Yang Qingzhi was extremely surprised and asked, "Strategist, Su Wansan's trade route must be kept secret. How do you know about it?"
"How do I know? How do I know?! Hahahaha!!!"
The man in the gray robe suddenly burst into wild laughter, abruptly removing his hood to reveal his scalded face.
Upon seeing his face, all the generals showed reluctance.
The man in the gray robe said, "Because I am Su Wansan, the only descendant of the Yan Chuan Su family in this world!"
"I am Su Wansan's son, Su Sheng!!"
It seemed that he had finally revealed his identity, showing his true face that he had hidden in his robe all day long. The gray-robed man, Su Sheng, spoke these words with great gusto, as if he were running in the sunlight.
Cui Wuming's one arm trembled slightly as he looked at Su Sheng's back, feeling a touch of emotion.
Fires raged, ice and snow froze.
Only he knew how difficult Su Sheng's life had been these past few years.
Upon hearing this, all the generals were shocked.
Yang Qingzhi said, "No wonder you knew Zhao Cheng was difficult to deal with, yet you still chose to stand against him and me. You are actually a young master of the Su family."
Su Sheng said, "Now the young governor should have even more faith in my determination. Zhao Cheng and I are locked in a life-or-death struggle."
Yang Qingzhi clasped his hands tightly to Su Sheng and said, "Regardless of whether you are from Jing or not, regardless of your status, I, Yang Qingzhi, will forever regard you as my strategist!"
Su Sheng said no more, put on her hood, and returned to her previous demeanor.
He continued, "When the young commander pretends to fight the Dongjing army, I will enter Yingu through this trade route and catch the Yingu garrison off guard. If I can bring back the grain, I will; if not, I will burn down the granaries of Yingu. If Zhao Cheng's rear is on fire, the battle at the front may take a turn for the better. This is his only chance."
Su Sheng slapped the Silver Valley on the sand table.
Yang Qingzhi said, "If the grain reserves in Silver Valley are indeed huge, as the strategist said, then the Silver Valley granary is of great importance to Zhao Cheng, and there must be a lot of troops stationed there. Strategist, isn't it a bit too few for you to take only three thousand men?"
"Three thousand people is already the maximum. We still need to divide them into ten groups and send them by water. Any more than that and we'll be easily detected."
Su Sheng pointed at the killing board and said, "I want the young commander to act convincingly, not only to make Zhao Cheng careless, but also to force him to transfer the troops stationed in Yingu back to Nantong City. When Zhao Cheng realizes that we are really going to fight him, he will not waste too many troops in Yingu."
"The strategist's plan is brilliant!"
Yang Qingzhi clapped his hands, and said with some doubt, "However... this plan is good, but it is a risky move. Does the strategist need to go and risk his life?"
Su Sheng shook her head and said, "I'm not going. They won't be able to find the way."
Yang Qingzhi thought it made sense. This trade route was of great importance to the Su family. If they were not careful, the Su family would be doomed. It was only the most core members of the family who knew about it.
Su Sheng looked at Yang Qingzhi and asked, "Does the young commander dare to gamble?"
Yang Qingzhi's expression turned serious. He glanced at the assembled generals and asked, "Where are you all?"
"Get him!!!"
The generals roared.
Yang Qingzhi smiled slightly, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Su Sheng, and said, "My Yang family army soldiers are at the command of the military advisor!"
...
The next day.
The sky was just beginning to lighten.
Shouts of battle rang out from the city of Nantong. When Zhao Cheng arrived at the city wall, Zhao Yan and Tuo Tie Wuhua were already directing the battle.
Fortunately, since the Dongjing Army recaptured Nantong City, the Southern Zhou Army had delayed its attack in order to gather supplies. During this time, the Dongjing Army had built defensive fortifications and had relatively complete arsenal for defending the city. The sudden attack by the Southern Zhou Army did not disrupt the Dongjing Army's formation.
After an unsuccessful attack, Yang Qing ordered a retreat, while he stood below the city walls facing Zhao Cheng.
"Zhao Cheng, you faithless man! You promised to sell me grain, why haven't you responded?"
Zhao Cheng laughed loudly, "Why ask a question you already know the answer to, little governor? It's just a joke. Have you gone mad from hunger?"
Yang Qingzhi said, "These barking dogs are indeed untrustworthy!"
"Tsk tsk tsk..."
Zhao Cheng clicked his tongue and said, "If you don't have the skills to curse, then don't curse. It's not satisfying to hear you curse, it's making me feel itchy."
Yang Qingzhi shouted, "I have never seen such a shameless person as you!"
Zhao Cheng said, "This line is alright, but the joke is too old."
"Kill! Kill them all! The first to scale the city walls will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold!! Whoever kills Zhao Cheng will be ennobled as a marquis of a thousand households!!!"
After Yang Qingzhi finished speaking, Li Yunqing reminded him, "Little Commander, the strategist said that we will only attack once a day."
Yang Qingzhi lowered his voice, but still tried to look crazy, saying, "I haven't forgotten what the strategist said. Today is the first day, and the fighting wasn't intense enough. I did it on purpose."
"Understood."
Li Yunqing raised his spear and shouted, "Kill!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!!!"
Zhao Cheng sneered, "This guy's getting desperate, show him what you're made of! Don't let a single one of them come up here!!"
They fought fiercely for half a day, only finishing in the evening.
The next day, at the crack of dawn, the Southern Zhou army launched another general attack on Nantong City.
Following Su Sheng's instructions, Yang Qingzhi played one round and then withdrew.
This process repeated itself for the next three days.
The Southern Zhou army inflicted considerable casualties, and the city's garrison was almost completely depleted.
Although Yang Qingzhi was skilled in martial arts and was better than Zhao Cheng in this respect, he was still considered unskilled in the face of true martial arts masters.
But he fought bravely and fearlessly, always staying at the front, slashing at the incoming arrows.
Despite the soldiers around him holding shields to block the arrows, the arrows were too frequent and too dense, and one arrow struck his left shoulder.
Seeing this, Li Yunqing quickly stepped in front of him and said, "Young Commander, step back a bit, it's too dangerous like this."
"It's alright."
Yang Qingzhi gritted his teeth, seeing the arrow break, and said, "It would be crazy of me to risk my life!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than another arrow came flying at him. Li Yunqing swung his spear to deflect the arrow, but his pupils immediately contracted.
There was another arrow right behind that one.
"Lie down!" Li Yunqing quickly pressed Yang Qingzhi down.
But the arrow came too fast, hitting the top of Yang Qingzhi's helmet, and the helmet bounced off.
Yang Qingzhi's long hair suddenly became loose.
"So Zhou Nuo, the sharpshooter, is here too," Yang Qingzhi said quietly.
Li Yunqing said, "Her archery skills are too accurate, and she also has the Jingling Bow. Junior Commander, you should step back!"
"No! I know Zhou Nuo is here, and Zhao Cheng must also know that I know Zhou Nuo is here. Only by continuing to fight can I show him my determination!"
Having said that, without waiting for Li Yunqing's response, Yang Qingzhi cracked his whip and shouted, "Kill! We will never retreat until we kill that traitor Zhao Cheng!!"
"kill!!!"
On the city wall of Nantong, Zhao Cheng looked at Yang Qingzhi, who was disheveled and still lunging forward, and said leisurely, "This guy has gone mad."
Zhou Nuo nocked his bow and aimed at him, only to see He Biao also come to Yang Qingzhi's side, protecting him along with Li Yunqing.
Zhao Cheng sighed, "Yang Qingzhi may seem like a weak and scholarly general, but in fact he has the heart of a tiger and is fearless of death."
"A respectable opponent!"
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