Chapter 897 Countermeasures

Chapter 897 Countermeasures

Chapter 897 Countermeasures
In Jinyang at the end of April, the millet seedlings are green and the wheat is golden.

At dusk, Jin Zheng stayed in a small farmyard.

There were only a young couple and a child of five or six years old in the courtyard.

After preparing dinner for Kim Jong-un and his entourage, the family of three hid themselves and tried to avoid contact with others.

After dinner, Jin Zheng sat in the yard and talked about the war with his most trusted aide Zhen Pian.

Soon, the sound of horse hooves and conversations were heard outside the courtyard, and then a messenger was led in and took out a letter from his arms.

Jin Zheng took it, checked it, and asked, "Where are you from? What is your position?"

"The shogunate's attendant Lu Cen has come from Pingyang."

"Your surname is Lu, and you're from Changguang?" After checking that everything was correct, Jin Zheng took out the letter and started reading it.

"My father, Lu Ya, once fought with General Liu and General Jin."

"Oh? The son of young governor Lu Ya? Look up." Jin Zheng put down the letter and said.

Lu Cen raised his head and looked at Jin Zheng.

"Indeed, they are somewhat similar." He said, "Since you are the descendant of a loyal hero, you must have your own destiny. Let's have a meal before we go."

After saying that, Jin Zheng lowered his head to read the letter again.

Lu Cen slowly retreated, while Zhen Pian looked at Jin Zheng's expression.

After a long time, Jin Zheng handed the letter to Zhen Pian and said, "The king rejected the plan to attack from Mayi."

Zhen Pian clapped his hands, and a clerk came forward and spread out a silk map on the table.

"Since the beginning of winter, the Yicong, Zhuosheng, and Luoyan armies have repeatedly marched north from Mayi and harassed everywhere. The bandits have been beaten so many times that they are naturally on guard." Zhen Pian said, "I heard that several small tribes that surrendered were also moved to Mayi, so Helan Aitou has been keeping a closer eye on them, fearing that there will be no loopholes."

Jin Zheng stood up and frowned in thought.

Heading north from Mayi and crossing a mountainous area, you can reach Shengle.

In terms of distance, it is much closer than going north from Pingcheng and then turning west.

"Where are the various departments?" Jin Zheng asked.

Before Shao Xun arrived, all the troops that had arrived were under the command of Jin Zheng, so he could experience the life of a temporary commander.

"Liu Runzhong's cavalry has arrived at Yanmen, and the shepherds and their cattle and sheep have just arrived in Xinxing." Zhen Pian replied immediately.

"The Left Flying Dragon Guard has already left Yanmen and stationed at Yinguan. However, only the combat troops have arrived, and the auxiliary troops are still on their way behind. They have just left Shangdang and have not yet reached Jinyang."

"The Youzhou Tuqi Commander is still passing through Guanjuejin, and the first battalion of the Yellow Head Army is also on the way."

"The second and third battalions of the Yellow Head Army will probably have to wait for the King's personal army, the Silver Spear Central Battalion, the Left Cavalry Guard and other units to set off together."

"The various towns in Hebei will use the Dai Kingdom as a passage to travel west, but no one knows where they are now."

There is another troop he didn't mention, which is the Silver Spear Right Battalion, which is led by Jin Zheng himself and is nearby.

"General." Zhen Pian continued, "This time we are going to fight, we don't necessarily need to risk our lives. The purpose of this battle is to make Suo Tou surrender. With the mother and son in Pingcheng here, things will be much easier."

Jin Zheng stood there in silence for a long time, then nodded slowly.

Zhen Pian was very relieved that General Jin finally listened to the advice.

Jin Zheng suddenly turned around and looked at Zhen Pian.

Zhen Pian was puzzled, so he cupped his hands and said, "General..."

"What the public said was wrong." Jin Zheng said with a smile.

"Please correct me, General."

"You are used to sorting out internal affairs and are good at making plans, but you don't understand the heart of a warrior." Jin Zheng said: "If you tell them that they don't need to fight to the death in this battle, they will relax and be careless, and they may suffer losses. Even if you want to be nervous and go all out later, it may not be so easy, and the enemy may not give you this opportunity. I have been fighting for twenty years, and this is the experience I have learned on the battlefield."

After that, he laughed loudly and said, "Let's go to Mayi first. I am a great general of a great country, how can I follow the example of the scholars who go to war on a sedan chair? I must go to the front line to see it in person, and then make a decision. The king has been in Pingyang for a long time, he may not know the truth."

******
This year's winter is particularly long, especially for the herdsmen living in the mountains.

It was already April. In some places, grass had broken through the soil and sprouted new buds, and in some shady places there was still some snow.

Dou Qin rode his horse up the hill and looked down into the distance.

Since late autumn last year, many tribes have come to this area, blocking the main roads and guarding them strictly.

There was an effect. At least the three armies of Yicong, Zhuosheng and Luoyan of Jin were hurt and they dared not to disturb them at will.

But after a whole winter, the tribes became somewhat lax and complaints suddenly increased.

Some people were hunting gazelles in the mountains.

Someone was catching an eagle on the cliff.

Some people are fishing by the river.

This made Dou Qin a little overwhelmed, and he almost managed to hold it in.

His men were also very angry and shouted to arrest those people.

Dou Qin was silent for a long time, and finally he sighed and said, "Be patient with them." Everyone was speechless. Dou Qin's son Dou Yuzhen was so angry that he rode out on his horse and disappeared down the hillside.

A moment later, he came back with another person lying across the saddle.

After stopping his horse, he threw the man to the ground and scolded him, "Tell me, Grandpa, why don't you guard the road instead of chasing the yellow sheep?"

