Thief Emperor

Chapter 455: Counterattack!

Captain Wu was stunned.

He frowned as he looked at the messenger and asked, "Weren't these Jiangdong soldiers going to rescue Yangzhou? Why did they turn back?"

How could the messenger know? He shook his head and said, "I don't know!"

Captain Wu lowered his head and pondered for a while, then said, "Now, immediately ride your horse to report to the general!"

The messenger said quickly: "Don't worry, Captain. We will report this kind of information to the general first. Now the general..."

He thought for a moment and continued, "The general should know by the second half of the night."

Wu Duwei asked again: "How many Jiangnan soldiers are there?"

"At least more than 3,000 people."

When Captain Wu heard this, his eyes rolled.

If he could defeat this army of Jiangnan soldiers, it would be a huge achievement in the eyes of the general, and then he, as a captain, would be able to be promoted naturally.

But then he thought again, the two thousand men he brought with him were not all former soldiers of the Pinglu Army. Half of them, or even more than half, were new recruits recruited this year.

He was unsure about taking these new recruits, whose strength was inferior to that of the enemy, to fight against the Jiangnan soldiers.

After thinking about it, Captain Wu made up his mind and said, "Go and report to the general, and tell him that I have encountered a special situation and cannot follow the general's order to surround the Jiangnan soldiers. I want to retreat to Chuzhou City!"

Wu Duwei, a man with no family background, was able to become a Duwei in the Pinglu Army. Obviously, he was not a good-for-nothing. Moreover, he was appointed by General Zhou Xu to guard Chuzhou, which shows that he did have some abilities.

Therefore, he took extremely correct countermeasures almost immediately, which was to retreat from Yongyang County to Qingliu County and then retreat back to Chuzhou City.

Of course, doing so is clearly against military orders, and if anything goes wrong, you will definitely be held responsible.

And Captain Wu made this decision decisively.

The situation was urgent, so the messenger just lowered his head and replied "yes", then turned around and went to deliver the message.

Wu Duwei stopped him and asked, "How far are these Jiangnan soldiers from Yongyang?"

"Fifty or sixty miles."

Captain Wu nodded slightly and breathed a sigh of relief: "Got it."

A distance of fifty or sixty miles would take a whole day for infantry to march normally. In addition, these Jiangnan soldiers are not made of iron, and they also need to sleep and rest at night.

Captain Wu waved his hand and asked the messenger to report to General Zhou, while he himself summoned his subordinate captains and issued an order to return to Chuzhou City early the next morning.

Just as this Wu Duwei and his subordinates were camping outside Yongyang County, Li Yun on the other side handed over the main force of the army to a captain named He Cheng to temporarily lead, and he himself led hundreds of cavalry and rushed towards Chuzhou City in the cover of night.

Thanks to the intelligence from Jiusi, Li Yun was almost certain that the defenders of Chuzhou must have left Chuzhou City and were moving towards Liuhe.

Although he was unsure of the location of the Chuzhou garrison, Li Yun deliberately bypassed Yongyang and headed directly for Chuzhou City, which is Qingliu County, at night.

By the time it was about to dawn, Li Yun and others had already rushed to the outskirts of Chuzhou City.

Everyone dismounted outside the city and looked towards Chuzhou City ahead.

Yes, they were not cavalry, but a group of infantry carried by horses.

Mr. Li looked up at the city in front of him, then looked up at the sky, and slowly said: "I estimated the time. We have about two hours to capture this Chuzhou city."

This was the time when Li Yun, according to the Chuzhou defenders, rushed back immediately overnight after learning that their own army was coming from the east.

However, Captain Wu did not rush back directly, but continued to camp in Yongyang. That is to say, Li Yun had at least six hours to capture the city of Chuzhou.

Yang Xi, who was beside Li Yun, was also looking at the city and frowned, saying, "Envoy, this is a state city. We don't have any siege equipment."

Even if all the Pinglu defenders in Chuzhou came out, there should still be dozens of people left in the city to defend it.

Even if there was no Pinglu soldier left in the city, Li Yun and others at least rushed there in a hurry, without ladders or battering rams.

Faced with the city walls of the provincial capital, it was not easy for them to occupy the city.

Li Yun looked around and said slowly, "With so many of us, we should be able to build a few ladders in half an hour."

Yang Xi nodded and said, "Sir, I'll take people to get it right away!"

He waved his hand, and the guards behind him immediately drew their swords and went to chop down trees nearby.

