Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 34: The troops are about to be dispatched
Among all the people under Yan Yi's command, Si Qing is indeed the most suitable person to lead the internal support troops.

Si suffered misfortune in his youth and his tribe was dispersed. He was also sold into slavery and wandered around, experiencing the darkest period of his life, which developed his tenacious character. Later, he served as the leader of the Zhou family's guards, which broadened his horizons and gained certain military experience. He was good at dealing with all kinds of people and dealing with dangerous situations. Regardless of his background or experience, he was a suitable candidate.

Seeing Si Qing's resolute expression, Yan Yi agreed and advised, "If the time is not right, don't force your advance. Returning safely is the most important thing. Yuncheng is right there; it won't fly away. If we can't capture it in one go, we can find another opportunity to attack."

Si Qing's face was touched: "Don't worry, young master, I will act according to the situation."

After thinking for a while, Yan Yi asked Fan Yan with some concern, "Are these newly recruited soldiers reliable?"

Fan Yan understood his concerns and said solemnly, "Young Lord, by exempting refugees from taxes, you've already won their hearts. Most of those who have joined the army have relatives settled in Wucheng. As long as I conduct a rigorous screening and Young Lord offers a generous reward, there shouldn't be any problems."

Yan Yi felt a little relieved and said, "Try to select the internal support troops from the tribesmen who resisted the winter invaders. Those who have never had combat experience or are unreliable should not be sent."

Fan Yan pondered and said, "There are about 300 suitable tribesmen. Can we select 100 outstanding ones from the remaining 500 to make up the number for two songs?"

Many of the soldiers under Qian Tong were just civilians with little combat experience. Fan Yan was very clear about the situation of the bandits around Wucheng. Since he said so, he must have some confidence in these 400 people.

Yan Yi thought about it for a moment and agreed.

After this division, the only troops available for the raid on Qian Gong Lei were 700 elite soldiers and 400 newly recruited troops.

The four hundred newly recruited soldiers can only be used as rear guards to cooperate with the main force in combat. These are the seeds of excellent soldiers. He will not easily let these people go to the battlefield unless it is absolutely necessary.

Yan Yi realized that he had to add another two or three hundred elite soldiers to meet the basic combat power requirements of this operation.

He already had a preliminary solution to this matter in his mind.

"Don't take these eight hundred soldiers into the county yet. Go to White Tiger City! Once you're ready, proceed according to the plan."

Yan Yi gave some final instructions to Fan Yan, Chen Gan, and Si Qing, then returned to Wucheng with Xu Sheng and Zhao Cuo.

As Wu Jing withdrew his troops and retreated to Qu'a, the people of Wucheng gradually calmed down, and the streets returned to their former bustle and bustle.

However, by noon the next day, the atmosphere became solemn again. Pedestrians walked hurriedly with uneasy looks, and long queues formed in front of the rice shop again.

This scene was caused by the sudden appearance of thousands of bandits in Wucheng.

Among them, two thousand bandits were led by Fan Yi under Qian Tong. They drove straight from Yifengting in the southeast of Wucheng and headed straight for Wucheng. The number of bandits was showing a trend of continuing to increase.

The other group of bandits also consisted of 2,000 people, led by Wei Kuan, a general under Zou Ta. They plundered all the way from Shunde Pavilion in the south of Wucheng and were also marching towards Wucheng.

For a time, the bandits were powerful and the people were in panic. The cries of the people were endless and they flocked to Wucheng.

Upon hearing the news, Yan Baihu was shocked but not panicked. As one of the most powerful generals in Jiangdong, he had a natural psychological advantage over bandits like Qian Tong and Zou Ta, and had rich experience in dealing with them. He immediately ordered Yan Yu to lead 3,000 troops out of the south gate of Wucheng to resist Zou Ta, while he himself led 3,000 troops out of the east gate of Wucheng to expel Qian Tong.

After Yan Yu led his troops out of the city, he first deployed a thousand of them along the way to guard the key roads and prevent the scattered bandits from looting the townships and pavilions. Then he personally led two thousand troops to search for Zou Ta's main force and engage him. The situation on Yan Baihu's side was similar. After a simple deployment, he acted on the intelligence relayed by his scouts and attacked Fan Yi's army with murderous intent.

But to their surprise, the two groups of bandits who came with great momentum retreated in a hurry before they even started fighting, leaving behind a mess.

Yan Baihu and Yan Yu felt as if a heavy punch had hit cotton, and they felt extremely suffocated. Seeing that it was getting late, they withdrew their troops and returned to the city.

After cooking and having a hearty meal, it was already midnight. The soldiers had only taken off their armor for a few hours when, early the next morning, Fan Yi and Wei Kuan led their troops to invade again!

Since the common people along the way had all fled into the city and the hinterland of Wucheng had been heavily fortified, the two bandit armies had little to plunder and they wandered around the outskirts of Wucheng as if they were out for an outing.

Yan Baihu was furious. He put on his armor again and led the troops out of the city with Yan Yu to wipe out the bandits. However, before they could get close, the two bandit armies had already fled as they did yesterday.

After several incidents, Yan Baihu became furious and simply set up camp outside Wucheng and deployed troops on the border.

After calming down, Yan Baihu also realized that the situation was unusual and began to send envoys to contact Qian Tong and Zou Ta.

Qian Tong and Zou He changed their submissive attitude of previous years and asked for money and food from Yan Baihu in a tough and loud manner.

Yan Baihu naturally refused, and the two sides came to a stalemate at the Wucheng border.

More than half a month passed like this, and Xu Gong suddenly sent an envoy to visit, reporting the military situation and saying that Wu Jing had been purchasing more warships and was about to attack Haiyan, and urged Yan Baihu to send troops to Haiyan as soon as possible.

Although Yan Baihu did not take Qian Tong and Zou Ta seriously, he was extremely wary of Wu Jing and worried about the loss of the salt field. He had to suppress his anger, sent money and food, and made peace with Qian Tong and Zou Ta.

The next day, he went to the tent and summoned all the generals to discuss the matter. They set a date and decided to send troops to Haiyan seven days later.

As for Yan Yi, he has been living in Baihu City for more than half a month, training soldiers every day and making intensive preparations.

Si Qing had already left Wucheng at this time, and with 400 carefully selected soldiers, he disguised himself as a refugee and sneaked into the territory under the jurisdiction of Qian Tong. In order to ensure the secrecy of the action, neither side dared to pass on any information, so Yan Yi was completely in the dark about Si Qing's progress.

Of the remaining nearly 700 elite soldiers, except for the 80 personal cavalrymen who still served as Yan Yi's personal guards, the rest were led by Xu Sheng, Fan Yan, and Chen Gan, each leading a group.

As for the 400 newly recruited soldiers, Yan Yi really couldn't find anyone to lead them, and he was unwilling to hand these people over to someone he didn't trust, so he could only temporarily hand them over to Fan Yan to lead together with him.

He originally thought that he had a few useful people under his command and was secretly happy. However, once the number of soldiers increased, he was immediately stretched to the limit and had no one available.

In a state of desperation, he could no longer hold back and began to follow his memories of his previous life, asking Pei Ji to send people everywhere to search for those talents who, in his opinion, still had a glimmer of hope in recruiting.

Among them was Zhuge Liang, who was only thirteen years old.

(End of this chapter)