Thief Emperor

Chapter 783: Slippery!

in the afternoon.

After a fierce battle for most of the day, the winner was finally decided. The Shuofang army, which had lost its backbone, began to flee eastward. Their target was also very clear, which was Hongnong.

The goal of the Jiangdong Army was also very clear, which was to kill as many of the Shuofang Army's manpower as possible, to hurt them thoroughly and prevent them from leaving Guanzhong for at least the immediate future.

Therefore, Li Yun led his troops to chase after them almost without hesitation.

After all, the Shuofang Army was composed of ordinary people. In this pursuit, most of the Shuofang soldiers who were caught by the Jiangdong Army chose to surrender.

As the shouts of "surrender and no killing" on the battlefield grew louder and louder, and the pursuit continued all the way, by noon the next day, only about 2,000 people of the Shuofang army, which had about 8,000 to 9,000 people, escaped to Hongnong City.

Hongnong did not belong to Duji Province, but to Hedong Province. Although it could be barely considered as the Central Plains region, Li Yun had not yet had time to take Guozhou into his control, so naturally, Hongnong was not included either.

These Shuofang troops should have captured Hongnong before, and now they entered Hongnong, which is the city of Guozhou, almost without any hindrance.

Li Yun himself had already arrived at the city of Hongnong at this time. He just took a look at the city and ordered troops to be stationed outside the city to surround Hongnong.

More than 2,000 troops may not sound very impressive on the current battlefield in the Central Plains, but in such a large-scale battlefield, even a few hundred troops may cause big problems if left alone, and Hongnong is too close to the Central Plains.

These more than 2,000 people must be eradicated.

After the siege, the tents were quickly set up. Li Yun sat down in his central army tent. Not long after he sat down, Meng Hai hurried into the tent. He bowed his head and clasped his fists to Li Yun and said, "Sir, the news from Captain Yu is that he has successfully arrived near Tongguan, but encountered quite stubborn resistance. The two sides are still in a stalemate."

At this point, Yu Ye paused and continued, "The Shuofang troops stationed at Tongguan should have received Wei Quanzhong's order and have already left the city to assist the Shuofang troops stationed outside the city in fighting General Yu."

"The battlefield was extremely brutal. The people from the Nine Departments reported that in just one day, the number of casualties on both sides was probably close to 5,000!"

Hearing this number, even Li Yun couldn't help but frown.

About 5,000 casualties in one day is a number that is usually only likely to occur when the strength of both sides exceeds 100,000 and the battle is large-scale and direct.

But now, Yu Ye’s troops and the Tongguan defenders together probably have only more than 20,000 people!

In just one day, both sides lost more than 20% of their troops!

This is already the most brutal level on the battlefield.

Meng Hai paused and continued, "At this time, Captain Yu's troops are only a dozen miles away from Tongguan, but there is no way to block Tongguan for the time being."

Li Yun nodded silently, then looked at Meng Hai and asked, "Didn't I say yesterday that all the subsequent reinforcements would go to Tongguan? Where are the reinforcements?"

Meng Hai thought for a moment and replied, "Reporting to the superior, it is estimated that the first batch of reinforcements will arrive at Tongguan tomorrow morning, or at the latest in the afternoon."

"it is good."

Li Yun nodded and said in a deep voice: "You nine divisions, pass on my order and tell each captain camp that the battlefield on the west front of Luoyang is not somewhere else, it's damned in Tongguan!"

"We must fight and give the Shuofang Army a hard beating. It would be best if we cripple them, then they will behave themselves. Otherwise, their harassment of the Central Plains will be endless in the future!"

Meng Qing had followed Li Yun for so many years, but this was the first time he saw Li Yun so murderous. Without hesitation, he bowed his head and said, "I'll do it right away!"

After saying that, Meng Hai lowered his head, then turned around and strode away.

Li Yun took a deep breath, lowered his head to look through the documents of Jiusi, then looked out of the tent, narrowed his eyes, and looked murderous.

"As long as I defend the northern front, I can deploy 100,000 troops to Tongguan on the western front!"

"Let's see who has the harder fist."

After muttering this, Li Yun picked up his brush and began to reply to some important reports, as well as write letters to his own troops, and then coordinate with the various armies through the Nine Departments.

It was not until the afternoon that military orders were sent out one by one from Li Yun. At this time, Li Yun, who had not had a good sleep for almost two days, finally could not hold on any longer. He stretched, lay down on the bed in his tent, and fell into a deep sleep not long after.

When he woke up again, it was already dark. He stretched and rubbed his eyes when someone outside the tent heard the noise and immediately crouched down and entered the tent. It was none other than Su Zhan.

