Loan Wusheng

Chapter 181: Establishing a government and persuading Xu Hou to surrender!

In Tan County, the unrest has gradually subsided.

The Lanzhou troops either died, surrendered, or fled.

The horns of victory resounded through the sky, and the soldiers of the Cangdao Army, the Guoyi Army and the Royal Guard Camp all raised their armor and cheered.

The captured surrendered soldiers looked as if they had lost their parents, with anxiety flashing in their eyes.

"Victory, victorious, victorious!"

The soldiers who followed Zheng Jun into the battle were all raising their arms and shouting. Even when they were exhausted and sweating profusely after forming up in formation, they still let out earth-shaking roars.

"This battle is not the work of me alone."

Zheng Jun stood on the high platform, gently stroking the Xue Shou sword at his waist, staring at the soldiers, and his voice was like a dragon's roar that spread throughout the three armies: "It is all thanks to the concerted efforts of all of you that this is the credit of the three armies!"

Zheng Jun's voice was high, and before he finished speaking, he felt that Zheng Jun felt that he had to say, "However, as the Art of War says, 'Victory comes first and victory comes later.' You gentlemen must not relax."

After saying this, Zheng Jun suddenly pointed his sword towards the Hongshan River camp in the south. The Lushui sword energy actually cut a hundred miles of flowing clouds in the clear sky: "The trapped Hong bandits have become an isolated brigade. The old bandit Fang Yan of Ningyuan County is dead. Now that Tan County has been broken, our army should imitate the momentum of the Lushui River bursting its banks and drink the Malan River within half a month!"

As soon as these words were spoken, tens of thousands of soldiers became excited.

"Long live!"

Wei Quan took the lead in striking the shield with his sword, and the sound shook the whole area.

Tens of thousands of soldiers suddenly raised their weapons like a forest, and the shouts of "Long live" were like a tsunami, scaring away all the birds in the area for hundreds of miles and making the prisoners tremble with fear.

Long live the emperor! The cheers echoed like a mountain, and Zheng Jun's mouth corners slightly raised and he raised his hand slightly.

Seeing Zheng Jun raising his hand, the cheers gradually died down, and Zheng Jun continued to shout: "Rest here for two days, and all departments are generous with their medicines, so that you can recover your Qi, blood, and true essence as soon as possible!"

"We will set out in two days!"

Zheng Jun's voice was as loud as a bell. Upon hearing his words, all the generals immediately clasped their fists and said yes.

Then, Zheng Jun walked down from the platform.

The generals immediately stepped forward and reported the results of the battle to Zheng Jun.

In this battle, more than 5,000 Lanzhou soldiers were killed and more than 14,000 were captured.

Captured two outer Gang warriors and killed four others.

The remaining 10,000-plus people were all defeated and fled.

There is nothing we can do about this.

When Zheng Jun's entire army launched the attack, they did not choose the tactic of surrounding three sides and leaving one side open. Therefore, the defeated soldiers fled in a wide range of directions. Except for the north where Zheng Jun's army was pressing forward, the soldiers fled indiscriminately in the east, west and south. Naturally, it was impossible to kill or capture them all.

The reason why he was able to capture more than 10,000 people was also because of the "Black Turtle Carrying the Mountain Formation". They were exhausted and unable to escape, so they had to become Zheng Jun's prisoners.

In this battle, Zheng Jun also suffered more than 2,000 casualties.

"We must do a good job in providing compensation for soldiers who died in battle," Zheng Jun said. "If anyone embezzles compensation for soldiers who died in battle, no matter who they are, their entire family will be executed!"

After that, Zheng Jun continued to instruct: "Leave 3,000 soldiers of the Cang Dao Army to escort the wounded north and join up with the Xiaoyong Army."

"Order the brave army to reach the designated location within three days!"

This time, Zheng Jun only brought 20,000 Cangdao troops, 15,000 Guoyi troops, 2,000 heavy cavalry from the cavalry battalion, and 2,000 Xianbei light cavalry.

