In the stable of a large carriage shop in Horse City, Khitan soldiers hung upside down from the thick beams. Whips whistled across their bodies and faces. Their leather robes had already been stripped off, leaving their clothes in tatters. The ground was littered with pieces of clothing, all stained with blood and frozen into sparkling ice flowers.
Some of them had already fainted. When the whips landed on their bodies, they only twitched instinctively and no longer screamed. The Zhou army splashed salt water on them. When they quickly woke up and screamed, they raised the whips in their hands again and lashed down ruthlessly.
The Zhou army had suffered many losses at the hands of the Khitans. The soldiers under Li Duozuo were survivors of a disaster and would not be polite to the enemy. More than one Khitan had already died under their whips. The dead were thrown on the snow outside the stable and frozen together, turning into a hard, blood-red, strange object that looked like a carving.
"I confess … I confess …"
From time to time, someone could not withstand the endless and bone-piercing pain of the whips and weakly cried out for mercy.
Although the whips were the simplest form of punishment, it was enough to make even the strongest person collapse when it was continuously applied to the body.
Those who begged for mercy would be quickly untied from the roof, and then dragged like dead dogs into a large wooden house with six braziers burning. It was as warm as spring. There were a few low tables in the wooden house, and a scribe sat at the side, recording statements. In front of them sat a scout with a ferocious smile on his face.
It was Yang Fan's idea to use a scout as the chief interrogator. Most of these illiterate soldiers were thick-skinned. If they were asked to interrogate, they would probably miss out on a lot of useful information. This was the job of a scout. Even an illiterate man would become very sensitive in this aspect.
There was more than one similar hut. All of them were used as interrogation rooms. All the interrogation records were gathered in a study in the front residence, and Yang Fan was here. All the records were gathered here for him to sort, summarize, and analyze. Right now, Yang Fan was serving as Li Duozuo's military advisor, a military strategist.
Yang Fan continuously sorted out the confessions of every Khitan he gathered. These Khitan people were all captured in the Battle of Ma City, and there were also some small leaders among them. After sorting out and analyzing everything they knew and cross-referencing each other, it was very easy to eliminate the false information and obtain more reliable information.
From this information, it could be seen that the Khitans were just as they had analyzed. They planned to first take Horse City and then Thousand Gold Smelting City. Then, they would immediately pull back to block Lou Shide and Wu Youyi's army from the north and south. They would use their advantage in mobility to quickly rush back and seize Lulong, thus forming a base with their lair in Yingzhou.
This only confirmed Yang Fan's analysis. Now that they had foiled the enemy's eastern campaign, this information was no longer as important. More importantly, Yang Fan learned from the Khitans' statements that when the Khitans were formulating this strategy, they had already sent people to the Turks to negotiate an alliance.
It was clear that the Khitans' string of victories, especially the two major defeats of the Zhou army and the reactions of Wu Youyi and Wu Yizong, had made them very optimistic about their plan to seize Horse City, occupy Thousand Gold Smelting City, and establish a base. They had not paid any attention to Li Duozuo's remnant army.
Once this plan succeeded, regardless of whether the Turks agreed to form an alliance with them or not, it would be in the Khitans' interest to unite the northeast and establish a stable base. After reaching this conclusion, Yang Fan immediately rushed to the commander's tent with the information he had obtained and reported it to Li Duozuo.
Li Duozuo's commander's tent was set up in this carriage shop, and the various personnel bustled about, some of them constantly marking something on the crude map. There were also people signing and signing all kinds of official letters, and couriers hurried in and out.
The moment Yang Fan entered, several high-ranking officers stood up and politely greeted him. Li Duozuo had a very diverse group of soldiers under his command, but whether they had once been domineering border army officers, arrogant Imperial Army officers, or prefectural army officers who had always reigned supreme in their own territory, they were all extremely respectful to Yang Fan.
This was because they knew that this young man was the key to this great victory. The people in the army could refuse to submit to anyone, but to those with strength and merit, they could not refuse to submit. Compared to them, it was the ordinary soldiers and low-ranking officers who did not understand Yang Fan's role in this battle and turned a blind eye to his entrance.
After politely greeting them, Yang Fan walked into Li Duozuo's room.
"Congratulations, Great General! Congratulations, Great General! "
As soon as Yang Fan entered, he saw Maqiao, Chu Yi, Li Mulan, and the other officers cupping their fists to Li Duozuo.
With a smile on his face, Li Duozuo waved his hand at the crowd. "Alright, alright, it's just that Great General Wu is not feeling well, so I'm temporarily in command. It's not like I'm getting a promotion, but … I'm mobilizing the troops, which will be of great help to us in the upcoming battle. I hope that everyone will work together with me to reclaim the prestige of our court with swords and victory!"
"We are willing to serve the Great General!"
"We pledge our lives to the Great General!"
As soon as Yang Fan opened the door, the noise from the outside room drifted in. There were people counting soldiers, calculating provisions, sending and receiving official documents, and asking the local government to send strong men to help set up defenses. The people speaking were all in different accents, some coarse, some soft, but all of them were uniformly high-pitched, as if they were shouting from the throat.
