Thief Emperor

Chapter 828: Divide Hebei!

In the early morning, the sky was dim.

A group of cavalry moved out from the Wuji camp and headed westward like a swimming dragon.

The goal is clear, and that is Zhending.

Zhending is not Li Yun’s most critical target. His real goal is to destroy the main force of the Fanyang Army. However, even so, Zhending can still be regarded as a secondary target.

Because Hengzhou borders Hedong Road.

It even borders Taiyuan Prefecture directly.

If Hengzhou could be taken, it would not only mean taking down the Fanyang Army's base camp, but more importantly, it would also mean being able to cut off the communication between the Fanyang Army and the Hedong Army.

Moreover, in the future, if Li Yun wants to attack Taiyuan Prefecture, it will be easy and quick to send troops from Hengzhou.

This may also be the reason why the Hedong Army joined forces with the Fanyang Army to resist Jiangdong.

While Li Yun's troops were rushing to Zhending, the war at the Zhigu Port in the north had already lasted for six or seven days.

The sound of cannon fire on the surface of the Zhang River was deafening.

The ships of the Jiangdong Navy lay across the water, blocking the Khitan reinforcements from moving south.

At this time, at least 20,000 Khitans had gathered north of the Zhang River. These Khitans had only recently arrived in Youzhou and had no decent boats to use. They could only use small boats to row towards the large ships of the Jiangdong Army, trying to seize their ships.

Most of them could not swim, and they could not even stand steadily after getting into the water or getting on the boat.

Unable to stand steadily, the archery skills that they were proud of were useless. After four or five days, at least one or two thousand Khitans died in this naval battle.

In other words, the Jiangdong Army was not under much pressure in the naval battle on the Zhang River.

Even though they were large ships, the Khitans paid a great price to seize several of them, but it did not affect the war situation. Once these Khitans got on the ships, their melee and ranged capabilities were greatly weakened.

The real pressure comes from the war on land.

As the Jiangdong Army's pocket narrowed, the Khitans' attacks on Zhigu became more and more frequent. Even though the Jiangdong Army had already formed up along the Zhang River in advance, the Khitans' cavalry charges caused considerable casualties to the Jiangdong Army.

At this time, on the Jiangdong Army's position in Zhigu, the Khitans were launching a new round of attacks. Deng Yang personally led his troops to guard the position. The two sides fought fiercely for almost a day and a night. Finally, under the firearms and the tenacious resistance of the Jiangdong Army, the Khitans suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat again.

When Deng Yang was retreating from the front line, he was hit by an arrow in the back of his shoulder. Fortunately, he was protected by armor and the arrow only penetrated half an inch of his flesh.

Li Zheng came forward and welcomed him into the big tent, helped him sit down, and asked someone to invite the doctor who accompanied the army to come over. He looked at Deng Yang and said softly, "These Khitans are getting more and more crazy."

Deng Yang had taken off his armor, revealing the wound on his shoulder, and a small part of the arrow tip was still stuck in his arm. He reached out to pull it, but because of the pain from the barb, he had to give up. He looked up at Li Zheng with a wry smile and said, "These Khitans have poor armor and weapons, but their arrows are very good. I guess 60% to 70% of the money was spent on bows and arrows."

The arrows are made with different craftsmanship and have different effects, so there is a lot to consider here.

However, considering the Khitans' metallurgical level, they were able to produce such arrows, which shows that they did spend a lot of money.

In order to pull out this kind of arrow, one must cut out a whole piece of flesh nearby.

Li Zheng looked at Deng Yang's arrow wound and said solemnly: "General Deng's injury is serious. Starting tomorrow, I will lead the battle."

Deng Yang looked at Li Zheng and shook his head quickly: "General Li should stay in the center of the army. My injury is not a big deal. I can take care of it. Even if I can't kill the enemy in person, I can still command on the battlefield."

Li Zheng was a little unhappy, and said with a dark face: "General Deng, have you never considered me as a general of the Jiangdong Army?"

"We have the same duties. How can you go to the battlefield but I can't?"

Deng Yang heard this and waved his hands. He was about to explain, but his injury was aroused and his face turned pale with pain. He lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "General Li, I didn't mean that."

Li Zheng looked at him and shook his head slightly.

He also knew in his heart that the label of "Brother Li Yun" could not be removed from him, especially within the Jiangdong Army.

Over the years, he served as a general in the Jiangdong Army. Although he did a lot of things, in fact, he did not complete many tasks independently.

Although no one in the Jiangdong Army thought that Li Zheng was incompetent, everyone agreed that he had a "noble" status and could not put himself in danger.

Li Zheng pulled Deng Yang to sit down and sighed, "General Deng, we are all brothers from the anti-theft team."