After all, it is a temporary deployment and only these troops can be dispatched.

In the subsequent process, Zheng Jun still had 30,000 Kangle troops and 15,000 brave troops on their way. Although they could not be assembled by Zheng Jun immediately, they would be able to catch up in at most one or two days.

This is also the reason why Zheng Jun wanted to continue his march and head straight to Yulian County to rescue Wei Tu.

The course of this battle was actually completely beyond Zheng Jun's expectations.

He thought he could defeat them in one battle without consuming too much of the Cang Dao army's true energy and blood, but it was obviously a rough mistake, which caused the Cang Dao army to be temporarily exhausted. Even after a day of rest, they could not recover to the state when they set out.

But what Zheng Jun didn't expect was...

Fang Yan from Ningyuan County went crazy for some reason and abandoned 60,000 soldiers from Ningyuan County. He came here with only 2,000 personal soldiers, and happened to be caught by me.

Then, before he could even begin to perform any function, he was killed by himself in the wilderness.

This is somewhat humorous.

However, it was precisely because of this kind of humor that Zheng Jun had the opportunity to take further advantage.

Otherwise, given the fatigue of the soldiers, Zheng Jun would have to consider retreating.

Ningyuan County now has no Tongqiao warriors in charge, so it is naturally in chaos. Especially after the defeated soldiers fled back to Ningyuan County one after another, the rest of the people defending Ningyuan County naturally fell into panic and dared not attack at will.

After all, without the Tongqiao realm, relying only on outer Gang warriors to lead the army to attack would be a waste of Zheng Jun's time.

After receiving Zheng Jun's instructions, all the generals nodded and began to deal with the situation in Tan County and dispose of the prisoners of war.

Zheng Jun was also not in a hurry when dealing with prisoners of war.

They would stay in Tan County for two days and wait for the subsequent arrival of the Guoyi Army and the Kangle Army. When the time came, they would be able to join forces and the more than 10,000 prisoners of war could be properly transported back.

Ningyuan County lacked skilled warriors and did not dare to form a battle formation and leave the city.

Dugu Jing of Jingyuan County is under a lot of pressure now.

Ahead is Kangle County.

Kangle County seemed empty, but Dugu Jing did not dare to act rashly.

On the one hand, Dugu Jing was good at sitting on the fence and did not want to be loyal to the Fang family of Lanzhou to that extent.

On the other hand, it was because Dugu Jing was not sure about the situation.

After all, according to public information, Zheng Jun has another master warrior under his command, Jiang Wuya from Canglan Sword Sect...

Who can be sure that Jiang Wuya is not in Kangle County now?
Therefore, from Dugu Jing's perspective.

Zheng Jun, Gao Lishan, Jiang Wuya.

The three of them formed a line and pushed directly to Ningyuan County, where they captured him.

High emotional intelligence: Dugu Jing is like a nail, firmly embedded in the middle of the enemy's three major orifices.

Low EQ: I’m surrounded by fucking people!

As this situation occurs, Zhao Donglai, the prefect of Guangping County, will naturally be cautious, fearing that his soldiers will suffer losses and his base will be lost.

Although Zhang Wen, the governor of Batang County, is the son-in-law of the Fang family, if he dares to come alone to rescue them under such circumstances, then he is this. [Thumbs up]

"Fang Yan's move has really revitalized the situation in Ningyuan, Jingyuan, Yulian counties, and even Batang and Guangping."

Zheng Jun chuckled. Anyone who can hold back from laughing can be diagnosed with Yuyu syndrome.

After everything was arranged, Zheng Jun had a thought and a line of small gold-plated characters appeared in front of him.

[The army is lined up, and the Lushui River breaks the army! The repayment progress of "Lushui Zhan Jiao" is +1049, and the current repayment progress is: 4120/5000. ]

"This army formation, and a few strikes, can really speed up the repayment process."

Zheng Jun thought to himself that he felt that he had found another way to quickly increase the repayment progress.

Arrange in battle array and use the power of the military formation to perform combat tactics.

