I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 212 The troops are divided into three groups
The first year of Kaiyuan, autumn.

Runzhou, Chaisang City.

The city that was once the richest in the southwest became devastated after a war, and the air still seemed to be filled with the smell of gunpowder.

In the City Lord's Mansion, a year later, Lei Mengsha met Chu Zhao again.

A year ago, the two sides were still friends getting along harmoniously, but who would have thought that he would now become a prisoner.

It can be said that he is still alive now thanks to his daughter Li Hanyi, at least that’s what he thinks.

Chu Zhao poured a glass of wine for Lei Mengsha and joked, "How come the famous chatterbox Lei Men Junjie has become mute today? I'm a little uncomfortable with it."

Lei Mengsha was shocked and said quickly: "I have been expelled from Leimen and have nothing to do with Leimen."

"Are you afraid that I will vent my anger on Leimen because of you?"

Chu Zhao shook his head and smiled, "When I was fleeing to Jiangnan, I met the leader of your Lei Clan. We had a good relationship. Lei Clan expelled you because of the sect rules, but they still support you because of the family's integrity. So they sent people to rescue you. In addition to Lei Family Castle, there is also Jianxin Tomb."

"Did you catch them?"

"No, I was persuaded to go back. After all, I had no intention of doing anything to you."

Lei Mengsha smiled bitterly and suddenly asked, "Were the artillery and muskets of Xichu made with the participation of people from the Lei Clan?"

It’s no wonder he thought so. After all, when it comes to playing with gunpowder, no one or any force in the world can be a match for Leimen.

Chu Zhao saw through his thoughts at a glance and laughed: "You want Lei Men to help Beili develop artillery and muskets?"

"good."

"The gunpowder technique of the Lei clan is indeed well-known in the martial arts world, but compared with our Xi Chu, your Lei clan's gunpowder technique is still a little lacking. You, the Lei clan, are not the only ones in the world who know how to play with gunpowder." Chu Zhao said lightly.

This is actually a humble statement. If he is not humble, Leimen is not even worthy of carrying his shoes.

After all, he was engaged in military industry in his previous life, not to mention that his mind had inexplicably acquired some knowledge about guns, forging, etc., which was like engraved in his brain and he couldn't forget it even if he wanted to.

Leimen’s most powerful weapon, the Kirin Fire Fang, is similar to the second-generation artillery developed by Xichu. It was developed by the craftsmen of the Academy of Sciences themselves, and Chu Zhao was not involved at all.

Today, Xichu's artillery has developed to the fourth generation, which is far superior to Leimen's.

Of course, this is only in terms of power. In terms of overall precision, the Kirin Fire Fang is still much more advanced.

However, on the battlefield, one must also pay attention to cost-effectiveness. Although the Kirin Fire Fang is precise, its cost-effectiveness is too low.

Lei Mengsha suddenly realized and sighed, "That's right. Your Xi Chu's artillery is more powerful than our Lei Sect's Kirin Fire Fang. If they were involved, our sect would not regard the Kirin Fire Fang as a treasure."

As they were talking, a group of soldiers came in with a man and a woman.

The man is Gu Jianmen, one of the Eight Young Masters of Beili, and the woman is Yan Liuli.

Chu Zhao had no interest in Gu Jianmen. He just looked at Yan Liuli with interest and smiled, "Madam Gu, do you still think that the Yan family is my lackeys?"

"Your Majesty, you are joking." Yan Liuli smiled bitterly.

At the beginning, the reason why she chose to marry into the Gu family was not only because she had feelings for Gu Luoli, but also because she wanted to use the power of the Gu family to control the Yan family.

But no one expected that Chu Zhao would suddenly appear and disrupt all her plans.

In fact, she realized at that time that Chu Zhao intended to let her take charge of the Yan family, but she made the wrong choice.

Thinking about my original thought... a lackey?
It's so ridiculous!

