Qibei County
Pei Ziyun squinted his eyes and looked at the beach. The waves were hitting the side of the boat. The sky was getting brighter and the fields in the distance were all green.
"Dock, anchor, gangplank, disembark!"
The sound of the horn broke the tranquility and startled countless birds. These birds flew into the sky and flew away into the distance.
First, a small number of cavalrymen went down and quickly checked whether there were any enemies within ten miles around. Then, the footsteps cascaded, and the infantrymen stepped down with their hands pressed tightly, their long bright red tassels shining in the sun.
Pei Ziyun checked the terrain, looked at the sky and waved his hand: "Simply set up camp, then bury the pot and make rice when we get ashore!"
"Yes, real person." Pei Ziyun's herald shouted loudly, riding on horseback to deliver the order.
Following the order, the team soon moved to the shore, and traces of smoke rose. Looking around, Pei Ziyun took a look and said, "Come here, get the map."
A school captain took the map and put it in front of him: "Master, we have arrived at Qibei County. This is Yukou Ferry."
As the captain said this, Pei Ziyun checked on the map, made some gestures around Qibei County, and said: "Qibei County has eight counties and one county. The fast boat that set off early has sent out scouts to find out the situation? Have you talked to the county gentry? How is the contact with the officials?”
The lieutenant on one side handed over the hot towel that had been wrung out. He was already prepared for the topic and reported: "It has been checked clearly. There are ten thousand soldiers in the county and five thousand are scattered in the county. Really, this county is tall and not easy to use." beat."
"Who said I would attack immediately?" Pei Ziyun said with a stern face, listening very attentively, and sneered.
Ren Wei, wearing a green shirt and a turban, stood beside Pei Ziyun and listened quietly. The first time He Qingqing was transporting cattle and sheep, the second time there were people returning to the island, including Ren Wei, so he stayed side.
Just as he was talking, a pot of rice was cooked, and Pei Ziyun glanced at it: "Everyone, let's eat first. After eating, we will set off directly. When we arrive at Qibei County, I will continue to arrange the next step of the war."
Then he said to Meng Yao: "After you unload the provisions, you can go back and restrain the Yingzhou Navy so that it cannot move and cannot interfere in the battle!"
"Leave a detachment, Uncle Zhongqin. You can protect the prince on the ship, keep in touch at all times, and transport food and grass. When I capture the county, it won't be too late to move the troops!"
"Yes, real person!" Several generals around him stood up and responded loudly.
The Prince of Chengde seemed to have some objections, but seeing Uncle Zhongqin taking it for granted, he swallowed his words.
Qibei County
General Dong Man stood on the tower and looked from a distance. He saw the smoke and dust on Pingchuan getting closer and closer, and the earth trembled faintly. Almost at the same time, a flag appeared on the horizon, and the army was in order.
Dong Man estimated that the number of people was at least fifteen thousand.
In front of the army, there were groups of cavalry, roaring in, constantly observing the situation nearby. Soon, most of the officers and soldiers came rolling in, with flags, and slowly gathered five miles in front of the city.
Seeing the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, the generals around Dong Man couldn't help but sweat. Although they had been rebelling for half a year, the pressure from the imperial court was increasing day by day, and everyone was still under great psychological pressure.
The most important thing is that although he claims to have ten thousand soldiers, in fact he only has a thousand veterans, and the rest are all new recruits. He has no idea how to fight the war.
Dong Man's expression was still calm. Looking carefully, he saw the imperial army arrayed solemnly, military discipline was strict, and there was no noise in the entire army array.
While Dong Man was observing, Pei Ziyun also looked out.
The city is towering, the flags on the city are bright, and there are many troops on the city. Seeing the troops on the city, the general Chen Yong who followed him felt a chill in his body. He stared at the city with a somewhat uneasy expression.
Chen Yong glanced at the captain who was following Pei Ziyun and was holding the King's Life Tablet and the Emperor's Sword. He frowned inadvertently and stepped forward to report: "Sir, the troops in the city are strong and well prepared. If we attack by force, we will probably suffer heavy losses."
Pei Ziyun glanced at Chen Yong, his face expressionless, and then said for a long time: "Who said I would attack the city immediately? Send an order, send out the scout battalion, and quickly control the area fifty miles around."
"Yes!" The herald ordered someone to send the message quickly.
After taking a look at the continuous army behind him, Pei Ziyun said again: "Build a stronghold according to the standard, dig deep ditches, and the whole army will bury the pots to make rice."
Following Pei Ziyun's order, another group of messenger soldiers went out.
"Get the map."
Beside Pei Ziyun, a soldier took out a map and placed it in front of him. The generals gathered and looked at it.
"Come, let's arrange the battle." Pei Ziyun placed the map on the ground and called to the surrounding officers to look at it: "According to the intelligence, there are 10,000 soldiers in the county, but don't be afraid. There are only 1,000 veterans in it, but the city is strong and well-fed. We With only 20,000 people, it would be difficult to capture them, and even if they were captured, they would suffer heavy losses."
All the generals are leaders, and defending the city has more than three times the advantage over attacking the city. One of them said: "The report said that there are many fake officials expressing cooperation? Can we attack the city internally?"
Pei Ziyun waved his hand: "In fact, it is only established when we have an absolute advantage when we should launch a rebellion in the city. Otherwise, the most common thing is to leak information and leave some escape routes."
"Our army only has 20,000 people. We don't have the strength to make the puppet officials in the city rebel. Don't even mention it." Pei Ziyun squinted his eyes, his pupils were dim, and pointed at Qibei County with his stick: "So we can't attack the county directly. To change the balance of power—conquer the counties first.”
Ren Wei listened carefully and mapped the map.
