Chapter 101: Shit luck, Ling Cao made a great contribution

The last day of the third year of Zhongping.

Xu Gong, the commander of Wu Commandery, robbed and killed Tang Mao, the governor of Kuaiji Commandery, in their grain transport team and stole the grain and fodder.

The six counties of Yangzhou were in an uproar.

Tang Mao, the prefect of Kuaiji County, and Jin Mao, the prefect of Yuzhang County, jointly wrote a letter to the court, requesting that Xu Gong be punished.

Afterwards, Wujun Prefect Sheng Xian and Wujun Commander jointly wrote a letter to the emperor, accusing Tang Mao and Jin Mao of colluding with each other and bringing disaster to the three counties.

As the matter gradually escalated, the newly appointed governor of Yangzhou, Baji, came out to mediate, but as both sides insisted on their own opinions, they had no choice but to report the matter to the court again.

In Luoyang, people in the streets and alleys treated this incident as a joke, adding some topic of conversation after dinner.

They are just three counties in the barbarian land. People in Luoyang look down on these country bumpkins living in the mountains.

In the fourth year of Zhongping, Luoyang City.

Kong Rong, a famous scholar in the State of Lu, advocated for Wujun Shengxian and called on the upper echelons to find out the truth.

However, Emperor Liu Hong was busy having fun in the West Garden and had no time to deal with such a small matter.

...

January of the fourth year of Zhongping.

Yuhang County.

As early as when Xu Gong launched the robbery and killing, Jin Mao crossed the river and led his troops to occupy Yuhang County, while Tang Mao stayed in Qiantang County and cooperated with Xi Zhicai in dispatching food and grass.

It was also because of this incident that the Yangzhou governor, Ba Ji, came to mediate.

Jin Mao was very firm: "As long as Xu Gong hands over the culprit, I will withdraw."

The culprit is Xu Gong, how can we hand him over?
Xu Gong was in the wrong in this matter, and the army under the Yangzhou governor Baqi was not as large as Xu Gong's.

Even if he wanted to help Sheng Xian, he couldn't, so he left and returned to Shouchun County, Jiujiang County, the provincial capital.

As a result, Jin Mao deployed his troops in Yuhang County, and Xu Gong and Sheng Xian deployed their troops in Wucheng County, and the two sides entered into a standoff.

It’s not that Jin Mao had to wait for news from the court, but the siege was not as easy as imagined.

Jinmao has already attacked once, and Xu Gong hid in Wucheng County and refused to come out.

Seeing this, Jin Mao did not attack quickly.

Through observation, it was found that the quality of Xu Gong's soldiers was indeed not as good as his, but they were well-equipped.

The two thousand men were all fully armored, and except for the cavalry, they had all types of troops and were fully prepared to defend the city.

Putting aside other things, Xu Gong’s apparent strength is not weak if Jinmao attacks the county town by force.

Not only will your reputation be ruined, but you also have to be prepared for heavy losses.

Not worth the candle.

However, there are ways to deal with it.

After several days of investigation, Jinmao discovered that there were mountains and forests to the west of Wucheng County, and more people were farming than on the other three sides, but there were fewer people on the west.

According to what the people said, Yan Baihu and several thousand bandits were entrenched on the mountain, and they often went down the mountain to rob and steal food, so naturally there was no one on the west side.

Yan Baihu was a powerful man in Wucheng County. Jin Mao expected that there would not be much food and grass in the county, so Xu Gong would have to transport food from other places.

This makes things simple.

Jin Mao ordered the rear to send all the war horses across the river, a total of 300 horses.

He also selected 300 elite soldiers from the army as cavalry, more than half of whom had learned to ride horses before.

Although I can't be a real cavalryman, it's enough to be able to sit on the horse without falling off.

Three hundred people were scattered in the east, south and north directions of Wucheng County. As long as a grain transport team appeared, the three hundred people would gather and attack.

Jin Mao, led by Dong Xi, assisted by Yang Lin and Ling Cao, each led a cavalry team of 100 men to search in a direction.

Ling Cao was from Yuhang. He had been climbing mountains and swimming in rivers since he was a child. He had done all kinds of stealing and sneaking things, but he had never ridden a horse.

There was no way around it. There were few horses in the south, let alone war horses. Ling Cao had never seen one before joining the army.

Therefore, Ling Cao cherishes the opportunity to be selected as a captain of the cavalry team this time.

Look, more than half of the 100-man team under his command, more than 30 of them are local people from Yuhang.

Originally, there were a hundred people coming out of Yuhang County, but now there are only more than eighty left. Except for the thirty-something men under Ling Cao, the other nearly fifty people are now elite veterans, serving in various main forces.

This time they were able to demonstrate their military strength in their hometown. Not to mention Ling Cao, even the people of Yuhang wanted to show off and let their fellow villagers see that the bad boys had grown up!

Therefore, after discussion, Ling Cao deliberately chose the north. Everyone believed that if Xu Gong wanted to transport grain, he would definitely go through Zhenze (Taihu Lake).

In the Wu and Yue regions, people were more accustomed to using boats instead of horses, as water transportation was both fast and convenient.

But there is a problem that has always bothered Ling Cao.

"Fuck you! You really bring shame to me!"

Since Ling Cao asked Jin Mao to transfer all the Yuhang people out of the 300 men to him, most of his men could not ride horses.

