Chapter 380: Another wave of trouble, the mastermind behind it!
As the ancients said, if you don’t return to your hometown when you are rich and powerful, it is like walking in fine clothes at night!

When Ye Mingsheng returned to Fengshan County this time, he had many feelings because of the changes in his status and power...

He has been busy these past few days, negotiating with the Liaoyang local faction, appeasing the Ye clan members, arranging logistical supplies and many other things, and he has not been able to rest!
Just when things were getting better and Ye Mingsheng was ready to relax, he received a piece of news that caught him off guard!

Yuan Song's troops, acting as the vanguard, captured Sanyuan County and had an unimpeded path all the way to the city of Dongning. According to the previous intelligence that the main force of the Zhenwu Army was gathering in Hulin County to prepare for the attack on Guangning Prefecture, Yuan Song believed that the city of Dongning Prefecture was likely to be short of troops, so he launched a tentative attack on the city of Dongning Prefecture, wanting to test the strength of the city of Dongning Prefecture!

Yuan Song was generally satisfied with the test results. The morale and will to resist of the defenders in the city were not high. After only a tentative attack, the ladders were already set up on the city walls. On the night when Yuan Song summoned his soldiers to prepare a specific siege plan, they were attacked at night by the main force of the Zhenwu Army...

Tens of thousands of Zhenwu Army soldiers, as well as the more than 10,000 Shiwei people who were supposed to be there according to intelligence, suddenly rushed out and surrounded Yuan Song's troops under the city of Dongning. They launched an attack in the middle of the night with torches held high. This battle was completely beyond the expectations of Yuan Song's troops. At the beginning of the battle, due to the dual advantages of the enemy's troop strength and sudden attack, Yuan Song's troops were defeated and suffered heavy casualties.

Fortunately, the Fengzhou Army has always been strict in military discipline and has a tradition of building strong camps and fighting stupid battles. No matter where they go during the battles, they always dig deep trenches and place chevaux de frise to build defensive fortifications.

These hard and tiring rules had caused a lot of complaints in the Fengzhou army before, but Ye Mingsheng always insisted on his own opinion and did not allow his subordinates to relax on this. This time, it was these strongholds and deep trenches that saved the lives of more than 20,000 soldiers of Yuan Song's army.

Although Yuan Song’s troops were badly beaten at the beginning of the battle, this was, after all, the army that Ye Mingsheng had poured countless efforts into. Their training was very strict and their fighting will was very tenacious. In addition, they had the battle-hardened general Yuan Song in charge. So after the initial stage of confusion, more than 20,000 Fengzhou soldiers began to rely on fortifications and organized counterattacks and resistance under the command of Yuan Song. The fierce battle lasted until dawn...
As soon as daybreak, the Zhenwu Army, which had been unable to defeat Yuan Song's troops, became impatient and wanted to use their cavalry advantage to destroy the Fengzhou Army's camp and crush the Fengzhou Army soldiers in the camp under their horses' hooves. However, defensive fortifications such as trenches and chevaux de frise outside the camp played a big role.

Their presence made it impossible for the Zhenwu Army's cavalry to fully develop their advantage. In the daytime, when there was ample visibility, the Fengzhou Army's soldiers could hide behind the fortifications and use red cannons, muskets, and other firearms to kill the enemy, causing many casualties to the Zhenwu Army's cavalry.
Therefore, even though the number of Zhenwu Army soldiers under Dongning City was more than twice that of Yuan Song's troops at this time, they had no good way to deal with Yuan Song's troops under the power of Fengzhou Army's firearms. They could only continuously organize troops to launch attacks and strive to capture Yuan Song's troops as soon as possible.

Although Yuan Song's troops passed the most dangerous stage, it did not mean that they were safe. Although the Fengzhou Army had a strict process for the custody and storage of ammunition, under the current technical conditions, the ammunition was still very afraid of moisture. Now was the period of August and September in Liaoyang. The humidity was high in the morning and it could rain at any time. This caused a lot of non-combat consumption of Yuan Song's ammunition reserves...

While being surrounded by the Zhenwu Army, Yuan Song and his soldiers could not get any supplies. Their food became less and less, and their ammunition and medicines became less and less.

The food problem is relatively easy to solve. After all, Yuan Song brought enough food with him when he was in Sanyuan County. The amount of food each person eats will not increase significantly due to the intensity of the battle, so the consumption is relatively small.

But ammunition and medicines are different. These two things are closely related to the intensity of the battle. Once the intensity of the battle increases, their consumption will be very large.

