Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Since the beginning of spring, the State of Qi launched an attack on Hebei and Hedong, and from the eastern coast to the western border with the Western Xia, all the military prefectures were caught in a dilemma about whether or not to send troops.

Various rumors from the front lines made the military prefectures in the south even more tense, and they recruited soldiers and brave men to serve as troops. Scouts and cavalry were everywhere in the military prefectures.

Only Zong Ze, the prefect of Cizhou, summoned troops from Xingzhou, Longde Prefecture, Xiangzhou, and Luozhou, and mobilized all the troops in his prefecture, totaling 30,000, to aid Daming Prefecture.

At that time, news of the fall of Hejian Prefecture had just arrived. Liang Zhongshu, the garrison commander of Daming Prefecture, ordered people to pack up their valuables and welcomed Zong Ze into the city. He entrusted the city's soldiers and generals to coordinate defenses with Zong Ze and sent messengers to Bianliang, the capital of Tokyo, to report the situation. At the same time, he sought out his friends in the court to prepare to exonerate Zong Ze at any time.

Within a few days, news spread south of Hejian Prefecture of the power of the Qi army's new artillery. At the same time, news also reached other parts of the south that the walls of Hejian Prefecture could not withstand the artillery fire and broke down. Then came the news that the Qi army had divided its forces to attack Baozhou and that a detachment was advancing into Zhengding Prefecture.

The transmission of various messages made the atmosphere in Daming Prefecture increasingly tense. Outrageous rumors included "Qi soldiers eating people," "Northerners wantonly plundering silver," and "Qi people levying exorbitant taxes." There were also true reports such as "they did not harm those who surrendered" and "the Qi government reduced miscellaneous taxes for the people." Each story was told in great detail, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

However, many people preferred to believe the northerners' lies about their wives and daughters being robbed and killed without restraint, rather than heeding the truth they heard. Many people began to pack their valuables and set off.

In late summer, Lü Bu led his army to Dongguang City. The cannons fired only a few shots before the city north of Yongjing Army surrendered. Subsequently, Niu Gao, the prefect of Dading Prefecture and general of Pingdi, led 5,000 troops to attack Fucheng. After capturing the city in half a day, he turned to Jizhou next door to seize Guanjin Town on the east side of Beihe River, while cooperating with Li Bao, who was coming down from there, to sweep away the surrounding Song army.

Yang Zaixing led 5,000 troops to attack Wuqiao and other places in the south. In one day, he broke through Anling and Wuqiao, and then went south along the Yuzhang River, making the appearance of attacking Anle Town in Enzhou. However, on the second day, he outflanked and attacked Jiangling City, catching the defending army off guard. The troops that ran out of the city were no match for the cavalry and had to retreat back into the city to defend.

While Lü Bu's eastern army was marching, Chai Jin from Cangzhou in the east took the opportunity to defect to the Qi army, and at the same time presented detailed geomantic maps of Hebei and Shandong.

Wei Zhaode and Huyan Qing were overjoyed and quickly assembled a large army, mainly composed of surrendered soldiers, to successively invade and occupy cities such as Nanpi and Yanshan. They also used the geomantic map presented by Chai Jin to build several fortified villages south of Cangzhou for defense.

At the same time, the three Ruan brothers led their troops across the sea to transport the Liaodong troops. Along with them came shipbuilding craftsmen such as Ye Chun and Meng Kang, who strongly advocated turning Cangzhou, this coastal area, into a bridgehead for the navy.

In contrast, the Western Route Army, led by Du Xue and Sun An, was reactivated by Zhong Shidao. However, due to Zhong Shidao's intervention, the Western Army began to advance slowly by targeting the two men. General Pan Zhong was wounded, and his subordinate Duan Er was killed in action, causing Duan San Niang to weep for a long time.

In early late summer, the Western Route Army fought alongside Zhong Shidao at Xianzhou.

Zhong Shidao, familiar with the terrain, mobilized over a thousand archers to ambush Sun An, who succeeded. General Jianzhong, Liu Yuan, was killed by an arrow, and his troops suffered a loss of nearly 20%.

Sun An and Du Xue were furious and gathered their forces, with Feng Tai and Aliqi as the vanguard to launch a fierce attack on the Western Army. Zhong Shidao commanded with composure and stabilized the defense line. The two sides fought a great battle, and the Qi army won by a slight advantage and retreated.

In the same month, the Zhao Song court complained about the Western Army's repeated loss of cities. At the same time, as the Qi army approached Daming Prefecture, Zhao Huan ordered the Western Army to retreat to Bianliang for defense.

