Thief Emperor

Chapter 457: What is the point of immortality?

Su Sheng frowned, and his eyes fell on the Jiangbei map hanging high up. After looking at it for a long time, the young general who came from a military family shook his head slightly and whispered, "Erlang, if this trend continues, it won't be long before our 10,000 people will be surrounded in Chuzhou City by the Pinglu Army that outnumbers us several times."

"I don't see what the opportunity is."

Su Sheng's finger landed on Yangzhou City on the map, and then continued: "The only benefit I can see is that after the Pinglu Army besieged Chuzhou, they did not have enough troops to besiege Yangzhou again. The problem is that after Yangzhou is relieved, we will be surrounded in Chuzhou again."

He smiled bitterly and said, "It's just like robbing Peter to pay Paul. It won't help the problem."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Brother Su, believe me. General Zhou is furious. After he sieges Chuzhou, he will not siege without fighting like he did Yangzhou."

"Chuzhou's walls are far less solid than Yangzhou's."

Li Yun continued, "If they still don't dare to fight after besieging Chuzhou, then my troops in Yangzhou and those in Runzhou and Dantu can all be mobilized. Then they won't be able to take care of both ends."

"They will most likely attack Chuzhou with all their might, intending to capture the city and destroy our army in Chuzhou, and..."

Li Yun pointed at himself and said softly, "General Zhou has been plotting against Jiangbei and Jiangnan for a long time and has already deployed a large number of spies in advance. They probably know that I am in Chuzhou City now."

"Catch the thief first and capture the king first."

Mr. Li smiled and said, "With me here, they will be even more eager to seize Chuzhou. If they can catch me or kill me by chance, it will be a permanent solution. Even if I happen to break through and escape, I can still cripple my army along the way. Then they can continue to besiege Yangzhou with ease and don't have to worry about reinforcements from Jiangnan."

Su Sheng was even more confused. He looked at Li Yun, somewhat puzzled. "Erlang, their fierce attack on Chuzhou is nothing but a chance for us. Can Zhao Cheng send troops out of Yangzhou and defeat the Pinglu Army from behind?"

"It's definitely not going to work if we rely on Zhao Cheng alone."

Li Yun said calmly: "Brother Su, just focus on arranging the defense of the city, and leave the rest to me. This seemingly insignificant Chuzhou City..."

"At least it can knock out two of Zhou Xu's front teeth!"

……

Because of Li Yun's insistence, Su Sheng had no choice but to start arranging the defense of Chuzhou.

Li Yun himself prepared some logistical supplies and made some corresponding arrangements.

Chuzhou is not very big, at least much smaller than Yangzhou City. But it is a provincial capital after all, and it is by no means without strategic locations to defend.

Su Sheng was a "professionally trained" man with nearly 10,000 soldiers at his disposal. He quickly arranged the defense of Chuzhou, making it almost foolproof.

On the fourth day, he came to see Li Yun and said confidently: "Erlang, I have already arranged all the gates of Chuzhou. No matter how many people the Pinglu army sends, there will always be a chance to fight."

At this time, Li Yun was looking through the documents and intelligence sent to him by the Nine Departments and other channels. After hearing Su Sheng's words, Li Yun handed a document to Su Sheng and said slowly: "The vanguard of the Pinglu Army, about 10,000 people, will arrive in Chuzhou in a day or two, and the rest of the troops will all arrive outside Chuzhou within ten days."

"It's coming with great force."

Su Sheng took the intelligence and looked at it, then shook his head and smiled bitterly, "It's too late to regret now. The encirclement has already been formed."

"I have no regrets."

Li Yun looked at Su Sheng and said slowly, "They are conducting a tentative attack. I estimate that the first round will come in the next two days. Brother will take full charge of the defense."

"Block their first two attacks for me."

Su Sheng responded first, then said with a smile: "I thought that Erlang would take advantage of their main forces not arriving yet and lead his troops out to fight them first."

"This trick doesn't work anymore."

Li Yun shook his head helplessly and said, "Originally, I did have this idea, but my trick was used by Zhao Cheng again. Now he is already prepared. Look, the first batch of troops sent by the Pinglu Army has more than 10,000."

"It's just to prepare for me."

