Chapter 332 Ye Mingsheng’s determination!

Listening to Gu Sansi's explanation, Ye Mingsheng naturally understood the rest of the things...
Zhen Sanshan's plan was to take advantage of the fact that Feng Erlengzi, Li Mang and Sun Dahai were blocking Ji Qiwei in Sumugou, and then he would lead his men to explode Ji Qiwei's anus and attack Ji Qiwei from two sides!
Ji Qiwei's own logistical supplies were about to be cut off. If he was attacked from both sides, even if his army was not completely wiped out, he would probably suffer heavy losses. It would be considered very good if half of the 30,000 troops could escape!
After carefully observing the terrain on the sand table, Ye Mingsheng silently calculated it in his mind and said with a frown:

"According to the current position and speed of the three bandit leaders, Ji Qiwei might reach Sumugou before them!"

"Behind Sumugou is an open plain. Without the geographical advantage, it will be difficult for the three bandit leaders to stop Ji Qiwei!"

Gu Sansi also saw this and comforted Ye Mingsheng, saying:
"Zhen Sanshan will understand this. It's getting dark soon, so he should send some troops to attack Ji Qiwei's camp under the cover of darkness to slow down the advance of Ji Qiwei's troops and buy time for Sun Dahai and his men!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded reluctantly when he heard this. To be honest, he didn't care who would win between Ji Qiwei and Zhen Sanshan. He really didn't care at all!

What he needs is a fight between Ji Qiwei and Zhen Sanshan. The more miserable the fight, the better. Only in this way can he, who is far inferior to these two in strength, reap the benefits later...
Now, if Ji Qiwei arrives at Sumugou first, it means that Zhen Sanshan's plan of attacking from both sides will fail. Without the opportunity to severely damage Ji Qiwei's troops, Zhen Sanshan will most likely let Ji Qiwei leave.

But for Ye Mingsheng, the opportunity he had been waiting for was completely shattered!

He only had 10,000 troops to attack Posuo Mansion, so if Ji Qiwei and Zhen Sanshan were not both defeated, it would be difficult for him to take over Posuo Mansion!
"How is the contact with Jiang Chong going?" Ye Mingsheng asked Ye Dong who was standing beside him:

Because according to the plan, the biggest advantage of Jiang Chong's 5,000 troops is surprise. Once Baihu Mountain is on guard, it will be difficult for Jiang Chong to do anything. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng's contact with Jiang Chong this time was also very confidential.

After careful consideration, Ye Mingsheng selected a few eloquent men from his personal soldiers and went to Yanjiang County to contact Jiang Chong with his handwritten letter to Jiang Chong.

The reason why they were selected from his own personal soldiers was mainly because they were all loyal enough to Ye Mingsheng and were willing to die for him. They also had a poisonous fang in their mouths, so once they were discovered and captured, they could bite the poisonous fang and commit suicide to preserve the information.

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Ye Dong reported:

"They sent back a letter saying that Jiang Chong has agreed to our plan and is willing to follow the young master's orders, but he kept our people by his side for the convenience of communication..."

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this, and the solemnity in his expression also eased a little.

Now that things have developed to this point, regardless of whether Zhen Sanshan and Ji Qiwei are both defeated, he has already planned to send troops to Posa Mansion!

He only had 10,000 soldiers and Ye Mingsheng didn't believe that Zhen Sanshan would treat him the same way he treated Ji Qiwei who had an army of 30,000. So he gave up the outer towns and villages and retreated to Baihu Mountain.

As long as Zhen Sanshan does not retreat to Baihu Mountain, with the cooperation of Jiang Chong's new force, the military disadvantage between Ye Mingsheng and Zhen Sanshan will be greatly reduced.

Moreover, Jiang Chong has 2,000 cavalrymen, and Ye Mingsheng also has a battalion of 2,500 cavalrymen. Together, they have nearly 5,000 cavalrymen. If 5,000 cavalrymen are used well, even tens of thousands of infantrymen will be unable to stop them.

When the time comes, even if he has to fight Zhen Sanshan, the local tyrant head-on, Ye Mingsheng is confident that he can defeat Zhen Sanshan head-on with the cavalry and firearms in his hands!

But this is the worst solution. If possible, Ye Mingsheng still hopes that Zhen Sanshan and Ji Qiwei will fight to the death. After both are injured, he, Ye, will come out to pick peaches...

