Thief Emperor

Chapter 452 It’s a trend!
The most important thing about the art of command is that even if your side has fewer troops overall, through the commander's art of command, you can make your side's troops superior to the enemy, or even far superior to the enemy, in a local battle.

But in terms of the overall action, there is nothing fancy. Just as Su Sheng said, you always have to have a head-on collision to see who is harder.

If our combat effectiveness is far inferior to that of the Pinglu Army, then we are doomed to fail in this battle for territory, and it will be even more impossible to seize the entire Huainan Road.

If this is true, there is no need to continue defending Yangzhou. It would be better to send troops all the way to Yangzhou, rescue the defenders in the city, and then break out together, return to Jiangnan, train for a few more years, and then fight against the Pinglu Army.

Fighting a war is quite different from the ups and downs and bizarre strategies in vernacular novels.

At least it is not applicable to the battle for territory like that in Jiangbei.

In the following days after Su Sheng arrived in Liuhe, reinforcements from Qiantang County arrived in Liuhe County one after another. They did not even enter Liuhe County, but just camped outside the city to rest.

On the third day, Su Sheng assembled 5,000 soldiers and set out from near Liuhe County, marching towards the Liuhe ferry which had been re-stationed and blocked by the Pinglu Army.

Li Yun naturally followed the army.

When Su Sheng's troops approached Liuhe Ferry, Li Yun took out a monocular eyepiece from his arms and looked into the distance with one eye closed.

This eyepiece is actually a telescope, and it is the first telescope made by the Jinling workshop.

However, Jinling's glass technology and glass industry have not been perfected until now, so the lens of Li Yun's telescope is not made of glass, but pure transparent crystal.

Li spent more than a month in the workshop, personally guiding the students and training them step by step.

Although it was time-consuming and laborious, it finally found the direction and clarified the manufacturing process for subsequent glass telescopes.

In other words, although Li Yun is the only one with this thing at present, as long as the glass technology matures, Jiang Dong will be able to copy more telescopes soon.

After taking a look, Li Yun took back the eyepiece in his hand and frowned at Su Sheng, saying, "Brother Su, these Pinglu troops have demolished the Liuhe Ferry."

The so-called ferry is actually a place that is relatively easy to go ashore. The landing site is set up in advance with wood. With many people stepping on it day and night, a flat piece of land will usually be created, which is convenient for landing.

However, the original wooden docks at Liuhe Ferry have all been demolished, leaving only some stone docks that have not been destroyed.

Hearing this, Su Sheng turned his head to look at Li Yun, then looked at the telescope in Li Yun's hand, and said with a click of the tongue: "Can this thing see so far?"

Li Yun handed the monocular telescope to Su Sheng, motioning him to look at it himself. After Su Sheng took it, he followed suit and opened one eye and closed the other. Soon he really saw the ferry in the distance. General Su exclaimed, looked at it again in disbelief, and said it was weird.

After watching for a while, he retracted the eyepiece and said to Li Yun: "Without this ferry, it will only be more troublesome when landing. Besides, this place has been used as a ferry for so many years, and the terrain is suitable. Let's occupy it."

"It's easy to rebuild the dock."

At this point, he rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Envoy, can you give me this treasure?"

Li Yun shook his head and said, "This is the only one I have."

Su Sheng smiled and said, "Isn't it made in the workshop? When the envoy returns to Jiangnan, ask them to make another one."

Li Yun coughed and said, "How about this, I will definitely give Brother Su one next spring."

"Stingy, stingy."

Su Sheng handed the telescope back to Li Yun, then said with a smile: "Sir, if I can occupy Liuhe Ferry within three days, how about giving me this treasure?"

Li Yun thought about it, smiled and said, "If you take over Liuhe Ferry within three days, I will give you not only this one, but also twenty by next spring."

In the past six months, Li Yun has often visited the workshop. The glass in the workshop has actually been produced, but pure transparent glass is still under exploration.

