Thief Emperor

Chapter 789 Father and Godfather

In this era, the distance an army traveled in a day was about fifty miles.

The larger the army, the harder it is to break this speed, because food, supplies, and various logistics must keep up in order to maintain combat effectiveness while marching.

Fifty miles is almost the limit.

Any faster would basically be the speed of cavalry, and it would be difficult for the army to preserve its combat effectiveness during the march.

This is likely to cause problems.

Li Yun looked at Li Zheng, then at Gongsun Hao, and said slowly: "General Gongsun, tell me what you think."

Gongsun Hao thought for a moment and replied, "Your Majesty, you have traveled all the way from Tongguan to Yuxiang. You have been resting in your tent for a while now, but when I came here, I saw that a considerable number of troops have only just arrived."

"Some logistical supplies are also on the way."

Gongsun Hao said bluntly: "Seventy miles is already so strenuous. Traveling more than three hundred miles in three days is almost impossible."

"If this is the way to go, we have to let our soldiers carry three days' worth of food each, without making fire or cooking, and rush directly to Zezhou."

"If we continue on this journey, I'm afraid that by the time we reach Zezhou, the brothers will lose their fighting capacity."

Li Yun touched his chin and thought seriously.

His thoughts were still somewhat influenced by another world.

In another world, of course, rapid marches are possible, because at that time there was long-range firepower. Many times in a war, one only had to reach the designated location and occupy advantageous terrain. When fighting, one did not need to expend too much physical energy.

In this era, there are more real swords and guns. If you really march quickly and arrive at the reserved location, you may just be delivering food to the enemy.

After Li Yun communicated with Li Zheng and Gongsun Hao again, he thought about it for a while and said, "Then I'll change my way of saying it."

"In eight days... to ten days, we will occupy Zezhou."

He looked at Li Zheng and Gongsun Hao and asked, "Is there any problem?"

Li Zheng thought for a while and said, "I don't think it will be a big problem to take the position. It's over 300 miles away. If we hurry, we can get there in six or seven days. In the remaining time, even if we can't take over Zezhou City, it won't be a problem to occupy some positions in Zezhou."

"Our purpose this time is to stop the enemy from retreating. We don't have to occupy Zezhou City."

"Well."

Li Yun clapped his hands and said, "Then it's settled. Let the brothers have a good rest today. Tomorrow morning, we will immediately start the march. This time, there is no need to hide anything. We can march to Zezhou openly."

"Zhao Cheng and Meng Qing have received my order. Once the Hedong Army wants to retreat, they will try every means to retain the Hedong Army in Huaizhou and part of the Shuofang Army. At that time, they will want to leave again."

"I'm afraid it's too late."

Li Zheng and Gongsun saluted each other with their fists clasped. Then Gongsun Hao bowed his head and prepared to leave. Li Zheng stayed for a while. After Gongsun Hao left, Li Zheng looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "After this battle, it will be almost winter."

He paused, sighed and said, "When that time comes, Second Brother can finally return to Jinling and have a good rest."

By the end of this year, it will be almost two years since Li Yun left Jinling.

At the end of last year, he was unable to return to Jinling to reunite with his family.

Although he had been exchanging letters with his family for more than a year, almost two years, and communication was convenient through Jiusi, it was unlikely that Li Yun did not miss Jinling or his home at all after not seeing them for such a long time.

Mr. Li lowered his head to drink tea and said calmly: "Will you come back with me then?"

Li Zheng thought about it, nodded and smiled: "Then I will go back with my second brother."

At this point, he winked at you and Li Yun and said, "At the end of the year, Chenzhou's sister-in-law is expected to give birth. I can go back and see if it's a nephew or a niece."

Li Yun glanced at him and cursed, "Old Nine secretly gave birth to several children, and I never said anything about him. I only have this one, and you keep nagging me about it."

Li Zheng laughed: "How can the ninth brother be the same as the second brother? He can have as many children as he wants, and no one can ask. But it's different for you, second brother. Now that you have one more child, there are countless people watching you from behind."

Li Yun took a deep breath and shook his head slightly, saying, "I have one good point, which is that I never think about the future. Thinking too much is stressful and useless."

"Right now, the most important thing for us is to fight this battle well. There is no point in thinking about anything else."

