Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 248 Offensive and defensive exchanges
A famous city.

Liu Taozi led more than a hundred cavalrymen and slowly appeared in front of the city.

The city was in a state of ruin, with corpses scattered all over the ground being cleared away. The city gates were wide open, and a masked general led many soldiers out of the city to welcome them.

"Greetings, General!!"

Everyone bowed deeply.

Liu Taozi asked them to stand up and then looked at Yan Heita, the leader. He frowned and didn't say much.

Surrounded by the crowd, Liu Taozi walked into the city. Yan Heita hurriedly informed him of the battle situation. "I have sent someone to contact Jinhe's general Potuo Luo. He sent someone to escort a group of scattered officials. The scattered officials from various places will be deployed soon and will no longer be directly under the jurisdiction of the army."

"Well, what's the news about Yang Zhong and others?"

"Po Duoluo said that Yang Zuan's troops have appeared outside the city and fought several times. The enemy's morale is high and their fighting spirit is high. Po Duoluo has no way to defeat them and they are still entangled in a stalemate. Yang Zhong's army should soon meet up with Yang Zuan. The other pseudo-Zhou armies in other places have learned that Yongfeng has fallen and have begun to collapse. Tu Xiyue and others are still leading their troops in pursuit."

Everyone walked into the office, which had been cleaned before. No corpses were seen, but the bloodstains on the ground had not been wiped off in time, and a foul smell permeated the entire office.

Liu Taozi sat in the upper seat, and the generals sat around him.

Liu Taozi first rewarded the soldiers who had made contributions this time, and finally left Yan Heita and Chu Jiande, and asked the rest to go back and rest. Tomorrow, they would go out again to kill the old villain Yang Zhong.

There were only three people left in the house.

Liu Taozi just said slowly: "Mr. Chu, help him check his injuries."

Yan Heita was stunned. Chu Jiande walked up to him, examined him, pulled open his sleeves, and indeed saw the marks of bandage.

Chu Jiande was also surprised, "My Lord, you have a good eye. I didn't even notice that he was injured."

"He usually wears heavy armor when he sees me, but today he suddenly wears light armor. He must be injured."

Yan Heita hurriedly said: "General, this is nothing."

"If you don't treat your wound in time, you will die in this battle."

"Tomorrow, you will continue to stay here and you don't have to follow me."

Yan Heita was horrified, "General, I can still fight!"

Liu Taozi looked at him slowly, and he lowered his head helplessly.

"only!"

Liu Taozi nodded and ordered: "If you encounter an enemy passing by, don't rush to attack, just defend the city. Yang Zhong is a person who cannot be judged by common sense. He may appear anywhere, so don't be careless."

Liu Taozi gave a few instructions and went to inspect the city defenses.

Chu Jiande treated Yan Heita's wound again. He also took off his mask. There were also scratches on his neck. Chu Jiande treated the wound calmly.

"Your grandfather also gained military merits because of you, and even became a famous General Yan. When do you plan to leave?"

Yan Niang frowned slightly, "Why do you want to leave?"

"You are a woman after all. You replaced your grandfather and allowed him to keep his household registration. That was already a favor from the general. So, do you still want to use your daughter's body to gain a military position?"

She glanced at Chu Jiande and said, "The general doesn't even care about me, why are you talking nonsense?"

Chu Jiande laughed, "General, you are not a Xianbei. It is not feasible to let women fight in the battlefield. It is not feasible."

"In ancient times, there were Fu Hao and Xun Guan. Even in the Former Qin Dynasty, there was Queen Mao. How can you say it won't work?"

"Hey, is fighting and killing people a good thing? Now that you have military merit, it would be great if you could go back and take care of your grandfather. The generals under the lord's command don't need a little kid like you."

"You are so old now, why don't you go back to live there? I heard that Xu Zhicai has come to the frontier, and he doesn't need an old man like you."

Chu Jiande laughed, "I am here to save the dying and heal the wounded, which is very different from you."

