Chapter 552: Stormy! (Thanks to the book friend Shuchong Nan for the reward!)
Youyan, New Music City
At the first hour of the morning, when most people were still asleep, Yuan Song, with an unshaven beard and a tired face, stood on the low city wall of Xinle, holding a telescope and observing the Yan army camp not far away...
Two days ago, Yuan Song led 8,000 Fengwu troops to attack the Yan army's camp at Fuhugang, and then attacked Xinle City overnight. Although there were 5,000 Yan troops in Xinle City, they never expected that the Fengwu Army would reach them so quickly. Under the fierce attack of Yuan Song's troops, they only resisted for an hour and announced their surrender after suffering more than a thousand casualties.

Just like how he dealt with the prisoners in the Yan army camp at Fuhugang, Yuan Song explained the policies of the Fengwu Army to these thousands of Yan army prisoners and distributed leaflets to them. These leaflets were previously produced by the Fengwu Army. Considering that these soldiers were not very literate or even illiterate, the contents of these leaflets were written in vernacular Chinese and were very simple and easy to understand.

After releasing the captives and retaking Xinle City, Yuan Song ordered his soldiers to comfort the people in the city on the one hand, telling them not to panic and stay at home unnecessarily. On the other hand, he organized people to reinforce Xinle City. The walls of Xinle City had fallen into disrepair for many years, and different sections of the walls were uneven. The highest part was only a little over ten feet, and the lowest part was only about half a foot. Therefore, in order to defend Xinle City, it was necessary to rebuild the fortifications.

Retaking Xinle City and holding on to it was the method Yuan Song adopted to defend Shunping City. However, this was not Yuan Song’s first choice. His first choice was to lead elite troops to attack the Yan army camp at night. However, after observing that Zhao Fuqu’s Yan army camp was heavily guarded and there were no defensive loopholes that could be exploited, Yuan Song could only choose to settle for the second best. First, he destroyed the Fuhugang camp that made siege equipment for the Yan army, and then he captured Xinle City...
Xinle City and Shunping City formed a pincer attack. The strategic significance of capturing Xinle City was that it could threaten the Yan army attacking Shunping from the side. Therefore, any general with a little military knowledge would not sit idly by and watch the fall of Xinle City. In this way, in order to ensure his own safety, all Zhao Fuqu could do was to attack Xinle City first.

In order to attract Zhao Fuqu's attention, Yuan Song hung his own flag with the word "Yuan" on it on the city gate tower of Xinle City, and wrote a personal letter to Zhao Fuqu, telling him that he was waiting for him to fight in Xinle City. This move really made the Yan army give up attacking Shunping and gather tens of thousands of main forces to attack Xinle City.

Perhaps knowing that he did not have much time left, Zhao Fuqu was no longer satisfied with just attacking the city during the day. Even in the late night when everyone was most tired, he would drive his Yan army soldiers to launch a frantic charge towards Xinle City. This undoubtedly caused greater casualties to the Yan army soldiers, but it also caused a lot of trouble to the Fengwu army soldiers guarding Xinle City!

In just two days, nearly 1,700 of the 8,000 elite Fengwu troops brought by Yuan Song were killed, and among the remaining 6,000, as many as 50% were taken to the battlefield. Of course, with so many casualties among the Fengwu troops defending the city, the casualties of the Yan army had exceeded 10,000!

Looking at the dust rising from the camp of the Yan army in the telescope, Yuan Song, who had not slept all night, knew that the Yan army was about to launch a new round of offensive. He immediately ordered the bugler beside him:
"Blow the horn! Assemble all troops!"

Following Yuan Song’s order, the Fengwu Army soldiers, who had just slept for less than two hours, immediately got up from their beds, put on their cotton armor, picked up their weapons, and ran towards the city wall under the leadership of the heads of various departments, ready to defend Xinle City...
At the same time, on the watchtower of the Yan army camp outside Shunping City, Zhao Fuqu was also observing Shunping like Yuan Song. The only difference was that Yuan Song was using a telescope, while Zhao Fuqu could only see with his eyes. Listening to the military bugle calls coming from Shunping City, the exhausted Zhao Fuqu felt even more gloomy.

Of course, he understood that Yuan Song's capture of Xinle City and his publicity of his presence in Xinle City were intended to attract the firepower of the Yan Army to preserve Shunping City. However, he had no choice but to follow Yuan Song's idea. On the one hand, if he continued to attack Shunping with all his strength, his flank would inevitably be hit by Yuan Song's troops. On the other hand, the camp at Fuhugang was destroyed, and the Yan Army no longer had sufficient siege equipment in a short period of time, making it impossible to maintain the previous siege intensity on Shunping.