Under the Zhenwu Army's wave after wave of attacks, Yuan Song's troops' reserve ammunition and medicines were consumed at a very fast rate. Without the supply of ammunition, Yuan Song's troops lost their greatest weapon against the Zhenwu Army's cavalry. Without medicines, the injured soldiers could not receive effective treatment, which had a great impact on morale and military spirit.

Once they lost their weapons and morale, the fate of Yuan Song's troops would be self-evident as they were surrounded by the Zhenwu Corps. After realizing the danger, Yuan Song certainly thought about breaking out, but he quickly gave up the idea.

Surrounded by tens of thousands of enemy cavalry, the best way was to hide behind fortifications and fight back with firearms. Once they broke through without the protection of fortifications, their infantry would be quickly defeated when encountering a large group of enemy cavalry on the plains...

If breaking out fails, Yuan Song's second choice in crisis is naturally to ask for help. The Fengzhou Army's troops sent to Dongning Prefecture this time are divided into two routes. One route is Yuan Song's attack from Sanyuan County, with a force of about 20,000 people. The other route is Lin Huaiwu's attack from Fengshan County. The troops led by Ye Mingsheng also took the route to Xuantu Prefecture, with a total force of about 40,000 people.

It can be seen from the place names, one is "yuan" and the other is "shan". The terrain along the way to Sanyuan County where Yuan Song took the route was flat, and there were no fortified cities or natural barriers along the way, so he made rapid progress and directly reached the city of Dongning Prefecture. However, the terrain along the way to Fengshan County where Ye Mingsheng and Lin Huaiwu took the route was not as good, so they were relatively slower and were still some distance away from the city of Dongning.

What does crisis mean?
Danger and opportunity!
The two complement each other, and in war, the transition from offense to defense is often a very fast thing, just like this time Yuan Song's troops were besieged by the Zhenwu Army, but from another perspective, this can also be seen as Yuan Song's troops delaying the main force of the Zhenwu Army. As long as Ye Mingsheng and Lin Huaiwu's troops behind can catch up as soon as possible and arrive at the city of Dongning, they can completely turn the passive situation into the active one, and attack the Zhenwu Army from both inside and outside with Yuan Song's troops...

In this way, the Fengzhou Army would not face a crushing defeat, but perhaps a complete victory that would be enough to lay the foundation for victory in Liaoyang!
Therefore, Yuan Song has been actively wanting to send people out to inform Ye Mingsheng, but the Zhenwu Army is not stupid either. Naturally, they will not let you send the news out so easily. They have been blocking the news with all their might, hoping to keep Ye Mingsheng in the dark!

However, the Zhenwu Army could block the distress signal from Yuan Song’s troops, but it could not stop the spies from the General Coordination Office. The day after the main force of the Zhenwu Army attacked Yuan Song’s troops at night, the spies who received the news did not dare to neglect it and immediately passed the news back via carrier pigeons...
At Huanglinling, two hundred miles away from Dongning Prefecture, Ye Mingsheng glanced at the top-secret information, although he was shocked and angry at the moment.

However, under the gazes of the generals in the tent, Ye Mingsheng still forced himself to remain calm, and ordered Lin Huaiwu, Guo Zhiping and other generals in the tent:

"Yuan Song has encountered some minor troubles outside Dongning City. We must capture Huanglinling within two days at any cost!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's general, everyone suddenly became serious and bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"Yes!" After everyone else walked out of the tent to prepare for the attack, Ye Mingsheng handed the secret letter on the desk to He Jingyun. Looking at the message in the secret letter, He Jingyun's expression showed a hint of shock.

"Chen Dechang, Wang Muzhi has fooled both you and me!" Ye Mingsheng said in a low voice with a sinister look in his eyes:

Judging from the distance and marching speed, the Zhenwu Army did not suddenly change its strategy because of its own active attack, but it was a premeditated layout.

Previous intelligence indicated that the main force of the Zhenwu Army and the Shiwei people were concentrated in Hulin County. This was definitely correct. Spies from the General Coordination Office pretended to be ordinary people delivering food, chicken, duck, fish and meat, and had entered the Zhenwu Army’s barracks. They saw with their own eyes the size of the Zhenwu Army’s forces in Hulin County at that time. In addition, this news was repeatedly confirmed through various channels...

Therefore, the main force of the Zhenwu Army, which was supposed to appear in Hulin County to invade Guangning Prefecture, suddenly appeared in Dongning City to attack Yuan Song's troops. In addition to their ability to teleport, there was only one possibility, that is, after they made a feint in Hulin County, they immediately rushed back to Dongning City.

