Yingcang City is the largest city in northern Jizhou.
It is different from the bitter cold places of Youzhou and Liaozhou.
Ji, Da Ye, the Lord of the Four Directions, Jizhou has been the seat of China since ancient times.
Jizhou is bounded by the bend of the river, surrounded by mountains and rivers, with plain plains. It is close to Guangzhou in the east, Heji in the south, Kawahara surrounds it, and it controls Yanqi.
Therefore, Jizhou is also known as "the location of the conflict between the north and the south, the battlefield of armies and horses, and the most critical point."
Heading south from Youzhou, Jizhou is similar to Yuzhou, with a flat plain and no danger to defend.
Therefore, Yingcang City is the northern gateway to Jizhou and the only way for Cao Su to go south.
The current lord of Yingcang City is Yuan Gaofeng.
Yuan Gaofeng was originally a Jinshi in the first year of Zhengguang, and was awarded the title of secretary of the Provincial School Secretary. He later served as the school manager of Jixian and was awarded the Hanlin bachelor's degree.
In the third year of Zhengguang reign, Yuan Gaofeng was transferred to the household department of Shendu Prefecture to join the army.
In the fifth year of Zhengguang's reign, Pei An, the Minister of Household Affairs, was assassinated. Yuan Gaofeng advocated the strict arrest of the murderer, but he was considered to have overstepped his duties.
In the same year, Yuan Gaofeng was demoted to Lingzhou Sima.
The following year, the Wanping Rebellion broke out, and Yuan Gaofeng was transferred to Yingcang City and served as the city lord of Yingcang City.
To this day, Yuan Gaofeng has been serving as the city lord in Yingcang City, which is very close to Youzhou. He has seen the vicissitudes of Youzhou Mansion over the years.
Benefiting from the rapid development of Youzhou Prefecture, Yingcang City has also undergone some changes in recent years.
At this time, in the palace of the city lord of Yingcang City, Yuan Gaofeng and several of his staff were handling official business.
Ever since the chaos broke out in the City of Gods, news from all sources has been flying towards the City Lord's Mansion like snowflakes.
Although Yuan Gaofeng was not as well-informed as Cao Su, after a delay of more than ten days, he also learned about the mutiny in Shendu, and that Lieutenant Rong was so rebellious that he actually committed the crime and tried to get his hands on the artifact.
The mutiny in Shendu directly opened the last fig leaf of the Qian and Yuan Dynasty.
The great Qian and Yuan Dynasties were already riddled with holes and weak.
As a scholar, Yuan Gaofeng was actually quite tangled in his heart.
"Sir, the reply from Youzhou Prefecture has arrived."
Outside the city lord's palace, an aide looked hurriedly and handed over the wooden mailbox with both hands.
Yuan Gaofeng, who was discussing matters with his staff, looked stern and stood up quickly: "Send it quickly."
A few days ago, Yuan Gaofeng wrote to General Zhenbei, asking General Zhenbei to go south to take charge of the overall situation.
The so-called "taking charge of the overall situation" is used very cleverly.
From the perspective of Youzhou Prefecture, entering Jizhou and Dingding Zhongtu is the place that "takes charge of the overall situation".
Yuan Gaofeng's move could also give some explanation to the direction of Jizhou. His original intention was to ask Cao Su to go south to help the chaos in the capital city.
The world is difficult, and although Yingcang City is a large city in the north of Jizhou, it does not have many troops to protect it.
Most of the military power in Jizhou is still in the hands of Pu Chengye, the head of Jizhou Prefecture.
Jizhou Prefecture is still hundreds of miles away from Yingcang City.
Yuan Gaofeng took the letter box, which contained a letter from Cao Su, with the words "Ying Cang City Lord Yuan Gaofeng personally expresses it".
Yuan Gaofeng immediately opened the letter and took a look. Inside was a letter written by Cao Su.
Cao Su expressed a clear attitude in his letter, one of which was "Yuan City Lord has made great contributions and is a pillar of the country sincerely, which makes Cao look up to him with admiration."
Cao Su wrote some eloquent words about how he had admired Yuan Gaofeng for a long time, and then asked Yuan Gaofeng to rest assured that the Zhenbei Army would never let it go when the country was in trouble. Cao Su had also heard about the crisis, and now Mrs. Rong
Wei Choler caused chaos in the court, and everyone wanted to kill him. Cao Su was about to lead his army south, defeat Wei Rong, and help rescue the emperor.
Yuan Gaofeng understood the general principles and principles, and was a model for scholars.
Yuan Gaofeng read Cao Su's letters. Most of them were empty talk. As for when Cao Su would raise his troops and when he would go south, there was no description at all.
"City Lord, General Zhenbei has strong soldiers and horses. Now God can save us!"
After reading the letter, the staff looked excited.
For the vast majority of scholars in the world, although the Qian Yuan Dynasty has declined, the Qian Yuan Dynasty is still orthodox, and those who can save the orthodox are all loyal people.
Cao Su was previously the most favored and valued minister of Emperor Daozong, and now he holds great power. It is not surprising that he is sending his troops south to support the court.
