I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 243 Duan Yu always remembers
Faced with this situation, Yuan Shu did not advance rashly. Instead, he decided to stay in Suanzao County and asked the Suanzao County magistrate to recruit county residents to repair the city defenses in order to deal with possible emergencies.

Originally, he was worried that if the rebels took the initiative to attack Suanzao County, the insufficient number of defenders on his side would lead to the loss of the city defense. However, with the arrival of the main force of the Han army, his worries disappeared.

"Now that the main force of the army has arrived, there is no need to worry even if the entire rebel army attacks."

Yuan Shu laughed and said, "Even if the rebels have 100,000 men, they are no match for the imperial army."

Duan Yu nodded in agreement, then immediately arranged for the army to set up camp, built a military camp with Suanzao as the center, continued to send people to collect intelligence on the rebels, and let the soldiers rest for two days.

During the two days of rest, the rebels did not launch an active attack. However, there was a small-scale fight between the scouts of both sides. The Han army had the upper hand and killed many rebel scouts. Apart from that, there were no other movements.

Duan Xing and his generals conducted a wave of analysis and judgment, and believed that the rebels occupied Zaocheng in order to intimidate the Han army so that the Han army would not dare to rashly send out its main force to attack Yan County. The two cities helped each other, and no matter where the Han army attacked, the other side would send troops to help, threatening the Han army's retreat.

Duan Yu thought this was normal. He thought at most that the rebel leadership had become more cautious after suffering a big loss and began to focus on defense and steady progress.

They should also be aware of the advantage of the Han cavalry on the great plains, so they planned to use defensive operations to deplete the Han army's military strength.

"The rebels are no longer advancing. This only shows that the leader is quite cautious and not a man who is impatient and reckless. In this case, if our army wants to advance, we must naturally attack the city and capture the stronghold. Fortunately, these rebels are not elite warriors, so even if they attack the city and capture the stronghold, our army is not afraid of it."

Duan Xing then gave an order that after the siege equipment arrived and was assembled, the army would first take Zaocheng and then attack Yan County, in order to use the positive defenses to crush the rebels head-on and leave them with no power to fight back. This battle would also be demonstrated to the people of the world so that the villains would not dare to act recklessly.

Then Duan Xing began to assign tasks to his subordinates. Each officer had his own responsibilities. Finally, only Yuan Shu was left. Duan Xing seemed to want to assign some tasks to him, but he was a little hesitant.

Yuan Shu then volunteered to fight.

"General, I have already defeated a rebel vanguard. This should be enough to prove that I am not incompetent. Why can't you trust me?"

When Duan Xing heard Yuan Shu say this, he suddenly felt helpless.

He wanted to treat Yuan Shu as an ordinary military general, but the problem was that Yuan Shu really could not be treated as an ordinary person.

Not to mention that Yuan Feng loves his son deeply, and not to mention that those people in Yi Xin Society regard Yuan Shu as a god. In a sense, the rise and fall of the Duan family also depends on Yuan Shu.

Even Duan Xing joined Yuan Shu instead of the Yuan family.

Duan Xing always remembered this.

Yuan Shu treated him very politely and respectfully, but this was Yuan Shu's personal cultivation and a reflection of Yuan Shu's personal qualities. He could not really treat Yuan Shu as a subordinate or a pawn because of this.

Although he was not very good at manipulating politics, he could still understand these little ways of dealing with people after being trained by the eunuchs.

However, Yuan Shu was already in the army and actually won a battle, which initially proved himself.

So after much deliberation, Duan Xing decided to give Yuan Shu a task to further test his military talents and see if he had the real ability to gain a foothold in the army.

"In that case, then, Captain Yuan, I will order you to lead 2,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry. When my main force attacks Zaocheng, be on guard against the rebels from Yan County. If the rebels come to attack, stop them and do not let them hinder my army from breaking the city. If the rebels from Yan County do not attack, you do not have to do anything."

Yuan Shu was satisfied and accepted the military order.

"The last general takes command!"

After Yuan Shu took the military command, Duan Xing seemed a little worried, so he held Yuan Shu's hand and whispered instructions.

"Zijia, if there really is an enemy coming from Yan County, there will definitely not be only 3,000 people. You have to be careful. Take the 1,000 cavalrymen from your Yi Xin Society, and another 3,000 infantrymen from the Yi Xin Society. For the remaining 1,000 cavalrymen, mobilize the most elite troops from your headquarters. You must protect yourself. Do you understand?"

Yuan Shu was stunned for a moment, and then felt a little amused.

"Mr. Duan, you are not really worried that I can't carry out this mission, right?"

"There is always a chance of something happening, so it is best to be cautious!"

