Thief Emperor

Chapter 738 Remember it clearly!

The Battle of Heqing lasted only one day before it was declared over.

Li Hao, the main general of the Hedong Army, was covered in black ash from the gunpowder explosion. When he looked back at Heqing County, there was even some fear in his eyes.

The gap between the Jiangdong Army defending the city and the Jiangdong Army fighting in the field is really too big.

He rode on his horse, looking back at He Qing as he walked, cursing him non-stop.

"It's fucking weird, it's fucking weird!"

Li Hao stopped his horse, still cursing, gritting his teeth and saying: "How much gunpowder has this Li Yun made in the southeast over the years!"

Although gunpowder had appeared before, Li Yun had used it several times before only as a strange trick, or as an unexpected means. Although it achieved miraculous results, because the number of times and quantities used were quite restrained, no one thought that Li Yun would have so much gunpowder.

In fact, the most "product" produced by Jiangdong's Jinling Workshop in recent years is this thing. For this thing, Li Yun has temporarily put aside some things that can improve basic technology that he has always been thinking about.

The Jinling Workshop can even be called the Gunpowder Workshop directly.

Except for Li Yun himself and several master chefs in charge of specific matters in the Jinling workshop, no one knows how much gunpowder Jiangdong has produced over the years.

Now, gunpowder can no longer be hidden, and now is the critical moment to determine the fate of the Central Plains through a battle, so there is no need to hide it any longer. Now Li Yun has almost put all the stockpiled goods of these years into the battlefield.

Among the military supplies of the Jiangdong Army, the amount of gunpowder was not much different from the amount of food.

Under such circumstances, it is not impossible for Li Yu and his 10,000 men to take over Heqing, but it is difficult to say how many of his 10,000 men will be left after taking over Heqing.

Therefore, Li Gao decisively chose to abandon Heqing and lead his troops to retreat.

At the same time, in Henei, due east of Heqing, which is near Huaizhou City, Zhao Cheng, who had been fighting with the Hedong Army for more than ten days, had basically figured out the Hedong Army's tactics. He took a seat in his central military tent and gathered most of his captains together.

"Everyone."

Zhao Cheng looked around at everyone and said slowly: "It has been more than ten days. Everyone has seen what the Hedong Army looks like. This group of people..."

"Slippery."

In the previous ten days or so, the Hedong Army was unwilling to fight to the death on the battlefield. Even if the Jiangdong Army did not defend the city but went out of the city to fight them in the field, as long as the Jiangdong Army fought more aggressively, they would retreat.

And when the Jiangdong army is resting, they will come closer.

This went on for more than ten days.

Then, the intention of this group of Hedong troops is quite obvious. They want to delay part of the Jiangdong army's forces, and also want to preserve their own forces.

To put it simply, this kind of ambiguous attitude was used to lure in the Jiangdong Army and Zhao Cheng's troops.

"During this period, everyone has seen some of the news from the Nine Departments. The battle near Luoyang City is fierce, and the situation at the top is a bit tight."

"Today, the superior sent a letter to me, asking if I could allocate 5,000 to 10,000 troops to support Luoyang. My idea is that since the Hedong Army is so cunning and we are not very capable of fighting a big battle here, we might as well withdraw a large part of our troops to reinforce the superior."

Zhao Cheng reached out and knocked on the table, then slowly said, "Tell me, how many troops should we withdraw?"

A captain who was a member of the anti-theft team looked up at Zhao Cheng and said boldly: "General, these Hedong soldiers are so cunning that they are unwilling to fight with us. I think we can keep 10,000 troops to guard Huaizhou, and the rest can be withdrawn to reinforce Luoyang!"

Luoyang is surrounded by a pocket formation, but Zhao Cheng's troops north of Luoyang have few troops used to defend the city, only about 10,000 people, who are arranged to defend the city. The rest of the troops are in direct confrontation with the Hedong army. If only 10,000 people are left, it means that almost 20,000 people will have to be withdrawn to reinforce Luoyang.

Zhao Cheng didn't say anything, and continued to ask: "Does anyone else have any ideas?"

The whole battle was filled with noise.

After discussing for almost half an hour, Zhao Cheng made a decision. He looked at everyone present and said softly, "Then let's split it in half."

"Give away half of our forces."

Zhao Cheng looked at a captain and said in a deep voice: "Lü Zheng, you will lead 15,000 people and quietly leave Huaizhou tomorrow night. Don't go directly to Luoyang, but take a detour from Huaiyang."

Zhao Cheng said slowly: "A surprise attack on the Shuofang army besieging Xin'an and rescue Xin'an."

Lu Zheng was a general in his thirties, a direct descendant of Zhao Cheng. Upon hearing this, he immediately stood up, bowed his head and clasped his fists: "I obey your command!"

After giving the order, Zhao Cheng looked around and continued, "Each camp's offensive cannot stop. We must continue to fight the battles that need to be fought. For at least one or two days, we must not let the Hedong Army see that we are short of people."

"Once the battle of Xin'an is over, we will start to shrink our northern defense line."

