Thief Emperor

Chapter 782 The First Clash of the Two Kings

General Wei Quanzhong is feeling very uncomfortable now.

He had even begun to regret leaving Guanzhong.

I originally thought that as long as I was careful on this trip out of Guanzhong and didn't engage in a head-on confrontation with the Jiangdong Army, the worst result would be returning empty-handed, and I wouldn't suffer any loss in any way.

Moreover, even if the Jiangdong Army cannot be defeated and there is no way to take the prefectures and counties in the Central Plains, at least the Jiangdong Army will pay some price.

It's a sure-fire business.

Therefore, after leaving Guanzhong, he began to disperse his troops, dispersing the tens of thousands of troops outside Guanzhong to the north and south, harassing the prefectures and counties in the Central Plains from different places.

Let me put it more bluntly.

It means burning, killing, looting and causing destruction.

But it was precisely because the troops were dispersed that Li Yun had the opportunity to attack Tongguan directly.

At this moment, General Wei was extremely anxious.

After he received the news that the Jiangdong army was heading towards Tongguan, he immediately led all his troops to Tongguan for rescue without even thinking twice.

At the same time, he also ordered all the Shuofang troops that had already left the pass to rush back to Tongguan.

He even sent a message to Guanzhong, asking the Shuofang Army in Guanzhong to quickly support Tongguan. No matter what, they had to ensure that Tongguan's external passages were unobstructed and could not be blocked by anyone.

If Tongguan was blocked, it would not be impossible for the tens of thousands of troops he had already sent out to return, but many people would surely die.

Admittedly, he still had more than half of his troops inside the pass, and he could have let the troops from Guanzhong come out of Tongguan to open up the passage. But that would mean that the Shuofang Army in Guanzhong would be forced to leave the pass continuously, give up the geographical advantage of Tongguan, and take the initiative to go out of the pass to fight a decisive battle with the Jiangdong Army.

Although Wei Quanzhong and Li Yun had never met before, he had figured out some of Li Yun's temperament and character through the fighting during this period. He did not think that Li Yun did not have the determination and courage to fight the Shuofang Army to the end in Tongguan.

At this time of the decisive battle, Wei Quanzhong was completely unsure.

He now had only one idea in mind, which was to withdraw the main force back to Tongguan Pass, and return to Tongguan himself, leaving only a small number of troops in the Central Plains to fight with the Jiangdong Army. In this way, he could attack or defend.

However, even though he rushed back to Guanzhong as quickly as possible, he was still stopped by Li Yun on the way. He, the Prince of Lingwu County of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the self-proclaimed King of Wu, bumped into each other in this inconspicuous wilderness.

Originally, Wei Quanzhong was not a cowardly person. In the current situation, he would definitely fight to the death, break through the siege and return to Tongguan. After all, the Shuofang Army was one of the strongest armies in the world. In a battle in the wild, the Shuofang Army was not afraid of any army.

But now, General Wei looked at the young man in front of him who captured his general with one hand, and he suddenly felt a sense of fear for no reason.

At this moment, his original curiosity about Li Yun finally disappeared.

It is no wonder that such a person could rise in such troubled times, and no wonder he could sweep across the southeast and establish a foundation in just a few years.

Such people are simply born for the battlefield!

While Wei Quanzhong was lost in thought, a general beside him lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, our cavalry has circled around. These Jiangdong troops did not set up an ambush here early in the morning, but just arrived here. Their formation has not yet been fully deployed."

The general looked up at Wei Quanzhong and continued, "If Your Majesty wants to return to Tongguan to preside over the battlefield, I will immediately organize a cavalry unit, and then use infantry to cover Your Majesty's breakout!"

Wei Quanzhong subconsciously looked back at him, then frowned: "If we fight like this, won't we admit defeat right after the fight?"

The general's surname was Zhu, and his name was Zhu Cong. He was one of the generals in charge of the Shuofang Army and a close confidant of Wei Quanzhong. Upon hearing this, he looked up at Wei Quanzhong and said with a wry smile, "My lord, if we are stopped here, you will not be able to return to Tongguan and take charge of the situation. Who knows what will happen to Tongguan in the future?"

"If Tongguan is lost, the situation will be even worse."

"This is not the time to fight for victory or defeat, or for pride."

Zhu Cong lowered his voice and said in a deep voice: "The Jiangdong Army's strength cannot be endless. As long as you return to Tongguan and calm the situation, the current predicament will naturally disappear. King, we should have seen it by now."

"The so-called half of Jiangdong Army's troops moving eastward is probably a cover-up. That Li guy must have been keeping an eye on our Shuofang Army and Guanzhong!"

"Since we have fallen into their trap, we must accept the price we have to pay."

