Outside Dingzhou, a cloud of dust came from the distance. Immediately after, the rumbling of hooves shook the ground.
Xue Xiao's face twitched as he stood on the top of the city walls.
It was not only him. The hearts of all the officials in the Dingzhou prefectural city tightened. They were a little afraid.
General Shang Chaozong had set the Dingzhou prefectural city as the gathering place for the Nanzhou troops. Troops from the Nanzhou border endlessly gathered from the southwest.
The reason they were afraid was that Shang Chaozong's quelling of the rebellion was fake and his real intention of taking the opportunity to attack the Dingzhou prefectural city.
Who dared to speak carelessly about something without evidence? Yet, they could not stop it.
The battle was urgent. Shang Chaozong had not even mobilized the troops in the west of Nanzhou. He directly had the troops in the east set off first to avoid delays in gathering back and forth. This was a reasonable thing to do. Shang Chaozong insisted that this was the best gathering place. As the General of Quelling the Rebellion, he had the final say on how to use troops. So what if Dingzhou refused? Did they want to delay the battle?
The rumbling cavalry came with an aura that could topple mountains and overturn seas. When they stopped outside the city, they were as still as a mountain amidst the rising dust. A large flag with the word "Shang" stood.
On the top of the city walls, the leader of the Immortal Cloud Sect, Wan Qingyan, who was standing beside Xue Xiao, asked, "Is this the heroic Wu Lie Graud?" Seeing Xue Xiao's slight nod, he couldn't help but praise him. "Just based on this army that moves like rolling thunder and is as quiet as a virgin, one can see that his reputation is well-deserved!"
Seeing that the other party had no intention of attacking, Xue Xiao did not say more. He quickly turned and led a group of people down the city gate tower. They all mounted their warhorses and left the city.
"The Prince has had a hard journey!"
Meeting with Shang Chaozong in the army, Xue Xiao, sitting on the back of his horse, laughed loudly and raised his hands in greeting. His gaze glanced at the female general holding a long spear beside Shang Chaozong.
The travel-worn Shang Chaozong sat upright on his horse and was unmoved. Expressionlessly, he said, "Warhorses, have the rations been prepared?"
Xue Xiao was a little embarrassed, but he still smiled and replied, "The army's rations have naturally been prepared, and we have also gathered three thousand warhorses."
Gamiao Shui spurred his horse forward and came in between the two men. He tried to ease the tension on Xue Xiao's behalf: "The army is tired from the long journey. Why don't Lord Xue escort the Prince into the city to rest first?"
"Good, good, good!" Xue Xiao turned his mount around and invited, "Prince, please!"
Shang Chaozong remained indifferent, continuing to ask, "How many troops from my Southern Province have come?"
Xue Xiao had no choice but to reply, "At present there are less than thirty thousand people. They have already set up camp five li away from here." He pointed in a direction.
Shang Chaozong turned his horse around, kicked the horse's abdomen, and galloped towards the direction he pointed.
Feng Ruonan urged her horse to follow, and the twenty thousand cavalrymen followed like a dragon.
After a while, only Xue Xiao, Gamiao Shui, and the rest were left eating the dust. The two of them looked at each other speechlessly.
"What is this? I've kindly prepared something to reward the army, yet they don't appreciate it." Xue Xiao couldn't resist cursing.
Gamiao Shui waved his hand. "Forget it, this is not the time to bicker about this. If he doesn't enter the city, you can save yourself some trouble. Send the rewards for the army to the camp where the Nanzhou people are stationed."
He didn't stay for long. Leading a few eunuchs, he left eating the dust.
In a moment, a group of people came out of the city, carrying pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, fish, and carts of alcohol as they rushed to the Nanzhou camp.
There were about thirty thousand people in the temporary camp of the Nanzhou army. There were still people arriving one after another, but they were not as fast as Shang Chaozong, who had left later and was further away. It couldn't be helped, Shang Chaozong was leading cavalry.
After Shang Chaozong met up with the people who had arrived earlier, he immediately gave the order to seize the time to rest.
