In late March, Wei Jing ordered the conquest of Yizhou. The mighty Yizhou army crossed the Jinniu Road, passed through Hanzhong, and went out from the Tanggu Road and rushed to Pingcheng.
Scouts were in and out, day and night, collecting reports of all sizes. The lights in the meeting hall of the Pingyang County Magistrate's Mansion were on all day long.
Food, supplies, battle strategies, etc. were discussed repeatedly.
Taking the eastern and southern borders of Pingyang County as the defense line, troops were stationed in Yinshan Pass, Nanlu, and Suicheng areas, forming a pincer attack and preparing for the attack by the imperial coalition forces.
In early April, General Wei Jing led a large army to the southeast front.
Before that, he ordered his confidant to escort his wife back to Hanzhong County.
…
breaking Dawn.
The first ray of sunlight fell on the ancient battlements of Pingcheng.
Wei Jinghu's wife rode in a carriage out of the west gate of the city, and he personally escorted her twenty miles away.
"Husband."
Shao Qing lifted the carriage curtain and said with a smile: "The official road is wide and there are plenty of guards. You can just go back. There is no need to see me off."
She knew he was busy.
Shao Qing had a smile on her face, but she didn't feel relaxed at all. Although Wei Jing was as calm and composed as ever, she knew that this battle would not be easy.
This is the first time in several years that she has been sent back to the rear ahead of schedule.
Relieving him of his worries was the greatest help she could give him at the moment. Shao Qing had no objection at all. She tried to act cheerful so that he would feel more at ease.
Wei Jing rode his horse forward and held her hand: "Ah Qing, don't worry. I will come back to pick you up after the battle."
He couldn't break his promise again this time.
In public, it was difficult to get close to her. Wei Jing increased the strength of his grip, and the warm temperature penetrated her skin, as if burning her flesh.
"good."
They stared at each other for a moment, and Shao Qing shook her hand back firmly, saying softly, "I'll wait for you."
Thousands of words can be summed up in this one sentence.
She couldn't think of anything like annihilating the enemy or returning in triumph at this moment. Her only wish was that he was safe.
After staring at each other for a long time, the two finally separated. Wei Jing stopped by the roadside and watched the convoy go away until it gradually disappeared. Then he pulled the reins and galloped back.
Shao Qing had been lifting a line of curtains to look back, then suddenly lifted it up and stuck his head out to follow a group of fat horses disappearing in the distance.
"Yuan'er, Your Highness will surely win this battle."
Shao Qing was not the only one in the car. Seeing that her daughter was reluctant to retract her body for a long time, Sun felt distressed and suppressed her worry and comforted her softly.
Shao Qing came back to his senses, put the curtain back and sat down, pulling his lips and smiling: "Yeah."
Kou Yue, who was in a trance, heard this and murmured, "Yes, we will win this battle."
Kou Yue was also in the car.
There were also many non-combat personnel returning to the rear this time, led by Kou Xuan. Shao Bai has recently been following him and learning how to handle government affairs.
After Wei Jing's identity was announced to the world, it wasn't just outsiders who were shocked. Zhuang Yan, Kou Xuan, Fan Ya, Lu Jian and others were so frightened that their jaws dropped. They were shocked and happy, and they were at a loss for what to do. Fortunately, a war broke out soon after, and everyone was so busy that they were able to quickly put aside their surprise and digest the facts.
If we say there is a difference between the before and after, people's attitude is inevitably a little more cautious. Wei Jing is fine, he has always been very powerful. Shao Qing felt that things were obviously different from before. Everyone was very respectful and jokes were no longer heard.
She was also quite helpless.
Only the simple girl Kou Yue maintained the same attitude as always.
It was not quite right to talk about the girl. Kou Yue had married Yan Ming a year ago and she got pregnant quickly. Although the month was not yet advanced, it was not easy for her to ride in a bumpy carriage. Shao Qing's carriage was the most comfortable, so he called her in as well.
Yan Ming also joined the army this time, so it was inevitable that Kou Yue would be worried.
"Your Highness is the God of War, and will surely defeat the powerful enemy."
Touching her slightly bulging waist and abdomen, she tried to put on a smile and said this to Shao Qing and her daughter, then nodded vigorously to convince herself.
Sun replied, "Of course it is!"
God of War?
The God of War is also made of flesh and blood.
Shao Qing was slightly stunned.
