Thief Emperor

Chapter 825 Blindfold

That night, the Khitan Khan Yelu Yi decisively ordered all Khitan troops in Hebei Road to withdraw from the north of Hebei Road and withdraw to Youzhou.

Including the troops previously sent to Lucheng to fight, they were all withdrawn.

It is not easy to make such a decision at a time like this.

A normal person, in Yelu Yi's current position, would be more or less arrogant, and might even want to have a fight with the Jiangdong Army before leaving.

However, Yelu Yi knew very well that the current situation in Hebei Province was probably a situation that had been planned for a long time by someone in Jiangdong.

At this time, as long as all the Khitan cavalry can leave the battlefield, no matter how the subsequent situation develops, the Khitan will always benefit.

Anyway, at this stage, although Yelu Yi thought about taking over Hebei Province, he never thought about confronting the Jiangdong Army head-on.

The biggest advantage of the Khitan cavalry in combat is their strong mobility. Apart from some necessary dry food, they do not have too much baggage, and are not burdened by cumbersome things such as firearms. Therefore, after dark, almost all the Khitan cavalry north of Lucheng began to move. They headed north, preparing to escape back to Youzhou.

But not due north.

At this time, the Zhang River in the north had been clearly controlled by the Jiangdong Army. If they went north at this time, all the cavalry would be blocked by the Zhang River. They could only go northwest and escape back to Youzhou from Yingzhou and Mozhou in the north.

Yelu Yi led the troops personally, marching all the way to the northwest. Along the way, he did not even allow the cavalry to stop for meals, so they could only run while
While eating on horseback.

Fortunately, these Khitan cavalrymen were all skilled in horse riding and had no problem doing this.

They galloped all the way, and when it was almost dawn, they left Cangzhou and arrived near Changfeng in Mozhou.

After arriving in Changfeng, it was already bright. Yelu Yi stopped his horse to rest for a while, then told his subordinates to stop their horses. Yelu Yi looked into the distance and had a bad feeling. He called a subordinate and ordered him, "Go ahead 50 miles and report back at any time."

The subordinate did not hesitate, immediately lowered his head and went down to do his work.

Yelu Yi dismounted, came under a big tree and sat down to rest. After a long while, he called a middle-aged man who was accompanying him.

The middle-aged man was dressed very differently from the Khitans. He was dressed like a Han Chinese. When he came closer, he lowered his head and bowed to the Khitan Khan: "Great Khan!"

He spoke Khitan, and it was quite standard.

Yelu Yi looked at him and asked, "Mr. Zhu, I always feel that something is not right about the Hebei Province."

The middle-aged Han Chinese man called "Mr. Zhu" lowered his head and thought for a while, then said, "Great Khan, Mozhou is not a safe place. For more than half a year, Meng Qing of the Jiangdong Army has been in Yingzhou, fighting with the Fanyang Army. The Jiangdong Army has deployed a large number of troops in Yingzhou."

"Yingzhou...is just south of Mozhou, right next to it."

Mr. Zhu whispered, "If the King of Wu in Jiangdong could send his navy to attack Zhigu thousands of miles away and cut off the retreat route of our army, then they would not leave such a big gap to let us return to Youzhou, Khan, I am sure of that."

"There must be troops from the Jiangdong Army ambushing in Yingzhou to the west and Mozhou to the northwest."

The Khitan Khan rubbed his head and suddenly everything became clear to him.

"Yes, this Li Yun is not very old..."

"The plot is very deep."

At this point, he sneered and said, "However, my 10,000-plus cavalry are all elite. Even if he has an ambush, it will be difficult to stop me. Maybe we will break through his defense line directly."

Mr. Zhu reminded him in a low voice: "Great Khan, don't forget that our cavalry came to Hebei Road mainly to harass and did not bring much baggage and food. In the past few months, part of the food and grass was sent from Youzhou, and part was looted."

"At this moment, Youzhou's grain road is definitely unable to deliver food. If the war continues, we can only rely on looting and fighting to support the war."

Yeluyi stroked his chin and was about to say something when a horseman came running in the distance. He ran to Yeluyi breathlessly, jumped off the horse, and knelt on the ground: "Great Khan, Great Khan!"

"The brothers we sent out to investigate encountered the enemy right ahead!"

"There are large-scale ambush troops of the Jiangdong Army in Changfeng and Wen'an counties of Mozhou!"

"The banner they raised was the word 'Meng'."

The messenger took a deep breath and said, "The leader and his men have dived into their encirclement. Now... it's probably difficult for them to get out."

Yelu Yi had no expression on his face, he just waved his hand: "I understand."