The man was in great pain from the fall, and he was grimacing on the ground. He was not afraid at all when he heard what Dou Yuzhen said. He stiffened his neck and said, "We used to graze on the riverbank. The spring water there is sweet and the horses like it. The grass is tall and beautiful, and the cattle and sheep are fat and strong. But we were dragged here all of a sudden. It was okay at first, but after the heavy snow closed the mountain, there was nothing."

"Old people in the tribe died one after another. Babies cried loudly because of hunger, and women did not have enough milk to feed themselves. The assistant minister promised to send us food, cattle and sheep, but he changed his mind in the end. He said that other places had suffered too much loss and there were no cattle and sheep to replenish them."

"What does it have to do with us if others lose a battle? We were originally grazing in Hexi, but he forced us to come here to fight. As a result, the battles continued one after another, and never stopped. If they were not extremely hungry, who would abandon their post?"

"You arrested me today, who are you going to arrest tomorrow? In the end, everyone has gone to surrender to Shi Yijian."

"Shi Yijian is the son of Yulu's wife. Isn't his blood nobler than Yihuai's? Is it wrong to join him? No, it's not wrong at all! Being loyal to a descendant of the Tuoba clan with noble blood does not violate the oath."

These words left everyone speechless.

Dou Qin looked up at the sky.

After a while, he looked at his son and said, "I told you to be patient with them. Do you understand what I meant now? Let him go."

Dou Yuzhen was somewhat discouraged. He untied the ropes on the prisoner, kicked him, and said, "Go away."

The captive was a little surprised and left in a hurry. Just when he was about to disappear from everyone's sight, he couldn't help but look back and said, "Your Excellency can distinguish right from wrong, I admire you. I just want to remind you that since the beginning of winter, Yulu Khatun has sent many people to sneak into the mountains to win over the various tribes. As I said, Shiyijian has noble blood, and he is naturally more capable of commanding the various parties than Yihuai. He is already seven years old this year, and in another six years he can get married and rule the country. There are many people who want to join him."

Dou Qin paused, said nothing, and rode away.

The followers followed one after another.

The leader of the Hedouling tribe initiated the righteous act at that time only to oppose the mother and son of the Qi family and to avenge Tuoba Yulu.

The Qi mother and son were eventually defeated by the Wang mother and son, which could be considered as revenge for them.

Tuoba Shiyijian is also of Yulu bloodline, is it really necessary to fight to the death?

Dou Qin sighed.

A year ago, he would never have thought about this question.

But a year later, he was willing to think seriously about what had changed.
When they returned to the tribe, a scout came to report: Many reinforcements from the State of Jin had arrived in Mayi, but the number was unknown.

As soon as the news came out, everyone was in an uproar.

******
Shi Le once again climbed onto Muguayuan and watched quietly as a small boat crossed the Yellow River and slowly came to the west bank.

Not long after, Shi Hu personally led the scouts to the plateau.

Shi Le sat on a rock with his horse and sword in hand, and said amiably, "Let him eat some meat and drink some wine first."

The personal guards brought wine and meat.

The scout bowed to express his gratitude, then grabbed the wine and meat and started eating without any hesitation.

Shi Le's eyes were always on the other side of the river.

Before last year, there was almost nothing on the other side of the river except endless forest.

But it's different now.

The thief Shao established a county there, called "Baode County", which was under the jurisdiction of Kelan County.

The Kong family of Wei County was exiled to this area, with a total of thousands of people, who reclaimed wasteland and cultivated crops on the flat land along the river.

Shi Le had heard of this family.

When he occupied Ye City, the Kong family sent their sons and daughters to the Gentlemen's Camp to work for him.

After the loss of Yecheng, everything seemed to be over. Unexpectedly, Kong had offended the thief Shao and was exiled to Baode, where she didn't know if she would have any chance.

"Your Majesty, Kelan is indeed collecting cattle, sheep and other livestock for military supplies..." The scout quickly finished his meal and began to carefully report the information he had gathered.

Shi Le sat up straight and listened carefully, interrupting the scout from time to time to ask him to repeat himself or repeatedly ask for details.

After a long time, he rewarded the scout with a few sheepskins and let him go.

"Uncle, the Shao bandits have been quiet for a year. They should be planning to attack Helan Aitou and Tuoba Yihuai, the uncle and nephew." Shi Hu said.

"You think he is going to attack Shengle, but I think he is going to attack Chang'an." Shi Le clapped his thigh and stood up, saying.

"So risky?" Shi Hu was stunned and said.

"First take Henan, then go south to Guanzhong. Is that hard to think of?" Shi Le asked in return, "How did the Xiongnu go south during the Han Dynasty? Just do it."

The Xiongnu naturally had the strong and brave men fighting in the front, and the old and weak following with cattle, sheep and horses. If they could grab food on the road, they would eat the food of the Han people. If they couldn't grab it, they would just rely on grazing for supplies. This was their usual mode of fighting.

If the Huns can do it, why can't Shao the thief do it?
If the thief Shao really took over Henan, he would dare to build a golden tent in the center of the grassland, ask various tribes to offer livestock, and send people to help him graze. The soldiers would ride on war horses, carry lances, bows and swords, and harass Chang'an day after day like the Huns invading the border.

After dealing with Shao thief for a long time, Shi Le really thought that he would do this.

This person never sticks to one thing and uses whatever is useful. It doesn't matter if you are a Hu or a Han Chinese, as long as it is useful, he is very pragmatic.

"Shao the thief..." After Shi Le said these two words, he clenched his fists slightly, and finally took a breath and said, "Send a report to Chang'an. We must help Helan Aitou in this battle, otherwise we will all die, sooner or later."

(It's the third update. It would be a waste if you don't vote.)
(End of this chapter)