Thief Emperor

Chapter 857: Punishing the Bandits and Clearing the Road
Tongzhou, Yongmu County.

Gongsun Hao led almost all of Zhao Cheng's cavalry to rest here. It took them almost two days to get here from Duji Road in the south.

The reason they are resting here now is because this is the area actually controlled by the Jiangdong Army, and they can rest here for a while without any worries.

Previously, Li Yun personally led the troops to capture the five states of Jingxiang, and then ordered his men to occupy almost the entire Shannan East Road and part of the Shannan West Road.

But after that, Li Yun turned his target to the Central Plains and did not continue to advance westward. After that, the Central Plains and Hebei Road entangled most of Li Yun's troops, so Li Yun no longer operated in Shannan East Road and Shannan West Road.

Until now, Jiangdong still only controls Shannan East Road, but has not occupied Shannan West Road.

However, there was no barrier between the two places. The governor of Shannan West Road only had 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers under his command. He knew that he could never be a match for Li Yun, so he resigned and returned to his hometown, quitting his job.

Before Li Yun occupied Shannan West Road, Shannan West Road had already become an "ownerless land". It was still nominally the territory of the Wu Zhou court, but in fact, the Wu Zhou court did not dare to send officials to govern here.

This piece of land has actually become a battleground where local forces compete with each other.

Some of these local forces have already sent letters of surrender to Li Yun, expressing their willingness to submit to Li Yun.

The other part does not think about the future. After occupying a piece of land, they become local tyrants and do whatever they want.

However, this situation is only temporary. Once Li Yun has recovered, it will not be difficult to pacify the states in Shannan West Road.

In any case, Li Yun's military force was stretched too thin, leaving the Shannan West Road as a hidden danger. As a result, if he wanted to break into Jiannan Road from the east of Jiannan Road, that is, Jianzhou Jiameng Pass, he would have to cross a large area of ​​"unowned land" that might be risky.

At this time, Gao Cong, dressed in cloth, sat opposite Gongsun Hao in the Jiangdong Army camp. He pointed at the Shannan Road map and Jiannan Road map on the table and said, "General Gongsun, I can confirm that the Jiannan Road has been in chaos. Zhang Qiong's son Zhang Han has definitely led his troops to Chengdu Prefecture."

"At this moment, Jianzhou Jiameng Pass and Jianmen Pass must be short of troops."

Gao Cong looked at Gongsun Hao and said in a deep voice: "General Gongsun, Jianzhou is not close to Chengdu Prefecture. Once they take action, you will have at least half a month to attack Jianzhou."

Gongsun Hao's eyes also fell on the map. He looked at it for a long time before he spoke: "Gao Sizheng, can you confirm how many defenders are still in Jianzhou?"

Gao Cong shook his head slightly: "There is no way to confirm it for the time being, but we can conclude that it must be less than half."

"Not even 30%."

Gongsun Hao took a deep breath and said slowly: "The original garrison strength of Jianzhou, according to the number given by the Nine Departments, was more than 12,000. If this number is true, even if only 30% is left."

Gongsun Hao sighed: "It's not easy to fight."

Jiameng Pass and Jianmen Pass are both natural barriers and the natural gateways to Jiannan Road. Even if only five or six hundred people are left to guard these two passes, it will probably take the lives of thousands of people to have a chance of breaking in.

Gao Cong looked at Gongsun Hao thoughtfully and said nothing.

Gongsun Hao asked again: "Gao Sizheng, Lizhou is east of Jiameng Pass."

"What's the situation now?"

"The officials of Lizhou have already fled."

Gao Cong replied: "Now, Lizhou is being taken over by a local tyrant. If I remember correctly, this man is called He Jin. He was originally a bully in Lizhou. His family has quite a bit of wealth. After the Lizhou government fled, he gathered his own forces and took over the city. After more than a year, he now has three to four thousand people under his command, and he..."

"He was also given an official title by the Wu Zhou court."

"This man is very ignorant. He always clamours about wanting to fight eastwards and compete with our Jiangdong army."

At this point, Gao Cong added: "And his subordinates haven't even formed an army yet."

Gongsun Hao nodded slowly and said, "Then tomorrow, I will lead the people to occupy Lizhou and find a place for the brothers who will follow."

At this point, he looked at Gao Cong, clasped his fists and said, "Gao Sizheng, a natural barrier like Jiameng Pass usually requires human lives to fill it. It's not that I value my life, nor am I soft-hearted. I just implore Gao Sizheng to do more for this matter in Jianzhou. If you can contact the people in Jianzhou, please contact them. Sometimes Jiusi can say a few words."

