Chapter 268: The Meizi War (I)

The news brought by the scout surprised everyone. All the roads ahead were blocked, and no one was allowed to go south, no wonder no news came. Needless to say, everyone understood Lan Yu's tactics. Lan Yu wanted to wipe them out in Jiading Prefecture. They already knew about the 50,000 troops in Neijiang, but how many troops are there in Jiading City?

Everyone looked at Li Weizheng, would this battle be fought or not? Li Weizheng looked at the distance with a serious look. He was considering what would Lan Yu, who had always used the odd soldiers, take action? Since the three years of research on Lan Yu, this person has not sent troops according to common sense. He likes to follow his ideas and grasp the initiative in war.

What about this time? Although Li Wei knew that his weapon was unmatched by the Lan Yu army, Lan Yu's surprise soldiers would cause him to suffer the greatest losses. But everything has two sides. Lan Yu's army does not have wings, so where is his surprise soldiers' weakness?

Li Wei was thinking for a long time, and finally ordered: "I ordered the entire army to board the ship and continue to march north."

Although Lan Yu wanted to fight him in Jiading Mansion and fight a war, why did he be led by Lan Yu?

The 100,000 troops boarded the ship at the fastest speed. In less than half an hour, the shore was empty and there was not a single soldier left. Even the safe cavalry team boarded the ship. Thousands of large ships sailed into the middle of the river and continued to march northward.

An hour later, the fleet approached Jiading City from afar. Although there were cannons at the top of the city, the range was not enough to reach the center of the river. On the top of the city, Lan Yu, wearing armor, looked at the fleet that covered the sky and the sun, and sailed past. In order to wipe out Li Weizheng's army, he deployed 250,000 troops on the front line of Jiading, and used the 50,000 troops from Neijiang as bait. He believed that the 50,000 troops were a piece of fat against any army, and it was impossible not to bite the bait. Unexpectedly, Li Weizheng ignored him at all, and continued to sail north with a very clear goal and headed straight to Chengdu.

Lan Yu was very confused. He knew that he had encountered a strong enemy this time, and the other party seemed to have seen through all his deployments.

"General, what should we do now?" his deputy general Sun Guangbiao asked anxiously.

Lan Yu lowered his head and thought for a moment, and suddenly ordered: "Order the army to bring dry food for three days each and return to Chengdu quickly."

In any case, he would not let his army be defeated one by one.

Lan Yu's army set out in chaos, and the 250,000 troops and thousands of warships seemed to be racing, one by water and the other by land, racing against time toward north. Gradually, Lan Yu's army surpassed the fleet and became farther and farther. Lan Yu dared not slow down. He wanted to arrive in Chengdu early. He knew that the other party was waiting for his work on a boat. If he did not leave time for the army to rest and wait, he would be defeated in this battle.

Two days later, Lan Yu's army had surpassed Li Weizheng's fleet for more than 100 miles. That night, the fleet was sailing on the calm river surface and traveling another thirty miles. Meizhou was ahead. Li Wei was carefully studying the sand table in the cabin. The terrain east of Meizhou was relatively flat and suitable for cavalry combat. When he walked north, he entered a hilly and mountainous area, which was not conducive to his northern army's combat.

"It should be here." He looked at the large plain east of Meizhou and said to himself.

Just when everyone thought Li Wei was about to speed up, Li Wei Zheng suddenly issued an order, 'The fleet was docked, and the army was all on the shore.'

Deng Jian didn't understand why, so he hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Sir General, what is this?"

"Do you think I really want to go to Chengdu?"

Li Weijing smiled coldly and said, "Since Lan Yu likes to use strange tricks, I will let him lose to strange tricks."

Ping'an and Deng Jian didn't understand what Li Weizheng meant. They looked at each other and were about to ask again, but Li Weizheng waved his hand and said, "Do as I told you, you will understand what I mean soon."

The fleet landed, and the 100,000 troops landed on the shore again. After resting for an hour, Li Weizheng ordered: "The fleet continues to go north, and the army turns around and heads east to station for twenty miles."

At this time, Deng Jian faintly understood Li Weizheng's intention and smiled at Ping'an privately and said, "General Ping, the time you are looking forward to is coming."

Ping'an was stunned and said anxiously: "Don't play the puzzle anymore, tell me quickly."

Deng Jian smiled mysteriously and said, "Think about it, if Lan Yu knew that our man and ship were separated, the ship was heading north and the army was heading east, how would he understand the general's intention?"

Ping'an thought about it carefully, and suddenly realized, "Is the real goal of the General's General not Chengdu, but to seize Ziyang?"

"You are halfway through, Lan Yu will think so, but unfortunately it is not exactly."

"What is that other half?"

"If I guess correctly, the real purpose of the General is to wait for the effort and fight a tough battle with 100,000 yuan against Lan Yu's 250,000 yuan. This is the price of Lan Yu's strange plan, which greatly damages the strength of the soldiers. The General is to see the biggest weakness of Lan Yu's army. And even if Lan Yu sees through the plan and refuses to go south, General Li will take the opportunity to occupy Ziyang and Meizhou and compress Lan Yu's territory in Chengdu. Within half a year, Lan Yu will be defeated."

"It's better to fight a tough battle!" Ping An roared. He had long wanted to fight a fierce battle.

