Chapter 6: The Lost Dog (2)

"Okay, very good." Guan Pingchao was very satisfied with Huang Yunlin and Liu Zongren's attitude towards him, although he also knew that their loyalty was absolutely not sincere.

Liu Zongren and Huang Yunlin left Guan Pingchao's Governor's Office with their own ulterior motives, and probably went back to collect the gold, silver and fine materials, preparing to leave the city and escape as soon as the army arrived. Similarly, the Governor's Office was in chaos. The division master Zhao Zilong was in command of Guan Pingchao's family to clean up all valuable things in the Governor's Office, and load them up, and they were also ready to leave.

There were also Huang Zongxi and others who were far away in Yuanling City. Since Huang Zongxi did not have the power to directly command Zheng Nansheng, he could only ask Zheng Nansheng to send several troops ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 in the Miaojiang area, and did not dare to go too deep into the Miaojiang area to meet the Han people who were expelled from their family. Huang Zongxi knew very well how much he was now. He had never led the army, so he could only rely on Huang Degong and Zheng Nansheng to maintain the temporary situation in western Hunan. Unexpectedly, news of Lu Xi and Chenxi counties being captured by the Northern Dynasties came one after another. He was shocked and immediately ordered people to call Huang Degong and Zheng Nansheng over to discuss.

"Can you Cao Hu's men?" Since Cao Hu has been in Miaojiang and has lost contact for several days, it is reasonable for Zheng Nansheng to have this speculation.

After listening to Huang Zongxi's explanation, Huang Degong kept bowing his head and thinking. Even if he was not ashamed of Zheng Nansheng's character, Zheng Nansheng's speculation might be the only one that could stand. If he were the leader of this army, he would not have been lying in a crappy small county town. He would have led the army to take a look in person.

"There are only eight hundred people around Cao Qian. Just a few people can capture the two counties of Luxi and Chenxi. This is too unreal. Zong Xi received the news that the imperial army attacked Luxi had 40,000 or 50,000 people. This number was reduced by ten times, and there should be four or five thousand. In this way, the military force was five to six times that of Cao Hu. In such a short time, Cao Hu could not have gathered so many troops, especially in the territory of the Miao people." Huang Zongxi expressed his doubts and expressed his analytical doubts, "And there were red-clothed cannons among the siege of the city. The four red-clothed cannons in the army are now there. Even if it was Cao Qian, where did he move the red-clothed cannons? Moreover, the red-clothed cannons are as heavy as cows, and they are not suitable to fight with the Miao people in the mountains and ridges."

"It's not Cao Hu, is Deputy Commander Yang's army coming?" Zheng Nansheng thought of another possibility and guessed.

This time, the answer was Huang Degong. "When Huang and the imperial envoy Huang set out from Wuchang, the news from the Governor's Office was that Deputy General Yang led the army to besiege Changsha. Even if the troops were very fast, it would take at least three or five days to capture Changsha, a city that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. From Changsha to Chenzhou, there were at least more than 300 miles, with rugged mountain roads, and heavy weapons like red cannons. Unless they were flying, it would be difficult to get through in such a short time. General Zuo Liangyu and Deputy General went south in two directions, each with their own military orders. Without the military order of the Governor, Deputy General Yang did not dare to transfer troops privately. Moreover, he attacked the two counties of Luxi and Chenxi without communicating with our army. This was simply unreasonable. Deputy General Yang had been on the border for a long time and had rich experience. He should know better than anyone else!"

"Whose army could it be?" Zheng Nansheng smiled embarrassedly, lowered his head embarrassedly and said to himself.

"Can someone pretend to be my court army?" Huang Zongxi's head flashed with inspiration, and he stood up and blurted out.

"Wu Heimiao!" Huang Degong and Zheng Nansheng exclaimed loudly and said in unison.

"But..." Although the three of them thought of Wu Heimiao, many suspicious points suddenly came to their minds, troubled them. Why did Wu Heimiao pretend to be the imperial army? After he captured Lu Xi and Chen Xi, why didn't the army defend? Where did he get the red cannon? Which county will he attack next? Everything was because the three of them were too unfamiliar with this land and could not find out any useful information. Even what Wu Heimiao looked like had heard more than a dozen versions. It was really a headache for an opponent who was unfamiliar and in the dark.

Wu Heimiao was very good at doing it. Not only did he pretend to be Beizuo Liangyu's army, but he also buried gunpowder under the wall with the help of the Miao people. When he attacked the city, he lit the gunpowder lead under the city wall and exploded the city wall. Anyway, the people were ignorant and only saw that the black iron pipes outside the city smoked, the city wall collapsed. The fake cannon turned him into real cannons. The people fled in panic, and the officials were incompetent and knowledgeable. Who would risk their lives to prove whether the cannons were real?

The city walls were all given up to blow up, and the puppet dynasty army in the city lost their support for resistance, so they were naturally defeated. Wu Heimiao ordered the army to rob the county custody and county warehouses. The rich Han people in the city also let them loot the whole city, burn, kill and loot, and then abandon the broken city, and lead the army proudly. Anyway, they are now the Northern Dynasties' official army, and it is not their own reputation. Wu Heimiao is very proud of his own actions, which not only strengthens his own strength, gains gold, silver, food, and bad the reputation of his opponents. It is best to kill two birds with one stone.

Compared to Zhuoba's sophistication and ruthlessness, Magu seemed too young. The two of them were not on the same level. When she learned that the two counties, Luxi and Chenxi, were captured by the court army in the north, and Wu Heimiao's soldiers in the royal city kept pulling back food and boxes of gold and silver from outside the city, Magu's face suddenly turned pale as paper. At this time, she no longer understood Wu Heimiao's intentions, she was not a phoenix in Miaojiang, and a talented girl Magu.

Zhuoba's strategy is really amazing and he can see farther. He did not let Wu Heimiao directly disguise himself as the army of the court in the north to attack Yuanzhou City, but instead captured the two counties, Luxi and Chenxi. Through the fall of these two cities, he put pressure on Guan Pingchao in Yuanzhou City, and wiped out the opponent's resistance little by little. Because he knew that the combined strength of Luxi and Chenxi cities was less than 3,000. It was no problem to defeat such a force. By the way, he could train the mobs under Wu Heimiao to form an elite army as soon as possible. There were 10,000 elite soldiers in Yuanzhou City, and Guan Pingchao was much more difficult to deal with than Luxi and Chenxi, two mentally retarded county magistrates, so he had to let Guan Pingchao go.

A wrong judgment was made, otherwise, if only those few fake artillery wanted to capture Yuanzhou City, it would probably cause a protracted war, so it would have to take risks and quickly to achieve its goal. If it weren't for the marriage proposal proposed by Magu, Zhuoba would not have used this risky strategy to conquer Yuanzhou, because it offended both the southern and northern courts. In Zhuoba's idea, the emperor of the Northern Dynasties was not a simple monarch and could not compromise. On the contrary, the Southern Ming court under the control of the eunuch Wei Zhongxian could use it. Zhuoba's idea was naturally somewhat different from Wu Heimiao. This is why he turned a blind eye to the activities he had colluded with and closed his eyes to the activities he had colluded with Wu Heimiao and Guan Pingchao for a long time.

Before the battle had occurred, Guan Pingchao climbed to the top of the city and saw the dark hole under the city, and felt his legs weak and cold air was rising.
Chapter completed!