back to ancient times to be emperor

Chapter 71 Youzhou Guerrilla (for collection)

(Thanks to book friend Dxe for inexplicably distressing the reward of 100 starting coins!)
On the tower, Zhu Daguang, a guerrilla from Youzhou, watched the Khitan cavalry receding like a tide, sneered and did not speak.His own soldiers murmured, "Have these Khitans gone mad, riding horses to attack the city?"

Zhu Daguang is a big man with a dark face, more than five feet tall, very burly.With more than 20 years of military experience, his skin is particularly rough under the wind and sand in the Youyun area.Not only him, but any frontier soldier, as long as he stays in the Youyun Sixteen States for a year, he will become like this.

I saw Zhu Daguang sneered and said: "They are not crazy, they just want to attack us while we are not prepared. Hmph, if His Majesty hadn't foreseen and sent inspectors to report the news, I am afraid that we have already been broken into the city by the Khitans .”

The Khitan vanguard came too fast this time, and the cavalry kept changing horses along the way, just to hit a surprise, and went straight down to Youzhou City with the momentum of a blitzkrieg.However, the secrecy of the Khitan army is really not good, because they are not willing to use Han slaves, and temporarily organize [-] Han slaves into an army.And it just so happened that some inspector sneaked into the slaves, learned the news of the Khitan's surprise attack without any effort, and sent it to the Sixteen Youyun Prefectures first, and then sent it to Lu Chengqi.

As a result, Youzhou City began defensive preparations very early, and the farmers outside the city were connected to the city to resettle them. The logistics prepared the food and arrowheads, and then concentrated on waiting for the Khitan cavalry to attack.

Sure enough, only two days later, the Khitan pioneers who set off from Shangdu had already arrived at the city of Youzhou, marching at a speed rarely seen in the world.If there hadn't been an intelligence report in advance, I am afraid that Youzhou City is really in danger this time.

Yelu Nielugu hurried on, one man and three horses alternated riding, but it was still a short move.In the final analysis, people have already known your intentions through dispatching troops, so what else do you use to fight others? What about sneak attacks?Yelunelugu, who was extremely depressed, could only vent his dissatisfaction by firing an arrow on the side of the moat.

Zhu Daguang didn't relax his vigilance, he said lightly: "It's just that the Khitans didn't bring the siege equipment today. As soon as their infantry arrived, the siege equipment would come. Fortunately, all the trees on the border of Youzhou have been cut down. All that is left are crooked low logs, which are useless. Destroy their siege equipment, so that they don’t have to worry about using local materials.”

At this time, Liu Yuanchang, the shepherd of Youzhou, was also wearing armor and came to the top of the tower. After seeing Zhu Daguang, he asked, "Zhu Gueran, how is the battle going?"

Liu Yuanchang was an old official in his fifties, with a goatee and two small eyes that were quite lively.With a thin face and a small body, it seemed that he would fall to the ground if he was blown by the wind.

Zhu Daguang said indifferently: "My lord, the enemy soldiers have been repelled. They don't have siege equipment, and they probably won't be able to attack in the future. It's just that the general estimates that these are just vanguard cavalry, and the army is still behind."

Liu Yuanchang nodded and said, "I have distributed all the food and salaries sent by His Majesty to the soldiers. I hope you will do your best to keep the 20 soldiers and civilians in Youzhou."

Zhu Daguang also knew that if the Khitan broke the city, with their habits, they would definitely take everyone back as slaves and make them cattle and horses.Such a fate is worse than death, but in their eyes, the Han people are like a life, not even comparable to a horse or a cow.

Zhu Daguang nodded and said: "As long as the soldiers serve their orders, the general will be sure to defend Youzhou City."

With Zhu Daguang's affirmation, Liu Yuanchang felt a little relieved.It can be seen here how much the Dashun Dynasty emphasized culture and suppressed military power.Yizhou Mushou is a second-rank official, but Yizhou chief general is only a fifth-rank military general.Not to mention the salary gap, the gap in official positions alone makes most warriors feel chilled.

