Thief Emperor

Chapter 697 The Road to Emperor!

There is a reason why Li Yun used Yuzhou to lure the enemy.

Yuzhou can be said to be the edge of the Central Plains. By taking control of Yuzhou, one can smoothly enter the Central Plains. There will not be too many obstacles ahead. At that time, Li Yun can go anywhere he wants in this Central Plains.

If they could hold on to Yuzhou, they could keep Li Yun out of the Central Plains, and by then the Central Plains would soon be occupied by the Shuofang Army.

A few days ago, when Zheng Can's letter was delivered to Wei Quanzhong, General Wei had just arrived outside Luoyang City in Dujidao with the main force of the Shuofang Army, preparing to enter Luoyang City.

Originally, Wei Quanzhong and his son did not expect that the Zhongwu Army could resist Li Yun for long. After all, the Zhongwu Army... although it had been around for a long time, in reality, it was a newly established army that had only been established for two or three years. The previous generation of the Zhongwu Army had been dispersed by Wang Junping's rebels and no longer existed.

Wei Quanzhong did not expect the army that could be defeated by the rebels to be very powerful.

As long as he could slow down Li Yun's pace in advancing into the Central Plains and consume some of the Jiangdong Army's manpower, it would be enough for Wei Quanzhong.

Therefore, when Zheng Can's letter for help was delivered to Wei Quanzhong, General Wei was quite surprised.

Because the letter said that if the Zhongwu Army did not receive any support, it would not last more than half a month before falling into the hands of the Jiangdong Army. By then, it would be difficult to defend Ruyang City.

At this time, the vanguard of the Shuofang Army was only 500 miles away from Yuzhou. If they traveled quickly, they would arrive in ten days at most.

Therefore, Wei Quanzhong immediately gave orders to his son Wei Yao, who was in charge of the vanguard army, and ordered him to lead the troops into Yuzhou and deal with the situation in Yuzhou on the spot.

The meaning was to let him go to Yuzhou to take a look, and if he could save the people, he would do so, and if not, he should retreat temporarily.

When the order was delivered to Wei Yao day and night, the major general did not think much about it and led his troops directly to Yuzhou.

To put it bluntly, these two men basically didn't take the Jiangdong soldiers seriously.

It is not surprising to have such a perception. After all, the two sides have never fought each other, and before that, the strongest of all the opponents defeated by the Jiangdong Army was only the second-tier vassal state such as the Pinglu Army.

Wei Quanzhong did not take the Pinglu Army or Zhou Xu seriously.

Under such circumstances, the father and son did not even think much about it and drove all the way to Ruyang, Yuzhou, ready to engage in battle with Li Yun's troops.

Wei Yao's army was not far from Yuzhou. After entering Yuzhou, they deliberately bypassed the Yancheng battlefield and took a detour to Ruyang. When they were only a hundred miles away from Ruyang, Wei Yao ordered to set up camp near Shangcai.

After setting up camp, Wei Yao called for General Zhang Xiu, the vanguard general who was ordered to lead the troops into battle this time.

Zhang Xiu was in his forties and was one of the generals under Wei Quanzhong. He was already one of the highest-ranking generals in the entire Shuofang Army. However, even he did not dare to neglect Wei Yao after entering his tent. He bowed his head and saluted, saying, "Major General."

There are many rules in the Shuofang Army.

This was mainly because General Wei had a bad temper. Sometimes he would get furious over inexplicable things and kill people at will. Therefore, the generals working under him were mostly serious in character and did things in an orderly manner.

Wei Yao did not stand up, but just raised his eyelids to look at Zhang Xiu, and said lightly: "Uncle Zhang is too polite."

"Sit down and talk."

Zhang Xiu responded with a yes and sat down near Wei Yao.

"I asked Uncle Zhang to come here to talk to him about the situation of the Jiangdong Army in Yuzhou."

Wei Yao cleared his throat, coughed, and then said, "There are some more things my father told me."

Zhang Xiu became serious and said, "It's just what the young general ordered."

Wei Yao lowered his head to drink tea and said, "Ruyang is surrounded by the Jiangdong Army. Scouts are densely deployed for dozens of miles nearby. The current situation is obscure and difficult to see clearly. Under such circumstances, we should not rush in. However, their main forces are in Tangzhou and the camp in Xixia Mountain west of Yuzhou."

"Our people are keeping an eye on their camp in Xixia Mountain. If there is any unusual movement there, we will retreat immediately."

"The actual number of troops in Ruyang and Yancheng is no more than 10,000."

At this point, Wei Yao smiled confidently: "With the capabilities of the Jiangdong Army, even if they have an ambush, our army can easily defeat it and escape from Yuzhou at any time."

Zhang Xiu thought about it and nodded, "The general and the lieutenant general are wise."

"Tell me the purpose of this time."

