As the sun set in the west, Transverse Water City, the northernmost city of Ji Province, was about to close its gates. Red lanterns were being prepared to be hung on the city walls. Right at this moment, a cavalry scout drenched in blood galloped over. When the soldiers on the city walls saw the scout's face clearly, they shouted at the top of their lungs to have the half-closed city gates rise again. The scout with two arrows stuck in his back rushed in and shouted with all his might, "Urgent enemy report! Beimang's army is attacking!"
Not long after, smoke signals were lit within Transverse Water City as a warning to the neighboring Silver Sparrow City. The smoke billowed. It was actually 50,000 Beimang cavalry. Very quickly, the beacon towers to the south of Transverse Water City and Silver Sparrow City were lit one after another. In less than an hour, the entire northern part of Ji Province knew of the shocking news of 50,000 Beimang cavalry invading the south!
The newly appointed garrison general of Transverse Water City was a fat, middle-aged man. His surname was Gao, and his given name was Ying. This man had been a prominent member of Ji Province since the time of Northern Han. He was one of Ji Province's foot soldiers under Grand General Yang Shenxing, and a significant portion of his soldiers came from the Gao family of Ji Province. Gao Ying didn't even have time to put on his armor. Surrounded by his personal guards and retainers, he hastily arrived at the top of Transverse Water City, his face pale. It wasn't that Gao Ying didn't want to run, but rather, according to the reports from the scouts, Beimang's vanguard cavalry was already within reach. In addition, a large number of horse fences were circling the city south to block his path.
Gao Ying's teeth chattered. He was truly regretful! He originally thought that after Wei Jingtang's death, Ji Province's General Yuan Tingshan, who had the seven to eight thousand personal cavalry from Li Jiayan Castle, had won several battles here in succession. In addition, the great pillar of Liaodong, Gu Jiantang, had also received frequent reports of success. Gao Ying reckoned that since the Beimang barbarians were having a hard time fighting Beiliang, they wouldn't send troops to Ji Province to take advantage of him. As a result, he had spent three hundred thousand taels of silver to establish relations with General Yuan and the capital. Relying on his relationship with Yang Shenxing, he was able to snatch the position of garrison general of Transverse Water City from the son of an aristocratic family in the capital. Currently, there were five thousand garrison soldiers in the city. However, in Ji Province, it was even harder to find a general who didn't want to take an empty salary than a three-legged toad. However, with Yuan Tingshan keeping an eye on them, their table manners were much better. Most of them only dared to take ten to twenty percent of the empty salary, or at most thirty percent. However, Gao Ying wasn't the legitimate son of the main branch. He had spent three hundred thousand taels of his second branch's private savings to become an official. Therefore, the actual military strength in Transverse Water City was less than three thousand! Furthermore, they were all inexperienced soldiers transferred from Southern Ji Province. However, could Gao Ying be blamed for this? Although the archers from Northern Ji Province were more familiar with bows and horses, they were also more expensive. A single archer from Northern Ji Province was equivalent to two of the Southern Ji Province's infantry who were known as the 'Unrivaled Beneath the Heavens' a few years ago. The old foundation of Ji Province had been taken away by Yang Shenxing. In the end, they suffered a great defeat at Guangling Pass. Now, even the elite Southern Ji Province's infantry, whose combat strength was only slightly inferior, were under Yuan Tingshan's control. If Gao Ying wanted to earn back his capital in three years, other than putting up a show in Transverse Water City, what else could he do?
Gao Ying turned his head and looked at Silver Sparrow City. The Garrison General, Wei Kuanxiao, had a similar character as him. He had just bought the official hat and had not even gotten used to it yet. When they were young, both of them were a pair of scoundrels who indulged in debauchery. In the past, they were even called the 'Four Young Masters of Ji Province'. It was said that Wei Kuanxiao's Silver Sparrow City was almost emptied out, and all of them were sold at a low price to a few powerful armies in Northern Ji Province. Two days ago, when Wei Kuanxiao invited him to Silver Sparrow City to drink with prostitutes, Wei Kuanxiao, who was a bastard who only cared about money, actually spent a fortune to invite two popular courtesans from the city to drink with him. When both of them were 'having sex' on a big bed and two rouge horses, Wei Kuanxiao even suggested this to Gao Ying. It was said that money could be earned very quickly. With fifty carriages fully loaded with bows, armor, and spears, one could earn at least ten thousand taels of silver, and it was guaranteed that the journey would be smooth and unimpeded. Gao Ying was puzzled at that time. Although the General of Ji Province, Yuan Tingshan, did not manage the border affairs well, he had always been very strict. Wei Kuanxiao laughed and scolded him for being a pig-headed man. With his thick fingers, he wrote the surnames of the two patrons on the back of the courtesan, Li and Han.
