Thief Emperor

Chapter 462 Everyone has made contributions and everyone will be rewarded!
Ever since the Pinglu Army began to besiege Yangzhou and Li Yun led his troops to rescue it, it seemed that Li Yun was in a very embarrassed state and had been in a passive position, but in fact, Li Yun did not use his full strength.

There is no need to say much about Li Zheng's troops who are still in the southern part of the eastern route of Jiangnan, who are opening up prefectures and counties. As for Zhou Liang's troops, who have been leading troops in Runzhou from the beginning, they have actually not made any moves until now.

In other words, Li Yun is currently using only about half of his own strength.

Although the Pinglu Army did not put all of its strength in Jiangbei, the Pinglu Army now has a lot of territory to occupy, and their base camp is in Qingzhou.

No matter what, it would be definitely easier and faster for Li Yun to deploy troops to Jiangbei than for the Pinglu Army.

Even if Li Zheng's army is too far away and cannot be moved to Jiangbei in time, as long as Zhou Liang's troops cross the river, Li Yun's military strength in Jiangbei will be able to reach about 30,000!

With this amount of troops, there will be no problem even if they come into direct conflict with the Pinglu Army.

Li Yun is still not sure whether the abnormal behavior of the Pinglu Army today is because they have discovered his movements in Chuzhou. If the Pinglu Army really wants to have it both ways, first leaving Yangzhou to attack Chuzhou, and now wants to leave Chuzhou to save Chuzhou, then Li Yun will give orders to Zhou Liang without hesitation, asking him to cross the river immediately and fight these Pinglu Army with real swords and guns!
Seeing the Pinglu Army sounding the horn, Li Yun thought about it for a moment and then sent someone to call Meng Hai.

Soon, Meng Hai trotted all the way and came in front of Li Yun.

Because Meng Hai could not be considered a combat unit, he wore a cloth shirt and hurried to Li Yun, bowed his head and said to Li Yun: "Envoy."

"Contact the Ninth Division and have them take action immediately. Keep an eye on these Pinglu troops, especially those heading towards Chuzhou."

"As soon as you have any news, report it to me immediately."

Meng Hai quickly bowed his head: "I obey your command!"

After saying this, he trotted off again, turned around and went down to do his errand.

Li Yun, on the other hand, stood on the city wall, looking up into the distance, lost in thought.

Swinging a sword and killing enemies on the battlefield is not a difficult task for Li Yun. He even enjoys the process of fighting. However, as the backbone of Jiangdong, he certainly cannot just think about the battle.

All the intelligence and information he can receive must go through his mind, and then he must make his own accurate judgment of the situation based on this intelligence information.

If the current Jiangdong Group is compared to a large ship, Li Yun is undoubtedly the helmsman at the helm.

When the ship was still small and on the shallows, even if there was any risk and the ship capsized, the worst that could happen was that the people on board would go back to their homes and make their own living.

But now, the ship of Jiangdong Group has grown bigger and bigger, and is heading towards the deep sea.

In this situation, especially at this critical moment when fighting against the wind and waves, Li Yun must be cautious and careful with every step.

This is actually a very tiring task. The energy Li Yun spends on this is far greater than killing enemies in battle.

Just as Li Yun was thinking, Su Sheng, who was stationed at the other gate, trotted up to Li Yun and said with a smile, "Sir, the Pinglu Army retreated very early today. It seems that they have suffered a lot in the past few days and are unwilling to continue the attack."

During these two days, the Pinglu Army had been carrying out high-intensity attacks, even high-intensity attacks rotating day and night. Under such intense attacks, Su Sheng had hardly slept a wink.

Even Li Yun seriously doesn't get enough sleep.

Li Yun came back to his senses, looked at Su Sheng, and then shook his head slightly and said, "General Zhou of Qingzhou is not a person who changes his mind every day. Since he has decided to attack Chuzhou, he probably won't give up unless he really can't fight anymore."

At this point, Li Yun put his hands behind his back, squinted his eyes and said, "Brother Su, I sent a letter to Yangzhou a few days ago, ordering Yangzhou to send part of its troops out to attack Chuzhou in the north!"