So after quickly weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Fuqu chose to turn his attention and concentrate his firepower on Xinle City. Xinle City had been in disrepair for a long time, and attacking it did not require a large number of siege equipment like attacking Shunping City. The appearance of Yuan Song was also one of the reasons why Zhao Fuqu made this choice!

Now Shunping City has been under siege for a long time, and a large number of reinforcements from the Fengwu Army are getting closer and closer. The situation of the Yan Army is becoming more and more dangerous. Zhao Fuqu's strategic gamble is getting closer and closer to bankruptcy, and he himself is getting closer and closer to defeat and death.

Yuan Song is now known as the number one general of the Fengwu Army and has made outstanding military achievements in the Fengwu Army. His reputation even surpasses that of the second-in-command of the Fengwu Army, the Chief of Staff He Jingyun. He is the second-in-command of the Fengwu Army after Ye Mingsheng himself!

If they could capture Xinle City and capture him alive, they might be able to use this to force Ye Mingsheng into negotiations, buying the Yan Army enough breathing time, and then delaying the situation until Ye Mingsheng suddenly dies, causing civil strife in the Fengwu Army.

Even if Yuan Song cannot be captured alive, if he can be killed, it will be a good thing that can greatly damage the morale of the Fengwu Army and boost the morale of our army. At that time, the Yan Army may have the opportunity to fight back and launch a desperate counterattack against the Fengwu Army...

With such hope, Zhao Fuqu ordered his men to attack Xinle City for two days regardless of casualties. Unfortunately, he was disappointed again. In two days, they exhausted the Yan army and caused more than ten thousand casualties, but they still could not make any progress.

Just when Zhao Fuqu's heart was filled with grief and indignation and he wanted to make a last stand, he heard an indignant voice in his ears. Zhao Fuqu looked up and saw his guard commander Liu Chuanbiao, escorting a ashamed Yan army general, who walked up to him and handed him a leaflet.

"Marshal, we found a leaflet of the Fengwu Army on Wang Tao!"

Taking the leaflet from Liu Chuanbiao, Zhao Fuqu saw only eight big words written on it: "Surrender and you will not be killed, go home and get the land!" In addition to these eight big words, there was also the black dragon logo of the Fengwu Army and Ye Mingsheng's signature printed on it.

After seeing this thing and looking at Wang Tao who was kneeling on the ground in shame, Zhao Fuqu, who was about to fight hard, suddenly felt despair in his heart!
Two days ago, Yuan Song led the Fengwu Army to capture Fuhugang and Xinle in succession, and released a large number of Yan army prisoners of war. Many of these released Yan army prisoners of war chose to desert and go home, but more than a thousand people chose to return to the Yan army camp and return to Zhao Fuqu's account. Zhao Fuqu ridiculed Yuan Song's womanly kindness and did not take it seriously. He casually reorganized these returning Yan army soldiers into the team...
But Zhao Fuqu was dumbfounded the next day. Some Fengwu Army leaflets suddenly appeared in his military camp. At the same time, due to the unsuccessful siege, the Yan Army suffered heavy casualties, and most of the Yan Army itself were farmers who were forcibly conscripted. Therefore, based on the widespread existence of these factors, a strong anti-war sentiment began to gradually emerge in the Yan Army. After learning about the policies of the Fengwu Army through these easy-to-understand leaflets, these leaflets began to spread quickly and quietly within the Yan Army.

By the time Zhao Fuqu discovered these leaflets and realized the great harm they brought, a considerable number of people in the Yan army had already learned the contents of the leaflets. Although Zhao Fuqu reacted quickly and immediately conducted a large-scale investigation and confiscated the leaflets throughout the army, and his methods were also very tough, with anyone who dared to hide the leaflets being beheaded immediately, it was too late and he still failed to stop the circulation of the leaflets within the Yan army. These leaflets still played a big role, greatly weakening the fighting will of the Yan army and laying the groundwork for Yuan Song to defend Xinle City.