"At first, I actually wanted you to take charge of the Yan family, but unfortunately you made the wrong choice." Chu Zhao sighed and said with a playful smile: "Do you regret it now?"

I regret it, of course I regret it.

She almost regretted it to death.

If she had chosen another path, she would not be Mrs. Gu with only a title, and she would not be a prisoner, not knowing what her final fate would be.

More importantly, she heard that Western Chu had allowed women to serve as officials in the court, despite the great disapproval of the world.

With her ability... maybe she could become an official in the court.

Unfortunately, there is no regret medicine in the world.

Yan Liuli looked sad: "How will your majesty deal with us?"

"You, go back to the Yan family. After all, you are Bie Yun's sister. Although he says he doesn't recognize you, he still cares about you in his heart. You will take over the Yan family in Southwest Road in the future. Your second brother has other important tasks to do. As for the Gu family."

Chu Zhao paused, then turned to look at Gu Jianmen: "I heard that your Gu family is the main force of the resistance?"

Gu Jianmen snorted coldly: "You can kill me or shave me, it's all up to you."

Seeing Gu Jianmen's fearless look, Chu Zhao smiled and said, "Okay, pass on my order to kill the entire Gu family, leaving no one alive!"

"His Majesty……"

Chu Zhao glanced over and smiled at Yan Liuli, "Why, do you want to die with the Gu family?"

Yan Liuli stopped talking.

Lei Mengsha stood up and bowed, "Chu...Emperor Chu, can you spare the third brother this time?"

"Your face in my presence has already bought your life, and now you have no face left."

"I thought you spared my life for Xiao Hanyi's sake, but I didn't expect I still had face." Lei Mengsha was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Can you spare Gu Laosan for Xiao Hanyi's sake? Xiao Hanyi and Gu Laosan have a good relationship."

Chu Zhao was stunned, thought for a moment, and said, "Okay, you can take Gu Jianmen away, but everyone else in the Gu Mansion... regardless of gender, age or status, must die!"

"Chu Zhao..."

Gu Jianmen had just yelled out two words when Lei Mengsha interrupted him coldly, "Gu Laosan, shut up!"

Gu Jianmen stopped talking and just stared at Chu Zhao.

"Emperor Chu, Gu family..."

"Lei Mengsha, it's true that I like that little girl Li Hanyi, but her reputation is only enough for you to save Gu Jianmen alone. You don't need to say anything more, otherwise I will kill Gu Jianmen as well."

Chu Zhao interrupted Lei Mengsha and ordered the guards beside him, "Go and call the generals above the fourth rank to the meeting."

Soon, a dozen generals led by Li Junxin hurried over.

Among them were people from Western Chu, Hu, Nanjue, and even Beili.

After some polite exchanges, Chu Zhao asked, "Is Lord Huixi willing to surrender?"

"He is willing, but he has two conditions," Li Junxin replied.

Chu Zhao hummed: "Tell me about it."

"He learned about your majesty's healing methods from somewhere and wants you to treat him. Another reason is that he wants to control the Southwest Road and have the court make him king."

The former is easy to say, but the latter... this is just wanting to be a local emperor with full legitimacy.

Chu Zhao sneered: "Western Chu only has an emperor, no princes, and certainly no local tyrants. Since he doesn't want to, then fight him!"

Everyone was delighted, and one of the strong men stood up and said, "Your Majesty, give me half a year, and my Longwu Army will definitely recover the Southwest Road. I can issue a military order."

Nowadays, Western Chu has three major armies in total, namely the Blood-Clothed Army, the Dragon-Martial Army, and the Divine-Martial Army.

Needless to say, the Blood-Cloth Army is the most loyal of Chu Zhao's loyal troops. It currently has 50,000 men, the smallest number among the three armies, but the strongest combat power.

Most of the Longwu Army were recruited Western Hu people, about 80,000 in number.

As for the Shenwu Army, it was a large army formed by the subordinates brought back by those who were originally sent out.