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The next morning, in the Shenmenling military camp, looking at the mess and corpses on the ground, Ji Qiwei's heart was burning with anger.

He was waiting for Zhen Sanshan to attack the camp, and he actually waited for Zhen Sanshan's men!

But unfortunately, unlike Ji Qiwei's imagination of the Zhensanshan brigade's night attack, this time Zhensanshan only sent a small force of more than a hundred people...
However, it was just these hundreds of people who turned the camp of his tens of thousands of troops upside down and made it impossible for them to have peace!

If he had not specifically emphasized the need to increase vigilance and his troops had not responded in time, the entire military camp would probably have been reduced to a sea of ​​fire by now.

However, even so, hundreds of soldiers were burned to death in their sleep. After a night of torment, the Liaoyang army, whose morale was already low, was undoubtedly exhausted both physically and mentally.

At this time, the soldier Fan Ke, along with several soldiers, brought a sturdy man with a scar on his face, dressed in black and with a defiant expression, in front of Ji Qiwei.

"General, Commander Ma has captured a man alive!"

Ji Qiwei frowned upon hearing this and asked with some dissatisfaction:

"Is this the only one you caught alive?"

Fan Ke nodded awkwardly and introduced Ji Qiwei:

"Sir, these people seem to be the warriors raised by Zhen Sanshan. They are all fearless and brave, and they all carry fire sticks and kerosene...
"Although this is just one person that was captured alive, Commander Ma said that this scarred man seems to be a leader, and those bandits have been desperately trying to protect him since they were surrounded."

Listening to Fan Ke's explanation, Ji Qiwei felt extremely annoyed and his gaze shifted to the scarred man.

Seeing this dog officer looking at him, the scarred man was unwilling to be outdone and glared back at Ji Qiwei fiercely. Seeing this, the soldiers guarding him quickly cursed:

"You are such a bold lunatic, you are so arrogant even when death is imminent!"

As they talked, they worked together to force the scarred man to his knees. The scarred man struggled for a few times but was still powerless and knelt on the ground.

Seeing that the scarred man was still so arrogant at this point, Ji Qiwei simply stretched out his hand, and the personal soldier beside him respectfully handed a piece of whip to Ji Qiwei.

After taking the whip, Ji Qiwei didn't waste time talking to Scarface. He just whipped Scarface who was kneeling on the ground.

The whip was really cruel. Every time it hit the scarred man, his skin was torn and blood was flowing. At first, the scarred man was also a cruel man and tried hard not to cry out. But as the wounds on his body became more and more painful, the scarred man gradually couldn't hold on any longer and let out painful howls.

Hearing Scarface's screams of pain, Ji Qiwei became even more excited. He whipped him faster and harder, and it didn't take long before Scarface fainted.

Seeing this, Fan Ke hesitated for a moment, but still tried to dissuade him:
"General, it won't be too late to kill him after we dig something out of this kid's mouth..."

Ji Qiwei didn't even turn his head when he heard this, and said angrily:
"This kid is a tough guy. If you don't break his bones, how are you going to get words out of him?"

"Come! Bring me a bucket of cold water to wake him up!"

Under Ji Qiwei's order, the soldiers immediately took a bucket of cold water and poured it on Scarface's body. After the cold water was poured on his body, Scarface, who had fainted, slowly woke up.

Scarface, who had just woken up, looked at Ji Qiwei with a fierce and resentful look, but for the first time, a hint of fear appeared in the depths of his eyes.

Seeing him like this, Ji Qiwei sneered and ordered again:

"Bring me some salt!"

After hearing what Ji Qiwei said, the fear in Scarface's eyes intensified, and he cursed fiercely:

"You bastard official, I'll fuck your mother! You're a ballless thing, do you dare to kill me, your father?"

Although Ji Qiwei was annoyed by the scarred man's provocation, he did not fall for it and sneered:

"Don't worry, I won't let you die now. You are lucky to have a good experience of your Grandpa Ji's methods!"

As soon as Ji Qiwei finished speaking, the personal soldier beside him brought a bowl of salt and began to smear it on Scarface's body as Ji Qiwei requested.

Scarface, who was already covered in blood from being whipped by Ji Qiwei, screamed in pain from the salt on his wounds. The skin on his face twisted in agony, and he looked as if he would rather die than live...

