The world of counterfeit magistrates competes in the world

Chapter 474
After making a clear judgment on the situation, Cao Ji can finally let go of his hands and feet, gather troops from all over the country, and prepare to march towards Huazhou.

Sure enough, as Shen Li judged, Yan and Ming prefectures not only did not take the opportunity to put pressure on Cao Ji, but weakened most of the troops on the border so that Cao's army could mobilize enough troops to advance westward.

Cao Jun's movements were quickly reported to Lin Yifan.

Facing the 30-strong Cao army, Lin Yifan couldn't help but sneer. It was wishful thinking to use the crowd tactics to defeat the Hengshan army.

Although he despises Cao Ji's arrogance, Lin Yifan still attaches great importance to how to deal with it.After all, there is an army of 30, plus tens of thousands of horses in Huazhou, and the Hengshan Army with only 10,000+ troops, it is still under great pressure to deal with it.

After convening all the generals to discuss, it was finally decided to temporarily abandon the siege of Huayuan City, and retreat to the southern foot of Huashan Mountain, a hundred miles north of Huayuan City, where they camped and stood firm, waiting for reinforcements.

It's not that Lin Yifan didn't want to directly take down Huayuan City as a fortress against Cao's army, it's because the artillery ammunition is limited, and it consumes a lot along the way.If Huayuan City is captured, the shells will be exhausted.Without the support of the artillery, no matter how strong the Hengshan Army is, it will not be able to withstand hundreds of thousands of troops.

With the withdrawal of the Hengshan Army, the defenders in Huayuan City couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. In an instant, cheers resounded inside and outside.

But Li Yuan couldn't laugh at this time, the tiger retreated, but then it was about to break into a wolf.With the retreat of the Hengshan Army, his already desperate heart began to recover. After all, no one wants to give up the foundation he has worked so hard to build.

In order to keep Huazhou, Li Yuan immediately summoned Pei Yan and informed him of his plan.

Pei Yan also didn't want Huazhou to change hands. Hearing the words, he immediately began to seriously plan for it, "My lord, now that there are two powerhouses at your side, if you want to be alone, you must hurt both of them in order to preserve your foundation."

Li Yuan nodded approvingly, "That's right, does the gentleman have any countermeasures?"

"This?" Pei Yan frowned and thought for a long time before saying, "Master, now that the Hengshan Army has retreated to Huashan, it is better for our army to withdraw most of our troops to the south before Cao Ji arrives, and leave this place for them to help themselves." Killing. What does the lord think?"

"A good idea." Li Yuan's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help praising, "Huayuan City is sandwiched between the two sides, and it can be described as fish on the chopping board. Both sides will lose, and our Huazhou Army can take advantage of the situation to drive them out of Huazhou."

"Although this strategy is good, it has disadvantages." Pei Yan said worriedly: "It would be fine if both sides lose, but if one side wins, we will die without a place to die."

"Hmph, since there are ten deaths and no life, it's better to fight for that chance." Li Yuan looked away from this.Anyway, no matter who wins or loses, he and even the whole family will suffer heavy losses.That being the case, it's better to fight one last time, and let's see what God wants.

Pei Yan glanced at Li Yuan in surprise, then quickly lowered her head, her eyes flickering thoughtfully.

Finally, after more than ten days of marching, Cao Ji successfully entered Jingtian Pass.After receiving the order, the Huazhou garrison stationed here simply gave up the garrison and surrendered Jingtianguan.

30 troops marched into Huazhou in mighty force, rushing all the way to Huayuan City.

When Cao Ji came to Huayuan City, he saw that there were only [-] defenders left in Huayuan City.After seeing Cao Jun, the ten thousand defenders immediately withdrew from the city and retreated south.

Facing the empty city, Cao Ji's face suddenly turned pale.He immediately understood that the old fox Li Yuan, who had feelings for him, was going to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and reap the benefits of the fisherman.

"Damn it, old thief!" Cao Ji cursed bitterly, but now that the army has entered Huazhou, wouldn't it make the world laugh if they just retreated?What's more, once the Hengshan Army occupies Huazhou, it will only be more than three hundred miles away from the capital, posing a great threat.At the same time, going south can connect with Leizhou and support the Leizhou rebels.Therefore, no matter what, Cao Ji must defeat the Hengshan Army in Huazhou.

