Chapter 469 Taking Jingxing

That very night, Lin Changning led 3,000 light cavalrymen toward Jingxing. This time, he did not bring Lao Ma, but only Lao Zhou and Lao Zhang. Wei Shao had been promoted to commander of a thousand men based on his military merits for defeating the enemy general with her in the first battle.

However, at this time he had the power of a thousand-household commander but not the title. As for his later achievements, they could only be recalculated after the war ended. But Wei Shao fought alongside Lin Changning and his actions earned the respect of the three thousand-household commanders beside Lin Changning.

Therefore, there was no objection to Lin Changning leading his men to the front line. The two traveled day and night and finally arrived at the vicinity of Jingxing early the next morning.

Seeing that the men and horses were somewhat tired, Lin Changning ordered them to rest 30 kilometers away from Jingxing. After resting for half a day, they could launch a direct attack on Jingxing when it was dusk in the afternoon.

Lin Changning sat on the ground baking flatbread and took out the dried meat his mother had dried for him. He shared it with Lao Zhou and Xiao Wei, and then cooked a pot of meat soup. After they had eaten and drunk their fill, they went into the tent to discuss how to take Jingxing later.

"Old Zhou, Old Zhang, one day has already passed in the past three days. Do you have any ideas on how to take Jingxing within the next two days?"

Hearing Lin Changning ask the two of them, Old Zhou pondered for a moment: "The garrison in Jingxing is about 2,000 men, of which about 500 to 800 are cavalry. However, this is news from about a month ago. The Vice Commander just captured Pingding City recently, so it is uncertain whether Jingxing has been reinforced. The safest approach would be to attack the city directly."

Old Zhang nodded in agreement with Old Zhou: "Yes, Old Zhou is right. But if we take a cautious approach to the siege, it might be difficult to take Jingxing within two days. After all, we have cavalry, not siege troops, and our number of ladders is limited..."

Wei Shao looked at Lin Changning and hesitated before saying, "Commander, I remember you added a rock climbing training exercise to our daily drills."

Lin Changning turned to look at Wei Shao, who had offered his opinion, and raised an eyebrow: "You mean, a surprise attack?"

Wei Shao nodded: "Yes, Vice Commissioner."

Lin Changning looked at the map in the tent, planned the route in his mind, and after thinking for a while, said, "I have an idea, listen to it."

"Now we will send out scouts to find out in advance the hidden paths outside the main post road of Jingxing, such as the old pass, and to identify the blind spots in the defense of the garrison. Although the watchtowers are covered by post roads, there are many mountain paths, so there are probably few sentries. This is the perfect opportunity for a surprise attack."

Wei Shao glanced at Lin Changning and continued, "Then select our elite troops, lightly armed, and under cover of darkness or thick fog, climb and infiltrate through hidden paths. Prioritize a surprise attack on the outer perimeter of Jingxing, destroy the key watchtowers along the post road, and cut off their ability to transmit messages to the county town and the old pass. Then, send another force to raid the garrison's supplies and demoralize the defenders. Leave half of the cavalry to shout at the main gate, while the remaining few hundred quietly sneak into the city and open the gate. We will surely win this battle!"

Old Zhou pondered their words: "While the raiding force is in action, a small force will feign an attack on the main passes such as Guguan to draw the main defending force away; the raiding force will then circle around to the side and rear of Jingxing County or the main pass, and while the defenders' attention is diverted from the front, they will launch a sudden attack to quickly breach the city from both inside and outside. This plan is brilliant! Commander! Let me, Old Zhou, lead the raiding force!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Old Zhang squeezed in: "Go, go, go! You follow our comrade in the frontal attack, I'll go! My squad has the best rock climbing record, they're perfect for a sneak attack."

Lin Changning looked at Wei Shao: "Little Wei, what about you?"

Wei Shao smiled calmly at Lin Changning: "I will follow the commander. If the commander attacks a city, I will attack the city. If the commander launches a surprise attack, I will launch a surprise attack!"

Old Zhou glared at Wei Shao, annoyed: "Little Wei, don't think that just because you flatter the magistrate, you'll be allowed to lead a group of people around."

"Alright, then you come with me to launch a surprise attack. Old Zhou and Old Zhang, you two stay on the front and draw attention."

Old Zhou: ……

Old Zhang: ……

If they had known that flattery would work, they would have done the same.

But the order had already been given, so I had no choice but to comply.

Wei Shao smiled and clasped his hands in a gesture of respect to Lin Changning. When he looked up, he also smiled at Lao Zhou and Lao Zhang.

When Lao Zhou and Lao Zhang went out to prepare, they were furious to see the smile on Wei Shao's face. Lao Zhou felt that ever since this Wei guy came, he and Lao Ma had fallen out of favor.

Normally, when Changning went out to fight, the three of them would always be with him. But now, it was always this guy surnamed Wei following him around. Old Zhou silently shed a tear of bitterness and went out with Old Zhang, their arms around each other's shoulders.

Lin Changning and Wei Shao led their men and rode towards the pass. Once they were close, they hid for a while and sent out scouts to scout the road ahead.

After it got completely dark, the scouts hurried back to Lin Changning's side.

With a delighted expression, he reported: "As the clerk predicted, there are indeed not many sentries here, and the defense is loose. There are only twenty-eight sentries in total, and most of them are on the city wall. It is indeed easy to attack from the side, but it requires walking up."

Lin Changning nodded and exchanged a glance with Wei Shao. He then dismounted, picked up his long sword, and led his men to flank the enemy from the side.

Lin Changning slowly led his men forward, and soon saw a sentry standing and dozing off. He and his men approached the sentry with extremely light steps and instantly killed him with a single slash.

Wei Shao silently crept up behind someone, grabbed the person's head and tilted it to the side, the sound of bones dislocating was slightly noticeable in the darkness.

Lin Changning looked at another sentry not far from them with some concern. The sentry tilted his head back, yawned, stretched, and then leaned on his spear to close his eyes again.

Lin Changning breathed a sigh of relief. After the people beside him had gone over and dealt with the person, he quickly led his men toward the cliff. Once they crossed the cliff, they could enter the city.

Lin Changning took the grappling hook, casually hooked it into the cliff, tugged at it to make it secure, and watched as the others quickly followed, throwing the grappling hooks into the cliff.

Lin Changning took the lead in wrapping the rope around his waist and, like a nimble gecko, climbed up the cliff one step at a time. Once he was up and confirmed that there was not much danger around him, he then secured the grappling hooks that everyone had thrown up one by one.

He shook the rope to signal everyone to come up. Wei Shao led his men up in an orderly fashion, one by one. Lin Changning gripped his knife and squinted at the city wall not far away.

"Xiao Wei, that should be the granary. You take half the men to burn the granary, and I'll take the other half to the city gate. Open the city gate, and once it's open, we'll take Jingxing!"

"Yes, sir!"