But it is obvious that this situation can only improve swordsmanship with similar attributes.

Zheng Jun had formed a formation before, but the situation at that time did not show much improvement. Therefore, Zheng Jun concluded that it must be due to the special nature of the Cang Dao Army.

"It seems that we really need to significantly increase the Cang Dao Army."

Zheng Jun thought in his heart.

After all, most of his magical powers do not have low-end versions.

There are only the Wave-Treading Sword Technique, the Lushui Dragon-Slaying Technique, the Qi Arrow Technique, and the Qi Swallowing Mountains and Rivers.

The latter is the Cai family's unique skill and is not convenient to disclose.

It would be fine if the Cai family members could form their own army.

As for the Radiant Sun, Flowing Shadows, Swooping Stars and Heavenly Eyes Breaking Barriers, there are no simplified versions of these martial arts.

If the supernatural powers were to be imparted directly.

To be honest, not everyone can learn it.

After all, supernatural powers require insight.

Yang Li, who was born in the Yang family of the capital, tried his best and cultivated to the level of Tongqiao, but he only knew one skill, 'Fu Sheng Jing'.

For ordinary soldiers who have not yet entered the outer realm, or even the stage of accumulating energy, it is really too much to ask.

The difficulty is no less than asking primary school students who have just learned addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to solve the world's top ten difficult problems.

"It seems that maybe it is my turn to create my own martial arts, disassemble the Yi Ri Liu Guang, and imitate that senior ancestor."

Zheng Jun pondered in his heart.

But no matter what, for Zheng Jun, since the repayment progress of "Lu Shui Zhan Jiao" has been able to develop by leaps and bounds, this sword technique must be used continuously and cannot be abandoned.

Just when Zheng Jun had this thought, he saw Dugu Yuan leading more than 300 cavalrymen, escorting a tied-up and embarrassed general, returning victoriously not far away.

Seeing this, Zheng Jun couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Dugu Yuan actually captured the escaped Xu Hou?
Although Zheng Jun had never seen Xu Hou, he naturally recognized Xu Hou's aura after the military confrontation and the collision of true qi. Therefore, he recognized Xu Hou's identity at the first sight and could not help but be a little surprised.

He thought Xu Hou had escaped.

"Grand Governor!"

Dugu Yuan was young and energetic. He rode his horse and held a gun, heading towards Zheng Jun.

But when he was a hundred feet away from Zheng Jun, he immediately stopped his horse, dismounted, and followed the two Xianbei riders, escorting Xu Hou towards Zheng Jun. When they were more than ten steps away, he shouted, "I have fulfilled my mission and captured the thief Xu Hou!"

After hearing Dugu Yuan's words, all the generals in front of the tent were shocked, and several surprised and suspicious glances were cast at the embarrassed general who was tied up with chains.

Wei Quan, in particular, looked at Dugu Yuan with some surprise, which made Dugu Yuan's mouth corners slightly rise, and he felt a rare sense of comfort.

Zheng Jun strode forward, tapped the hilt of Xue Shou's knife with his fingertips, and looked Xu Hou up and down.

Suddenly he laughed out loud, his eardrums hurting. "What a Dugu Yuan! What a cavalry commander! I thought he had already fled to Hongshanhe, but unexpectedly he was intercepted by you!"

"Dugu Yuan will enter the Pinglan Grand Commandery and serve as the General of the Central Army!"

Zheng Jun's voice was sonorous. After being appointed as the Grand Commander of Pinglan, Emperor Yongchang gave Zheng Jun the power to establish a government and a government office. Therefore, Zheng Jun could naturally set up a shogunate and appoint and dismiss civil and military officials under the shogunate.

For example, the Shogunate's Chief Secretary, the Shogunate's Prime Minister, the Shogunate's Military Assistant, the Shogunate's Chief Clerk, the Shogunate's Military Sima, the Shogunate's Guard, the Shogunate's Colonel, the Shogunate's Commander-in-Chief, and the Shogunate's General of the Household.

