Thief Emperor

Chapter 352: First Battle! Who is the Rebel?
Three days later, Li Yun led Zhao Cheng's troops and began to cross the river.

The trend of provincial governors and local governments acting independently, and even of each region separatist, has become visible to the naked eye, but it has not yet taken shape, and no decent local force has emerged in Huainan Road so far.

Therefore, the river has not been blocked yet.

The first batch of more than 300 people under Li Yun's command crossed the river smoothly and arrived at Huainan Road in the north of the river.

At this time, Yangzhou and Jinling were separated by a river. After crossing the river, this side was the territory of Yangzhou. Although there was no defense, Li Yun and others' crossing of the river immediately alarmed the local government.

Directly north of Jinling Prefecture is Liuhe County of Yangzhou. After Li Yun's troops had basically crossed the river, the magistrate and county magistrate of Liuhe County and others hurried to the scene to inquire about the situation.

Before they entered Li Yun's temporary residence, they were stopped by Yang Xi, a subordinate of Li Yun.

At this time, Yang Xi had just been promoted to colonel by Li Yun. If the imperial court also recognized him as colonel, then his rank would not be much different from that of a local county magistrate.

"The main camp is a restricted area, no one is allowed to enter without permission."

Yang Xi stopped the two officials from Liuhe County, looked at their official uniforms, frowned and asked, "Where are you from?"

The middle-aged man in the lead was named He. Hearing this, he cupped his hands and said in a deep voice, "I am the magistrate of Liuhe County."

"May I ask where your army is from and why are you crossing the river to the north?"

Yang Xi grinned and said, "We are soldiers from the Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy's Office!"

"I came to Jiangbei for some official business. This is a confidential matter, and it is not something your local county government can interfere with. Let's go!"

The Magistrate He frowned and shouted, "My Liuhe belongs to Yangzhou, which belongs to Huainan Road. What does it have to do with Jiangnan East Road? Why did the soldiers of your Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy come to the border of Huainan Road?"

Yang Xi narrowed his eyes, put his hand on the hilt of the knife at his waist, and said in a cold voice: "I told you, this is a secret from the higher-ups, do you want to ask more?"

In this situation, no matter how stupid the two civil officials were, they dared not say anything more. However, County Magistrate He was still somewhat tough and gritted his teeth and said, "I have also heard of the great name of Li Shijun, the Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy, in Jiangbei. May I ask if Li Shijun has also arrived in Jiangbei? I want to meet him and ask him face to face!"

Yang Xi was born a bandit after all, and finally he could no longer suppress his temper. He drew out the long sword at his waist with a "Canglang" sound, and shouted: "Do you think you can find out whether my envoy has arrived in Jiangbei?"

"Whether I'm here or not, you can't see me. Go!"

Yang Xi has been following Li Yun for the past two years, especially during the time he served as Li Yun's chief bodyguard, and has been responsible for many deaths. After all, Li Yun is a man who likes to charge into battle, and once Li Yun charges, people like Yang Xi must follow.

After a while, he, the captain of the guard, was also tainted with a strong evil aura. His sudden shout scared the two civil servants so much that they turned around and ran away tremblingly.

After scaring away the two civil servants, Yang Xi felt quite proud.

Once upon a time, he would tremble in his heart when he saw a county yamen runner on the street, but now, even after being scolded by him, the county magistrate didn't dare to fart!

After grinning for a while, Yang Xi sheathed his sword, turned around and went into the innermost tent, bowed his head and said to Li Yun: "Sir, the people outside have been driven away by my subordinates."

"it is good."

Li Yun withdrew his gaze from the map, then turned his head to look at Zhao Cheng beside him, and said slowly: "The Pinglu Army has been operating for so many years, and there are many spies in Jiangnan. In Huainan Road, I am afraid that the infiltration is more thorough, and there will be more spies."

"The news that our troops have arrived in Huainan Road will soon reach the ears of the Pinglu Army."

At this point, Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "It's a pity that we don't have so many spies. We still don't even know who the general of this Pinglu Army is."

This is also one of Li Yun's current shortcomings. Although Li Yun has given Liu Bo a lot of authority and support to allow him to set up this intelligence agency, this matter is more complicated than imagined.

In addition, Liu Bo is thoughtful and steady, and is still in the stage of laying the foundation bit by bit.

It will take at least two or three years before this intelligence agency can be put to use.

This matter cannot be rushed.

After all, when you go to war with others, you recruit soldiers and then give them weapons and armor, so they can actually go to the battlefield. It’s just a matter of strength.

But it will take time to spread the intelligence network.

If you want to achieve success overnight, you can only... inherit an existing intelligence agency from someone else.

Unfortunately, Li Yun was only a second-generation village chief, not a second-generation governor. It was impossible for his father, the village chief, to leave him any intelligence agency.

