Thief Emperor

Chapter 871 Dangerous move
When Gao Cong left, Zhao Cheng personally escorted him out of the camp. After Zhao Cheng returned to the general's tent, he sat in the tent and thought for a while, then said to his personal guard Zhao Chengqi: "Go, invite General Gongsun, I have something to discuss with him."

Zhao Chengqi immediately bowed his head and said yes, then turned around and left the general's tent. At this time, he had been following Zhao Cheng in the army for quite some time and was quite familiar with the army. Not long after, he led Gongsun Hao back to the door of the general's tent, bowed his head to Gongsun Hao, helped Gongsun Hao open the tent, and bowed his head and said, "General Gongsun, please come in."

Gongsun Hao knew that he was Zhao Cheng's nephew, so he nodded slightly and said, "Thank you."

After saying that, Gongsun Hao crouched down and entered the general's tent. He looked up at Zhao Cheng, who was writing at his desk, and stepped forward to salute him with his fists clasped: "General!"

Zhao Cheng looked up at him, then said with a smile: "Sit down and talk, sit down and talk."

After Gongsun Hao sat down, Zhao Chengcai asked, "How is your son's injury now? I was too busy recently, so I didn't go to see him again."

"Thank you for your concern, General. My son's injury has almost healed. In a month or so, he will be well again and can return to the battlefield."

Zhao Cheng shook his head and smiled, "Your son was injured too badly before, let's wait until he is fully recovered. Besides, your son is the first to break through Jiannan Road this time. With this achievement, when he returns to Luoyang in the future, the superiors will not treat him unfairly."

Gongsun Hao took a deep breath and said solemnly, "I was a surrendered general in the past. In the past few years, the emperor has not only not treated me badly, but has promoted me many times. My father and I have no intention of making meritorious deeds at the moment. We only hope to do more for the emperor and the new dynasty."

Zhao Cheng nodded, handed Gongsun Hao a cup of tea, and then said, "My thoughts are exactly the same as General Gongsun's."

The chief general of Jiannan Road took a deep breath and said in a low voice: "General Gongsun, it is already June. You will be in the first month of next year. There is less than half a year left before you take the throne."

"It is definitely not enough for us to take over the entire Jiannan Road in the past six months, but we can go straight to Chengdu Prefecture, capture Emperor Wu, and present a gift to him for his coronation ceremony in the first month of next year."

Jiannan Road is too big, at least much bigger than Guanzhong. It probably wouldn't be too difficult to attack Chengdu Prefecture directly and capture it, but it would take at least one or two years to occupy the entire Jiannan Road.

Zhao Cheng certainly could not wait such a long time. He urgently needed to capture the Emperor of the Great Zhou and then send him to Luoyang as a contribution that would be remembered in the history of the Xin Dynasty.

And this achievement is enough to make Zhao Cheng the first meritorious official of the new dynasty.

Because if you look closely, although all the credit for Hebei Province's achievements last year was attributed to General Su, everyone is very clear that the battle in Hebei Province was won because it was the general who went north personally and finally broke the deadlock in one fell swoop.

In order to clean up the mess in Hebei Province, even Zhao Cheng's troops were used. It is hard to say that this was the achievement of Su Sheng alone.

However, the achievements of Jiannan Road, up to now, have all been won by Zhao Cheng's troops, without the involvement of any external forces. In the future, most of these merits will be attributed to him as the main general.

And if Emperor Wu could be captured, he would definitely be the number one hero, and no one could shake him.

Upon hearing this, Gongsun Hao looked up at Zhao Cheng, his eyes flickering slightly.

He had an epiphany.

The current Jiangdong Army is somewhat different from the Jiangdong Army when he surrendered to Li Yun.

The Jiangdong Army at the time was not large enough, and Li Yun was in charge of many things personally. With powerful enemies surrounding them, the Jiangdong Army was truly united, and no one had any other thoughts.

But now, the scale of Jiangdong Army has become too large.

In addition, the establishment of the new dynasty was already a foregone conclusion. At this moment, the Jiangdong army also began to have some of their own little thoughts.

For example, merit, for example, future.

These are things that everyone has to think about and strive for.

Thinking of this, Gongsun Hao's mind turned.

He thought of Li Yun, the man who had charged into the enemy's camp and forcibly pulled him off his horse.

Is the current situation of the Jiangdong Army what the king wants to see?

This question only flashed through Gongsun Hao's mind for a moment, and he had already come up with the answer.

I'm afraid so.

Because the Jiangdong Army is too large, too large...it is difficult to manage.