The glass currently fired has some color and various bubbles in the middle.

By next year, this problem will most likely be solved, and telescopes will become standard equipment for the Jiangdong Army.

Su Sheng was very surprised. He asked twice, "Really?" After getting a positive answer from Li Yun, he laughed and waved his hand, saying, "Brothers, form a battle array, form a battle array!" "Prepare to attack Liuhe Ferry!"

After saying that, he took the lead and rushed out.

Behind him, a full five thousand Qiantang troops, and the elite among the Qiantang troops, followed closely behind him, forming a battle formation and charging towards Liuhe Ferry.

The Pinglu troops stationed at Liuhe Ferry had obviously been informed long ago, and were now lined up, awaiting the arrival of the enemy.

The two armies soon fought together, and in the first round of confrontation alone, at least hundreds of corpses were left on the battlefield!
Li Yun still stood on the high slope, occasionally picking up the telescope and looking at the battlefield. Yang Xi stood beside him, looking at Li Yun with some curiosity, and asked: "Your Excellency is always happy to hear about war, and would rather charge into the battle line and kill the enemy. Why is it that you are indifferent this time?"

Li Yun retracted his gaze and fell on Yang Xi. After thinking for a while, he shook his head slightly and said in a deep voice: "There must be this step."

With the expansion of his own power, as long as there are no major problems, Li Yun will go to the battlefield less and less frequently in the future.

Even in the future, he would go to the battlefield to supervise the battles in person less and less often. More often, he would stay in Jinling or somewhere else, let his generals fight on their own, and then he would stay in the base camp, waiting for the news of victory or defeat to come back.

Even if he leads the army in person, there is a high probability that he will just observe the battlefield like he is doing now.

Yang Xi looked at the battlefield, not quite understanding what was going on. Then he seemed to see something and pointed ahead and said, "Look, sir. That big guy is called Gao Liang. I recognize him."

Yang Xi was fascinated and said with emotion: "It's really fierce!"

Li Yun looked in the direction of his finger and saw a tall man in a captain's uniform, holding a shield in one hand and a heavy sword in the other. He was leading a team of people to fight the enemy on the battlefield.

When he encountered an enemy, he would either knock him away with his shield or go forward and kill him with a single blow of his sword. In a short while, he was covered in blood and looked extremely fierce!

Li Yun rubbed his brows and thought carefully. After confirming that he had no impression of this lieutenant named Gao Liang, he could not help but look at Yang Xi: "Do you recognize him?"

"We had a drink together the day before yesterday."

Yang Xi smiled and said, "He is a lieutenant that General Su just promoted. When he was in Qiantang, he was known to be invincible in Qiantang."

Hearing this nickname, Li Yun was stunned at first, then he smiled dumbly: "That really makes sense."

The position of captain is not low even in the current Li Yun Group.

Nowadays, Li Yun basically knows most of the captains and lieutenants of the entire Jiangdong Army, or at least he knows one of them by face.

The fact that he had no impression of the captain at all showed that this man joined the Jiangdong Army very late and was promoted very quickly.

This indirectly shows that this person is quite capable.

Li Yun looked up and surveyed the entire battlefield.

After Su Sheng entered the scene, the battle line immediately began to advance slowly from west to east.

Liuhe Ferry, where more than 3,000 people were stationed and received a steady stream of reinforcements, was pushed eastward by Su Sheng's troops in great distress.

And during this advancement, on the other side of the battlefield, General Zhou Xu was also watching the battlefield.

Deputy General Gongsun Hao was standing behind him.

After a long while, Zhou Xu finally raised his head and glanced at Gongsun Hao behind him, expressionless: "What do you think?"

Gongsun Hao looked at the battlefield, then at Zhou Xu, and said with his head slightly lowered: "General, judging from the combat power of the Jiangdong soldiers. This Li Yun..."

“It’s already a trend.”

(End of this chapter)