Chapter 257 Brothers in Qianzhou
Lu Fei's face was somewhat gloomy as he looked towards the mountains outside Sanping County. "If they dare to come... I will make sure they never come back..."
The situation in Sanping County is not optimistic, and the same is true for Qianzhou Prefecture.
Although Qianzhou Prefecture is located in the rear of Jinzhou Prefecture and is in a remote and poor area, once the war breaks out, no place can escape it.
Xu Yinxi held the latest battle report with a worried look on her face.
Zhang Wanjun on the side also saw the battle report, which said that Xu Zhenying and his team occupied Jinzhou Prefecture. Although it was good news, it was all within expectations.
Zhang Wanjun pointed at the battle report and said, "We have captured Xingyuan Prefecture. Now we are considered the real rebels. The city lord has finally entered the eyes of the imperial court."
"This is a matter of time. I am worried about our Qianzhou Prefecture."
Zhang Wanjun understood, "Are you worried that the two Li princes will attack our rear after hearing the news of our capture of Xingyuan Prefecture?"
"Look," Xu Yinxi pointed at the map. "The closest territory to us is Xiangling Prefecture, which is only five or six hundred miles away. Although there are mountain roads in between, if he wants to take our Qianzhou, he can reach it in five or six days by fast horse."
Zhang Wanjun agreed, "That's right. Not to mention that if we occupy a wealthy place like Xingyuan Prefecture, the two Li kings will definitely worry about us becoming too powerful. They will either send troops to attack our rear or seek cooperation with us."
"Which one do you think it will be?"
Zhang Wanjun shook her head. "There's too little intelligence on the two Li Wangs. I can't analyze their personalities and make any conclusions."
"Go and recruit Jiang Yongkang."
Soon, Jiang Yongkang and Liu Paner walked in. As soon as they entered, they saw the sand table and map, and knew the purpose of Xu Yinxi calling them here.
Xu Yinxi asked, "Has Bai Ci'en been sent away?"
Liu Pan'er replied, "He's gone. Our people escorted him safely out of Qianzhou Prefecture. But from what I see, he seems to be quite nostalgic for life in Qianzhou."
Zhang Wanjun laughed, "Don't you miss him? He hangs around outside our barracks all day, asking questions with a math book. The enemy is almost learning everything about our family."
Xu Yinxi said, "The city lord said to let him go, so we don't need to interfere."
"That's right. The City Lord always looks ahead ten steps ahead. Since he acquiesced, it means he has a use for this person." Jiang Yongkang stepped forward, walked in front of the sand table, and looked up at them again. "Are you worried about the situation in Qianzhou?"
Xu Yinxi nodded. "Have you all read the battle report from Xingyuan Prefecture? That location is quite conspicuous. If the city lord makes a move, it will probably cause a stir throughout the world. I'm worried that the two Li princes will make some unusual moves."
Jiang Yongkang had been prepared for this. "I've already dispatched 5,000 men to the counties closest to the two Li Kings. There are only 5,000 guards inside the city. If the two Li Kings really attack, we'll face a tough battle!"
Zhang Wanjun shook her head. "We can't just hope they won't attack. Don't forget, they have over a hundred thousand soldiers, and we only have ten thousand combined. This will not only be a tough battle, but also a bloody one. As the city lord said, we're outnumbered, so we can only outmaneuver them."
Jiang Yongkang's handsome eyebrows raised slightly, "How do we outsmart them? Tell me."
Zhang Wanjun pointed eastward on the map and said with a smile, "The city lord often says that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The two princes, the Li kings, are caught between us and Prince Ming. If they attack us, their eastern flank will be vulnerable. Instead of waiting for the Li kings to attack us, why not take the initiative? We can send a letter to Prince Ming and form an alliance. After victory, we'll each divide the territory in half. First, we'll lure them into an ambush, then Prince Ming and his men will attack from their eastern flank and directly seize their home! By the time they realize what's happening, our men will have already formed a pincer attack with Prince Ming's men. We can fight and absorb the damage at the same time. Isn't that better than sitting at home worrying about whether they'll attack us?"
Zhang Wanjun's words made everyone present change their expressions!
"That's a great idea! This way, we can leverage Prince Ming's power to directly wipe out the men of the two Li kings." Jiang Yongkang was overjoyed, but then his face turned serious. "It's easier said than done. Destroying the two Li kings would only provoke the most powerful Prince Ming. What if they refuse to leave? They're so numerous and powerful. If they march south, Qianzhou will end up in trouble!"