Hulin County is about 500 miles away from Dongning City. According to the Zhenwu Army's fastest marching speed of 80 miles a day, it will take about six days. Today is the sixth day of the Fengzhou Army's attack on Dongning!
So it was obvious that Wang Muzhi had set a trap for him. He deliberately let the news out to make him think that he was going to attack Guangning Prefecture to rob the Cui family of money and food. But in fact, he had other intentions. He wanted to lure the snake out of its hole and use this news to force him to abandon the strategy of clearing the countryside and take the initiative to attack Dongning Prefecture to fight a decisive battle with him.

Although he was a little annoyed that he had been tricked by Wang Muzhi, Ye Mingsheng was very clear that in the current situation, emotions such as annoyance and anger were meaningless. What he needed was to break the impasse and open up the route from Fengshan County to Dongning City as soon as possible to rescue Yuan Song's troops who were surrounded by the Zhenwu Army.

In fact, after several days of fighting, although Ye Mingsheng's troops were not as fast as Yuan Song's, they were already very close to Dongning City, with only about two hundred miles left. Unfortunately, within these two hundred miles there was a place called Huanglinling.

The geographical location of Huanglinling is very dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is the only way from Fengshan County to Dongning Prefecture. If you don't take Huanglinling, you either have to cross uninhabited deep mountains and forests, or take a detour of more than 800 miles.

Precisely because of its extremely strategic geographical location and the fact that it serves as a barrier to Dongning Prefecture, the Zhenwu Army deployed approximately 5,000 troops in Huanglinling to block the advance of the Fengzhou Army.

When Ye Mingsheng got the news before, he was a little surprised. The Zhenwu Army only deployed three to four thousand people in Sanyuan County and Fengshan County respectively, but deployed so many people in Huanglinling. Now it seems that Wang Muzhi wants to use them to buy time for the encirclement and suppression of Yuan Song's troops...

Seeing He Jingyun put down the secret letter, Ye Mingsheng rubbed the Qingming acupoint and asked He Jingyun:

"How long do you think Yuan Song can hold on?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, He Jingyun hesitated for a moment and said:
"Your Excellency, I don't think General Yuan should be able to hold out for three days. They shouldn't be under much pressure on food and fodder now. They always bring enough food and fodder when they go on the expedition. The main problem is the ammunition. In the current weather, even if the ammunition is wrapped in oilcloth, it is difficult for it to avoid moisture in the barracks. The non-combat consumption will be very large..."

Ye Mingsheng nodded in agreement when he heard this. Firearms are the Fengzhou Army's greatest weapon against cavalry. Once there is not enough ammunition supply, the red cannon, Weiyuan gun, and Po Lu gun equipped by the Fengzhou Army will lose their effectiveness.

The current situation is that both sides have revealed their true colors. Wang Muzhi has put in a lot of effort and even used two counties and thousands of Zhenwu soldiers as bait, just to get a chance to decide the outcome of a battle with Ye Mingsheng. If they are allowed to annihilate Yuan Song's troops now, it will have a huge impact on the strength and morale of the Fengzhou Army, and they will definitely have the upper hand in the upcoming decisive battle.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng could not sit idly by and watch Yuan Song's troops being annihilated. Since Wang Muzhi wanted a decisive battle so much, why not give it to him?
Misfortunes sent by Heaven can be avoided, but misfortunes brought upon oneself cannot!

Relying on the red cannons, grenades and other firearms equipped on his side, Ye Mingsheng has the confidence and courage to make Wang Muzhi fail in his attempt and suffer the consequences!
Just when Ye Mingsheng was determined, Ye Kui walked into the tent and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"Reporting to Master Huo San, Directors Wang Xuecheng and Wang Xuecheng have arrived outside the tent and have important military information to report!"

Hearing that these two people were coming, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but snort coldly. The reason why he fell into Wang Muzhi's trap this time was largely because the intelligence provided by the Coordination Office was not timely and accurate enough. If the Coordination Office could keep up with the movements of the main force of the Zhenwu Army, then things would not have developed into the current situation.

Although he was somewhat dissatisfied with Huo San and Wang Xuecheng, Ye Mingsheng still waved his hand and let the two people in for the sake of important military information. After the two people entered the tent, they just finished greeting Ye Mingsheng, and before Ye Mingsheng could ask, Director Huo San spoke:
"Your Excellency, we have already found out that the Cui family is the mastermind behind Wang Muzhi's evil plot!"

"And the Cui family has already contacted the Yun family, the Gongsun family, and several Liaoyang generals in the Zhenwu Army, intending to have them surrender to our army! Sun Cheng, the deputy general of the garrison in Huanglinling, is one of the generals who accepted the Cui family's contact!"

(End of this chapter)