Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 477 War resumes
In the next few days, Zhao Zhen dealt with the backlog of affairs in the two states every day in the village, and paid attention to Song Jiang's actions in Qingzhou. Gao Lian in Gaotang Prefecture in the north had begun to recruit soldiers and civilians and raised an army of 10,000.

It is not known whether it was Zhao Zhen's suggestion, but the spies in Lingzhou who were gathering information also sent back the news that Zengtou City had raised an army of 5,000, and under the leadership of two Lingzhou militia commanders, [General of Holy Water] Shan Tinggui and [General of Divine Fire] Wei Dingguo, they had a combined army of 10,000 and rushed to support Hu Yanzhuo in the middle route.

Song Jiang had also learned the news early and organized his guns, swords, weapons, bows, crossbows, and arrows in preparation for resisting the government troops.

In addition, Le He's spies also discovered Song Gongming's arrangements.

Laiwu was still guarded by Song Jiang himself, with [Ghost-Seeing Sorrow] Lai Yong'er as his military advisor, and the defending generals [Fei Lian] Huangfu Xiong, [Little Overlord] Zhou Tong, [Ai Ye Leopard] Di Lei, [Iron Arhat] Fa Tong, [Pan Hai Dragon] Qin Hui, [Mountain-pulling Bear] Zhao Fu, [Sea-Stirring General] Zhao Gui, [Flower Knife] Meng Futong, as well as Ruan Qixiang and Ruan Zhao'er who surrendered from Yizhou, eleven chiefs, big and small, commanding an army of 30,000 and 20,000 able-bodied men, claiming to be a hundred thousand, to defend Laiwu and Laiwu Prison.

The northern route was still led by [Golden Scaled Python] Ma Yuan, commanding six people including [Lie Jue Da Lang] Helian Jinming, [Hungry Bug] Yao Shun, [Iron Back Wolf] Cui Hao, [Heaven-shaking] Yin Tai, [Drilling Ghost] Yin Chun, [Sima Shi] Wanqi Chun, 20,000 cavalry and infantry soldiers, 3,000 naval forces, and 70 to 80 large and small ships. They were commanded by [Hun Jiang Long] Li Jun, who patrolled the Zibo River.

Weizhou is guarded by [Mao Tou Xing] Kong Ming and [Drunken Vajra] Fahui.

The people guarding Qingzhou are [Optimus Prime] Ren Yuan and [Ugly Scholar] Wanqi De.

As for the five people, [Iron Fan] Song Qing, [Tiger Fighting General] Li Zhong, [Unrestrained] Mu Hong, [Little Restriction] Mu Chun, [Sima Zhao] Wanqi Rong, they led 10,000 troops and launched the offensive one step ahead. Their target was Mizhou as Wu Yong had expected.

Song Qing's troops had already been secretly prepared. When the weather turned warmer, they set out from Weizhou. When Zhao Zhen received the news, the three counties of Anqiu, Gaomi and Zhucheng had already been captured.

The result was so smooth not only because Song Qing dispatched troops suddenly, but also because of the idea proposed by [Sima Zhao] Wanqi Rong, who sent people to sneak into the city seven or eight days in advance. When the troops were at the gates of the city, they were attacked from both inside and outside. The three counties had no capable defenders, so Song Qing occupied the three counties without any effort, and the prefects and county magistrates and other officials either died or fled.

In the entire Mizhou, only Ju County and Jiaoxi County were still in the hands of the court.

After receiving the news, Zhao Zhen did not hesitate and immediately sent a pigeon message, asking Guan Sheng and Xuan Zan, who had been stationed in Yizhou, to lead 2500 Tiger Army soldiers and head straight to Ju County.

Li Kui, Tang Meng, Li Gun and Xiang Chong led 2500 men from the Yongyi Camp and set out from Liangshan, following Guan Sheng's orders. As soon as they captured Ju County, Mrs. Lu led her men to boil salt.

Besides, Hu Yanzhuo, who was in charge of the imperial edict, also learned that the Qingzhou bandits had attacked Mizhou, so he sent someone to contact Zhao Zhen, wanting to set a date to encircle and wipe out most of Song Jiang's forces in Laiwu.

When Zhao Zhen met the messenger, he asked Hu Yanzhuo to postpone the dispatch of troops, saying that the soldiers were busy with spring ploughing, they were tired of fighting, and the imperial reinforcements had not arrived yet.

Dai Zong acted as a messenger, running back and forth to deliver the message. It took another seven or eight days to set a date.

At this time, Guan Sheng had already occupied Ju County. When Song Qing's troops saw the Liangshan flag on the top of the city wall, they did not dare to attack the city and turned to attack Jiaoxi. When the Lingzhou troops arrived, Zhao Zhen sent troops slowly.

