"On the opposite side is Wu Sangui's army, I have to say that Wu Sangui has a good way of arranging troops."

Zhou Yafu followed Chutian to the Yi River to observe the reality of Wu Sangui's army.

Fang Xuanling, who is a military advisor, is also observing the other side: "Wu Sangui's soldiers and horses have 30,000 originally Taishan thieves under the command of Chang Xuan, if they are recruited in the name of Zang Ba and Sun Guan, even if they do not surrender, the army's spirit will be shaken." ”

"Attack the heart first, attack the city down. A pontoon bridge can be erected to cross the river to attack, making Zang Ba and Sun Guan the vanguard. If you encounter a Tarzan thief on the opposite side, you can persuade them to surrender. ”

Chu Tian quickly understood what Fang Xuanling meant.

After a period of running-in between the two people, Chu Tian and Fang Xuanling gradually got to a tacit understanding.

"But we have to wait for the right time."

Chutian was not in a hurry to attack Wu Sangui, as long as he wanted, he could force the Taishan thieves to lay a pontoon bridge to cross the river overnight.

The Taishan thieves are similar to the Yellow Turban Army, they are all cannon fodder who do not need to pay for it, and they are also responsible for the hard work, and the real elite troops will only come in handy at critical moments.

At this time, Yili was fighting Xue Rengui alone, and was easily defeated by Xue Rengui and fell to the snow.

"It's a lot of strength, but I'm defeated."

Yili had to admit that Xue Rengui's force was far above him.

Chu Tian saw that Yin Li took the initiative to find Xue Rengui to fight alone, isn't this uncomfortable for himself?

In the Taishan thieves, except for Zang Ba and Sun Guan, the others are all gold-level generals, and they belong to the same level as Zhang Min and Mi Fang.

They have not yet surrendered to Chutian, and if they want them to give up their military power, they also have to show absolute force - to defeat Wu Sangui.

Wu Sangui was a little restless, Chu Tian gathered 50,000 people, and overwhelmed his more than 30,000 people in momentum.

However, Chu Tian never crossed the river to attack, but Wu Sangui could not judge Chu Tian's intentions.

"A few of you went to Beihai Country to ask the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army to go south quickly, if Langya Country is unified, then the big thing will go!"

"You wait to go to Jucheng and ask Xiao Jian, the prime minister of Langya, for help, now that his lips are dead and his teeth are cold, he can't help it!"

Wu Sangui sent two personal troops to ask for help.

Xiao Jian, a prince of Ju County, had 20,000 professional soldiers in his hands, and received a letter from Wu Sangui asking for the opinion of the stranger.

When the Inhuman Sect heard that Chutian from Xia City was calling, he was silent for a while.

They had never had a confrontation with Chu Tian, but they were terrified when they knew that Chu Tian had captured Langya City and defeated the coalition forces in the battle of Yuyangdu County.

"Your Excellency, we might as well wait and see what happens."

"Xia Cheng Chu Zi is plotting to mention the army of tigers and wolves, and you can't fight with it."

"Xiacheng's generals Li Guang and Hua Mulan, there are 10,000 enemies, even if we have 100,000 male soldiers, they are not opponents."

The Inhuman Doorman, that is, the players who took refuge in Xiao Jian, mostly advocated that Chu Tian was unstoppable, and persuaded Xiao Jian not to send troops to aid Wu Sangui to avoid burning himself.

Xiao Jian doesn't know much about Chutian, but Chutian is well-known among the player group, the first place in the two epic battles, plus the recent occupation of two counties, the defeat of the anti-Chutian Alliance, is terrifying.

Most players will not be able to fight against a lord who is in the limelight unless they are on a different side.

Xiao Jian was greatly displeased when he heard a group of strangers praising Chu Tian: "You can retreat." ”

Considering Chutian's threat to Ju County, Xiao Jian still decided to send more than 10,000 troops to help Wu Sangui defend Ju County.

