Thief Emperor

Chapter 576: Build a Jingguan!
For Li Yun, the daytime attack was both a smokescreen and a test for the Khitans.

He had never dealt with the Khitans before, let alone fought a war with them, but through some analysis of the current situation of the Khitans in this world, he had a basic psychological understanding of this unknown ethnic group.

That is, the Khitans are also an emerging group, and like Jiangdong, they have great potential.

Because of this understanding, Li Yun acted very cautiously. He first tested the true combat effectiveness of these Khitans.

The Khitans' killing of Han people and hanging of white banners as a provocation were certainly hateful, but their purpose was to make the defenders of Jizhou lose their minds and then find an opportunity to take over Jizhou.

Although Li Yun was annoyed, as the head coach, he had to be absolutely rational and understand when to fight and when not to fight.

To put it more bluntly, if these Khitans were really so invincible, Li Yun would not have dared to die.

But it turns out that these Khitans are also human beings.

Once they were on the horses, Li Yun could do nothing to them, but once they got off the horses, it was up to each of them to decide.

When Li Yun was talking to Li Zheng, Major General Zhou Chang strode over. After seeing Li Yun from a distance, he immediately saluted with his fists clasped: "Uncle!"

Li Yun patted Li Zheng's shoulder and asked someone to help him go down to rest. Then he stood up, looked back at Zhou Chang, and said lightly: "Why is the young general here?"

Zhou Chang looked at Li Zheng, then at Li Yun, and said in a deep voice: "How come the Jiangdong Army went out of the city to fight the Khitans without even saying hello? The battle here has already ended, and I just found out about it."

He was a little unhappy: "We agreed to advance and retreat together. You should have told me what's going on."

The major general clenched his fist and said, "We, the Pinglu Army, may be able to fight!"

Li Yun looked at him and said slowly, "The Khitans insulted me too much today. I have to go out and fight them. However, I am just testing the enemy's strength. After all, I will not fight for real."

He looked at Zhou Chang with a smile on his face: "When there is another war, I will definitely call the Major General."

Zhou Chang also heard about the Khitans hanging white banners outside the city. Hearing this, he took a deep breath and said, "These Khitans are really abominable."

Although before, the Pinglu Army and Li Yun had never been considered comrades in arms, they could even be considered enemies.

In other words, competitors.

However, faced with the current situation, it is natural for them to unite against a common enemy.

From a legal perspective, when the Zhou Dynasty declined, even if the princes in the Han area fought each other to the point of bloodshed, they were just brothers fighting over family property. What the Khitans did was like throwing manure on their doorstep.

Li Yun was annoyed, and Zhou Chang was naturally annoyed as well.

After the two chatted for a while, Li Yun had to go to arrange the war, so he answered him casually and went to arrange things.

He called Meng Qing and said, "Take a break. When it gets dark, take fifty scouts out of the city."

Li Yun said in a deep voice: "Help me determine the location of the Khitan camp."

Meng Qing did not hesitate and bowed his head and said, "Yes!"

"Remember, be careful."

Li Yun patted his shoulder and warned him: "If they find out, my plan today will end in vain."

Meng Qing responded and said, "Don't worry, my lord. We still had a dozen scouts who didn't enter the city yesterday and are wandering outside the city. I will go find them as soon as I leave the city."

…………

It was getting dark.

Li Yun stood on the city wall and looked outside the city.

It was not until someone from the Nine Departments came to report that preparations outside the city were complete that Li Yun called in the accompanying Captain Zhang Xuan and Captain Cai Zheng.

These two captains were both from the anti-theft team. To be more precise, they were the best among the more than 100 people in the anti-theft team. Now they are the second-tier generals in Jiangdong.

"Prepare manpower."

Li Yun looked at the two men and said in a deep voice: "In an hour, we will leave the city and attack the camp!"

Both captains bowed their heads quickly and responded loudly.

Li Yun, on the other hand, retreated from the city wall with his hands behind his back. He did not change his armor first, but went all the way to the Pinglu Army’s base and soon met Zhou Chang.

At this time, it was already the hour of Hai, and the young general had fallen asleep. After being woken up in a daze, he saw Li Yun as soon as he arrived outside his residence.

He rubbed his eyes: "Li..."

"Uncle, what's the matter?"

Li Yun just glanced at him and said in a deep voice: "Didn't you say during the day that you would be brought along the next time there is a war? I'll be waiting for you at the East City Gate in half an hour."

Li Yun paused and continued, "You are allowed to bring at most 500 people."

After saying that, Li Yun didn't even look at him again and just turned and left.

Zhou Chang looked up at the sky, then looked at Li Yun's leaving back, as if thinking about something.

He quickly came to his senses, called his attendants, and said in a deep voice: "Put on armor with me!"

