Thief Emperor

Chapter 734: Portal Battle
At this time, the situation envisioned by Wei Quanzhong had basically taken shape. Luoyang was still in his hands, and he also controlled Guanzhong in the overall situation. He was returning from Guanzhong to face the Jiangdong army.

What's even more interesting is that the Hedong Army was forced to join the battle at this time, forcing the Jiangdong Army to fight the enemy on two fronts.

Of course, Cui Shao was not a god after all. The reason he persuaded the Hedong Army this time was, on the one hand, because he was forced by the situation. If the Hedong Army did not take action, there would be no good opportunity to intervene in the future. On the other hand, it was because the Shuofang Army had also paid real benefits.

At a time like this, promises, territories and the like are all worthless shit. What's really important is military supplies and money and food. The Shuofang Army actually sent a lot of money and food to Zezhou, which is almost enough to support Li Yu's entire war.

Although he shed some blood, General Wei was still quite happy. Under this situation, once the Jiangdong Army could not hold on and was attacked from all sides by him, there would only be him and the Hedong Army left in the entire Central Plains. At that time, even if they had to fight again, he would not be afraid of the Hedong Army.

After all, in this chaotic world, it is not only Li Yun's family that is increasing its troops. The Shuofang Army has also not been idle in recent years. Ever since Wei Quanzhong, who returned to Shuofang and was crowned king for his "serving the king" last time, has been doing his utmost to increase his troops.

This time when he went south, he first occupied the Central Plains for a while. At that time, he was also trying his best to expand his army. Now, his rear is the entire Guanzhong, and he is also recruiting soldiers in Guanzhong.

Moreover, his way of recruiting soldiers is completely different from Li Yun's.

It was really like dusk in Shihao Village, with officials arresting people at night.

It was completely forced conscription.

This is not surprising. The warlords of this era, and even the imperial court, have always used this method when they need a large number of soldiers in a short period of time. In fact, Li Yun is the outlier of this era. There has never been any violent machine who does things as gently as he does.

In other words, for a person like Wei Quanzhong, or a warlord like him, the number of troops under his command is completely limited by his ability to support them.

In fact, warlords like Wei Quanzhong also had a very "economical" way of supporting their armies. The military pay was barely there, and ordinary soldiers had no armor, and they might not even be given a decent weapon.

The Shuofang Army originally had 100,000 men. The last time they went to defend the king, they lost more than 10,000 men. After returning to Shuofang, the Shuofang Army's strength increased to 130,000 or 140,000 men.

Now, if we only consider the number of troops, the number of troops under General Wei may be close to 200,000, but it is still difficult to say how much combat effectiveness they can have compared to the border troops of the Shuofang Army.

This increase sounds exaggerated, but in fact, if he, Li Yun, also recruited soldiers according to Wei Quanzhong's method, with his territory and economic capabilities, he could even raise an army of 400,000 to 500,000 people in a short period of time. By then, the four generals under his command could all be awarded the title of general!
After fighting on the two battlefields of Ruzhou and Huaizhou, Wei Quanzhong finally reluctantly led his troops out of Tongguan and left Guanzhong and stationed his troops in Shanzhou.

At this time, he was already quite close to Luoyang where Li Yun was, only a few hundred miles away, and the ultimate collision between the two major military groups would probably take place on this day.

This year will always be remembered in history.

The sixth year of Zhaoding!

In General Wei's tent, battle reports were delivered to him one after another. Although General Wei could read, reading these documents was still too tiring for him. A clerk beside him would read them first and then relay them to him in a concise manner.

Soon, the document read out the part about Ruzhou. The clerk looked at Wei Quanzhong, then bowed his head and said, "General, this document from Ruzhou says that General Yang Hou has fought with the Jiangdong Army several times. Although he was not defeated, he suffered heavy losses several times. At this time, General Yang no longer dared to send troops, but retreated to Ruzhou City."

"In Huaizhou, the Jiangdong Army led by Zhao Cheng did not defend the city, but took the initiative to go out of the city to fight. The two sides are fighting fiercely."

"It's really lively."

General Wei picked his teeth leisurely, then looked at the middle-aged man in black and said with a smile: "Sir, Li Yun is used to fighting smoothly in Jiangdong. Now he is too arrogant. It is really stupid for him to use his troops like this in front of me."

This middle-aged man's surname is He, and few people know his real name. He is in his forties or fifties. He has been following Wei Quanzhong since he was in his twenties, giving advice to General Wei and is a real strategist for Shuofang.

Over the years, he has contributed at least three-quarters to Wei Quanzhong's rise.

Including the previous support for the king, it was basically his idea.