Fortunately, Lu Chengqi prepared all the food and salaries owed before, and sent supervisors to monitor the distribution of military salaries, so they gathered some morale again.Otherwise, facing the [-] Khitan army again, they probably wouldn't want to resist.

This time is different from the past. In the past, the Khitan army came out only to raid grass valleys and fill up the military supplies.But this time, the war was obviously aimed at Dashun, and it was a national war, so it might not be as easy as before.

Liu Yuanchang encouraged the city guards a lot, and walked down the city worriedly.Zhu Daguang didn't like Liu Yuanchang, after all, civil and martial arts were inferior to each other.Zhu Daguang knew that Liu Yuanchang was still a good official, at least he would think about the people.Since taking office, the number of farmers outside Youzhou City has gradually increased, and the policies implemented are fairly reasonable.But one bad thing is that he also drinks soldiers' blood.This made all the soldiers resentful and unwilling to work hard.

In fact, Liu Yuanchang can't be blamed, he became the state shepherd, and he also entrusted a large sum of money to the household department, so he got the second-rank official.As long as you ensure that Youzhou City will not fall during your tenure and survive the seniority period, you can return to the center and become a second-rank Beijing official.

But last year, the forces in the court changed, and the little emperor took power completely and punished corrupt officials.He was afraid that Lu Chengqi would clean him up, so in order to save his property and life, he still sent the money he had been greedy for all these years to the Ministry of Households, hoping that he would be punished lightly.

Since handing over the stolen proceeds, Liu Yuanchang hasn't had a good night's sleep or eaten a good meal.He was afraid that Lu Chengqi would ransack his home and exile him tomorrow, or even behead him.Fortunately, Lu Chengqi did not hold him accountable, so he was slightly relieved, and never dared to reach out again.

This is also the reason why Youzhou City was able to carry it again when the Khitan people attacked Caogu in late autumn.Sufficient food and salaries, and soldiers serving their lives, can naturally keep Youzhou city safe.

Zhu Daguang is also very capable.He has never studied, joined the army since he was a child, and has been in the frontier army for more than 20 years.After a long battle, he got up from the dead every time and was promoted to the guerrilla general step by step.He is very good to soldiers, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he loves soldiers like a son.He can also be regarded as a general of Han Boke's line, but at that time he was not a guerrilla general, but a Zhenwei captain.Han Boke fell, and the North Korean official group did not cleanse him. Instead, he was lucky enough to inherit Han Boke's mantle and become a guerrilla general in Youzhou.

Zhu Daguang is resolute by nature, and his martial arts are powerful. His martial arts are not outstanding, but his victory lies in his bravery.He has benefited a lot from the command techniques he learned on the battlefield.Compared with the previous Han Boke, even if he is illiterate, he will not fall behind.It can improve morale and make soldiers work hard. It can be said that he is a qualified general.

He gazed at the Khitan camp five miles away, and he really wanted to go out to fight, but unfortunately he didn't have many cavalry in his hands, so he didn't dare to fight against the Khitan who were extremely sharp in field battles.Even if they attacked the camp, they would have to pay a heavy price, so it was better to save their troops and wait for the Khitan's [-] troops.

At this time, Zhu Daguang still has the principle of not seeking merit, but seeking no fault.But as a general, which one doesn't want to gallop on the battlefield and make contributions?It's just that reality doesn't allow this. With [-] frontier troops and only [-] cavalry, how can they beat the Khitan vanguard army, which is full of cavalry?Only by relying on the height of the city and the depth of the river, come and defend to the death.

Zhu Daguang sighed, and the soldiers also lowered their heads and clenched their fists.The soldiers and generals have the same mind, but the enemy is powerful!
The frontier troops on the city wall didn't dare to slack off for a moment. They knew that the Khitans were very mobile, and they would rush to them if they didn't pay attention.Although the moat is deep, it is not a wet season after all, so it is hard to guarantee that the Khitan people will not cross the river and attack.

Zhu Daguang expressed condolences to the soldiers, and went down the tower full of worries...

(End of this chapter)