Thief Emperor

Chapter 638 Tie Tie
The loss of a granary will not cause any fatal damage to the Pinglu Army. With the current capabilities of the Pinglu Army, even if they cannot transfer food from the rear, they can still seize military rations in Jiangbei.

Anyway, this place is not the territory of their Pinglu Army, so they can just rob it. As for reputation, it will be difficult for them to come to Jiangbei again in the future, so they might as well just rob it to their heart's content.

But after this incident, General Zhou was also very clear that if he delayed any further, it would be hard to say whether the Pinglu Army could return. Of the more than 10,000 people he brought to Huoqiu, it was likely that not many would be able to return alive.

In Huoqiu County, General Zhou looked down at the wooden sign that Li Yun had given him. After a moment of silence, he threw it into the brazier in the room.

"Everyone in the world is motivated by profit. I am like this, and so are you. It's just that I took the first step."

"Don't regret what you have done, and don't complain in the future!"

After saying this, he strode out of his room and walked outside with his hands behind his back.

When one reaches the level of a local military governor, his mind is generally relatively strong. Even if Li Yun is here and argues with him, he will most likely remain calm. It is impossible for him to be shaken by the sign left by Li Yun.

However, General Zhou knew very well that Li Yun left this sign not to sever the relationship of sworn brotherhood with him, but just to find an excuse for future wars. From today on, Jiangdong could declare war on Qingzhou at any time, and it was possible to declare war on Qingzhou at any time.

This is Li Yun's challenge to him.

In the future, and most likely in the not too distant future, the two sides will officially decide the winner, but by that time, it will just be a matter of attacking and defending aliens!
In the front yard of the room, Luo Zhen and Gongsun Hao were already waiting for the general. When they saw him coming out, they both bowed their heads and saluted. Luo Zhen said, "General, I have sent someone to contact Deputy General Xie. Deputy General Xie said that the Pinglu troops in Chuzhou and Yangzhou have taken action, and some of them have reached Chuzhou."

"Deputy General Xie said that he is already doing his best to break through the blockade of Fengyang's defenders."

Zhou Xu was silent for a while, then he said, "Then this battle will be... held in Chuzhou."

"After we capture Chuzhou, our two armies will join forces and cross the river to the north."

General Zhou put his hands behind his back and said, "This battle is not difficult. If the battle gets too bad, we should just close down our business in Qingzhou to avoid being humiliated by Li Er in the future."

Hearing this, Gongsun Hao only bowed his head slightly. Luo Zhen, who was still leading the troops, bowed his head deeply and said, "General, rest assured. We will definitely win this battle!"

At this time, as Li Yun continued to send reinforcements to Jiangbei, the Pinglu Army's strength in Jiangbei was no longer at an advantage, but it was not at a great disadvantage either. After all, there were still about 20,000 Pinglu Army troops near Chuzhou. They could advance to Chuzhou at any time, join forces with Zhou Xu's troops, and then act together.

If the more than 30,000 Pinglu troops in Jiangbei advance and retreat together, then no matter how Li Yun tries, it will be difficult to shake such a large army.

After all, the battles between the Pinglu Army and the Jiangdong Army during this period have basically confirmed that the two sides are actually not much different in field combat capabilities.

Even if Li Yun personally commanded the troops, the Jiangdong Army could temporarily gain some advantages, but these advantages would not be particularly great.

Moreover... with this small advantage, coupled with a clash of forces of this scale, if you want to determine the winner, it may be necessary for both sides to not retreat even a single step. The war may have to last for several months, or even a year or two, before the winner can be determined bit by bit.

Now, Zhou Xu asked for a steady retreat, and Li Yun really had no way to deal with him.

After deciding on the retreat route, General Zhou slowly said, "Go and prepare. We will set out to join forces tomorrow morning."

The two deputy generals bowed their heads in response, but after the salute, only Luo Zhen turned around and left, while Gongsun Hao still stood there without moving.

He no longer has a military position.

General Zhou called Gongsun Hao, and then had Zhou Gui driven over. At this time, the general's face was gloomy, and he said in a deep voice: "I will give you two a task."

The two bowed their heads deeply.

"The general ordered."

"This time, I suffered a great loss."

Zhou Xu closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his eyes were full of anger. He said in a deep voice: "That son of a bitch Pei San deceived me. Send someone, either openly or secretly, to capture that little bastard and bring him to Qingzhou. I'm going to teach him a lesson!"

At this point, General Zhou paused and said expressionlessly: "If you can't catch him, just capture his family. Now I'm not afraid of offending the Hedong Pei family!"

