Chapter 430 Wanqi Mountain Blocks the Road

"General Peng, I order you to lead an army of 100,000 from the left wing, capture Yongzhou, Linzhou, Quzhou, and finally occupy Yizhou, and encircle the imperial city together with the main army."

After unfolding the map and taking a look, Wei Chengyi quickly made a decision.

"I will obey my orders."

General Peng was overjoyed and quickly bowed to accept the order. After such a long time, he finally got the task of leading the attack.

“As for the right wing.”

Wei Chengyi looked at the map again. General Chen and other generals looked at him eagerly, their hearts in their throats, hoping that their names would come out of his mouth.

"General Chen, you lead an army of 100,000 from the right wing, bypass Taizhou, capture Tingzhou, Guanzhou, Qingzhou, and finally occupy Dazhou, and encircle the imperial city together with the main army."

"I will obey your orders!"

Soon, Wei Chengyi made a decision, and General Chen finally let go of his worry. The other generals were all disappointed, including Qingying, who had always been the main force. However, thinking that their opponent would be Wanqi Shan, whom the Dog Emperor regarded as his life-saving straw, they felt relieved. It would be good to lead troops to attack other prefectures, but it would also be a great sense of accomplishment to defeat Wanqi Shan head-on.

"Jun Ling, I'm going to trouble you with the dispatch of food and military supplies. You must keep up with the marching speed of the soldiers."

After the deployment of troops was arranged, Wei Chengyi turned to Yan Junling. He was currently in charge of all resource deployment. As the saying goes, food and fodder must be sent before troops move out. He must ensure that his soldiers are well fed and clothed and will not fight on an empty stomach.

"Yes."

Even though the task became more difficult, Yan Junling still agreed to it.

"Yanzhi, after the cities are taken, the task of pacifying and resettling them will be handed over to you. Promote more scholars who have already taken those cities. Those with talents can be hired as exceptions."

Wei Chengyi also knew that the most difficult task belonged to Xie Yanzhi, which was why Shen Xiangwan did not go to the military hospital now, but assisted him in presiding over the overall situation. In the past, they were only in charge of governing Chenzhou, and with the foundation left by the royal palace, their manpower was barely enough, but as they conquered more and more prefectures, they became seriously short of manpower.

"Okay, I'll discuss these matters with my wife."

Xie Yanzhi was indeed very troubled. After the provincial capital was conquered and settled, each county town needed to be equipped with a county government team. Yamen runners were easy to deal with. Those soldiers who were injured and could no longer go to the battlefield could serve as yamen runners. This not only solved their personnel needs, but also settled the disabled soldiers. But officials at all levels were more troublesome. There were plenty of scholars, but they wanted more than just scholars. They didn't want any parasites to hold them back in the city that they had conquered and settled with great difficulty.

"Well, I'm sorry to bother you."

Nodding, Wei Chengyi looked at his wife again, a trace of heartache flashed across his eyes.

All the arrangements were made simply, and everyone left Pingzhou government office one after another. General Peng and General Chen returned to the barracks as quickly as possible to check the troops. At 12:00 the next day, they ordered the cooks to cook. Before dawn, the two armies set out from different directions. Pingzhou was only a few prefectures away from the imperial city, so they had to speed up the progress, otherwise they would not be able to catch up with the army and the Eastern Border Army to encircle the imperial city, which would ruin their plans. It was not until early March that the spring plowing in Pingzhou was completely completed. Shen Xiangwan and Xie Yanzhi temporarily placed the soldiers who were farming in different counties. In the middle of the month, the 200,000 Northern Border Army led by Wanqishan was finally about to arrive in Quanzhou. Before that, Wei Chengyi did not show any courtesy to him, and directly took over Taizhou and Binzhou in the middle, as well as Luoyang County in Quanzhou, giving him a full blow.

At about the same time, Wanqi Shan's two sons also led the Southern Border Army to Zhenzhou. Chu Liang was even more rude than Wei Chengyi, and successively captured more than half of the cities in Zhenzhou. Wanqi Shan's two sons were so angry that they had to deploy most of their troops in Tanzhou behind them, making it their main battlefield.

At the same time, General Peng and General Chen, who set out from the left and right wings respectively, captured Tingzhou and Yongzhou one after another. After a short rest, the two armies will march towards Guanzhou and Linzhou. As Shen Xiangwan said, the emperor no longer has any extra troops to mobilize, and can only allow them to quickly seize various prefectures. All his hopes are placed on Wanqishan and his sons.

"withdraw troops!"

Wanqi Shan was indeed a general who could really fight. He seemed to have known their disadvantage in equipment. No matter how Qingying challenged him, he had no intention of going out of the city to fight. They were forced to attack the city by force. But they still underestimated Wanqi Shan. He actually learned their method of using black oil to repel the enemy. He had people pour a lot of black oil on the city walls and towers in advance, so the Wei army could not get close easily.

"Hold!"

This battle was too frustrating. Qingying, who led the army to retreat to Luoyang County, was so angry that he cursed. Yue Ruyan, who came to find him, stepped forward and shook his hand: "Don't be angry, we will soon come up with a way to defeat the enemy."

"Sorry for worrying you."

Nodding, Qingying tried hard to suppress the grievance in her heart, lowered her eyes and looked at the hand she was holding. Since the two got engaged, they had more interactions, but they were both self-disciplined and polite, and did not do anything presumptuous. It was still the same as before, just holding hands at most.

"Who said I was worried?"

Following his gaze, Yue Ruyan slowly withdrew her hand. From the beginning to the end, she had never been worried, because she knew them better than anyone else. The current predicament was only temporary, and soon they would continue to capture cities and approach the imperial city.

"···"

So he was just being overly sentimental?
Qingying couldn't help but laugh, but his mood improved a lot and he was no longer so depressed.

Many people knew that Shen Xiangwan had used black oil to drive back the Western Hu people. They had never dreamed that one day they would be blocked by their own tactics. Wanqishan was fully prepared. As long as they made the slightest move, the black oil under the city wall would be ignited immediately, and it would be difficult for the army to get close, let alone attack the city.

"Second Master, what should we do now?"

The city was right in front of them but they could not get close. This battle was so frustrating. Qingying and all the generals were angry, but there was nothing they could do. They had been blocked for almost half a month. If they continued like this, the morale of the army would probably be unstable and it would affect the morale.

Wei Chengyi did not respond, but just hugged his left elbow with his right hand, stroked his chin, and stared at the sand table in front of him. Wanqi Shan's methods were indeed too frustrating. If they could not break through head-on, even if they made great sacrifices to capture Heyang County, Wanqi Shan could still do the same in the cities behind and use the same tactics to deal with them. That was definitely not what he wanted to see.

【End of this chapter】

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