Zhang Wanjun sighed, "I've thought of that, too. Prince Ming is incredibly ambitious, and I'm afraid he won't leave easily once he's here. So, we can use a series of tactics to counter the enemy. Once they've occupied the territory of the two Li princes, we can quietly send a small cavalry unit to attack from behind, and then repeat the same trick to seize their homeland once more!"
Liu Pan'er laughed. "You're just repeating the same old routine. First, let Prince Ming's men rob the homes of Prince Li and Prince Li, and then we'll rob Prince Ming's home?"
"It doesn't matter if the routine looks good or not, as long as it works. Moreover, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Prince Ming's men would never have thought that he was robbing someone else's house in front, while we were robbing his house from behind. This tactic might have a surprising effect."
Xu Yinxi had no say in the military affairs, but she roughly understood Zhang Wanjun's combat methods. She couldn't help but feel surprised and amused: "Wanjun, you are too bold!"
"No, this is a great idea!" Jiang Yongkang couldn't hide his excitement. "Wanjun is right. Instead of sitting back and pinning our hopes on others, we should take the initiative. And your idea is amazing, it's feasible."
Zhang Wanjun smiled, "That's right. Although this move seems to have come from heaven, when it comes to the actual implementation, we still have two major problems."
Jiang Yongkang glanced at her, and the two smiled at each other in tacit understanding. "Yes, first of all, it's this special force rushing to the rear. Currently, we only have 10,000 people, which is too few."
Zhang Wanjun immediately chimed in, "We have too few soldiers. This is our first problem in Qianzhou Prefecture. The second problem is that we don't have the strength to provoke Prince Ming yet. We have to be wary of him refusing to leave and taking the opportunity to annex Qianzhou. So we can bypass Prince Ming and directly join forces with his city defense generals. Ideally, this general should be close to the territories of the two Li princes, be sufficiently ambitious and bold, and have a limited number of soldiers under his command. Since we're using Prince Ming's strength to counter our own, we can't borrow too much of Prince Ming's power, otherwise it will easily backfire on us. Therefore, finding someone who meets the requirements is not easy."
The people in the room fell silent, seemingly thinking about the feasibility of the plan.
Switch from defense to offense? Take the initiative?
And he was provoking the two Li princes at the same time and plotting against Prince Ming?
Xu Yinxi frowned, "No, there is a third question."
Everyone in the room looked up at her.
"If this thing succeeds, it will naturally benefit us all. We might even become the ones who change history. This one battle alone can preserve our wealth and glory. But what if we lose?" Xu Yinxi said gravely, "It's not that I'm afraid of responsibility or punishment from the city lord, but Qianzhou Prefecture is our rear base. If Qianzhou is lost, then Jinzhou Prefecture and Xingyuan Prefecture will be in danger!"
Liu Pan asked, "What if we report our plan to the City Lord now? How about asking the City Lord to send more troops to support us?"
"The battlefield is ever-changing. Not to mention that it will take at least a month to go to Xingyuan Prefecture and back, Jinzhou Prefecture has already dispersed all its soldiers. Not only is the situation critical here, but the King of Zhoushan to the west is also eyeing us covetously. Lu Fei is only leading 3,000 people. If a war breaks out, it will definitely not just be our area that is short of manpower, but everywhere will be affected."
Jiang Yongkang frowned, "So in the end, it was because we had too few people. If only the city lord had relaxed the recruitment standards, it would have been easy for these two prefectures to produce an army of at least 100,000. Why are we so short of manpower now?"
Zhang Wanjun disagreed. "The City Lord said quality is more important than quantity. Our Jinzhou Prefecture's soldiers are far superior to any other army of this era in both individual and team combat capabilities. Besides, no matter how many incompetent soldiers there are, they'll just be killed on the battlefield."
Jiang Yongkang naturally knew that everyone who came out of the military camp followed Xu Zhenying's lead and would not tolerate anyone saying anything bad about Xu Zhenying. Even if Xu Zhenying said that the sky was not blue but green, they would probably send people to modify all the information overnight and turn the sky green.
However, Jiang Yongkang also had to admire Xu Zhenying's ability to train staff.
Her soldiers were not only obedient but also extremely brave, disciplined, courageous and strategic. Take Zhang Wanjun for example. When she first joined the military camp, she couldn't read a single word and spoke haltingly. Yet, in such a short time, she was able to come up with such a vicious and cunning series of schemes.
