Chapter 549: So complicated!

Yi Jing, Fengwu Army General Staff

Dozens of staff officers were marking and making changes on the sand table based on the military intelligence transmitted back from outside.

"Ten thousand Luobei cavalry appeared in the north of Yuyang. The life of the leader was unknown. After launching a hail of arrows at Yuyang, they left in the direction of Xiaoniugou, northwest of Yuyang."

'More than 5,000 Luobei cavalrymen attacked Yangjia Town, 150 miles west of Yuyang. The current situation of the town is unknown and the situation is very critical!'

"The cavalry of the Third Division encountered a group of Luobi cavalry of about 3,000 people at Xujiapo. The battle lasted for about an hour. The Luobi cavalry was defeated and the retreating Third Division wiped out more than 600 enemies!"

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He Jingyun, the chief of staff, quickly recorded the information with the assistance of the garrison. Then, taking advantage of the lunch break, He Jingyun came to Ye Mingsheng's residence. Because Ye Mingsheng had already made arrangements before, as soon as Ye Cheng saw He Jingyun coming, he immediately took him into Ye Mingsheng's study.

Because he was familiar with Ye Mingsheng's personality and style, He Jingyun did not go through all the red tape and reported directly:
"Reporting to the commander, the Luobi people made a big move in this battle. Yuyang sent out about 50,000 soldiers and horses. Although Jizhou was not attacked, there were also about 30,000 to 50,000 Luobi cavalrymen there to contain General Lin's second division. However, the scale of the Luobi people's action this time was not small!"

"But just as our army had expected, these grassland barbarians did not attack our important towns. The Luobi cavalry mainly looted some small towns in the countryside. Currently, General Guo Zhiping is leading the Third Division to cooperate with the local militia in Yuyang and the valley to deal with the Luobi cavalry and minimize the losses of local people!"

"Because the Kipchaks are threatening the royal court of Robe, the General Staff has initially predicted that the Robe people's looting will not last too long. The Robe people will automatically withdraw in three days at the shortest and seven days at the longest!"

Listening to He Jingyun's report, Ye Mingsheng, who knew the situation well, nodded slightly. This was similar to what he had expected. Although the Luobi people had invested a lot of manpower, the Fengwu Army had been prepared before, and had hundreds of thousands of civilians near the border build many simple bastions.

Therefore, there is no doubt that the large-scale looting by the Robe people this time will cause losses to the production and life of the people in the border areas. For example, some villages in the countryside will be attacked and some farmlands will be destroyed, but these losses are limited and will not cause devastating losses.
Although the Fengwu Army has done its best as the war breaks out on both the north and south fronts, Ye Mingsheng is still somewhat dissatisfied.

Judging from the current situation, although the Fengwu Army suffered very limited losses in this Luobi discipline, it was powerless to stop the Luobi from coming and going freely, and this was unacceptable to Ye Mingsheng. The Luobi people were greedy by nature, and if they were allowed to taste the sweetness this time, they would think about doing it again, so the Luobi people must be taught a bloody lesson!
After a moment of silence, Ye Mingsheng asked He Jingyun:
"Does the Robe people have any isolated troops at present?"

He Jingyun, who heard Ye Mingsheng's question and realized what Ye Mingsheng wanted to do, immediately looked embarrassed. Just as he was thinking about how to persuade Ye Mingsheng, there was a knock on the door outside the study. Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly when he heard the knock on the door, but he also knew that Ye Cheng knocked on the door to disturb him at such an important moment when he was meeting with He Jingyun, which meant that there was an urgent military situation, so Ye Mingsheng immediately ordered in a deep voice:
"Enter!"

As soon as Ye Mingsheng finished speaking, the door was opened again. Huo San, the director of the Coordination Office, walked into the study. Seeing He Jingyun in the study, Huo San was a little surprised, and then he bowed and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"Sir Qianbai sent back important intelligence that Monsa, a trusted general of Robe Khan Arsalan, will lead 10,000 elite Robe cavalry to raid Yijing. The information about the combat intention and marching route is unknown..."

As soon as these words came out, a cold light flashed in Ye Mingsheng's eyes, and he looked at He Jingyun and said:

"You have also heard this intelligence, Chief He. What do you think?"