The rewards sent from the Dingzhou prefectural city were not polite. They ate what they should eat, but they didn't touch what they should drink. Whoever sent them was taken back.
Shang Chaozong continued the rules from King Ning's time. The army was not allowed to drink during battle. If they were to drink, it was to drink celebratory wine after the battle.
At the dining table, Gamiao Shui, who had just returned from the camp, asked, "400,000 soldiers, how long will it take for them to arrive?"
The court was very satisfied with the troops Nanzhou had sent out this time.
Nanzhou originally had 800,000 troops, but most of them were from the Heavenly Jade Gate.
After the coup in Nanzhou, how could Shang Chaozong be at ease? Better quality than quantity. Shang Chaozong had purged 800,000 troops into 500,000.
Of the 300,000 troops purged, only a small portion were killed. The rest were all dismissed as commoners.
Although Nanzhou had the most troops among all the feudal vassals because of financial problems, there was nothing the court could say if they were willing to send out 400,000 of their 500,000 to quell the rebellion.
Compared to those feudal vassals who were only willing to send out 200,000 of their 400,000 troops, their sincerity was nowhere near as good.
Shang Chaozong said, "I have already given the order for all troops to advance rapidly, 200 li a day!"
Gamiao Shui was afraid that this side would drag things out. Hearing this, he felt much more at ease and nodded.
After the army had rested and reorganized, Shang Chaozong once again gave the order to set out.
Hearing the news, Gamiao Shui crawled out of the tent and caught up to Shang Chaozong, who had just mounted his horse. He asked urgently, "Prince, the army is not yet fully assembled. Why are we setting out now?"
"After the rest of the army has gathered here, they will hurry to the next gathering point. The military situation is urgent. My vanguard must be in position first! At the same time, we will supervise the entire journey. If any of the prefectures slack off in their preparations, do not blame the army for being merciless. They will be executed without exception! "
With these words, Shang Chaozong led the army on their way once again.
Gamiao Shui's expression turned cold. He hurriedly had his entourage send a message to the court, asking the court to supervise the various prefectures and prefectures. Shang Chaozong was brimming with killing intent. If they really ran into Shang Chaozong's hands and were killed, they wouldn't even be able to find a place to reason with him.
At the same time, he felt much more at ease. If Shang Chaozong really led 400,000 troops forward, it would truly be a worrisome matter. It would be very troublesome if there were any changes.
At the end of the day, the court was still a little worried about using the troops of Nanzhou. That was why they sent him to supervise the entire journey. If anything went wrong, he would immediately report it!
When he led his men to catch up to Shang Chaozong, he discovered that something was amiss. The assembled 30,000 troops were mostly infantry. How could they keep up with the speed of Shang Chaozong's cavalry? They were almost all left behind by Shang Chaozong.
When he asked Shang Chaozong the reason, Shang Chaozong gave the same reason.
Because Xue Xiao had hurriedly gathered 3,000 warhorses, another 3,000 riders were added to Shang Chaozong's cavalry formation.
Many of them did not come from cavalry and could only learn through practice.
Under the pressure of Shang Chaozong's murderous aura, the prefectures and prefectures that had received military orders along the way did their best to gather the warhorses he needed.
However, Shang Chaozong did not need them at the moment. He only needed to confirm that they were in place. He continued to lead his troops forward. He did not take the warhorses with him, leaving them for the foot soldiers to catch up to.
It was like this along the way!
Gamiao Shui secretly praised Shang Chaozong's godly speed in deploying troops. If the feudal vassals all had such intentions to quell the rebellion, there would be no need to worry about the rebel army not being destroyed.
It was not until Shang Chaozong officially stopped and set up camp in Jiezhou that Gamiao Shui finally realized something was wrong!
The strange situation came from Xue Xiao of Dingzhou. He said that the troops of Nanzhou had not passed through Dingzhou.
Immediately after, the spies in Nanzhou sent back news that the troops of Nanzhou had stopped moving and stabilized. There were no signs of troops being sent out.