"What's the point of not attacking the county to attack the county?" The generals around him were confused and didn't know why. After looking around, Pei Ziyun said: "Easy first and then difficult. Have you seen the snowball? Ten thousand troops, we must take it immediately It’s very difficult to capture, and even if we capture it, the losses will be huge, but what about a county where we only have a few hundred to a thousand soldiers?”
Chen Yong said: "This is easy, but will other bandits support me?"
"This is the big net I have laid for a rainy day." Pei Ziyun sneered, paused and pointed at the counties with a stick and said: "Now, the counties around the imperial court are focusing on offense and defense, and the counties under the Marquis of Jibei have their own pressures. , there is no way to send troops to support."
"The only one who can support us is the Prefectural City Headquarters."
"But there are only 10,000 people in the city. Even if we recruit 50,000 new soldiers, can we still fight?"
"If you really want to leave the city, I will fight with you!"
Ren Wei was a smart man. Although he was a scholar and could not speak, he understood immediately and was truly convinced to the extreme.
The original intention of suppressing all sides is to restrain each county from moving, and the navy is also the same.
If the enemy cannot move, they can naturally be defeated one by one calmly.
"Chen Yong, you lead ten thousand people to garrison." He heard Pei Ziyun say this.
"yes!"
Chen Yong stepped forward to take the order.
"You build a camp of 30,000 people and bury pots to make rice. You will definitely make the city confused about the details." Pei Ziyun said: "But it doesn't matter if you find out. There are only 10,000 in the city, most of them are new soldiers. Your 10,000 imperial officers and soldiers are all sufficient." , if we still can’t contain it, we will handle it with military law.”
"Yes!" Chen Yong responded loudly: "Now that the general has food and elite soldiers, if there is even the slightest loss, you will correct my military law!"
"Zou Hu, please pass on the order. The troops from our three counties near Qibei County, in addition to necessary defense, will move closer to the camp with siege machinery. There must be at least 10,000 troops."
"Yes!" Another general responded.
Pei Ziyun took a few steps and sneered on his face: "In addition to my regular soldiers, I also controlled the three states. In military expenses alone, I spent 2.2 million taels of silver in half a year."
"Furthermore, the money and food provided by the treasuries of the various states, counties, and vassals have not been taken into account. One more day of fighting will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. Therefore, the court cannot wait for much time. We must not only work step by step, but also race against time."
"Tonight, I will personally command ten thousand people to attack the eight counties of Zishui and Lushan. The newspaper will immediately notify the puppet officials in the eight counties in advance and tell them that the imperial army has arrived. If they do not want to be executed as traitors and bring harm to the family, they must It’s time to turn against us.”
"I don't have an absolute advantage in the county yet, but in the county, we have ten times more troops. If we don't surrender, we will kill without mercy."
"yes!"
These people looked at each other and responded loudly.
Ganshui County
Someone was patrolling the town of Ganshui County. The county magistrate asked Li Yue, the general stationed in the city, to come. Li Yue was puzzled. He stepped up and felt a chill on his body. He didn't know when the sky had become cloudy and raindrops were already falling.
By this time, he had already arrived at the restaurant. He ignored him, waved his hand, and the soldiers were distributed on the left and right, and went inside.
Delicious food was already served inside. When Li Yue came in, he was greeted by the county magistrate.
"County magistrate, why did you invite me today?" Li Yue did not sit down and looked at the county magistrate and asked. The county magistrate was a person who served the Marquis. Some of them stayed in their original posts, but the military positions were all in the Marquis's old department.
"General Li, I feel very sad. It is said that the imperial army has arrived, but now I don't know where it is. It's shocking." The county magistrate looked at the general and said with a worried look on his face.
Staring at the county magistrate, General Li sneered: "Everything is coordinated by the Duke. It is not your turn to think about these things."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly heard the sound of a horn in the distance. Li Yue was holding a cup in his hand and dropped it to the ground. There was a knock on the door, shouting: "General, it's not good, it's not good."
"What's going on?" Li Yue said angrily.
The soldiers rushed over with fear on their faces: "General, tens of thousands of troops are surrounding the city outside. Looking from the city, they are countless, and you can't see the end at a glance!"
"What? Quick, quick, let's go to the city." Li Yue shouted loudly and headed towards the city. When they arrived at the city, the county magistrate and Li Yue looked down, and their faces suddenly turned pale.
The first arriving officers and soldiers lined up solemnly, with strict military discipline and orderly formation. Li Yue was a veteran of the army. At this time, he looked carefully and felt a chill in his heart: "Although there are not tens of thousands of people, there are at least ten thousand!"
At this moment, some cavalry came out, stopped a hundred steps away, and shouted to the city: "Listen on the city, the imperial army has arrived. If you wait for the county town to be small and have less than a thousand soldiers, surrender quickly. You can also follow the internal response." If you can avoid death by calculating your merits, you can do more meritorious deeds to avoid committing crimes."
"If you don't surrender, once you mobilize your troops and become a traitor, you will not only destroy yourself, but also harm your family. You should think carefully to avoid regrets!"
"The imperial court will give you half an hour to make your choice. Don't say it was unforeseen when the time comes."
After shouting, the cavalry retreated.
Everyone on the city looked at the flags fluttering below the entire county. Groups of infantry were stacked up and ready to go. Not far away, the craftsmen accompanying the army were assembling shield carts and ladders.
In contrast to these noises, the Chinese army's formation remained motionless. Except for the occasional neighing of war horses, the rest was completely silent. A deep and unpredictable aura rushed out, making people's hair stand on end.
"This is a strong army!" Everyone's faces turned pale and their bodies trembled.
(End of chapter)