At this time, they did not need a very strong ladder. They only needed two pieces of wood that were long enough. Then they chiseled a gap in the middle of the wood and filled it with horizontal wood, and a simple ladder could be made.

This kind of ladder is not very strong, but it is enough for a state city with almost no one guarding it and not particularly large walls. Although there are not many infantrymen carried by horses around Li Yun, there are still four or five hundred of them. Everyone started to move and soon made several extremely simple and shapeless ladders.

At this moment, half an hour has passed.

There is strength in numbers. Seven or eight ladders have been made. Li Yun put on the armor and said in a deep voice without hesitation: "Do it!"

The reason why he came to take Chuzhou City was because he needed a relatively strong city as a stronghold, at least a stronger city than Liuhe County City.

Chuzhou is a good choice.

Moreover, after taking Chuzhou, there will be no more blockages from Luzhou to Yangzhou. At that time, Li Yun will no longer have any worries. Even if the war in Jiangbei is not going well, he can advance or retreat.

These crude ladders were quickly set up on the city wall. Li Yun rushed to the front without hesitation, ready to climb up the city wall.

This is a critical moment, so let him watch from behind and wait for his brothers to open the city gate for him and welcome him in.

The "leaders" of other forces might do this, but a man of action like Li Yun would never do this.

Given his personality, he would feel itchy if he didn't take the city himself.

When several ladders were placed on the city wall, the defenders on the wall were finally alarmed.

Someone looked down and shouted, "Who!"

The people who were climbing below naturally ignored him and continued climbing up.

The man looked around anxiously and shouted, "Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

The Pinglu Army did not indeed send out all its troops. Commander Wu left about 200 men in Chuzhou to prevent any problems from happening in the city.

If no one came to attack the city, these two hundred people would be enough.

Even if Li Yun came to attack the city during the day, these two hundred people would cause him considerable trouble.

But it is early morning now, and the Chuzhou defenders also need to rotate day and night. In addition, Chuzhou has more than one city gate. At this time, the city gate that Li Yun chose to attack has only twenty or thirty people guarding the city wall.

Among the twenty or thirty people, some were still sleeping.

They were caught off guard and were totally unprepared.

By the time these people raised their torches and shone them on Li Yun and others, preparing to throw stones or shoot arrows, Li Yun, who climbed the fastest, had already climbed onto the edge of the city wall with one hand!
Soon, he grabbed the edge of the wall with his other hand, exerted force with his feet, and grabbed upwards with both hands. Li Yun almost jumped onto the wall of Chuzhou!

It was not convenient to carry the ten-foot-long spear during this process, so Li Yun only brought a sword. After climbing up the city wall, Li Yun did not hesitate, drew the sword out of its sheath, and chopped down with a standard arrow step, directly chopping the enemy's face!

This is the most basic chopping action. Anyone with a little training can do it, but few people can do it as fast and with as much force as Li Yun.

The defender in front of him didn't even have time to scream before he was knocked to the ground by Li Yun!
Li Yun held his sword horizontally and quickly looked around to see the situation. There were not many enemies on the city wall.

He did not rush to chase the enemies on the city wall, but stayed at his position on the wall. He waited until the second and third soldiers climbed up the wall before he took up his knife and killed the enemies on the wall!
The soldiers left behind in Chuzhou by the Pinglu Army were naturally not elite. Soon, the entire city wall collapsed, and dozens of Jiangdong soldiers rushed down the city tower and opened the city gate.

Hundreds of people outside the city rushed into Chuzhou City in a mighty force.

The entire battle lasted no more than an hour, and a state capital, or an empty city, was easily captured by Li Yun!

Yang Xi first confirmed that Li Yun was fine, and then said quietly: "Following the envoy, I'm afraid I will never be able to take the lead in this life."

Li Yun glanced back at him and scolded him with a smile: "You are faster than me, so you climbed up first, right?"

Yang Xi sighed and said nothing.

"Stop being so talkative."

Li Yun took off his armor and ordered, "Yang Xi, take your men to occupy the other gates of Chuzhou."

Yang Xi bowed his head, clasped his fists, answered yes, and turned to go about his business.

"Meng Hai!"

Li Yun called out, and Meng Hai quickly trotted over, lowering his head and saying, "Envoy!"

"Send someone to contact the main force behind us and determine their location. Also, it would be best if we can confirm the location of the Chuzhou defenders!"

"I will block them in front of Chuzhou City, and let He Cheng lead the main force to surround them and attack them in one go!"

"Encircle and kill these Chuzhou defenders!"

(End of this chapter)