As soon as Yang Fan closed the door, the thick curtain blocked out the sound, but everyone could already see him. Li Duozuo smiled. "Our meritorious subject has arrived!"
Seeing everyone's happy expression, Yang Fan couldn't help but smile. "It seems there's a joyous occasion?"
Maqiao rushed to say, "Brother Fan, the court has ordered that the Great General will be in charge of all military affairs in the Northern Army. At the same time, someone has been sent to Wu Youyi with an imperial edict, asking him to hand over his military power and let our Great General command the entire army."
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Yang Fan was also overjoyed. The so-called rewards and promotions after the battle were not attractive to the officers in the midst of a dangerous battle. If they lost the next battle, all of this would be for naught. If they died on the battlefield, it would be even more meaningless. At this time, a capable and prestigious commander or a group of reinforcements was what they needed the most.
Whether it was Wu Yizong, who was mocked by the Southern Army as the "pig-riding general," or Wu Youyi, who was called the "tortoise shell general" by the Northern Army, they had lost all their prestige in the army. Wu Zetian's plan to establish the prestige of the Wu Clan's descendants in this battle had completely failed.
Wu Zetian had outsmarted herself this time. If she had not allowed her nephews to lead troops into battle, no one would have been sure if they had the ability to do so. But this time, even a normal soldier and his comrades had used extremely harsh words to mock them. It could be said that they had lost all their foundation in the army.
Yang Fan hurriedly congratulated Li Duozuo. Li Duozuo was very happy, but he forgot that no matter how many battles he fought or how many contributions he made, his military power could not be above Wu Youyi's. Moreover, Wu Youyi had temporarily given up his military power because of his illness. The battle was fought by him. If he lost, it would be his responsibility. If he won, Wu Youyi would still be credited.
Moreover, Wu Youyi would always be his immediate superior. Wu Youyi had lost face. Although it was Wu Zetian's order, Wu Youyi would definitely vent his anger on him.
Yang Fan congratulated him, then his expression turned serious. "Great General, I have sorted out the Khitans' statements and obtained very important news!"
Li Duozuo heard this and immediately calmed down. He hurriedly waved his hand for everyone to stop talking and said, "Everyone, sit down. Officer Yang, tell me what you have found."
"Yes!"
Yang Fan sat down beside Li Duozuo and said seriously, "There are two pieces of news, one good news and one bad news. Which one should Great General listen to first?"
Li Duozuo was startled. He did not know whether to laugh or cry. "You brat, what are you playing at in the marshal's tent? If you have something to say, say it quickly! "
Maqiao interrupted, "Let's talk about the good news first!"
Li Duozuo was from the Bi'an. When he was still the young tribe leader of the Bi'an, he had participated in the tribe's affairs. They did not have the strict laws of the Imperial Court of the Central Plains. The hierarchy of the same rank was not strict and they paid little attention to etiquette. Li Duozuo's subordinates had many of the tribe's habits. Therefore, his subordinates were not afraid and were more casual in front of him.
Yang Fan said, "The good news is: Li Jinzhong is dead!"
The tent immediately quieted down. After a moment of silence, the generals were in an uproar.
"Is this true?"
"Li Jinzhong is really dead?"
"The Imperial Court won another battle?"
"Who killed Li Jinzhong?"
"Silence!"
Li Duozuo berated. The room immediately quieted down again. Li Duozuo stared at Yang Fan with bright eyes and said, "Continue!"
Li Duozuo saw that when Yang Fan was talking about Li Jinzhong's death, there was no happy smile on his face. He knew that the worry he was talking about was probably even more serious than Li Jinzhong's death. Therefore, he became even more anxious.
Yang Fan said, "When Li Jinzhong was setting up an ambush to deal with Cao Renshi and Grand General Cao's troops, he was shot by an arrow in Yellow Deer Valley. After that, because of the successive battles, the wound was not able to recuperate. Coupled with his old age, he finally burned out. Before General Wang Xiaojie led the army north, Li Jinzhong was already dead. Sun Wanrong was worried that the news of Li Jinzhong's death would shake the morale of the army, so he kept it a secret. He pretended that the Khan was sick and needed to return to the mountains to recuperate. He himself led the main force and set up an ambush in East Gorge Stony Valley again, obtaining a great victory! "
Li Duozuo immediately understood the crux of the problem. He said, "In other words, Li Jinzhong's death can no longer cause a blow to the Khitans?"
Yang Fan nodded his head and said, "That's right! However, the Khitans are still keeping it a secret. After the great victory, they only announced the news to their own people, using the prestige of the great victory to dilute the impact of this matter. The reason why they did not announce it to the public was because they did not want to raise the morale of the imperial court. "
Maqiao said loudly, "Then let's announce it. Together with the great victory in the battle of Maocheng, we can raise the prestige of the imperial court."
Li Duozuo said, "This matter naturally has to be done, but … Yang Xiaowei, the worry you mentioned … what is it?"
Yang Fan said in a deep voice, "The Khitans have sent a group of soldiers to the east and a group of messengers to the west! The group heading east has already been defeated by us. As for those heading west, if their mission is successful, their strength will instantly increase by several times! "
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