Every time Wei Jing went on an expedition, she couldn't help but worry about him. This time, she was worried to the extreme. However, Shao Qing never said discouraging words. She cheered up in an instant and clenched her fist: "Yes, we will wait for good news in Hanzhong."
Although this battle is difficult, we can definitely win!
…
Ji Huan also talked about a similar topic. He said: "Although this battle is not easy, if we win a great victory, we will be able to firmly establish our position in the Central Plains."
It is no longer a remote army that has just emerged from Yizhou. If Wei Jing wins this battle, he will become one of the greatest heroes of the time.
As one thing grows, the other declines, and dangers and opportunities coexist, this will be a new big step forward.
Wei Jing looked solemnly towards the east and ordered, "Move out!"
…
After crossing Tanggu Road in Shaoqing, he settled in the nearest city, Yongxian, anxiously awaiting battle reports from the front.
Wei Jing had led a large army to the eastern front, and deployed troops from Yinshan Pass to Suicheng, confronting the mighty coalition forces of the imperial court across the Jingshui River and Tongchuan River.
The army of 600,000 had camps stretching for a hundred miles. Even if you looked from a very long distance in the darkness, you could still see the faint glow.
Ji Huan said: "The enemy's army is more numerous than ours, but fortunately the soldiers and generals are from many different places and their morale is not unified. I think the key to defeating the enemy is the coalition of the princes."
"Bo Yan is right."
These 180,000 princes' troops were obviously pushed out to make up the numbers and serve as cannon fodder. Who could be willing to accept this?
People are uneasy and morale is low, that is for sure.
But the enemy must be aware of such an obvious flaw and will not reveal it easily. After the war breaks out, the main forces will definitely be the Northern Army and Prince An's Army. Without consuming these two, the coalition forces of the princes will not be mobilized.
Don't be impatient, you need to wait for the right opportunity.
At present, we have to deal with the Northern Army and Prince An's Army, which together have more than 400,000 troops and should not be underestimated.
Wei Jing retracted his gaze: "We should respond to all changes with the same attitude, wait for the enemy to make a move, and then strike them when the opportunity arises."
…
The two armies confronted each other, and both sides were very cautious. They waited and watched for more than ten days and began to test each other.
The Northern Army's reputation for bravery was well-deserved. Their individual soldiers were highly skilled, their reactions were quick, and they were extremely difficult to fight against. There is no father-son relationship in the battle, and ordinary soldiers put their heads on their waistbands to feed and support their families. No matter whether they feel emotional in their hearts when facing their former coach, when the drums sound, they must charge without any delay.
Wei Jing was not at all shaken by this. It was as he expected. Once on the battlefield, they would be enemies to the death.
After several confrontations, there were winners and losers, but because the movements were not serious, neither side suffered much damage.
Wei Jing was quite patient and waited calmly, but the coalition forces were under pressure from the imperial court and had to take major action first.
On April 20th, 100,000 elite soldiers attacked in the dark and captured Yinshan Pass.
Once Yinshan Pass was lost, the Yizhou army’s left line no longer had any protection.
The enemy was coming with great force, but Wei Jing had been waiting for a long time. He ordered Zhang Yong to fight fiercely in the middle of the night and then pretend to be defeated. The door was shaky and was finally knocked open. The enemy general Wu Yi was overjoyed and immediately ordered an all-out attack.
The morale of the entire army was greatly boosted and they immediately rushed forward. Unexpectedly, just after walking a distance, a soldier suddenly noticed something was wrong. He felt something sticky under his feet. Upon careful inspection, he found that there was tung oil all over the ground under the smoke. At this moment, rockets whizzed and a burst of red flames appeared. The enemy troops who were still advancing bravely ran and howled.
The enemy troops that had not entered the pass were terrified and retreated hastily. Unexpectedly, at this time, drums were beating on the mountains on both sides, and flags were waving, and it turned out that the Yizhou army was ambushing there.
In fact, the area around Yinshan Pass is sparsely wooded and not a good place to hide troops. This was Wei Jing's false formation. But Wu Yi was trapped in a sea of fire, and his deputy general was panicked and immediately fell into the trap, and ordered a quick retreat.
With gongs blaring and command flags waving, the enemy army was able to barely form a battle formation. Unfortunately, the mistake in command was fatal, and the defeated enemy army fell into Wei Jing's ambush. The ambush came quickly and fiercely, and before the enemy reinforcements arrived, the battle was quickly ended and they retreated like a tide to the pass where all the flames had been extinguished.
