5th of December, Yunnan Province.
Huo Qubing's First Imperial Guard Corps was the first to reach the frontlines. They crossed the border and charged into Dongchuan Prefecture, igniting the first battle in the Yunnan war.
In the following week, the battle in Dongchuan Prefecture was unusually smooth.
With the cooperation of the cavalry and the Mountain Barbarian Heavy Infantry Division as the main attacking force, the First Imperial Guard Corps attacked cities and conquered land. They didn't meet any decent resistance along the way, and cities fell into Shanhai City's hands one after another.
Lingxi City had long mastered the technology to manufacture siege weapons. For the Yunnan war, the craftsmen in the city worked overtime and rushed to manufacture countless siege weapons.
The three armies all brought a large number of siege weapons to support the war.
Even so, the smoothness of the process exceeded everyone's expectations. Because it was too smooth, Huo Qubing became more cautious, afraid of being ambushed by the allies.
The only "normal" thing was probably the problem of rations.
The granaries of the cities captured along the way were all emptied without exception, or simply turned into a pile of charcoal. What's more, even the surplus food of the commoners was seized ahead of time, and no one knew where it went.
This situation wasn't limited to the main city, it was the same for all the subsidiary cities.
Other than a bit of rations from the commoners' homes, there wasn't a single grain of extra food in the entire Dongchuan Prefecture. Before the war, the General of Military Affairs had already ordered that all departments were forbidden from plundering the commoners' rations.
The General of Military Affairs, Du Ruhui, warned the generals before the war, "No matter how hungry you are, you can't rob the commoners' rations even if you're willing to drink the northwest wind. No matter who disobeys this order, they will be severely punished. "
The goal of the Yunnan war was only to destroy Yunnan City State, not to destroy the local economy, livelihood, and people's hearts. If the army really did as they pleased, the destructive power would be terrifying. Even if the following officials spent several times more effort, they still wouldn't be able to win back the people's hearts.
Everywhere the army passed, not a single grain was harvested. They could only rely on the grain transport team to provide food.
In this week, with the help of the aerial team, the three intelligence agencies conducted a carpet search in Yunnan Province. Strangely, they still hadn't found any traces of the allies.
It was as if the 200,000 strong army had never appeared in Yunnan Province.
The reality was that according to the Shanhai Guards and the Black Snake Guards, the Yan Huang Alliance's armies had indeed been transferred away without a doubt.
At this moment, the allied forces were like a layer of dense fog that enveloped the skies above Yunnan Province, making this war of the century even more confusing.
Under such circumstances, how could Huo Qubing take such a risk? The First Legion didn't dare to split up and fight on multiple fronts, so they just attacked city by city.
Apart from that, Huo Qubing also paid great attention to the protection of the supply routes. He specifically transferred two cavalry brigades from the First Division to assist in supervising the transportation of supplies.
With the strength of the 1st Legion, even if they encountered 200,000 allied troops, they wouldn't be in too much of a mess if they were prepared.
Therefore, Huo Qubing's strategy was to guard against surprise attacks, but at the same time, he did not want to miss a good opportunity.
The First Legion set off a siege war in Dongchuan County according to its predetermined trajectory. It swept through the entire Dongchuan County at the speed of two cities in three days.
In view of the strange situation of the Right Army, the commander of the Western Punitive Expedition, Bai Qi, ordered the Middle Army and the Left Army to slow down their attacks and preserve their strength as a deterrent.
December 15th, Dongchuan County.
In just ten days, the entire Dongchuan County had basically fallen under the iron hooves of the First Legion of the Imperial Guards. All that was left was a lone city in the north, Yongren City.
Yongren City was located at the junction of Yunnan Province and Sichuan Province. Across the border, about 200 miles away was the famous City of Steel and the Capital of Vanadium and Titanium, Panzhihua.
Panzhihua's iron ore resources accounted for more than 70% of the Sichuan Province's mineral reserves. It was one of the four largest iron mining areas in China. Its associated titanium reserves were ranked first in the world, and its associated vanadium reserves were ranked third in the world.
The Panzhihua area in the game was located within the territory of Swordsman City.
The iron ore industry naturally became one of the pillars of Swordsman City's industries. However, due to the inconvenience of transporting iron ore, it was very difficult to export and unprofitable.
Currently, there were no trains in the game, so it was impossible to transport iron ore in large quantities over long distances. This was especially true on land, where the transportation of large quantities of mineral resources was a huge problem.
Therefore, the Lord of Swordsman City, Feng Qingyang, could only sit on a 'mountain of treasure' without being able to convert it into actual gold coins. At most, he could rely on the astonishing iron ore reserves to develop his territory's military industry.
However, due to the lack of weapons and equipment manufacturing technology, Swordsman City's military industry was also half-dead.
Because of this, Swordsman City was in a relatively difficult situation among the members of the Yanhuang Alliance. Swordsman City did not have much of a presence in major battles, including affairs in the wilderness.
As one of the giants of the Yanhuang Alliance, Feng Qingyang's fame was not only comparable to that of Di Chen and Lord Chunshen, but also that of Battle Wolf and Xiong Ba.
