I am not a deposed emperor of Han Dynasty

Chapter 376: The rebels are two hundred miles away from Chang'an: they stumble into the death place of a military strategist and daydream about ascending to the throne! (Please subscribe)
The next day, when Fan Mingyou's troops broke out of camp, there were hundreds more men missing.

Fortunately, the journey was uneventful. The remaining [-] people marched for seventy or eighty miles along the valley plain on the west bank of the muddy water, surrounded by Beishan.

At Xu o'clock that day, the army set up camp on a raised platform on the west bank of Mishui - a place surrounded by water on three sides, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

This was the last camp for Fan Mingyou's troops before entering Qixian County. It was only forty miles away from Qixian County, almost within walking distance, and it was also the southernmost point of Anding County.

The southern part of Anding County is different from the northern part of Beiji County. It is densely populated and has many cities.

Among the more than 400 miles that Fan Mingyou's troops have traveled through in the past few days, there are more than a dozen counties including Gaoping, Chaona, Wushi, Jingyang, Anwu, Anding, Pengyang, and Yinpan.

Once a group of troops occupied these cities, they would form a "closed door and beat the dog" trend against Fan Mingyou's troops who entered the throat of Beishan, and the consequences would be disastrous.

If it weren't for the fact that more than [-]% of the official knights in these counties had not been taken away, Fan Mingyou would never have dared to go so far alone.

This "Beishan Throat" is almost what military strategists call a "death place".

However, Qixian County is right in front of us and is guarded by our own people. This dead place is the only way for Fan Mingyou's troops to survive.

Tomorrow we will break camp at [-]:[-] and set out, and we will be able to enter the city before noon.

Fan Mingyou has already thought about it. After the army enters the city, he will take out the cloth and money from the warehouse in Qixian County to reward the three armies first and stabilize the morale of the army.

……

After setting up the camp, Fan Mingyou led a dozen private soldiers to patrol the camp. Wherever he went, the soldiers still saluted and greeted him as before.

Fan Mingyou saw the fatigue and tiredness on the soldiers' faces, and knew that their morale was even lower than in the previous days.

Thirteen days have passed since we arrived here from Lingwu County. It is inevitable that the morale of the army will be shaken. Fortunately, the way to survive is in front of us.

Chang'an City only has six to seven thousand defenders at most, and including the temporarily recruited pavilion soldiers, it only exceeds 1.

Twenty-five thousand men attacked the city, and ten thousand men defended the city. The number of the attackers and defenders was five to two.

If these 1 people were placed in an ordinary small city, the defender would have a great advantage.

But Chang'an City is not a small city, and 1 people simply cannot control the entire city wall.

Fan Mingyou's troops can flexibly choose their positions. Several feint attacks and a general attack can make the defenders exhausted.

Chang'an's guarding generals should be Zhang Anshi and Wang Ji. Fan Mingyou has a lot of confidence in them - they are both people who have never been on the battlefield and may only be able to talk on paper.

He was [-]% sure of winning Chang'an City, but [-]% sure was not [-]% sure after all.

In this way, Fan Mingyou reached the highest point of the platform with a sullen face as he meditated all the way.

The terrain here is narrow and is already a cliff.

Fan Mingyou stood on the edge and looked down, more than ten feet above the river below; looking up again, there were towering peaks on the east and west sides...

Only looking south can you see the slightly wider river valley plain.

Looking around, under the sky of rolling dark clouds and the high mountains on both sides of the river, there is not a trace of human habitation.

Extremely bleak.

Chang'an City is approaching soon, and a battle is inevitable.

Although the odds are high, Fan Mingyou, as the leader of the army, is still a little nervous.

Moreover, there is still one thing pressing on Fan Mingyou's mind: he has not received news from Tian Guangming's headquarters for four or five days.

On this day, Tian Guangming's vanguard should have arrived in Sanshui, which is four to five hundred miles away.

When the troops were divided, the two sides had already agreed that no matter what happened, military information would be sent to each other at least every three days.

Previously, the counties along the route did not dare to intercept the messengers between the two armies, so the communication was very smooth.