Dong Xian and Yang Lin had both led the team out for a stroll, but Ling Cao was still training his men to ride horses.

"Kun Tao, please don't talk about them. Aren't you the same kind of person?"

Yang Lin happened to be leading the team back and delivered a ruthless mockery.

Ling Cao was not convinced and said, "Yang Baldy, you sound like you know a lot. How did you get the missing piece on your head? Don't you know?"

"Hard talk!" Yang Lin said with a smile, "Just wait for me and Captain Dong to take the first place!"

At this time, Dong Xian happened to be leading the team back. He saw the two men reining in their horses proudly, and their horses stood up, which made the two men curl their lips.

He secretly complained: "What's so great about it? It's just that the lord favors me and put a Gaoqiao saddle on me."

Dong Xian started to show off just like driving a sports car in later generations, saying, "This horse that the lord gave me as a reward is really good!" Now, Ling Cao and Yang Lin could no longer bear it.

"I have something to do, so I'll leave first." Yang Lin got on the horse.

Ling Cao nodded and said, "I have to practice hard too, the first skill is waiting for me!"

Dong Xian wanted to loosen the reins and reach out to stop them, but he was afraid of falling off the horse and being embarrassed, so he could only shout: "Hey, you two, the lord said that you must work together!"

Three days later, Ling Cao finally dared to take his men out for a walk. This time he brought enough food for three days and was determined to make some noise.

The straight-line distance between Yuhang County and Wucheng County is less than 150 miles, but if you have to go around the county seat, the journey will be over miles.

Fortunately, we had war horses and were able to arrive in one day.

However, Ling Cao still underestimated the extent of his men's horse riding skills.

It was almost dark when they arrived ten miles outside the east gate of Wucheng County, still dozens of miles away from their destination in the north.

Ling Cao was a ruthless man. He relied on the last rays of sunlight to advance another ten miles.

After a short rest, he led his men on the journey again in the dark, but this time they walked instead of riding horses.

Ling Cao from Wucheng County also came here often. He was very familiar with the area. The people from Yuhang under his command were similar and they had all known each other since childhood.

In this way, with the moon hanging in the middle of the sky, Ling Cao and others marched in the dark until midnight and finally arrived near Zhenze.

Just about to find a place to rest.

Suddenly, Ling Cao growled, "Stop moving forward!"

Fortunately, everyone had a tacit understanding, so no one fell swoop.

"Second brother, you take five people and follow me. Third brother, you take the people to tie up the horses. Fourth brother, you stay behind and take the brothers to eat bread and drink water."

Ling Cao gave a series of orders, and hundreds of people began to split up. Ling Cao took the lead and quietly moved to the lakeside.

The fire reflected in his eyes.

"Second brother, how did you say that sentence?"

"It's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early!"

Ling Cao grinned and said, "Brothers, take some time to rest. I will lead you all to perform great deeds in two hours!"

"Here!"

Mao Shi.

Ling Cao woke everyone up one by one. In fact, no one had slept well. Seeing that the great achievement was just around the corner, they were so excited that they couldn't sleep.

This time of winter is the coldest and darkest.

A temporary wharf was built in Zhenze, near Wucheng County.

At this time, illuminated by dozens of torches, several small wooden boats that were occasionally seen at the dock had a deep draft and were obviously carrying heavy objects.

There were dozens of these small wooden boats looming in the darkness.

On the other side of the dock, something seemed to be moving in the darkness outside the fire.

The dock guard seemed to have noticed this place and shouted, "Who is it?"

And threw out a torch.

The next moment, the staff on duty saw a series of hideous faces flash by in the light of the fire.

"Enemy attack!"

"kill!!"

Both sides shouted almost at the same time.

Ling Cao took the lead, jumped up and chopped down the sentry with a knife: "Follow me!"

A hundred people followed Ling Cao and rushed into the tents. The people behind them followed suit and attacked the tents that had not been entered yet.

Soon, screams were heard from every tent, and blood dyed the camp cloth red.

An hour later, the sun shone on the pier.

A group of blood-soaked soldiers were cooking. Not far away there were several large bonfires, and through the firelight they could see many corpse-like things.

Only a reckless man like Ling Cao dared to break into the camp of 500 people in the middle of the night.

What's even more outrageous is that he slaughtered all the enemies while his own casualties were negligible.

However, Ling Cao knew that a fierce battle was about to begin.

So he killed the donkey, took the meat, and treated his brothers to a good meal.

Those bonfires were not lit randomly. Firstly, they were to prevent epidemics, and secondly, to notify the enemy while also notifying ourselves.

Ling Cao had a big appetite. He not only wanted to rob food, but also wanted to transport it back.

There must be at least tens of thousands of tons of grain and fodder here. If we can transport it back, it will be a great achievement!
He joined the army at the same time as He Qi and Dong Xi, but now he is the one doing the worst.

Therefore, Ling Cao was eager for military merit, and the hundred men under him were all people who valued money more than their lives. Most of them were the ones who had their merits cut off at one time.

These people wholeheartedly agreed with Ling Cao's decision.

After a hearty meal, Ling Cao immediately ordered his men to start cutting wood to build chevaux de frise, digging traps, and constructing a very simple defensive structure.

Noon.

The fire gradually went out, and Ling Cao saw a large group of people in the distance.

"finally come!"

Ling Cao was not afraid at all, but even felt a little excited.

(End of this chapter)