Chapter 1242: The Youzhou Army Sweeping Across Zhongyuan

"Hehe, Khan. Allies are merely a form of cooperation between two groups when their interests align; it is unreliable. Once you place excessive trust in this relationship, you will inevitably suffer for it in the end."

Zhongxing Yue smiled and shook his head.

In his view, Tiemu Cheng was a bit too naive.

Allies?

If one speaks of allies, then their Mongol Army was once a loyal ally of Longyan.

In this world, there are only eternal interests, no eternal enemies!

The reason the Mongol Army betrayed Longyan was simply because Tsarist Russia invaded on a large scale, giving them an opportunity to exploit, right? Could they truly defeat Longyan?

Obviously not.

But they could gain some benefits from it.

Interests—this is the starting point and the final destination of all things.

"Is the Military Advisor saying that Meng Zan might betray us at any moment? This... they are in a desperate situation now too; without us, are they supposed to face Longyan alone?"

Tiemu Cheng still found it somewhat hard to believe.

"Khan, do not forget what Meng Zan just did."

Zhongxing Yue shook his head to remind him.

After Zhongxing Yue finished speaking, Tiemu Cheng lowered his head and began to ponder.

"Declaring himself emperor? But wasn't this what you demanded? Could there be a problem with this too? Isn't this his pledge of allegiance?"

Tiemu Cheng raised an eyebrow.

"The problem lies in the fact that his declaring himself emperor was not purely passive; rather, they have such thoughts in their own hearts. Youzhou wants to take over Longyan. If they fail, we are their partners in dealing with Longyan, but once they succeed, we nomadic peoples will be the greatest enemy of their unified Zhongyuan regime. At that time, the first thing they do after establishing their state will be to eliminate us."

As the Military Advisor, Zhongxing Yue considered matters more deeply.

"This..."

After hearing Zhongxing Yue's words, Tiemu Cheng suddenly realized the truth and could not help but take a deep breath.

Indeed, if they helped Youzhou take Jinghua, they would immediately transform from allies into enemies, and Youzhou could rapidly strengthen itself by absorbing Longyan's power, thereby gaining an absolute advantage over the Mongols.

If Youzhou then turned around to wipe out the Mongols, they would have dug their own graves.

"Then... what if the Youzhou people actually succeed? Wouldn't we be at a disadvantage then?"

Tiemu Cheng was somewhat anxious.

"Khan, stay calm. The Youzhou people are merely making a probing attack. In this southern expedition of Youzhou, they have one hundred thousand men left behind to guard. With only one hundred thousand men, wanting to take a prepared Jinghua City is nothing but a pipe dream."

"We only need to wait and watch the show..."

"Keep your own options open... do not support them with everything you have!"

Zhongxing Yue chuckled.

Zhongxing Yue's Tanma Military Division had been keeping a close eye on Youzhou, and when he learned the number of troops the Youzhou Army had dispatched, he generally knew what was going on.

Now, what their Mongolian Army needed to do was sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight; the more fiercely the two armies of Jinghua and Youzhou fought, the better. Only through their constant internal attrition would the Mongols have the prerequisite for further expansion.

"Good!"

At this moment, the mighty Youzhou Army had already approached Jinghua City.

Of course, it was not that easy for the Youzhou Army to reach Jinghua directly.

Just after Youzhou declared itself emperor, the entire Longyan was in an uproar.

The Feudatory Kings of every major province expressed their stances one after another, criticizing and opposing Youzhou's rebellion.

Consequently.

The Jin King of Jinzhou, the Lu King of Pingzhou, and the Ning King of Ningzhou each dispatched thirty thousand troops to intercept Youzhou.

The troops of the various Qin Kings were also on their way.

The entire Longyan had fallen into chaos because of Youzhou's rebellion.

But there was no help for it...

Most of the troops had already been transferred away by the Northwest war situation.

Thirty thousand... was already all the military strength they could muster.

After all, every province had to be defended, right?

If the main army were dispatched, and this Rebel Army of Youzhou turned around to attack your Jinzhou, how would Jinzhou defend itself?