…………

Less than half an hour before midnight, Li Yun's 3,000 troops had already gathered at the east gate of Jizhou. Li Yun first looked at the two captains who were traveling with him, then called another captain, Ren Lian, and ordered, "Take 2,000 men and wait in the city. When you see the red fireworks, go out of the city to reinforce."

"When you see the white fireworks, be ready to take us into the city."

In terms of the application of gunpowder, making fireworks is naturally easier than making weapons, and making flares is also relatively easy.

These have already been produced by the Jinling workshop and have begun to be popularized in some parts of the military for military use.

After hearing Li Yun's words, Captain Ren bowed his head deeply and said, "I obey your command!"

After saying this, he looked at the two captains, Cai and Zhang, with undisguised envy in his eyes.

It has been a long time since anyone in the Jiangdong army has been able to follow the leader to the battlefield.

After arranging the backup forces, Li Yun looked at the two captains Cai and Zhang, then looked at the sky, and said in a deep voice: "At midnight, open the gate and leave the city on time!"

The two captains quickly nodded their heads.

At this time, Zhou Chang had just arrived at the East Gate with his 300 men, and happened to see Li Yun arranging his troops. After Li Yun finished speaking, the major general stepped forward. He looked at Li Yun in armor and asked, "Uncle, are you going to attack the Khitans at night?"

Li Yun looked at him calmly: "Isn't it obvious?"

Zhou Chang took a deep breath and sighed, "On my first day in Jizhou, I fought two big battles. If I can win tonight, General Xiao will be so surprised when he finds out."

Li Yun looked outside the city and said slowly, "The Khitans killed Han people and hung their heads on gourds."

"Tonight, let's hang him up too!"

……

At midnight, Li Yun took 3,000 Jiangdong troops and part of Zhou Chang's troops and left Jizhou City at night.

In order not to attract the attention of the Khitans, no one lit torches and everyone walked silently in the night.

After walking four or five miles eastward, Meng Qing had already returned to the team. He walked beside Li Yun, lowered his head slightly, and whispered: "Sir, we have found the Khitan camp."

"But their tents are completely different from ours."

Meng Qing whispered, "Their tents are spread out very far apart, and their war horses are not kept together, but tied up nearby."

"These thousands of Khitan soldiers have tents stretching for five or six miles or even further."

Meng Qing whispered, "It's impossible to attack with fire. It's even more difficult to disrupt their formation all at once."

"Take advantage tonight and you'll probably get an unexpected result at best. Later on, you'll still have to fight head-on."

Li Yun clenched the spear in his hand, his expression calm: "I am afraid of their cavalry. If we fight at night, the cavalry can't run fast and their accuracy is not good enough. This is enough."

Meng Qing bowed his head deeply: "Then I will lead the way for you now!"

Meng Qing was a very serious person. In half a night, he had already found out the location of the Khitan camp. After almost half an hour, the Khitan camp was already in sight from afar.

As Li Yun expected, no Khitan people thought that Li Yun would go out of the city to attack the camp, especially tonight.

This is mainly because, even when the Khitans were still in the Khitan tribe period, the Han people had already tried their best to defend the cities and avoid fighting in the wild when fighting with the Khitans.

The two sides fought in the field, and the Fanyang army could only rely on numbers to win.

Moreover, most of the time, the Fanyang army would not leave the city to engage in conflict with them.

Now, Li Yun went out of the city once during the day and returned in "great defeat". Naturally, no one would think that he would come again at night.

Unfortunately, the camps of these Khitans were indeed very far away, so even with the advantage of first mover advantage, it was impossible to have an overwhelming victory.

But now that I'm here, there's no point in thinking about all that messy stuff.

Li Yun pointed his spear forward and shouted, "Kill! Kill all these barbarians!"

These Jiangdong soldiers were now completely different from the original local troops. After Li Yun's shout, these Jiangdong soldiers waved their weapons and rushed towards the enemy camp amid shouts and screams.

At this time, the momentum must be enough!
After all, sometimes these shouts and screams alone are enough to scare the enemy into surrendering.

Even the Khitans were frightened after hearing the shouting and killing. By the time the Khitans in the nearest tents rushed out with weapons in hand, Li Yun's vanguard troops had already rushed in front of them!

And Li Yun is one of the forwards.

He held a spear in his hand, stepped forward, thrust the spear forward, and then with a beautiful nod, killed a Khitan man.

After killing the Khitan man, he did not stop, but strode forward, sweeping his spear across, knocking down another Khitan soldier.

Zhou Chang couldn't help but look at Li Yun.

At this time, Li Yun, with an iron mask on his face and wearing black armor, was galloping on the battlefield like a god of death!
"Bros!"

Li Yun shot a Khitan man away and shouted loudly.

"Charge forward and build their Jingguan!"

(End of this chapter)