Thief Emperor

Chapter 461 You can’t take care of both ends!

Meng Qing was soon called to Zhao Cheng. Zhao Cheng looked up and down at the young man in front of him, who looked young but seemed to have experienced a lot. He patted his shoulder and said with a smile, "Come here."

Meng Qing lowered his head, called out "General Zhao", and then stepped forward as he was told.

On Zhao Cheng's desk, there was a map of Jiangbei. Although it was a bit rough, the locations of the states and counties on the map were basically accurate.

Zhao Cheng pointed to the location of Chuzhou and whispered, "The envoy and General Su are here now, fighting fiercely with the Pinglu Army."

He looked at Meng Qing and continued, "I heard from the people below that you go up to the tower every day to observe the enemy's movements outside the city and ask the scouts for information. You should have known that there are fewer enemies outside Yangzhou City. Most of them have been transferred to Chuzhou by Zhou Xu to besiege the envoy."

Meng Qing nodded, then looked up at Zhao Cheng, clasped his fists and said, "General! I...I am a stupid person. I dare not discuss military affairs with you at this time. If you have any orders, just give them to me directly."

"No need to explain to me."

Zhao Cheng was startled, then he smiled dumbly and shook his head, saying, "You little brat, you are even worse at speaking than I am. If you were to be an officer in the court, I'm afraid that just based on this one sentence, you would never get ahead in the future."

Meng Qing's eyes fell on the map, and he said in a hoarse voice: "Your Excellency has been very kind to me and my entire village. Now that you are surrounded by the enemy, I do not want to delay even a moment. I beg the general to give the order!"

Hearing this, Zhao Cheng looked at Meng Qing again and said with emotion: "No wonder the envoy employed you."

People like Meng Qing are Li Yun's die-hard fans and confidants who are basically beyond doubt.

The reason why Li Yun trained him all the way and gave him channels and space for advancement was not only because Meng Qing was a promising talent, but also because of this quality in Meng Qing. He could be regarded as a knife in his hand and be trusted.

The knife in my hand will not cut towards myself.

Zhao Cheng was stunned for just a moment, then he came back to his senses. He pointed to the location of Chuzhou on the map and said, "This is Chuzhou. The envoy sent a letter ordering Yangzhou to send two to three thousand men to set out from Yangzhou and go north to occupy Chuzhou!"

"This errand is quite dangerous."

Zhao Cheng said directly: "It's not just the occupation of Chuzhou that is dangerous. Even if you take Chuzhou by surprise, the Pinglu Army will definitely attack you, and it will be just as difficult to defend the city."

Meng Qing looked up at Zhao Cheng and asked, "General, how many troops did the envoy say he wanted to attack Chuzhou?"

"Two thousand to three thousand people."

Meng Qing whispered: "Then I need two thousand men!"

He turned his head and looked outside. It was afternoon now. Meng Qing thought for a moment and continued, "Let's leave the city tonight!"

Zhao Cheng looked at Meng Qing and smiled: "You are anxious."

"Well, I will take you to the four lieutenant camps now, and you will temporarily serve as their captain."

Zhao Cheng patted Meng Qing on the shoulder and whispered, "Brother, the difficulty of this trip is that you have to rush to Chuzhou as quickly as possible, so you can't bring too much baggage. Once you get to Chuzhou, it will be difficult to occupy Chuzhou."

Meng Qing took a deep breath, looked at Zhao Cheng, and asked, "General, what is the difference between me occupying Chuzhou and not occupying Chuzhou?"

Zhao Cheng thought for a moment, then replied: "Chuzhou is on the south bank of the Huai River. If we take Chuzhou, we will be able to directly access the Huai River from Jiangdong in the future, and your cause will be able to move forward greatly."

"If you can't occupy it."

Zhao Cheng narrowed his eyes and whispered, "If you can't occupy it, it means that a large number of Pinglu troops will turn around to rescue Chuzhou. At that time, even if you can't occupy it, the pressure on the envoy will be reduced a lot."

"But whether you can occupy it or not depends on whether you can capture Chuzhou. If you can, I will lead my troops out of the city and meet General Zhou's troops on the south bank of the river. Then General Zhou can lead his troops north to support Chuzhou."

He looked at Meng Qing and continued, "Your move along this path is a risky one, and it is also the most important move for the envoy in Jiangbei."

Meng Qing whispered: "I don't understand the meaning of chess, I..."

He looked up at Zhao Cheng, then bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying very seriously: "I will do my best to capture Chuzhou for you, Lord, and to rescue Jiangdong!"