If the person who founded the government also took charge of the local areas, he could appoint county governors, county magistrates, and even provincial governors.

The founder of the government could freely appoint and dismiss officials directly under the shogunate (such as military assistants and chief clerks) and middle and lower-level military officers (such as colonels).

Senior positions (such as governors and Sima) needed to report to the court in name, but the actual candidates were mostly decided by the founder of the government.

Although the imperial edict did not mention "Yi Tong San Si", Zheng Ke didn't care about it.

The Kaifu has been opened, but they still don't allow the three officials to be Yitong, so let's just open a post.

"Thank you, Grand Commander. I am willing to die for you!"

Dugu was very happy.

He was the first minister to enter the government since Zheng Jun established it!

Although he was only a General of the Household, which was lower than the positions of Chief Clerk, Chancellor, Military Secretary, and Guard General in the shogunate, it was also a military position. At critical moments, he could also command elite troops or serve as the defender of strategic locations.

Zheng Jun saw it and nodded slightly.

In fact, he also took a shortcut.

What kind of reward is this?
The reason why he had not incorporated his current generals and ministers into the bureaucratic system of the shogunate was because he was anxious to send troops, so he did not do it immediately. It was just a convenient thing to do when considering rewards, but he did not expect that it would have such a big response.

In this case, Zheng Jun seems to have found a reliable way...

Only those who have made meritorious contributions can serve in the shogunate!
Otherwise, he could only hold an ordinary official position in the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Zheng Jun nodded slightly, then looked at Xu Hou who had a helpless look on his face.

Zheng Jun looked down at the bound Xu Hou and said, "Fang Yan abandoned his 60,000-man army in Ningyuan County and led only 2,000 personal soldiers to his death; Ba Tao, Zhang Wen and other sons-in-law of the Fang family, some have great ambitions but little talent, while others are as cowardly as mice; Dugu Jing, Zhao Donglai and others are all indecisive and will only watch the outcome!"

After that, Zheng Jun paused and continued, "Not to mention that the King of Qin secretly communicated with the demons! If the Fang family is like this, how can they govern Lanzhou? Such a mediocre ruler would also let you die for them like this?"

Xu Hou was shocked when he heard this. Thinking of Fang Yan and Lang Wei's ridiculous behavior, his eyes became even darker.

Zheng Jun keenly caught this subtle change, and the Snow Guardian Knife suddenly came out of its sheath three inches, and the sharp knife energy split Xu Hou's hair crown in half: "This governor has issued a letter to all counties three days ago, anyone who abandons darkness and joins light will be forgiven; anyone who cuts off Fang's head and presents it will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins!"

"Everyone knows that I, Zheng Jun, defeated 200,000 enemies and shattered the Lanzhou army! I'm sure General Xu knows the details. This dandy boy actually joked about military and national affairs and was the first to do so! I've never seen a noble family like the Fang family. When Fang Yan fled, he was so anxious that he didn't even have time to put on his armor before I hacked him to death."

"It seems that the Fang family is destined to perish."

The generals in front of the tent burst into laughter, and the blood drained from Xu Hou's face.

He knew better than anyone that the Fang family had collaborated with the demons and had an army of 200,000 men defeated. Now that the Fang family members had fled in panic, their prestige had been completely destroyed. The Fang family's 20-year foundation in Lanzhou had been shaken.

"Your 14,000 surrendered soldiers are being counted and registered."

Zheng Jun sheathed his sword, his black cape rustling in the strong wind. "I will give you two hours. Those who are willing to be my vanguard can take over the old troops and start training again tomorrow with my order. If you insist on dying for this corrupt Fang family..."

Before he finished speaking, Xu Hou sighed, knocked his forehead heavily on the ground, and whispered: "I am willing to be the vanguard of the Grand Commander!"

Nothing much to say.

surrender!

He was not the target that Fang family wanted to win over, otherwise they would have married their daughter to him long ago.

Not to mention the legitimate daughter, even the concubine's daughter didn't get married.