According to the statistics along the way, it was estimated that Nanzhou had only sent out 100,000 troops. What kind of situation was this?
Gamiao Shui realized something was wrong and immediately barged into Shang Chaozong's tent. Outside the tent, he saw Shang Chaozong, Meng Shanming, and a group of generals discussing something.
Everyone in the tent turned their heads to look at Gamiao Shui who had been stopped outside.
Shang Chaozong waved his hand to signal the cultivators and guards outside to let Gamiao Shui in.
Ge Miaoshui asked with a calm face, "Your Highness, where are the four hundred thousand men and horses?"
Shang Chaozong replied calmly, "The troops are naturally on the way."
His temperament was different when it came to marching and fighting. He had the style of his father, King Ning.
Gamiao Shui said in a low voice, "That can't be right! According to what I know, Nanzhou has already stopped sending troops out of the country. The troops on the way, including Prince's side, should be around 100,000 at most! "
Shang Chaozong said, "So what if it's 100,000 troops?"
Gamiao Shui took two steps forward and confronted him across the table, "Prince said 400,000 troops, and I have already reported it to the imperial court. Now that 400,000 has become 100,000, how can we explain this to the imperial court?"
Shang Chaozong said, "All is fair in war. There are many spies in the imperial court. How can this prince allow confidential military information to be leaked so easily?"
Gamiao Shui said, "Two million rebels gathered at Wugong Ridge. How can 100,000 troops suppress the rebellion?"
Shang Chaozong said, "100,000 cavalry is enough! Don't we still have the five armies of the feudal vassals? "
One hundred thousand cavalrymen … Gao Miaoshui was suddenly startled. He seemed to have finally understood the other party's arrangement along the way. It was to allow all the Southern Prefecture's infantry to have mounts instead of walking. The so-called four hundred thousand men and horses was just a smokescreen!
Shang Chaozong ignored him and looked to his left and right, asking, "Do you understand the arrangements just now?"
"Understood!" The generals cupped their hands in response.
Shang Chaozong's face was as calm as still water. He said coldly, "The war is imminent. First, strict military discipline. Military law is unshakable! Immediately pass down this Prince's military law to the feudal vassals. This Prince's troops are to only suppress the feudal vassals, not the rebels! Wherever the order to suppress the rebellion goes, those who delay will be annihilated! Those who delay the battle will be annihilated! Those who flee before the battle will be annihilated! Those who slack off will be annihilated! "
"Yes!" The generals cupped their hands in response and dispersed.
Only suppress the feudal vassals, not the rebels! Gamiao Shui was stunned on the spot. Even after everyone in the tent had left, he still hadn't recovered from the 'four annihilations'.
Not far from the tent, Luo Daan was pushing Meng Shan Ming in a wheelchair.
Huang Lie paced beside him with his hands behind his back. He looked back at the dazed silhouette in the tent and couldn't help but laugh. He had just found out that the Nanzhou only sent 100,000 troops. The mobilization of the Nanzhou troops was all a facade. It was really hard to deceive him.
"Marshal Meng, can a mere 100,000 troops supervise the feudal vassals?" Huang Lie was worried.
Meng Shan Ming said, "Is it reasonable to defy military orders? Whoever disobeys will be attacked! At this juncture, if we dare to attack them, will they dare to attack us? My 100,000 troops are all cavalry. They won't be able to run even if they want to! "
"Hehe!" Huang Lie couldn't help but laugh out loud. He clapped his hands lightly and said, "Turning a hundred thousand men into cavalry without making a sound. Wonderful, wonderful! What a wonderful trick!"
Meng Shan Ming sighed, "Sigh, Prince had no choice but to do this. Just like Sect Leader Huang's worries, the Imperial Court is not of the same mind as us. After the war, they will burn the bridge after crossing the river. Once our provisions are cut off, the entire army will be annihilated. With these 100,000 warhorses, we can kill them to fill our stomachs. It will be enough to support us back to the Nanzhou. If not for this, we wouldn't have to do this! "
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