Gao Ben, the enemy commander who led a large army to support the attack, could only watch with resentment as the door slammed shut in front of him.
"Damn it!"
I forgot to mention that the commander of the imperial army this time is the Northern Army General Gao Ben, and the military supervisor is the Grand Marshal Qi Tian.
Two very familiar names. One was the confidant of the late emperor who was placed in the Northern Army. When Wei Jing was ambushed, Gao Ben immediately took the imperial edict and took over the Northern Army with lightning speed. He also vigorously assisted the new emperor in purging the upper and middle-level generals in the army and kept a firm control over it.
The other one is even more amazing. Qi Tian is the "confidant" of Pinghai Hou Fu Jun. He made great efforts in the bloodbath of Fu family and the Donggong party.
Wei Jing looked down from a high position, coldly overlooking the overwhelming enemy army: "I will definitely annihilate these two thieves."
The first great victory annihilated 100,000 enemies.
Wei Jing took the opportunity to send troops around Sui City and launched a surprise attack when the enemy reinforcements were returning to the camp. The demoralized coalition forces fought hastily and were instantly at a disadvantage. Fortunately, Gao Ben was experienced and commanded the troops well, so they managed to gain a foothold and began to counterattack.
It was another great battle, but Wei Jing did not want to fight any more. When his advantage was gradually eliminated by the enemy's numbers, he decisively ordered a retreat as planned.
The coalition forces were defeated again, with a loss of 60,000 men.
After two defeats in two battles, the army was severely damaged, its numerical advantage was severely eliminated, and its morale was greatly reduced.
Gao Ben did not dare to attack again and retreated to his own camp. The two sides confronted each other and entered a stalemate.
…
This stalemate lasted for more than a month. Wei Jing remained calm, but Gao Ben and Qi Tian were not. The pressure on them was increasing.
The coalition army’s central tent.
Qi Tian frowned and said, "General Gao, I'm afraid we can't continue to stand still."
There was a lot of pressure in the court, and the two were not without political enemies. After the last defeat, criticisms arose, but fortunately the emperor suppressed them. But the stalemate lasted so long, and more memorials impeaching the two were submitted to the emperor's desk like snowflakes.
This is not a big problem. The big problem is that the emperor also started to have opinions.
The longer it dragged on, the more anxious the emperor became. In addition, the pressure on food and fodder for the hundreds of thousands of troops was enormous, and they really couldn't delay any longer.
Gao Ben gritted his teeth and said, "Then we can only fight."
The battle strategy against the enemy had been discussed countless times over the past month, but after the huge loss in the surprise attack, no one dared to act rashly, and they searched everywhere but could not find a suitable place for a surprise attack on the enemy. The only option is to fight head-on.
But when he thought about a head-on battle, Gao Ben became annoyed. He felt uneasy about facing the King of Qi.
As a former general under the King of Qi, he knew very well that the title of the God of War was not exaggerated. It was fine when the war started with twice the number of troops, but now, now...
Moreover, among the hundreds of thousands of soldiers lost, nearly 100,000 were from the Northern Army, and the rest were mostly Prince An's troops, all of them elite.
Qi Tian was also very uneasy, and he pondered for a moment: "How about asking Prince An to summon reinforcements?"
The imperial court can no longer maneuver its troops, so what about Prince An? Jingzhou is the territory of Prince An, so it is easy to mobilize both food and soldiers.
Gao Ben was delighted and quickly asked someone to invite Prince An.
When Prince An heard this, his brows furrowed immediately. “I do have 100,000 soldiers in the five counties of Jingzhou, but they are stationed at the important passes and towns of each county, and they must not be moved easily.”
Jingzhou is his base camp, and safety comes first.
Qi Tian immediately responded: "To the east of Jingzhou is Yangzhou and Qumou, so it is indeed difficult to move lightly. However, to the west of Jingzhou is high mountains and steep ridges, which are inaccessible to foreign enemies. It is okay to have fewer garrisons."
Qi Tian and Prince An, one was an important minister left by the late emperor to the present, and the other was a close confidant in the palace. After the emperor ascended the throne, they became two factions, the old and the new, and the fighting was intense. Qi Tian certainly could not understand Prince An's difficulties, but at this moment when they were faced with external enemies, what he said was indeed reasonable and he was not seeking trouble without reason.
