Thief Emperor

Chapter 629 The Pocket Slowly Takes Shape
If the imperial court in the past had to pay proper attention to avoid misjudging the situation, then from this time on, the Wu Zhou court no longer needed special attention.

We still need to have news about them, but there is no need to spend energy and resources to find out.

In comparison, Liang Wen of Henan Province is more worthy of attention at this time.

Li Yun was flipping through the messages that Meng Hai brought over, his brain working rapidly.

He had been away from the news network for too long, and the information he had previously acquired was outdated. Now he had to start all over again in terms of his assessment of the situation and his future direction.

This kind of thing not only consumes brain power, but also puts you under tremendous psychological pressure.

After all, the future and fate of 100,000 soldiers, as well as the future of millions of people in Jiangdong, may be decided by one or two words from Li Yun. This kind of pressure is something that ordinary people cannot bear.

Fortunately, the current situation is much better than Li Yun expected.

At least, the situation in Jingxiang is much better than Li Yun had expected.

In Li Yun's previous calculations, if he could take over Jingxiang before the New Year, then the planned victory would be achieved. But now... on the one hand, the Jingnan army is not strong enough, and on the other hand, the enemy is almost completely disunited, so the progress of Jingxiang is unusually smooth.

In this way, Li Yun can take advantage of the situation and set bigger goals for himself.

Mr. Li sat in his study and thought for more than an hour before he came up with a new plan. He asked someone to call Meng Hai back and asked, "Where can our pigeons fly to?"

Meng Hai thought for a moment and replied, "Currently, there are only two places with pigeon cages, one is Yangzhou and the other is Jinling."

"Liu Si is planning to build another pigeon nest in Jingzhou in the future. However, it is not easy to tame these little creatures. It takes time and luck."

Li Yun hummed, took out the written note from his pocket, and said softly: "Send this message to four places, one each to Su Sheng, Zhao Cheng, and Deng Yang, and also send one to Jinling, and give it to Du Lingyin."

Meng Hai took it and then lowered his head and said, "Yes, I'll do it right away."

He left with his head down, while Li Yun turned around and looked at a map of Huainan Road, with some murderous intent in his eyes.

"We are neighbors. You worry about me, and I worry about you."

"Let's see if you can escape unscathed this time!"

…………

Li Yun's letter was quickly delivered by a carrier pigeon.

The first landing point of the carrier pigeon was naturally Yangzhou, which was relatively close. There was a special office of the Nine Departments in Yangzhou City. This office was also the location of the pigeon nest. After receiving the news from Li Yun, there was no pause for even a moment. Someone immediately jumped on his horse and galloped out while the Pinglu army had not yet surrounded Yangzhou.

This fast horse went straight to Fengyang, Haozhou. As it galloped all the way, it reached Fengyang in just one day. After meeting Deng Yang in Fengyang, the messenger from the Ninth Department immediately handed over the news about Li Yun. After Deng Yang took it and took a look at it, his expression became solemn.

Only a cup of tea later, several fast horses rushed out of Fengyang City. Their target was quite clear, which was where Su Sheng and Zhao Cheng were.

Jingxiang is still quite a distance away from Fengyang. This time, these fast horses took two days to reach Jingxiang. One of them rushed to the camp of General Zhao Cheng who was defending in Xiangzhou, and the other two horses continued to go south to Jingzhou to look for Su Sheng.

After arriving at General Zhao's camp, the messenger from the Ninth Division quickly told Zhao Cheng what had happened. General Zhao also looked solemn and clearly agreed. He immediately said to the guards outside the tent, "Quick, go call General Xiao Meng!"

Meng Qing was under Zhao Cheng's command, and most of the time he led his troops independently and acted alone. However, at this time, he was indeed in Zhao Cheng's army, preparing to lead his troops south to support Jingzhou after the defense of Xiangzhou was completed.

After receiving Zhao Cheng's summons, Meng Qing almost trotted all the way to Zhao Cheng's tent, bowed his head and saluted respectfully: "General!"

Zhao Cheng looked at him and said seriously, "Sit down and talk."

Meng Qing quickly bowed his head and responded, and sat opposite Zhao Cheng. Zhao Cheng handed the message from Jiusi to Meng Qing and said slowly: "The superior has issued an order, requiring our department to dispatch 10,000 people to support Jiangbei."

"The requirement is ten to fifteen days."

Zhao Cheng looked at Meng Qing and said in a deep voice: "What I mean is, if you can't get to the designated location in Jiangbei within fifteen days, there is no need to go there, General Meng, you..."