"It can save several captains and battalions in our army."

Gao Cong quickly clasped his fists in return and said, "General Gongsun, you are too kind. We are colleagues now and we are all working for the higher-ups. Jiusi will definitely do his best wherever he can."

At this point, he sighed and said, "In fact, the job of the Ninth Division is not as easy as General Gongsun thinks. Sometimes, a piece of news, even a sentence or a few words sent out by the Ninth Division, is exchanged for the lives of our brothers below."

The two of them clasped their fists and saluted each other. Gao Cong said in a deep voice: "General Gongsun, please rest here. I will go to Lizhou first to see what is going on."

Gongsun Hao bowed his head slightly and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Si Zheng."

…………

Shannan West Road, Lizhou.

This is one of the gateways from Jiannan Road to the outside world. If the military strength of Jiannan Road is strong enough, at this time, the soldiers of Jiannan Road will definitely occupy Lizhou and use this place as their first barrier. However, in the past few years, the Wu Zhou court has suffered defeat after defeat, and the Jiannan Army has no confidence. The entire Jiannan Road is in a stage of comprehensive contraction and self-protection.

This resulted in the fact that although they sent heavy troops to guard Jianzhou, they did not occupy Lizhou.

And Li Yun had not had time to occupy this place.

It was precisely because of this stall that this place was occupied by the local bully, and he occupied it for a whole year.

At this time, He Jin, with a big belly, was lying in a rocking chair, squinting his eyes and enjoying it.

On his left and right sides stood a maid fanning him. Both maids were of above-average appearance. At this moment, they stood next to He Jin, fanning him carefully and respectfully.

Because He Jin is a pervert.

Especially after he was given an official title by the court.

Originally, he just liked to rapine women, or personally beat and kill some people he didn't like, but after being granted an official title, he became even more unscrupulous.

Sometimes, he would walk on the streets with his evil servants and forcibly take women from the street back home. Within a few days, he would rape and kill the women in his own house, and the women's deaths were all in strange ways.

It would be fine if the families of these women did not resist, but once they came to ask for the people, He Jin would get angry and personally bring people to the house and kill the entire family.

So much so that in Lizhou City today, almost every woman dares to walk on the street every day.

There were at least a hundred women in his mansion who were abducted by him. At the most terrifying time, two or three corpses were thrown out of the mansion every day.

Therefore, the maids in the mansion were all afraid of him like a tiger. When they served him on weekdays, they were afraid that they would offend him and be tortured to death.

Just when He Jin was enjoying his life at home, a servant came running in, plopped down on his knees in front of He Jin, and kowtowed, saying, "General, this is bad!"

"There is an enemy attack, there is an enemy attack!"

"A group of cavalrymen have arrived at the city of Lizhou and are now attacking Lizhou!"

When He Jin led his subordinates to rebel in Lizhou, he proclaimed himself the General of Lizhou, even though there was no such position in Wu Zhou. Later, when he was conferred an honorary title, he was actually given such a position and was asked to guard the eastern gate of Jiannan Road.

As for what he did in Lizhou, the court did not care much and would not pay too much attention.

Hearing this news, the "Lizhou General" opened his eyes and said with some displeasure: "We in Lizhou have thousands of people, don't we? Who dares to fight..."

Before he finished speaking, another person came running in front of him, his voice trembling: "General, General!"

"Something bad is happening! The enemy has entered the city!"

He Jin's expression changed immediately. He stood up suddenly, drew the sword from his waist, and cursed: "Damn it, I gave you the food for nothing. So many people have been guarding the city, how long has it been?"

"Just because it was breached, it was breached?"

The man knelt on the ground and said in a trembling voice: "General, those cavalrymen are too powerful. We...we are no match for them..."

"The defenders of the city wall have all fled!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a faint sound of shouting and killing could be heard outside.

He Jin was a very courageous man. He was not afraid at all. He summoned his subordinates and walked out of his house with a knife in hand. As soon as he walked to the street, he saw a team of cavalry on the street of Lizhou City, clearing the remnants in Lizhou City.

In the middle of these cavalrymen, a middle-aged man with slightly graying hair slowly dismounted from his horse and walked forward a few steps.

It was obvious that he had a limp.

The middle-aged man looked around and then his expression became calm.

"After we found He Jin, we took him on the spot."

"Clean up Lizhou City before dark."

All the knights nearby bowed their heads and saluted in unison: "Yes!"

The voices were so uniform, so uniform that even He Jin, who was usually fearless, turned pale.

His legs...

I don't know when, but I started to tremble uncontrollably.

(End of this chapter)