Thief Emperor

Chapter 829 Unstoppable
Zhending is right before our eyes.

This is also the capital of Hengzhou, and even in the entire Hebei Province, it is a very important location.

At this time, the sky was bright, and Li Yun's troops had already rested outside the city for a night. At this time, Su Zhan, who was responsible for the blockade of Zhending, strode towards Li Yun with a tired face, bowed to Li Yun, clasped his fists and said, "Take the position!"

"last night…"

He took a deep breath and said with his head down, "Last night, about two to three hundred people in Zhending City tried to escape and report the incident. I, along with my brothers, captured and killed more than two hundred of them, but...but..."

Su Zhan gritted his teeth and said, "But we don't have enough manpower, and some people still ran away from Zhending City."

Li Yun looked at Su Zhan, whose eyes were bloodshot, patted his shoulder, and smiled softly, "It's okay, it's okay."

Zhending is not a small city. It would take at least five or six thousand soldiers to surround the city completely.

After all, this city is the "old nest" of the Fanyang army, and there must be war horses in the city. These well-trained war horses can charge against swords if they are blindfolded. It is indeed difficult to stop such well-trained war horses with only two thousand cavalrymen.

Mr. Li looked up at Zhending City and said softly, "Originally, we wanted them to spread the urgent news about Zhending, and at the same time, we wanted to test how many defenders there were in Zhending City."

At this point, Li Yun looked at Su Zhan and said softly, "We arrived in Zhending yesterday afternoon. They have telescopes, so they should have known roughly how many of us there were yesterday. If they had enough troops, they should not have sent people to break out and report the news last night, but should have led the troops to break out directly, at least to escort the Xiao family members out of the city."

"However, they did not do so. They were prepared to rely on Zhending to hold on."

Mr. Li said softly: "Either they are confident enough to hold out until the Fanyang Army returns, or they... do not have enough troops to break out on a large scale."

Su Zhan stood next to Li Yun, looked up at Li Yun and blinked.

Li Yun turned his head and looked at a general not far away, and said with a smile: "General Zhong."

This was a general of the Pinglu Army, and he also served as a deputy general in the Pinglu Army.

He quickly strode forward, walked in front of Li Yun, bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying: "I'm here!"

Hearing this, Li Yun was very satisfied. He nodded slightly and said with a smile: "In a moment, our Jiangdong Army will launch the first round of attack, and your Pinglu Army will follow closely behind. We will try to complete the attack within three days."

"Eat the real one."

"Three days?"

Deputy General Zhong looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head again. He hesitated for a moment, clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, the Pinglu Army has more people this time. Let the Pinglu Army charge first, and Your Majesty can lead the Jiangdong Army to hold the line."

People go to higher places.

At this time, even the lowest-ranking soldiers in the Pinglu Army could see that the Pinglu Army had basically turned to Jiangdong. As the deputy general, Zhong Fan naturally could not fail to see it.

Since we will become one sooner or later, we have to behave when we should and be sensible when we should be.

To be frank, there was no need for him, the deputy general, to charge into the battle formation.

The losses were heavy, and the Pinglu Army's assets were damaged. This was also the assets of Zhou's father and son. He used the Pinglu Army's assets to build his own connections.

This deal is certainly a good deal.

Li Yun looked at General Zhong, shook his head slightly and said, "In the first round of siege, the Jiangdong Army mostly used firearms. This time we are coming here on fast horses, and we don't bring many firearms, but it is enough for one round of attack. After all, the Pinglu Army is not familiar with firearms, so let's just watch from the sidelines first."

He patted General Zhong on the shoulder and chuckled, "I promised Zhou Chang that I would not treat the Pinglu Army as outsiders. We should fight as we should. General Zhong told the brothers of the Pinglu Army that this battle should be fought according to the rules of our Jiangdong Army. Each head will be rewarded with five strings of cash."

"The first one to ascend will be awarded the seventh rank of military merit rank according to our Jiangdong military merit rank, and be granted the title of military lieutenant."

Hearing this, Zhong Fan's eyes widened. He stared at Li Yun blankly and murmured, "Your Majesty, our Pinglu Army..."

"He will also be awarded a military title?"

Li Yun nodded and said calmly: "Since I am the leader of the army, I will treat everyone equally. If the brothers of Pinglu Army are unwilling to accept our Jiangdong title, I can convert it into cash at that time."

Zhong Fan quickly lowered his head and said loudly, "We are willing to accept it, we are willing to accept it!"

During this period, the Pinglu Army had frequent contacts with the Jiangdong Army, and naturally knew about the Jiangdong Army's military merits and titles.

In fact, this is also one of Li Yun’s conspiracies.

He had invested a lot of money in building the Jiangdong Army. Up to now, the salaries and food of the Jiangdong Army have become one of the huge economic pressures of Jiangdong.