"Today we found Wang Tao and his personal soldiers sneaking around in the camp. Upon investigation, we discovered that this worse-than-pigs-and-dogs guy was hiding the Fengwu Army's leaflets!" Chen Chuanbiao pointed at Wang Tao and said indignantly:

“Marshal, you have been very kind to this bastard. You promoted him from a squad leader to the position of general. But this beast actually has ulterior motives…” Listening to Liu Chuanbiao’s words, Zhao Fuqu looked at Wang Tao with disappointment. If it was just the lower-level soldiers who hid the leaflets, he would be angry but more or less understandable. But as Liu Chuanbiao said, this Wang Tao is an old brother who has followed him for decades. Zhao Fuqu also thinks highly of him. Not only did he promote him all the way, but he also married his cousin to Wang Tao. Now Wang Tao did such a thing when he was in danger, which really hurt his heart.
Feeling Zhao Fuqu's disappointed look, Wang Tao, who was escorted by Liu Chuanbiao, said with great shame:

"I am afraid of death and I am sorry for what I have done to you, Marshal! If you want to beat me or kill me, I will accept it!"

But Marshal, your brothers have suffered heavy casualties in the battle, but they cannot even take down a small city like Xinle. The soldiers below don’t want to fight anymore. Marshal, please listen to Lao Wang’s last words of advice. Let’s retreat to Yunbing. It is never too late for a hero to take revenge…”

Hearing his old brother's heartfelt words, Zhao Fuqu closed his eyes dejectedly, waved his hand painfully at Liu Chuanbiao and said, "Put him under military law!"

"Yes!"

As Zhao Fuqu finished speaking, Liu Chuanbiao accepted the order with great excitement. Wang Tao had always relied on his seniority as a veteran in the Yan Army and an old brother of Zhao Fuqu, and had been very neglectful of him. He had wanted to deal with this old guy for a long time, and now he finally had the chance!
Just after Zhao Fuqu "shed tears and executed Ma Su", he was about to launch a new round of offensive against Xinle City. He saw a Yan army scout covered in blood and several arrows in his body, crawling into the Yan army camp in a panic, and shouting with all his strength;
"A large number of Fengwu Army reinforcements appeared in Xiaoliu Village, ten miles away!"

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Yijing, Military Governor's Mansion
In the study, Ye Mingsheng looked at the hideous head wrapped in lime in front of him, then glanced at He Jingyun and Zhang Meng standing in the hall, and finally locked his eyes on Zhang Meng and asked:
"He is Monsa?"

Zhang Meng heard this and said respectfully:

"Reporting to the Lord, this man is Monsa, a trusted general of the great Luobei Han Arsalan. He has been plundering around the borders of our Great Zhou for many years, causing great harm to the soldiers and civilians of our Great Zhou. He also committed a massacre in Xiaoliu Village, Shanggu in the third year of Anhe, killing dozens of households in the village. Zhao Fuqu was furious because of this incident and issued a hunting order and offered a reward of 1,000 taels of silver for this man's head, but in the end it was left unresolved."

After hearing Zhang Meng's introduction, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and asked with a smile:

"How did he die?"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng asking this question, Zhang Meng said with a look of pity:
"I originally wanted to get to know this Luo Bi barbarian myself, but I didn't expect that before I could find him, he was killed by a stray bullet in the throat..."

Feeling the regretful taste in Zhang Meng's words, Ye Mingsheng smiled and shook his head, then turned to Ye Cheng and instructed:
"Hang Monsa's head on the gate tower of Yijing. I want all the people of Youyan to see it. Anyone who offends the Great Zhou will be punished no matter how far away they are! Those who the Yan army cannot kill, my Fengwu army will kill them!"

"Yes! Sir, I'll do it right away!" Ye Cheng took the wooden box containing Monsa's head, bowed and stepped back.

After giving the order, Ye Mingsheng turned his attention back to Zhang Meng and asked:
"Zhang Meng, you have made great contributions in this battle. Tell me, what do you want?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Zhang Meng hesitated for a moment and asked tentatively:

"Can I have a horse, sir?"

Ye Mingsheng raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and asked back with a little surprise:
"Do you want a horse?"

Zhang Meng nodded heavily and said sadly:

“In this battle, General Lin and I attacked Monsa’s troops from the front and back. The casualties among the soldiers were not heavy, only more than a thousand people were lost. But my warhorse was unfortunately shot dead by the Luobi people. This warhorse was given to us by you, Marshal, when we were in Fengzhou. It has fought many battles with me in the past two years, but I didn’t expect that it would be killed here…”

After listening to him, Ye Mingsheng also understood his thoughts. As a military commander, he didn't like good horses, good swords, and good armor. Some military commanders who had deep feelings for their war horses would feed and clean their war horses themselves, and never ask others to do it for them!
(End of this chapter)