The soldiers and horses in Jucheng were mobilized, and the strangers found that Xiao Jian was bent on going his own way, and they couldn't help but be disappointed.

Some princes can listen to the advice of the Inhumans, but some will not. If all the princes could listen to the persuasion, then there would be no faint king.

"Xiao Jian has no famous generals under his command, how can he defeat Chu Zimou."

"Now that we're finished, it took me a year to get into the position of a doorman, and I ate and lived for nothing every day. Now Xiao Jian is killing himself, and he doesn't know who to go to in the future. ”

"It's better to go to Chu Zimou in Xia City, he has two counties, and his power is stronger than Xiao Jian. As the first lord of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he was already a small prince. ”

"He has a lot of talent, and he doesn't recruit diners, so it's not easy for us to mix a bite of food with him."

"But not necessarily, as long as we have merit......"

A group of Inhuman Disciples are already looking for a way out for themselves. They didn't expect Xiao Jian, who was not famous in the Three Kingdoms and was defeated by Zang Ba in history, to compete in the Central Plains. I just want to eat and serve as a springboard for promotion in the future.

Xiao Jian led more than 10,000 Juxian soldiers to support Wu Sangui, and dozens of flags were displayed.

"This idiot."

Qi Xiaobai heard that Xiao Jian brought soldiers to reinforce Wu Sangui, and couldn't help muttering.

Chutian temporarily handled internal affairs in the camp tent, and confronted Wu Sangui without hurry.

Recently, there has been an influx of homeless people in Langya, including players, most of whom are from Beihai Kingdom.

There are too many Yellow Turban troops in Beihai, and the people are struggling to make a living, and civilians either choose to join the Yellow Turban Army or flee.

For Langya, which borders Beihai, this is a good opportunity to absorb the population of Qingzhou.

According to Fang Xuanling, who manages the household registration, about 20,000 displaced people from the territory under Chu Tian's rule have recently come from the Beihai Kingdom, and Chu Tian has placed all of them outside Xia Cheng City and slowly digested them.

The population of Xia City originally had 50,000, and later 100,000 people from Langya City were relocated to enrich Xia City, plus 20,000 displaced people from Beihai Kingdom, a total of 170,000 people, making it the second largest city in the territory of Chutian.

Li Kui organized the displaced people to reclaim wasteland, build water conservancy, and dig drainage canals and sewers.

The planning of the city is cumbersome, and the size of the summer city has expanded to the point where more complex urban sewers have to be excavated, otherwise the plague will soon be rampant.

Fortunately, "Lord" has special architectural drawings such as open channels and culverts, and the construction of urban sewers is also very fast.

But it costs money......

A windfall funded by the Xuzhou family to Chutian was quickly lost by Chutian.

More of Chu Tian's income still came from war booty, land endowments, city taxes, land sales, and the economic buildings of the lord's mansion.

"Lord, it's snowing."

Xue Rengui, who served as a guard outside the military tent, reminded Chutian after the snow fell according to Chu Tian's order.

Chu Tian put on his cloak and came to the outside of the tent, only to see that the sky was gray and snowy.

"Order the Taishan thieves to prepare to lay a pontoon bridge and cross the river to attack Wu Sangui."

Chu Tian knew that the time for a decisive victory was coming, so he mobilized a large army to prepare.

Chu Tian's army had already prepared timber and plank boats in advance.

The ice on the surface of the river is not solid, and tens of thousands of horses crossing the river are bound to collapse, so it can only be crossed with the help of pontoon bridges.

The Taishan thieves were regarded as cannon fodder by Chu Tian, and of course the drudgery of building a pontoon bridge fell on them.

"It's really a sin to come out to fight in the cold winter and the moon."

The Tarzan thieves carried planks and wooden boats, complaining bitterly, and their fingers were frozen.

Not many people are willing to march and fight in the cold of winter.

