Thief Emperor

Chapter 443 The dispute between Jianghuai!

Yangzhou City.

At this time, the Pinglu Army was already all over the vicinity of Yangzhou City. General Zhou Xu personally went to the scene to supervise the battle and at the same time sent people to Yangzhou City to submit a letter of surrender.

At this moment, Zhao Cheng was on the tower. He picked up a letter of persuasion to surrender, then turned around to look at a young man standing behind him, and said with a smile: "Brother Meng, look, General Zhou wants to take me as his son-in-law."

Meng Qing took the letter of surrender he handed over and read it carefully.

He grew up in Hexi Village in his early years. Because his family was poor, he didn't know many words and only learned some simple words sporadically. However, after following Li Yun, he made a lot of progress and now he can basically recognize most commonly used words.

In this letter of surrender, the conditions offered by General Zhou were very tempting. The general meaning was that as long as Zhao Cheng was willing to open the city and surrender, any of his three unmarried daughters could marry Zhao Cheng.

And Zhao Cheng would immediately become the deputy general of the Pinglu Army and become a senior figure in the Pinglu Army.

After taking a look at it, Meng Qing handed the letter of surrender back and said, "It seems that they know the general very well and know that the general... is still unmarried."

When Li Yun first started out, no one would specifically learn about the Jiangdong Army. Even with regard to Li Yun himself, they had only heard of his name. But now, the Pinglu Army already had a fairly detailed understanding of Li Yun and the four generals under his command, as well as second-line generals such as Deng Yang, Chen Da, Meng Qing, and Yang Xi.

Zhao Cheng looked at the enemy's camp that was faintly visible outside the city and said with a smile: "If you are bigger, you will be seen by more people."

As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes and whispered, "It's a pity that there are too many people in the Pinglu Army. Otherwise, I really want to go out and fight with them to teach these Qingzhou soldiers a lesson."

Meng Qing said, "The envoy should react soon. When the envoy attacks from the outside, we can fight back from the inside. Then we can have a real fight with the Pinglu army."

"Boy."

Zhao Cheng turned around and patted Meng Qing on the shoulder, smiling and said, "What you said is called internal and external cooperation."

"Internal and external cooperation..."

Meng Qing repeated it, nodded seriously and said, "Thank you, General. I'll make a note of it."

Zhao Cheng nodded at him, then called the military clerk, wrote a document on a piece of silk, and Zhao Cheng personally bent the bow and shot an arrow outside the city.

The Pinglu Army outside the city quickly picked up the silk book and brought it to General Zhou's tent. General Zhou unfolded the silk and saw only two sentences written on it.

"I wish to be the son-in-law of Qingzhou, and I ask for the city of Yangzhou."

General Zhou threw the silk book away and snorted, "This Li Xiao is so ungrateful!"

Junior General Zhou Chang bent down to pick up the silk book, read it once, and then put it aside. He said to General Zhou, "Dad, our people have been trying to find out the news about the generals in Jiangnan for the past six months. According to some clues, this Li Xiao who suddenly appeared in the Jiangdong army is very likely Zhao Cheng, who conspired with Qiu Dian to rebel in Yuezhou, and the son of General Zhao Teng more than ten years ago."

"Zhao Teng..."

Zhou Xu was silent for a while after hearing this, then narrowed his eyes and said, "He and I are old acquaintances. His son..."

He looked up at Zhou Chang, shook his head slowly and said, "If it was a year or two ago, this information could be used to control Li Yun and Jiangdong, but now, it is useless."

"Even if it is reported to the imperial court, they will pretend they don't know."

General Zhou touched his chin, thought for a while, looked at his son, and asked, "What's going on in Jinling recently?"

"The Jinling defenders were taken to Dantu, Runzhou, by Zhou Liangdu. They are now on the south bank of Yangzhou City. If they cross the river, they will be able to support Yangzhou soon. But don't worry, father."

Zhou Chang said in a deep voice: "We have two to three thousand people stationed on that section of the north bank, watching it day and night. It is impossible for Zhou Liang to cross the river quietly."

General Zhou nodded silently and said, "I understand."

Zhou Chang thought for a moment and asked, "Dad, are we going to just surround them like this? Should we try to attack Yangzhou?"

"Fight? How?"

Zhou Xu glanced at his son and said in a muffled voice, "There are seven or eight thousand defenders in the city. How many people will die if we want to capture Yangzhou? And if the main force from Jiangdong arrives in the middle of the battle, how will we respond?"

"How come you are still so stupid after a year of training in Huainan Road?"

General Zhou snorted and said in a deep voice, "We can't fight for Yangzhou. We can only surround it like this. We can either surround Yangzhou until it is exhausted and the city opens to surrender. Then we can take Yangzhou and divide the river with Li Yun."

