Chapter 622 Yujing fell!

It was based on the idea of ​​using the Liang Army to deal with Ye Mingsheng, so Shangguan Hongyuan asked Chen Jingyu to make arrangements in the Yongliang area in advance and give some benefits to the powerful generals of the Liang Army····························

If he likes women, he gives them women; if he likes gold, silver and jewelry, he gives them gold, silver and jewelry; if he likes power, he promises high positions and generous salaries. In a word, he tries to please them and win over the Liang army as much as possible. Then he just waits for Shangguan Hongyuan to take down the court on the southern tour and use the emperor to command the princes again. Shangguan Hongyuan, who has grasped the righteousness, can naturally take over the Liang army!
Seeing that Shangguan Hongyuan was in a good mood, Chen Jingyu hesitated for a moment and made up her mind. She leaned close to Shangguan Hongyuan and whispered something in his ear.

After listening to what Chen Jingyu said, Shangguan Hongyuan showed a hint of surprise, and then he asked with some doubt:

"Can this deal with Ye Mingsheng?"

Facing Shangguan Hongyuan's question, Chen Jingyu said confidently:

"Sir Prime Minister, our Supervisory Department has conducted an in-depth study on Ye Mingsheng. Ye Mingsheng is very ambitious. In order to achieve his ambition, he is also very cruel to himself. It is said that in order to keep the Fengwu Army's war going, he only eats one meat and two vegetables for each meal. Even his wives and concubines follow suit and live a very frugal life."

"But this man has a fatal weakness, which is... Our Supervisory Department has organized assassinations against Ye Mingsheng several times before, but they were all blocked by the Coordination Office under his command. We never had a particularly good opportunity. This time, our Supervisory Department has learned from the pain and decided to attack from his weakness. We will definitely succeed in one battle!"

"As long as Ye Mingsheng dies, the Fengwu Army will collapse and fall into civil strife. Your Excellency, Prime Minister, can rest assured!"

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Wuhe County, Hebei and Henan

Although the Fengwu Army was unable to completely defeat the experienced Duan Yanfeng, it did achieve some results. First, Guo Zhiping, who was in charge of the operation, took the lead in capturing Muye, thwarting Duan Yanfeng's plan to capture Muye and make it a foothold for the Qi army in Hebei and Henan. Secondly, the Fengwu Army controlled the Qi army under Duan Yanfeng's command in Wuhe County, 50 miles outside Muye City.

"Dad, I took my men back to take back the Black Stone Ferry! I also took back the food, gunpowder, and medicine sent from Kaesong!" Duan Chong reported to Duan Yanfeng very tiredly:

Feeling the depressed mood in Duan Chong's words, Duan Yanfeng couldn't help but look up at his eldest son, scrutinizing Duan Chong's expression and then slowly said:
"Chong'er, do you have anything to say?"

Facing Duan Yanfeng's question, Duan Chong instinctively opened his mouth to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he hesitated. Seeing this, Duan Yanfeng waved his hand and ordered:

"Speak freely, I won't blame you!"

After hearing what his father said, Duan Chong mustered up the courage to say:

“Dad, although I led my men to recapture Heishifur this time, if the battle continues like this, the Fengwu Army will sooner or later completely cut off our retreat and trap us to death in Wuhe County…”

After saying this, Duan Chong raised his head and observed his father's expression. Seeing that his father did not seem to be angry, Duan Chong continued:
"Although our army has been able to resist the fierce attacks of the Fengwu Army with the help of camps and firearms, our losses are too great. There are as many as 2,000 soldiers killed in the battle, and 7,000 injured, including 1,000 seriously injured!"

"Our army has only been in Hebei and Henan for a few days, but we have already suffered nearly 10,000 casualties. And most importantly, it can be seen that the Fengwu Army has transferred their heavy artillery from Youyan. Many of our brothers were killed by it, which has caused great damage to our army's morale!"

"Although we have recaptured Black Rock Ferry now, with our garrison strength at Black Rock Ferry, it won't be long before the Fengwu Army takes it back. If the Fengwu Army moves their heavy artillery to Black Rock Ferry, it will be extremely difficult for us to take it back. Moreover, with the range of their heavy artillery, it is very likely that they will completely block our army's food supply route!"

