Chapter 179: The Army Counterattacks
"The border town of Xili is ahead," the scout leading the way turned around and said to General Xuanwu Chen Guang, "General, would you like to rest here for a while?"
Xili had long since pledged loyalty to the Great Qi and had behaved well in recent years.
If they had not attacked the team escorting Du Ming last time and Ye Qiongying and the others had discovered something unusual, it would probably be only when the war started that anyone would realize that they had bad intentions.
But compared to Dongchen, Xili poses less threat.
After all, as a vassal state of Da Qi, officials from Da Qi would come to Xili to investigate every few years, so it was impossible for them to have too many troops and strategic materials.
Even if Xili has ulterior motives, his strength should not be on the same level as Dongchen.
Therefore, in this raid, the army went to Dongchen, and three of the four generals went there.
The Xili side was led by General Xuanwu Chen Guang.
Considering that the difficulty here is lower, Pang Li also specially arranged Ye Qiongying here so that she could get training.
Because the news of Xiaowa Village and Cunjin Mountain was exposed in advance, and Ye Qiongying specially contacted Guangmao Trading Company, she used the opened trade routes to transport supplies to the Pingwu Army and even contributed a lot of food, herbs and cotton clothes out of her own pocket.
After Pang Li discussed with several generals, he decided to give Ye Qiongying the title of centurion that His Majesty had originally given her.
This is also normal.
Not to mention the important news, the things she donated alone are enough to change her job.
The centurion is not a very important position in the army. He is just slightly better than an ordinary soldier. It is not a big deal.
But this made things much more convenient for Ye Qiongying.
At least I can bring Uncle Ye, Yang Xiaotao, and some of the core members of the Ye family's private army with me.
Of course, there is also An Yu, no, Your Majesty, Emperor Yu An.
Swords and spears are merciless on the battlefield. Ye Qiongying originally didn't want him to come along, and even Eunuch Liang had tried to persuade him.
Di Yu'an, however, refused to give in. He only used the excuse that he couldn't be too far away from her and insisted on following her no matter what. He actually beat Uncle Ye in a running match once!
This proved that he was not that weak anymore, and that he had an agreement with Ye Qiongying.
It can't be that just because he changed his name, his previous promise would no longer count, right?
Now, Ye Qiongying had no reason to refuse him anymore.
Except for General Xuanwu Chen Guang who led the team, the others did not know that the emperor was in their team. They all thought that His Majesty had come to Pingwu City in person to cheer them up for their success.
Even everyone in Pang Li's team thought so.
The morale of the Da Qi side was indeed boosted as a result.
But Chen Guang was trembling with fear, fearing that something might happen to His Majesty, and he would be a sinner for all eternity.
At this moment, of course, he wanted to go straight on his way. After all, they had just rested not long ago and were not very tired now. Moreover, their morale was high, so they should attack in one go!
The longer you delay, the more disadvantageous it will be.
As for why I ended up in the border town of Xili...
After all, the opponent is the combat power of two different countries. If we confront them head-on, we will still not have the advantage.
With Emperor Yu'an present, Ye Qiongying was also taken to the main account to participate in the discussion.
Finally, Da Qi decided to bypass the army in the middle and attack directly to the rear!
With the Dongchen and Xili armies away, the country must be lacking in defense, and this is a good time to attack.
Da Qi does not have that many people, and of course it does not really intend to directly occupy these two countries.
Instead, he planned to attack the capitals of both countries in one go.
At that time, the armies of the two countries whose homes had been stolen would have no choice but to abandon their plans to invade Da Qi and retreat to rescue the capital.
Even if Dongchen's army is determined to capture Da Qi even if they have to give up the capital, the ruler of Xili is the one who has the final say in the country. Over the years, the royal family of Xili has been losing descendants, and they will never give up the capital, and they will definitely turn back!
Without Xili, Dongchen will definitely be shaken.
Either withdraw, which would just meet the expectations of Da Qi.
Even if they continue to move forward, their combat effectiveness has been reduced by half. The remaining team and other helpers transferred from the capital are already halfway there. As long as they defend the city and do not go out, and with the material support of Guangmao Trading Company, they will definitely be able to fight with Dongchen. When the main army returns, they will attack from both sides and capture Dongchen's troops!
Of course, at this time, Pang Li had probably received the news that the prince of Dongchen was already in their hands.
The prince is gone.
The king is sick and weak, and the second prince has not yet fully grown up.
The troops outside will surely be in a panic, and the possibility of withdrawal will be even greater.
The Da Qi army responsible for attacking Huanglong only needs to move around and slowly wear down the enemy's army.
It will still be time to talk about conquering and occupying the two countries after they are completely defeated.
Ye Qiongying and his team are responsible for the Xili Kingdom.
Chen Guang glanced at Ye Qiongying, or more precisely, at Di Yuan in her team. After receiving the signal from His Majesty, he said to the scout:
"No need to rest, let's set off now! We must capture the border city today! The ultimate goal is to capture their three cities directly!
Within three days, we will definitely capture their imperial city!"
