Chapter 250: The army heads north

Qihe County is located forty miles northeast of Jinan Prefecture, and is named after the Daqing River was first called Qihe. It is a small county town with more than a thousand families, low walls and four dilapidated city gates. It has been quiet for decades. In the second year of Jianwen, Qihe County has suddenly become lively. The army of 200,000 people led by Sheng Yong was stationed here. He gave Jinan Prefecture to Li Jinglong. This was his respect for the commander, but the commander seemed to not be sympathetic to the painstaking efforts of his subordinates. The first thing he did when he came to Jinan was to seize his military power. This openly despised the imperial edict made Sheng Yong very angry and ignored him. Li Jinglong summoned him several times and both armies were in a deadlock.

At the same time, Sheng Yong heard another news that Li Jinglong was already determined to kill him. Although the news was not sure, Sheng Yong also became vigilant and secretly sent someone to Jinan City to inquire about the news.

That morning, Sheng Yong met Tie Xuan, who had just been renamed Shandong governor in the camp. Tie Xuan came to persuade Sheng Yong to put the overall situation first and not miss the plan of the Northern Expedition.

"General Sheng, it has been eight days since the emperor issued the Northern Expedition order, but we still remained still. Seeing that the fighter's opportunity is about to be delayed, I am really anxious. I come and advise the general to put the overall situation first and not to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with personal grievances. Otherwise, the opportunity for war will be missed. In the future, the emperor will blame him and General Sheng will not be able to afford it!"

Sheng Yong sneered and said, "Mr. Tie, I am not optimistic about King Yan, but I really made rapid progress in Peking according to the emperor's opinion. I dare to assert that the court army will definitely be defeated this time."

Tie Xuan was stunned and asked hurriedly: "Why is this?"

"It's very simple. The emperor entrusted it to be uninhibited. The lord should see clearly what Li Jinlong did after going north? He was arrogant, lustful, stubborn, not understanding military tactics, and arrogant. Can such a person be the opponent of the King of Yan? I really don't know how the emperor sent such a playboy as the commander of the Northern Expedition, but he only pity us hundreds of thousands of sons and sons to ruin it in the hands of such a person. I just don't want my subordinates to die at his hands, so I refuse to give him the soldiers. Lord Tie really thinks I am a grudge?"

Tie Xuan was silent. Although he was a civil servant, he had witnessed with his own eyes what strict military discipline was, what it means to lead by example, and what Li Jinlong did? Who didn’t know that he had privately kept prostitutes in the army, and who didn’t know that he spent money like soil and used military expenses to hold a wine tasting ceremony. After entering the city for a month, he never spent a night in the military camp. Such people, not to mention people who understand soldiers, even as a civil servant, knew that he could not be the opponent of the King of Yan.

He sighed and said, "But he is the commander appointed by the emperor himself and a royal relative. Besides, this opportunity is rare. King Yan led the main force to attack Shanxi personally. Although he is not capable, his troops are strong, and he may be able to seize this opportunity."

At this moment, a burst of rapid footsteps came from outside the door, and a personal soldier shouted: "General, Jinan City sends news."

"Pick it in!"

The personal soldiers came into the tent and submitted a piece of information. Sheng Yong unfolded, frowned and said, "Mr. Tie, Huang Zicheng has entered the city."

Tie Xuan was stunned. He had just come from Jinan City, so why didn’t he know any news? “General Sheng, is your news true? Huang Zicheng has arrived, and he should notify me in advance.”

At this time, someone outside the tent reported: "General, Lord Huang sent someone to send a letter and asked the general to see him immediately."

Sheng Yong was also stunned. He took the letter sent by the soldiers, looked at it, handed it to Tie Xuan, and sneered: "Mr. Tie, Huang Zicheng is a little too impatient. He just came to the city and looked for me. Shouldn't he talk to Li Jinglong first?"

Tie Xuan looked at the letter and hesitated and said, "The characters look very much like Huang Zicheng, but they lack a little bit of the roundness of Huang Zicheng, and the seal is also a bit blurry."

Sheng Yong sneered: "Of course, this is not Huang Zicheng at all. Li Jinglong wants to kill me and seize the army, and his strategy is a little too clumsy."

"How did General Sheng realize that this is a fake Huang Zicheng?"

"Think about it, the emperor sent the order to go to the expedition for 800 miles in a hurry. It was eight days ago. When he learned that I was not in harmony with Li Jinglong, he sent Huang Zicheng to mediate. Even if the emperor received a message from Feige, the fastest and fastest Huang Zicheng could only set off four days ago. Lord Tie thought Huang Zicheng could only arrive in Jinan in four days?"

"This bastard!" Tie Xuan punched the small table hard, gritted his teeth and cursed: "I still want to put the overall situation first and help him persuade him. He actually took this despicable plan and wanted to kill the general. Humph! I should sue him to the emperor."

Sheng Yong sighed and said, "It's useless to sue. The emperor personally performed a cart push ceremony and gave him the 'Tiantian Rhinoceros belt'. This shows how favored him. If he sues us for a lawsuit, the emperor will tell who will the emperor listen to?"

Tie Xuan was speechless and said for a while: "What does it mean by General Sheng?"

Sheng Yong took two steps behind his back. After a long time, he sighed: "Since the state affairs are the priority, how could I, Sheng Yong, really miss the military and national affairs? I will take a step back and give him most of the army. I will go to guard Dongchang Prefecture."

