Li Ye's army also arrived in Jianmen County. Bai Xiaode learned that King Qi had arrived and asked Duan Xiushi, the chief historian, to wait in Jianmen County.
Jianmen County is currently under the control of Xie Sen, deputy commander of the Internal Guard. One thousand internal guard soldiers strictly inspected intelligence spies and captured many spies of the Bashu Army.
This was to prevent the news of King Qi's arrival from spreading to Chengdu.
Li Ye ordered the 80,000 troops to camp and rest. In the big tent, everyone gathered in front of the sand table and listened to Duan Xiushi's description of the current situation.
Duan Xiu pointed to a county in the northernmost part of Mianzhou with a wooden pole and said: "This is Weicheng County. There is an army of 30,000 people stationed here, facing off against our 20,000 army of Xian Zitong. Neither side launched an offensive.
We believe that the other party is more of a defense, or trying to buy time for Li Lin."
"What does it mean to buy time for Li Lin?" Li Ye asked.
"Reporting to Your Highness, Li Lin is currently recruiting a large number of troops and training troops in Chengdu. They need time."
“It’s really a last-minute thing!”
Li Ye sneered and looked at the sand table carefully and asked, "How many roads are there from Jianzhou to Weicheng County?"
Duan Xiushi pointed at the sand table with a wooden pole and said: "There are three roads. The middle is the main official road. It is relatively flat and can go all the way to Weicheng County. There is also an official road to the west. The road condition is not bad. It just goes in a circle. There are also other roads.
First go to Langzhou, and then enter Mianzhou from Langzhou. This road is further, and it will take at least four days to walk. If you take the Zhongguan Road, you will arrive in two days, and the west official road will take one more day."
Li Ye pondered for a moment and then asked Xie Sen next to him: "Have you caught the other party's spies?"
Xie Sen nodded, "We caught more than a dozen people."
"How did you catch it?" Li Ye asked with a smile.
"Actually, it's very simple. Jianmen Pass has been sealed. Logically, there shouldn't be many merchants. We have detained all the merchants for interrogation. Those who are visiting relatives and friends, we will follow them to their relatives and friends' homes. We have set up checkpoints on the official road in front of us, and people passing by
A road note will be issued to take back the road here in Jianmen County. If there is no road note, it means that they came over the mountains and ridges, and they will all be arrested."
"What if you use someone else's route to pretend to be someone else?" Li Ye asked with a smile.
Xie Sen smiled slightly and said: "The reason why Your Highness asked the inner guards to come is because the inner guards are more skillful. The roads are numbered and they are made in duplicate. The gender, age, height, and other major details will be clearly written on the bottom copy.
Characteristics, you need to check them when retracting the road, this is how most spies were caught."
"Not bad, very professional!" Li Ye praised sincerely.
Li Ye looked to the other side of the sand table, which was Shannan East Road.
"Have you contacted Shannan East Road?" Li Ye asked again.
Duan Xiushi shook his head, "We can't take care of it for the moment, but we have sent out scouts, mainly to explore the military strength of the states in Shannan East Province. There has been no response from the scouts yet."
Li Ye nodded and said to Li Fei Yuanli and Xi Wanli next to him: "You two can lead 30,000 troops from the official road in the west to the south of Weicheng County, cut off the enemy's retreat, and cooperate with the main force to encircle and suppress Weicheng County.
Thirty thousand enemy troops!”
"Follow the order!" Li Feiyuanli and Xi Wanli clasped their fists together.
At this time, Duan Xiushi was a little worried and asked: "What if Li Lin retreats to the south, or even withdraws from Bashu from the Three Gorges Road and the Yangtze River Waterway?"
Li Ye said calmly: "Don't worry, Lei Wanchun's 50,000-strong army and Wang Xiaoru's navy are ready, they can't escape!"
That night, Li Fei Yuanli and Xi Wanli led an army of 30,000 people to quickly go south around the official road to the west and cut off the enemy's retreat in Weicheng County.