Li Zheng poured a cup of tea for Li Yun and said with a smile: "Brother, don't bully me for not knowing. After all, I have been leading soldiers for several years. I have also read General Su's military books over and over again."

"General Gongsun has taught me a lot in the past two years. I can see the current situation clearly."

He sat opposite Li Yun and said, "Now, it's just a matter of how much we win."

Li Yun looked at Li Zheng and showed a rare smile of appreciation: "After a few years, you have finally made a lot of progress."

Li Zheng smiled slightly, and then said: "Second brother is really smart. He can easily control the troops from Shuofang and Hedong."

Li Yun shook his head slightly: "I don't have any magical plan."

"In the final analysis, each of them has their own ulterior motives. No one is willing to fight to the death. Each is waiting for the other to fight to the death, and then waits to reap the benefits." "Otherwise, if these two armies attack the Central Plains with all their strength, even if we can defend Luoyang, we probably won't be able to defend the prefectures and counties in the Central Plains."

"I'm afraid that just defending Luoyang will result in heavy casualties."

With a large family and a large business, every family has their own thoughts. Li Yun took advantage of this gap to have the current situation.

In other words, before this, all the gains Li Yun had made actually involved considerable risks.

However, this situation will soon be over.

Li Zheng poured tea for Li Yun and sighed softly: "Brother, will you be able to come out again after you return to Jinling this time?"

Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea and glanced at him.

"Look at what you said. It's as if I will be locked up after I return to Jinling."

Li Zheng smiled and said, "In my opinion, my second brother will become the emperor soon."

"Let's take it one step at a time."

Li Yun shook his head slightly, looked at Li Zheng, and suddenly smiled: "I am the emperor, what kind of king do you want to be?"

Li Zheng was stunned, then shook his head slightly: "Second brother, my ability is too small. I will be satisfied if I can be granted a title of nobility in the future."

Li Yun smiled and said, "No."

"You will come."

"You must be crowned king."

…………

Six days later, Li Yun's troops arrived in Zezhou.

After arriving in Zezhou, Li Yun began to issue various orders almost without hesitation.

Although Zezhou and Huaizhou in the Central Plains are adjacent to each other, there is the Taihang Mountains between them, so the road is not smooth.

This kind of terrain is a natural dividing line, so this mountain range is also the dividing line between Dugi Province and Hadong Province.

What Li Yun has to do at this time is actually quite simple.

A defense line was set up along the dividing line between the two states to stop all the Hedong troops still in Huaizhou, making sure they could not return.

This task is not that difficult. As long as you reach Zezhou, even a second-rate general can easily set up a defense line.

By the evening of the second day after Li Yun's troops arrived in Zezhou, some basic defense lines had already been set up. At this time, at least 30,000 Hedong troops were still in Huaizhou.

Li Yun swallowed it into the pocket formation in one gulp.

The Nine Departments began to move back and forth frantically between Li Yun and Zhao Chengmeng Qing's troops in order to coordinate the two armies and make them work together better.

In this way, we can try to annihilate the enemy forces in Huaizhou in a coordinated manner.

That night, when Li Yun was looking through the documents of the Ninth Division and the news from the scout camp, Meng Hai from the Ninth Division hurried into Li Yun's tent. After he entered the tent, he knelt down in front of Li Yun with a plop and bowed his head and said, "My Lord, enemy troops have been spotted in the north of Zezhou!"

He said in a deep voice: "At least 10,000 or 20,000 people, most of them are cavalry!"

Li Yun looked up at Meng Hai and frowned, "Can the Hedong Army mobilize so many cavalrymen in one go?"

"almost."

Meng Hai lowered his head and said slowly: "The number of Hedong Army's cavalry should be around 30,000, but it's cheap. At this time, the cavalry in the north of Zezhou should not only be the cavalry of Hedong Army."

He hesitated for a moment and whispered, "According to the intelligence from the Ninth Division, it is very likely that some of this cavalry are cavalry from the Fanyang Army."

“And there are quite a few of them.”

"The two families formed an alliance more than a month ago."

"Fan Yang's cavalry..."

Hearing this, Li Yun narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Okay, this Xiao Heng, his biological father didn't go to save him, so he came to save Hedong, his godfather!"

Meng Hai lowered his head and continued, "There is one more piece of news."

"In Tongguan, the Shuofang Army seems to be..."

"Some are ready to make a move."

(End of this chapter)