"In short, manpower is indeed a problem. According to our thinking, we are still short of at least 20,000 to 30,000 people."
"Let's do this for now. Everyone, go back and think about it. Is there a more foolproof method—"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Xu Yinxi's secretary come in and report: "Master, the chieftain of the village on the other side of the river has sent someone to see you."
"Now?" Xu Yin looked at the sky outside and saw that it was already late at night.
"That's right. I saw they were in a hurry. They must have come directly to the government office without settling in yet. I have already arranged for them to wait in the small conference room next door. Look..."
Xu Yinxi glanced at Jiang Yongkang and Zhang Wanjun, and saw a hint of confusion in each other's eyes. Then she said, "Please come in!"
Everyone was puzzled. The cooperation between Jin and Qian states was progressing very well. Even every household on the chieftain's side planted sweet potatoes and tea. The chieftains usually praised them highly, so why were they so anxious to see them this time?
Xu Yinxi tidied her clothes, and then the representative of the village chieftain's family came, followed by a dozen people. Xu Yinxi noticed that those who came before were chieftain elders or priests, but this time they were all young men who looked unfamiliar.
The leader was an old acquaintance, Elder Dong Miao. He looked much better, with silver jewelry around his waist and a white batik turban on his head. The rheumatism in his legs had been treated by a doctor from Jinzhou Prefecture, and he walked with more vigor.
These dozen people were all exhausted, obviously having just crossed the river under the moonlight.
Xu Yinxi quickly stood up to greet him and ordered her secretary to bring tea. "Elder Dongmiao, you're bringing people in such a hurry. What happened?"
The Dong Miao elder also greeted him. The two had had some unpleasantness before. It was just that a few elders were dissatisfied when they saw that the person sent by Xu Zhenying was a girl of fifteen or sixteen years old, so they had a few quarrels.
But later, seeing that Xu Yinxi was serious about her work and had some skills, they knew each other quite well after six months of contact, so they became acquainted with each other.
Elder Dong Miao got straight to the point and said, "Lord, I heard the city lord recently attacked Xingyuan Prefecture? There's also been some unrest in Qianzhou Prefecture. Minister Jiang urgently dispatched 5,000 men to the south just two days ago. The people are all saying we're going to attack the Li Kings, Big and Small."
Xu Yinxi frowned and looked at Jiang Yongkang.
Elder Dong Miao waved his hand and said, "It's not Minister Jiang who leaked the information. You guys are making such a big move, mobilizing troops and food, it's hard for us not to know!"
Xu Yinxi forced a smile. "As expected, nothing can be hidden from the eyes of the chieftains. That's right, the city lord has now captured Xingyuan Prefecture, and we will send you a copy of the battle report later. However, we are worried that the two Li kings will take advantage of the chaos to attack us, so I ordered Minister Jiang to send more troops to the east. As for whether this war can be fought, it does not depend on us, but on the two Li kings. If they raise their troops to attack, we cannot retreat."
"The Li Kings claim to have 150,000 lions under their command. How can you stop them with only 5,000 men?"
"So what do you think?"
"I've already discussed this with several elders on the way here. We've already recruited 20,000 men from over a dozen villages, based on the number of people. You can deploy them at your disposal!"
Elder Dong Miao surprised everyone present.
"Twenty thousand people?" Jiang Yongkang stood up.
"That's right, but we're only providing manpower, and you're responsible for the food and fodder."
Xu Yinxi was still a little stunned, so the Dongmiao elder smiled and said, "Alright, I just came to tell you that although you have only been operating in Qianzhou for half a year, in just half a year, our local children can read and speak Chinese, not to mention our mountains full of tea and fruit trees. This cooperation is only halfway through, and we are about to live a good life. We will absolutely not allow anyone to disrupt our cooperation! This is also the decision of the majority of the people in the village. We are handing these 20,000 people over to you. How you use them and whether you can win the battle depends on the ability of Minister Jiang."
Xu Yinxi was touched. "Elder, I am deeply grateful for your kindness to us."
"Alright, we're all family, so we shouldn't have different opinions. The City Lord always thinks of us when he has something good to offer, so naturally we should... as you Han people say, return the favor. As long as you win the battles on the front lines, we can maintain our good life in the rear. We've only enjoyed a few days of good times, but we don't want to fall into the hands of those corrupt officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Defending our country, of course, requires our share!"
Elder Dong Miao waved his hand nonchalantly, "Also, since we are all family, let's express our stance first."
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