At this time, Lan Yu's army had passed Pengshan County, and he kept getting reports from the horses. The Liaodong army fleet had passed Tongyuan Town, about fifty miles away from Meizhou City. Due to the strong wind at night, the ship speed significantly accelerated. Lan Yu frowned and immediately ordered: "I'll order the army to not rest. Keep heading north and rest after rushing to Chengdu at noon tomorrow."

After ordering, the soldiers complained that everyone was exhausted. They thought they had to bury the pot and cook, but they didn't expect to continue to go north and would not rest until noon tomorrow.

Deputy General Sun Guangbiao advised worriedly: "The soldiers will not be able to stand the general's march like this. Let's rest for an hour and let everyone eat some dry food!"

Lan Yu said angrily: "I have worked hard for the head coach. What are they shouting? Soldiers are so fast. If Li Weizheng arrives in Chengdu first, will it be over?"

"But isn't there still General Ma's 20,000 defenders in Chengdu? He should be able to arrive for a while."

"That fool Ma Lin, Li Wei is having powerful artillery. Can he defend the city?"

Sun Guangbiao was speechless. He felt that Lan Yu had actually been held by Li Wei. This once-magnificent general seemed to have deteriorated after enjoying the extravagance of several years. He did not realize that he had been restrained by the enemy. He did not dare to say anything more and had to urge the soldiers to speed up the march.

After marching for two more hours, the soldiers could not hold on anymore, and even the officers began to complain. Sun Guangsun finally couldn't help but suggest a rest to Lan Yu again. Seeing that the soldiers were really not good, Lan Yu had to order: "The whole army rested on the spot for half an hour, and was not allowed to bury the pot and cook. After eating some dry food, continue to march."

"The Grand Marshal has an order. He will rest for half an hour and must not be buried in the pot to cook!"

"The Grand Marshal has an order. He will rest for half an hour and must not be buried in the pot to cook!"

The messengers conveyed the orders one after another. Although it was only half an hour, the exhausted army cheered and everyone fell to the ground to rest. Many people fell asleep immediately as soon as they lay down. They were so tired that they were extremely tired.

Lan Yu sat on a big rock, drinking water while thinking about the current situation of the Ming Dynasty. The Liaodong Army's entry into Sichuan was indeed unexpected. He thought that the court would fight with the King of Yan for at least a few years. He happened to take advantage of the years to consolidate the army and develop, take down Hanzhong, and connect with the King of Qin. Then he supported the King of Qin to proclaim himself emperor in Chengdu, and even thought about the country name: Ximing, make the King of Qin a puppet, and after seizing the world, he will depose him and become emperor. He must overthrow the Ming Dynasty to avenge Zhu Yuanzhang's revenge for killing his whole family.

But the sudden arrival of the Liaodong Army interrupted his plan. To be honest, he looked down on Li Weizheng a little. This kind of despise is a kind of contempt. Li Weizheng is from Linhuai County. He is from Dingyuan County. People from Dingyuan County have always looked down on Linhuai County. This is a source of some places. Secondly, Li Weizheng's old background is very clear. A minor official from Linhuai County, a scholar who failed the exam five times. Back then, he saved the prince Zhu Biao at his doorstep and has made great success since then. Now it seems that he is less than 30 years old and has not grown a single boy. Can a battle-hardened General Lan?

However, Lan Yu was a little taboo about Li Weizheng's artillery. It is said that he invented a new type of tiger squat cannon, which could be supported by war horses. For this reason, he also specially established a cannon cavalry. Zhang Yu's 30,000 elite troops were hated by this kind of artillery.

This made Lan Yu a little uneasy. Sichuan is no better than the northern border. Without cavalry, it is basically mainly infantry and cannot gain an advantage in speed. Once the two armies fight, the artillery of the Liaodong Army may cause severe damage to itself.

Just when Lan Yu was restless, a spy suddenly rushed over, rolled over and dismounted, and knelt in front of Lan Yu to report: "General, the Liaodong Army has quietly arrived ashore at night and headed east, but the fleet continues to sail north."

Lan Yudi stood up and asked anxiously: "How many of them have come ashore?"

"The specific number of people in the dark is unknown, but it should be at least 80,000."

‘Eighty thousand people!’ Lan Yu sat down again, wondering, “What are they going to do?”

Deputy General Sun Guangbiao next to him whispered: "General, will the Liaodong Army go to get Ziyang?"

A word reminded Lan Yu, and he immediately ordered: "Get the map."

Several personal soldiers spread the map on the big rocks and lit torches. Lan Yu looked at the terrain carefully. There were plains east of Meizhou, and about two hundred miles to Ziyang. This terrain was conducive to the marching of Duoma in the north. Moreover, Meizhou to Ziyang is a grain-producing area. At present, there are still millions of stones of grain in Ziyang. Lan Yu suddenly discovered an extremely serious consequence. If the imperial court's actual control advances to Ziyang and Meizhou, he would not be able to support a large army of 300,000, and he could only maintain an army of about 100,000 at most. Then, the Liaodong army went north and 200,000 Hanzhong army went south. Can he resist the attack from north to south?

Sweat flowed down Lan Yu's forehead, and he suddenly understood Li Weizheng's strategic deployment. Li Weizheng did not want to take Chengdu, but forced himself to death step by step. At this time, the King of Yan should be attacking Qin and Jin. The King of Qin was too busy to take care of himself and could not come to help him again. Ziyang was his own granary and could not be lost no matter what.
Chapter completed!