Of course, there were also Feudatory Kings who had no intention of sending troops at all.

They very much wanted to see if Youzhou could stir up some trouble...

After all, not everyone supported a constitutional monarchy.

There were still quite a few people in the country who opposed Liu Zheng.

Therefore.

Every Feudatory King had his own thoughts.

And so, an awkward situation arose.

In Longyan, as for the troops that could be brought out, the first was definitely the Liangzhou Army; the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry, well-equipped and well-trained, was absolutely the best in the world. Next were the Qingzhou Armored Soldiers, but the Qingzhou Armored Soldiers were currently reinforcing Kuye Island.

Following them were the Youzhou Tuji.

And this time, the Youzhou Tuji were determined to rebel.

But as for the loyalist troops of these Feudatory Kings? Most were just there to watch the show.

Consequently, the few hard battles that followed were shocking.

The Youzhou Army drove straight in, and it actually seemed to have the momentum to sweep across Zhongyuan!

In the previous few skirmishes, the Youzhou Army achieved total victory!

For a time, wails were heard across Longyan.

Is this Youzhou Army really this fierce?

The common people all began to panic.

Could it be that this constitutional monarchy truly cannot defeat the Royalist Faction?

The clamor for Heaven-Given Imperial Power grew loud once again.

……

Looking at Jinghua, Yu Qian was not in the least bit anxious.

Regardless of how harshly those Feudatory Kings and dignitaries who opposed his defense of the city cursed him.

He remained steady.

Arrogant!

Let them be arrogant!

Let the Youzhou Army continue to be arrogant!

Though Yu Qian was in Jinghua, he was commanding the nation's armies under the instruction of Liu Zheng.

In fact, the defeats of the great armies of Jinzhou and Pingzhou were intentional.

Because given the current situation, there was truly no need to fight head-on.

The Northwest theater and the Far East theater had already consumed quite a few troops.

Then……

Why not lure these Youzhou main forces in to fight!

Give them a path and let them come to Jinghua!

Then, have the Qinwang armies of Jinzhou, Pingzhou, and Qingzhou form a pincer movement!

This way, although it is a bit dangerous.

But, as long as Yu Qian can hold off the first wave of the Youzhou Army's siege, then the situation will be secure.

Catching a turtle in a jar!

Risk and opportunity coexist!

What Yu Qian wants to do is to completely annihilate these one hundred thousand troops of Youzhou!

It is just that the risk is a bit too great……

He is gambling with the safety of Jinghua!

……

Honestly speaking.

When the Youzhou Army rebelled, there were still quite a few incidents of military mutiny.

No one wanted to rebel.

Moreover, Longyan is so powerful; isn't declaring oneself emperor just courting death?

But just as Yu Qian anticipated, after a few victories, the Youzhou Army's morale was soaring, and they drove straight in.

"Hahahaha! If one does not take what Heaven gives, one will instead suffer the consequences!"

"It seems that we in Youzhou are the ones destined by Heaven!"

"Take Jinghua, and we shall be rewarded for founding the state!"

The atmosphere of the entire Youzhou Army was incomparably fervent.

No one wanted to flee anymore.

They felt that their future was bright!

However……

Meng Zan was not that optimistic.

He even felt that the previous few battles were truly

won a bit too easily, and were even too strange……

With them having it so easy, what they were about to face was Jinghua.

But the reason Jinghua is Jinghua is because of its terrain; the city walls are tall and thick, making it easy to defend and hard to attack. In this way, one hundred thousand troops would appear slightly inadequate. Once the attack was frustrated and they were dragged down by the Jinghua garrison, they would have no chance at all once the Qinwang Army arrived.

The problem they worried about most was paying a huge price in casualties without achieving any results.

After all, Youzhou is just a corner of the land and cannot compete with the vast Longyan in logistics.

However, just as they were considering this, a Scout reported that five miles in front of Jinghua City, a large army had set up camp, and judging by the banners in the army, this force was precisely the City Defense Army of Longyan!

At this, even Meng Zan, who prided himself on being resourceful, was confused; he could not understand why Liu Zheng would do this.

