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Tang Yue was worried that Ma Liuliang's actions would affect the image of the Qin army. This worry was actually a bit redundant, as he ignored the fact that this was in Yunnan, not Jiangnan or Huguang.
There were many chieftains throughout Yunnan, and what the common people saw on weekdays were mostly the chieftains' armies. These chieftains' armies were farmers on weekdays and soldiers in wartime. They didn't even have uniform clothing, and their weapons were in disarray. Whenever they went out, they looked even more chaotic than Ma Liuliang's 3,000 troops.
In comparison, the military appearance of Ma Liuliang's three thousand "bandits" was still good.
What's more, what the people care about most is not whether your military appearance is strict or not. As long as you don't steal or rob, don't kill or burn, rape or plunder, in the eyes of the people, that's good.
As the vanguard, the key is speed, to catch the enemy off guard. The 3,000 troops led by Ma Liuliang advanced lightly and galloped at full speed, which was in line with the word "speed".
On the seventh day of the first lunar month in the second year of the Qin Dynasty, that is, two days after setting out from Pingyi Wei, Ma Liuliang arrived at Jiaoshui Town and "severely defeated" the defenders of Shadingzhou, killing eleven enemies and capturing thirty-nine.
There is no other way. There are only fifty people guarding the water junction. Unless you kill innocent people to gain credit, there will only be fifty, no more.
Although he achieved a "great victory" in the first battle after entering Yunnan, General Ma was not able to fill the gaps between his teeth. Jiaoshui was only twenty miles away from Nanning City, the seat of Qujing Prefecture. So, despite being exhausted after the "great battle", the three thousand troops immediately headed towards Nanning City.
Qujing Prefecture was the throat of Guizhou’s entry into Yunnan, and was ruled by Sha Mantian, the rebellious nephew of Sha Dingzhou.
Pingyiwei surrendered without a fight, and the officials and gentry along the way also opened their gates to welcome the surrender under the strong propaganda offensive of the Qin army's spies. This allowed Ma Liuliang to march forward without any obstacles. It was not until Jiaoshui Town, 20 miles away, was captured that Sha Changchang received the news. He hurriedly assembled 500 defenders in the city and rushed to Baishi River in the north of the city.
The Baishi River is about a mile wide, but not deep. Especially in the dry season in winter, some places can be crossed on foot. Deputy General Ale said: "General Sha, the water in the Baishi River is too shallow. I'm afraid we can't stop the enemy. We might as well retreat to Nanning City and defend it."
Sha Mantian scolded, "What do you know? The water is cold in winter. If the Qin army wades through the river, their clothes will get wet and their hands and feet will be numb. We can just take advantage of our leisure time to wait for them to tire themselves out. We can attack them halfway across the river. If we retreat to Nanning, the Qin army can cross the river safely, and we will be trapped in Nanning. Besides, if we can't defend the Baishi River, we can retreat back to Nanning at any time."
What Sha Mantian said made sense. Hundreds of soldiers were convinced and followed Sha Mantian's orders to ambush on the south bank of Baishi River, quietly waiting for the arrival of the Qin army.
Yunnan means the south of colorful clouds. The warm air currents blowing from the Beibu Gulf are affected by the gradually rising mountains. As the mountains gradually rise, they encounter cold air and turn into clouds, fog and rain. Therefore, Yunnan not only has abundant rainfall all year round, but also often has foggy weather.
When Ma Liuliang was coming, a thick fog suddenly fell, and the surroundings were blurry. Tang Yue was cautious and quickly advised: "General Ma, in this foggy weather, it is easy to fall into the enemy's ambush. Let's wait and advance after the fog clears."
Ma Liuliang answered confidently, "I have already sent out scouts. Don't be afraid, Suanxiu. The enemy is ambushing on the south bank of Baishi River. Damn it, these idiots think I don't know what they are doing. Let's fight our way to the north bank first."
"General Ma, if the enemy suddenly changes their plan, it will be too dangerous to see clearly in this thick fog."
"Bullshit, we can't see clearly, but he can see clearly?" Ma Liuliang said disapprovingly, and shouted to his officers, "Go quickly, send out 200 troops in each direction, and if you encounter an enemy attack, immediately sound the gong to warn. Don't panic then. There are only 500 bad guys in Nanning City. As long as we don't panic, even if the enemy attacks, we can still defeat them. Go quickly."
After Ma Liuliang deployed two hundred men around the formation, three thousand "bandits" advanced quickly in the fog. When the fog cleared, they had reached the north bank. The chieftain soldiers on the south bank were still thinking that the Qin army had descended from the sky.
Although the shallow part of Baishi River can be waded on foot, the water is cold in winter, and there are enemies blocking the other side, so even if you can cross the river, the losses will be great.
After Ma Liuliang summoned his generals for an emergency discussion, he decided to adopt the strategy of his deputy general He Jinan, openly repairing the plank road and secretly crossing Chencang.