Scarface's miserable appearance made even the soldiers who were used to seeing death feel a little frightened. Under the stimulation of salt, Scarface didn't hold on for long and fainted again.

After being woken up by the cold water again, the extremely weak Scarface finally couldn't hold on any longer and begged for mercy from Ji Qiwei:

"Please kill me now!"

Looking at Scarface who was lying on the ground begging desperately, Ji Qiwei finally felt the disappointment in his heart. A smile appeared on his rough face, and he said very proudly:

"Tell me everything you know, and I'll give you a quick death!"

Hearing Ji Qiwei's words, Scarface begged again:

“If I tell you, Zhen Sanshan will kill my whole family!”

Seeing that Scarface still refused to submit, Ji Qiwei snorted coldly, picked up the whip, and whipped Scarface fiercely again. The pain of the flesh after more than a dozen whips made Scarface's mental defenses completely collapse. He whispered:
"The mission given to us by the Third Master was to prevent you from crossing Sumugou last night. The 20,000 troops arranged by the Third Master are now heading towards Sumugou!"

Upon hearing the news, Ji Qiwei immediately realized the seriousness of the matter, his expression immediately changed and he asked fiercely:
"Are you telling the truth? Where did Zhen Sanshan get 20,000 troops? Isn't his main force still on Baihu Mountain?"

"The Third Master has recruited 20,000 troops from Sun Dahai, Feng Erlangzi, and Li Mang to help in the battle..." Scarface continued:

Ji Qiwei, who found that his retreat was about to be cut off by Zhen Sanshan, did not hesitate at all and anxiously ordered the soldiers around him:
"All troops will break camp immediately and quickly advance towards Sumugou. We must reach Sumugou before noon!"

Under Ji Qiwei's desperate urging, more than 20,000 Liaoyang troops marched quickly all the way and finally arrived at Sumugou at one quarter past noon.

However, what made Ji Qiwei extremely angry was that more than 20,000 bandits had already arrived at Sumugou before them, and had already occupied the advantageous terrain and even built several trenches as defensive fortifications.

Although Ji Qiwei was hot-tempered and brave but not wise, he was an old warrior for more than ten years after all. He still had basic common sense. Looking at the bandits in Sumugou, he knew that Zhen Sanshan wanted to attack from both sides and annihilate his tens of thousands of troops in Sumugou...
There were old forests on both sides of Sumu Valley, and his 20,000-plus men were already short of food and medicine. If they were to bypass Sumu Valley and enter the old forest, even if they didn't reach Mount Mada, who knew how many people would starve to death. By then, even if they got out of the old forest, only one in ten of their troops would be left, and he would not be ashamed to go back and report to Song Wenhui. He could only commit suicide to repay his emperor's kindness.

So after careful consideration, Ji Qiwei gave up the idea of ​​taking a detour and directly issued an order for a strong attack. The best way now was to kill off the more than 20,000 bandits in Sumugou and fight his way out before Zhen Sanshan arrived and the force of the pincer attack was completely formed!
Ji Qiwei had a good idea, but unfortunately, the Liaoyang Army under his command was not the 30,000-strong army that had just entered Posa Prefecture with well-trained soldiers, sufficient food and high morale.

Although Ji Qiwei commanded the troops desperately and even led the team himself to attack the enemy camp, the battle was already over. After attacking for two hours and suffering thousands of casualties, the Liaoyang Army was still unable to make any progress.

Just when Ji Qiwei was furious, the emergence of a piece of news made him feel even more desperate.

Baihu Mountain's chief envoy Lu Zhan'ao and Shuixiang Hansong, also with 20,000 Baihu Mountain bandits, have already crossed Shenmen Ridge and are heading towards Sumugou...
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In the Xiangshui former military camp.

Ye Mingsheng summoned all his generals to the central army camp and began to assign combat tasks in front of the sand table:

"Today is March 23rd. Ji Qiwei's troops have been attacked from both sides in Sumugou. With the enemy at both ends and out of ammunition and food, he will not survive until the day after tomorrow, which is March 25th at the latest!"

"Our troops will move into Posuo Prefecture tonight and must arrive at Qilipu on March 24th to annihilate the more than 3,000 bandits there and then devour Ji Qiwei's grain transport team! Everyone must move quickly, without any delay, and remember not to let any news leak out!"

(End of this chapter)