After hearing his son's analysis, Duan Yanfeng fell into silence. The most important reason why he regarded Muye as his target was that they could not obtain enough supplies from Hebei and Henan. Therefore, the logistical supplies for the 30,000 Qi troops under Duan Yanfeng now needed to be transported from Kaesong in Qi and Lu.

Muye is the closest prefecture to Qi and Lu in Hebei and Henan. Occupying this place can shorten his logistics supply line and get supplies from the rear more quickly.
At a time when the Fengwu Army was unable to concentrate its forces to deal with him, the biggest obstacle for Duan Yanfeng to hold on to Wuhe County was the problem of logistical supplies.
Although the distance between Wuhe County and Kaesong is only 300 miles, most of it is hilly. Although this place is not a place with steep mountains, it will be very troublesome for the horse team to transport goods. It will take at least six or seven days to deliver the goods. If it rains and the mountain road becomes muddy, it is very common to take ten days.

There is a small river near Kaesong, which connects to Heishifur, ten miles away from Wuhe County. The supplies transported from Kaicheng can be transported down the river in just two or three days. Therefore, Heishifur became the logistics hub of Duan Yanfeng's troops, and also an important stronghold repeatedly fought over by both sides.

If Duan Yanfeng's troops controlled Heishifur, then the Qi army would be able to obtain sufficient supplies and continue to hold out in Wuhe County. If the Fengwu army took Heishifur, then Duan Yanfeng's troops would be cut off from water supplies. Duan Yanfeng would need to go by land to obtain supplies, which would undoubtedly greatly affect the efficiency of supply.

Duan Yanfeng's troops stationed in Wuhe County needed a large amount of military supplies every day, the most important of which were food, medicine and gunpowder.

Food is a necessity, of course, and with the fierce fighting every day, there will be a large number of wounded soldiers, which requires a large amount of medicines for treatment. If there are not enough medicines, the seriously wounded will soon die in pain, and the lightly wounded will also become seriously wounded...

Just like the one thousand wounded now, Duan Yanfeng's troops did not have so many wounded at the beginning, but due to the repeated tug-of-war between Heishifu and Fengwu Army, the transportation of logistical supplies was delayed, which directly led to a surge in the number of seriously injured. In an era when medicine was not well developed, and on the front line with a shortage of medical care and medicine, serious injury meant death!

In addition to food and medicine, Duan Yanfeng's troops had a huge demand for gunpowder. The reason they were able to hold out in Wuhe County until now was not only because Duan Yanfeng was experienced and calm, but also because Cao Changping equipped them with most of the Qi army's firearms. At the beginning of the war, the Qi army, equipped with thousands of muskets and dozens of tiger squat cannons, could even fire against the Fengwu army's firearms. However, as the war continued, the disadvantage of the Qi army's firearms gradually became apparent. Most of the firearms equipped by the Qi army were second-hand goods that the Fengwu army did not want. They had experienced a lot of wear and tear. In the fierce battle, the failure rate was always high.

Although Duan Yanfeng wanted to replenish his firearms, he also knew that Cao Changping did not have many firearms, so he had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and ask Cao Changping for gunpowder. After all, without gunpowder, firearms were not much different from fire sticks.

Although Duan Yanfeng's troops carried a lot of gunpowder and bullets when they set out on the expedition, due to technical limitations, the gunpowder imitated by the Qi Army was not as good as the original by the Fengwu Army. In addition, there had been a few light rains in the previous few days, causing the gunpowder to become damp and much of it could not be used.

This also led to a gradual decrease in the frequency of firearms firing by the Qi army when facing the attack of the Fengwu army, and more people were killed and injured by the Fengwu army.
Once the logistical supplies fail to catch up in time and the Qi army runs out of gunpowder and bullets, it will not be long before the entire army is wiped out!

Facing Duan Chong's anxious eyes, Duan Yanfeng nodded and said:
"Chong'er, what you said makes sense! Our army is indeed in a difficult situation, but the Fengwu Army is in the same situation as ours. Their situation is as dangerous as ours. Ye Mingsheng is too ambitious. This time he actually wants to swallow up Jiyu directly!"