But since five days ago, Fan Mingyou has not received any secret messages from Tian Guangming's department.

In the past few days, Fan Mingyou's headquarters has also sent many envoys, but to this day there is still no news.

Did the messenger have any accidents on the way?Or did Tian Guangming's department encounter an accident?
The more Fan Mingyou thought about it, the more worried he became. What the army feared most was to be cut off at the waist when they formed this long snake formation.

He only told Huo Yu and others about this matter. As for other captains and generals, they did not know about it yet - anything that might shake the morale of the army should not be allowed to ferment.

Fan Mingyou stood on the edge of the cliff like this for a quarter of an hour. After seeing enough of the vastness of the vast fields, his mood finally calmed down a little.

At this moment, Huo Yu hurried up with several private soldiers.

"Stay aside for now. General Fan and I have important matters to discuss!" Huo Yu said.

"Wei!" The two private soldiers stepped back a few feet and stood with swords in hand.

As a result, Fan Mingyou and Huo Yu were the only two people left on the edge of the cliff, which was only two or three feet in radius.

The north wind blew "whirring" and could easily cover up their voices.

"The reply letter sent by Zeng Guangnian has arrived." Huo Yu said and handed an opened letter to Fan Mingyou.

Fan Mingyou couldn't wait to read it after taking it. He was immediately happy that everything in Qixian County was normal - this made him temporarily forget his previous worries.

"Yes, Zeng Guangnian handled this matter properly and it was a great achievement." Fan Mingyou nodded.

"That's right. Not only did he stock up on [-] hu of grain and grass, he also recruited [-] pavilion soldiers and prepared siege equipment... I can't see that this person has such abilities." Huo Yu agreed.

"With this incredible wealth right in front of him, how could he not be moved?" Fan Mingyou said.

"The county officials don't know the soldiers, so they should send people to capture Qixian County." Huo Yu said with a smile.

"It's not that I don't know the soldiers. The county magistrate doesn't have the men who can take Qixian County."

When the two of them said this, they suddenly became quiet. They stood together with their hands behind their backs and looked in the direction of Qixian County and Chang'an.

A great victory is just around the corner, maybe it's time to think about taking Chang'an City.

"Little General, has the General sent anyone to deliver letters in the past few days?" Fan Mingyou asked.

"There is no news. I'm afraid the county magistrate has sealed not only the General's Mansion, but also all the city gates in Chang'an." Huo Yu hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and replied.

"Little general, I have something I don't know whether to say or not."

"Brother-in-law, there is no one here, but it doesn't matter." Huo Yu said with a smile, a young and carefree expression on his face.

"After the city of Chang'an is destroyed, what are you going to do, young general?"

There may seem to be many answers to this question, but in reality there are only two options.

Either establish yourself as emperor or establish another puppet.

"According to my original intention, of course I wanted to immediately recommend my father as the new king. My father has been in charge of the government for more than ten years, and his prestige in the court is unmatched..." "But in the past ten days, looking at the postures of the counties along the way, The Liu family of the Han Dynasty has not yet come to an end."

"I'm afraid many things are not as simple as I thought."

When Huo Yu saw Liang Yannian fighting hard and not retreating, he already had some hesitation and hesitation in his heart.

"The young general can think of this level, but he is more thoughtful than before..."

"But when it comes to big things in the world, the most feared thing is delay. Look at today's county magistrates. Who could have thought highly of them before they ascended the throne? But now they have forced the generals to have no choice but to do so."

"How do you know that the next emperor of the Liu family will not be a deep-minded and insane person?"

"Young general, don't forget that Emperor Xiaowu went to war, and the world was on the verge of chaos...and then Emperor Xiaozhao had neither talent nor virtue, and it was all thanks to the general that he saved the great Han Dynasty."

"The current emperor, Meng Lang, is rebellious, believes in slander, and is suspicious of heroes, which leads to military disasters. Can't we see that Liu's strength has been exhausted?"

Fan Mingyou stopped, and Huo Yu didn't say anything. He seemed to be moved by what he said.

