Yizhou is adjacent to the Turkic Khanate, one of the four khanates, in the north and east, Zibo Prefecture in the west, and Bo Prefecture in the south. It has six counties under its jurisdiction, namely Gaoqiu County, Linyi County, Fude County, Fuxing County, Tianfeng County, and Purun County.
At present, except for Purun County where Shouchang Protectorate is located and Huayuan City, the provincial capital, the other five counties in Yizhou have all fallen into the hands of bandits.
Unlike the bandits in Zibo Prefecture who were divided into several gangs, the bandits in Yizhou Prefecture had all been subdued by a bandit leader named Mao Cheng.
Mao Cheng was originally a bandit leader in Gaoqiu County, Yizhou. He took advantage of the severe drought in Yizhou for many years, gathered a large number of hungry people, and first raised the banner of rebellion in Yizhou.
After several years of development, Mao Cheng now has an army of over a million people under his command. If he forcibly recruits soldiers in the five counties he occupies, he can at least recruit another million young and strong men.
Of course, the combat effectiveness of bandit armies is generally weak, and the bandits in Yizhou are no exception.
Therefore, although the army led by Sun Hao to suppress the rebellion had only 470,000 people including civilians, Sun Hao was still very confident in defeating the bandits in Yizhou.
In Sun Hao's opinion, Mao Cheng's so-called army of one million bandits was nothing but a mob. If they were to face off head-on, the remaining 130,000 soldiers of the Zhenxi Army would be enough to defeat the army of one million bandits.
Mao Cheng was also very aware that the combat effectiveness of the bandit army under his command was not enough to resist hundreds of thousands of elite imperial troops. So as early as when he learned that Prince Yong'an was going to lead a large army to pacify the bandits in the northern states, Mao Cheng sent people with a large amount of property to the Turkic Khanate.
When the two armies to suppress the rebellion met in Fude County, Yizhou, 360,000 cavalrymen of the Turkic Khanate, led by Ashidongtai, the Left King of the Turkic Khanate, entered Gaoqiu County, Yizhou.
At this time, Mao Cheng had already transferred the main force of his bandit army to Huachi City, the county seat of Gaoqiu County.
The supreme leaders of the four great khanates of the grassland were all called Khans. Under the Khans, there were four princes, namely the Left Wise King, the Right Wise King, the Left Benevolent King and the Right Benevolent King.
Ashidongtai, the Left Prince of the Turkic Khanate, was the eldest son of Ashiyanyun, the Turkic Khan.
The reason why the Turkic Khanate was willing to help Mao Cheng this time was because Mao Cheng promised that if he could defeat the Liang Kingdom's rebellion army with the help of the Turkic Khanate, then Mao Cheng would be willing to give Gaoqiu County and Linyi County to the Turkic Khanate as a reward.
"Bang——"
Cao Tingjin, the Grand Commander of the Ganyang Army, slammed his fist on the wooden table in front of him, "If I don't cut this beast Mao Cheng into pieces, I will never be able to relieve the hatred in my heart.
This traitorous bastard actually dared to collude with the Turkic Khanate and even gave Gaoqiu and Linyi Commanderies to the Turkic Tartars!
At this time, in the tent, in addition to Cao Tingjin, there were Sun Hao, who had become the commander-in-chief of the army to suppress the rebellion, as well as Fan Cheng, the general commander of the Huaide Army, Liang Zixing, the general commander of the Shaochang Army, Bai Qisheng, the general commander of the Nankang Army, Gong Rong, the general commander of the Qingyuan Army, Yao Wenzhu, the general commander of the Shouchang Army, and Li Zhe, the commander-in-chief of the left guard of the Zhenrong Army.
Gong Rong, the Grand Commander of the Qingyuan Army, frowned and said, "The Turkic Khanate has dispatched 360,000 cavalry this time. Add to that the bandits under Mao Cheng's command. I'm afraid this battle will be difficult to win."
At this time, the Nankang Army's Grand Commander Bai Qisheng asked, "I wonder if the Xinyang Army in Bozhou and the Yun'an Army in Chizhou will send troops to join our army to suppress the rebellion?
If we could have the Xinyang and Yun'an armies to help us, we might still be able to fight. Otherwise, those 360,000 Turkic cavalry alone would be enough to give our rebellion-suppressing army a hard time."
Yao Wenzhu, the Grand Commander of the Shouchang Army, sighed and said, "Prince Yong'an has already led the imperial guards from the two towns back to the capital. I'm afraid the Xinyang and Yun'an armies won't be coming."
The Hao family of Yulin City, which controls the Xinyang Army, and the Ding family of Yongpu City, which controls the Yun'an Army, had previously sent people to contact Sun Hao, expressing their intention to send troops to join the army to suppress the rebellion. The deeper meaning was that they hoped to unite with several vassal states such as the Zhenxi Army to jointly deal with the possible actions of the court to eliminate the vassal states.
Now the imperial court was busy resisting another northern expedition by the Northern Jin Kingdom, and even the Prince of Yong'an had left. This time the imperial court could no longer eliminate the vassal states of the Xinyang and Yun'an protectorates.
Without the threat posed by the Hao family of Yulin City and the Ding family of Yongpu City, there was no need for them to send troops to join the army to suppress the rebellion.
Liang Zixing, the Grand Commander of the Shaochang Army, suddenly said in a loud voice: "It doesn't matter if we don't have the Xinyang Army and the Yun'an Army.
"We have hundreds of thousands of elite troops gathered in our eight protectorates. I don't believe we can't defeat 360,000 Turkic Tartars and those ragtag bandits."
Fan Cheng, the Grand Commander of the Huaide Army, followed up by saying, "Commander Liang is right. We have gathered 470,000 soldiers to suppress the rebellion. There's nothing to be afraid of!
Commander Sun, you are now the commander-in-chief of our army to suppress the rebellion. What do you think?
Following Fan Cheng's question, everyone in the tent focused their attention on Sun Hao.
Sun Hao said in a cold voice: "The Yizhou bandit leader Mao Cheng's crime of colluding with the Turkic Khanate is unforgivable and must be executed to serve as a warning to others.
As for the 360,000 Turkic Tatar cavalry, since they have come to Daliang, they should not leave."
Among the current army suppressing the rebellion, the 130,000 soldiers of the Zhenxi Army are considered the strongest. Seeing Sun Hao's firm attitude, several border army commanders who were originally timid became more confident about the upcoming battle.
Since Mao Cheng transferred the main force of the Yizhou bandits to Huachi City in Gaoqiu County, the bandits in other places in Yizhou almost surrendered when faced with the rebellion suppression army.
At the end of July in the 391st year of the Daliang calendar, the army led by Sun Hao to suppress the rebellion finally arrived outside the city of Huachi.
At this time, inside and outside Huachi City, there were a total of one million bandit troops gathered, and 360,000 Turkic cavalry were stationed outside the city, waiting for the arrival of the army to suppress the rebellion.
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