Thief Emperor

Chapter 456 The only chance!

The Pinglu Army mobilized a large number of troops in Jiangbei. At this time, Li Yun had to make a decision.

He could not wait in Liuhe County to be surrounded by the Pinglu Army, so he had to turn back to take Chuzhou and open up the passage between Liuhe and Luzhou. This way he would have more space and room to continue fighting with the Pinglu Army.

Otherwise, if he was trapped in Liuhe County and surrounded by the Pinglu Army, not to mention saving Yangzhou, it would be a big problem whether Li Yun could break out by himself.

Therefore, Li Yun turned around without hesitation, and relying on the information gap, he occupied Chuzhou City at a very small cost.

Jiusi made great contributions here.

In the past two years, Li Yun has invested more than 80% of his intelligence resources in Jiangbei. Now these huge investments have finally paid off, and it is a huge payoff!

After occupying Chuzhou City, Li Yun took a simple rest for an hour. When it was light, he opened his eyes and returned to the city wall.

Meng Hai trotted up behind him and said with his head slightly lowered, "Envoy, the Chuzhou garrison is still heading towards Chuzhou City. It is estimated that they are still thirty or forty miles away from Chuzhou City."

Li Yun thought about it and said with a smile: "My guess was right. After they knew that there were three to four thousand of our troops in front of them, they really began to retreat. But what I didn't expect was that they didn't rush back day and night."

"If I had known this, I wouldn't have had to fight so nervously last night."

Meng Hai smiled and said, "You are the envoy who made all the plans. You didn't give the Chuzhou defenders any chance. Even if they turned around and rushed back to Chuzhou, they couldn't escape your control."

Li Yun glanced at him and didn't respond.

Meng Hai didn't care and said with a smile: "Sir, this Pinglu army is still heading towards Chuzhou. They may not have realized that Chuzhou has changed its owner. We may be able to ambush them in Chuzhou City."

Li Yun shook his head slightly, glanced back at Meng Hai, and said calmly: "Don't rely on luck. Last night, there were at least 200 defenders in Chuzhou. We have occupied several other gates in the city. It is difficult to guarantee that no one of them escapes. As long as one of the defenders escapes, the news of Chuzhou's change of ownership will be exposed."

"As for why they still have to rush to Chuzhou City..."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said softly: "It's not a problem for us to consider. No matter where they are going, what we have to do is to block their way."

"Meng Hai, can the Ninth Division keep an eye on the movements of the Chuzhou garrison now?"

Meng Hai lowered his head quickly and said, "Envoy, there is no problem. The Ninth Division has someone special there who has been following them."

Li Yun nodded slowly and said, "I understand. You will coordinate and report the movements of this garrison at any time."

"And the location of my main force behind them."

Meng Hai bowed his head slightly and said, "I obey your command. I will go and coordinate right away."

After saying that, he turned around and went down the city wall, and Li Yun also went down the city wall. After putting on full armor, he left only one hundred people to guard Chuzhou City, and then took more than four hundred people out of the city to besiege the Chuzhou garrison of the Pinglu Army.

The reason why Li Yun did not wait for the Pinglu Army garrison to come to him in Chuzhou City was because he was worried that the Chuzhou garrison had already learned the news of Chuzhou's change of ownership. If there were pursuers behind them, they might bypass Chuzhou City and turn in other directions to escape the siege of the Jiangdong soldiers.

This is fat meat right in front of our mouths, there is absolutely no reason to let them go!
You know, if we eliminate one more Pinglu Army at this time, the pressure Li Yun will face in the future will be reduced!
Li Yun's more than 400 men each rode on horseback and followed Li Yun, rushing away from Chuzhou City. Under the guidance of Jiusi's intelligence, by noon, Li Yun could use a telescope to see the Chuzhou defenders from afar!
"Don't get off your horses, just follow them on horseback!"

Li Yun shouted, and then ordered: "If you can't draw your bow immediately, don't shoot the arrow, don't show your cowardice!"

Everyone responded and divided into two teams according to Li Yun's instructions, following the Chuzhou garrison, which was the two wings of Wu Duwei's troops.

Li Yun approached closely, bent his bow and shot an arrow, killing a soldier of the Pinglu Army with one arrow.

This scene was seen by Captain Wu. The captain of the Pinglu Army was almost scared to death when he saw hundreds of cavalrymen following him on both sides and his subordinates being shot dead.

"cavalry!"

Wu Duwei cried out in amazement: "How could these Jiangnan soldiers have cavalry?"

In the early hours of the morning, before Wu Duwei's troops set out from Yongyang County, he had already learned the news of the fall of Chuzhou.

The reason for retreating towards Chuzhou City was to hide it from the Jiangnan soldiers who had occupied Chuzhou overnight, and then turn south to Quanjiao about 20 miles away from Chuzhou City, and then retreat from Quanjiao to Hezhou to meet up with friendly forces in Hezhou.