Xu Hou's impression of the Fang family was just that of a fellow-townsman.

The reason why he was able to lead troops to fight for the Fang family was because he was from Lanzhou.

As a native of Lanzhou, he naturally prefers his fellow countrymen. When facing heroes from other states and counties, he also has the responsibility to "defend his territory."

But now, after seeing the group of monsters under the command of Lanzhou Fang family, Xu Hou felt only disappointment.

Although Zheng Jun is not from this state, he has such skills at such a young age and his future is bright.

In addition, Xu Hou did not want to die and he extremely hated demons. After thinking about it, Xu Hou had no psychological burden and chose to surrender directly.

His family is in Guangping County, so he doesn't have to worry about anything.

Zhao Donglai, the prefect of Guangping County, is a typical neutral fence-sitter. He will not surrender to anyone before the outcome is decided.

Even if Fang ordered the killing of the entire Guangping Xu family, Zhao Donglai would certainly pretend to obey and not carry out the order at all.

"With the help of General Xu, we are like a tiger with wings and a fish in water!"

Zheng Jun clapped his hands and laughed, his voice like a bell. He immediately stepped forward, grasped his arm and said, "General Xu, please stand up! From now on, we will work together to accomplish our great cause!"

Seeing this, Xu Hou was about to say something when he saw Zheng Jun's starry eyes looking at him: "General Xu, let's talk about Hong Shanhe."

"Especially the details of the military report." Zheng Jun said, "Since you are his frontline defender, you can't be completely ignorant of Hong Shanhe, right?"

After hearing Zheng Jun's words, Xu Hou gave a bitter smile, and immediately began to draw a detailed defense map of the Hongshanhe camp, and also presented several pieces of Lanzhou intelligence.

Especially the army that King Qin sent to support.

After hearing Xu Hou's intelligence, Zheng Jun also pondered for a moment: "There are actually 30,000 elite Qin troops, two wolf monsters, and the world-famous veteran Gong Yangjin?"

Although the Lanzhou Army is also called the "Qin Army", this Qin Army is completely different from the real Qin Army.

The Qin Army of the Lanzhou Army was just the army formed after the Fang family defected to the King of Qin, and it was separated from the various forces. That’s why it was called the Qin Army.

Just like Zheng Jun’s troops, which are currently called official troops.

And these 30,000 Qin troops are genuine elite troops!

They are all good family boys joining the army!
Children from good families are the real good seedlings for the feudal army.

Farmers, fishermen, miners...honest people who do hard labor can join the army. Although it is also excellent, there is still a big gap compared with those from good families.

why?
Because good family boys bring their own dry food and are skilled in archery and horse riding!
The standard for a good family child is that he is a child from a clean family who has been able to leave his family and has been physically fit before joining the army. He must have excellent physical fitness and after joining the army, he can even bring his own horse and servants.

When on horseback, there are archers; when on horseback, they are a strong force.

Many elite troops in history were like this.

However, due to its rarity, it is particularly rare.

"It's quite interesting."

Zheng Jun exhaled, and a little fighting spirit emerged: "Since the King of Qin has given me such a great gift, how can I not accept it?"

With this thought in mind, Zheng Jun looked around, gave some instructions, and then turned back to the tent, intending to directly swallow the wolf demon's inner elixir and continue practicing.

Eat whatever is available, don’t be picky!
……

In Ningyuan County, Yu Pei, the county magistrate at the peak of outer power, collapsed and sweated profusely.

"County Governor, what should we do now?"

The county lieutenant of the second level of the outer power looked at Yu Pei, who was already somewhat at a loss, and was also terrified: "There are too many defeated soldiers fleeing too fast, and the news cannot be stopped. I am afraid that it will not be long before everyone in the city knows about it."

"The wealthy families in the city who had previously stabilized their business are starting to pack their bags again!"

The county lieutenant was also very panicked. The situation was too chaotic, and there were reports of defeated soldiers everywhere.

He collected military reports from many people, and although they were in extremely confusing form, he basically figured them out.

