Yingcang City is the largest city in northern Hebei Province.
The smell of war is approaching the city, and the city and outside are much bleaker than before.
Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet, the people at the bottom are often the most able to detect subtle changes.
The world is hard and the wars in the last days have been going on for many years.
A few years ago, during the Wanping Rebellion, Yingcang City experienced some turmoil, but now the familiar feeling has returned.
The movements of the Zhenbei Army have become the focus of attention throughout Yingcang City.
A few days ago, news came that the Youzhou Zhenbei Army was moving south.
"Once the Zhenbei Army goes south, Jizhou will be thousands of miles away. Who can survive?"
"A world of great strife is also a world of extreme misery. Although the world is huge, there is no place for peace."
The nobles, commoners, vendors, and commoners in the streets and alleys were all discussing this matter, and some of the original shops along the street had been closed early.
Although Cao Su in the north has a good reputation, it is difficult to draw a conclusion as to what the Zhenbei Army is like without a face-to-face meeting.
The capable people left Yingcang City early.
Those who were aware of the crisis had stocked up enough food early in the morning and would never leave their homes unless they had to prepare.
Of course, there are also people who firmly believe that the Zhenbei Army led by Cao Su is a regular official and soldier of the imperial court. Naturally, they will not commit such evil acts as burning, killing, and looting. There is no need to make a fuss and flee Yingcang City.
In this anxious and complicated mood, everyone waited for the arrival of the mighty 100,000-strong Suppression Army.
The armor of soldiers is like a forest, and the swords and halberds are in pieces.
The 100,000-strong Zhenbei Army represents the remarkable achievements of Cao Su's efforts in Youzhou over the years.
Almost effortlessly, Cao Su captured Yingcang City and took the first step into Jizhou.
At this point, Cao Su obtained the bridgehead of Jizhou, and Yingcang City radiated southward to the hinterland of Jizhou. If there were no obstacles, he could reach the capital of Jizhou in less than three days.
"You really don't care about me?"
In the palace of the city lord of Yingcang City, Cao Su, dressed in military uniform, held a secret letter.
The secret message came from Jizhou Prefecture. Since Cao Su had raised troops, the ones he paid the most attention to were naturally Jizhou Prefecture and Guangzhou Prefecture.
Among them, Shi Kaibi, the head of the Gwangju Mansion, was a dull and weak man. He took the position of head of the palace because he benefited from the Shi family, a large family in Gwangju. In these years, every part of Gwangju was in charge of its own affairs, and it was difficult for the Gwangju Mansion.
Give orders to the cities.
The biggest difference between Cao Su and the two mansions is his control over ordinary cities.
According to Cao Su's view, this "city-lord system" has too many drawbacks, which is very unfavorable to centralization of power, leading to local dominance and affecting the stability of the government.
At this time, Cao Su had already led his army into Yingcang City. Logically speaking, the Jizhou Prefecture should also take action, but the fact is that the Jizhou Prefecture seemed to turn a blind eye to Cao Su's army marching south, and Pu Chengye was even more stupid.
Dare to let it go.
The most active ones are the Chiyun Sect and Dingtian Palace.
"Our army is powerful. Previously, Guangzhou and Lingzhou were invaded by the bandit Wei Hai, and many state capitals were damaged."
"The thief Wei Hai is still fighting cholera in Gwangju. Under his command, he has gathered the remnants of the original Wanping people. He claims to have a hundred thousand people, walking along the mountains, lakes and seas of the state as if they were walking on the ground."
Beside Cao Su, several close aides discussed the situation in the two states.
The strangest reaction was the lack of movement. Cao Su didn't believe that the so-called "declaration of rebellion" could scare the big bosses of the two states.
"It is said that Pu Chengye was a student of Taiwei Rong in the past. Pu Chengye had been in Jizhou for many years, and all the forces in Jizhou were governed by him."
Among the literati, Cao Su's reputation was not very good, but now because of the presence of Captain Rong, Cao Su's reputation seems to have improved.
Lieutenant Rong stepped onto the stage of power by stepping on Yu Wenji, and launched a mutiny. He had already torn off the cloak of a scholar, exposed his wolfish ambition, and was despised by others.
But even so, in the eyes of many scholars, Captain Rong was still the representative of the noble clan.