Zhu Cong said in a hoarse voice: "General, let's retreat first. I will arrange for someone to lead you out in half an hour."

At this point, Wei Quanzhong didn't say anything else. He just sighed, looked in the direction of the battlefield, and asked, "Just now, did you see the man who captured Ge Xiong with one arm?"

"See you."

Zhu Cong also took a deep breath and said with a wry smile: "It's really amazing. I have been in the army for more than 20 years and have never seen such a ruthless character."

"My guess is correct. That person is most likely Li Yun."

General Wei looked up at the sky and sighed: "He was born brave and in troubled times. What's more rare is that he also has a good brain."

"This is really a tricky situation." Zhu Cong thought for a moment and sneered, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. A man like Li Er should have stayed in the rear, or at least been in the central army tent, instead of being at the front. He is so brave and aggressive, he will be defeated by this sooner or later!"

General Wei looked calm and said silently, "I hope so."

…………

On the other side, after Li Yun had killed several enemies, he finally felt much better. He returned to his own army and listened to the shouts of "Shenwu". He felt relaxed all over. After taking off his armor and helmet, he threw them directly to his followers Xue Gui and Zhou Luo.

One of the two young men caught the visor and the other caught the helmet. When they looked up at Li Yun, their eyes were full of admiration.

Zhou Luo held Li Yun's helmet in his hand, walked forward and looked at Li Yun, and couldn't help but say: "It's really, really brave to take the position."

Li Yun laughed and didn't say much.

Xue Gui, holding the mask, also walked to Li Yun with an admiring look on his face.

"Why didn't your uncle teach me these battlefield skills before?"

Li Yun glanced at him and scolded him with a smile: "You can't learn this skill, kid. I haven't experienced life and death a few times, how can I learn this skill? If you die, your parents will come to me to make trouble."

Xue Gui handed Li Yun a water bag, still a little unconvinced: "Then how did my uncle learn it?"

Li Yun raised his head and drank a sip of water. Just as he was about to talk to Xue Gui, a captain from the scout camp came up quickly, half-knelt in front of Li Yun, bowed his head deeply and saluted, "Your Majesty, there is a cavalry of more than a thousand people in the enemy's formation, and they are breaking through under the cover of the infantry."

"The cavalry moves too fast, and they have infantry to cover them. I'm afraid we won't be able to stop them."

Li Yun's eyes were burning when he heard this.

He was certain that there must be a big fish in the Shuofang army that he had stopped, but he had no way of telling whether it was Wei Quanzhong or Wei Yao.

Now that someone has broken through, it must be that the big fish wants to escape the net! In other words, it wants to break the net.

Li Yun now has only about 10,000 men under his command. Compared with the Shuofang Army, the number is actually not much different. More than a thousand cavalrymen on a battlefield of this scale can even be the decisive force that determines the outcome. Such troops are not used on the battlefield, but to break through.

It is indeed difficult to stop them with the troops under Li Yun’s command now.

Li Yun just thought about it, then shouted: "Yang Xi!"

Yang Xi hurriedly strode forward, knelt in front of Li Yun, bowed his head and clasped his fists: "Take the seat!"

"If a cavalry unit is about to flee, you lead the guard battalion to chase them. If you can intercept them, that would be the best. If you can't, then you can take advantage of them as much as you can."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xi grinned, clasped his fists towards Li Yun, and responded loudly: "I'll go right away!"

After saying that, he turned around and strode away.

Soon, all the cavalry from Li Yunwei's camp rushed out and headed towards the cavalry of the Shuofang Army.

Li Yun, on the other hand, was sitting under a makeshift tent, watching the battlefield and issuing military orders from time to time.

Soon, each captain's camp deployed according to Li Yun's order and surrounded the remaining Shuofang Army infantry.

If the cavalry wants to break through, they can always find an opening with their strong mobility. If that doesn't work, as long as they are willing to sacrifice their lives, they can ram their way through.

But it is not so easy for these infantrymen to leave.

All of them will be the rich fruits of victory that Li Yun will reap this time.

Su Zhan stood beside Li Yun, watching him give orders. When all the military camps started to move, he half-knelt beside Li Yun and asked, "Sir, is there any of your subordinates who can help you now?"

Li Yun looked at him and asked with a smile: "Boy, what do you think we should do now?"

Su Zhan thought for a moment and replied, "The enemy leader may no longer be in the army, and the remaining people probably have lost their will to fight."

"If we continue to fight, they will probably turn around and flee. At this time, we should..."

"We should persuade them to surrender."

Li Yun nodded with satisfaction, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile: "This is your first mission in the army. Take my order and go as many as possible."

"Subdue these Shuofang troops."

Su Zhan took Li Yun's order and bowed deeply to Li Yun.

"Your subordinate... obeys your command!"

(End of this chapter)