Thief Emperor

Chapter 790 Guaranteed Minimum and Extra

Xiao Heng, the major general of the Fanyang Army, was met by Li Yun when he was in Fanyang.

At that time, Li Yun even had some good feelings towards him. After all, they were fighting against the Khitans together at that time, and in a sense they could be considered comrades-in-arms.

Moreover, at that time, Xiao Heng's performance did not seem to have any major problems, and he even had some of the qualities of a young hero.

But now, in the past short period of one year, Li Yun's impression of Xiao Heng and the Fanyang Army has fallen again and again.

When Xiao Xian died at the hands of the Khitans, Li Yun began to feel some disgust towards the Fan Yang Army. At that time, Xiao Heng not only did not go to rescue his father, but instead retreated to Hebei Road, as if nothing had happened, and continued to recruit soldiers.

Now, Li Yun is fighting with Hedong Dao, and the Fanyang Army, which is thousands of miles away, also wants to come and intervene.

To Xiao Heng, the Hedong Army is even closer than his biological father Xiao Xian.

Li Zheng, who was standing by, also sighed after hearing what Li Yun said: "What Xiao Heng has done in the past few years is really outrageous."

"It's nothing like it was in Fanyang."

Li Yun snorted and said in a deep voice: "This kind of person actually wants to fight for the world!"

Li Zheng looked down at the map and said, "Second brother, what should we do now? Give me some advice."

"It's not a big problem."

Li Yun looked at the map and said slowly: "If the Hedong Dao was really determined to fight us, they would not have sent out their main force at this time. They should have realized that their troops were surrounded in Huaizhou, so they sent troops to rescue them."

"It won't be a big problem."

"Go call General Gongsun and let's discuss this matter."

"it is good!"

Li Zheng did not dare to delay. He personally left the general's tent and ordered someone to invite Gongsun Hao. He then returned to the big tent to discuss the current situation with Li Yun.

Half an hour later, Gongsun Hao opened the tent door and walked in. He bowed his head and saluted Li Yun and Li Zheng, "Go up, General."

Li Yun looked up at him, then smiled and said, "Sit down, sit down and talk."

Gongsun Hao sat down as he was told. Li Yun briefly told him about the current situation, and then said, "The enemy's reinforcements this time are mostly cavalry, and they should be the elite cavalry of the Hedong Army and the Fanyang Army."

"There should be more than 10,000 cavalrymen, and there must be more than that. The cavalrymen are fast, so they are in the front. The infantrymen behind them may even be 40,000 to 50,000."

"To deal with this scale of reinforcements, we must also block the Hedong Army in Huaizhou behind us, General Gongsun."

Li Yun said, "Tell me what you think."

"Yes."

Gongsun Hao looked at the map, thought carefully, and then said, "Master, with so many reinforcements, it is unlikely for us to lock down the enemy in Huaizhou, but we can still kill as many of the enemy's living forces as possible. I think we should take Jincheng and Fuze at all costs."

He pointed at the map and said, "These two cities are arranged from east to west. We can use them to attack from the corners. Whether it's the reinforcements coming or the enemy troops from Huaizhou behind us, we can take care of them with these two cities as our bases."

"Besides, once we enter the city, the enemy's cavalry will be of little use."

Li Yun looked at the two cities on the map. Jincheng was the capital of Zezhou, and the other was a county town called Fuze, which was about fifty miles west of Zezhou.

“It’s a little too far.”

Li Yun frowned and said, "In this way, there will inevitably be a large gap."

"There is no other way to get promoted."

Gongsun Hao whispered, "During the previous meeting, the superiors have told us more than once that when marching and fighting, the first goal must be to kill the enemy's strength, and at the same time, we must preserve our own strength as much as possible while killing the enemy's strength."

"At this moment, this is the only solution. Even with this solution, I'm afraid we need to capture these two cities within three to five days. Otherwise, the enemy's reinforcements will arrive and attack us from both sides, and we will be in a passive position."

"Well, then..."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said softly, "Then let's take this guaranteed bonus first, Li Zheng, Gongsun Hao."

When they heard Li Yun call their real names, they immediately bowed and clasped their fists: "Subordinates are here!"

"You two, each lead a part of the troops, one to take Zezhou, the other to take Fuze."

"Within three days, we must capture these two cities, and then fight the enemy from the front."

The two men nodded their heads at first, then Li Zheng looked up at Li Yun, frowned and said, "Second brother, you..."

"you want?"

"I will also lead some troops to conduct guerrilla warfare on the flanks."

At this point, Li Yun frowned and whispered, "It's a pity that because of the affairs of Youyan and Hebei Province, most of the cavalry under my command were given to General Su and taken to Hebei Province."

"Otherwise, bring my guard camp with you. This time we can raise a light cavalry and conduct guerrilla warfare on this battlefield. It will be perfect!"

Hearing Li Yun's words, Gongsun Hao could not help but sigh: "The Fanyang army is thousands of miles away, and they still sent cavalry to embarrass you, while you sent your cavalry to Hebei Road to help at this time. This comparison shows the difference."