At this time, the Jiangdong Army no longer needed to be organized, and it was unlikely that they would be united.

Then the commanders of each army should have their own little thoughts.

If everyone was still harmonious and united as one, that would be a bit bad. But at this time, each force within the Jiangdong Army had its own ideas. In that world, only the king himself could mobilize all the troops.

Thinking of this, Gongsun Hao took a deep breath and whispered, "I understand what the general means. However, according to the information from the Nine Departments, the imperial guards of the old Zhou court should have about 40,000 people. Although these imperial guards are not happy with the Jiannan Army, they are still doing their respective duties to guard Chengdu Prefecture. The imperial guards are stationed inside and outside Chengdu, while the Jiannan Army is stationed in the prefectures and counties near Chengdu City."

Gongsun Hao looked at Zhao Cheng and analyzed, "General, we are not familiar with the terrain of Jiannan Road. Even if everything goes well and we break through many obstacles to reach Chengdu, it will probably be two months later. There are many defenders in Chengdu. If they can't hold on, it may take half a year to conquer it." Zhao Cheng reached out and knocked on the table, and said softly, "Gao Cong, the director of the Southwest Division of the Nine Departments, just came from me. He said that the Zhang brothers of the Jiannan Army are inclined to surrender."

"Jiu Si's information should not be wrong."

Zhao Cheng looked at Gongsun Hao and continued, "So I think that the Jiannan Army has no intention of fighting at the moment, so if we want to move quickly, we can ignore this force."

He looked at Gongsun Hao and said slowly: "So, I have a bolder idea."

Zhao Cheng continued, "I will lead a main force of 50,000 people to attack Chengdu directly and surround the city as quickly as possible."

"The Emperor of the Wu family is a coward. After the siege of Chengdu, he will probably panic immediately and may leave the city to surrender. At that time, it will be the credit of you, me, and our Jiangdong Army."

"Even if he holds out, we will have more time to deal with Chengdu City."

"As for the Jiannan Army's forces on the periphery."

He looked at Gongsun Hao and continued, "General Gongsun, you will lead the remaining troops to clean up the Jiannan Army near Chengdu."

"General Gongsun, what do you think?"

Gongsun Hao lowered his head, thought seriously for a long time, and finally said: "General, it is difficult to deliver supplies here, and the superiors do not allow looting local people. If you march straight in, how can the logistics supply keep up?"

Zhao Cheng narrowed his eyes and said softly, "This place is known as the Land of Abundance. There are many families with food. If the king doesn't allow us to rob the people, we can borrow food from the local wealthy families."

He looked at Gongsun Hao and chuckled, "The superior said that there are always more solutions than problems."

Gongsun Hao thought about it seriously and asked, "General, should we report this decision to Luoyang first?"

"Of course we have to report it, but this place is too far from Luoyang, so speed is of the essence."

"What I mean is, once the next batch of logistical supplies arrives here, we'll start moving immediately."

"I will take General Chen and Yu Ye with me and march directly into Chengdu Prefecture."

"General Gongsun, you will lead He Jun to clean up the outer Jiannan Army."

Gongsun Hao looked at the map of Jiannan Road hanging in the big tent. He thought for a while, and finally stood up, bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying: "General is the chief commander. All military affairs of Jiannan Road are under the command of the general. As long as the general gives orders, the subordinates will naturally obey, but the subordinates have to remind the general."

"There are risks in doing this."

He said sternly: "Although the superior is eager to capture the Emperor of the Wu Family, he may not agree to such a risky strategy."

"I am the commander."

Zhao Cheng looked calm, his eyes were blazing: "If there are risks, I will naturally bear them."

Gongsun Hao nodded and sat down to discuss the follow-up details with Zhao Cheng. When the two of them had almost finished discussing, Gongsun Hao suddenly looked up at Zhao Cheng and asked, "General, why are you so anxious all of a sudden? Are you anxious to capture Emperor Wu before the king's coronation ceremony?"

Hearing this, Zhao Cheng lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked up at Gongsun Hao and shook his head slightly.

His voice was a little hoarse.

"I'm worried that the dog emperor will run away."

Gongsun Hao was a little surprised: "General..."

Zhao Cheng stood up, patted Gongsun Hao on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "It's different, it's different."

"Compared to the merit."

Zhao Cheng took a deep breath and his expression became a little fanatical. At this moment, his father, mother, several brothers, and all the family members from that year appeared in front of him.

The second sister appeared again, as well as three nephews and nieces.

He whispered slowly.

"I would rather catch the dog emperor myself..."

(End of this chapter)