"Or if we are halfway through the encirclement and Li Yun sends troops to rescue us, we can fight with the reinforcements from Jiangdong and repel them. We can still slowly take over Yangzhou. If we cripple them, we can also look to Jiangnan."

Major General Zhou Chang couldn't help but ask, "Dad, do you mean that if Li Yun doesn't come, we will give up Jiangnan?"

"You have always been in charge of the intelligence. Don't you know how many troops Jiangdong has added in the past year?"

"No matter how many more troops are sent, it will only take a year."

Zhou Chang said in a deep voice: "A soldier with only one year's service, still a new soldier, has not even been on the battlefield, what use is he? Li Yun took advantage of our busy schedule to attack Luzhou, and father can swallow this anger?" "Whether it is useful or not, you have no say."

General Zhou sighed and said, "It will only count after the battle. According to what you said, all the troops under Li Yun's command have not been in existence for more than three years. Aren't they useless?"

Seeing that Zhou Chang wanted to talk more, General Zhou had no patience to continue teaching him. He waved his hand and said, "Stop talking nonsense and do as I say. Send more people to keep an eye on Fanyang, and send more people to Hedong to gather information."

Zhou Chang nodded first, then smiled and said, "Dad, those two are now in charge of the court, so how could they have the heart to make things difficult for us in Qingzhou? You are too cautious."

General Zhou groaned, "The boss is the boss, the boss is the boss."

"The three of them are rampant now, but as soon as they rebel, they will be attacked by everyone. It's still too early for them to be the master of the house!"

"They will definitely hide behind the reputation of the imperial court and expand their own power, and our Pinglu Army is too close to them."

“It’s very likely that it will bear the brunt of the impact.”

"Think more about everything with your brain."

General Zhou slapped the table, a little annoyed: "Go back to work!"

Zhou Chang was startled, but he went there obediently.

After he left, General Zhou sat alone in his tent, lost in thought. The two beautiful girls accompanying the army immediately came up to him and massaged his shoulders. General Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly and murmured something.

"Zhao Teng, Zhao Teng..."

…………

On the other side, Li Yun had also left Jinling with his guards and the newly drawn map of Jiangbei. They all rode horses and headed westward. After two or three days, they finally arrived outside Luzhou City.

At this time, the entire Luzhou was under the control of Jiangdong. Obviously, most of the Pinglu Army's attention was focused on Yangzhou, and there were no more troops to manage Luzhou.

Before he entered Luzhou City, Chen Da, who was stationed in Luzhou, came to greet him outside the city. After seeing Li Yun, Chen Da stepped forward, bowed his head and clasped his fists, and said, "Envoy!"

Li Yun patted his shoulder and said, "Are you used to being in Luzhou during this period?"

Chen Da followed behind Li Yun, lowered his head and smiled bitterly, saying, "Sir, since I arrived in Luzhou, Luzhou has been peaceful. Not to mention the Pinglu Army, even the spies have not been caught."

"Isn't that good?"

Li Yun put his hands behind his back and said with a smile, "It saves you the trouble."

Chen Da sighed and said, "Luzhou's mission is important. I dare not slack off for a day. I will still patrol the city walls every day and send people to patrol near Luzhou City."

Li Yun smiled and said, "It is precisely because of your vigilant nature that I asked you to guard Luzhou. However, your leisure time is coming to an end. After a while, I plan to lead your Luzhou garrison to go to war."

Chen Da was startled at first, then he looked at Li Yun and whispered, "Is the envoy going to lead the troops himself?"

Li Yun looked back at him and asked, "What? Can't I lead the troops anymore?"

"That's not what I meant. That's not what I meant."

Chen Da waved his hands and said with a smile: "I just remembered that when I first followed you to fight bandits, you were as powerful as a hundred and could defeat half a village by yourself."

"With the envoy leading me, I am not afraid of anyone!"

"In the past, there were 100 to 200 people fighting each other, and at most more than 200 people died."

Li Yun said calmly: "Now the number of people on both sides easily exceeds tens of thousands, and personal bravery is useless. You should also learn more and stop thinking about the past."

Chen Da responded with a yes, and the two of them walked into Luzhou City. After a walk around the city, Li Yun came to the governor's mansion and met his father-in-law Xue Song.

Li Yun greeted him and said with a smile, "Father-in-law, how are you?"

Master Xue raised his head, looked at Li Yun, and asked in confusion, "Why is Erlang here?"

"Come to visit my father-in-law."

Li Yun chuckled.

"By the way, let's fight those Qingzhou soldiers in the north."

(End of this chapter)