There was no other way, Cao Ji had no choice but to order the army to enter the city and set up defenses.

At the same time, Anzhou has recruited a large number of militiamen to escort food and grass to Huazhou.At the same time, it is also used as a supplementary force, responsible for maintaining the stability of the occupied area.

And Luo Feng, who was in charge of mopping up the counties and counties, used the old trick again to wipe out the remnants of the army, and at the same time recruit volunteers to fight with them.At the same time, send envoys to the rebel village lurking in the mountains to persuade them to surrender to Hengshan.

Speaking of these rebels, in fact, most of them are the remnants of the rebel army formed when Luo Feng went south to Huazhou. It's just that they refused to move north with the army, but stayed in Huazhou to continue their lives.However, since Li Yuan ruled Huazhou, there have been many levies and extortions, which have aroused public anger.Back then, after a short period of training, these rebels were quite effective, and soon became the main force against Li Yuan's tyranny.It's just that they were too scattered and didn't know how to unite, so that they were finally suppressed by Li Yuan and had to hide in the mountains and become bandits.

Now that general from back then led his army south again, sweeping across all directions, they were both shocked and afraid.But at this time, the general actually sent an envoy to persuade them to surrender, and most of the rebels chose to surrender. Only a few leaders were content with the status quo, refused to be controlled by others, and blatantly rejected Hengshan's surrender.

Regarding this, Luo Feng was not polite, and after gathering the rebels who had joined him, he ordered them to enter the mountains to encircle and suppress these bandits who refused to surrender.

So far, the 30 troops led by Lin Yifan have occupied Huashan, and the [-] troops of Cao Jun have occupied Huayuan City. The two sides are separated by hundreds of miles, and no one is willing to take the initiative to attack.

It stands to reason that Cao's army has 30 troops, while the Hengshan army on the opposite side has only 30.But Cao Ji couldn't tell what he was suffering about. Huashan Mountain lay across the north of Huayuan Mansion, and the terrain was rough and difficult.If they attack the Hengshan Army with an army of [-], they will win, but it will be a miserable victory.Not to mention, when he learned that the Hengshan Army possessed a weapon called artillery, which wiped out the Huazhou navy in one fell swoop, he was immediately horrified.With such powerful firearms, if the army is charging, if it is shot down, the whole army will be defeated and flee.

Cao Ji really wanted to defeat the Hengshan Army, but it was by no means a win-win.Once he is defeated, the entire army of Yanming and Mingzhou will immediately go south.The Huazhou Army, which was huddled in the south of Huazhou, would immediately rush up and bite itself hard.

In desperation, Cao Ji had no choice but to stand still and focus on defense, waiting for chaos to arise behind Hengshan.As long as Huayuan City and Jingtian Pass are occupied, the Hengshan Army will not be able to threaten the land of Zhongzhou, nor will it be able to connect with Leizhou, then half of the strategic goal of this battle will be achieved.

And Lin Yifan, who is entrenched in Huashan, also has his own plans. Although he wants to avenge his uncle this time, he is definitely not just taking the lives of the soldiers to avenge his personal revenge.Huazhou must be taken, and the Li family must be destroyed, but the lives of the soldiers must be preserved to the greatest extent.

It's just a pity that the southward trip was too hasty this time, and a large part of the preparations for the Northern Expedition were not needed, and the large number of artillery shells needed for the southward expedition was seriously insufficient.Just like before, in order to cross the river, I had to wait patiently for the ship to be disassembled and carried from Anzhou, and then assembled again, wasting nearly a month in vain.

Now that Cao Ji is coming with an army of 30, if he fights recklessly, it will only cause heavy losses to the soldiers.Lin Yifan had no choice but to retreat and wait for Qin Yuanhao and Luo Feng to join up from the occupied area.At the same time, they were also waiting for the ammunition to be delivered from Hengshan.

In this way, time hastened and entered September.

(End of this chapter)