Cao Su, on the other hand, has always been a warrior, and is not the same as a scholar.
Zhongjin pointed out the relationship between Pu Chengye and the Rong family, and Cao Su also remained vigilant about this: "The combat power of Jizhou Prefecture will not be low, not to mention the help of Chiyun Sect. The best result is naturally that Pu Chengye understands the situation and
Make the right decision, but we must also be prepared to fight the Jizhou Army."
There is no word "careless" in Cao Su's dictionary. Although the Zhenbei Army has strong troops and horses, it only means that he has some basic advantages.
The battlefield is changing rapidly, the world is strange and changeable, and the opponent may have some extraordinary means that can reverse the strength of the enemy.
While several people were talking, they heard an emergency call coming from outside the camp.
"Report——"
The sergeant hurriedly rushed into the camp from outside.
Cao Su immediately stopped talking and moved his hand away from the map.
Zhong Jin beside him said dissatisfiedly: "Why are you so flustered?"
The messenger hurried in and handed over a piece of paper with both hands.
That letter turned out to be a letter of war from Jizhou Prefecture.
After Cao Su read the letter of war, he couldn't help laughing, and all the staff in the camp showed curiosity.
Cao Su handed the letter of war to everyone for circulation: "I didn't expect that this Pu Chengye is a gentleman who knows benevolence, righteousness, and etiquette."
"He said that he did not want to go against Cao, but Cao rashly raised his troops and set foot on the border of Jizhou. This was an act of rebellion and rebellion. As the head of Jizhou Mansion, he has the responsibility and obligation to prevent me from continuing to make mistakes. He
Persuade me to turn back quickly, otherwise you will personally lead an army to drive me back to Youzhou?"
The battles in Pu Chengye's gauntlet are often arrogant, but the rules are still explained clearly.
He even said that he had a chance to directly capture Yingcang City and block Cao Su from Yingcang City.
Considering that it is not the behavior of a gentleman to go to war without declaring it, he specifically issued a letter of war first and asked Cao Su to meet at Jiehe.
The boundary river is a large river south of Yingcang City. To the south of the boundary river is the boundary of Jizhou Prefecture, and to the north of the boundary river is the boundary of Yingcang City.
After everyone read Pu Chengye's letter of challenge, they all had strange expressions on their faces.
For a moment, I didn't know how to describe Pu Chengye's behavior.
On the contrary, Cao Su dropped a stone. He was afraid of Jizhou, and the people in Guangzhou didn't react. It would be unfair for him to capture many cities by then. Only if they reacted, could Cao Su successfully replace the ones he had taken along the way.
The city commander below has complete control over the land he sets foot on.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "That shows that Pu Chengye has already made preparations. The terrain of the boundary river is wide and is indeed suitable for a direct meeting."
Zhongjin frowned and said: "Logically speaking, Jizhou government should not be able to gather enough troops. What gave Pu Chengye the confidence and confidence?"
"Don't be careless. Jizhou has been a land in the middle of the country since ancient times. The land is flat but the army is strong, and heroes can benefit from it."
Cao Su ordered in a deep voice: "Since Pu Chengye dares to use tactics, he must be prepared to deal with it."
"The order goes down. No one in the army is allowed to drink alcohol today. We will be on guard during war. Tomorrow we will start at the fourth watch and set out at the fifth watch to forcibly cross the two boundary rivers!"
Seeing Cao Su's serious expression, everyone solemnly clasped their fists and accepted the order.
The next day, Cao Su personally led 50,000 elite troops to fight out of Yingcang City.
Among the 50,000 troops, 10,000 were vanguard cavalry, led by Ma Chao.
Jizhou is mostly flat land, so there is no need to build roads over mountains and build bridges over rivers. The cavalry can serve as the vanguard.
If you go to places with many mountain roads and it is difficult to march by official roads alone, then it will be more difficult for the cavalry to serve as the vanguard. In addition to having a speed advantage, they are relatively weak in other aspects, let alone building bridges and opening roads.
of hard work.
The cavalry is relatively more "delicate".
Cao Su led the remaining 40,000 troops and followed Ma Chao's vanguard.
The residents of Yingcang City could only hear the sound of the horn blowing "woo woo" without stopping. Soldiers throughout the city kept coming in and out, and the clouds of war shrouded the sky over Jizhou.
