Thief Emperor

Chapter 701: Establishing Power in the Central Plains
Zhao Cheng's troops had already arrived near Shangcai City.

At this moment, Zhao Cheng was of course feeling a little depressed.

Two armies of the Jiangdong Army marched into the Central Plains, and he was the commander of one of the armies. But at that time, he had only 5,000 soldiers under his command, most of the main force was in the camp in Jixia Mountain, and the other part was led by Li Yun himself.

He currently has only 5,000 soldiers under his command, the same number as Meng Qing.

It's normal to have emotions.

However, because Li Yun led the troops personally, Zhao Cheng did not dare to have any resentment towards Li Yun. At this time, he also transferred the troops to the vicinity of Shangcai, which was to the north of the Shuofang Army, in accordance with the coordination of the Nine Departments.

At this time, Meng Hai, who had been accompanying the army, was in Zhao Cheng's army, representing the Nine Departments and coordinating the various armies. In Zhao Cheng's tent, Meng Hai placed a map in front of Zhao Cheng and whispered, "General, we should be only about 20 miles away from the Shuofang Army."

Seeing Zhao Cheng frowning, Meng Hai quickly said, "The main force of the Xishan camp is already being mobilized. It is estimated that they will be able to support the general in a day or two. They are under the general's supervision."

The troops in the Xixia Mountain camp were originally Zhao Cheng's own subordinates. He had more than 40,000 people under his command. Li Yun had more than 10,000 people in the past few days. He and Meng Qing each brought out 5,000 people, so there were still 20,000 troops left in Xixia Mountain.

Soon, he will be able to take control of the main force of his own army once again.

Upon hearing the news, Zhao Cheng let out a long breath, then looked at Meng Hai. His face, which had been gloomy, finally broke into a smile.

"Jiu Si has been really busy these past few days, but Brother Meng, you should go and urge the troops in the Xishan camp, and urge the leader Xu Hui, and tell him to come to my place as quickly as possible to serve me."

Meng Hai lowered his head quickly and said, "General, rest assured. The news has been passed to the Ninth Department. Commandant Xu's vanguard troops should arrive tomorrow afternoon."

Zhao Cheng said "hmm", he stood up, patted Meng Hai on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice: "After this matter is over, I will treat Brother Meng to a drink when we return to Jinling!"

After saying this, he put on his helmet, strode out of the tent, and quickly gathered his men.

"The enemy is twenty miles south of us!"

Zhao Cheng said in a low voice without any nonsense: "According to the king's order, our army must hold off the enemy for at least one day and one night. Listen carefully!"

"The five captain battalions, spread out, and take the captain battalion as a unit, and firmly hold the positions that were set before!"

"Coordinate with each other between various positions!"

"Firearms Battalion!"

Zhao Cheng shouted, and immediately an officer from the Firearms Battalion strode out, bowed his head, clasped his fists, and said, "I'm here!"

"The Firearms Battalion does not have to hold its position, but it must support each position!"

"Do you understand everything?"

Zhao Cheng said in a deep voice: "No problem, we will go back to our respective towns!"

All the generals responded in unison.

"Yes!"

Zhao Cheng glanced at the crowd and said angrily, “Earlier, many of you came to complain to me, saying that General Su’s army has more military titles than ours!”

"There are also some people who are talking about this in private. My ears are getting calluses from hearing them!"

"Now, the king has handed over the people who are going to stop the enemy to me. Listen to me carefully!"

Zhao Cheng shouted angrily, "This battle is well won. I will ask the king for the military honors. If I don't get them, I will smash my head against the wall and die in front of you!"

"If we don't fight well in this battle, and the enemy's main force escapes within a day and a night, then you can forget about military merits and titles, and think about fields and houses. I will lead you all to the upper level and kill you headfirst!"

"Did you hear that clearly?"

Zhao Cheng was the commander after all. Although he led only 5,000 men, they were basically his own troops, that is, the elite of the former Fengyang Army, and the soldiers he had brought up. After hearing his shouts, everyone immediately became indignant and shouted, "Listen carefully!"

Zhao Cheng said angrily: "Everyone go back to your positions!"

The five thousand Jiangdong troops immediately dispersed and returned to the positions that had been arranged in advance. Among them, the long-range units, namely the firearms battalion, were deployed at the front line.

At this time, the firearms battalion of the Jiangdong Army was not particularly large, and the firearms battalion was not fully equipped with firearms, but mostly with archers, crossbowmen and the like.

In other words, these long-range units were incorporated into the Firearms Battalion by Zhao Cheng.

As for these grassroots organizations, Li Yun actually didn't ask much about them. He delegated power to his subordinates and let them do things on their own. After all, the Jiangdong Army still did not have a formal organization called the "Firearm Battalion".

The Firearms Battalion was arranged by Zhao Cheng at the front line, but they were not responsible for defending their positions. If they saw that things were not going well, they would retreat to the next position.

After Zhao Cheng's troops were ready for battle, half an hour had passed. After another half an hour, the Shuofang Army, which had been chased all the way here by Li Yun, finally appeared in front of Zhao Cheng's troops.

Perhaps because there were pursuers behind them, the Shuofang troops quickly approached Zhao Cheng's attack range, and General Zhao shouted angrily.

"Shoot the arrow, shoot the arrow!"

