Unlike Zhang Hengshuo's smooth entry into Taiyuan, on the southern front...
Li Xuanshang's army and Yang Zhiyong's army, which was marching south, clashed head-on.
After a series of bloody battles, Yang Zhiyong finally broke through his hastily established defenses.
Faced with the breakthrough of Yang Zhiyong's army, Li Xuanshang also sighed.
He could easily send a large army to catch up and continue to hold off Yang Zhiyong's army.
But that was no longer possible, because he had an even more important task.
That is to take Pingyang Prefecture and cut off Hong Chengchou's possibility of extending his reach into Shanxi.
If I were to lead my army to fight Zhang Zhiyong, both sides would suffer heavy losses.
This allowed Hong Chengchou from Shaanxi to extend his reach into Shanxi.
He is the one who is most disadvantaged for them.
Yang Zhiyong has no way to escape and will inevitably go to Henan, in which case he will be no threat for the time being.
But he knew he had to preserve his army.
The reason why the Li family was able to control the imperial court was because of the army they controlled.
Therefore, any action that could harm their army is unacceptable.
They must make preserving their military strength their top priority.
Therefore, when faced with Yang Zhiyong's breakout, he only sent men to follow him in case they launched a surprise attack, and did not continue to fight him to the death.
Moreover, he led a large army towards Pingyang Prefecture to block the road from Shaanxi into Shanxi as soon as possible.
At the same time, we should see if we can seize those ferry crossings leading to Shaanxi and put pressure on Hong Chengchou in Shaanxi.
This paves the way for a possible future entry into Shaanxi.
After making the arrangements, he immediately wrote a letter to Li Qin, reporting what had happened there.
Li Qin, who had already arrived in Xuanfu, looked at Li Xuanshang and the military intelligence reported by Zhang Hengshuo earlier.
Yang Zhiyong ultimately failed to stop them, but it didn't matter. Once they arrived in Henan, the flat Central Plains were a better place for his Liaodong cavalry and Jurchen cavalry to roam than in Shanxi.
Li Xuanshang reported that although he had not successfully intercepted Yang Zhiyong, he had already dispatched troops to quickly capture the prefectures and counties of Pingyang Prefecture.
Heading west, they are almost at the Yellow River; soon, they will have control of the entire east bank of the Yellow River.
He also planned to seize the ferry crossing on the Yellow River to intimidate Hong Chengchou in Hexi and to eye Guanzhong.
Zhang Hengshuo's report surprised him even more; he had captured Taiyuan from the air raid without encountering any resistance.
This speed was much faster than he had anticipated.
Zhang Hengshuo said that after he captured Taiyuan, he left some soldiers to garrison the city and then immediately led his army north.
This means that Jiang Xiangyang in Datong is currently being attacked from both the east and the south.
Therefore, after arriving in Xuanfu, Li Qin stopped going to Datong and instead ordered Jiang Xiangyang of Datong to bring his army to Xuanfu to pay homage to him.
He knew that in this situation, Jiang Xiangyang had no choice but to comply, and that he currently held the upper hand over him.
In fact, Li Qin had also considered whether he could take advantage of this opportunity to directly overthrow Jiang Xiangyang, this semi-independent warlord.
However, considering the current situation, if we were to break ties with Jiang Xiangyang, it would definitely be a bloody battle.
Jiang Xiangyang had been managing Datong and other places for many years. He also had 80,000 border troops under his command, and he defended the city.
If he launches a full-scale attack, even if the enemy manages to capture the city, his army will suffer heavy casualties.
If he had pacified the country and had sufficient military strength, he could have easily subdued him.
However, the world is not yet settled. The Central Plains are in chaos, and there is still the Jinling court in Jiangnan, Hong Chengchou in Shaanxi, and Bashu and other places are nominally under the jurisdiction of the government.
However, they all held military power and were observing the situation in the world.
They also needed an army to maintain their rule.
So there's no need to fight Jiang Xiangyang to the death right now.
What he needs to do now is to use this advantage of military force to take back some power from Jiang Xiangyang.
For example, he could use the large army he has gathered this time to see if he could reclaim the taxes in Datong from the imperial court.
Or take back a portion.
Datong is located near the grasslands, and the profits from private trade and smuggling with the grasslands are astronomical.
If I could get some of these back, it would alleviate my current financial deficit.
After waiting in Xuanfu for several days, Li Qin was listening to reports from Wang Taihe and Dugu Yu about the situation in Xuanfu.
Suddenly, a personal guard walked in and said to Li Qin:
"Duke, Marquis Jiang Xiangyang of Tongshun has arrived with a large army."
Upon hearing this, Li Qin put down the memorial in his hand and said to Wang Taihe and Dugu Yu beside him:
"Jiang Xiangyang has finally arrived. I've been waiting for him in Xuanfu for several days."
How many men did he bring?
The bodyguard knelt on the ground and reported to Li Qin:
"According to reports from the soldiers at the front, Marquis Tongshun Jiang Xiangyang has led about 30,000 men, including more than 10,000 cavalry."
"Thirty thousand? Jiang Xiangyang is worried that he didn't bring enough people. We should just arrest him."
"Let's go, muster the troops, and go meet this Marquis Tongshun. He would never dare to enter the city alone."
Li Qin stood up and addressed Wang Taihe, Dugu Yu, and other generals from Xuanfu and the capital.
Upon hearing Li Qin's order, they all bowed and obeyed.
With Li Qin's order given, the army in Xuanfu immediately began to assemble.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of troops from the capital stationed outside Xuanfu also began preparations.
With the army assembled, Li Qin donned his armor and led his troops to meet with Marquis Tongshun, Jiang Xiangyang.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