The scout cavalry arranged by Wu Sangui to patrol the river found that the Taishan thieves who surrendered to Chutian began to build a pontoon bridge, and they were immediately shocked and immediately flew to report to Wu Sangui.

"Send two thousand archers to the shore and set up camp, and once the pontoon bridge erected by the other side approaches, ten thousand arrows will be fired."

Wu Sangui has his own way to deal with the opponent's pontoon.

With the morale of the Tarzan thieves on the opposite side, they simply could not withstand the rain of arrows fired by a large number of archers, and they would soon collapse because their morale fell to the bottom.

Two thousand archers went out of camp and set up camp on the opposite side, keeping an eye on the Tarzan thieves who had erected the pontoon bridge.

"We were discovered by the enemy on the opposite side, do we still need to repair the pontoon bridge?"

The Tarzan thieves panicked because of the archers who appeared on the opposite side, and asked their leader, Yin Li.

Yin Li also asked Chu Tian, the highest figure of the current Taishan thief.

"Continue to repair until the bow and arrow on the opposite side are within range."

"Yes."

Although Yin Li didn't understand why Chu Tian suddenly committed himself to building the bridge, Chu Tian's display of force forced him to act according to Chu Tian's arrangement.

So the Taishan thieves continued to brave the heavy snow to build a bridge over the Yi River.

"Is the person on the other side a fool? In the cold winter, Layue did not go home to hug his wife and children, and he did not attack for several days when he came to the river, and he did not build the bridge until now, and he was discovered by us. ”

The archers sent by Wu Sangui should only be seen as jokes.

With archers stationed, the pontoon bridge cannot be built at all, which is the danger of mountains and rivers.

The defending side only needs to use hundreds or thousands of men to block an army of 100,000.

The Taishan thieves also understood this truth, and under the pressure of Chu Tian, they still had to build the bridge.

When the pontoon bridge was repaired for more than half and entered the range of the archers on the opposite side, one of the Tarzan thieves was shot to death, and the rest of the Tarzan thieves scattered.

Yin Li reported the matter to Chu Tian, and he could be regarded as having completed the task assigned to him by Chu Tian.

Chutian just arranged for Yin Li to personally lead the troops to guard the pontoon bridge that had been repaired for most of the time, so that he could not move.

Yin Li didn't know what to do, but he still promised.

"Mulan's side has already started a surprise attack."

Chutian estimated the time, he only gave Hua Mulan one day, and asked her to forcibly march 60 kilometers on a snowy day, enter the sphere of influence of Juxian County from Chutian's sphere of influence, and attack Lingcheng at night.

A black warhawk hovered in the air, its piercing eyes reflecting the empty scene below.

In its eyes, there is a village where hundreds of soldiers are stationed, and there are beacons in the village to convey military information.

Hua Mulan led 2,100 light cavalry from a village 60 kilometers south of Lingcheng in Juxian County, and marched all the way to Lingcheng, with the help of heavy snow to attack Lingcheng, Wu Sangui's stronghold!

The cavalry braved the snow all the way for 30 kilometers, and even horses and soldiers froze to death on the way.

Raids come at a cost.

The war eagle landed on Mulan's arm.

Mulan stroked its wings, and from the call and demeanor of the war eagle, it could be judged that there was a village with defenders stationed 5 kilometers ahead.

Wu Sangui was cautious and stationed defenders in the villages near Lingcheng to light beacon fires to ventilate the news.

If someone wants to attack Lingcheng, the defenders of Lingcheng can react immediately, causing heavy losses to the sneak attackers.

"Forced march! Annihilate the defenders of the villages ahead! ”

Mulan ordered a hundred Iron Eagle scouts and two thousand light cavalry to brave the wind and snow to speed up the march.

Forced marching in a harsh environment is not something that anyone can do, and it has to do with the arms and generals.

If it is a group of Taishan thieves, let alone marching in a harsh environment, even if they walk 30 kilometers normally, their morale will have fallen long ago, and they will even mutiny.