Deng Yang looked at Li Zheng and whispered, "General Li, it is precisely because we are all brothers from the anti-theft team that I don't want you to go to the battlefield. The old brothers in our anti-theft team need a backbone."

"The Zhigu battlefield also needs a backbone."

His voice was hoarse. “General Gongsun and I can both fight on the front line. General Li, there is no need for you to take the risk.”

"You and your superiors are both important figures in Jiangdong. You cannot afford to make mistakes."

Just as the two were chatting, a voice came from outside the door: "General, someone from Jiusi is here."

Li Zheng said without hesitation: "Please come in."

Soon, a young man who was only about 26 or 27 years old walked in. After seeing Li Zheng and Deng Yang, he bowed his head and clasped his fists, "Two generals."

"We can hold on here in Zhigu for another five days."

"There is no need to hold on. Whether to retreat or not will be decided by the two generals." Li Zheng stood up and looked at the young man in front of him. He felt that he looked familiar. He asked, "He Sizheng?"

The young man bowed his head quickly and said, "He Dang, the Chief of the Hebei Division of the Ninth Division, is here to meet the General."

Li Zheng stepped forward with a smile on his face: "I said, I saw you in Jinling, how is the situation now? Where did your general manager go?"

This He Sizheng lowered his head quickly and said, "General, Liu Zongsi's men are already outside the pass."

"As for the overall situation."

He lowered his head and said, "My lord, you are leading your troops to attack Zhending. At this time, they are probably already at the gates of Zhending."

"Zhongyuan Road, General Zhao is also actively advancing northward to swallow up Hebei Road."

"In the Cangzhou battlefield, General Su will be able to advance to Zhigu in ten days at most. The higher-ups mean that if the pressure in Zhigu is too great, we should retreat. The Khitans in Hebei Province have already suffered heavy casualties, so there is no need to let them fight to the death."

"The trapped beast still fights."

Li Zheng's eyes flickered when he heard this, and he chuckled, "It seems that the king's previous plan has basically been implemented."

He looked at He Dang, thought for a moment, and said, “When you nine officials report to the higher authorities, just tell them about Zhigu. I will try my best to support it.”

He Dang bowed his head and clasped his fists: "As you command."

Li Zheng paused, then patted He Dang on the shoulder: "Give your general manager a message for me, and ask him to..."

"Be careful."

He Dang naturally knew the brotherly relationship between Li Zheng and his general Liu Bo. Without hesitation, he clasped his fists and saluted, saying, "Yes, I will definitely bring it to the general."

"Okay, nothing more to do here."

"Go and do your work."

He Dang nodded, said yes, lowered his head and walked out.

After he left, Li Zheng turned around and looked at Deng Yang who was sitting next to him, with a smile on his face: "Hebei Road has been dismembered into several parts by the superiors."

He looked at the map of Hebei Province in the big tent and said softly, "Let's see now how many portions you can eat and whether it tastes good."

Deng Yang also sincerely admired it and said with emotion: "To be promoted, it's really..."

"It's really amazing."

…………

Outside Zhending City, Li Yun led five or six thousand cavalry and had arrived outside Zhending City.

He only brought this many cavalrymen on this trip, and left some for Zhou Chang.

The main thing is that ambushes sometimes require the coordination of some mobile forces.

Li Yun's purpose of having cavalry was just to get to Zhending as quickly as possible, thereby alarming the Fanyang army in the east to return.

When he really attacked Zhending, he had to use infantry in the end.

Five thousand cavalrymen arrived outside Zhending City. It was already afternoon. Li Yun did not rush to attack the city. Instead, he looked at Zhending City not far away from him and ordered: "Send people to surround Zhending."

"Anyone who enters or leaves will be killed immediately."

After saying this, Li Yun looked at Su Zhan and said with a smile: "You go and do this. Take two thousand people and surround Zhending."

Su Zhan scratched his head and said, "Sir, there aren't enough people, right?"

"Go if you are told to go."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Go quickly."

Su Zhan then bowed his head, clasped his fists, and went downstairs to do his work.

After arranging the siege, Li Yun ordered the troops to set up camp and rest on the spot.

They had just started to set up camp and his tent was not yet ready when Li Yun suddenly remembered that he had taken thousands of horses from Fan Yang and sold them twenty telescopes.

He suddenly had an idea, and called Yang Xi, who was with the army, and ordered him, "Go, hang up my Li Wang flag."

Yang Xi also scratched his head, but he didn't think too much about it. He immediately bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying, "Yes, I'll go right away."

Just as he was about to leave, Li Yun called him back. Li smiled and told him, "Hang a few more."

"Make it more impressive."

Yang Xi patted his chest and smiled.

"Leave it to me!"

(End of this chapter)