That night, Sheng Yong ordered the general Chen Hui to lead 150,000 troops to the command of Li Jinglong, and he himself led 50,000 troops to retreat to the Dongchang Prefecture to garrison. When Li Jinglong saw that most of Sheng Yong's army had returned to him, he thought it was his own plan, so he rewarded his aide Mao Hua and appointed him as the military advisor. At the same time, the troops were divided into two groups, and ordered the general Ping'an as the vanguard, leading 50,000 troops to attack Beiping. He also ordered the deputy general Jiangyin Hou Wu Gao to lead 100,000 troops to march into Zhending to intercept the main force of the King of Yan to return from Shanxi. He himself led 400,000 troops to Hejian Prefecture.

In February of the second year of Jianwen, Li Jinglong led more than 500,000 troops to attack Hebei, with great momentum and shocked the whole country.

It is gradually late February. The northern land is warm and the flowers are blooming, the ice and snow melt, the flowers are red and the willows are green, and the warblers are flying around, giving a vibrant spring scene. At this time, the east wind is blowing on the sea surface, and the sea water is gradually warming up.

That morning, the weather was clear, and a few white clouds were floating in the sky. The sea water was as blue and clear as the sky. On the sleepy sea outside the Hejian Mansion, there were more than a dozen warships quietly moored, one of which was a treasure ship that looked like a giant.

This is Li Weizheng's boat ride. Since destroying the shipyard in Zhigu and dozens of military ships, the entire Bohai Sea has actually become the courtyard of the Liaodong Army. Their absolute maritime strength has become Zhu Di's second biggest worry after food. In fact, Zhu Di's expedition to Shanxi was not afraid of Li Jinglong's army of more than 500,000. He was actually afraid that Li Weizheng would destroy his plan.

But judging from the current situation, Li Weizheng did not destroy his plan, and no soldiers came out of Shanhaiguan. It also seemed that he was not concerned about this decisive battle that was related to the ownership of the Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, Li Wei was standing at the bow of the treasure ship, looking at the situation on the land of Hejian Mansion with a thousand miles of eyes. Of course, this place is hundreds of miles away from Hejian Mansion where Li Jinglong's main force stationed. He could not see anything. He was waiting for the arrival of the scout.

At this time, Li Wei was smiling. In his Qianli eyes, a small boat slowly rowed out from the huge rock on the shore. The people on the boat rowed hard and rushed towards him. He put down Qianli eyes and said to his left and right: "The scout is here, come and see me immediately." He then turned around and returned to his combat cabin.

At this time, he was no longer alone in his cabin. Since last year, he has officially established the Liaodong Military Staff Office, which is composed of hundreds of military consultants. It is like his think tank, responsible for the planning of various plans, divided into ten groups. This time he brought one of them, consisting of eight consultants, and analyzed the Hebei War with him through various intelligence sent by the scouts.

The eight counselors' work location is in a large cabin next to his office cabin, and a huge sand table is also located in it. At this time, the eight counselors were busy. Seeing that Li Wei was coming in, they all stood up to greet him. Li Wei was waving his hands and laughing, "You guys keep busy."

He slowly walked to the sand table and observed for a moment. Two consultants were marking the garrison of the Yan army and the imperial army on the sand table. He pondered for a moment, and then asked one of the older consultants with a smile. His surname was Zheng and the head of eight consultants.

"Counselor Zheng, what are you getting now?"

Consul Zheng bowed and said, "Based on the information sent by scouts from everywhere these days, we can basically assert that this time, the King of Yan's expedition to the West was a planned and premeditated strategy of seducing the enemy. His intention was to lure the imperial army deep into Hebei."

"How did you see it?" Li Weizheng asked in a deep voice.

Consul Zheng pointed to Jingxing and said, "A clue can be seen from the situation of the King of Yan's garrison in Jingxing. According to the scouts, the King of Yan only stationed 5,000 troops in Jingxing. Last year, he fought with the Qin and Jin army, but finally deployed 40,000 troops. From this, it can be seen that the King of Yan was not an adventurer. It is impossible for him to be unpredictable for the imperial army to intercept his retreat. The imperial army took ten days to drive from Shandong to Hebei. During these ten days, the King of Yan was enough to send heavy troops to garrison Jingxing, but he always left only 5,000 people, so his only purpose was to paralyze the imperial army."

Li Wei was smiling and nodding, then asked again: "From your analysis, where will the King of Yan's army come out?"

"Please look!" Consul Zheng pointed to several red flags in the northwest of Shanxi and said: "This is Guangchang County, Datong Prefecture. From here, there is a valley called Futuyu. You can cross Wuhui Mountain to reach Zijing Pass, and then south to Yi County of Baoding Prefecture. Last year, the King of Jin planned to march into Hebei from here. If Wu Gao, the Marquis of Jiangyin, also entered Baoding, the Yan army could attack from behind him, or the cavalry of the King of Yan could go north to Wanquanwei and enter Beiping."

Li Wei was looking at the sand table map carefully. This possibility is indeed very high. He knew Zhu Di very well. Last year, he attacked the Qin and Jin coalition forces. He was the main force who was away from home, luring the Qin and Jin army into depth, and then cut off his retreat. It seemed that he was going to use the same trick again.

At this time, the personal soldiers at the door said, "Sir, the scout has arrived."

Immediately, a scout officer walked into the cabin and handed a piece of information to Li Weizheng, "Sir, this is the latest information."
Chapter completed!