"At this time, this detachment should have already reached Chuzhou, and may have even begun to attack Chuzhou. I suspect that Zhou Xu may have heard the news and is the reason why he is so hasty in attacking today."

"Chu...Chuzhou?"

Upon hearing this, Su Sheng stood there in a daze without saying a word. The topographic map of Jiangbei was spinning wildly in his head.

Soon, he looked at Li Yun and murmured, "That place is already on the south bank of the Huai River. It is a very important prefecture. How many people did the envoy send there?"

"Yangzhou cannot be lost, so Yangzhou must be stabilized. Zhao Cheng does not have enough troops, so I only allow him to transfer two to three thousand people to attack Chuzhou, so as to avoid any problems in Yangzhou if Chuzhou is not taken."

Su Sheng thought for a moment and asked again, "Does the envoy know how many Pinglu troops are left in Chuzhou?"

Li Yun shook his head and said, "If I knew, this move would not be called a risky one." "But in my opinion, the Pinglu Army in the entire Jiangbei area has been mobilized by Zhou Xu this time and has come to the vicinity of Chuzhou. Even the Pinglu Army near Yangzhou has been significantly reduced, let alone other prefectures and counties."

"There won't be many people left in Chuzhou."

Su Sheng stood beside Li Yun, gave him a thumbs up, and said with a wry smile: "Erlang, your style of leading troops is really different from my father's. When he led troops, he would never act without 90% certainty."

"And you, Erlang, probably have a 30% chance of winning, but you dare to step forward and fight with a knife."

Li Yun smiled dumbly: "I don't know for sure, but at this moment, I have no choice but to do this."

Winning the battle, whether successful or not, will be a great thing for Li Yun, or for the entire Chuzhou defenders. At least the pressure in Chuzhou will be greatly reduced.

Su Sheng nodded and asked, "Who led the troops to attack Chuzhou?"

"He is an old acquaintance of yours, and can be considered half of your old subordinate."

"Meng Qing?"

Su Sheng was startled, then nodded and said, "That guy is smart and bold. It makes sense to let him do this. If we can occupy Chuzhou, then we will get a great bargain!"

Li Yun nodded and said, "If we can take it, I will let Zhou Liang cross the river and head north immediately."

He said with a scorching gaze: "By that time, we will really be able to stop all the enemies north of the river!"

"I don't know Meng Qing either."

Mr. Li said slowly: "Can it be done?"

…………

On the other side, outside Chuzhou City.

In the evening, after a short rest, Meng Qing's troops began to make some preparations for attacking the city.

For example, start cutting down trees and making some simple siege equipment, such as ladders and battering rams.

Meng Qing gathered several lieutenants around him, pointed at Chuzhou City, and said, "According to intelligence, there are not many Pinglu Army soldiers left in Chuzhou City."

"Now, there may be only two or three hundred, four or five hundred people in the city, or even less."

Meng Qing took a deep breath and whispered, "So, this time we must attack quickly and decisively. If we can occupy Chuzhou, we will be heroes!"

"Everyone listen to my command. I'll light the torch in my hand and we'll start attacking the city immediately!"

In a blink of an eye, his face turned dark.

The torch in Meng Qing's hand was lit without hesitation.

Behind him, torches were lit up and lined up in neat rows. As it was getting dark, the torches raised by these two thousand people soon illuminated the outside of Chuzhou City.

Meng Qing looked up at the city which was not very tall but was quite visible in the night. He narrowed his eyes, took the lead, and shouted loudly: "Whoever reaches this city first, or breaks through the city gate first, will be the great hero of the first battle!"

"I will personally ask for credit for him from the envoy!"

After saying this, Meng Qing imitated Li Yun, rushed to the front, and shouted loudly: "Before dawn, take Chuzhou, everyone will be rewarded, everyone will be credited!"

The two thousand people behind him rushed to the wall of Chuzhou in the night. Their voices were in unison.

"Everyone deserves credit for taking over Chuzhou!"

"Everyone deserves credit for taking over Chuzhou!"

(End of this chapter)