The Prodigal Son

dusk.

Miaozhou Wanghai County.

"Have you heard? The Ning people have already invaded Yuzhou."

"Who cares! Let them fight! As long as they don't come this way."

"Please, please don't draw troops from our side!"

"Don't worry! We only have less than eight hundred people left in the entire county. If we draw more people from here, the city will probably descend into chaos!"

"Exactly, we don't even have enough people to fill a tooth gap..."

At the city gate, several soldiers responsible for checking people were chatting casually.

In less than fifteen minutes, the city gates will be closed.

By this time, almost no one was entering or leaving the city anymore, and they had nothing to do but gather together to chat and joke.

Just as the group was getting into a lively conversation, they suddenly heard the sound of rapid hoofbeats.

The group looked up curiously and soon saw a cavalry unit come into view.

Because of the distance, they couldn't see the words on the flag.

This made them even more curious.

"Could they really be here to pull people from our area?"

A county soldier asked with some concern.

"Shut your mouth!"

The others glared at them with annoyance, but they were also worried.

Although these county soldiers had no idea about the battle situation in Yuzhou and other places, since Yu Jing had already led the Ning people back to Yuzhou, the situation at the front line was probably not optimistic.

If they really do draw troops from here, and throw these people onto the battlefield, they'll probably all be wiped out in one battle.

"Do you think it's possible that the enemy has attacked?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? What enemy troops are you talking about?"

"Exactly! If there's going to be a fight, it should be in places like Yuzhou and Hezhou! Who's going to fight here?"

The soldiers on the city wall were also discussing the matter amongst themselves.

Although some people suspected that enemy troops had attacked, their suspicions were quickly drowned out by the voices of others.

The northeastern part of Miaozhou, including the Wanghai area, is almost a strategically inaccessible place due to its harsh natural environment and frequent erosion by various sea storms.

Who would be so bored as to attack Miaozhou?

As everyone peered out curiously, the iron cavalry approached from afar.

When the soldiers on the city wall finally saw the words on the battle flags fluttering in the wind, they realized something was wrong.

"They're from Ning!"

"The Ning people are attacking!"

"Quickly, close the city gates! Hurry..."

In an instant, chaos erupted on the city wall.

However, by the time the soldiers at the city gate were ready to close it, it was already too late!

In fact, they didn't realize that whether they closed the city gates or not, the result would be the same!

Faced with such a fragile defense, let alone Ning Huang, even Qin Yu and Qi Dachui working together could easily take over the city.

"kill!"

Xiong Quhu led a large cavalry force, wiping out the county soldiers at the city gate as easily as cutting melons and vegetables, and quickly stormed into the city.

"Run!"

"Run!"

Seeing the Da Ning cavalry pouring into the city, the county soldiers on the city walls even forgot to fight back and fled in panic.

Xiong Quhu rushed into the city, but did not go on a killing spree. He simply ordered his soldiers, "Quickly capture two people and take them to the granary and the prefect's mansion!"

"yes!"

The cavalrymen obeyed the order and quickly captured two county soldiers who were fleeing in panic.

Led by the county soldiers, they split into two groups, one heading towards the granary and the other towards the prefect's mansion.

At that moment, the prefect, who had just run from the backyard to the front hall after hearing the commotion in the city, saw a group of menacing soldiers storm into the mansion.

"Who...who are you?"

The prefect turned pale with fright and asked in a trembling voice.

Xiong Quhu didn't say much, and directly swung his axe.

Blood splattered everywhere, and the prefect's head had already been removed.

Xiong Quhu sheathed his Xuanhua axe and coldly issued the order: "Leave no official in the city alive!"

Under Xiong Quhu's command, a group of soldiers quickly rushed towards various parts of the prefectural governor's mansion.

While Xiong Quhu and his men were wreaking havoc, the same thing was happening in another county town about 120 miles away from Wanghai...

……

A day and a half later, Qin Yu and Yuan Dingguo led their troops to meet near Shigong Mountain, forty miles southeast of Yuyang.

Yuan Dingguo and his men arrived more than half an hour earlier than Qin Yu's troops.

"Ha ha……"

Pei Xiao spurred his horse toward Qin Yu, and even from a distance, he couldn't help but burst into hearty laughter.

Upon reaching Qin Yu, Pei Xiao quickly dismounted and bowed to Qin Yu and the others.

He and Yuan Dingguo led their troops on a rapid advance, capturing several cities in the Min Kingdom. Although they were not tired at all, they felt only endless joy.

"You guys got here pretty quickly!"

Qin Yu smiled at Pei Xiao and asked, "Where is Yuan Dingguo? Did he lead his troops to seize Sanliqiao?"

"yes!"

Pei Xiao nodded and replied, "We've already scouted the area beforehand, and there's no proper garrison at Sanli Bridge, just a few soldiers collecting tolls! General Yuan led his troops to seize Sanli Bridge himself, ordering me to lead men here to meet General Qin!"

"This is truly a stroke of luck!"

Qin Yu felt relieved and asked, "Nothing unexpected happened on your end, right?"

"What could possibly go wrong?"

Pei Xiao chuckled, "Those cities don't even have any decent garrisons. If we attack, it'll be like cutting melons and vegetables..."

Their situation was similar to Qin Yu's.

Miaozhou's defense is too weak!

It could even be said that there was no one defending it!

Faced with their iron cavalry, several cities surrendered immediately.

Fighting this kind of battle is not difficult at all.

"Were all the officials in each city killed?"

Qin Yu asked again.

Pei Xiao nodded: "Kill them all! Even the officials who surrendered the city, kill them all!"

"That's good!"

Qin Yu smiled with satisfaction.

It's really not very ethical to kill the officials in a city when everyone else has already surrendered.

However, they had to do it.

Only by killing the officials in each city can these places be thrown into complete chaos.

Whether it's Yu Jing or Yu Wu, restoring peace to Miaozhou will require a great deal of effort and manpower.

But unfortunately, they currently lack both the energy and the manpower.

However, if they allow the chaos in Miaozhou to continue unchecked, the situation in Min Kingdom will only become more and more dire.

"By the way, General Qin, we've unexpectedly received some important news!"

Pei Xiao's smile faded. "About 30 or 40 li downstream from Sanli Bridge, there's a large dock with many warehouses nearby. The 500,000 shi of grain that Chu is sending to Min by water should arrive in the next few days. Should we go and pull off a heist? Even just burning down their dock would slow down their grain transport considerably!"

Hearing Pei Xiao's words, Qin Yu's heart stirred.

However, after a moment's thought, Qin Yu shook his head and said, "Now is not the time for that! Right now, the priority is to capture Yuwang Pass!"