Cheng County, and the soldiers of the Yun Army on the city wall were unable to raise their heads.

After the rain of Shulun arrows poured down, the earth-shattering shouts of killing resounded all around.The endless soldiers of the Xia army took advantage of this opportunity to surround and kill them.

"Kill..."

The mountain roads are narrow, and it is difficult for siege equipment such as cloud carts and trebuchets to exert their power.But Xia Jun still pushed the rushing cart that was finally transported forward, and slammed it towards the city gate.

Xia Jun's courageous and completely fearless aura of fighting, obviously wanted to take down Chengxian County in one go.

And the cloud army in the city is not to be outdone.On the city wall, the catapults piled up oil tanks and projected towards Xia Jun's siege equipment, and hit the wooden ram with a "snap".A specially-made rocket is launched accordingly.

With a "boom", the car rushed over, and a fire suddenly ignited, causing Xia Jun to retreat helplessly.

The mountain road is narrow, and it is difficult to deploy a large army, as are all kinds of battlefield weapons.The original cloud army sighed in front of Yangping Pass and had no choice but to retreat.And now Xia Jun, in front of Chengxian, had the same melancholy.

It's just that the current Xia army is not the mob of Hao Yuanhua!
As the most elite soldiers and horses of the Xia Kingdom, even though they fought against the rain of arrows and rolling stones and suffered countless casualties, they did not show any sign of retreating.He didn't even need the general to urge to order, so he rushed to kill.

Even though he was repelled time and time again by the Yun army, he was able to continue to rush towards Cheng County in front of him with such bravery, as if he was tireless.

Such a brutal fight lasted for half a day.The Xia army on the opposite side left thousands of corpses, and finally called gold to withdraw.

And just when the Yun army in Chengxian County thought they could take a breather for a while, they saw the Xia army who had just attacked from the bottom of the city lined up and retreated to recuperate.

Another Xia army, fully armored and fully recharged, continued to move forward, taking over the positions of their previous colleagues.

After a while, only the sound of "dong dong dong" was heard, and Xia Jun's army drum, which made the Yun army in the city frightened, sounded again at this time.

"Kill!"

A group of Xia Jun came roaring again.

Under the Xia army's successive attacks regardless of casualties, the three thousand cloud army had only held on for two days, and had already suffered more than a thousand casualties and more than half of the battle damage.

The only thing supporting Cheng County's cloud army now is the upcoming reinforcements from the rear.

Longnan Prefecture, where the headquarters of Cheng Bushi's army is located, is only a hundred miles away from Cheng County.Even with the addition of the reporting distance, the reinforcements should resist tomorrow.

And just as Chengxian Yunjun was gritting his teeth to hold on, suddenly, he heard shouts of killing from the northeast of Chengxian County.

Gritting their teeth, the soldiers of the Yun army shouted excitedly:
"Reinforcement?"

"It must be reinforcements!"

But before the soldiers were happy for a long time, they suddenly heard someone say in horror:
"No, no! To the northeast is Chencang Road, which leads to the territory of Xia Kingdom. It is absolutely impossible for reinforcements to come from there...it is the Xia Army!"

As if responding to what this person said, a rain of arrows suddenly shot into the city from the northeast.The sound of killing, reverberating through the valley, seems to be resounding in all directions at this time.

The Yun army, which was struggling to support it, was attacked on both sides. In an instant, its morale was scattered, and the army formation suddenly became unstable.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xia Jun wearing black armor spread up like a tide, and finally jumped onto the city wall with a sudden leap.

Chengxian, broken!
-
Jiangcheng Mansion, in the southwestern recruiting office.

Facing Deyang Hou Zimmer's question, Gong Yingzong slightly shook her head and said with a light smile:
"Wuling Mansion? Hehehe, General Yun Wu Zixu used his troops fiercely and decisively. Although there are few generals, Guan Ning's iron cavalry is so elite that it is difficult to fight. Before that, only a few people in the court, including His Majesty, knew about it. Fang's actions, as if he wanted to fight the Yun army in the Wuling Mansion, were just done on purpose to confuse Yun Guo's spies!"

"As for Di Qing, General Yun of Hechi County, he has the most soldiers and horses under his command, and he also has the best soldiers in the world. Youzhou iron cavalry is not the best choice!"

Zimmer nodded and continued:

"Then why did you choose the two counties of Xiangzhou and Jiangyang, which are the most dangerous and difficult to attack, as the main attack direction? Even a few months ago, you advised His Majesty to mobilize [-] troops to attack Cheng County?"

"The General of Yunguo Conquering the North is ignorant of his plans, and he is extremely cautious in using his troops. In this way, he has fallen into the limitation of few flexibility. Moreover, his soldiers, only [-], have to defend the two counties of Xiangzhou and Jiangyang. It's time to send troops when we're stretched!"

Speaking of this, Gong Yingzong smiled slightly and said calmly:

"Furthermore, the main attack direction of my advice is actually only one Jiangyang County. The heavy troops in Cheng County are just mobilizing troops without knowing how to mobilize them!"

"Starting from Xingyuan Mansion, the troops were divided into two groups. The first line went to Chengxian County, making the move to attack Xiangzhou County. The other line went all the way along the Jinniu Road. We only need to break through Jianzhou of Guangyuan Mansion, and after that, there is no danger. The Jiangyang County plain is guarded. Taking Jiangyang County back, Xiangzhou County will become an enclave of Yunguo, and Dejiang County will be backed by enemies. The entire situation in the southwest will be different!"

Hearing this, Deyang Hou Qimo showed admiration in his eyes, applauded and praised:

"Sir, you really are a genius!"

(End of this chapter)