"If you dare to do something like this, you can't just let it go!"

The two men immediately bowed their heads and responded. Just as they turned to leave, General Zhou said in a hoarse voice, "Zhou Gui, please stay for a moment."

Zhou Gui stopped immediately.

After Gongsun Hao left, General Zhou sat in his seat, his tone full of anger: "I've been very angry recently, go get me two women, taller ones."

"Calm down your anger."

For Zhou Gui, who grew up with General Zhou, hearing this was not surprising at all, and it was even within his expectations. In fact, it was the fact that General Zhou had been able to stay calm and not go out to have affairs that really surprised Zhou Gui.

After hearing what General Zhou said, he lowered his head slightly and said, "Yes, I will send it to the general in the evening."

…………

Gushi, Meng Qing’s camp.

Meng Hai, who had been following Li Yun recently, rarely left Li Yun this time and rode all the way to Meng Qing's army. Meng Hai is now one of the more important leaders of the Nine Divisions, so of course he could meet Meng Qing smoothly. After seeing Meng Qing in the barracks, Meng Hai looked Meng Qing up and down, suddenly clasped his fists, and said with a smile: "Hello, General Meng."

Meng Qing raised his head and looked at Meng Hai without saying anything. The two brothers looked at each other with mixed feelings.

Meng Qing stood up, stepped forward and grasped Meng Hai's sleeve, then said to his personal guards, "Go, call Meng Yan."

The guard immediately lowered his head and turned away.

Meng Qing then pulled Meng Hai to sit down and said in Shidai dialect: "If Fifth Brother calls me like this again in the future, I will be angry."

Meng Hai smiled and said, "If that's the case, I wouldn't dare to shout like that. General Meng is now the most promising one in our Shidai Meng family."

They are cousins, Meng Hai is the fifth, Meng Qing is the seventh, and there is a younger brother, Meng Yan, who is the ninth.

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

After a great disaster, the Meng family didn't have many people left. Among their peers, only three brothers were left.

After chatting for a while, Meng Hai coughed and said, "Let's talk about serious matters. After we finish talking about serious matters, let's reminisce about the past."

He whispered, "My superior asked me to come here and ask you, what are the casualties of our army in the past few days of the crazy counterattack by the Pinglu Army?"

Meng Qing became serious and said, "The Pinglu Army has been very fierce these days. We sent three battalions of lieutenants to resist their attack, but we didn't suffer any losses overall."

Meng Hai nodded and said, "It's good that we didn't suffer any loss. According to the information from the Nine Departments and the estimates from the higher-ups, the Pinglu Army may have to retreat in the near future. The direction they will retreat is either eastward or southward. With Zhou Xu's personality, it's unlikely that he will go in a circle, so he is most likely to go eastward."

This is not difficult to guess, because the Pinglu Army now has no good path to retreat.

There are four directions in total, two of which are blocked. Going south is going in the opposite direction, so the Pinglu Army has only one direction to go.

That is to the east.

"What the superiors mean is to have the Nine Departments cooperate with you. Once the Pinglu Army says they want to flee eastward, your troops here should just stick to them. The distance should be controlled within 20 to 30 miles, so that the enemy has no time and space to stop. Most importantly, they cannot stop and attack Chuzhou on the way."

"Once this is accomplished, the higher-ups will make corresponding obstructions in the middle. By then, even if the Pinglu Army withdraws to the north of Chuzhou, the casualties will not be small."

Meng Qing thought about it carefully and said, "What about Commander Chen in the north?"

"Don't worry, Jiusi has already sent someone to inform them."

"Captain Chen will go with you to chase the Pinglu Army away."

"Then there is no problem."

Meng Qing replied straightforwardly: "Fifth brother, please report this to the higher-ups and tell them that I will definitely complete the task assigned by the higher-ups!"

He thought for a moment and added, "I can get within 20 miles of the Pinglu Army!"

Meng Hai smiled and was about to speak when a young man pushed open the tent and walked in. After seeing Meng Hai, he was surprised and delighted and shouted, "Fifth Brother!"

Meng Hai pulled him over, touched his head, and said with a smile: "How do you feel about being in the military camp?"

"It's okay."

Meng Yan smiled and said, "It's Brother Seven who refuses to take care of me."

Meng Hai looked at Meng Qing, then looked at him, and said with a smile: "You must follow your seventh brother well."

"he…"

"He will be the backbone of our Meng family for generations to come."

(End of this chapter)