But Mulan's "heroine" trait can reduce the rate at which the morale of the troops declines.

That's why some soldiers are willing to fight to the death for the Lord.

A village 25 kilometers south of Lingcheng, the defenders had not yet noticed Mulan's cavalry approaching.

The village set up a wooden fence and deployed hundreds of Taishan thieves, who were originally Chang Xuan's subordinates and later took refuge in Wu Sangui.

Wu Sangui had neither the time nor the money to turn the 30,000 Taishan thieves into professional soldiers.

Two patrolling Tarzan thieves were shot by stray arrows and fell in the snow.

Carrying an quiver and a horned bow, Mulan attacked the village with her dismounted cavalry.

Under her command, the dismounted cavalry dispersed and blocked all exits from the village.

The Tarzan thieves stationed in the village seem to have noticed that something is wrong, the surroundings are too quiet.

Several Tarzan thieves opened the wooden door and came out to investigate.

A sharp arrow pierced the throat of one of the bandits!

"There are enemies!"

The bandits immediately shouted, but they were greeted by a dense rain of arrows!

A bandit was pierced through the wrist by a sharp arrow, and the force of the arrow was so great that it even nailed his wrist to a wooden fence!

"Kill!"

The dismounted cavalry pulled out the bright Tang knife, swarmed up, and seized the village gate!

The Tarzan thieves in the village did not expect that the enemy would carry out a surprise attack on a snowy day, so they rushed to the battle, and were routed by Mulan and the cavalry led by her.

The bandits tried to light a beacon fire and were slashed by a knife.

Hua Mulan held a Tang knife in her hand, killing four Taishan thieves in a row, and one of them even cut down the opponent's armor.

"General, what should be done with the captured Tarzan thief?"

"Kill them all."

Mulan slaughtered all the Tarzan thieves in the village to avoid the surprise attack and leakage.

In the unlikely event that a Tarzan thief reported the news, the surprise attack would be meaningless, and would lead to a prolonged stalemate in the war, with more casualties.

Mulan's cavalry was resupplied in the village and rested for a while.

She had a scroll of maps in her hand, which was an important item provided by Xu Sheng from Ju County.

Based on the location of the village, Mulan deduced that her army was still 25 kilometers away from Lingcheng.

By this time it was already dark.

The forced march at night was even more difficult, and she and her cavalry faced even worse weather.

The temperature at night will continue to drop, and the cold cannot be resisted by adding clothing, and it is even more difficult for the war horse to withstand the cold.

"Continue to march, be sure to reach Lingcheng before dawn, and then capture it!"

Mulan finally decided to complete the surprise attack.

"Why hasn't General Li Guang's cavalry kept up yet?"

After Hua Mulan arranged for Li Guangdian, she served as a reinforcement when the surprise attack failed.

In order to completely annihilate the enemy in this village, she delayed a little time, and calculated according to the marching speed of the cavalry, and Li Guang should have caught up at this time.

However, Hua Mulan rested in the village for half an hour, but there was still no trace of Li Guang.

"General Li Guang won't get lost......"

Mulan only thought of this possibility.

With Li Guang's somewhat reckless personality, he doesn't look like a person who will be cowardly in battle.

"Forget it, our forces should be able to capture Lingcheng. If you continue to wait, you will lose time. ”

Li Guang did not appear for a long time, and Hua Mulan gave up joining Li Guang, and set off alone with light cavalry at night, braving the wind, snow and cold, and marched quickly to Lingcheng.

And in the rear, Li Guang guessed the same as Mulan, he was really lost.

On the way, there were two forks in a village, and because the heavy snow covered the horseshoe prints of the cavalry in front, coupled with Li Guang's misjudgment, he and Hua Mulan took a completely different road.

Li Guang kept hurrying forward, but he couldn't catch up with Mulan's cavalry, and couldn't help but say to himself: "I didn't expect Mulan's march to be so fast, I can't even see her shadow, it's really a god general in the world." ”