Mr. Li looked calm and said softly, "General Zhou in Runzhou Dantu has already started preparing to cross the river. If the Pinglu Army in Yangzhou has fewer troops, General Zhao can lead his troops out of the city to support them."

He looked at Su Sheng and narrowed his eyes slightly. "The Pinglu Army has many soldiers, and I have many too. It's nothing more than a gamble to see how capable these Qingzhou soldiers are!"

Su Sheng was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Erlang is so ambitious. Even if we lose, we will have a chance to make a comeback in the future."

"We will not lose." Li Yun was very confident and said calmly: "As I expected, the worst result is to abandon Yangzhou, support General Zhao Cheng's troops, temporarily retreat to Jiangnan, and then make plans."

"Even in this case, our casualties will not be more than those of the Pinglu Army. I have tested the quality of those Pinglu Army a few days ago."

The previous 2,000 Chuzhou garrison troops were surrounded by Li Yun. In less than half a day, they were all defeated and were thoroughly defeated by Li Yun.

Out of more than 2,000 people, only less than 500 escaped.

The quality of these Chuzhou garrison troops is actually quite poor. If they confront each other head-on, even if Li Yun only brings his own guards and two or three hundred more people, he will be able to disperse them.

It is conceivable that although the number of Pinglu troops expanded rapidly during this year, in fact, their strength did not expand in proportion.

After all, the Zhou father and son of the Pinglu Army were not as rich as Li Yun.

Most of their troops were conscripted by force, and they were lucky to have enough food to eat. As for the salary? Although there was salary, up to now, I am afraid that only a few of them could actually be distributed to ordinary soldiers.

Under such circumstances, even though the Pinglu Army sent relatively professional generals to train these new recruits and reluctantly allocated weapons to them, in terms of the army's fighting enthusiasm and subjective initiative, the Pinglu Army was far inferior to Li Yun's Jiangdong soldiers.

At least these Pinglu Army recruits are far inferior to Li Yun’s Jiangdong Army recruits. Otherwise, the money Li Yun spends on food and salaries every month would really be in vain!

No matter when, the investment of money, material resources will always be useful.

Su Sheng looked at Li Yun, as if thinking about something, but he didn't say much. He just clasped his fists and said, "I'll go inspect the city defense again."

…………

In the blink of an eye, another three days passed.

The Pinglu Army outside Chuzhou City was gathering little by little. At this time, the number of people had reached more than 10,000, and they were basically stationed to the east and north of Chuzhou City.

As for the southwest sides of Chuzhou, the strength of the Pinglu Army is relatively weak, but there are still a large number of Pinglu Army who are moving towards Chuzhou little by little.

Outside the city of Chuzhou, several messengers with loud voices from the Pinglu Army stood together outside the city of Chuzhou and shouted to the people in Chuzhou.

"Li thief, surrender, there is still a chance of survival!"

These messengers had very loud voices and kept shouting to Li Yun in the city.

Li Yun was standing on the city wall at this moment, looking at the Pinglu Army messengers shouting below the city, and listening to their words of persuasion to surrender one by one.

Mr. Li just smiled, asked someone to bring pen, ink and silk, wrote a few words on the silk himself, then wrapped it with an arrowhead, pulled the ox horn bow to its full extent, and sent the arrow letter out.

The letter from the arrow was soon passed to General Zhou Xu. When General Zhou unfolded it, he saw only a few large characters written on it.

"If a man has no faith, what is the point of dying?"

General Zhou took just one look at the letter and threw it aside, with a sneer on his face.

These eight words are adapted from a poem, whose original sentence is: If a man has no manners, what is the point of living?

But it is just right to use it here to scold Zhou Xu.

The last time Li Yun secretly occupied Luzhou, General Zhou sent his family member Zhou Gui to Nanjing to scold Li Yun and accuse him of breaking his promise.

After all, at that time, the six-month agreement between the two had not expired.

After that, Li Yun and Zhou Gui made a one-year agreement. Now, before the one-year agreement was up, Zhou Xu led his troops to besiege Yangzhou.

It is also a breach of trust.

Faced with such humiliation, General Zhou Xuzhou did not have any psychological burden, which is also one of the essential skills for big men.

General Zhou kept looking at Chuzhou City in front of him. After a long time, he slowly waved his hand and said, "Get ready."

"Early tomorrow morning, we will attack Chuzhou City!"

(End of this chapter)