Chapter 57 - Formation of Troops
The smell of harvest is gradually thickening, and countless toiling people are buried in the endless fields every day, and they are working tirelessly to harvest. Originally, during non-war periods, the Qi State would provide some war horses to the people to help them harvest food as soon as possible to cope with the coming harsh winter. However, this year's situation has made this act impossible, and the most critical battle on the Demon Spirit Continent is about to begin. Before you know it, the time is about to pass the early autumn, and it is gradually approaching the late autumn season. The weather also gradually cooled down inadvertently, and the people put on a long shirt over the short shirt to resist the coolness of the wind. In fact, every citizen on the Demon Spirit Continent was actually worried about the final outcome of that battle.
However, before that, there was a surprise to everyone, on the tenth day of the first month of October, the Holy Emperor, the feudal emperor who was facing Qi under Ruocheng City, learned of what happened in Huicheng three days ago, and learned that the Ling Feng army had now recovered Huicheng, and the people all supported it. This news made his hands and feet cold, and he had no intention of thinking about the upcoming final battle, and the Holy Emperor immediately ordered Wei Xu, the governor of Dream City, to immediately arrest Zheng Kang on the spot and escort him to Zhongcheng to be tried by the eight elders. Then Xu Zhan, who led the remnants of the army to Ruocheng, only took away Xu Zhan's power and did not detain him. At the same time, the Holy Emperor also took the military power in the hands of Sun Shunuo, the master of the first hall, and Shi Hao, the master of the third hall, under the charge of lax management of his subordinates.
It's not that the Holy Emperor doesn't want to execute the three of them on the spot, but the situation doesn't allow him to do so, and it's really a taboo to remove the general on the spot. So, after taking away the command of Xu Zhan and Shi Haofeng's three halls of the battle meeting, he still returned the command of the three halls to Sun Shunuo and Shi Hao. It's just that there is a difference, and every member of the Sealing War Association must know it. The Holy Emperor actually wanted to use this opportunity to concentrate his central power and weaken the influence of these five branches.
Although Shi Hao and Xu Zhan were dissatisfied in their hearts, after all, they were members of the True Sealing War Society and confidants of the Holy Emperor, and they believed that the Holy Emperor had a hard time. Therefore, even if the Holy Emperor deposes them from power, they will still be loyal to the Holy Emperor and fully support the feudal state to win this holy war. It's just that Sun Shunuo is different from them, he himself came to defect to the Holy Emperor who was still the master of the War Hall at that time for some reason. The Holy Emperor also knew Sun Shunuo's true identity, and he wanted to use this to gain information about the Qi Kingdom. But now, this is no longer needed, and the members of his intelligence hall have not only bought a new internal response in the Qi State court. Moreover, the Holy Emperor also understood that as long as this battle was won, then the situation on the Demon Spirit Continent would actually be settled, and at that time, Sun Shunuo and the backer behind him, Sun Zhao, the counselor of the Qi State, would have no use value for them. And the Holy Emperor has always been a ruthless person, and he will not care about anything at all, and he will directly solve the potential threat of Sun Shunuo. As a result, Sun Shunuo is now imprisoned in the camp, and all the military power of the Fengzhan Hall has been taken away by the Holy Emperor by thunderbolt.
The original plan of the Holy Emperor was to control Huicheng as the cornerstone of the battle of Ruocheng on the front line, and secretly sent troops north to attack Jincheng by sneak attack. If he can take Jincheng, it is the best, even if he can't succeed, at least he can contain the army led by Li Fu, so that he has to divide a part of the army to go north to Jincheng to assist in the defense, so that he can have a few more points of confidence on the side of Ruocheng on the main battlefield. It's just that the unexpected loss of Huicheng forced him to change the entire battle plan, and he also understood that the whole situation may have changed now. He had to fight quickly, otherwise once the Ling Feng army calmed down and headed north, they would face the danger of being attacked from three sides. This was a fact that the Holy Emperor was reluctant to encounter, so even though he wanted to control the situation of the entire battle like an angler, the current situation no longer allowed him to do so. He must take Ruocheng as soon as possible, otherwise the result will be unimaginable, and he is likely to lose the whole game.
"Pass on my military order and order the whole army to line up and fight!" The Holy Emperor pondered alone in the camp for a long time, and finally made such a decision to put his troops on it.
The Holy Emperor's guards outside the camp immediately went down to give orders, now the number of troops in the hands of the Holy Emperor is not much, and the 70,000 most elite troops of the Sealing War Society were quickly gathered together, and the Holy Emperor personally rectified this army, and the 70,000 troops began to dispatch from then on, and soon this army had gathered under Ruocheng City.
The forward 20,000 heavy armored infantry was led by Liu Xun, the forward general of the Fengzhan Meeting. Each of the 30,000 heavily armored infantry was dressed in silver armor like the wind, and held a large square shield with a vertical tip in his hand, and behind the shield was an extremely sharp sword. The 20,000 heavy armored infantry was the most elite army under the command of the Holy Emperor, and the 20,000 heavy armored infantry were the vanguard. Lead the advanced troops to attack Ruocheng.