"General, let's go and get some people!"

Zhao Cheng grabbed him and said with a smile: "Why are you so anxious? I haven't finished speaking yet."

Meng Qing controlled his temper, bowed his head and clasped his fists.

Zhao Cheng continued, "I just thought about it and it is indeed more appropriate to leave the city at night. Tonight, we will go out of the city from Yangzhou to the west gate. I will lead the army westward and pretend to support Chuzhou."

"You two thousand men will also leave the city from the west gate. Ten miles out of the city, we will separate. I will continue to head west to attract the attention of the Pinglu Army, and you will lead the troops directly north to Chuzhou." "The fighting in Chuzhou is fierce, and the Pinglu Army will not pay much attention to Yangzhou. If we do this, we can at least buy you two or three more hours."

Meng Qing took a deep breath, bowed his head and said to Zhao Cheng: "Thank you, General. I am grateful for your teaching!"

Meng Qing was born into a wild family, even wilder than Li Yun. No one had ever taught him systematically. Although he had some talent, he was naturally far inferior to Zhao Cheng in terms of meticulous thinking.

Zhao Cheng's two sentences taught him a good lesson.

Next, Zhao Cheng told him some details of the night's operation and the things he needed to pay attention to when attacking the city. At the end, he looked at Meng Qing and said in a deep voice: "Brother, I have one last thing to tell you."

"Once you reach Chuzhou City, it would be best if you can occupy it. If you can't, don't worry, and don't waste your brothers' lives. Just pretend to attack Chuzhou with great fanfare. After two or three days, retreat back to Yangzhou."

"This way, the siege of Chuzhou can be relieved to some extent."

Meng Qing bowed deeply to Zhao Cheng.

"Thank you for your teachings, General. I will keep them in mind!"

…………

At night, Meng Qing led four battalions of colonels, which amounted to a force of over 2,000 men, and left Yangzhou City under the cover of darkness.

Zhao Cheng also left the city with him. Zhao Cheng also led thousands of soldiers and horses out of Yangzhou from the west gate, and headed west all the way. He did not separate from Meng Qing and others until he was more than ten miles out of the city. Then Zhao Cheng continued to head west. When he was almost at Liuhe County, he suddenly turned around and returned to Yangzhou City.

On the other hand, at this time, Meng Qing had already led his troops northward and entered Gaoyou County.

At this time, Meng Qing did not deliberately hide his actions, but rushed to Chuzhou as quickly as possible.

Because Zhao Cheng had already told him that if the envoy's prediction was correct and Chuzhou's defense was empty, then even if the Pinglu Army discovered his movements, as long as he acted fast enough, it would be too late for the Pinglu Army to transfer people back from Chuzhou.

Therefore, after arriving in Gaoyou, Meng Qing simply ordered everyone not to wear armor, and asked everyone to wear plain clothes and head north to Chuzhou.

They were originally a small group with light armor and each person only brought a few days' worth of dry food. Now they put away their armor and clothes and carried them on their backs, and then marched as dispersedly as possible, which was considered a pretty good concealment.

While Meng Qing and others were rushing to Chuzhou as quickly as possible, Li Yun of Chuzhou was still fighting fiercely with the Pinglu Army.

At this time, Li Yun ordered people to put the broken west gate of Chuzhou back in place and seal it with stones to prevent the Pinglu army outside the city from entering the city through the gate.

During these two days, Chuzhou experienced at least three fierce sieges by the Pinglu Army.

In the evening, Li Yun was on the wall of Chuzhou. He killed a Pinglu soldier who had climbed up the wall with a ladder. Then he waved his hand behind him and shouted, "Throw the cloth bag!"

Five or six cloth bags were thrown down again.

After the commotion, the pressure on defending the city was slightly relieved, but the effect was obviously not as good as the first time.

After all, at this point, everyone is already familiar with this thing and is not so scared anymore.

That kind of stampede is even less likely to happen again.

After throwing the gunpowder bag down, Li Yun threw a few stones down to the city. When he was about to draw his bow and shoot a few arrows, he suddenly heard the sound of a gong outside the city.

Li Yun was stunned, without pulling the bow in his hand, he looked at the sky, thinking about something.

Today's Pinglu Army withdrew too early.

You have to know that two days ago, these Pinglu troops attacked the city day and night!

"Did Zhou Xu discover my plan to attack Chuzhou?"

Li Yun touched his chin, looked into the distance, and murmured.

"If you want to take care of both ends..."

"Then I have to cross the river."

(End of this chapter)