Chapter 710: Carter's Letter

"Lv Chang, I order you to command thirty thousand troops and take the four southern commanderies of Qizhou, as well as Ningzhou, Bozhou, and the other commanderies and counties of Yuzhou."

While ordering the soldiers to dig trenches, Chang Wei issued another command.

Although he was confident in breaking through the enemy's trenches and taking Yang City.

It was different from attacking other cities.

This time, they were afraid they would have to engage in a tug-of-war at Yang City for some time.

After all, a large number of Shizu and Rich Clan troops were gathered inside Yang City, and they were all elite.

Most importantly, these generals and soldiers had not fled halfway, which showed they were sufficiently loyal to the Shizu.

Because basically, they were either the same-surnamed clansmen of the Shizu and Rich Clans, or their in-laws.

Combined with the trenches surrounding Yang City.

The coming battle would be the most difficult one since they had moved south.

And starting from Lu City, in order to defeat the Shizu as quickly as possible, they had only chased the Shizu army where Xie Duan and the others were, taking only the important cities along the way.

They had not divided their forces to attack other cities in Ningzhou.

Therefore, they had only controlled the important nodes on the route south, without fully capturing Ningzhou and the four southwestern commanderies of Qizhou.

As for Yuzhou and Bozhou, not a single soldier had gone there.

Originally, it would have been fine if they could have quickly annihilated the Shizu army commanded by Xie Duan and the others.

But now that they were to be bogged down in a war of attrition, they could not leave these places unattended.

In these commanderies and counties ruled by the Shizu for over two hundred years, there were still many Rich Clans and officials remaining.

According to his understanding, the Rich Clans had only sent their core descendants and private soldiers to follow Xie Duan, Han Zheng Jia, and fight against them.

The cities not yet taken by the Prince's Personal Army were still controlled by the remaining Rich Clan descendants.

If they took the opportunity to incite others, bring out money and grain to recruit commoners as soldiers, and occupy the cities to oppose them, it would be very troublesome.

Furthermore, because they had advanced too quickly along the way, the soldiers had only carried Roasted Flour.

The army of over one hundred thousand would soon face the problem of provisions.

This made it even more necessary to fully take over the four southern commanderies of Qizhou, Ningzhou, and even Yuzhou and Bozhou.

After all, although Yuzhou and Bozhou were not on their route south.

If trouble broke out there, it could easily spread to Qizhou and Ningzhou.

"Yes, General!" After acknowledging the order, Lv Chang turned and left.

Returning to the army, he divided the thirty thousand troops into fifteen units, each with two thousand men, and assigned each unit's commander the city they were to attack.

After all, even if there were remnants of the Shizu and Rich Clan soldiers in the cities not yet taken, there would not be many.

Two thousand men were more than enough to take a city.

"My God, this army seems very skilled at digging trenches; it is truly shocking."

On the north gate tower of Yang City.

While Lv Chang was assigning tasks to his subordinates, Carter had been observing the battlefield.

Seeing the Yanzhou soldiers begin to dig trenches,

He exclaimed in wonder.

From the mouths of the Shizu generals, he had learned that this army often dug trenches right up to the city walls and threw a type of small, explosive firearm at them.

However, that kind of single-person trench was completely different from the trenches currently being dug by the Yanzhou army.

His exclamation stemmed precisely from this.

Because the trenches currently being dug by the Yanzhou army were winding and staggered, like a wavy line.

At first, he thought the army from Yanzhou was imitating their trench digging.

After observing for a while, he realized they were digging according to their own plan.

"Conical Bullet, explosive throwing firearms; this is truly strange. How did this Dayan Wang achieve these things?" Carter opened his hand and stared at the Bullet in his palm, which the Shizu had obtained on the battlefield.

Currently, the Westerners were still using round Bullets for their Flintlocks, and even their Rifled Muskets used round Bullets.

Therefore, this discovery made him feel even more surprised, and he suddenly felt that this trip to the Song People's land was very necessary.

"Can you tell me everything about this Dayan Wang?" Carter put the Bullet into his jacket pocket and asked Wang Xie beside him.

In Dongying, although he had learned something about this Dayan Wang.

He wanted to hear the evaluation of this Dayan Wang personally from the mouths of the Song People.

"Before this Dayan Wang went to Yanzhou, he was a fool..." Wang Xie heard this and spoke at length.

The three Shizu families now all wanted to use the help of Dongying and the Westerners to oppose Dayan Wang, so he naturally told him everything he knew.

Carter listened intently, his brows slightly furrowed.

After Wang Xie finished speaking, he said, "In that case, it is basically impossible for Dayan Wang to obtain any support from the nearby powers."

"That's right, he is a madman, making enemies of everyone." Wang Xie deliberately emphasized the two words "madman," just like Sato Masahisa, slandering Zhao Xu and Yanzhou.

Carter did not care about the conflict between this Dayan Wang and the Shizu of the Song People.

He was very clear that the fundamental conflict between Dayan Wang and the Shizu lay in the struggle between different interest groups.

He only wanted to figure out how this Dayan Wang went from having nothing to mastering such advanced firearm technology.

"Perhaps, there really is a Missionary proficient in craftsmanship who has pledged loyalty to him." Like everyone else, Carter could only explain it this way, and he believed the craftsmanship mastered by this Missionary was extremely high.

After all, in the Western Lands, they would poach each other's scholars.

And scholars often fled to other countries for various reasons.

"What a lucky guy." Carter felt a bit sour inside.

Then, he went down the city wall, returned to his residence, and wrote a letter, preparing to send it to the Consulate of Sam Country in Dongying, "Dear Mr. Aierxun, the description of this Dayan Wang of the Song People in Dongying is accurate."

"Because the Shizu army of the Song People has only recently mastered firearms, they know very little about Firearm Tactics; in this regard, there is a huge gap between them and the army of Dayan Wang, who seem very familiar with Firearm Tactics."

"Even if our Sam Country's army were to face them, I fear it would be very troublesome. If we do not intervene in time, perhaps in only a year or two, this Yan Wang will unify the Dasong, and by then, a giant will have awakened in the Eastern Land."

"If this day comes, the colonies in the Eastern Land will clearly be under serious threat, and our plan to seize the Folangji colonies will also be affected."

"Based on this, while the Dasong is in the midst of internal strife, it is highly necessary to intervene; the barren North Territory of the Dasong will limit the growth of this Yan Wang."

"Let the South of the Dasong remain independent and support them; in the future, they will become our helpers in restraining the Yan Wang."

"Because of their fear of the Yan Wang, the South will also rely more on us, allowing us to obtain greater benefits."

"As for me, I will remain here to lead the Shizu Army in resisting the Yan Wang until the various parties of the Eastern Land Alliance sign the treaty. At the same time, I will learn about their firearms. Finally, we must never allow a low-class nation with yellow skin to rise. May God bless the Sam Country."

After the letter was finished, Carter put the letter paper into an envelope and handed it to his subordinate, a Sam Country youth guard in his early twenties.

He had him hand it to the Eastern Japanese to be sent to Dongying via the Liang Family's Merchant Ship.

Afterward, he returned to the city wall to assist the Shizu generals in defending the city.

The next three days were peaceful.

The wide and deep trenches kept the Prince's Personal Army busy for about three days before they could surround the Trench dug by the Shizu.

At the same time, the fast horse sent by Chang Wei arrived at Yancheng.

It delivered the situation in Yangcheng into the hands of Zhao Xu.