Yan Niang looked up and said, "I will follow the general anyway. I am not seeking fame or status. Every time the general conquers a place, the people there can live well. When the general did not come to the border, my whole family was almost forced to death. Now, everywhere in the border is full of laughter and joy. The more battles the general wins, the better life will be for everyone."

"I will follow the general to defeat all enemies and comfort the people of the whole world!"

Chu Jiande chuckled and said, "Your ambition is much greater than Yao Xiong and the others. Kou Liu's ambition is to leave his name in history, Tian Zili wants to rebuild the Han and Jin dynasties, and Yao Xiong only wants to be a censor."

"The Imperial Censor?"

"Why does Yao Xiong want to be the Imperial Censor?"

"This fool heard people say that the Censor supervises all officials, so he thought that the Censor-in-Chief was the head of all officials. He didn't care whether there was a Censor-in-Chief now or not, because no one explained his official position to him anyway."

Yan Niang laughed, "If the world is at peace, the general might really give him a nominal title of Imperial Censor to satisfy him."

"All right."

Chu Jiande stood up and clapped his hands. "The wounds have been treated, you should be more careful. You are not having your period now, right? You wear heavy armor all day and fight enemies in battle. You need to rest from time to time, otherwise, I am afraid you will not be able to have children and be a mother."

Yan Niang frowned, "If no one fights hard, even if you become a mother, you can't protect your child."

Chu Jiande was in a trance for a moment, "It does make sense."

Yan Niang sighed, "What a pity, I can't go out with the general to fight this time. I was thinking of chopping off Yang Zhong's head and presenting it to the general."

Chu Jiande stroked his beard and said earnestly: "You are stationed in the city, which is also a very important task. How can you take it lightly? You don't have to follow the general to achieve success. Young people, remember this."

The next day.

"Lord? Why should I stay here too?!"

"You are going on this expedition and you are in need of a doctor. I cannot stay here!!"

The knights lined up outside the city, ready to go to war, but Chu Jiande was pulling the reins of the Green Lion, looking at Liu Taozi eagerly.

My lord has always been the one who takes the lead in every battle. If he is not with me and if he gets injured and is not treated in time, something serious will happen.

Chu Jiande said hurriedly: "My lord, although I am old, I can still ride a horse and run long distances. You need a doctor by your side. I can't stay, I can't stay."

Liu Taozi looked behind, where there were many young people.

"Mr. Chu, there are enough military doctors with you. If you are injured, they will treat you. If you are injured and even they are helpless, I am afraid that Mr. Chu will not be able to help. Mr. Chu should stay in the city and improve the hospital here as soon as possible. There will be many fierce battles here in the future."

Chu Jiande was filled with worry, but he could only watch Liu Taozi lead the army away.

Yan Heita appeared beside Chu Jiande at some point in time, "Mr. Chu, guarding the rear is also a very important job."

Chu Jiande was so angry that his face turned red. "How can I be the same as you guys?! With me here, the general has an extra life!"

"Don't worry, Lord Chu. The general must have his own ideas for keeping you here. Maybe he wants to launch an attack. Can Lord Chu really launch an attack right now?"

Chu Jiande pursed his lips and let out a long sigh.

Not long after Liu Taozi left, some scattered officials from Jinhe appeared here.

Dozens of knights protected these scattered officials. Under Liu Taozi's rule, there were a large number of schools. Unlike Cheng'an, the demand was huge, so the schools had not been overcrowded until now. Moreover, the number of people under Liu Taozi's rule was constantly increasing. This time, Yao Xiong captured Yan, An and other places, and the demand for officials would only be greater.

Most of these officials were selected from Jinhe, Wanshou and other places. Their dialects are not much different from here and are almost the same.

It can be seen that the Beishuo side is very attentive to this place and sent 35 people to serve as officials here at one time.

Yan Heita appointed these people to various positions, and then the government office here began to operate normally.

Local government affairs were still mostly run by these low-level officials. They began to investigate the local situation, sort out household registration and land, and restore post-war organizational capabilities.

Daiming was a big city in the past, and even became a county at one point.

However, it was defeated in the subsequent Six Garrisons Uprising and never recovered. The population in the city became smaller and smaller, and the defense center was gradually shifted from here to Yongfeng, and it has declined since then.