Su Zhan walked all the way to Li Yun's bed, half squatted down, and whispered, "Go up, Brother Yang and the others are back."

Li Yun woke up immediately. He looked at Su Zhan's expression and frowned, "Something happened?"

"There were some casualties."

Su Zhan lowered his head slightly and said, "More than a hundred brothers from the guard camp were killed and many more were injured. Brother Yang was shot in the arm by an arrow. He has returned to the barracks and is being treated for his injury."

Li Yun frowned. Su Zhan looked at his expression and said quickly, "The doctor in the army said that Brother Yang is not in danger of death."

Li Yun's brows relaxed and he frowned, "How did it turn out like this?" "If it was just a pursuit, then there would be nothing wrong, but Brother Yang refused to let those people go and followed them all the way. The Shuofang Army's cavalry sent some troops to cover the rear, and the two sides started fighting."

Su Zhan whispered, "I asked Brother Yang, we got the upper hand. The Shuofang cavalry was afraid to stay too long and suffered more casualties. Brother Yang said."

"After they caught up with the big fish that the superior mentioned, several sharpshooters in the guard camp shot arrows, and one of them shot the big fish in the back with one arrow."

"Brother Yang said that he looked through a telescope and the fish was fifty years old. It is very likely..."

Su Zhan's breathing quickened: "It is very likely Wei Quanzhong."

Hearing this, Li Yun looked up at Su Zhan, his expression becoming subtle.

Although Wei Quanzhong was not captured, he was injured by an arrow, which is a good thing.

After all, Wei Quanzhong was already over 50 years old. In this era, he had to endure this kind of injury on his own. He might have been shot to death by an arrow.

Besides, even if this arrow didn't take his life, at least it left him with an injury, which would be of great benefit to Jiangdong's future career.

If after some time, Wei Quanzhong died from the arrow wound, the Shuofang Army would most likely fall apart. At that time, it would be much smoother for Li to annex Guanzhong and pacify the Shuofang Army.

Li Yun nodded silently, stood up and said, "I'll go see him."

Su Zhan thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Master, Brother Yang is probably asleep now. It's too late now. You can go see him tomorrow."

Li Yun thought about it and nodded in agreement.

"Yang Xi has been with me for so many years, and he saved my life before. Please tell the military doctor to use the best medicine and make him get better as soon as possible."

Su Zhan nodded his head and was about to leave when Meng Hai's voice came from the door again: "Master, are you awake?"

Li Yun gave Su Zhan a look, and Su Zhan immediately understood. He first lit the oil lamp in the tent, then stood up and opened the door for Meng Hai, lowering his head and saying, "Brother Meng."

Meng Hai waved his hand quickly and asked, "Brother Su, has the superior woken up?"

"Wake up, wake up, Brother Meng is waiting inside."

Meng Hai then carefully entered the general's tent. When he looked up, he saw Li Yun already wearing clothes and sitting beside the bed.

Meng Hai hurried forward, clasped his fists and said, "Excuse me for disturbing your rest."

Su Zhan is now Li Yun's follower. He knows whether Li Yun is asleep or awake, but Meng Hai is no longer with Li Yun. He comes to look for Li Yun so late, there must be something big going on.

Li Yun motioned him to sit down and talk. Meng Hai thanked him, then sat down opposite Li Yun, took out a document from his arms and handed it to Li Yun.

"Sir, someone in Hongnong City has passed on a message saying that they are willing to cooperate with you in breaking the city. These people mean."

"Tomorrow morning, they will be inside the city to open the Hongnong city gate and welcome my army into the city."

Li Yun raised his eyebrows when he heard this.

"What conditions?"

“No conditions.”

Meng Hai looked at Li Yun and continued, "What these people mean is that they hope that after the army enters the city, they can be protected from the retaliation of the Shuofang Army."

"Other than that, they don't have any other requests."

"The letter said that they knew what you have done in the Central Plains during this period and they admired you very much, so they wanted to welcome you into the city."

Li Yun sneered: "What admiration? I'm afraid they are worried that the Shuofang Army in the city can't defend Hongnong. They are worried that if we don't sell them well in advance, they will burn, kill and plunder them after we enter the city."

After saying this, he asked, "Who delivered the message?"

"Hongnong Yang family."

Meng Hai whispered, "And all the families in the city."

Li Yun took the document handed over by Meng Hai, squinted his eyes to look at it, and then groaned.

"A bunch of thousand-year-old loaches, they've really become spirits."

"Slippery!"

(End of this chapter)