It could even be said that the rising star of the alliance, Wandering Huan, had a higher appearance rate than Feng Qingyang.
Because of this, Feng Qingyang had completely given up on the idea of managing his territory and turned his attention to the martial arts world. He wholeheartedly wanted to cooperate with Liu Bei's Shu Han Imperial Court to achieve a win-win situation.
…
That morning, Huo Qubing led the Imperial Guards to a location ten miles outside of Yongren City.
"Sir, it seems like the alliance has no intention of setting up an ambush in Dongchuan Prefecture. We were worried for nothing." The one who spoke was the newly appointed commander of the First Division of the Imperial Guards' First Legion, Ma Teng.
As a general of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ma Teng was naturally respectful to the famous Western Han Dynasty general, Huo Qubing. He did not look down on him or slack off even though he was older than him.
According to historical records, Huo Qubing was Ma Teng's ancestor.
Ma Teng might be dissatisfied if it was someone else commanding the army. However, Huo Qubing commanded the army and Ma Teng was very obedient. He was also very respectful to Huo Qubing and had an indescribable sense of closeness in his heart.
Not only that, Ma Teng also warned the two brothers, Ma Chao and Ma Xiu, to be more respectful to the commander of the Imperial Guards. This made Ma Chao, who had rushed to take up the post, depressed. His father was treating him like a child.
Ma Teng was only respectful to Huo Qubing, but Ma Chao was worshipping him. Ma Mengqi was well aware that he was brave but lacking in resourcefulness.
On the other hand, Huo Qubing was a god of his generation. Which young general of the Great Han Empire did not worship Huo Qubing?!
Idolatry and idolatry were not exclusive to modern people.
…
Huo Qubing rode on his warhorse and looked at Yongren City in the distance. There was a trace of doubt in his eyes. Along the way, the expected allied army did not appear.
From the looks of it, Yunnan City had abandoned Dongchuan Commandery. Perhaps in the eyes of the lords of the city-state, the isolated Dongchuan Commandery did not have much strategic value. They might as well cut off one of their limbs to revive the whole game.
However, Huo Qubing's intuition told him that things were not so simple. This feeling of unease had persisted until today, and the source of it had not been found.
"Could Yongren City be a trap?"
The intelligence from the Military Intelligence showed that there were no signs of troops stationed in Yongren City. Even the areas near the city had been carefully checked by the spies from the Military Intelligence, but there was still no one.
If the allied army really wanted to launch a surprise attack, the only possibility was that they had teleported here in the middle of attacking the city. If that was the case, the allied army of 200,000 soldiers would not be able to pose much of a threat to the First Legion.
Huo Qubing calmed himself down and turned to Ma Teng. "It's best not to let down our guard, but we can't stop moving forward. Send the order to the entire army to prepare for the attack! "
As a soldier, Huo Qubing would not give up on attacking Yongren City because of a trace of unease before he had the support of accurate information.
As long as they could take down this city, the entire Dongchuan Commandery would fall into the hands of Shanhai City. If that happened, it would have a very positive impact on the entire war situation in Yunnan.
The Imperial Guards would be the greatest contributor to the war.
…
Following the military order, the war drums sounded, and the siege began again.
The main force of the attack was still two heavy infantry divisions of the Mountain Barbarians, and two cavalry divisions to guard the flanks. The cavalry division of the Ironback Cavalry was in charge of the rear.
At around ten in the morning, with the help of the siege weapons, the Mountain Barbarian division successfully reached the foot of the city wall. Next was the most difficult siege. For the Mountain Barbarian soldiers, everything was a walk in the park.
If everything went smoothly, the ordinary city in front of them would fall before sunset.
Right at this moment, an unforeseen event occurred.
The transportation array in the center of Yongren City suddenly flashed with a dazzling blue light, and an endless stream of soldiers walked out of the transportation array and gathered in the square.
After each team was assembled, they began to rush to the major city gates under the leadership of the team leader.
In less than ten minutes, the spy from the Military Intelligence Division hiding in Yongren City received the news. It was too late to rely on hummingbirds to deliver the message.
The spy risked being exposed and pulled the signal flare.
With a whoosh, the red signal flare, which meant that there was an ambush, rose into the air and exploded high in the sky.
Outside the city, Huo Qubing stared at the signal flare that had yet to disperse. Not only was he not nervous, but he also breathed a sigh of relief.
The unknown always made people anxious.
Once the allied forces appeared and the veil of mystery was lifted, Huo Qubing had nothing to fear.
"Pass down the order, have the frontline troops withdraw."
Since the allied forces had appeared, Huo Qubing would not think that it would be easy to take down Yongren City. Even if they attacked the city, it would be a chaotic battle.
For a mixed infantry and cavalry unit like the First Legion, a chaotic battle inside the city was extremely disadvantageous.
Therefore, Huo Qubing was prepared to meet the legendary 200,000 allied forces outside the city. Even if he could not win, he was confident that he could delay the allied forces until reinforcements arrived.
Don't forget, the Second Legion of the Imperial Guards in Lingxi City was on standby.
…
What Huo Qubing did not know was that a disaster was quietly befalling the Imperial Guards. The entire situation on the battlefield would be reversed because of this battle.
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.