Today, there are more than 10,000 people in the city, and in the past they were able to survive only because of Yongfeng.

As soon as Yongfeng fell, the place was in chaos. The main general did not choose to flee. As the person arranged by Yang Zhong to be responsible for the support, he gathered the defeated soldiers and waited for Yang Zhong's reinforcements. Then he encountered the army of Yan Heita. The two sides fought bloody battles, and the Qi people successfully occupied the city.

After the scattered officials arrived, they quickly began to use their old methods.

The first thing was to appease the people after the war. The scattered officials took to the streets and shouted everywhere.

The war is over. For those people who have suffered severe losses in the war and cannot make a living, the government will provide subsidies and allow them to come and receive food.

Nothing is better than coming to the government office to collect food.

When the people arrived at the government office, they could be re-registered. In these border towns, especially during wars, documents had to be prepared to be burned at any time. The data in the city would never be left to the enemy. Once the enemy was besieged, they would be prepared to be burned. If the enemy entered the city, the officials in charge would burn it immediately.

If there is no time to burn it, or if you think there is still hope of counterattack, then find a dry well or something else to bury it to prevent the enemy from finding it.

When a new force moves in, the first thing it does is to collect a lot of data in the city.

The clerks were very busy; some were distributing grain, some were registering, and some were posting various new notices.

The young people in the city stood at the street entrance worriedly, hesitating. They wanted to get food but were afraid of being killed.

They didn't dare to go forward to collect the food until they saw someone successfully collect the food.

The scattered officials did not miss the good opportunity to promote themselves and took the opportunity to talk about General Liu's many good policies.

We truly granted land, truly registered our people as military households, and truly opened schools.

Well, although the system was like this in the past, we are serious about this.

The people were only half-believing and half-doubting what they said. After all, everyone was saying the same thing. They had been talking about granting land for decades, but the people had less and less land. They had been talking about granting military households for many years, but many of them went bankrupt.

But at least they really distributed food.

Maybe it will actually be implemented?

Yang Zhong led his army and slowly appeared outside the Jin River.

He rode a war horse and was at the front.

The knights behind him followed hurriedly. Although they failed to capture Jinyang this time, they captured more than 30 passes and several large cities along the way, and even defeated the enemy army several times.

The gains were not small.

The knights were escorting supplies, marching in a mighty force with high morale.

Gao Anagong walked beside Yang Zhong, with his head lowered and silent.

The other person, with a smile on his face, followed Yang Zhong and told the story in a low voice.

"General, today's divination is a bit ominous. You should be worried that Dugu Cangtou will send troops to stop us."

Gao Anagong looked at the villain. He knew that man. His name was Zheng Daoqian.

He is He Shikai's close confidant.

When Gao Zhan led He Shikai to flee Yecheng, this guy followed He Shikai, but was later defeated by Zhou soldiers and got separated.

Gao Anagong looked down on this guy. He was captured and had no choice but to surrender, but what about this guy? He took the initiative to surrender. He was a real villain!
Zheng Daoqian was bowing his head at this moment, looking spineless.

The generals around Yang Zhong looked away with disdain and ignored this villain.

Yang Zhong did not do so. When Yang Zhong was preparing to withdraw his troops, this guy came to him on his own initiative, hoping to surrender. It is said that he wanted to escape back to Yecheng. Halfway through, he heard that He Shikai was killed. As a close confidant of He Shikai, he felt that there was no way to survive in Yecheng, so he came to surrender, hoping to submit to the Great Zhou.

Yang Zhong himself did not really believe in ghosts and gods, but this wizard was not an ordinary wizard. He had been with He Shikai for a long time, had been active in Yecheng for many years, knew many powerful people in Yecheng, and had participated in many of Gao Zhan's plans. If the Zhou people wanted to attack the Qi people, they had to understand the Qi people, so this man was still very useful.

As for this villain's demeanor, Yang Zhong wished that all people in Qi were like this.

Yang Zhong said calmly with a straight face, "You don't have to worry about Liu Taozi's matter."