Cao Su was in charge of the central army, which was heavily guarded. In addition to eight thousand tiger and leopard cavalry guards, there were also many elite infantry and archers. They combined internal and external forces and slowly marched towards the boundary river.
There are actually several cities between Yingcang City and Jiehe, but if you look at them from a straight line, the middle is almost blank.
Cao Su was confident that the many cavalry under his command came and went like the wind, and the entire Jizhou was mostly plains and wilderness. If he failed to attack the boundary river, he could retreat quickly, so he directly dived into the boundary river to see if he could defeat the entire Jizhou in one battle.
Fifty thousand troops came out together and ran wildly in the wilderness of Jizhou.
Within two days, the army was about to leave the boundary of Yingcang City and was already very close to the boundary river.
Cao Su, who was riding on a war horse and leading his army forward, had already faintly noticed that there seemed to be an extremely heavy force of blood and qi in front of him.
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The Jizhou army formed a compact formation by the boundary river and set up camp.
With its back against the boundary river, it has the heroic momentum of a last-ditch battle.
Pu Chengye did not go out with the army. The one who led the army this time was Zhencang, known as the number one general in Jizhou.
Zhencang is also a master of the top level of Li Realm and has followed Pu Chengye for many years.
Originally he was just a nurse of the Zhen family. By chance, he met Pu Chengye who was visiting the Zhen family. Pu Chengye then took him out of the Zhen family and trained him as a confidant.
Many years later, Zhencang grew into the number one general in Jizhou and became a powerful figure in Jizhou.
His martial arts has reached the first level and is second to none in the entire Jizhou.
Moreover, Zhencang was not only good at martial arts, he was also familiar with the art of war and knew battle formations. Under his training, the soldiers of Jizhou Prefecture became brave and powerful. When he was cleaning up the rogue bandits in Jizhou before, Zhencang swept across Jizhou easily.
Therefore, neither the Wanping Rebellion nor the subsequent rebellions against the king had much impact on Jizhou.
With the existence of a sea-fixing needle like Zhencang, Pu Chengye's career is as stable as Mount Tai.
Until this time, Cao Su, the general of Zhenbei, personally led the Zhenbei army southward.
This is the biggest test for Jizhou, and both Pu Chengye and Zhencang attach great importance to it.
"Cao Su attacked Rong, this is nonsense."
Before Zhencang went on the expedition, Pu Chengye had already instilled in him the enemy's "irregularities".
No matter how Lieutenant Rong seizes the power of the center, it will not be Cao Su's turn as a "little general who controls the north" to crusade, not to mention that Cao Su's name of "zhenbei" should be to guard the north first.
, how can you leave your post without permission?
"If you go south without permission, how can you ensure the stability of the north? Cao Su's move is clearly a violation of the law and contempt for the imperial court!"
Although the imperial court exists in name only, Pu Chengye still borrowed the imperial justice and denied Cao Su's legitimacy from different angles.
So Zhencang led his army to the expedition, and Jizhou believed that it was standing on the side of justice.
At this time, Zhencang submitted a letter of war to Cao Su according to Pu Chengye's instructions.
Zhencang set up camp on the edge of the boundary river, taking advantage of the boundary river to prepare for a showdown with Cao Su.
After Zhencang followed Pu Chengye, he also got married and started a business. Although he is now in his fifties, he has many children and grandchildren. This time he led the army on an expedition. All his sons went with the army, and most of them were captains and generals with high ranks.
The three armies set up their positions, and when the agreed noon time arrived, they saw smoke and dust billowing in front of them, and a group of men and horses came rushing from the north.
Zhencang became energetic and immediately ordered all his troops to go out to the camp to fight.
I saw a young general riding a horse like a black dragon and rushing to the front. He built a chain of golden locks and held a gilt tiger-head gun. His aura was majestic and majestic.
"Who is coming?"
On the Jizhou Army side, a young general also rushed out, it was Zhen Meng, the fourth son of Zhencang.
Ma Chao replied loudly: "It is Ma Chao who is the vanguard of General Zhenbei. Now I have been ordered by General Zhenbei to capture you!"
Zhen Meng was furious and came to fetch Ma Chao with his gun in hand. Ma Chao returned the horse with a spear in hand, and the foot and cavalry immediately started fighting together.