The number of their troops is about the same as that of the Longwu Army, and their personnel are very mixed, you can say that there are everyone, but their combat power is not weak. With the same number of people, they can beat the elite Flying Tiger Army of Beili into a pulp.

The person who spoke now was a Western Hu man, originally named Wushina. He was the leader of a small Western Hu tribe. Later, after he defected to Western Chu, he changed himself to a very down-to-earth Central Plains name - Zhao Fugui.

He is the second most important person in the Xihu army, with about 30,000 men under his command. Chu Zhao turned his head and shook his head: "You can't, you have to go with me."

The generals from the Blood Robe Guards present immediately understood what he meant. Among them, Li Junxin, the commander-in-chief of the three armies, asked, "Your Majesty, are you going to lead the army in person?"

Chu Zhao hummed: "I plan to divide the troops, you all come with me."

Before coming to the map, Chu Zhao began to describe his arrangements.

He wanted to recover the original territory of Western Chu, that is, all the territories west of Langya City. If Beili wanted to send a large number of troops to go to war with Western Chu, there were only three ways to go.

One way is to come by water from Jiangnan.

One is to enter from Qiandong City in the north.

This road was built because the destruction of Western Chu and Northern Que allowed the Beili army to march straight into Western Chu from the north.

As for the last one, it is to enter Western Chu from Langya City.

However, although there are three routes, in fact, Beili only has two routes to take, because Nanjue wants to annex Jiangnan and Lingnan, and is now fighting fiercely with the Beili army in the two places, so the water route to Xichu is blocked.

Therefore, Chu Zhao planned to divide his troops into three routes.

One group was led north by Li Junxin, while the other group was led east by him personally, blocking the road from Beili to Western Chu. By then, all the territory that originally belonged to Western Chu would be surrounded by them.

In this way, the Beili army, which was originally in Western Chu, can fight however they want.

It can also reduce a lot of casualties. After all, without large-scale military support, the morale of the Beili army remaining in the territory of Western Chu will naturally continue to weaken.

Speaking of which, we have to thank Beiman and Nanjue. If it weren't for Nanjue and Beiman who held up most of Beili's soldiers, Chu Zhao really wouldn't dare to do this.

No one objected to Chu Zhao's plan, so he finally said: "Move 10,000 people from the Blood Clothes Army, with Li Yi as the general, and move 40,000 people from the Dragon Warrior Army, with Wu Shina as the general, to follow me eastward to capture Langya City."

"Your Majesty, my name is Zhao Fugui." Wu Shina said sullenly.

This name...is not as nice as "I'm dead".

Chu Zhao complained in his heart and said with a smile: "Okay, Zhao Fugui, Zhao Fugui and Li Yi will follow me eastward, and the rest of the Blood Clothes Army and the Dragon Warrior Army will be under your command to the north."

Li Junxin nodded. Before he could speak, the commander of the Shenwu Army said, "Your Majesty, where is our Shenwu Army?"

This person's name is Li Fangyi, and he is also from the Blood Robe Guard.

Speaking of which, among the Blood-Cloth Guards, there are especially many with the surname Li, followed by those with the surname Zhao. Almost all of the five hundred Blood-Cloth Guards are occupied by these two surnames.

Li Fangyi was a Blood-Clothed Guard who was sent out that year. He ran to Nanjue and did quite well. He started out as a bandit and robbed houses. Later, he was recruited by the Nanjue court and became a general of Nanjue. In the end, he brought back nearly 10,000 people.

Chu Zhao turned to look at him and said with a smile: "As the last army, the Shenwu Army will advance step by step according to the original plan to recapture the cities in the Western Chu territory, and at the same time be responsible for supporting the other two armies at any time."

Li Fangyi nodded and said nothing more.

"Any other questions?"

Seeing everyone shaking their heads, Chu Zhao was about to continue, but before he could finish his words, he heard a voice suddenly coming from behind.

"I have a question."