"He has just captured Yongfeng and has not yet secured his position. Yongfeng is extremely important to him. Our army is surrounding Yongfeng, and he dare not leave Yongfeng to stop us."

He skipped the topic and asked, "You have been to this frontier before, right? Why didn't you go to Liu Taozi?"

Zheng Daoqian was stunned and lowered his head. "How can I surrender to him?"

Yang Zhong laughed, "Just tell me the truth, Lord Zheng."

Zheng Daoqian whispered: "I wanted to go to him, but he doesn't believe in ghosts and gods at all. He even accused me of cheating people out of their money and wanted to lock me up."

Yang Zhong laughed out loud.

"This is something Liu Taozi can do."

He laughed for a moment, then the smile on his face gradually froze when he thought of what the scout had reported about Yongfeng.

"We should have listened to Wei Xiaokuan and done our best to get rid of him."

"Now that he has gained an advantage this time, I'm afraid he will be even more difficult to deal with."

Li Mu said coldly: "General, don't worry. The Duke of Jin intends to attack Qi. Next year, we will divide our troops into two groups and attack with 100,000 men. I don't believe Liu Taozi will get any benefit. His defense line is getting longer and longer. Now we just don't have enough troops. With 100,000 men, we will definitely bury him at the border."

Yang Zhong narrowed his eyes. "If there really were 100,000 troops under my command and no one could stop them, I would be confident that I could destroy Liu Taozi, but I'm afraid."

He didn't continue, but everyone knew what Yang Zhong was worried about.

Yuwen Hu dared to safely leave 10,000 people to Yang Zhong and let him command them freely, but if the number reached 100,000, Yuwen Hu might not be reassured. Who knows whether you would take 100,000 people to attack Wuchuan or Chang'an.

By then, perhaps all the confidants of the Duke of Jin would come to help, and that would be a very disgusting situation. There is no need to say much about the loyalty of these confidants of the Duke of Jin, but loyalty is the only thing that can be said.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sound of war drums suddenly rang out from outside the Jinhe camp in the distance.

The Zhou people quickly formed their battle array and entered a state of war preparation.

A large flag suddenly went up on the distant hillside, and the enemy knights were seen slowly appearing.

As the big flag with the word "Liu" on it appeared, the sound of war drums became more intense.

Yang Zhong frowned and looked back at the soldiers on his left and right.

Some soldiers showed fear in their eyes and took a few steps back. Others looked exhausted and almost dropped their weapons.

Yang Zhong stared at the distance until he saw a familiar general appear in the middle of the knights, in the same formation as in the Battle of Shiben.

Yang Zhong was speechless at this moment.

How much courage does it take to abandon Yongfeng, which he had taken with great difficulty, just to rush here to stop me?

Should we say that Liu Taozi is too courageous? Or should we say that he takes himself too seriously?
Am I more important than Yongfeng Town in his eyes?
Isn’t he afraid that I will tie him up here and take the opportunity to let the generals around Yongfeng retake Yongfeng?

At this moment, Yang Zhong once again thought of Wei Xiaokuan's letter before the war.

Wei Xiaokuan told him in a letter that it would be best not to divide the troops, but to concentrate their forces and attack Liu Taozi at all costs. Other places can be ignored. As long as Liu Taozi is killed, the matter will be considered a success.

But Yang Zhong also had his own ideas and did not agree with Wei Xiaokuan's ideas.

But when he saw Liu Taozi appear in front of him again, Yang Zhong was a little shaken. Perhaps he should have listened to Wei Xiaokuan and got rid of this guy at all costs.

This guy's ability to lead troops in battle is just so-so, he is just an ordinary general, but his courage, execution, and decisiveness are truly unmatched.

Yang Zhong sighed and looked around.

"withdraw!!"

The next moment, Liu Taozi's cavalry rushed out. They charged down the hillside, shaking the earth.

Yang Zhong and his men abandoned their horses and carriages and fled quickly with their elite troops.

Arrows flew out, covering the sky and the sun.

The same location, the same formation, but this time, it was Yang Zhong who led the cavalry to break out and escape.

(End of this chapter)