According to the information sent back by the spies, it would take about a week for the armies of the two countries to reach Pingwu City. If they traveled day and night, they would arrive in about five days.
To prevent any accidents, it would be best if they could capture the royal city within three days.
At the commander's command, the army moved forward again.
Before long, the shadow of Xili border town appeared in everyone's sight.
The architectural style here is different from that of Da Qi.
The soldiers were shocked and tightened their weapons, ready to attack.
The defense in the city was indeed very weak. When the Da Qi side was almost approaching the city wall, they discovered something and began to prepare for a counterattack.
But by this time it was too late.
"Siege!"
With a loud roar from the commander-in-chief Chen Guang, the army of Da Qi rushed forward.
The main force has been taken away. How can the remaining soldiers, caught off guard, stop the army of Da Qi?
Soon, the border town was taken. It was so easy that it seemed like they only needed to break open a door to take the town.
They killed the armed soldiers and had no interest in ordinary civilians. There was no burning, killing or looting. They just passed through the border town and continued forward.
Who would have thought that this border town was actually a relatively well-defended place.
The closer you get to the inside, the less strength there is left.
Perhaps Xili did not expect that Da Qi would know that they, as a vassal state, had rebelled, and would take the initiative to lead troops to bypass the army on the road and attack Huanglong directly!
The operation went even more smoothly than expected. In less than three days, the army of Da Qi had successfully captured the Xili Imperial City.
The King of Xili, who had been dreaming of a bright future, was now trembling and incontinent. He dared not say a word. He wrote a letter with trembling hands and ordered someone to urgently deliver it to the generals leading the army, ordering them to release him back to the capital immediately!
As long as the Xili army does not return, one of the royal heirs will be killed.
Chen Guang has led troops for many years and has long lost his unnecessary compassion.
As soon as he arrived, he killed several descendants of the royal family of Xili to show his intimidation.
Sure enough, the old emperor was so frightened that he dared not resist at all.
If they pity the people of Xili, will they have mercy on the people of Da Qi when Xili and Dongchen break through Pingwu City and invade the territory of Da Qi?
Will they let their relatives go?
To be kind to your enemy is to be cruel to yourself!
It didn't take long before news came back that the Xili army had turned back.
Chen Guang felt relieved.
So far, so good.
Next, when the Xili army approaches, they just need to withdraw from the royal city in time, lead the enemy in circles, and wear them down with the traps set in advance.
It's the other team...
I don’t know how Lao Pang and the others are doing.
"You're back?" Pang Li frowned and asked, "But is there any problem?"
When they were halfway through their journey, they received the news that Prince Dongchen had been arrested, which gave them a better grasp of the plan of this trip.
The scout quickly replied:
"Yes! The Dongchen army did turn back. But... somehow, the number of people rushing to the royal city... doesn't seem right."
"The number of people is not right?" Pang Li frowned when he heard it. "What's going on? Could it be that they split into two, one came back to rescue people, and the other still wanted to invade Pingwu City?"
"That's not the case," the scout had naturally inquired about it a long time ago, "There are no signs of troops marching outside Pingwu City. The people from Dongchen and Xili have indeed all retreated. Pingwu City is very safe, at least for now."
"That……"
Pang Li stroked his forehead and looked at the sand table in the tent. Suddenly, he stopped breathing.
"Oh no! They are going to Xili!"
The team on Xili's side naturally also discovered the abnormality.
Too many people came.
This is far from the military force that Xili should have.
Originally, the number of troops coming from their side was not large, but now the number of troops coming from Xili has increased several times for some reason, and the disparity in strength between the two sides has become even greater!
Under such circumstances, the traps that were originally set had almost no effect.
The Great Qi army, which had not suffered many casualties all the way to the Xili King's City, lost many soldiers in such a short period of time, and the remaining people became in a miserable state.
They didn't even have time to retreat from Xili Royal City before they were surrounded from front and back.
The other party seemed to know part of their thoughts, but not in detail.
Moreover, this is the place of the Xili people, so they are naturally more familiar with it than the outsiders from Da Qi.
For a moment, the advantages of time, place and people all turned to the enemy.
Fortunately, Ye Qiongying and her companions were well prepared. In addition, the King of Xili was too timid and afraid of death, so they were somewhat controlled. This gave them a chance to defend the city.
Unexpectedly, they were the first to use the defense method prepared for Pingwu City.
"What's going on?" Ye Qiongying looked outside the city. "Why is there so many soldiers in Xili? Are all the officials who came here to inspect these years just eating for free?"
Di Yuan on the side also looked unhappy.
Judging from his expression, if he could return alive this time, another group of officials would be massacred.
"No... not good... something happened to General Xuanwu!"
There was a chaos in the army, and many exclamations were heard from where General Xuanwu Chen Guang was.
Ye Qiongying rushed over with people and saw Chen Guang lying there with a pale face, a dagger stuck in his chest and his lips were purple. It was obvious that he was poisoned.
"General Chen!" Ye Qiongying hurriedly asked Uncle Ye to bring a military doctor over to check it out, and had people cordon off the area. After the inspection was completed, they would find out where the problem came from.