Mr. He was tall and thin, with a dark face. At first glance, if you were far away, you couldn't even tell what he looked like. After hearing what Wei Quanzhong said, he looked up at Wei Quanzhong and said with a smile, "What do you mean, General?"

Wei Quanzhong laughed: "Li Yun is under attack from both north and south, and his main energy is divided between the north and south. I, Wei, am now to his west, only a few hundred miles away from Luoyang. If my main force goes straight into Luoyang, how can he resist?"

"Not to mention, my son is still in Luoyang City, and his main force is intact. Once my main force is under the city, he can immediately leave the city and defeat the Jiangdong Army near Luoyang with the help of the inside and outside forces!"

Wei Quanzhong chuckled: "It's stupid to punch someone with both hands like this, but the middle door is wide open."

Mr. He thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "The general would not do that."

"Because once we do that, the two sides will immediately engage in a decisive battle, and it will be difficult to pull them apart. Once the Hedong Army in the north hears the news, the kid from the Li family will not even think about it. Even if he is the last one to be cut off, he will immediately leave the battlefield and watch from the sidelines."

"By that time, even if the Jiangdong Army near Luoyang suffered some casualties, the overall strength of the Jiangdong Army would still be there, and the two sides... would still be fighting a one-on-one bloody battle."

Wei Quanzhong was silent for a moment, then nodded gently: "That Li Hao is not on the same page with us."

"This Li Yun."

General Wei's eyes fell on the two counties, and he said slowly: "Xin'an and Shou'an are the western gates of Luoyang." "No matter what happens on the battlefield, I want to take these two counties first. As long as these two counties are taken, the west of Luoyang will be wide open for us."

Mr. He thought for a moment and said, "Li Yun, probably deployed heavy troops in these two counties."

Wei Quanzhong said, "Hey!" "He has to deploy troops on three fronts and also take care of Luoyang and two counties. How many troops can he have?"

Mr. He was silent for a while, then he looked up at Wei Quanzhong and said softly, "General, don't underestimate the strength of the Jiangdong Army. The number of Jiangdong Army soldiers may be different every day."

"I have studied Li Yun in the past year. Since he rose to power, every time he conquered a place, he would quickly register the local people and set up administrative offices. It can be said that his Jiangdong forces have already established a country since they occupied Jinling."

"And in the past three or four years, or even five or six years, all he has been doing is expanding his territory, not expanding his territory. His rear... is too strong."

"No one knows how many troops he will have to fill the battlefield every day."

Wei Quanzhong snorted: "He is expanding his army, and I am also expanding my army. A young guy who is just starting out..."

"I don't believe it can turn the world upside down."

At this point, he shouted, "Call Chu Sheng and He Xiong!"

These two men were both generals of the Shuofang Army, and were also direct descendants of Wei Quanzhong.

The two men quickly arrived at the general's tent, knelt in front of Wei Quanzhong, bowed their heads and kowtowed, saying, "Great General!"

"You two, each lead your own troops, one to take Xin'an, and the other to take Shou'an!"

"Within fifteen days."

General Wei said in a deep voice: "We must take these two counties, otherwise we will be subject to military law!"

Upon hearing this, the two generals nodded their heads with smiles on their faces.

The word "county town" is too unfamiliar to them.

Moreover, tactical targets at the county level have never been linked to the level of "10,000 people" in the past. A county town is usually a target that can be captured by a colonel's battalion, or at most a captain's battalion.

The two of them each have more than 20,000 troops under their command.

Seeing the two of them grinning, Wei Quanzhong patted the table and said in a deep voice: "You have seen what the Jiangdong Army is like in the past two years. Although this group of people are not very experienced on the battlefield, they really don't care about their lives when fighting."

"These two counties are heavily guarded by the Jiangdong Army, and they must have firearms."

"Don't underestimate the enemy, and don't slack off."

The two generals quickly bowed their heads, clasped their fists, said yes, and then went downstairs to check the troops.

General Wei turned his head and looked at Mr. He, who was dressed in black, and laughed: "Sir, after occupying the Central Plains, can I establish a country and become emperor?"

Mr. He thought about it and nodded silently.

"almost."

……

Two days later.

In Xin'an County, a young man was sitting on the city wall, occasionally picking up a telescope to look into the distance.

It was spring now, the grass and trees were sprouting, and he had a piece of tender green foxtail grass in his mouth.

Soon, a messenger came running up to him and said, "Captain, a large group of enemies are approaching Xin'an!"

The young man stood up, stretched, and grinned.

"It's finally my time to make achievements and be awarded a title!"

(End of this chapter)