Li Yun said with a smile: "I sent troops to Hebei Province, not without selfish motives. There is no need to mention such things. There is no need to mention them."

Li Zheng at the side said with a smile: "Second brother is still too honest. Of course, this kind of thing should be mentioned, and it should be mentioned loudly." "It would be best if everyone in the world knows about it. When second brother becomes the emperor in the future, this matter should be recorded in history books so that future generations will know what the Xiao family of Fanyang did."

Hearing this, Li Yun said in a muffled voice: "This is not a big deal. After all, it is still hard to say whether there will still be the Xiao family of Fanyang in the future."

"In the past two years, they have been making things difficult for me, and they are suspected of letting the Khitans enter the country. I will settle this account with them sooner or later."

"All right."

Li Yun waved his hand and said, "Let's stop talking nonsense and do our own things. As long as the two of you can capture these two cities within three days, we will definitely destroy at least 20,000 Hedong troops this time!"

"With this guarantee, my job as a wing player can only be considered as a bonus."

The two men each clasped their fists towards Li Yun, then left the tent to make military arrangements.

Li Yun, sitting in his tent, called Meng Hai over. Without further ado, he asked directly, "How is the Nine Departments' control over Huaizhou and Zezhou?"

"Returning to the superior, it is already quite appropriate. Jiusi will be able to detect any disturbance."

"Well, from now on, all the personnel from the nine departments of these two states will gather here and provide me with information."

"Let's see how many enemy troops I can defeat if we work together in this battle."

…………

The next day, Li Zheng and Gongsun Hao each led a part of their forces to attack Zezhou City and Fuze City.

Li Yun, on the other hand, took his guard camp and about four to five thousand elite soldiers and broke away from the main force. With the Nine Departments as his eyes and ears, he began to deploy flank and assault forces in Zezhou and Huaizhou states.

Not long after Li Yun separated from the main force, to be precise, in the evening of the same day, Meng Hai ran all the way to him, bowed his head and clasped his fists in front of him and said, "Sir, we found an enemy army near Tianjing Pass, about two to three thousand people. This enemy army came from Huaizhou, and they were very cautious along the way. The scouts were also sent far away. If it weren't for the telescope, Jiusi would not have been able to discover them in advance..."

"My subordinates speculate that this force should be the army sent by the Huaizhou Hedong Army to explore the way."

Li Yun thought for a moment and asked, "Did they notice you?"

Meng Hai hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "There's no way to be sure."

Mr. Li then nodded slowly. He looked down at the map at hand and confirmed the location of Tianjing Pass.

"About thirty miles."

He stroked his chin and whispered, "It's worth a look. Regardless of whether we can defeat this army, at least we should tell the Hedong Army in Huaizhou that this road is blocked."

"Let them find another way. If we can delay them for an hour, many more of them will die."

Having said this, Li Yun stood up and said in a deep voice: "Su Zhan."

Su Zhan hurriedly walked in with his head down, bowed his head and clasped his fists: "Take the position!"

"Go tell Yang Xi to immediately mobilize the guards and start the work."

Su Zhan nodded his head and hesitated for a moment before he said, "Sir, can I go to the battlefield with the army this time?"

In the past, he always followed Li Yun to the battlefield. With the guard camp there, he could be said to be quite safe.

At this time, Su Zhan was about to step down and was also thinking about training himself.

Li Yun thought for a moment and said, "Then you should stay in the guard camp. It's relatively safer."

Su Zhan took a deep breath, bowed his head and nodded, then left the tent and went to call Yang Xi.

After about another hour, hundreds of elite cavalrymen from Li Yunwei's camp set out first and headed straight for Tianjing Pass.

Behind them, thousands of Jiangdong elite troops marched in unison, following Li Yun and heading straight for Tianjing Pass.

Of course, the horses were fast. At midnight, Li Yun's troops arrived near Tianjing Pass. People from the Nine Departments immediately arrived to lead the way. Not long after, the enemy's camp became faintly visible.

Just as Li Yun was about to watch the battlefield, suddenly, from the dense forest, a few whistling sounds of arrows were heard.

Li Yun turned his head to look at Meng Hai and shook his head slightly: "You saw him, and he also saw you."

Meng Hai lowered his head, his face slightly red, and he was obviously embarrassed.

"It's... it's Jiusi's fault."

Yang Xi immediately urged his horse forward and stood in front of Li Yun. The soldiers in the nearby guard camp also dispersed immediately to ensure that there were no enemies around Li Yun.

Li said with a smile: "It's the middle of the night, from such a distance, if they really shot me, that would be a miracle, brothers."

"Get on the horse and move westward."

He covered himself with armor with his right hand and said calmly, "Just keep them away for an hour, and our follow-up troops will arrive soon."

Yang Xi and others immediately bowed their heads and clasped their fists.

"Follow the order!"

(End of this chapter)