Chapter 1119: Zhang Shuye fails, Zhujiazhuang strokes the tiger's whiskers
Early May.

After Liangshan captured the entire territory of Jeju, Qiao Lie proposed a plan to divide the troops to attack nearby prefectures and counties.

Su Mingzhe didn't care. He divided the 10,000 soldiers into two and led 5,000 of them to continue attacking Yanzhou.

Qiao Lie led 5,000 troops to attack Shanzhou.

Yanzhou is a big state, and Shanzhou is a small state.

In just five days, the entire Yanzhou fell into Su Mingzhe's hands.

At this moment, Qiao Lie had only captured two towns in Shanzhou.

Su Mingzhe did not go to help Qiao Lie, but continued to lead his troops south to attack Xuzhou.

By late May.

Su Mingzhe took Xuzhou again.

Only then did Qiao Lie take over Shanzhou.

The entire Jingdong Road is nothing more than four prefectures and five states.

Liangshan captured Jizhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou and Shanzhou, and occupied three-fifths of the territory of the east-west road of Beijing.

Zhang Shuye, who originally planned to hold on to Dongping Prefecture and wait for Liangshan to attack, had to take the initiative to send troops and look for opportunities to fight under pressure from the imperial court.

End of May.

Zhang Shuye sent out 30,000 troops and at the same time requisitioned hundreds of imperial navy warships and civilian laborers, claiming to be an army of 50,000, to attack the Liangshan stronghold.

Under the guidance of Gongsun Sheng, the three Ruan brothers made good use of the geographical advantages and easily defeated the imperial navy, capturing more than 6,000 imperial navy soldiers and hundreds of warships.

Zhang Shuye had no choice but to flee and returned to Dongping Prefecture.

Seeing the imperial navy fleeing in panic, the three Ruan brothers wanted to give chase, but were stopped by Gongsun Sheng:

"Brother Xiaoqi, don't chase after desperate enemies! The lord has already given orders that if Zhang Shuye attacks, we just need to repel him!"

On the other side, Zhang Shuye, who was preparing to feign defeat and lure the enemy deeper, saw the Liangshan navy advancing upon hearing the drums and calling back with horns. They followed orders and were more disciplined than the imperial army. He could not help but secretly groan:
"Liangshan has such strict military discipline, I'm afraid we can't wipe them out with just 30,000 troops!"

Cao Liang, the left bailiff of the Imperial City Division, frowned when he heard this:
"Sir, why do you want to boost the enemy's morale? Liangshan is just a small place. What can it do? It's better for us to attack the main force of Liangshan. The remaining remnants can be defeated with just a letter of accusation!"

"No!"

Zhang Shuye looked at Cao Liang, who was born into a royal family, and felt a little contemptuous in his heart, but he had to explain for him:

"The Liangshan bandits were able to capture four states in just over a month. Their momentum is unstoppable. If we face them head-on, we will suffer heavy losses. Even if we take down Liangshan, the imperial court will probably blame us!"

Cao Liang was not only a royal relative, but also came from a noble family and a military family. He could understand what Zhang Shuye said.

However, remembering the imperial court's strict order to quickly wipe out the Liangshan bandits, Cao Liang had to ask:

"Then according to your opinion, what should we do now?"

"We just need to take steady steps, chase and intercept!"

Zhang Shuye's plan was aimed at general peasant uprisings.

You have to know that most peasant uprisings have basically no foundation and are mostly bandits.

Taking steady steps, encircling and intercepting the bandits and reducing their range of movement is a stable strategic approach.

Cao Liang knew that this was the standard answer in military books, and he had no other choice but to follow Zhang Shuye's plan.

Early June.

Liangshan did not continue to attack other prefectures along the Jingdong Road, but instead turned to the Jingdong East Road and destroyed the Huaiyang Army in one battle.

Afterwards, Liangshan attacked Yizhou with a great victory.

At the beginning of the attack on Yizhou, Su Mingzhe and Qiao Lie continued to split their troops into two groups, and Su Mingzhe led his troops directly to Yizhou Prefecture and Yishui.

Qiao Lie attacked Cheng County and Fei County.

At first, everyone achieved results quickly.

After Su Mingzhe captured Yizhou, he prepared to continue attacking Yishui County.