Feeling the murderous intent hidden in Ye Mingsheng's words, He Jingyun's expression became stern and he nodded heavily and said:
"Marshal, I know what to do. The General Staff will do its best to coordinate the various units to annihilate this advancing enemy!"

After listening to He Jingyun's answer, Ye Mingsheng nodded with satisfaction, then turned his attention to Huo San and ordered:
"Your Coordination Office must mobilize all intelligence personnel to find out their routes and time of action as quickly as possible, and provide the necessary intelligence support to the various departments!"

Listening to Ye Mingsheng's orders, Huo San said firmly:
"Yes! All of our colleagues in the Coordination Office will go all out to ensure the completion of the mission!
Feeling the attitudes of Huo San and He Jingyun, Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and said in a deep voice:
"Very good! It is better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers. Since Arsalan dares to send these ten thousand people here, I, Ye Mingsheng, will eat them alive and chew them into pieces!"

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Youyan, Shunping

Today is the sixth day of the Yan army's siege of Shunping City. Zhao Fuqu personally took charge of the siege and made many targeted deployments based on his observations of the Fengwu Army in the previous siege. He intensified the attack on the weak west gate of the Fengwu Army. Zhao Fuqu placed a lot of hope on today's offensive and wanted to win the battle and enter Shunping City.

Judging from the battle situation, Zhao Fuqu's targeted deployments were very effective. After struggling in Shunping City for six days, they were already in great trouble both in terms of manpower and weapons and equipment. This time, they were attacked specifically by the Yan army on the west gate, and at one point they almost lost the defensive city of the west gate.

At the critical moment, Ma Zhongjun personally led his personal soldiers and the cooks to rush in. With the bravery of everyone, they recaptured the West Gate. After that, in the attack and defense battle around the West Gate, the two sides fought back and forth. The Yan army had a great chance to use the West Gate as a breakthrough point to enter the city, but it was a pity for Zhao Fuqu that until sunset, the Yan army was finally short of taking the West Gate. Although Zhao Fuqu wanted to fight at night and take Shunping City in one go, he saw that the Yan army soldiers who had experienced a day of hard fighting were too tired to fight again. So, although he was a little helpless, Zhao Fuqu could only call back his troops and give his soldiers a night's respite.

Although he was a little disappointed that he failed to capture Shunping City today, Zhao Fuqu could see that after six days of fierce attacks by his side regardless of casualties, the Fengwu Army's Su Ri'an was still holding on to Shunping City. However, the Fengwu Army in the city had become a spent force. It was God's blessing that they could withstand today's offensive. As long as they could maintain today's offensive tomorrow, Shunping City would inevitably fall!
Thinking of this, Zhao Fuqu couldn't help but feel better. The scouts he sent out had already found the reinforcements of the Fengwu Army. They were carrying baggage and artillery to the Guangzong County area. Although their speed was not slow, given their distance, it would take at least two days to reach Shunping!
Therefore, as long as he could successfully capture Shunping City tomorrow, his plan would be halfway successful. The rest would depend on the Luobi people's offensive in the north. If the Luobi people could defeat the Fengwu Army or entangle the Fengwu Army, Zhao Fuqu would take the opportunity to march his troops northward and counterattack Yijing and the Fengwu Army that was being attacked from both the north and the south by the Luobi people. Of course, this was the best case scenario!

If the Luobi people did not cause much trouble to the Fengwu Army, then Zhao Fuqu would have held on to Shunping City and formed a barrier for the rear of Zhuo County. So far, the Yan Army has suffered nearly 20,000 casualties in the counterattack on Shunping City. However, as long as they can capture Shunping City and annihilate the Fengwu Army defending the city, they can break the myth of the invincibility of the Fengwu Army in one fell swoop and revive the weak morale of the Yan Army...

In a word, as long as Shunping City is successfully captured, the current situation will be greatly improved! Some serious problems will also be solved!

However, just when Zhao Fuqu was thinking about the camp at Fuhugang and why the additional siege equipment had not been sent over, suddenly a personal soldier ran into the tent in a panic and reported to him:

"Report to the commander-in-chief, Fuhugang has been captured by the Fengwu Army!"

Zhao Fuqu was stunned at first, then shouted angrily:
"Are you crazy, you bastard? The Fengwu Army is still in Guangzong County, how could they appear in Fuhugang?"