Although such a huge price was paid, the Jiangdong Army was still unable to crush other armies in terms of combat effectiveness because the army was formed too shortly and too many new soldiers were added later. Since there was no way to crush other armies in terms of combat effectiveness, the advantage in public opinion must be utilized.

They are all soldiers, and the welfare benefits of the Jiangdong Army are far better than those of the Pinglu Army. Once the two sides come into contact, and the Zhou father and son, who are in charge of the Pinglu Army, have taken the lead in "bowing their heads", some subtle changes will naturally occur in the hearts of these Pinglu Army soldiers.

In particular, the military merit system not only attracted the lower-level soldiers of the Pinglu Army, but also the middle-level generals.

Just kidding, even the lowest-ranking sergeant in Jiangdong’s military rank can be given land and houses, and the higher you rank, the higher the treatment. There are some benefits that even the deputy general Zhong Fan is jealous of!

At this time, the granting of titles to the Pinglu Army together with the Jiangdong Army would undoubtedly boost the morale of the Pinglu Army.

At the same time, it also made the army further lean towards Li Yun.

After the two men had a brief exchange for a while, the Jiangdong Army under Li Yun soon began to take action.

The first to attack Zhending was a captain battalion of the Jiangdong Army. They were very skilled in using catapults to throw thunder bombs at the Zhending city tower. After several rounds of thunder bombs, the shield soldiers and a group of infantrymen had already rushed to the foot of the Zhending city tower and began to prepare to set up ladders.

Moreover, the Zhending city wall was not very high, and some strong Jiangdong army soldiers could even light thunder bombs at the foot of the wall and throw them onto the city wall.

As thunderbolts sounded from the city walls, the pressure of attacking the city suddenly decreased, and people immediately climbed up along the ladders.

Zhong Fan looked at the situation in Zhending City and swallowed his saliva. He clasped his fists towards Li Yun and said, "Your Majesty, I will lead the troops to support the battlefield!"

After saying that, he turned around and left. Not long after, a team of Pinglu Army soldiers, led by Zhong Fan himself, attacked Zhending!
There was no way. The Jiangdong Army's siege was too smooth and easy. If they continued like this, the Pinglu Army would not gain any benefit if they attacked again.

Li Yun just looked at the battlefield quietly without saying anything.

Su Zhan stood beside Li Yun, also eager to try. He was about to bow his head and ask for a fight, but Li Yun patted his shoulder and shook his head slightly, saying, "Let's take a look first."

Su Zhan bowed his head and said yes, then looked at the battlefield and said, "Sir, judging from the situation, we can probably take down Zhending in two days."

Li Yun first said "hmm", then said softly: "Wait a minute, go back and have a good sleep. At night, you will continue to besiege Zhending with your men. If the people in the city don't escape tonight, they will definitely escape tomorrow night."

Li Yun was about to continue speaking when he suddenly heard a sound of an explosion. He was stunned at first, then immediately picked up the telescope and looked towards the battlefield on the front line.

Su Zhan also quickly picked up the telescope and looked at the frontline battlefield. He only took a glance and was stunned: "Sir, how come... how come they also have thunder bombs?"

Li Yun put down the telescope and his face looked a little unhappy.

The defenders on the Zhending city wall were clearly throwing thunder bombs down from the city wall, and not just one or two.

In other words, they did not seize it from the Jiangdong Army, but they also had their own channels to obtain the thunder bomb.

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said softly, "Most likely, it came from Wei Quanzhong."

Last year on the Central Plains battlefield, Li Yun saw a simplified version of the thunder bomb at the Shuofang Army. This means that this gunpowder technology has been mastered by the Shuofang Army.

Although it is not a particularly powerful technology, the Fanyang Army has been "wandering" in the past few years. It is estimated that they could not have come up with it on their own. There is a high probability that they got it from the Hedong Army.

The Hedong Army's thunderous bombs were mostly obtained from the Shuofang Army.

Thinking of this, Li Yun continued to look at the battlefield. After looking for a while, he stopped looking and patted Su Zhan on the shoulder and said softly: "Let's go back to the camp, you and I..."

"It's time to take a break."

A merciful army cannot be commanded, and Li Yun has now become as hard as stone on the battlefield.

After returning to the commander's tent, he began to look through the documents sent by Jiusi. He worked on them until the afternoon, then lay down in the tent and fell asleep.

It seemed that the ongoing siege had nothing to do with him.

He slept until night. Late at night, someone hurriedly stood outside Li Yun's tent and whispered, "Your Majesty, the Zhending garrison..."

“Breakthrough!”

"General Xiao Su is leading people to surround and hunt down the enemy!"

Li Yun opened his eyes and just responded faintly.

"understood."

(End of this chapter)