Thief Emperor

Chapter 792: Victory on Two Fronts
It was not until the next morning that Li Yu realized that Wei Yao had already run away.

The front-line commander of the Hedong Army gnashed his teeth in anger.

Fortunately, this incident was not entirely a bad thing for the Hedong Army. After all, if the Shuofang Army left one night in advance, it would definitely alarm the Jiangdong Army and disperse some of the Jiangdong Army's forces to some extent.

After all, the Jiangdong Army was hostile to both the Shuofang Army and the Hedong Army. It was impossible for them to be let off just because they were from the Shuofang Army.

One night is enough to divert some of the Jiangdong troops.

Li Hao recovered quickly and began to summon generals and give orders, ordering them to leave Huaizhou in batches and head north to meet up with the reinforcements from the Hedong Army.

As the first batch of Hedong soldiers set off, Li Hao also rode on his horse and looked at the endless Hedong army in silence.
Next to him was the veteran general Cheng Yi of the Hedong Army. This veteran was a contemporary of the former Hedong Jiedushi General Li Tong, and was already over 60 years old. He followed behind Li Hao, thought for a moment, and then said, "Young General, don't worry. We have at least 20,000 to 30,000 troops in Huaizhou. In addition, the old man has already sent troops to support us. The troops deployed by Li Yun in Zezhou cannot stop us from breaking out."

"At most, there will be some damage."

The old general paused and continued, "If we fight well, we might be able to turn the tables and surround the Jiangdong Army in Zezhou and fight back against them."

Li Hao shook his head slightly and sighed, "Uncle Cheng, I received news yesterday that the Jiangdong Army in Zezhou is attacking Zezhou City and Fuze City. At this time, even if they haven't taken these two cities, I'm afraid they are almost there. With these two cities, plus the size of the Jiangdong Army's troops in Zezhou, it will be difficult for us to do anything to them."

"After all, Zhao Cheng and Meng Qing are behind us and will not sit idly by."

At this point, Li Hao's voice became hoarse: "Although the Jiangdong Army is divided into several groups and separated in various places, once they start moving, they will move together and coordinate with each other, as if they were commanded by the same person."

"During this period, I interrogated some Jiangdong Army prisoners and found out that Jiangdong's Jiusi is not only an intelligence agency, but also a military agency. They will coordinate information among the various armies in Jiangdong and convey Li Yun's will. And they act very quickly."

At this point, Li Hao's expression was very complicated: "Uncle Cheng, I am not too worried about the siege by the Jiangdong Army. At most, we will lose some manpower. Now that the court is gone, it is easy to replenish some manpower."

"What really worries me is the morale of these Jiangdong troops and their ability to act."

At this point, Li Hao turned his head to look at Cheng Yi and sighed, "Uncle Cheng, do you think the Jiangdong Army has the potential to conquer the world?"

"Have."

General Cheng nodded without hesitation. He also looked at Li Hao and said silently, "However, in this world, it is not just Jiangdong who has the potential to conquer the world. The young general does not need to be too depressed."

"The current situation does not represent the future situation. The current Li Yun will not be the same as the future Li Yun. I have lived for so many years and have seen many people of all kinds, including those in the court and in the martial arts world. I have seen them all."

"Someone like Li Yun."

Cheng Yi said softly: "He is in his twenties or thirties now, and he may be holding back a lot of anger, but in a few years, that may not be the case."

"Once he finishes this battle, he will be able to take control of the Central Plains. At that time, countless wealth and glory, countless fine wines and beautiful women will be presented to him."

"As long as the Jiangdong Army cannot take over Guanzhong, Hedong, Hebei and other places within one or two years, they will find it difficult to take over in three to five years. After three to five years, Li Yun may have been trapped in wine and women."

"By that time, it would be difficult for him to defend Jiangnan and Central Plains."

Cheng Yi said slowly: "Therefore, there is no need for the young general to be afraid of him. He is very powerful now, so we can just hold him off for a while."

"If it drags on for a few years, their spirit will fade away."

The old general said in a hoarse voice: "It is hard to say who will rule the world in a dozen or so years."

Hearing this, Li Hao felt much more comfortable. He looked back at Cheng Yi and forced a smile on his face: "Uncle Cheng, what you said is right. This chaotic world will not end so easily. Li Yun can't always be so aggressive. What happened today may be the matter of the next generation."

“No one can tell what the next generation will look like.”

He looked around and said in a low voice: "Perhaps, the emperor of the new dynasty has not been born yet."

"go!"

He shook the reins and his voice became firm.

"Let's break out!"

…………

In Zezhou, Li Yun led several hundred cavalrymen from his own guard camp and cruised across this vast land. Once they discovered a small group of enemy troops, they would immediately rush up and kill them.

On the one hand, it kills the enemy's manpower, and on the other hand, it muddies the waters so that the enemy dares not break out from this direction.

Once encountering a large group of enemies, Li Yun would go forward to eat them up if he could, buying time for the infantry in the rear, and wait for the infantry to reinforce them, then he could eat them up.