Wei Yao put down the teacup and said softly, "If the situation in Ruyang is really as Zheng said, then there is nothing to say. We will march our army into Ruyang, cooperate with the outside forces, and defeat the Jiangdong army near Ruyang in one fell swoop. If we can capture Li Yun, it will be great."

"And if there is a trick, don't panic, Uncle Zhang, my father..."

"My father is very interested in the firearms of the Jiangdong Army. One of the biggest goals of this battle is to get some firearms from the Jiangdong Army, and then take them back and give them to the craftsmen to imitate."

His eyes were blazing. "This is what really concerns our great cause in Shuofang. Other matters, whether it's Yuzhou, Zheng Can, or even Li Yun, are not that important."

"Uncle Zhang, do you understand?"

Zhang Xiu was somewhat curious and asked, "Young General, are Jiangdong's firearms really that powerful? If they were, how come it took so long to not even take down a Ruyang?"

"I don't know either." Wei Yao said slowly, "So, I suspect there is a big problem here. Either the firearms are exaggerated, or the Li guy is reluctant to use firearms."

At this point, he looked at Zhang Xiu and chuckled, "Along the way, I told Uncle Zhang about the situation in Ruyang City. Uncle Zhang, if you lead more than 10,000 Shuofang troops to take Ruyang, how long will it take to take it down?"

Zhang Xiu thought about it seriously, then said slowly: "Ten days."

"In ten days, I will be able to capture Ruyang."

"If we don't count the casualties, I can take Ruyang within three days."

Wei Yao smiled.

"These Jiangdong troops have been entangled with the Zhongwu troops for such a long time, but have not made any progress. Now they have been besieging Ruyang for more than ten days. It seems that they are no different from the Pinglu troops."

"Pinglu Army..."

Wei Yao said "Hey", looked at Zhang Xiu, and said with a smile: "Okay, let's stop here today. Uncle Zhang, go back and have a rest. Tomorrow we will march into Ruyang. If we rescue that Zheng guy, we must make a fortune from him."

He laughed heartily and said, "When the time comes, let Zheng Clan of Xingyang give two legitimate daughters to redeem him. I'll give one to Uncle Zhang, and one to him."

Zhang Xiu couldn't help but smile when he heard this, and said with a smile: "It's rare that the young general still cares about me. If this day comes, the two legitimate daughters of the Zheng family will be his. I don't like these virgins."

Wei Yao remembered Zhang Xiu's hobby and immediately understood it. He smiled and said, "Then when we occupy the Central Plains, we will give all the wives and concubines of the surname Zheng to Uncle Zhang."

Zhang Xiu laughed loudly upon hearing this, and bowed to Wei Yao, saying, "Thank you, Major General. Thank you, Major General."

……

"Ascend."

About fifty miles away from Shangcai, an army was marching in the night.

Chen Da followed Li Yun and whispered, "The Ninth Division has confirmed that the enemy's main force is less than 20 miles east of Shangcai City, and about 50 to 60 miles away from us."

Li Yun held the spear in his hand, licked his lips, looked at Chen Da, and chuckled, "Are you afraid?"

Chen Da shook his head and a smile appeared on his face.

"Following behind the superior, I have never been afraid."

Li Yun smiled, then looked at the Jiangdong Army hiding in the night behind him, and said softly: "Fifty miles is almost a day's march. Since they are going to Ruyang, we... should not go any further."

"Wait for them to come over on their own."

Chen Da thought for a moment and asked, "Sir, when they march, they must have scouts to lead the way. Moreover, the Shuofang Army's cavalry is skilled in horsemanship, and their scouts are also skilled in riding. If we just wait here, we will definitely be discovered by their scouts."

Li Yun looked up at the sky and frowned slightly.

At this time, if they continue to move forward and move towards each other, if nothing unexpected happens, the two armies will meet at noon tomorrow, and... it must be the scouts of both sides who will meet each other.

By then, there will be no such thing as ambush or not.

Li Yun thought about it seriously, then looked around and said softly: "Let's retreat about ten miles."

"Keep some distance."

Chen Da's eyes lit up, and he whispered, "This way, if the Shuofang Army travels for a day tomorrow, they will arrive right where we are now. With a distance of ten miles, it will not be that easy to spot them."

Li Yun nodded slightly. He carefully observed the terrain and then ordered: "We still have a whole day to deploy all the firearms and gunpowder here."

Chen Da was a little surprised: "Master, are all arranged here?"

Li Yun nodded, very sure: "The Shuofang Army is a strong enemy."

"You have to do your best and just do what I say."

Chen Da responded and took a group of subordinates to make arrangements at night.

Li Yun, on the other hand, looked far into the north, took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

The Shuofang Army was undoubtedly the most powerful enemy he had ever faced since he started his business.

But... powerful is powerful.

As long as Li Yun breaks through this barrier, his path to becoming an emperor...

There will be no more decent obstacles!
(End of this chapter)