"General Zhenbei's subordinates are all veterans of hundreds of battles. The Prime Minister should not have sent him to Youzhou in the first place."
Several years have passed since Cao Su led the imperial army to leave the capital city, but it seems to be still vivid in his mind.
Yuan Gaofeng still had some sympathy for Cao Su.
In the past, when he was also at his most prosperous, he offended the powerful people in the court, and was finally exiled, leaving the divine capital sadly.
After traveling around several places, he finally arrived at Yingcang City and assumed the position of city lord.
At this time, he was already quite old.
If he had followed a normal official career, he would have come to an end.
But now, the world is in chaos, and everyone wants to get their hands on the artifact. Yuan Gaofeng is a scholar and does not have many troops under his command. He thinks that he has no ability to dominate one side, and the power of Youzhou Prefecture, which is closest to him, is
, but he saw it.
Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated and ordered: "Get your horses ready quickly. I will go to Youzhou Mansion myself."
Yuan Gaofeng has never been to Youzhou Mansion before, although Youzhou Mansion is very close to Yingcang City.
But he learned from various channels that the current Youzhou Mansion is not only a huge city, but also has a large population. The population is probably larger than the ten Yingcang cities.
With such a huge population, the tax revenue that can be generated is astronomical.
In addition, Youzhou Prefecture has had good harvests every year in the past few years, and the strength of Youzhou Prefecture...
The Zhenbei Army was already very strong, but now it will only become stronger.
Several staff members were shocked when they heard that Yuan Gaofeng was planning to go to Youzhou Mansion in person: "City Lord, there is no need to rush, right? Since General Zhenbei said he wanted to go south, we can just wait here. Isn't it right to leave Yingcang City?
A prudent move.”
Yuan Gaofeng shook his head and said: "You don't know something, Cao Su is still young."
"He was killed again back then...Forget it, in short, Cao Su is not that easy to do, and he is now the top martial artist in the world. In terms of strength, he is much stronger than us, so I have decided to surrender.
For him, why would he regret some thin noodles?"
Yuan Gaofeng knew what his staff wanted, and they were just "taking the initiative to warm up" to lower his own worth.
But now and then, Youzhou Prefecture is too powerful now. Since he has decided to surrender to Cao Su, he might as well surrender completely and stay half-assed in the air. This is not Yuan Gaofeng's characteristic.
Seeing that Yuan Gaofeng's attitude had been decided, all the staff said no more.
Then a group of staff followed Yuan Gaofeng. Yuan Gaofeng summoned more than a hundred soldiers under his command, and rushed out of Yingcang City and headed north.
After Yuan Gaofeng left, a homing pigeon flew out of the courtyard and quickly spread its wings and left...
--------------------------
"Woo——"
In the north, the sound of the trumpet spreads throughout the fields.
Black clouds rolled over the city, and white tents all over the mountains and plains appeared in the field of vision.
Then came a large number of galloping war horses and cavalry on horseback.
There are many horses in the north. Cao Su has been in Youzhou for many years. After cooperating with the Ma family, the war horses have been improved and updated to the fourth generation.
This fourth-generation war horse has an average height of more than two meters, strong four hooves, excellent endurance, and extremely fast speed. It even got rid of the weakness of feeding with fine materials and became a true king of land warfare.
Cao Su increased the number of cavalry to 50,000, of which the number of tiger and leopard cavalry increased to 8,000, all of which were composed of Qi and blood warriors, and those above were all warriors of the strength realm.
The ordinary cavalry is divided into "Youzhou Elite Archers" and "Youzhou Elite Lancers". The cavalry units are mostly selected from the grassland peoples, while the lancers are mostly from the previous Western Army's Forbidden Army and the Rebel Army.
Choose from.
These 50,000 cavalry did not directly form a large army, but were grouped under different generals, captains of ten thousand or captains.
Cao Su personally led eight thousand tiger and leopard cavalry guards, and Gong Wu served as the commander of the tiger and leopard cavalry guards.
Ma Chao and Shi Yong, who had been following Cao Su before, now became lieutenant generals in the army and were allowed to lead the army alone.
After Yuan Gaofeng galloped more than two hundred miles north, he saw the Zhenbei army gathering outside Youzhou Mansion.
The army was filled with darkness and the horns sounded continuously.
"I'm afraid there are 100,000 troops."
On a slope, Yuan Gaofeng and his staff looked at the majestic military posture of the Zhenbei Army and couldn't help but feel glad that they didn't have a mantis as a chariot. Otherwise, how would it end at this moment?
Not long after a group of more than a hundred cavalry appeared, they were discovered by the elite archers of Youzhou on patrol.
There were also more than a hundred cavalry, led by a centurion from the Zhenbei Army, wearing black heavy armor, galloping and shouting: "Who is coming?"
The centurion was as strong as an ox, and his beard that reached to the base of his ears only added to the wildness of the Northlanders. He was holding a heavy long blade, which was really majestic.
"City Lord, be careful, he is a master of strength."
Among the guards brought out by Yuan Gaofeng, there were also powerful masters. However, Yuan Gaofeng himself was just an ordinary scholar. He had read books for decades and had an awe-inspiring spirit. Facing such a fierce rushing Zhenbei Army, he did not show any signs of it.
