On September 18th, Dongping Prefecture, Luo Guanzhong's hometown in Shandong Province. At this time, this strategic location from Jinan to Yanzhou had been completely occupied by Cheng Ni.
The city was only defended by the Dongping Guards who went to Jinan to rescue the remaining thousand households and the remaining troops who had fled from the vicinity of Jinan City. People were originally panicked and the number of troops was small. The rebellious rebels were just the second wave. After siege, Dongping City was captured.
Xie Cheng stood at the top of the city, with Chief Su, Luo Ren and others saying: "Actually, the terrain from Jinan to Dongping Prefecture is complex, and there are many places where we can rely on the terrain to deal with our army. However, we are still so fast. They hit Dongping Prefecture."
Lu Yuan praised: "It's not just that General Xie's commanding level is high, the soldiers of the imperial court along the way are all ready to finish."
Xie Cheng naturally knew that the reason why they were so successful was mainly because there were not many troops in these places and morale was very low, so they were so successful. However, he would not expose the praise he had given him.
Chief Su asked: "General Xie, the next step is to attack Yanzhou and Jining."
"The two cities of Yanzhou and Jining are each other's exterior and interior. They are both choke points for the north from Xuzhou. If Yanzhou and Jining are captured, then the way for the imperial troops to go north will be blocked, and they can even continue to go south to capture Xuzhou."
"If Xuzhou is captured, there will be important towns all the way to Jiangbei, but they can all be bypassed. Our army can go straight to the Yangtze River and threaten the capital. So the next step is to attack Yanzhou and Jining."
After listening to what Chief Su said, Xie Cheng imagined for a while the scene of his troops arriving at the capital, and suddenly felt relaxed and happy. However, Xie Cheng would not always be immersed in fantasy. Conquering the capital is certainly ideal, but not to mention that the capital itself is a The fortified city is difficult to capture, and even the Yangtze River north of the capital is a natural barrier that is not easy to cross.
Moreover, they did not control the entire Huainan army and could only go deep alone. If they delayed in Jiangbei for too long, the soldiers of King Qin from all over the country surrounded them, and they would not be able to escape even if they had wings.
So Xie Cheng came back to his senses and said: "You are right. The next step is to gather the main force to attack Yanzhou and Jining. If the southern army has not moved north after taking these two cities, they will attack Xuzhou."
"However, even if we successfully capture Xuzhou City, we will not raid the capital. The variables and risks are too great."
"Also, in addition to the main force attacking these two cities, we must also divide our forces to attack Caozhou (today's Heze)."
"Caozhou borders Huaisi to the south and Wei to the north. It serves as the road to support Yan and controls the suburbs of Kaifeng. It has been used in the four battles since ancient times. Once Caozhou is captured, it can threaten Kaifeng to the west. Kaifeng is not only the province of Henan, but also the Zhou Dynasty. The king's fiefdom, the imperial court must not allow Kaifeng to fall, and it can contain the entire river disaster army. Therefore, we have to divide our forces to attack Heze."
In this way, the next direction of the attack was decided. But Luo Ren said: "General Xie, Yanzhou is not easy to attack!"
"Yanzhou is a large city in the southeast of Shandong. Since Jining Prefecture was abolished and Yanzhou Prefecture was established, Yanzhou City has been increasingly strengthened, no less than Jinan City."
"Furthermore, Yanzhou City is still the fiefdom of King Lu. Although King Lu is not in Yanzhou now, the troops and horses of King Lu's three guards are not all less than 20,000. However, because Shandong Dusi cannot control King Lu's three guards, the troops and horses of King Lu's three guards are now very complete."
"In addition, Yanzhou has plenty of money and food, so it may not be easy to attack."
Xie Cheng said very confidently: "The defender of Yanzhou City is just Sheng Yong. Although Sheng Yong has fought before, he has not shown much talent. However, as his name suggests, how can a regular Yong general stop us?
The Bingfeng!"
Although Luo Ren felt a little worried about Xie Cheng's self-confidence, he couldn't continue to say anything in person. After a few more words, they went off the city wall.
Luo Ren got off the city wall and walked towards the barracks, but at a glance he saw a man in military doctor's uniform pulling a few soldiers and talking about something, and Luo Ren knew this military doctor.
Luo Ren stepped forward and said to him: "Doctor Zhao, what are you doing here? There are still many wounded soldiers in the barracks who need treatment."
The man called Dr. Zhao turned around and saw that it was Luo Ren, and said hurriedly: "It turns out to be General Luo." Several other soldiers who were chatting with him also saluted.
Then the military doctor named Zhao Zonghou said: "It's just right, General Luo, it's just right that you are here. Quickly give the order to stop the soldiers from wreaking havoc in the city and withdraw the troops!"
Luo Ren looked sideways and saw a few injured people nearby, and knew what was going on.
Luo Ren knew that Zhao Zonghou had always cherished life very much. Ever since he came to the Three Guards of the King of Qi in the 29th year of Hongwu, he even opposed Zhu Shu's punishment of the soldiers in person. Zhu Shu almost killed him on the spot, but he and several other generals of the Three Guards of the King of Qi were beaten by him.
He was saved with his life. However, Xu Zonghou also had a high reputation among the soldiers of the original three guards of King Qi.
Xu Zonghou had been staying in Qingzhou before. Later, he was transferred from Qingzhou because there were too many soldiers after Xie Cheng's rebellion and there were not enough military doctors. Now he couldn't help but interfere again when he saw the soldiers abusing the people. These soldiers are not the original three guards of King Qi.
Yes, I didn't beat him to death just because he was a doctor.
Luo Ren immediately said to these soldiers: "You guys go back to the military camp and are not allowed in the city again!"
Several soldiers were unwilling to give up, but as Luo Ren was a rebel general, they did not dare to go against his words, so they had no choice but to leave.
Then Luo Ren said to Xu Zonghou: "You should go back to the medical camp and stop wandering around the city."
Xu Zonghou pointed at the soldiers wreaking havoc in the city, and said excitedly to Luo Ren: "Just leave it alone! There is no way of being a soldier here! Just wreak havoc in the city!"
Luo Ren smiled bitterly and said: "Xu Zonghou, I have no control over this matter now. I cannot give orders for the soldiers to return to camp."
Xu Zonghou was stunned for a moment and asked: "Then who can take care of it?"
Luo Ren said: "It's okay to go a long way, but it's better not to go to him." In fact, Xie Cheng can do it, but Xu Zonghou doesn't know Xie Cheng, so it's probably not possible to go to him.
Xu Zonghou said: "Then I will go find Lu Yuan. These brutal soldiers don't look like soldiers at all! They are all bandits!"
Luo Ren looked at his back and smiled helplessly. However, he still had some friendship with Xu Zonghou, so he followed him to prevent Lu Yuan from doing anything irrational.
However, Lu Yuan did not act irrationally. After hearing what Xu Zonghou said, he immediately said: "In this case, I will immediately order the soldiers to return to camp."
Xu Zonghou thanked Lu Yuan and left. Luo Ren also left after saying a few words to Lu Yuan. However, Lu Yuan looked at Xu Zonghou's back and said to himself: "Are these military doctors more influential?"