This kind of fighting style is, of course, risky. If the two armies were facing each other normally, this kind of fighting style would easily lead to the enemy chasing and beating them, or even being surrounded and annihilated.

But now, it's a blocking battle.

In addition, with the full efforts of Jiusi's spies, Li Yun was able to almost perfectly avoid the main force of the Hedong Army. In three or four days, Li Yun's guerrilla army destroyed at least 3,000 troops of the Hedong Army, while his own casualties were only a few hundred.

On the fourth day, the main force of the Hedong Army broke through to the north regardless of casualties.

Li Yun had no choice but to harass the main force from the flank. He had no way to engage in a head-on confrontation with the Hedong Army.

But even so, the military achievements of Li Yun's troops in the past few years are already quite rare.

On the evening of the fourth day, not long after Li Yun's troops had settled down, Meng Hai squatted and entered his tent. He clasped his fists towards Li Yun and said, "My lord, I have contacted General Zhao and his colleagues in the Nine Departments of General Meng's army. The two generals' camps are less than forty miles away from our camp." During this time, Li Yun was conducting guerrilla warfare on the flank, Li Zheng and Gongsun Hao were blocking the front, and Zhao Cheng and Meng Qing were chasing from the rear.

At this time, the main force of the Hedong Army had entered the territory of Zezhou and was already near the city of Zezhou. Zhao Cheng and Meng Qing's troops in the rear naturally followed suit.

Li Yun thought about it, then smiled and said, "What do they mean?"

Meng Hai lowered his head and said, "They want to come and meet the superior."

Li Yun said "hmm", and after thinking for a while, he said: "Tell them to bring a few military doctors over. Many of our soldiers are injured and lack medical care and medicine."

During this period of time, Li Yun has been conducting guerrilla warfare in Zezhou. Naturally, this way of fighting has its disadvantages. For example, there is no stable rear, and logistical supplies and medical care are all problems.

Fortunately, there was nothing serious within a few days. If it had been longer, Li Yun would not have been able to continue.

In particular, although Su Zhan's injury was not serious, it had not healed and instead showed signs of worsening.

At this time, Su Zhan also needed a doctor.

Meng Hai responded, bowed his head, clasped his fists, and went downstairs to make arrangements.

Mr. Li sat in his tent, looking down at some important documents, and sent a letter to Du Qian in Luoyang City. After it was completely dark, he lay down on the bed, yawned, and fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was already the next morning. He just put on his coat and walked out of the tent, only to see Zhou Luo waiting at the door of the tent. After seeing Li Yun, he immediately stepped forward and saluted: "Your Excellency, General Zhao and General Meng, it has been an hour or two."

Li Yun stretched, looked at Zhou Luo, and said with a smile: "Did they go to bed?"

"Yes."

Zhou Luo quickly said, "Xue Gui arranged tents for them, and they went to rest."

Li Yun nodded and said, "When they wake up, let them come to see me."

"Yes."

Zhou Luo nodded quickly and went downstairs to make arrangements.

The future "major general" of the Pinglu Army has performed quite well and devotedly during the time he has been with Li Yun.

I already have the feeling of being integrated into the Jiangdong Army.

And this Zhou Luo is the key figure in whether Li Yun can coexist peacefully with the Pinglu Army in the future.

Because of Li Yun, it is impossible to allow Qingzhou to have a vassal state like Pinglu Army in the future.

The Zhou father and son were not willing to give up their military power just like that.

Then Zhou Luo became a good compromise choice and the key to whether the Qingzhou Pinglu Army could make a smooth transition in the future.

About half an hour later, Zhao Cheng and Meng Qing arrived at Li Yun's tent, one in front and one behind. They both saluted Li Yun with their fists clasped.

"Congratulations on taking the throne, great victory on two fronts!"

Li Yun looked at the two men and shook his head slightly, saying, "The battle isn't over yet, what's the point of talking about a great victory?"

Zhao Cheng grinned and said, "Master, my army has already bitten the butt of the Hedong Army. If we don't tear off one of their legs, they will never leave."

"There are General Li and General Gongsun ahead."

Zhao Cheng's face was full of confidence: "Within half a month, I will make sure that the war on the northern front ends beautifully for you!"

Meng Qing thought about it and nodded, saying, "This time, the Hedong Army must have suffered a great loss. From now on, they will never dare to go south to covet the Central Plains again."

Li Yun looked at the two people, was silent for a while, and slowly said: "Then, I will not get involved in this war any further."

"General Zhao."

Zhao Cheng immediately bowed his head and clasped his fists: "I am here!"

"You will be in charge of the follow-up operations on the northern front and will be in charge of the war."

Zhao Cheng immediately bowed his head: "I obey your command!"

Li Yun looked at Meng Qing and continued, "Here on the northern front, the war will last another four or five days, and we will have to allocate some troops to retreat to Tongguan on the western front to prevent the Shuofang Army from making any moves."

Meng Qing also nodded in agreement.

Li Yun stood up and put his hands behind his back.

"I'll go back to Luoyang and wait for your good news."

(End of this chapter)