Ma Liuliang had the army bluffing, with the whole army beating drums and gongs, the sound could be heard ten miles away, and then he had Wu Xiaoliu and his two or three hundred men pretend to cross the river, to attract the attention of Sha Mantian on the other side;
On the one hand, He Jinan was secretly sent to lead hundreds of soldiers and horses, carrying flags and drums, to find an opportunity to cross the river from the upper reaches. He Jinan found a few nearby people and asked them to lead them to a shallow area. Hundreds of soldiers and horses immediately took off their clothes, one by one, white... or black, and rushed into the water with their clothes held up;
The water level was only above the waist. After enduring the cold and struggling to cross the Baishi River, everyone put on their clothes again, went along the Liaokuo Mountain area, and went around to the back of Shamantian. They blew horns and beat drums, and raised flags on both sides to confuse the enemy.
Hundreds of Tusi soldiers suddenly heard the sound of drums and gongs behind them, and saw flags flying on both sides. They thought they were ambushed on all sides and were terrified. They turned back in a hurry to fight. He Jinan led his troops into the enemy camp, roaring.
Ma Liuliang on the north bank took advantage of the situation and crossed the river, rushed to the south bank, and attacked from both sides. Several hundred chieftain troops could not hold out for less than an incense stick of time before they were completely defeated.
All of Sha Mantian's troops were annihilated in the battle, and he himself became a prisoner. Qujing was occupied by Ma Liuliang. At this time, the follow-up army led by Cui Feng also advanced to the vicinity of Pingyiwei and was about to enter Yunnan.
But at this time, Ma Liuliang had become a wild horse. After capturing Qujing, he did not quickly move westward to Kunming City as originally planned. After a day of rest in Qujing, he suddenly announced a change of plan and would not go to Kunming, but would lead his army southward to Ami Prefecture (Kaiyuan City, Yunnan).
Tang Yue was busy in the city trying to appease the officials and common people of Qujing. When he heard that Ma Liuliang was going to change his plan, he hurried back to the government office and asked, "General Ma, why did you suddenly change the battle plan? Did you inform General Cui first and get his consent?"
Ma Liuliang said indifferently: "What do you want to know? He will know my whereabouts when he comes to Qujing. Sour scholar, haven't you heard that a general is not subject to the orders of the emperor when he is away from home? Sour scholar, don't talk too much, just follow me to make a fortune."
"To get rich?"
"Hehe, how about I leave 300 men to you, you guard Qujing, and I'll go ahead. This plan won't work if we're slow, we have to be quick and kill Sha Dingzhou before he can react."
Tang Yue thought about it and thought that it might be a good idea to attack Sha Dingzhou's lair, Amizhou, so he did not object. He said, "I am a deputy commander, how can I not follow the army? I will arrange for someone else to stay in Qujing."
As Tang Yue said this, he hurriedly went out to arrange for people to stay and appease the people of Qujing. Just kidding, he was still worried about Ma Liuliang every day. If he let this wild horse lead the troops to Amizhou by himself, who knows what kind of trouble might happen. This is not acceptable.
In order to cover up his whereabouts, Ma Liuliang quietly left Qujing after nightfall.
Looking at the map, Qujing is located slightly north of Kunming, about three hundred miles away.
Amizhou is located slightly east of Kunming, about four hundred miles away.
It is about six to seven hundred miles from Qujing to Ami Prefecture. Ma Liuliang chose the long way instead of the short one and really intended to rob. According to the information that Ye Bu Shou had obtained at the beginning, Sha Dingzhou seized a large amount of wealth after capturing Kunming.
The Duke of Qian ruled Yunnan for generations. Over the past two or three hundred years, he had accumulated rare and precious treasures, such as Buddha's skull stone, blue arrowheads, cinnabar, red blood, amber, horse hooves, red gold, etc. All of them were packed into boxes, each weighing a hundred kilograms, and were stored on high boards. Each board storehouse contained fifty boxes, and there were more than 250 stores in total. His treasures were incalculable. In addition to the Duke of Qian's mansion, some wealthy families in Kunming were also looted.
Sha Dingzhou sent people to transport the stolen treasures to the main cave of Amizhou by carriage and horse, and this continued for months.
According to the intelligence obtained by Ye Bushou, the total value of the treasures transported back to the cave by Sha Dingzhou is definitely more than 10 million taels, or even 20 million taels.
Don't underestimate Kunming because it is a remote place and think it is poor. In fact, Kunming is an important trade terminal between the mainland and southwestern countries. An ancient Tea-Horse Road flows with countless wealth. Yunnan is rich in gold, silver and various gems. The Duke of Qian is actually the King of Yunnan, and the wealth accumulated over generations is incalculable.
Now most of these treasures have been transported back to Amizhou by Sha Dingzhou. Ma Liuliang and his three thousand "bandits" couldn't help but get their blood boiling when they thought about the mountains of gold and silver treasures. Under the guidance of the local guide, they rushed forward with quick steps to grab the silver!
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ps: I wrote until 1am last night. I wanted to rush to write one chapter so that I could update three chapters today to thank all my friends. But suddenly, the news of Malaysia Airlines being shot down popped up on QQ. I couldn't help but read it, so I missed the next half chapter. There is news that someone wanted to shoot down Putin's plane, but accidentally shot down Malaysia Airlines... ...
Back to the battle for monthly tickets, the battle here is so fierce. Others have strong stamina and it is not optimistic. Brothers who have monthly tickets, please support me a lot. I hope to achieve an ideal result this month. Please give me your monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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