Everyone turned their heads and saw that Lei Mengsha had mixed in with them at some point. In an instant, everyone's eyes were filled with murderous intent.

This made Lei Mengsha, who was always carefree and timid, couldn't help but shrink back.

Chu Zhao smiled nonchalantly: "What's the problem?"

Lei Mengsha calmed down and replied, "If I heard correctly, you only have 50,000 people. Even if you have the advantage of artillery, it is impossible for you to advance all the way east to Langya, let alone capture Langya City."

That’s right, he only has 50,000 people, but the Blood-Cloth Army is the elite among the elite. Although one can’t defeat ten, they can defeat four, five, or six.

In other words, although he seemed to have only 50,000 troops, he actually had an army of about 100,000.

What's more, does fighting a war necessarily mean reducing the number of people?
"You don't believe it?" Chu Zhao smiled faintly.

Lei Mengsha shook his head: "I don't believe it."

"Then tell me how I marched eastward and conquered Langya."

Chu Zhao smiled confidently, then waved to everyone and said, "Okay, let's adjourn the meeting!"

The next day, the Western Chu army was officially divided into three routes.

Lei Mengsha was really curious about how Chu Zhao went eastward and captured Langya City, so he followed him out of Chaisang City.

Of course, even if he didn't follow, Chu Zhao would force him to go.

……

……

One month later.

Outside Yunyang City, Chu Zhao and Lei Mengsha appeared at a grain collection point of the Beili government.

Yunyang City is a big city on the way eastward of the Western Chu army. It is quite far away from the army led by Chu Zhao, so far that the city is still peaceful and prosperous, and is not affected by the war at all.

It was just dawn at this time, but the people at the grain collection point had already lined up in a long queue. Each of them was pale and skinny, dragging a bag of grain in their hands, waiting for the government to send someone to weigh it and take it away.

"Lei Mengsha, what did you see?" Chu Zhao suddenly asked.

They came to Yunyang three days ago. He was called here by Chu Zhao before dawn this morning.

He was completely confused now and had no idea why Chu Zhao asked him to come to the grain collection point.

Lei Mengsha said blankly: "This is the grain collection point after the autumn harvest."

Chu Zhao hummed and continued to ask: "What else?"

"Anything else?" Lei Mengsha asked back.

Seeing this, Chu Zhao sighed: "Then wait a little longer."

After waiting for an hour, the government's grain collection team finally arrived.

The grain collector waved his whip and kept shouting and cursing at the front of the queue.

The people poured the grain in their bags into the official measure and began to weigh it. The measure had scales, and the scale at which the grain reached indicated how many kilograms it weighed.

One of the grain collectors saw them. Although he didn't recognize them, he knew they were not ordinary people by their attire. So he trotted over and asked with a flattering smile, "Excuse me, who are you two gentlemen?"

Chu Zhao did not intend to answer, but asked: "Hasn't the autumn grain been collected? Why are you still collecting grain?"

After saying this, he threw out another five taels of silver.

"Thank you for the reward, sir!"

The clerk who received the silver was instantly delighted and smiled. He bowed and replied, "Sir, the imperial court has collected the autumn grain, but our Yunyang city tax has not yet been collected."

City tax is the tax paid to the local city lord. Since most city lords will collect it, people in Beili generally regard it as official tax.

As for the amount of city tax, it depends on the local situation and the conscience of the city lord.

Of course, there are also city lords who do not collect city taxes, but such city lords are very rare.

Chu Zhao said calmly, and waved his hand at the clerk: "Just do your thing, don't worry about us."

The grain collecting clerk bowed and returned to the team to continue collecting grain.

Here, Chu Zhao spoke again: "Lei Mengsha, what do you see now?"

"I saw you giving money to the clerk, but you probably didn't ask that, so what exactly do you mean? Can you just tell me directly?" Lei Mengsha said speechlessly.

Chu Zhao shook his head in disappointment: "Then let's wait and see."

(End of this chapter)