Liu Xun is the right-hand man of the Holy Emperor, originally the family general of the Holy Emperor, who followed the Holy Emperor since he was a child, and is one of the most trusted people of the Holy Emperor. Although he did not hold military power in the Sealing War Society, his status in the Sealing War Society was much higher than that of these five hall masters. This time, when he was ordered to command this infantry phalanx, which had been trained and tempered by the Holy Emperor himself, and was incomparably strong, his heart swelled with speechless emotion. The only thing he could do was to lead this army as best he could, and let them do their best to take the castle that was so close at hand, but it looked like the end of the world.
On both sides, the 30,000 cavalry of the Fengzhan Society were jointly led by Shi Hao, the master of the Santang Hall, and another henchman under the Holy Emperor, Cheng Tao, the general governor of the cavalry. The cavalry on these two wings sat down on black sturdy war horses, these war horses were the best war horses selected from the war horses produced by Lingcheng, an important town in the north of the feudal country, and the riders on the war horses were all wearing silver-white full armor, holding small black shields with rings and silver spears, and the war horses were draped in complete saddles. These 30,000 cavalry and 20,000 heavy armored infantry are the same, they are all incomparably elite troops trained by the Holy Emperor himself.
In the center, the Holy Emperor sat in the center to personally supervise the battle, and around him were guarding the 20,000 royal guards of the feudal kingdom. This army is also the most elite in the entire feudal country, enough to have an existence of one enemy and one hundred. These warriors are all people who are absolutely trusted by the Holy Emperor, and they are also an elite army that has won every battle.
70,000 troops marched majestically to Ruocheng, such a neat and uniform phalanx all the way, this kind of marching array full of magnificent momentum, the many Qi soldiers standing on the city tower could not hold back the excitement in their hearts, did the feudal country finally go out?
Some time ago, less than half a month ago, Ruocheng, which was originally heavily guarded, suddenly learned that the feudal army was divided into 50,000 troops, and even crossed the Xuanling River to detour to Shengcheng, all the way north to attack Jincheng, which is now underdefended. Jincheng now has insufficient garrisons, and the general who commands the army is also a person who is not very reassuring - Yeshu, the governor of Jincheng.
This news worried the soldiers of the Qi State guarding Ruocheng, and they did not dare to rush to aid Jincheng. And the army that stayed in Ruocheng to guard was really very calm, and the Holy Emperor ordered them to hold out and clear the wilderness. Originally, the defenders in Ruocheng were undecided, not knowing whether they should go north or continue to hold on to Ruocheng. But now, it seems that it is time to see the truth of everything, since these 70,000 troops are dispatched together, then it means that something unusual must have happened, affecting their most elite army of the feudal country that can no longer wait with peace of mind.
"What's the matter? Feng Guo finally can't hold his breath?" Just as the soldiers on the castle tower looked at each other, thinking about all the possibilities, a general wearing a red battle robe and dark gold armor walked up from under the castle tower quickly, his face full of solemn and joyful expressions. For him, there was nothing more gratifying for him to be dispatched by the feudal army.
"See the general" Seeing the general, the surrounding soldiers immediately bowed and saluted. This general is none other than Zhang Lingyi, one of the three lieutenants of Chen Jie, the original governor of the southern part of the Qi State, and the current highest-ranking Zhang Lingyi among the three lieutenants. After Zhang Lingyi and another deputy general, Jin Xu, resisted the feudal army in Donglinguan for nearly two months, they had to choose to temporarily preserve their strength and retreat back because of the Holy Emperor's personal conquest, and guarded Ruocheng with another deputy general, Jin Xu.
Of course, Zhang Lingyi also realized that simply guarding Ruocheng like this is not a long-term solution. He also understood that even if the Holy Emperor personally conquered, it would be impossible for the feudal state to capture Ruocheng, which now echoed inside and outside in a short period of time, and had a strong Qi army as foreign aid. The actions and battle plans chosen by the Holy Emperor were all to force out the defenders in Ruocheng, including he sent his army back to aid Huicheng, and secretly ordered 50,000 troops to cross the Xuanling River and attack Jincheng through Shengcheng. This step-by-step plan put Qi Guo in an extremely passive situation, and Zhang Lingyi had already sent scouts to report to inform the foreign aid outside Ruocheng City, the general Li Fu, and let him go all out to fight against the Qi army that was about to enter Jincheng. In this way, under Zhang Lingyi's repeated assurances, Li Fu mobilized the 30,000 Ming troops around him, and these 30,000 troops Li Fu did not hand over to Yu Fei, the saint of the Ming clan, who returned later, and his two partners, but to Li Xin, one of the three deputy generals of Chen Jie, who came to Jincheng last time to urge grain and did not return to Donglinguan. He was ordered to lead these 30,000 troops north to aid Jincheng and aid Yeshu, the governor of Jincheng.
And Yu Fei, Luo Yinying and Sun Hao, the three young people who returned from Jincheng, Li Fu left them by his side, and this time the 70,000 troops stationed outside Ruocheng were dispatched. Li Fu also got the news, so he took Yu Fei, Luo Yinying and Sun Hao, three young people, and ordered 20,000 troops to go out of the camp to aid Ruocheng, leaving 5,000 troops in the camp to garrison, and another 5,000 troops.