After resting for a day, Li Ye led a mighty 50,000-strong army southward on the morning of the third day to join Bai Xiaode's army in Zitong County.
The current task of Pan Yue, the chief general of Weicheng County, is to prevent the imperial army from continuing to move south and buy time for Li Lin to recruit and train troops.
However, Pan Yue felt a little uneasy these past two days. The scouts he sent out all disappeared without a trace, did not return, and did not bring back any information.
He also knew that his scouts were likely to be captured, but it was this ignorance of the enemy that made him unsure. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you survive every battle, but if you don't know anything about the enemy, then
It's dangerous.
What made Pan Yue particularly uneasy was that he had a vague feeling that the intelligence given by Ni Wenzhong, the guard at Dajian Pass, was wrong. The opponent was probably not the imperial army, but the Helong Army.
The other party used kerosene to capture the sword pavilion, which was a treasure of the Helong Army. Ni Wenzhong may not know this, but Pan Yue knew that he had participated in the attack on Jiangxia and had witnessed the fire attack of the Helong Army.
But the prince believed Ni Wenzhong's report and concluded that it was the imperial army. Pan Yue had no evidence to prove it.
Thinking that this was the Helong Army, Pan Yue wanted to retreat, but he did not dare to retreat without the prince's order, so he had to live in fear every day.
This morning, Pan Yue was patrolling the city as usual. At this time, dust was flying in the distance, and it seemed that a large group of people were running towards this side. Everyone on the city immediately became vigilant. Pan Yue quickly ordered: "Quickly
Close the city gate!"
The city gate creaked shut, and the suspension bridge was pulled up. After a while, hundreds of people ran to the city and shouted. Only then did Pan Yue recognize that they were the defenders of Qinggang Town ahead. He quickly ordered: "Open the city gate."
!”
The city gate reopened, hundreds of people ran back into the city, and the leader was brought up. General Lang knelt on one knee and reported: "We found tens of thousands of enemy troops coming to attack, and we had to abandon the town and retreat!"
Pan Yue was shocked. Qinggang Town was only fifty miles away. Doesn't this mean that the enemy's army was less than fifty miles away?
He immediately ordered: "Sound the alarm and put the entire army on alert!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang!" The bell rang, and countless soldiers rushed to the top of the city.
Weicheng County can only be regarded as a central county. The city has a circumference of more than 20 miles and the city wall is relatively tall and strong. Therefore, Li Lin used Weicheng County as a garrison to confront the imperial army in Jianzhou.
Not long after, a black line appeared in the distance. The enemy army had appeared. Pan Yue became even more nervous. Whether it was the imperial army or the Helong army would soon be known.
"General, they are the Helong Army!" General Lang reported after escaping behind him.
"What?"
Pan Yue looked back at General Lang and said, "How do you know?"
"Reporting to the general, we saw the banner with the word "Qi"!"
Pan Yue's heart suddenly fell into the ice cave. Apart from the Helong Army, there would be no other army with the banner of "Qi". As expected, he had guessed it right.
Thinking of the strength of the Helong Army, Pan Yue suddenly had no courage to fight anymore, and the thought of withdrawing immediately came to his mind, but it seemed that it was too late.
Two teams of 10,000 cavalrymen were running toward the county seat, one on the right. They were less than three miles away from the county seat, and behind them was an overwhelming army.
All the soldiers were so frightened that their faces turned pale. In this formation, the opponent had at least 100,000 troops. Wouldn't this mean that Weicheng County would be crushed to pieces?
Pan Yue's face was equally pale. The opponent's Qi-character flags were all edged with gold. This was the king's flag. Only when the King of Qi went to battle in person would the king's flag appear on the battlefield.
It was the King of Qi who went on the expedition in person. Pan Yue felt unprecedented pressure and was about to collapse.
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[My old mother fell ill again today, hey! I will resume the third update tomorrow,]
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!