"I go."

Meng Qing answered without hesitation. He looked up at Zhao Cheng and said in a deep voice, "General, the number of troops under my command was less than 10,000."

Zhao Cheng said directly: "You can pick any of the captains under my command."

Meng Qing looked back at the sky and said, "Then I will go and prepare. I will leave early tomorrow morning!"

It was already dusk.

If it is a normal preparation of the army, with tens of thousands of people, it would take at least two or three days to be ready, but Meng Qing meant that it would only take one night, and he could set off the next morning. Zhao Cheng didn't say much, just nodded and said, "The battlefield in Jiangbei may be more dangerous than Jingxiang, and Jiangbei is originally the territory guarded by our Jiangbei Army. General Meng, please be careful on this trip and earn some face for our Jiangbei Army."

Li Yun's troops are now divided into four parts.

In front of Li Yun, the four armies naturally loved each other and were close to each other. In fact, everyone was a comrade-in-arms.

But since they are not in the same unit and have the same functions, there will naturally be some overt or covert competition between them.

For example, there was some competition between the Jiangbei Army led by Zhao Cheng and Su Sheng's troops over who was the most capable army in the Jiangdong Army.

Meng Qing nodded his head and said, "General, I am only a captain. The title of General Meng was given to me by the people below."

This is Meng Qing's personality. Although he is young, he is very serious and now he is a bit rigid.

Zhao Cheng smiled and said, "I'm not just shouting nonsense. At the latest after this battle, General Xiao Meng will be promoted, at least to a deputy general."

Li Yun had discussed the rank of deputy general with his generals. At present, the positions of deputy generals for Meng Qing, Chen Da, Qian Zhong and others are basically set in stone. In other words, the three armies of Zhao Cheng, Su Sheng and Deng Yang will all have an extra deputy.

This is also the process of improving the Jiangdong Army's system.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Meng Qing took a deep breath and said nothing more. He just bowed his head and said, "General, I will go and prepare."

"Just go."

Zhao Cheng waved his hand and said, "Jiu Si is always here. If there is anything, ask Jiu Si to send me a letter. After seeing the superior, tell him on my behalf that our Jiangbei Army..."

He narrowed his eyes and said slowly: "We can also send another 10,000 people back to Jiangbei."

Now, Zhao Cheng has over 30,000 troops in Xiangzhou. Even if 10,000 of them are taken out, it can basically ensure the complete occupation of Xiangzhou.

If they send out another ten thousand, they will have to switch to a defensive posture in Xiangzhou. However, as long as Li Yun needs it, Zhao Cheng will not hesitate and will still send out troops.

Meng Qing lowered his head, clasped his fists and said, "I obey your command!"

After saying that, he clasped his fists and left.

Zhao Cheng, on the other hand, looked in the direction where Meng Qing left and said softly, "So the purpose of attacking Jingxiang is to conquer Jiangbei."

He stood up, looked westwards towards Guanzhong again, took a deep breath, and said, "If Jiangbei can win, I will leave the capital..."

“It’s one step closer.”

…………

The next morning, Meng Qing left Zhao Cheng's camp with 10,000 soldiers and horses.

In this situation, he naturally did not sleep all night, but he was still in high spirits. He rode on his horse and led the 10,000 troops out of Xiangzhou in an orderly manner, heading east from Xiangzhou all the way back to the Jiangbei area.

On the afternoon of the same day, Chen Da, who was under Su Sheng's command, also led 10,000 troops and left Su Sheng's camp.

General Su escorted him all the way to the outside of the big tent, then looked at Chen Da, who looked a little pale, and sighed: "You were seriously injured, and I shouldn't have let you go, but there really is no more suitable candidate."

When Chen Da was attacking Xiangzhou, he was the vanguard of the city wall and was slashed with a long scar on his back. His clothes and armor were stained red with blood.

Fortunately, the wound was not very deep, and Chen Da just lost too much blood and was not in danger of life.

After hearing Su Sheng's words, Chen laughed and said, "Don't worry, General. I only have minor injuries. It's a long journey. By the time we get to Jiangbei, I think I'll be well."

Su Sheng nodded silently, then said softly: "When you see the superior, tell him for me."

As he spoke, he turned his head and looked towards Jingzhou City not far away, and said slowly: "One month, at most two months..."

"Before the end of the year, I will take over the throne and take over Jingzhou!"

Chen Da was extremely respectful and bowed his head and clasped his fists in salute.

"I obey my orders!"

(End of this chapter)