No color change at all.
"The Lord of Yingcang City, Yuan Gaofeng, is here. Please see General Zhenbei!"
Yuan Gaofeng took a step forward and spoke loudly. His voice was not loud, but it was clearer. The centurion of the Zhenbei Army who came had a sharp ear and eyesight, and he heard clearly and couldn't help but let out a light sigh.
Didn't the general say that the Lord of Yingcang City is already waiting for everyone to come as a guest? Why did he come here by himself?
He showed a look of confusion, and then waved his hand to stop moving forward.
This small group of more than a hundred horse archers immediately stopped in place. It blew like a gust of wind and stopped like a gust of wind. The tall and flexible horses were integrated under the crotch of these horse archers. Their riding skills were obviously very superb.
.
What's more important is that these hundreds of horse archers were ordered to stop. They stopped immediately after the centurion gave an order.
"Does Lord Yuan have a token?"
The centurion asked for the token cautiously, as this is a military rule.
Yuan Gaofeng then threw a city lord's order to the centurion, who immediately sent a cavalryman to report with the token.
Not long after, I got the feedback of approval.
"Everyone, please enter the camp."
This place was obviously still ten miles away from the camp, but the centurion wanted to enter the camp once they passed this level.
Yuan Gaofeng said no more and prepared to lead his army to march slowly and enter the Zhenbei Army.
When passing by the centurion, Yuan Gaofeng couldn't help but said: "No need to disarm?"
He had more than a hundred personal guards under his command, all of whom were armed with weapons, but the Zhenbei Army let them in so easily.
For example, when Yuan Gaofeng met with a high-ranking official of the imperial court, only one person was allowed to meet him, and he would be searched inside and out to make sure that he was not carrying any weapons before he could enter.
The centurion didn't know how to answer Yuan Gaofeng's question.
Yuan Gaofeng had already figured it out and said with a smile: "This is the general's trust in us. The general's magnanimity is truly extraordinary."
The centurion was stunned. What he wanted to say was that there are more than a hundred of you, and you may not be able to pose any threat to the general. The general is a top expert on the Dragon and Tiger Ranking, a famous first-class martial artist in the world, who can hurt him?
?
Without further explanation, he opened the road and allowed Yuan Gaofeng to enter the Zhenbei Army camp.
The camp of the Zhenbei Army did not have a gate. It was in the stage of gathering the army at this time. Cao Su had already arranged for the vanguard to slaughter pigs and sheep tomorrow, burn incense and pray to God, and then go out for the expedition.
Therefore, this camp was only a temporary camp. When Yuan Gaofeng came over, he saw strong soldiers everywhere in the camp.
There are also big flags with the characters "Zhenbei" and "Cao" that can be seen everywhere.
The sound of "ding-ding-ding" of forging iron, the sound of galloping war horses, the chorus of soldiers' training, and the continuous sound of horns filled the camp that stretched for more than ten miles, forming the most majestic song.
The expedition movement.
Although Yuan Gaofeng was not a martial artist, he had served as the city lord of Yingcang City for so many years and he knew some of the essentials of military formations.
The Zhenbei Army is so powerful that it cannot be compared with the ordinary rogue army.
"City Lord Yuan!"
As we were walking slowly forward, a group of people appeared in front of us.
The leader was an ugly-looking middle-aged scribe. He sat on a horse and saluted Yuan Gaofeng from a distance.
Yuan Gaofeng quickly returned the gift: "Brother Zhong, I haven't seen you for a long time."
The two burst into laughter as soon as they met. After the hearty laughter, they both dismounted at the same time with a tacit understanding. Then Zhongjin came over and directly took Yuan Gaofeng's hand and walked inside.
"Brother Yuan, quickly follow me into the Chinese army's camp. The general has been waiting for a long time."
Yuan Gaofeng and Zhongjin were old acquaintances. They were both literati. Zhongjin had served as an aide under Cao Su for many years and assisted Cao Su in becoming the lord of Youzhou. He dominated the north and was now quite famous among the scholars.
Yuan Gaofeng has a tall and straight figure and is quite elegant in appearance, which is completely different from Zhongjin's temperament.
"Brother Zhong, I didn't expect General Cao's men to be so powerful. With General Cao sending troops, they will definitely be able to save Shendu this time."
Yuan Gaofeng has always felt that Cao Jun is powerful, and this time he also felt it.
Zhongjin said with a smile: "You have also seen the changes in Youzhou Prefecture in recent years. The general believes that the strengthening of the Zhenbei Army is not entirely due to the generals' well-trained training, but because Youzhou Prefecture has received excellent
development of."
"The resources are endowed and the people are prosperous and stable, so that now the Zhenbei Army is strong and its morale is high."
Zhongjin is a master of military formations. After saying a few words, Yuan Gaofeng nodded frequently, deeply agreeing with it.
While they were talking, the two of them arrived at the Chinese army's tent.
Then he saw General Cao Su of Zhenbei bending his bow and arrow, aiming at a target in the school grounds.