Chapter 761 A new beginning!
Dongning, 130 miles north, Xiaolishu Village
"General, what brings you here? Is there anything I can do for you..."

Looking at the Fengwu Army soldiers who surrounded Xiaolishu Village, Sun Dafu, the village chief of Xiaolishu Village, leaned on his crutches and asked the leader carefully:
Glancing at Sun Dafu, Zhang Qiankun, a centurion of the General Coordination Office, said calmly:

"Old man, nothing's wrong! I just received a tip-off that an important fugitive is hiding in your Little Pear Tree Village!"

Sun Dafu was shocked when he heard this. Before he could say anything, Zhang Qiankun took out a document and said:
"This is a special action order jointly issued by the Liaoyang Provincial Government and the Provincial Procuratorate. With this special action order, I can ask any village or town in Liaoyang to cooperate with my investigation. Old man, you better watch out!"

Looking at the official document Zhang Qiankun showed him, Sun Dafu, who had only attended a private school for a few days, could only understand a few words on the document, but he recognized the bright red seals of the Governor's Office and the Censor's Office on the document. After collecting his thoughts, he said to Zhang Qiankun:
"Master Jun, how do you want us to cooperate with you?"

"It's very simple! Gather all the people in the village at the entrance. I will identify them one by one and then search the entire village!"

Sun Dafu hesitated when he heard this request, but after feeling Zhang Qiankun's cold eyes, the sixty-year-old man couldn't help but shudder. Then he didn't dare to say any nonsense. He nodded repeatedly and asked the villagers to cooperate with the investigation...

"Sir, do you think Ye Zhanpeng is really hiding in Xiaolishu Village?" Deputy Captain Wang Peng approached Zhang Qiankun and asked in a low voice:

Facing Wang Peng's question, Zhang Qiankun was a little hesitant. Xiaolishu Village was already the third village he had searched. He had not found any trace of Ye Zhanpeng in the previous two villages, which made him a little hesitant. However, facing his subordinates' questions, he could only pretend to be calm and speak:
"He can't get away!"

At Zhang Qiankun's command, the people of Xiaolishu Village came to the entrance of the village with their families. Seeing this scene, Zhang Qiankun waved his hand again, and more than 200 Fengwu Army soldiers were divided into two groups. One group held portraits and compared them among the people one by one, and the other group rushed into the village and began to search!
After searching for about a cup of tea, the subordinate immediately ran over to report to Zhang Qiankun:

"Master Baihu, we found Ye Zhanpeng!"

Upon hearing this news, Zhang Qiankun's originally calm face immediately turned into one of surprise, and he immediately opened his mouth and ordered:

"Then what are you still standing there for! Bring him over here!"

"No, he's hiding in a cellar with a lot of gunpowder. If he lights a torch, the whole house will blow up. We brothers are afraid to go down!"

Zhang Qiankun was so disappointed when he heard this that he cursed:

"A bunch of useless things!"

“He is there, take me there quickly…”

"Yes!"

Soon, under the guidance of his men, Zhang Qiankun came to an ordinary earthen house. Before he entered the house, he heard a roar.

"If any of you dare to come down, I will set it on fire! You will all be buried with me!"

Hearing this, Zhang Qiankun came to the entrance of the cellar and looked inside quietly. He saw a lot of gunpowder placed under the cellar, and Ye Zhanpeng in the cellar looked like a madman. He held a torch in one hand and threatened everyone to ignite the gunpowder, while with the other hand he kept throwing something into the brazier.

From time to time, black smoke like burning paper floated out of the cellar. It seemed that Ye Zhanpeng in the cellar was burning some kind of paper. Seeing this, Zhang Qiankun narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment before he began to speak:
"Shopkeeper Ye, please come out! The Marshal wants to see you. Don't worry, your last name is Ye! The Marshal won't take your life!"

Facing Zhang Qiankun's persuasion to surrender, Ye Zhanpeng just snorted coldly and did not reply, still throwing things into the brazier with his hands.

Seeing this, Zhang Qiankun continued to persuade them to surrender while waving his hand to let his men launch a forced attack. At this critical moment, Ye Zhanpeng in the cellar suddenly staggered and fell to the ground. Seeing this, Zhang Qiankun did not hesitate at all and jumped into the cellar first.