Bows and arrows, crossbow arrows, were shot out at the same time.

The Shuofang Army in front was immediately stopped. Zhao Cheng, who was at the front line, even heard the Shuofang Army cursing.

"Damn it, why are there these Jiangdong soldiers everywhere? Quick! Go and inform General Zhang!"

After a burst of commotion, the Shuofang Army quickly organized a charge formation, but the difference in strength between the two sides was only twice, and Zhao Cheng had prepared the position in advance. The Shuofang Army charged several times in a row, but could not break through the formation arranged by Zhao Cheng, and suffered heavy casualties. When the people below reported the news to Zhang Xiu and Wei Yao, the two looked at each other and saw tension in each other's eyes.

Wei Yao took a deep breath and gritted his teeth, "Uncle Zhang, we can lose today's battle, or we can lose slightly, but we must not lose miserably!"

"We can't let these Jiangdong soldiers leave us here!"

Zhang Xiu was silent for a while, then sighed and said, "Major General, we have to take a detour, bypass Shangcai and head east. This way we may be able to break out of the encirclement of the Jiangdong Army."

Wei Yao frowned: "In this way, the battle line will be longer..."

"There is no other way."

Zhang Xiu said in a deep voice: "These Jiangdong troops, whether in terms of their skills on the battlefield or their speed of action, are far beyond our imagination. Major General, we have to admit that we underestimated the enemy."

"Besides, it's very dangerous to underestimate the enemy."

Zhang Xiu said in a deep voice: "Li Yun is definitely mobilizing his troops now, hoping to surround and kill us in Yuzhou. If we don't act decisively now, I'm afraid that by then, only one in ten people will be able to break out!"

Seeing that Wei Yao was still hesitant, Zhang Xiu shouted in a low voice: "Major General, we have already lost 30% of our troops!"

Wei Yao was almost out of his mind after hearing this. After taking a deep breath, he came back to his senses, looked at Zhang Xiu, and said, "Just do as Uncle Zhang said."

Zhang Xiu didn't waste any time and turned around to make arrangements.

Wei Yao was stunned in the same place. After a long while, he murmured, "This is really weird! It's only been a few years, and the Jiangdong Army has become so powerful. This Li Yun..."

He looked up at the sky and whispered, "The momentum...is not right."

After all, the Shuofang Army was an army that had fought on the battlefield for a long time. After the military order was issued, they quickly headed east and prepared to enter Chenzhou.

Li Yun, on the other hand, had been watching their movements. When the Shuofang Army headed east, Li Yun and Zhao Cheng almost simultaneously moved eastward to close their pockets.

After several days of pursuit and escape, the Jiangdong Army finally joined forces in Nandun County, Chenzhou, and successfully tightened the pocket.

Zhao Cheng also met Li Yun here. After seeing Li Yun's Li flag, Zhao Cheng trotted into Li Yun's army, half-knelt in front of Li Yun, and kowtowed: "I am here to see the king!"

Li Yun reached out his hand and helped him up, a smile on his face, and he said with a smile: "This time, General Zhao has made a great contribution."

Zhao Cheng stood up, looking ashamed: "Your Majesty, these Shuofang troops moved too quickly and fought too fiercely. We have to close the gap here today. I estimate that about 20% of the Shuofang troops have left."

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "Most of the Shuofang troops who left had horses. Almost all the infantrymen without horses were left behind. If we tighten the pressure a little bit, these infantrymen will surely be worn down by us."

“This is already quite rare.”

Mr. Li stretched his muscles, looked around, and chuckled, "I don't know how many eyes are watching here at this moment, but no matter who sees it, we in Jiangdong have won a great victory."

“With this big win…”

Mr. Li looked into the distance and said slowly: "With this great victory, we will be more confident in everything we do in the future."

So far, the Jiangdong Army has suffered nearly 2,000 casualties, and the Shuofang Army should be over 3,000.

However, there were still four or five thousand Shuofang troops who were surrounded and had no way to escape.

This loss is undoubtedly a great victory.

Li Yun was lost in thought for a while, then looked at Zhao Cheng and said with a smile: "The pocket has been tied up. I won't ask about the subsequent encirclement and suppression. General Zhao, please pay more attention."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Cheng quickly bowed and said, "It's all thanks to the superiors' planning. I will take credit for this..."

Li Yun waved his hand and said with a smile: "Not really. This battle was fought by your troops, so that's your credit. As for me, it's not my credit."

He shook his head slightly and said, "My name is not recorded in the merit book."

"and."

He patted Zhao Cheng on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Moreover, the Jiangdong soldiers under General Zhao's command fought against the Shuofang army in the field and only suffered a few minor losses. They were almost evenly matched."

“It was a pleasant surprise to me.”

Hearing this, Zhao Cheng looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head and said seriously: "According to the food allowance given to the Jiangdong Army by the superiors, if I still can't bring them out, then I really deserve to die."

Li Yun smiled.

"Okay, let's not talk about this for now. Even though it's fenced off, we still shouldn't take it lightly."

"Those of these Shuofang troops who are willing to surrender will be put into the prisoner camp, and those who are unwilling to surrender will be put into the prisoner camp."

Li Yun put his hands behind his back and said, "Just kill him."

Zhao Cheng bowed his head deeply.

"I will obey your orders!"

(End of this chapter)