Before the expedition, Zhao Zhen returned to the main world and made a deal with the shopkeeper Du from Huainan, offering 1,000 dan of coarse tea, 100 dan of fine tea, and a set of four volumes of "Illustrated Explanation of River Workers' Tools". Unfortunately, the entry-level tea Zhao Zhen was looking forward to was not available. In addition to the 1,000-jin Geng cake that had been prepared long ago, he also took out a lot of dried dates and dried persimmons purchased from Qingzhou in the fantasy world, along with a cool bamboo mat, and completed the deal by bartering.

With this set of "Illustrated Explanation of River Engineering Tools", Zhao Zhen handed it over to the prefecture and selected seven or eight scribes and painters, including Wang Yi and Li Zhaoliang, to copy several sets of this illustrated book on river management. In addition to sending them to the prefecture and Zhao Zhen's mansion, he also asked the prefecture to prepare various tools.

He also ordered [thin eel] Dong Er to set up a battalion [Heqing Army] to be responsible for the defense, dredging and rescue of various rivers. Zhang Heng and Zhang Shun, brothers who learned military orders in Ruan Xiaoer's army, also led a battalion of water soldiers to patrol the river and train the water soldiers. Zhang Shun's battalion of water soldiers was special. In addition to the normal large and small sea eel boats, there was also the only sunken snail boat in Liangshan.

Although there is a diagram of this sinking snail boat, unfortunately due to limited materials, a [Spirit of the World] was used in the end, which solved the problem of breathing underwater.

On this expedition, Zhao Zhen only brought the Left and Right Brave Cavalry Battalions, the Ranger Cavalry Battalion, the [Green Flag Willow Leaf Battalion], the [Red Flag Women's Battalion] and the Guarding Flag Battalion under Yu Baosi. The rest of the soldiers from Liangshan Prefecture were not mobilized.

There were 12500 cavalry and infantry soldiers stationed in Xintai, Yiyuan, Mengyin, Pingyi and other places in Yizhou, totaling nearly people, enough to deal with emergencies.

After all, Zhao Zhen was not really serious about exterminating the Qingzhou bandits. He could explain to the court by sending out these troops.

When Zhao Zhen led his troops to Xintai, it was already the fifth day of March. The sun was warm and the wind was gentle, the grass was green and the sand was soft, perfect for fighting. When they arrived in Xintai, Li Ying led his men to meet them. A large camp had been set up in the north of Xintai City, and Zhao Xin, Jie Zhen, Jie Bao and others from Mengyin and Pingyi had already led their troops to station there.

Zhao Zhen did not go to the city either, but stayed in the camp.

The drum for gathering the generals was struck, and Zhao Zhen went up to the tent. Seeing that everyone was present, Zhao Zhen asked, "What is the situation in Laiwu now?"

Li Ying heard this and stepped forward and said, "Sir, seven days ago, fighting broke out between Laiwu and Laiwu Prison. Hu Yanzhuo, Han Tao, and Gao Gao led the troops to attack Laiwu, but the group from Lingzhou split into two groups, with Shan Tinggui, the militia commander, and Wei Dingguo assisting Hu Yanzhuo. The other group of troops from Zengtou City, led by Zengtu, the mayor of Zengtou City, his second son Zengmi, and his fifth son Zengsheng, attacked Laiwu Prison."

"How did you divide the troops? How many troops does Hu Yanzhuo have?" Liu Hui Niang asked.

"Madam, the spies have learned that the people of Zengtou City in Lingzhou, relying on their strong military strength, do not accept Hu Yanzhuo's leadership, and therefore form their own army. The spies said that among the 5,000 people in Zengtou City, there are 3,000 cavalry alone. All of them are skilled in archery and horse riding, and the team is well-organized." Li Ying replied.

"How is the war going?" Zhao Zhen asked.

"The troops of Zengtou City did not attack the city. They only shouted and challenged each other every day. The four people guarding the city, Zhao Fu, Zhao Gui, Meng Futong, and Ruan Qixiang, just let them shout and challenge and did not fight."

Zhao Zhen heard this and said, "It seems that the division of troops in Zengtou City is just to avoid siege."

As he was speaking, he heard a lieutenant from Fulu come to report that Zeng Sheng from Zengtou City came to pay a visit.

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen said to the generals, "Let's see what he says."

As he said this, he asked someone to bring Zeng Sheng to the big tent.

Soon, the soldiers led Zeng Sheng in. When everyone looked, they saw that Zeng Sheng was only sixteen or seventeen years old, with a fair face and no beard. He was nine feet tall, wearing a golden helmet, iron armor, a velvet belt around his waist, a red robe, and cloud-root boots. He was a very handsome man.

(End of this chapter)