Zhao Cheng stood beside Li Yun, pointed at the map, and said, "If this Pinglu Army is still in Chuzhou, we have two or three days, or even longer, to rush to the vicinity of Yangzhou."

"If this Pinglu Army has reached the border between Chuzhou and Yangzhou, or even reached Yangzhou, then we must rush to Yangzhou as soon as possible."

At this point, Zhao Cheng said, "Yangzhou is the big fat piece of meat. The news that the Pinglu Army has arrived in Huainan Road must have come from Yangzhou. After they know we are in Yangzhou, they will definitely come looking for us."

"Your Majesty."

Zhao Cheng lowered his head and said, "We can seize their mentality and find a place to ambush them and catch them off guard."

Li Yun stared at the rough map, thought for a while, and then said, "The Pinglu Army is well-informed. We just arrived in Jiangbei. We are not familiar with the terrain and do not have enough scouts. It is too difficult to ambush them."

"I have a better idea."

Li Yun asked softly, "How long does it take to get to Yangzhou from here?"

"It would take half a day on horseback to get there, but it would take about two days on the march."

Just as Zhao Cheng finished speaking, someone came in and reported, "Sir, General Li, all of our troops have crossed the river and are now at Jiangbei!"

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Rest for an hour, then set off immediately and rush to Yangzhou City." Zhao Cheng was startled, then asked, "Envoy, are you a little too anxious?"

"The Pinglu Army is farther away from Yangzhou than we are."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Besides, they should know that our troops are not particularly large, at least less than theirs. If you were the general of this Pinglu Army, what would you be most worried about right now?"

Zhao Cheng thought about it for a while, and then he suddenly realized.

"Yes, they are most afraid of us. We will enter Yangzhou before them, occupy the city, and then defend it."

"We have 2,000 to 3,000 people defending the city, and they have 5,000 to attack. We don't stand a chance."

Li Yun nodded slowly: "So after they receive the news, they will rush to Yangzhou as quickly as possible, and they may not even have time to rest."

Zhao Cheng smiled knowingly.

"I understand, Lord."

…………

Two days later, in the evening, outside Yangzhou city.

An army marched towards Yangzhou city in a mighty manner.

The leader was a young general who sat on a horse and asked about the situation near Yangzhou City from time to time.

At this moment, he was only thirty miles away from Yangzhou City.

"Where are those Jiangdong soldiers? Where are they?"

The young general was extremely anxious.

A subordinate reported: "Major General, the Jiangnan troops have arrived at the city of Yangzhou."

The person who appeared near Yangzhou City at this time and was called the Major General was naturally none other than Zhou Chang, the son of Zhou Xu, the governor of Pinglu.

The major general was annoyed when he heard this and cursed: "This Li guy is really crazy, really crazy!"

"We haven't had time to go to Jiangnan to look for him yet, but he has crossed the river directly to the north. He really doesn't know how to live or die!"

The major general sneered and said, "He will regret it sooner or later!"

"Go quickly and send a letter to Mo Sima in Yangzhou City, telling him not to open the gates of Yangzhou City and not to let those Jiangdong soldiers in, no matter what!"

"I can reach Yangzhou in one or two hours at most and lift the siege of Yangzhou!"

He was a little excited at the moment.

His father sent him south, and the most important thing for him was to capture Yangzhou and bring all the valuables in the city back to Qingzhou to use as military expenses for the Pinglu Army.

And if Yangzhou was occupied by the man named Li from Jiangdong, he would really not be able to return to Qingzhou to report to his father.

By then, not to mention him, the legitimate son, even his legitimate father would probably be punished!
Thinking of this, Zhou Chang once again gave orders to speed up the advance.

Faster, faster!
Finally, when it was completely dark, Yangzhou City was already in sight in the distance.

"Major General!"

A spy reported: "Directly ahead is the camp of the Jiangnan soldiers!"

Zhou Chang was overjoyed and laughed, "They haven't entered the city yet, they haven't entered the city yet!"

"Array up!"

The young general shouted angrily, "Smash these Jiangnan rebels!"

On the other side, Yang Xi had just reported the situation of the Pinglu Army.

"General, the Pinglu Army is less than five miles away from our camp!"

Li Yun looked at Zhao Cheng standing aside.

Zhao Cheng nodded immediately: "Don't worry, sir, everything is ready!"

Li Yun nodded silently, and Zhao Cheng immediately understood. He stood up, looked at the long dragon of torches rushing towards him in the darkness in the distance, and took a deep breath.

"Array up!"

In this battle, there were no fancy command techniques, only four words.

Waiting for work with ease.

Li Yun, who was already fully armored, slowly put on the armor and pointed the spear in his hand straight ahead.

"with me!"

"Destroy these Qingzhou rebels who dared to attack Yangzhou!"

(End of this chapter)