Mr. Fang Yanfang was slashed by Zheng Jun!

Then the army pressed forward, and in less than an hour, the Tan County camp was directly defeated. The Tongqiao demon sent by His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin was also killed by Zheng Jun, and General Xu Hou disappeared.

But judging from the fate of Fang Yan and the great demon Tongqiao, General Xu Hou was likely to be in danger as well.

Yu Pei was worried. He opened his mouth and was about to say something.
Before he could finish his words, he suddenly heard a commotion outside. Not long after, the team responsible for the city defense came rushing in to report: "Mr. Yu, something big has happened!"

Yu Pei was very nervous now. After hearing this, he sat up straight and asked in a panic: "What's wrong?"

"Another army has arrived from the direction of Jingyuan, under the banner of 'Ding Qin Hou Zheng', heading towards Tan County! The leader is arousing his true energy, and it turns out to be a Tongqiao warrior!"

After hearing the news, Yu Pei’s eyes went dark.

"Another Tongqiao? Is Jiang Wuya here?"

Yu Pei was filled with grief and could not help but say, "Pass the order down, close the city gates, and prohibit entry or exit!"

Although he was extremely frightened, Yu Pei still said viciously: "I have received great kindness from the Fang family. Now that my benefactor is in trouble, I, Yu Pei, will definitely defend the city. If Zheng Jun wants to take Ningyuan, he will have to step over my dead body!"

The county lieutenant and the team that came to report heard this, looked at each other, and then bowed and said, "Yes!"

That night, Yu Pei had dinner and wanted to practice in seclusion.

But for some reason, after dinner, he suddenly felt dizzy and as if he was tired. Yu Pei dozed off for a while in the mansion. When he realized something was wrong and woke up, he found that he had been tied up!
"what happened?!"

Yu Pei was shocked.

In the county magistrate's mansion, the eight outer-gang generals of the 60,000-strong army stood in unison, their faces filled with shame.

In addition to these Wai Gang generals, there are also three famous local Wai Gang warriors.

"Mr. Yu! When the Grand Commander came to Ningyuan County and killed the red dragon that injured people, many people in the city admired the Grand Commander. Later, the Grand Commander's Tongzhou Club also had many members in this county. Therefore, there were countless people who responded to the Grand Commander."

The county lieutenant spoke sincerely, "In the streets and alleys, people often meet secretly. Young knights with nothing to do gather in groups of three or five, often hundreds of people, and most of them admire the Grand Commander. There are also people who often approach the city gates and barracks in order to gather intelligence and cooperate with each other."

"Besides, Mr. Fang left the camp without permission and was beheaded by the Grand Commander. There are no martial artists with extraordinary powers in the city. If the Grand Commander attacks, I'm afraid that my Ningyuan County will be devastated!"

The county magistrate beside him also had tears in his eyes, and said to Yu Pei: "For the sake of the people in the city, we discussed it privately and decided to surrender the city! After all, Emperor Yongchang is the orthodox of the court. His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin is ambitious, but there are many demons under his command. We are afraid that one day we will make the king unhappy and feed the demons."

After that, everyone bowed to Yu Pei and said, "We drugged and captured Yu Gong, not because we wanted to do anything wrong, but because we were worried that Yu Gong would not turn against us and hurt himself!"

"Mr. Yu, you must not underestimate yourself. The Grand Commander treats surrendered people very well. At most, he will only kill Mr. Yu, and will definitely not implicate your family!"

Listening to the words of these guys under his command, Yu Pei was so angry that he was fuming.

Nima.

You all wanted to surrender, why didn't you say so earlier?
If you had told me earlier, I would have run away alone and left the city to you!

Yu Pei was extremely angry.

He has no way to change his allegiance, but that doesn't mean he must die in Ningyuan County.

Looking at Yu Pei's appearance, the county lieutenant couldn't help but smile slightly.

Tell you in advance?
I tell you, how can we capture you and go to see the Grand Commander?
You are our stepping stone!

(End of this chapter)