After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Yangyuan is located between Zhili and Datong. During the reign of the late emperor, it was called Xining County.

Upon his ascension to the throne, Lobsang Danjin, the leader of the Khoshut Mongols, launched a rebellion. After the governor-general of Shaanxi and Gansu, Nian Gengyao, quelled the rebellion, the current emperor abolished the Xining Guard in eastern Qinghai and renamed it Xining Prefecture, which was placed under the jurisdiction of Gansu Province.

Xining County and Xining Prefecture share the same name. During the Western Han Dynasty, this place was formerly known as Yangyuan, so the imperial court changed the name to Yangyuan County.

Although Yangyuan is located in Zhili, it is bordered by Yanggao County of Datong, Shanxi to the west, Tianzhen County of Datong to the north, and Guangling County of Datong to the southwest.

Huang Zhongcai's troops advanced into Yangyuan.

The Shanxi Green Standard Army and the Eight Banners troops stationed there entered Yanggao, Tianzhen, and Guangling counties.

Ning Jiexiao's troops then roamed between Yangyuan and the three counties.

Yangyuan is mountainous to the north and south, with the Sanggan River flowing through the basin in the middle.

The southern part is the Hengshan mountain range, among which Qingtianbei is famous, with its peak reaching 800 zhang high, with layers of mountains and peaks that pierce the clouds.

Crossing the blue sky to the south, you will reach Guangling County in Datong.

The northern part belongs to the Yinshan Mountains, which include mountains such as Da'ao Mountain, Pingding Mountain, Camel Mountain, Huanghualiang Mountain, and Wangfeng Mountain. Beyond these mountains lies Tianzhen County of Datong.

Huang Zhongcai led 20,000 troops into Yangyuan, with logistics provided by Zhili Province.

Datong was garrisoned by 1,000 Eight Banner soldiers and 20,000 Green Standard Army soldiers, while the Right Guard along the Great Wall to the north was garrisoned by 5,000 Eight Banner soldiers and 3,000 Mongol soldiers.

When Ning Jiexiao's troops defeated Huang Zhongcai at Huangyang Mountain and fled to Shanxi, Minister of War Ortai rushed to Datong and directly dispatched 10,000 Green Standard Army soldiers to guard the three counties of Yanggao. He also transferred 2,000 Eight Banner soldiers and 1,000 Mongol soldiers from the Right Guard to the south to garrison Yanggao County and join Huang Zhongcai's troops in besieging Ning Jiexiao.

This finally trapped Ning Jiexiao's troops in the mountains between Yangyuan and Datong counties.

Yangyuan County is located in a basin and is also known as Woniu City. The city wall is 25 feet high. The county town is not large. If Zhili Province had not provided grain and fodder, Huang Zhongcai's 20,000 troops could have eaten the county out of business.

The magistrate of Yangyuan County was in a state of utter distress, and some local gentry and wealthy families were even more apprehensive.

On the one hand, the rebels of the Heavenly Principle Sect were causing trouble; on the other hand, the harm caused by the government troops was no less than that caused by the rebels. Many local gentry took the initiative to provide Governor Huang with a certain amount of food and fodder, hoping to quickly suppress the rebels.

Regardless of the current fashion trends.

With the advantage of location and popular support, and with the full cooperation of Ortai, the Grand Councilor and Minister of War, he was also in full swing.

Huang Zhongcai's eyes reddened, and he slammed his fist on the table, making a solemn pledge:

"If we fail to completely annihilate these traitors this time, Huang Zhongcai will bring back his head!"

Ning Jiexiao and his 3,000 remaining troops, who were besieged in the mountains by nearly 40,000 troops from four counties, were also about to face annihilation.

"Guard all key mountain passes, dispatch lightly armored units to search the mountains, first the north then the south, and wipe out their remaining forces! Hang their corpses above the county town!"

Huang Zhongcai of Yangyuan County issued a series of cold-blooded military orders.

Xing Zhengting, the Green Standard Army commander who led the three counties of Yanggao, Tianzhen, and Guangling, berated Huang Zhongcai in front of his subordinates for his incompetence, saying that he had led so many men and yet had been toyed with by this band of bandits.

On one hand, they meticulously planned tactics and encirclement, wanting to capture this infamous thief who dared to assassinate the emperor in the Forbidden City alive and achieve an unparalleled feat!

"snort!"

Xing Zhengting placed his hand on the map and ordered his staff to send a letter to the Minister of War, who was in Datong, saying:

"But please rest assured, sir, the traitor Ning Jiexiao of the Heavenly Principle Sect... will not escape this time! Within three days, I, Xing, will surely defeat this fiend and capture him before your steps!"