All the generals stood up, bowed their heads and clasped their fists towards Zhao Cheng, their voices in unison.

"I will obey your orders!"

…………

at night.

Xin'an County, forty miles outside the city.

Li Yun left the central army tent and personally led more than 800 cavalrymen, slowly approaching Xin'an.

The Nine Departments' men were also riding fast horses, running back and forth. When it was almost dawn, a group of riders came to Li Yun's horse. The riders jumped off the horses swiftly, half-knelt in front of Li Yun, and bowed their heads deeply: "Ascend to the throne!"

Li Yun jumped off his horse, helped the man up, and asked, "How far are you?"

"A hundred miles." This person was Zhao Cheng's subordinate Lu Zheng. He clasped his fists respectfully towards Li Yun and said, "We will definitely be there tomorrow evening."

Li Yun looked in the direction of Xin'an and said slowly: "How many cavalrymen do you have?"

Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "About five hundred."

"Well."

Li Yun whispered: "This time we must not only save Xin'an, but also give these Shuofang troops a hard time."

He looked up at the time and said slowly, "I have 800 cavalrymen here, and we will definitely reach Xin'an at noon tomorrow. Your cavalry will also arrive at noon tomorrow. We will not go to Xin'an County, but attack the camp directly."

"Attack the Shuofang Army camp outside Xin'an City."

"Once there is chaos outside, the Shuofang Army will surely come to rescue. The brothers guarding the city will surely react and hold out until the evening. It won't be a problem."

"Once the main force arrives in the evening, we can keep all these Shuofang troops here!"

Lu Zheng nodded his head at first, then looked up at Li Yun and said, "My Lord, given your current status... you should not go into battle in person like this. I will fight this battle and I will not let you down!"

Li Yun glanced at him and shook his head slowly: "The fight in Xin'an was too fierce. No matter what, I have to go and take a look. Don't worry, this battle will be regarded as you leading the troops. I won't take away your credit."

He forced a smile and said, "Don't forget, I'm the one keeping track of the credits."

Lu Zheng lowered his head quickly: "Sir, that's not what I meant!"

"Stop talking nonsense and go make the arrangements."

Lu Zheng immediately lowered his head and said, "I obey your command!"

He took the several riders around him and immediately turned around to look for his main force. Li Yun looked up in the direction of Xin'an, then turned his head to look at Yang Xi and said slowly: "Advance!"

Xin'an must be saved.

The Shuofang Army is still sending reinforcements to Xin'an. If the fighting continues like this, Xin'an will be lost in ten days at most.

Li Yun doesn’t care much about the gains and losses of a city or a place, but the people... have to be saved.

Soon, the sky gradually brightened.

Li Yun led 800 cavalrymen and slowly approached Xin'an. When he was still more than ten miles away from Xin'an, Yang Xi came to report in a hurry. He bowed his head and said to Li Yun: "Sir, we have been discovered by their scouts!"

Li Yun didn't say anything, slowly put on the armor, and said only one word.

"rush!"

…………

On the Xin'an city wall, Captain Yu Ye was holding a gunpowder barrel in his hands. He kept looking outside the city without blinking.

Next to him, a younger lieutenant said with some distress, "Commander, this is the last barrel of gunpowder..."

Yu Ye looked back at him, his face full of black and gray as he grinned: "This is the last bucket, so we have to use it like this. When the enemy comes, just throw it down right away."

"They are not sure how much gunpowder we have."

"Damn it!"

Yu Ye spat on the ground and muttered, "In the past, I never took gunpowder seriously, and I didn't think it was a powerful thing. It was only after fighting with these tough guys that I realized the benefits of this treasure!"

He held the gunpowder barrel in his hand and put his face against it: "This little darling, the more I look at it, the more I like it."

At this time, the sun gradually rose.

“They are all handsome!”

A young lieutenant at the side held a telescope, looked into the distance, and took a deep breath: "The Shuofang Army is coming!"

Yu Ye raised his head and looked into the distance. At this time, there was no need for a telescope. With the naked eye, he could see that a wave of Shuofang troops, like a tide, was slowly approaching Xin'an.

Captain Yu closed his eyes and murmured, "Just like ants, I can't kill them all..."

He turned around and looked at the young lieutenant beside him, and said in a hoarse voice: "Listen carefully, kid. I will die in Xin'an, but you don't have to die in Xin'an. After Xin'an is captured, you will find a way to break out and go to see the superior and report to him about Xin'an's situation in the past half month!"

At this point, Yu Ye took a breath and shouted, "Prepare to meet the enemy!"

On the tower of Xin'an City, hundreds of Jiangdong soldiers stood up, picked up their weapons, looked forward, and prepared for battle.

Yu Ye turned around and looked at the young lieutenant beside him again, and said in a hoarse voice: "Remember this, when you see your superior, don't forget to tell him, Sun Youtian..."

"Sun Youtian is in Jinling and has a son and a daughter."

"Did you remember it clearly?"

The young lieutenant gritted his teeth and lowered his head: "I remember it clearly."

(End of this chapter)