Zhong Shidao refused to return due to the urgency of the war, and some people in the court suggested punishing the Western Army by deliberately withholding money and food.

With insufficient supplies of money and provisions, Zhong Shidao could not afford to reward the Divine Arm Archers with enough money, and their troops refused to fight for him. Helpless, Zhong Shidao ordered a retreat to the nearest city, Xinzhou. The Divine Arm Archers were recalled by the imperial court, and the morale of the entire Western Army plummeted.

Du Xue, Sun An, and Yuan Lang were also hesitant about whether to attack Taiyuan Prefecture or take Yizhou first, since Zhong Shidao had retreated and formed a north-south defense alliance with Taiyuan Prefecture.

Soon after, Xu Han, the Privy Councilor, began urging Zhong Shizhong to send troops to attack the Qi army, and the war on the western route was about to break out again.

……

The giant rock flew high into the sky.

A warm breeze fluttered the banners as soldiers patrolling the Daming Prefecture drill ground passed by, their gazes falling upon the flying boulder that crashed down with tremendous force. *Thud—*

A muffled thud was heard, and the ground beneath my feet shook.

Several figures walked from a distance to the crater where the boulder had fallen. After looking at the destroyed target, Zong Ze shook his head: "No, the legend says that when the Qi army's cannons exploded, the sky and earth collapsed. It shouldn't be like this."

"Please forgive us, my lord. We have never seen the actual object, so we really can't imagine what it looks like."

Li Cheng, nicknamed the Heavenly King, cupped his hands and explained softly to Zong Ze, "This is already the farthest whirlwind cannon fired in Daming Prefecture, a full hundred paces. If it were placed on the city wall, it could blast dozens more paces forward."

The somewhat thin figure beside him cupped his hands and said, "Prime Minister, regardless of what those Qi army cannons are, why don't we fill the city walls with them first?"

“What Gongmei said is exactly what I wanted to say.” Zong Ze sighed softly: “The Northern Army is attacking very quickly, and it is no longer time to slowly probe and test. We should erect a whirlwind cannon every eighty paces as a defense, and have ballistae guarding the left and right sides.”

Turning to look at the respectful Li Cheng, he asked, "How many Divine Arm Bows are there in the city?"

“There should be over five hundred.” Li Cheng thought for a moment and then said, “There should have been more, but half of them were transferred from Bianliang before you came, sir.”

"...That should be enough." Zong Ze sighed and looked at his deputy beside him: "Gong Mei has been keeping an eye on the city walls these past two days. Tell them to set up the Whirlwind Cannons properly and make sure there are no mistakes."

“Commander Li, I have a general under my command named Yue Fei, whom I greatly admire. His troops are also very capable and are the elite of the army. Please allocate two hundred divine crossbows to him and let him familiarize himself with them as soon as possible in the next two days.”

"Yes." Li Cheng cupped his hands, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Speaking of elite troops, there is one in Daming Prefecture who is quite capable, named Suo Chao. He is currently the commander of a battalion. Although the number of troops is small, they are all daredevils."

"Oh?" Zong Ze became interested and stroked his beard. "Judging from the Commander's words, he is willing to let him come to the army to form an elite force under my command?"

"I am ashamed!" Li Cheng touched his temple and sighed, "My Daming Prefecture had previously come into contact with the bandit Lü, who was still a bandit, but unfortunately we were defeated. Now, Lü's forces should be even more difficult to deal with than before. Although I am of low rank, I am willing to do my part to defeat him."

"Good, good, good." Zong Ze patted his arm with a smile: "If everyone were as concerned about the country as Supervisor Li, why would we worry about the Qi army not retreating? Tell him to come to my tent today."

"Yes."

Li Cheng cupped his hands in agreement, then addressed the two men, saying, "If there is nothing else, Prime Minister Zong and Vice Minister Du, I will take my leave now."

The two men standing there nodded, and the prefectural commander of Daming Prefecture quickly turned around and left with several trusted lieutenants.

Someone turned to look around and saw that they were far away before approaching Li Cheng and asking, "Commander, are you really going to transfer Suo Chao to the Prime Minister's side?"

"What else can we do?" Li Cheng curled his lip. "Is it because he wants to keep this guy in the army to annoy me all day long? He just wants to fight, so let him go to Zong Xianggong's army and have a good fight."

The trusted confidants beside him exchanged glances and nodded in unison.

Before long, Daming Prefecture was bustling with activity again, and at the same time, an imperial edict from Bianliang arrived. (End of Chapter)