"Your Highness, if we fail to win this battle, you and I are afraid..."
Gao Ben agreed and said, "Besides, once the Rebel King wins a great victory, Jingzhou will be the first choice for attack after resting."
Gao Qi and the other man put pressure on him together, and King An's face became gloomy. He did not agree immediately, but had to agree to go back and consider it.
He had to think carefully. Gao Ben and Qi Tian's words were not pleasant to hear, but they were the truth. If they lost this battle, not to mention the emperor, Jingzhou would indeed be the best choice for Wei Jing to attack next.
After hearing this, Wei Xu said: "But if we want to call for help, we need at least 50,000."
Otherwise there will be no effect at all. For 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, there is no difference between summoning it and not summoning it.
General Chen Ang made a rough calculation and said, "In this way, our two inner counties adjacent to Yizhou will be almost empty."
The two counties west of Jingzhou are on the other side of the mountains and hills and Yizhou is there. By guarding the pass, we don't have to worry about the Yizhou army attacking from the west. Besides, Yizhou is empty now.
The key point is the northern part of the two counties, which borders Pingyang County in the north. Once the truth is known to Wei Jing, Wei Jing will not be able to attack the two counties at present, and there is no guarantee of follow-up.
Therefore, if we deploy troops, we must not let Wei Jing know the true situation.
Advisor Guo Huai said: "Your Highness, perhaps you can use a method of deception."
The checkpoints adjacent to Pingyang County remained unchanged, while the troops of the other inner and outer counties were repeatedly mobilized at night, using tree branches tied to horsetails to raise dust, to disguise the fact that many soldiers were returning to the city, creating the appearance that the troops were being mobilized evenly among the five counties.
The method of deceiving the eyes is to mix the real and the unreal, to cover and hide.
The plan was brilliant. King An nodded and said, "Ziyuan, this plan is feasible."
He finally made up his mind to send reinforcements.
"Wang Tong and Guo Huai, the two of you return to Liling and arrange this matter."
"Yes, sir!"
"Chen Ang and Xu Cang, you two should step up patrols and make sure there are no mistakes."
"The order has been given!"
…
After a series of military orders, generals including Chen Ang, Wang Tong and Xu Cang all obeyed the orders.
Xu Cang's expression and movements were no different from everyone else, but when Prince An heard his voice, his heart moved slightly and he looked up at him.
After all the generals filed out, Prince An stared at the shaking tent, thinking for a moment.
"Xu Cang is an old general of the King of Qi."
For some reason, he suddenly remembered Wei Jing's declaration of justice. The declaration was so well-written that he couldn't help but suspect that Luo Jing had leaked the news.
Wei Xu understood immediately: "The Xu family has hundreds of people in Luojing." But he didn't care: "If you have any doubts, just send someone to watch for a while."
Prince An nodded, thought for a moment, and called his confidant in to give him some instructions.
…
Xu Cang was a man with keen perception, and he seemed to sense a vague sense of being watched.
He turned around suddenly and saw a row of patrolmen with spears who had heard the sound and were looking over here. Seeing that it was him and Chen Ang, they retracted their gaze and continued patrolling.
"Brother Xu, let's go to my tent and discuss something first." Chen Ang patted his shoulder, his voice as loud as ever.
Xu Cang lowered his eyes, then raised them again and said with a smile: "Okay!"
…
The coalition army’s central tent.
Prince An's reply came back quickly, and Gao Ben and Qi Tian breathed a sigh of relief.
"With the 50,000 reinforcements from Prince An, we can at least make up for some of the previous losses."
At least I managed to collect 500,000 yuan.
Gao Ben said this, but he still didn't feel completely at ease. Alas, there was still a gap between this and the previous 600,000 yuan.
The rebel king's military strength has not been reduced much, and now it still has 350,000 troops.
Gao Ben paced back and forth in the tent for several circles. It was obvious that he was still afraid of Wei Jing. When Qi Tian saw this, he couldn't help but frown again.
He was not good at military affairs, but he still understood the principles. He was afraid before the battle even started and was halfway defeated.
Qi Tian and his trusted adviser Jie Liang looked at each other and saw the same worry in each other's eyes.
Xie Liang pondered for a while and said, "My lord, General Gao, we don't necessarily have to defeat the Yizhou army."
What's the meaning?
"Your Majesty is afraid of the Rebel King. If we can find a way to kill him, that's fine."
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