In this way, at least his two thousand troops could be preserved and would not be attacked from both sides by these Jiangnan soldiers.

But after seeing these "cavalry", Captain Wu felt a little desperate.

The mobility of cavalry is far beyond that of infantry. After being entangled by these cavalry, they will definitely not charge into the battle formation, but will just follow from a distance and harass continuously!

Under this kind of harassment, it is difficult for these infantrymen to have a chance to get rid of the enemy.

"Stay in formation!"

Captain Wu took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Retreat south, retreat to Quanjiao!"

Li Yun still led his troops and followed the Chuzhou defenders closely.

Most of his 400-odd men were infantrymen on horseback, but these hundreds of men were Su Sheng's subordinates. Over such a long period of time, there were indeed 30 or 40 of them who had mastered some riding and archery skills. Li Yun asked these 30 or 40 men to take turns to attack with bows and arrows, while he led 200 or 300 cavalrymen to block the Pinglu army in front of them.

Like a sheepdog, driving the flock.

The two sides came into contact around noon and remained in a stalemate until sunset.

After all, most of Li Yun's "cavalry" were impostors. They couldn't really kill the two thousand or so Pinglu troops with a kite, and it was even difficult for them to change the direction of their advance.

The casualties caused to them were also quite limited.

But Li Yun did greatly slow down the marching speed of the Pinglu Army.

When it was sunset, Meng Hai trotted up to Li Yun, lowered his head and said a few words, and then a smile appeared on Li's face.

His main force finally caught up.

The encirclement has basically been formed.

So, Li jumped off his horse quickly, reached out to grab his gun, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Brothers, dismount and kill the enemy!"

So, to the astonishment of Captain Wu and others, this "cavalry" that had been entangled with them for most of the day suddenly dismounted, holding bows and crossbows, and surrounded and killed them!

And behind them, a big net has quietly taken shape.

These "cavalrymen" who dismounted to fight became the ropes to tighten the net.

…………

Outside Yangzhou City, in General Zhou's tent, Deputy General Luo Zhen bowed his head slightly and said, "General, Wu Gang's troops were ordered to set out from Chuzhou, preparing to march eastward to besiege the enemy in Liuhe. Halfway through, they encountered a large group of Jiangnan soldiers. Wu Gang immediately prepared to withdraw to Chuzhou City to wait for orders. Before he returned to Chuzhou, the defense-less Chuzhou had already fallen into the hands of the Jiangnan soldiers."

"Wu Gang's troops were attacked from both sides by 4,000 Jiangnan soldiers. They suffered heavy casualties and had no choice but to break out and retreat to Hezhou. Of the 2,000 troops, less than 500 arrived in Hezhou."

There was no expression on General Zhou's face, as if he was listening to something insignificant.

He lowered his head, drank a sip of tea, then looked at Luo Zhen and said silently: "It seems that Li Yun also knows that Liuhe cannot be defended, so he wants to retreat to Chuzhou City. Since he wants to defend Chuzhou, let him do it."

General Zhou had a blank expression on his face, but he was furious. He said slowly, "Within ten days, I will surround Chuzhou!"

Luo Zhen whispered: "General, it is not difficult to surround Chuzhou, but the troops in other places are not enough."

"Li Yun is in Chuzhou City."

General Zhou was filled with anger and said in a cold voice, "Even if we don't siege Yangzhou, we must encircle and kill Li Yun. If we kill Li Yun, these so-called Jiangdong soldiers will collapse without a fight!"

Luo Zhen came to his senses, looked at General Zhou, and whispered, "There are people of the general around Li Yun."

The specific position of the commander-in-chief is difficult to grasp. Sometimes even the generals on one's side may not know the specific position of their own commander-in-chief.

But General Zhou knew it, which means he had some other means.

General Zhou narrowed his eyes and said nothing.

"Just do it."

"The walls of Chuzhou are not high, and Li Yun has not stored any food in Chuzhou, so it is much easier to attack than Yangzhou."

Luo Zhen stood up and bowed his head slightly: "I obey your command!"

The deputy general of the Pinglu Army strode away.

Afterwards, orders from the Pinglu Army were issued one after another at the fastest speed.

At least 20,000 Pinglu troops all obeyed the order and surrounded Chuzhou.

Under pressure from the Pinglu Army, Li Yun also began to gather his troops and ordered Su Sheng and Chen Da to withdraw from Liuhe Ferry and Liuhe County respectively and retreat to Chuzhou City to station.

Ten days later, the siege of Chuzhou was basically completed. Li Yun, who was trapped in the city, was still quite calm. He calmly released several carrier pigeons, and then smiled at Su Sheng who had just arrived in Chuzhou.

"Brother Su, that General Zhou is getting anxious. This is our only chance to win a great victory in Jiangbei."

Mr. Li's eyes were burning.

"arrive!"

(End of this chapter)