"Although the Fengwu Army has a lot of troops, Ye Mingsheng has spread his business too far. He wants to maintain his deterrence against Luoan in Yun and interfere with Xu Zhaojie's war in Huainan. Therefore, he doesn't have many troops available for the battle in Hebei and Henan. With the intervention of our army, the Fengwu Army's troops in Hebei and Henan are even more stretched!"

"The Fengwu Army has been fighting for years, and even when Youyan was still unstable, they mobilized a large number of troops to try to swallow up Jiyu. It is a miracle that they can hold on until now. Now the Fengwu Army's attempt to swallow up our army has failed. What will come next will be a battle of wills. As long as our army can hold on here, we can help Yujing share a lot of pressure!"

“The enemy in front of us is only the 10,000 cavalry of the 3rd Division of the Fengwu Army, and the 4th Division. Their total number is less than 30,000. Even if they control the Black Stone Crossing, they can’t stop us from breaking out and retreating to Qi and Lu. We are far from the last moment now…”

As soon as Duan Yanfeng finished speaking, one of his generals hurried in, handed him a secret letter and said:
"General, we have captured a captain of the Fengwu Army, and this is his testimony!"

Duan Yanfeng's old eyes flashed with doubt when he heard this. He wondered what was so worth reading about the testimony of a captain.

Duan Yanfeng opened the testimony without hesitation, and when he saw what was written on it, the usually calm old general couldn't help but show a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Observing his father's surprised expression, Duan Chong couldn't help but be very curious about what was written in this testimony!
Putting down his testimony, Duan Yanfeng looked very solemn, and asked in a deep voice, looking at the lieutenant in front of him:
"Where is the Fengwu Army commander you captured now?"

Facing Duan Yanfeng's question, the lieutenant hesitated and said:
"This Fengwu soldier was very stubborn. We used many tricks to pry open his mouth. This matter was of great importance. We wanted to bring him to you, General, but he died from excessive blood loss!"

Upon hearing this answer, Duan Yanfeng immediately became furious and shouted:

"Idiot! Do you know how important this news is? If it were true, our entire army would have died here, and you even killed someone!"

Feeling his father's overwhelming anger, Duan Chong became more and more curious about what was written on the testimony, and he couldn't help but secretly glance at the contents of the confession out of the corner of his eye.

Although it was not very clear, the few words on the testimony completely attracted Duan Chong's attention!

It was clearly written on it: Yujing has fallen!
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Zhuo County, Governor's Office
Ye Mingsheng, who was in a good mood, was fishing by the water, and accompanying him was He Jingyun, the Chief of Staff of the Fengwu Army.

"The First Army did a great job in Yujing this time! Your General Staff should communicate with the Finance Department as soon as possible to come up with a plan to see how to reward these meritorious men!"

Listening to Ye Mingsheng's instructions, He Jingyun nodded and said:

"The First Army is worthy of being our ace, and General Yuan is also a great general under the command of the Marshal. Congratulations to the Marshal for taking over the entire Central Plains!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded with a smile. Just like before, Yuan Song did not disappoint him. He won a great victory under the city of Yujing. Not only did he annihilate tens of thousands of enemies, but he also completely destroyed the morale of the Henan Army and the hope in Gao Zongchang's heart, successfully forcing Gao Zongchang to open the city gate and surrender.

With the capture of Yujing, the political and economic core of Hebei and Henan, the Fengwu Army's original difficulties caused by insufficient manpower were immediately resolved, and the whole situation became more lively. After Yuan Song left 20,000 people in Yujing, he led the remaining soldiers of the First Army and rushed to Muye without stopping under Ye Mingsheng's order.

Although he and Cao Changping had always been in a mutually beneficial relationship, Ye Mingsheng was still very angry about Cao Changping's betrayal. This Cao Changping was not only in close contact with Xu Zhaojie, but also openly sent troops to interfere with the situation in Hebei and Henan to prevent him from taking over Hebei and Henan. This was really courting the consequences.

Previously, due to the constraint of Yujing, Ye Mingsheng could not mobilize more troops to teach Cao Changping a lesson. Now that Yujing has fallen, Ye Ming can finally vent his anger. Even if he cannot take over Qi and Lu directly, he must first collect some interest from the Qi army and make Cao Changping regret why he became his enemy...

(End of this chapter)