Chapter 425 Li Xuanren

Palace capital, Ning'an Road.

"Report, General Yuan! There are five miles ahead to Hamxing County. According to the investigation ahead, there are 2,000 soldiers guarding Hamxing County. The garrison is Li Xuanren. There are no traces of other imperial troops within a radius of ten miles." The scout came to Yuan Song, dismounted, knelt on one knee and reported:

Hearing the scout's report, Yuan Song frowned slightly and asked in confusion:
"Are you sure that there are only 2,000 soldiers guarding Hamheung?"

"Yes, sir, there are only two thousand people!" the scout said confidently:
After hearing this, Yuan Song pondered for a moment and then said:

"Expand the search area to thirty miles and continue the investigation! Check all directions, leaving no blind spots!"

"Yes!" The scout took the order and left upon hearing the news.

Since entering the territory of Gongdu from Fengzhou six days ago, Yuan Song's First Division has started a rapid advance in Gongdu. They have been unstoppable along the way and basically encountered no resistance. Any Gongdu army they encountered either collapsed at the first blow or surrendered and begged for life. The average marching speed of the army was more than 50 miles.

Even though Yuan Song disdained the combat effectiveness of the Gongdu army, he couldn't help but start to wonder if the people of Gongdu were cheating him...
Hamheung County, not far away, is an important town in the north of Gongdu after Wanfeng Prefecture. It is only 230 miles away from the capital of Gongdu, and only 120 miles away from his destination of this battle - Ruishan County!
If the palace troops want to defend their capital, then they need to start preparing in Hamheung!
With some doubts, Yuan Song led the First Division to the city of Hamhung. Holding up the telescope, Yuan Song observed the battle readiness on the city wall. Looking at the sparsely scattered palace troops on the city wall, a hint of disdain appeared on Yuan Song's lips.

Although he had just heard the name of Li Xuanren, the governor of Hamheung County, for the first time, he had led his troops into the palace for six days. Li Xuanren should have received the news in the rear and should have made preparations in advance. However, Hamheung County was still lax in its preparedness and its morale was low, which was enough to show that Li Xuanren was a useless general!
As the saying goes, "If one soldier is bad, so are his generals." This Li Xuanren is a fool. The two thousand soldiers under his command are probably just a group of rabble, no different from the Gongdu army he encountered before...

Although he was disdainful of the defenders of Hamxing County, Yuan Song had learned to be cautious after serving in the army for many years. So he did not immediately order the soldiers to attack the city with all their strength and try to capture Hamxing County in one go. Instead, he instructed the generals behind him:

"The brothers are tired after walking for a whole morning. Send out orders to the brothers to ignite the pots and cook. They must finish the meal within an hour!"

"Yes!"

Following Yuan Song's order, more than 20,000 officers and soldiers of the First Division began to move in an orderly manner.

The palace generals who were also on the city wall, when they saw this scene under the city, they suddenly felt extremely ashamed and angry, as if they were slapped hard in the face. They are cooking under my city, this is simply too much, they don’t take our palace army seriously at all.

Yin Changhe, a general beside Li Xuanren, was so angry that he challenged Li Xuanren to fight: "General Li, the Zhou army is so arrogant. Please let me lead a thousand troops out of the city for a surprise attack. I must destroy the arrogance of the Zhou army!"

Hearing his subordinates' request to fight, Li Xuanren's sullen expression eased a little. He patted his subordinates on the shoulder and said:

“Captain Yin, your courage is commendable, but the king has sent a message, allowing our army to defend the city to the death and not to leave the city to fight with the Zhou army. The king’s order cannot be disobeyed…”

"Captain Yin, please be patient for a while. When the Zhou army attacks the city, chop off a few of their heads and kill them. Let these bastards know how powerful our Gongdu warriors are!"

Although his request to fight was rejected, Li Xuanren's words made Yin Changhe blush. He felt that he had gained both face and substance, and he quickly patted his chest and said:

"Since the king has given his order, I have no choice but to obey! Please rest assured, as long as I, Yin Changhe, am here, I will not let the Zhou army invade Hamheung County. If they come one by one, I will kill them one by one. If they come in pairs, I will kill them both!"

Yin Changhe's passionate statement immediately attracted praise from other palace generals. Among them, Li Xuanren, the chief general, was not happy at all. On the contrary, his eyes were full of worry.

The surname Li, like the surname Kim and the surname Park, is a big surname in Gongdu. Among every ten people in Gongdu, there are at least one or two people with the surname Li, but the Li of Li Xuanren is different from others.

He is a member of the royal family of Li in Gongdu, and also a clan leader, the younger brother of the former king Li Zaiyuan, the uncle of the current king Li Xuanmin, and the second son of Seoyanggun Li Zaidong. This is also an important reason why he was able to become the governor of Hamheung County at a young age...
Although as a general Li Xuanren had no ability to command a war, as a member of the royal family, even though he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run, so he still had some good eyesight!

Although the Zhou army under the city is arrogant, there is always an army of thousands of people in the enemy army who are on alert. There is no doubt that they are waiting for you to leave the city to attack, and then they can take advantage of the situation to attack and enter the city in one fell swoop.
Although he saw through the enemy general's trick, Li Xuanren could not say it directly for the sake of morale. Their strength was far inferior to that of the Zhou army that came from afar. The enemy's strength was more than ten times theirs.

Therefore, if the morale is still low, then there will be absolutely no chance of winning, so he can only praise Yin Changhe, who is quite brave among the defenders, to boost the already very low morale.

Although he wanted to defend his city, Li Xuanren, as a member of the royal family, had not lived enough. He was still young and had a long life ahead of him. Those beautiful women were still waiting for his favor, so he could not die here...
Thinking of this, Li Xuanren quietly walked down from the city wall under the pretext of relieving himself, and called over his trusted general Jin Taiyu and asked urgently:
"Are you ready?"

Jin Taiyu nodded and said in a low voice:
"Sir, everything is ready. Once the city is breached, you can change into the clothes of an ordinary soldier and ride on horseback to escort you out of the west gate. By then, there will be chaos and the Zhou army will definitely not be able to find you!"

(End of this chapter)