After sending away the subordinate who had delivered the message, Yelu Yi looked at Mr. Zhu and said in a deep voice, "Fortunately, I stopped just now and did not lead the main force into the battle array. Otherwise, it would be really troublesome. Mr. Zhu, you are very wise. Tell me, what should we do now?"

"Since the Jiangdong Army has taken action now, it is estimated that they have made all preparations. There will be many enemies in the northwest, but in Zhigu..."

“The ship can’t carry too many people.”

Mr. Zhu looked at the Khitan Khan and said in a deep voice, "The Khan is worth a fortune. It is not appropriate to take risks. I suggest that you lead a group of elite soldiers to break out and return to Youzhou first. When you return to Youzhou, you can lead the main force of Youzhou to attack Zhigu directly. At the same time, let the cavalry of Hebei Road break out from Zhigu."

"The Jiangdong navy may not be able to hold out if they are attacked from both sides. At least, we can get most of the soldiers in Hebei Province back so that they will not be dragged to death in Hebei Province by these Jiangdong troops."

"And if we get entangled in Yingzhou and Mozhou, the Fanyang Army will most likely get involved. At that time, the situation will be chaotic and it will be even more difficult to break through."

"The cavalry of the Fanyang Army is better than that of the Jiangdong Army."

The Khitan Khan looked at Mr. Zhu deeply, then patted him on the shoulder, smiled and said: "If you can turn danger into safety this time, you will be the greatest contributor to our Khitan!" After that, he stood up and went to discuss the next steps with a group of Khitan generals.

Mr. Zhu stayed where he was, took some hay and fed it to his horse. Then he looked to the south and then to the north, and sighed softly.

“Since ancient times, the west has advanced to the east, and the north has swallowed up the south.”

"Could it be..."

He murmured, "Now, is there going to be a ruthless person who can reverse the status quo..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of gunpowder explosion could be heard in the northwest. Mr. Zhu listened attentively and muttered to himself.

"It doesn't seem to be the sound of thunder, Jiang Dong..."

"What new things have you come up with?"

…………

On the other side, Cangzhou camp.

At this time, most of the Jiangdong troops in the Cangzhou camp had been led away by Su Sheng, and they all headed north, intending to trap and kill the more than 10,000 Khitan cavalrymen who were besieged in Cangzhou in this pocket formation.

After all, the navy in Zhigu may not be able to hold out for too long. If things go wrong, the king's plan of half a year will end up in vain, and a huge amount of effort will be wasted.

Of the more than 100,000 Jiangdong troops in the Cangzhou camp, only 20,000 to 30,000 were left guarding the Cangzhou camp.

At this moment, in the eyes of everyone in the world, the situation in Hebei Road was that the Jiangdong Army was besieging and killing the Khitan cavalry.

The eyes of most people were focused on this siege.

This was truly a siege, it couldn't be more real.

However, Li Yun himself did not participate in the siege. He remained in the Cangzhou camp, drinking across the table from Zhou Chang of the Pinglu Army in the general's tent.

The two clinked glasses of wine. Zhou Chang looked at Li Yun with some curiosity: "Uncle, you don't seem to care about the situation on the front line."

"Just over 10,000 Khitan cavalry."

Mr. Li lowered his head to drink, then looked at Zhou Chang and said softly: "Even if we eat it all in one gulp, it would only make the Khitans lose an arm or a leg, not even enough to drive them out of Youyan, not enough to close the gate again."

Zhou Chang was stunned, then looked at Li Yun.

He thought seriously for a while, then asked doubtfully: "Isn't these Khitans your main target?"

"of course not."

Mr. Li narrowed his eyes and said nothing.

The Khitans had not yet established a firm foothold in Youyan.

He, Li Yun, is now almost at the end of his rope, and so is the Khitan. The Khitan's logistical and economic problems are even more serious than Li Yun's.

At this time, it was too difficult for Li Yun to take back Youyan, but it was not that difficult to drive the Khitans out of Hebei Road.

The reason why there is such a big fuss is because...

This is not his intention.

"Major General, I told you that I will need your Pinglu Army soon."

"Now is the time to use it."

Zhou Chang took a deep breath and said, "If uncle has any instructions, just tell me."

"Three days later, we left Cangzhou Camp and headed west from the southern part of Cangzhou."

"Westward..."

Zhou Chang was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood. He looked at Li Yun and murmured, "My uncle's goal is..."

"good."

Li Yun raised his wine glass, squinted his eyes, and said softly: "The Khitans are surrounded. Others are not anxious, but Xiao Heng, as a filial son and grandson of the Khitans, must be anxious."

Mr. Li sneered.

"us…"

"Go and meet him."

(End of this chapter)