Thief Emperor

Chapter 974: Meeting an Old Friend in the Central Army
Yingzhou, Yuguan.

At this time, Meng Qing had been attacking Yumen Pass for several days.

There were indeed not many Khitans guarding Yumen Pass, only six or seven thousand people, but they defended very resolutely. In addition, at this time Meng Qing slightly spread out his forces to prevent the Khitans from Youyan from behind from attacking. After fighting for three or four days in a row, they failed to capture Yumen Pass.

At this time, a map of Yingzhou was hung high in the central army tent. Meng Qing stood in front of the map, pointed at Yuguan on the map, and said in a deep voice: "We have been fighting for three or four days, but there is still no result, He Jun!"

General He Junhe was transferred to Hebei Province by Li Yun because of his prudent work. He served under Meng Qing. Now he has become a general-level officer, commanding more than 10,000 troops.

In terms of rank, Meng Qing has not yet been promoted to general by His Majesty the Emperor, but he is the main general in this attack on Youyan, that is, the commander-in-chief of the Hebei Road, commanding all the generals in Hebei Road.

Upon hearing this, He Jun immediately left the class, bowed his head and saluted, saying, "I am here!"

Meng Qing looked at him and said in a deep voice: "Your troops have been fighting Yingzhou these days. I will give you three more days. If you still haven't taken Yuguan within three days, your troops will withdraw and stop fighting."

In the early years of the founding of the country, people were competing for military merit and making achievements. At this time, the greatest punishment for these military generals was not scolding, but to withdraw them from the front line.

Because once they withdraw, they will no longer get any credit and can only watch their friendly forces get promoted and make money.

He Jun's face changed when he heard this. He bowed his head deeply to Meng Qing and said, "Yes, I will... I will definitely win this battle!"

Meng Qing looked at the deputy general Luo Zhen and said, "General Luo, you need to coordinate the nearby armies, especially Yingzhou City. You must keep a close eye on it and not let the enemies from Youzhou and Jizhou escape into Yingzhou City. Otherwise, we will have an extra Khitan thorn behind us."

Luo Zhen also hurriedly lowered his head and responded, "I obey your command!"

Meng Qing held the map in his hand and began to assign military tasks to his troops one by one. In less than half an hour, all the troops were clearly arranged by him.

At last, Marshal Meng stood up, looked at the generals in the central army tent, and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, whether it is His Majesty or the court, they are all very concerned about this battle. This battle not only concerns whether we can take back Youyan, but also whether we can march into Liaodong in the future!"

"Your Majesty has been paying close attention to this battle every day."

Meng Qing glanced at everyone and said in a deep voice: "I'm watching you every day!"

"There is also news that a 5,000-man imperial cavalry troop has arrived from Luoyang to provide support."

"We should be able to reach Yingzhou today."

"I'm not telling you this to let you know that reinforcements have arrived."

Marshal Meng said in a deep voice: "It's to let you know that if you don't fight this battle bravely, there are plenty of people who will fight this battle!"

"You don't want to take credit, but the Imperial Guards are here to take credit!"

After saying this, Marshal Meng waved his hand and shouted, "Everyone go back to your camps and make arrangements according to today's arrangements!"

"The battle in Yingzhou will take ten days or half a month to see the outcome!"

All the generals clasped their fists deeply, answered "yes" in unison, and then left the central military tent one after another.

After everyone left, Meng Qing sat in the main seat with a document in his hand.

This was the Emperor's reply to him, which had just been sent by the Ninth Ministry. Looking at the vermilion handwriting on the document, Meng Qing remained silent for a long while.

Luo Zhen sat next to him and said, "Don't worry, Marshal. The battle in Yingzhou should be over within ten days. What's left is to clean up the enemies in Youyan and send troops to Liaodong."

Meng Qing shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Being the chief military officer is really too stressful."

He sighed and said, "When I was under His Majesty's command, I did whatever His Majesty arranged for me to do. I didn't have to think about anything. Those were happy days."

"Now, His Majesty has handed over all matters to me."

Having said this, Meng Qing fell silent.

Because the pressure is really great.

After becoming a great man, he often couldn't sleep the whole night, and he didn't feel sleepy the next day. He was very excited.

There was excitement but also some anxiety.

Luo Zhen stood up, looked at the sky outside the tent, and said, "According to the time, the imperial guards should be arriving soon. The court arranged the imperial guards to the front line at this time, just to let them broaden their horizons. Why not just send them to the battlefield in Youzhou? Why do they have to rush to Yingzhou?"