"When the time comes, just find some Confucian scholars and courtiers, and then find some common people and wealthy households, and perform the drama of three invitations and three resignations. That will be enough."

"The key is that after that, we have soldiers in our hands and control the land of Sanfu, and the Guandong County will naturally be pacified."

These few words added by Fan Mingyou finally worked.

Huo Yu looked at Fan Mingyou and asked, "What does brother-in-law think I should do?"

"If the general returns, let the county magistrate immediately surrender to the general; if the general is dead, then kill the emperor, then kill all the clans in Chang'an City, and build a new ancestral temple."

Fan Mingyou looked normal, but his viciousness made Huo Yu look sideways.

This temptation is too great. Huo Yu is a bold and reckless person, so he can't think of this for a day or two.

Finally, Huo Yu nodded and expressed his approval.

……

At midnight on the second day, the army began to move.

Huo Yu led 5000 troops to stay in the camp in case of emergencies, and the rest of the troops, led by Fan Mingyou, advanced towards Qixian County.

A few hours passed quickly, and the journey was uneventful, even quieter than the road ahead.

As soon as Shen Shi arrived, [-] troops arrived six miles north of the inner city of Qixian County.

Fan Mingyou sat on his horse and looked far away, and could already see the inner city of Qixian County.

The inner city is located on the valley plain on the west bank of the muddy water. The land is fertile, not very wide but very flat.

On the east bank of the muddy water is the towering and steep Turtle Snake Mountain, which is inaccessible to pedestrians and merchants.

If you want to go to Chang'an, you must pass through Qixian County.

Fan Mingyou vaguely felt that something was wrong about this matter.

The inner city is far away, but the outer city is right in front of you, and this outer city is really too quiet.

Qixian is a large county with more than 1 households and a population of [-] to [-].

Lingwu County in Beidi County is a small county with a small population. The outer city is very poor and there are no villages.

But Qixian is a large county, and there are many villages outside the city. If there are villages, there should be people.

But now, the outer city of Qixian County is a little too quiet.

Twenty thousand soldiers were marching along the outer city wall of Qixian County, not far from the official road through muddy water.

Except for the footsteps of the soldiers and the occasional sound of war drums, there was no other sound.

Fan Mingyou, who was riding on a war horse, had passed through Qixian many times and had never seen such a quiet and silent scene.

Thinking of this, he rode to a small slope on the edge of the official road, hoping to see it more clearly.

However, this place is still two miles away from the outer city and four miles away from the inner city. Unless you have clairvoyance, you can't see clearly.

Fan Mingyou's ominous premonition became stronger and stronger.

Today, after the army broke out of camp, the mountains on both sides of the river valley and plain became higher, and Fan Mingyou felt even more depressed.

Whenever he cast his eyes on the steep peaks on both sides of the official road, he always felt that they were like living creatures, looking down at him.

He even felt that they would rush over at any time and trample this [-]-strong ant-like army into a pulp.

The soldiers, generals and Fan Mingyou in the team seemed to feel the same way. Whenever there was any disturbance on the mountain, they would look around in panic.

A falling rock, a lone bird, an ape... can cause commotion in the team.

At this time, Qixian County, which was not too tall in the distance, was like a resolute and simple general, guarding the key points, making people want to retreat.

"Pass this general's order, the army will form a military formation here!" Fan Mingyou ordered.

"only!"

The messengers who conveyed the order dispersed on horseback, and then the sound of drums and horns was heard in the procession.

Twenty thousand cavalry were changing formations on the flat plains.

The cavalry is actually not suitable. It is already a bit reluctant to deploy on this somewhat cramped mountain plain.

Fortunately, Zeng Guangnian, who was guarding Qixian County, was one of his own, so he didn't have to fight a tough battle in a place that was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Fan Mingyou deployed his military formation just as a precaution.

There is always nothing wrong with being careful.

About a quarter of an hour later, the [-]-strong army reluctantly drew up its posture and formed a battle formation.

"Huo Shan!"

"The end is here!"

"Send scouts immediately to contact the city!"

"only!"

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(End of this chapter)