At this time, the "smiling tiger" Zhu Fu suddenly came to report a bad news:

"My lord, the military advisor passed through Dulonggang Lianhuanzhuang yesterday and was ambushed by Zhujiazhuang, losing hundreds of brothers. Now he has retreated to Fei County."

When Su Mingzhe heard that hundreds of his brothers had been lost, his eyes instantly turned red. Liangshan swept across several states, without fighting any tough battles along the way, and the loss of soldiers and horses was less than a thousand.

As a result, hundreds of people were lost in a small Lianhuanzhuang.

When the other leaders heard this, they were all furious and rubbed their fists:

"Brother, this damn Lianhuan Village actually dared to go against Liangshan. It is courting its own destruction! Why not let me lead the troops and lend a helping hand to the military advisor!"

Su Mingzhe ignored these leaders and looked at Zhu Fu and asked:

"Where is the Lianhuanzhuang?"

"That Lianhuan Village is in Dulonggang!"

Zhu Fu was afraid that he could not explain it clearly, so he came to the map, pointed to a high hill near Fei County, and said:

"Dulonggang is close to Yimeng Mountain. On the top of the hill is Zhujiazhuang, near Yizhou is Hujiazhuang, and near Feixian is Lijiazhuang. The three villages, led by Zhujiazhuang, jointly defend and guard, set up camps to protect themselves, and have thousands of soldiers. On weekdays, they don't even take the government seriously."

"I see. No wonder the military advisor was careless for a moment and suffered a setback!"

Su Mingzhe naturally knew everything about the so-called Zhu Family Village.

Now that Zhu Fu had finished his explanation, Su Mingzhe smiled at the other leaders and said,
"How dare you, a mere peasant, go against Liangshan? You really overestimate your own abilities. Brothers, Dulonggang is not too far away. Why don't we all go and take a look?"

In Su Mingzhe's eyes, a mere linked village could be taken down in one battle even if there were thousands of farmers and soldiers.

The other leaders naturally responded quickly.

At noon.

Su Mingzhe led the leaders to Lianhuanzhuang and met up with Qiao Lie.

When Qiao Lie saw Su Mingzhe, he immediately dismounted and apologized.

This time when Liangshan launched an uprising and captured Jeju, Qiao Lie saw that the imperial court was vulnerable and took the initiative to propose dividing the troops to attack various prefectures.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

Su Mingzhe has already conquered two large states and annihilated the Huaiyang Army, which can be said to be a fruitful victory.

Qiao Lie spent a month to capture a small Shanzhou, and he also lost more than a hundred soldiers in a mere Lianhuanzhuang.

It is clear at a glance which side's leadership ability is superior.

When Qiao Lie faced Su Mingzhe, he couldn't help but feel that he was a little shorter than him, and he immediately dismounted and apologized.

Naturally, Su Mingzhe would not punish Qiao Lie for this.

Liangshan has only been established for two years. Although it is very powerful, it cannot conceal the nature of a makeshift team.

Su Mingzhe had no choice but to let Qiao Lie lead the troops.

Now that Qiao Lie has suffered setbacks in Lianhuanzhuang, Su Mingzhe also has to bear part of the responsibility.

The greetings ended.

Su Mingzhe immediately beat the drum to gather his troops.

Upon hearing the news, Zhujiazhuang on Dulonggang immediately made preparations.

"My Lord, are we going to attack Zhujiazhuang now?"

Seeing that Su Mingzhe was so anxious as soon as he took over the army, Qiao Lie wanted to persuade Su Mingzhe to be more cautious, but he was afraid that he, a defeated general, would be despised, so he could only ask in a low voice.

"No need to attack Zhujiazhuang, let's attack Lijiazhuang first!"

Since the three villages are mutually supportive, Su Mingzhe only needs to eliminate Lijia Village and Hudia Village, and Zhujia Village will have to send troops to rescue.

It would be better if Zhujiazhuang didn’t come to rescue.

As long as Lijiazhuang and Hudiazhuang are destroyed, Zhujiazhuang alone can be completely eradicated even with the help of thousands of pigs.

After hearing this, all the leaders volunteered.

Su Mingzhe was not polite either. He arranged for Qiao Lie to lead three leaders and two thousand men to attack Lijiazhuang, while he himself led two thousand men to attack Hujiazhuang.

The remaining one thousand men were led by leaders such as Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen to attack the reinforcements from Zhujiazhuang.

(End of this chapter)