At this time, Ye Zhanpeng was lying in the cellar with a trace of black blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. When he saw Zhang Qiankun appear, a mocking smile appeared on his face. Then, before Ye Zhanpeng could ask him anything, he completely stopped breathing...

Looking at Ye Zhanpeng who committed suicide by taking poison, Zhang Qiankun punched the wall of the cellar in anger and hatred. However, the next second he saw some documents in the brazier that had not been completely burned. His eyes suddenly lit up, and then he ignored the flames in the brazier that were still burning and immediately put out the flames with his cloak.

Then he looked at the fragments of documents in the brazier with great anticipation. After glancing at the contents on them, Zhang Qiankun's expression calmed down a little.

Ever since the Marshal set the final time for their Director Huo, even if someone else said hello to Director Huo, he had to get to the bottom of it. Zhang Qiankun, who received the order from Director Huo, quickly discovered Song Geng's death. Following this line, he also found clues between Song Geng and Ye Zhanpeng.

Just when they were preparing to arrest Ye Zhanpeng, they unexpectedly discovered that Ye Zhanpeng, the shopkeeper of Dadongsheng Trading Company in Liaoyang, had actually escaped a few days ago.

After discovering this, Zhang Qiankun immediately listed Ye Zhanpeng as an important suspect and issued a wanted notice to track down Ye Zhanpeng's whereabouts!

There had been instructions from above regarding Ye Zhanpeng. It would be best to capture him alive and get the truth from him. Otherwise, they didn't care whether Ye Zhanpeng was alive or not.

Although Ye Zhanpeng is dead now, I have obtained these fragments of documents, so I can be considered to have completed my mission...
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Yunbing, Lingyuan County

After reading every word of this order from Yi Jing carefully three times, Lin Huaiwu could not hide a trace of loneliness on his face. However, when he raised his head to face Xun Ke, he hid his feelings, forced a smile on his face and said to Xun Ke:
"Congratulations!" Facing Lin Huaiwu's congratulations, Xun Ke had a lot to say, but when the words came to his lips, he found that he could no longer say them.

As early as the time when Ye Mingsheng had not yet set up his own faction and was still the general of Fengzhou, he served as Lin Huaiwu's deputy and assisted Lin Huaiwu in dealing with the Khitans. This also led to a deep friendship between the two. Although one was later promoted to commander-in-chief of the Second Army and the other became the commander-in-chief of the reserve, the relationship between the two remained very good.

Although he expected that this defeat would put Lin Huaiwu in an unfavorable situation in the army, Xun Ke never expected that he would be appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Yunbing battlefield, which made the relationship between him and Lin Huaiwu somewhat awkward.

After hesitating for a moment, Xun Ke could only bow and say to Lin Huaiwu:
"I will assist Commander Lin and help you complete the cloud and counterattack!"

Listening to Xun Ke's statement, Lin Huaiwu could feel that his good friend really wanted to help him and was not trying to make fun of him, so he gradually calmed down.

Although it was still a little hard to accept, he knew in his heart that letting Xun Ke be the deputy commander-in-chief was already the best outcome at the moment. If he replaced him with another person, his situation would definitely become worse...
Before this battle, Lin Huaiwu also knew that there have always been rumors in the Fengwu Army that he did not get the position of commander of the Second Army by his own real ability, but was forced into the position because of the trust of the Marshal. Lin Huaiwu has always been dissatisfied with this. He feels that the reason why he is not well-known in the Fengwu Army is because he has not had the right opportunity to show his talents!

However, this time, facing Wang Muzhi's battle in Pingyun County, he fell into self-doubt!
After easing the slightly awkward mood, Lin Huaiwu asked Xun Ke:

"How are the soldiers down there?"

He had been somewhat depressed these days after the defeat in Pingyun County, and was also worried about whether Yi Jing would dismiss him, so Lin Huaiwu had not dealt with military affairs these days. Xun Ke was in charge of the aftermath. In response to Lin Huaiwu's question, Xun Ke introduced without hesitation:

"The soldiers are in relatively stable condition. A batch of food and medicine has been transported from Jinzhong, and the wounded have been treated one after another!"