In the early stage of the Youyan War, Luo Zhen was in charge of the situation on the Youzhou battlefield. However, now, the Youzhou battlefield has become a secondary battlefield, and Yingzhou and Yuguan have become the main battlefields. Luo Zhen returned to Meng Qing and helped him manage military affairs.

Meng Qing shook his head slightly and said, "The imperial guards of the court are not the imperial guards of the old Zhou Dynasty. Many of the current Luoyang imperial guards are the elite of our Jiangdong Army. The cavalry of the imperial guards are also honed through hundreds of battles." He said slowly, "These 5,000 cavalry can confront the Khitan cavalry head-on and not lose. With such combat power, of course they should be sent to Yingzhou."

As he spoke, he also stood up and looked at the sky outside with some worry in his eyes.

"The Duke of Ying has already left the military camp and has been out of Yuguan for several days. I wonder if anything has happened to him."

In order to coordinate the Khitan tribes outside the Great Wall, Liu Bo finally could not sit still anymore. He left the military camp five days ago and went outside the Great Wall in person.

Originally, Meng Qing refused to let him leave no matter what, but the Duke of Ying claimed that he had enough ability to protect himself, so Meng Qing had no choice but to let him leave the barracks.

While he was thinking about it, someone came to report that reinforcements from the imperial court had arrived.

Meng Qing thought about it, and personally left the central army tent and went all the way outside the camp to greet them. At this moment, the first few of the 5,000 cavalry had already dismounted. The first one approached in three or two steps, half-knelt down from a distance, and bowed his head to Meng Qing: "General Su Zhan, I pay my respects to the commander-in-chief!"

It was him that Meng Qing came to greet. Upon hearing this, he quickly helped him up and shook his head, saying, "Brother Su, there is no need for such a big gift."

Like Su Zhan and Meng Qing, both are direct descendants of the Emperor. They have drunk together more than once, so they are naturally very close.

Su Zhan smiled and said, "Now that my brother is the commander-in-chief on the front line, it is only right for me to salute him."

"I have been ordered by your majesty to lead five thousand cavalry to the commander-in-chief's disposal."

He looked back and said seriously, "Except for two or three people who fell seriously ill on the way and couldn't make it, the rest have all arrived."

"Please count, Marshal."

Meng Qing shook his head, pulled Su Zhan's sleeve, and said, "Knowing you were coming, I asked someone to prepare some dishes. Let's go and eat."

During war, soldiers were never allowed to drink alcohol, and Meng Qing always adhered to this.

Su Zhan first smiled and said hello, then turned around and waved to a young man not far behind him, and said in a deep voice: "What are you waiting for? Why don't you come and see the Marshal?"

This young man was none other than Su Zhan's nephew, Su Zhan, the fourth son of the Su family. Su Zhan was yelled at by his uncle, and hurriedly stepped forward, knelt down and saluted to Meng Qing, saying: "Su Zhan greets the Marshal!"

Meng Qing looked at the young man, then turned to look at Su Zhan and asked, "Is he the general's son?"

"Yes."

Su Zhan smiled and said, "My eldest brother's son Si Lang, my eldest brother asked me to bring him out to see the world. Please, brother, give him a good training."

Meng Qing smiled and nodded, stretched out his hand to help Su Zhan up, then pulled the sleeves of the two and said, "Come on, let's go to my central army tent to talk."

As he spoke, he looked at Luo Zhen again and said, "General Luo, please arrange these five thousand imperial guards for me."

Luo Zhen replied yes and hurried to make arrangements.

Meng Qing took the uncle and nephew of the Su family and came to his tent. At this time, a table of food was already set in the tent. Meng Qing took them to sit down and asked, "Brother, is His Majesty okay?"

"Your Majesty is well."

Su Zhan replied with a smile: "Before we came, His Majesty went to my eldest brother's house and beat up his five sons."

"Even if my five nephews were tied together, they would still be no match for Your Majesty."

Meng Qing was curious when he heard this and was about to ask when suddenly the tent was pushed open by someone in a hurry.

A tall young man strode in. He looked around and saw Meng Qing. Then he took two or three steps forward and shouted loudly, "Uncle Meng, the fighting on the front line is so fierce. I don't want to be a scout anymore!"

After he said this, he saw uncle and nephew Su Zhan and Su Zhan.

The uncle and nephew were also looking at him, the three of them staring at each other.

"Your Highness the King of Yue?"

Su Zhan finally spoke.

When His Royal Highness the King of Yue saw Su Zhan, he was also very happy and patted his shoulder heavily.

"Uncle Xiaowu!"

(End of this chapter)