Outside the city, there were a full twenty thousand City Defense Army troops, which was almost the entire garrison of Jinghua City. If all the garrison troops were placed outside, once this unit was completely annihilated by him, wouldn't Jinghua become an empty city?

Meng Zan knew that Yu Qian was a cunning fellow, and Liu Zheng was even more so; would these two old foxes do such a stupid thing?

There must be something fishy about this; this Liu Zheng must have some conspiracy waiting for him.

At the same time, the Scout reported again that a large number of garrison troops had also been discovered on the walls of Jinghua, with the number unknown.

At this, Meng Zan began to mutter to himself.

Longyan has a rule that outside armies are not allowed to enter Jinghua. With almost all the City Defense Army outside, where did the garrison on the city towers come from?

Is Liu Zheng using a method of splitting his forces to play an Empty City Strategy on him?

That doesn't seem very likely, right? After all, the risk is too great; if he didn't fall for it and attacked directly, Jinghua would fall in an instant.

Meng Zan could not fathom Liu Zheng's intentions, but even so, he had to attack.

The one hundred thousand troops had come, and even if it wasn't his sincere intent, he still had to fight. If he went back hastily without firing a single arrow, then he, as the Commander-in-Chief of the three armies, would be finished.

Now, he had two choices: the first was to choose to annihilate the City Defense Army stationed outside Jinghua City, and after wiping them out, attack Jinghua;

The second was to bypass these City Defense Army troops and head straight for Jinghua City.

The first option was steady and solid, but it would consume a vast amount of time; the twenty thousand-plus City Defense Army troops were not to be trifled with, and it would not be an easy task for an army of one hundred thousand to completely swallow them up, plus there was the possibility of getting bogged down.

If he chose the second option, and if Liu Zheng was playing an Empty City Strategy on him, then his move would be a direct strike at the heart, allowing him to take Jinghua without any effort.

However, if he chose to attack Jinghua City directly, and if there were garrison troops in Jinghua City with decent combat strength, then once the attack was thwarted, the City Defense Army behind them would launch harassing attacks, and at that time, they would face the awkward situation of being caught in a pincer attack from front and rear.

For the sake of security, Meng Zan still decided to attack the troops outside the city.

At this moment, Meng Zan's mind was still very clear; he remembered the lesson of the Mongolian Army's one hundred thousand-strong force failing to take the city after a long siege, and he did not believe that they could accomplish what the Mongolian Army could not.

Moreover, although he was not sure what Liu Zheng and Yu Qian were planning, one thing was certain: these two fellows definitely had a Method to hold Jinghua City.

Furthermore, his purpose in coming this time was to launch a tentative attack just to put on a show; rather than risking an attack on Jinghua City, it was better to choose to encircle and annihilate these twenty thousand-plus troops outside the city, and if they could be completely wiped out, it would undoubtedly greatly increase the military prestige and morale of the Youzhou Army, which would also be extremely helpful for future operations.

After the decision was made, the great army lunged toward the encampment of the City Defense Army outside the city.

Although Cannons were not rare in this era, due to their high cost and the difficulty of manufacturing them, they were still very precious to a Feudatory King.

In all of Youzhou, there were only twenty Cannons, and furthermore, the Cannons of Youzhou were mostly cumbersome behemoths that were relatively backward; they were fine for defending a city, but very clumsy for mobile warfare.

They needed a quick victory, so they did not bring any Cannons on this expedition; their method of attack remained the primitive cavalry charge, followed by infantry encirclement and slaughter.

But this traditional mode of attack was nothing at all to the heavily armed Jinghua garrison troops.

On the side of the Jinghua City Defense Army, all kinds of firearms were fully equipped; Cannons and Firearms were the bane of cavalry, and once an Explosive Shell detonated within the enemy cavalry formation, the surrounding cavalry would certainly be affected, and with the addition of a sky-filling barrage of projectiles, the cavalry units would suffer heavy losses, and for the aftermath, Liu Zheng had also prepared formations to deal with them; even if they didn't kill many of them, at least holding them back would be no problem.