"The loss of artillery has been reported. The Marshal has ordered the First Manufacturing Bureau and the Coordination Office to fully cooperate with our work. Director Zhang of the First Manufacturing Bureau has also transported the twelve red cannons originally assigned to the First Army to us. It is estimated that it will take about half a month to deliver them!"

"The arsenal in Jinzhong is also working at full capacity, striving to deliver one thousand Fengwu guns and thirty Tiger-crouching cannons to us within a month!"

Hearing the good news, Lin Huaiwu felt very complicated. He knew that Ye Mingsheng had allocated so many resources to him this time. If he didn’t fight well next time, then his position as the commander of the Second Army might not be kept...

After a moment of silence, Lin Huaiwu asked again:

"What's the enemy doing?"

Xun Ke organized his words and said:
"Wang Muzhi has strengthened the defense of Pingyun County and sent a large number of scouts to the vicinity of Lingyuan County. I think he is still trying to use the same old trick to make trouble for our supply line!"

"But this guy only has over a thousand cavalrymen now, and the rest are infantry. It's impossible to replicate his original tactics!"

Lin Huaiwu nodded when he heard this, but still with some lingering fear, he ordered:

"Send more soldiers to protect the logistics convoy. We can't fall into the same pit twice!"

"Yes!"

Lin Huaiwu was silent for a while before asking Xun Ke:
"Xun Ke, what do you think of the upcoming battle?"

Seeing Lin Huaiwu asking this, Xun Ke hesitated for a moment and said seriously:
"Wait for change!"

Lin Huaiwu frowned when he got Xun Ke's answer. Xun Ke was known as a wise general in the Fengwu Army. He thought Xun Ke would have some good ideas for the current situation, but he never expected that Xun Ke would have such an opinion.
The defeat in Pingyun County disrupted all his plans, and now Ye Mingsheng gave him another chance. Lin Huaiwu's first thought was to launch a counterattack as soon as possible to avenge this defeat and consolidate his position in the Fengwu Army, so he did not want to drag it on too long. After all, Ye Mingsheng's patience was limited!

Although Lin Huaiwu did not speak, Xun Ke could probably guess his thoughts from his frowning brows and said:

“I have been calculating the total number of soldiers under Wang Muzhi these days. According to the latest intelligence, he has more than 10,000 soldiers stationed in Jinyang, more than 30,000 in Dagu County, and about 20,000 in Pingyuan County. Let’s assume that he has 70,000 soldiers, plus the soldiers lost before. Wang Muzhi has mobilized at least 90,000 soldiers in Yunbing this time. And how many people are there in Jinyang in total…”

"The Coordination Office didn't report how much money and grain the Luoan court gave to Wang Muzhi. This shows that Wang Muzhi is relying on Yun Bing's money and grain to support this situation. The silver can be delayed for a while, but the grain issue cannot be delayed!"

"In my opinion, Wang Muzhi doesn't have much food left, and now is the autumn harvest time. If we don't harvest food in time, people will starve to death next year. And now Wang Muzhi has brought all the young men in Yun and Bing to fight with our army, so the farmlands can only rely on the elderly, the weak, women and children. How much food can they harvest even if they fight with all their might?"

"So in my opinion, if we continue to drag on, the farmers under Wang Muzhi will become more and more concerned about the food at home, and the enemy's morale will be unstable! And for Wang Muzhi himself, without the support of Shangguan Hongyuan, the grain produced in Yunbing is the only food he can rely on, so he will also make mistakes in a hurry!"

"Commander Lin, our army is struggling with logistics right now. We may not be able to get any reinforcements in the future. Therefore, with the current strength of our army in the Yunbing battlefield, we are no longer able to take on the enemy head-on. If we want to win this battle, we must outsmart them!"

“As long as our army can hold on, the one who will give up in the end will definitely be Wang Muzhi…”

(A little spoiler, Ye Zhanpeng’s death is not the end. I won’t be so anticlimactic. This is a new beginning. I hope you like my layout!)
(End of this chapter)