Seeing Zhao Fuqu's rage, the guard said with a sad face:
"Marshal, the Fengwu Army really appeared at Fuhugang, and our army's camp there was burned down by them! General Zhao Shi who was guarding Fuhugang was killed in the battle, and General Lin led hundreds of remaining soldiers to retreat."

Although he was very puzzled as to how the Fengwu Army appeared in Fuhugang, Zhao Fuqu walked out of the tent with doubts after seeing what the personal soldier said. Not long after walking in the military camp, Zhao Fuqu saw hundreds of dejected and wounded soldiers. The leader of these people was a middle-aged fat man. When he saw Zhao Fuqu's appearance, he immediately ran to Zhao Fuqu and cried, as if he had found a backbone:

“I, Lin Sheng, pay my respects to the Marshal. Marshal, tens of thousands of Fengwu troops appeared at Fuhugang. We were outnumbered and defeated by the Fengwu troops. Even General Zhao Shi died at their hands. Marshal, you have to make the decision for us…”

Zhao Fuqu felt dizzy after listening to this man's words. Although he still didn't understand how the Fengwu Army had jumped hundreds of miles in an instant and appeared at Fuhugang from Guangzong County, the hundreds of defeated soldiers in front of him told him one thing, that is, the Fengwu Army really appeared in Fuhugang and destroyed the Yan Army camp there!

After experiencing the previous disastrous defeat, Zhao Fuqu led the Yan army officers around him to learn from their mistakes and carefully study the Fengwu Army's tactics. They believed that in addition to the Fengwu Army's sharp firearms, the coordination between each other in battle formations and their fighting will were very strong. In terms of tactics, the Fengwu Army was particularly good at ambushes, night raids, surprise attacks, and direct attacks on your granaries and other important locations.

Therefore, in this Battle of Shunping, Zhao Fuqu learned a lesson. In order to deal with the sudden attack of the Fengwu Army, he deliberately sent out a large number of scouts to detect the movements of the Fengwu Army, and strengthened the protection of the granaries and gunpowder depots to prevent the Fengwu Army from taking advantage of any opportunity.

The only exception is Fuhugang, because siege equipment such as ladders and battering rams used for sieges are very difficult to transport over long distances, so since ancient times, sieges have always been made on-site using materials nearby, and Fuhugang is the place where the Yan army made the siege equipment this time.

The reason why Zhao Fuqu chose Fuhugang as the place to make siege equipment was because there were many old forests on Fuhugang. It was precisely because of the old forests that tigers appeared. The old forests also meant that there were many woods suitable for making siege equipment...

Therefore, in order to facilitate the manufacture of engineering equipment, Zhao Fuqu built a simple camp at Fuhugang and asked craftsmen and soldiers to build siege equipment there. Because Fuhugang was in the rear, Zhao Fuqu thought it was very safe. In addition, Zhao Fuqu wanted to put as much limited manpower as possible into the siege of Shunping and expand his manpower advantage, so he only arranged two thousand garrisons for protection at Fuhugang.

Now that the camp at Fuhugang has been destroyed by the Fengwu Army, it means two things. First, an unknown number of Fengwu troops have appeared around Shunping, and they will certainly not sit idly by and watch the Yan Army break through Shunping City!

The second is that it means that the Yan army's current siege equipment will not be replenished at all, and there will be less and less of it. There is no doubt that this will have a very negative impact on the Yan army's subsequent siege progress!

Although his whole body was boiling with anger, Zhao Fuqu still suppressed the urge to kill, grabbed Lin Sheng and said viciously:
"How many Fengwu troops attacked you?"

Facing Zhao Fuqu's questioning, Lin Sheng was a little scared but still said with a guilty conscience:
"Report to the Marshal, there are tens of thousands of Fengwu troops attacking us. We fought bravely but we are still outnumbered..."

Before Lin Sheng could finish his words, Zhao Fuqu slapped him hard on the face and shouted angrily:
"You are a stupid bastard like a pig! If the Fengwu Army had tens of thousands of people, they would not have attacked Fuhugang, but would have come directly to my camp!"

"Tell me quickly! How many Fengwu troops are there who attacked you?"

(End of this chapter)