Gao Ying immediately understood what was going on. It was the Li family of Wild Goose Castle who was on the same side as Yuan Tingshan! And the Han family of Valiant Bravery, who was once exterminated, and the Han family of Valiant Bravery, who had made a comeback! One of them had the support of the Great Pillar State, who was in charge of the military affairs of the two Liao Provinces, and the other one was the Deputy General of Ji Province, Han Fang, who was promoted by the Emperor without restraint! Gao Ying and Wei Kuanxiao knew nothing about managing an army, but under the influence of their families, they could not be too bad as officials. No matter how many military achievements Yuan Tingshan had, he could only be the General of Ji Province at the border. Otherwise, if his father-in-law was already in charge of the two Liao Provinces, and his son-in-law was not enough to manage just one Ji Province, how could he manage the whole River Province?! Therefore, he needed the only son of the Han family in Ji Province to keep him in check. No matter how much the Emperor rewarded him, no matter how much military power he gave him, his foundation was still shallow. For the next five years, the Deputy General of Ji Province, Han Fang, would still be a trusted and trusted general at the border.
Before he could see him, he could hear his voice.
Gao Ying felt like the entire city wall was shaking.
With the help of the last remaining light, at the end of Gao Ying's vision, a black line suddenly appeared on the horizon.
Gao Ying's heart was like dead ashes. The Ji North defense line was completely finished.
This fatty who originally came to Horizontal Water City to eat empty pay didn't seem to have the time to earn any money from smuggling at the border.
Gao Ying looked around in a daze. Apart from the personal retainers he brought from Gao Family, the other guards on the city wall were all young and immature. He heard that in northern Ji Province, as long as they wore armor and held a spear in the city, they would be able to obtain a decent salary. Then, they all came to Horizontal Water City. They didn't even know that the previous general, Wei Jingtang, the former Grand Secretary Zhang Julu's student, was once forced to leave the city to fight against Beimang's cavalry. Eight hundred Horizontal Water cavalry and four thousand elite infantrymen all died in one battle. They also didn't know that even earlier, the ten thousand Youzhou cavalry that quietly crossed a thousand li to ambush Beimang was already here. This Horizontal Water City actually wasn't peaceful at all.
Many of Horizontal Water City's soldiers still held onto a fluke, naively believing that the majestic Beimang cavalry was only here to show off their strength, that perhaps Ji Province's General Yuan Tingshan would soon lead his army to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, or that the great pillar state Gu Jiantang was currently leading troops over from Liaodong.
— —
In one go, Wang Sui gathered fifty thousand elite cavalry from Beimang's eastern border army. Qiu Jemo Great Ru Zhe Shiwei and Dong Jemo Great Wang Jingchong each had ten thousand cavalry, as well as three young Generals who braced themselves and ignored the 'tactful advice' of the two Beimang great generals. Fifty thousand men, compared to Beimang's eastern border army that was gradually increasing from the Beiting grasslands to nearly three hundred thousand, didn't seem like a serious injury. However, in deciding the direction of a large scale war, the number of people was important, but it wasn't absolute. Beimang's newly appointed eastern border commander Wang Sui took away fifty thousand elite soldiers, pretty much the same as taking away half of the eastern border's essence energy.
The two Generals on the eastern border who were comparable in seniority to Liu Gui and Yang Yuanzan, one, their authority was lower than Wang Sui's, two, the two of them couldn't control the three grassland born generals at all, let alone Great Ru Zhe Shiwei and Wang Jingchong, these type of children of influential families. They could only watch as these fifty thousand people ran to Ji Province. If this was the Li Yang Dynasty, this was naturally something unimaginable.
Great Ru Zhe Shiwei was riding on an ink-colored steed from the grassland. He raised his head and looked at the outline of Horizontal Water City. With a ferocious smile on his face, he said, "Once we enter the city, we can still have dinner!"
There was still some distance before they could launch their assault. Wang Jingchong didn't ride his steed to join his personal army of ten thousand soldiers. Instead, he stood beside Wang Sui with Qiu Jemo on his left and right. He frowned and said, "According to the spy, both Generals Gao Ying, Wei Kuanxiao, and Wei Kuanxiao are good-for-nothings. But, if they fight with their lives on the line, it will be disadvantageous for us to fight at night. Furthermore, all fifty thousand soldiers are cavalry. Although they can dismount and fight, they don't have any siege weapons. Can we really take down these two important towns in Ji Province so easily?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