Duan Yu shook his head and said, "You are connected to too many people. You must not take risks lightly. I see that the disciples of your Yi Xin Society are very loyal to you and are willing to protect you with their lives. Take them with you. If something bad really happens, they will definitely be able to protect you and escape."

Yuan Shu stretched out his hand and scratched his cheek. "Mr. Duan, I think I can handle this task, and if the rebels are really weak, I even think I can take the initiative to attack Yan County..."

"Nothing is trivial on the battlefield! The most taboo thing is to underestimate the enemy!"

Duan Yu said seriously: "As long as we can defend the main road, there is no need to do anything else! If you underestimate the enemy, I will not let you go, otherwise if something goes wrong, I will end up being criticized by everyone!"

Seeing that Duan Xing was really scared, Yuan Shu had no choice but to admit his mistake and said that he would be cautious and bring more trusted men and elite soldiers with him to ensure his own safety and would never charge into the battle himself.

Duan Xing was relieved.

Two days later, on November 27th of the first year of Zhengshi, the wind was cold but the weather was clear. The sun broke through the clouds and shone on the ground, making the Han soldiers, who had not seen the sun for several days, feel refreshed.

It was on this day that the Han army was fully prepared. At Duan Xing's command, he led 20,000 main forces, pushing heavy siege equipment, to Zaocheng.

Yuan Shu also followed Duan Xing's orders and led the 5,000 men assigned to him by Duan Xing, led the troops forward, set up camp between Yan County and Zaocheng, and blocked the official road between Yan County and Zaocheng.

Yuan Shu cut down trees and set up camp by the river, built defensive fortifications outside the camp, sent out scouts to gather information and intelligence, and conscientiously carried out the tasks assigned to him by Duan Xing.

Although he had won a victory before, Yuan Shu had no intention of slacking off. In case a lot of enemy troops really arrived, he would be under a lot of pressure. So while he was making arrangements, he also brought Fan Li with him to keep watch.

After the previous battle, Fan Li obviously had a certain degree of confidence in Yuan Shu, so he did not comment on Yuan Shu's arrangements, but just watched Yuan Shu's operations. Only when Yuan Shu made some obvious omissions, Fan Li would speak up and remind him.

Seeing Fan Li taking such good care of him, Yuan Shu felt a little embarrassed, so he threw a small bottle of wine into Fan Li's arms.

"It's just a small gift, not a token of respect. If I do anything wrong later, Captain Fan, please give me some pointers."

"Thank you, Captain Yuan, for the reward!"

As soon as he saw the wine, Fan Li's face smiled like a blooming chrysanthemum. He was so happy that all the wrinkles on his face smoothed out.

Oh, it feels so good to have a boss who is polite, friendly and generous!
The wine is so delicious!

On the first day of the attack and defense of Zaocheng, nothing happened on Yuan Shu's side.

The next day, nothing happened on Yuan Shu's side.

It was not until the next evening that scouts reported that there were signs of large-scale rebel movements in the direction of Yan County.

Rebel reinforcements are coming!
Yuan Shu immediately perked up and ordered the scouts to continue gathering information. After waking up on the third day, he ordered the entire army to be on alert and enter a state of combat readiness. The soldiers were well fed and ready to fight at any time.

Near noon, Yuan Shu received the latest news that an enemy force of several thousand people was approaching the camp rapidly.

Yuan Shu became nervous and immediately rushed to the front of the camp to inspect the soldiers' defense and weapons preparations, and also checked the preparations of the cavalry team.

Considering that the number of enemies might be greater than that of his own side, Yuan Shu did not order a field battle. Instead, he set up a defense line relying on the solid camp and used the advantages of the defenders to wait for the enemy to tire themselves out and deal with the rebels' attack.

Anyway, this rebel army is the attacking party. If we don't attack, we will just have to wait for Zaocheng to be captured by Duan Xing.

In the afternoon, Yuan Shu received news again, and learned that the rebel vanguard was less than ten miles away from the camp, and the number of rebels was also revised. It was estimated that it would not be less than 10,000 people. There were few cavalry, and it seemed that there were only about 1,800 people. Most of them were infantry, and no heavy equipment was seen.

There are just too many people, nothing else.

But Yuan Shu was not too relaxed.

Before it was three thousand to three thousand, now it is five thousand to more than ten thousand. The enemy’s strength is more than twice ours, so we must be careful.

He still maintained the vigilance that an arrogant army will soon be defeated, and tried his best to be alert and careful, never underestimate the enemy at any time, and adopt the mentality of a lion fighting a rabbit.

Pinching his face, Yuan Shu nodded and adjusted his attitude.

(End of this chapter)