…………

Da da da, da da da.

The sound of horses' hooves roared past Qipan Street.

This battle report was sent from Yangyuan, along with messages returned by a group of Shanxi officials and the Sticky Rod Office.

This includes the entire story of Ning Jiexiao's killing of Xing Zhengting, the Green Standard Army General of Shanxi...

…………

The Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Even though it was already April and the weather was warming up, the fire in the palace was no less than it had been in winter.

Last month, the emperor was assassinated, and the assassination attempt was carried out by an old eunuch in the palace. As a result, the chief eunuch Su Peisheng carried out a major purge of the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace.

Whether they were the remaining palace eunuchs or the newly arrived eunuchs and maids, everyone was trembling with fear, as if walking on thin ice.

Even something as simple as a few eunuchs coming to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to add charcoal would require them to be thoroughly searched by the imperial guards at the entrance of the hall.

Inside the main hall.

Wearing a blue striped mandarin jacket, the Fourth Prince Hongli enthusiastically told his father, the Emperor, the story he had heard.

Mu Shu, the first-rank official in charge of the Sticky Rod Office, stood beside him, his legs feeling a little weak.

As the emperor on his dragon throne listened to his son's account, his expression grew increasingly grim.

The chief eunuch, Su Peisheng, who had occasionally chimed in earlier, also paused slightly, seemingly in disbelief.

"Jige said, 'Ning Jiexiao's attempt to break out from the east was also a ruse. The bandit leader had arranged for two hundred cavalrymen to be stationed on the east side beforehand...'"

Mu Shu interjected, his eyes wide with astonishment, "Two hundred cavalry?"

Hongli laughed and said, "Jige, that simpleton, must have exaggerated."

"Mu Shu," Yinzhen frowned and asked, "How much exactly?"

"Your Majesty," Mu Shu immediately withdrew his gaze from the Fourth Prince and bowed to the Emperor above, saying, "According to my intelligence, Ning Jiexiao should have arranged twenty or thirty cavalrymen in the east beforehand."

Twenty or thirty riders...

A mere twenty or thirty riders...

Yinzhen lowered his gaze and became somewhat silent.

After a few breaths, Yongzheng looked at Hongli again, raised an eyebrow and said:

"And then? What else did Zig say?"

"Jig said: 'The bandit leader and those two hundred...' Hmm..."

Hongli paused for a moment, then smiled and said:

"Those twenty or thirty riders were there to support the several hundred men who broke out from the east. A dozen or so of them dismounted and helped a group of officials in scarlet robes onto their horses."

Wearing scarlet robes? A dozen or so officials?

"A delegation from the Southern Dynasty?!" Su Peisheng's eyes widened.

Hongli smiled and said, "It wasn't a real mission; it was Ning Jiexiao's scheme."

"A scheme?" Yinzhen frowned. "Another damn scheme?"

Hearing the Emperor's words were somewhat vulgar, Su Peisheng, who had intended to remind the Fourth Prince not to behave improperly in front of the Emperor, suddenly looked helpless.

Hongli laughed and said, "Those so-called Southern Dynasty delegations were actually just scarecrows dressed in red clothes and wearing black gauze hats..."

Then, Hongli recounted how Ning Jiexiao's eastern bandits launched a surprise attack on the delegation's camp, while the western bandits seized the opportunity to break out, also launched a surprise attack, and then returned to Miaofeng Mountain.

Because Ning Jiexiao set fire to the mountain, the guards on the mountain were exhausted from running around.

Meanwhile, the rebels in the west kept breaking through, so Huang Zhongcai had no choice but to push his troops westward.

Furthermore, because Ning Jiexiao's twenty or thirty horses led a dozen or so Southern Dynasty envoys to escape, and several hundred bandits covered their retreat, Huang Zhongcai had no choice but to move the western cavalry to the east.

Because the cavalry had been moved eastward, Huang Zhongcai could only move the Green Standard Army westward when the other part of the rebels made a large-scale breakout to the west.

The cavalry went to the east, and the Green Standard Army went to the west.

The bandits who had broken out from the east returned and launched a surprise attack on the central army camp, but this was just a feint attack; they returned to the mountain immediately afterward.

However, from then on, the two thousand men in the central army camp dared not move...

With this maneuvering, the thieves eliminated several outposts in the north and secretly broke out from the north under cover of night...

After carefully listening to Hongli's words, Yinzhen remained silent on the dragon throne for a while.