Chapter Eighty-Four Retribution Has Arrived

  Made up for yesterday's 1,000 words.

  In order to attack Jin Yang, Li Chong mobilized all the forces that could be mobilized. First, they had to concentrate their grain and fodder in Yuanping County. Yuanping County was already close to the border of Taiyuan Prefecture, with a city wall for protection, making it a very safe base for transporting grain and fodder. This is the principle of "grain and fodder first, then soldiers and horses".

  Of course, the mobilization of grain and fodder was carried out in secret, and Li Chong also made every effort to create a series of false appearances to confuse Zhang Yang's scouts.

  Secondly, the number of arrows consumed by the siege is a terrifying figure. In order to make up for the feathers needed for the feathered arrows, Li Chong almost slaughtered all the large birds such as pheasants in the territory, and of course, his own domesticated chickens and ducks did not escape Li Chong's clutches, and had long since become bald.

  Although the plan to attack Jinyang was known only to a handful of people, Li Chong's frantic preparations did not escape the eyes of those who were paying attention.

  Li Chong was busy with government affairs when Jia Kui came to request an audience.

  Jia Kui had been helping Li Chong deal with civil disputes ever since he joined him, mainly because Li Chong was not very clear about Jia Kui's abilities and only remembered his name. This is because in the later stages of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Li Chong didn't want to read it anymore, so he casually arranged a job for Jia Kui.

  "Liang Dao (Jia Kui's courtesy name) saw me, what's the matter?" Li Chong put down the case file in his hand and asked casually.

  Jia Kui stepped forward a few steps and asked in a low voice: "Does the lord want to use troops against Jinyang?"

  "Hmm..." Li Chong's hand, which was placed on the table, paused for a moment before suddenly slamming down and making a loud "bang" sound.

  Li Zhong glanced around and said to the people beside him: "You all go out first. Without my order, no one is allowed to approach within twenty steps."

  "Yes!" His subordinate replied and quickly exited the main hall.

  After the attendants withdrew from the main hall, Li Chong nodded to Jia Kui to sit down opposite him and asked in a low voice: "Li Diao, where did you hear that I was going to attack Jin Yang? Tell me the truth."

  Jia Kui bowed his head and replied in a respectful tone: "I report to the lord, no one told Jia Kui that the lord wants to attack Jin Yang, this matter is Jia Kui's own speculation, for being presumptuous, please forgive me."

  When Li Chong heard that Jia Kui was his own judgment, he put down his heart. After all, as a well-known figure (Li Chong knew the name of the person), Jia Kui should have two brushes, and his position under Li Chong was not low. He could know some situations that ordinary people did not know, and it was reasonable to judge Li Chong's intention to attack.

  "Tell me, what's on your mind." Li Chong smiled and said.

  Jia Kui said slowly: "The lord is now in control of a single county, but if war breaks out suddenly, there is no strong city to rely on. With the lord's intelligence, he must have seen this point, so I think the lord will definitely take a strong city, and the only one near Yanmen is Jinyang."

  Li Chong heard this and smiled, neither confirming nor denying Jia Kui's words, but instead asked: "Is it just to discuss this matter that Liang Dao came to see me this time?"

  Jia Kui immediately replied: "I have come to report to Your Excellency and request orders."

  "Yes!" Li Chong replied.

  Jia Kui said in a low voice: "I will make a trebuchet."

  Li Chong suddenly stood up...

  These days Li Zhong is in high spirits, Jia Kui can manufacture a catapult, this is a great joy, and it solves the problem of heavy engineering machinery at once.

  There is another good news that Cao Cao's expedition to Xuzhou, if not unexpected by Li Chong, Tao Qian will definitely lose, and Cao Cao will not gain any benefits. Lü Bu will unite with Zhang Miao and others to attack Yanzhou, and engage in a protracted battle for Yanzhou with Cao Cao.

  Moreover, Lü Bu's departure from Zhang Yang reduced the difficulty of Li Chong's attack on Jin Yang. If possible, no one would want to engage in battle with this world's number one martial general.

  Before long, it was June in the scorching summer, and Li Chong began to prepare for infiltrating Jin Yang. By August, when autumn harvest arrived, Li Chong would be able to lead his troops directly to capture Jin Yang.

  Just then, Li Chong received extremely bad news. According to Zhang Cai's report, the Khitan general Kuitou was gathering his troops, estimated to be between 2,000 and 3,000 men, preparing to raid Yanzhen Gate. This information came from Zhang Cai in the Kou Beishan region, with a moderate level of credibility.

  But Li Chong knew that this news was basically not fake, Ta Shi Cai had been killing and slaughtering thousands of Xianbei nomads in the wilderness for two years, it would be strange if he didn't try to kill himself. Li Chong had also given orders to Ta Shi Cai to kill people and destroy evidence, but there were always some who escaped, no matter how carefully Ta Shi Cai's soldiers searched, they couldn't possibly leave not a single survivor, after all the battlefield was on the grasslands, not in a cage-like city.

  Li Chong hastily assembled Taishi Ci and others to discuss how to respond to the battle, Zhang Cai was also lucky enough to be seated.

  When everyone gathered together, Li repeated Zhang Cai's words straightforwardly, and Taishi Ci and others immediately turned pale with fright.

  This is not too difficult, to be honest. In terms of military strength, the 3,000 cavalry troops sent by Kui Tou are not invincible. Li Chong currently has 2,000 cavalry troops under his command, plus 8,000 infantrymen. As long as the tactics are correct, eliminating Kui Tou's 3,000 cavalry troops is completely feasible.

  The problem is that Kui Tou would not dare to confront Li Chong head-on, he didn't need to do so and he wouldn't dare to do so. Once Kui Tou and Li Chong engage in a battle, Gong Sun Zan and Yuan Shao will most likely turn their guns on Kui Tou. Kui Tou doesn't dare take the risk. Just like Ta Shi Ci also didn't dare to openly plunder the Xianbei tribes, everyone does bad things secretly, otherwise, it would be no problem for Kui Tou to gather tens of thousands of soldiers and trample over Yanmen.

  Kui's tactics are unpredictable. Once they enter the territory of Mai, the 3,000 cavalry will immediately adopt a locust-like tactic, dispersing and plundering everywhere. At that time, Li Chong can only put out fires in all directions, while Kui's 3,000 cavalry can gather at any time to form a large army and annihilate Li Chong's fire-fighting troops.

  Even some county towns, if their defenses are lax, would not be surprised if they were breached.

  It can be imagined that these three thousand violent cavalrymen would cause great harm to Yanmen. Even if Li Chong had arranged for the civilians to take shelter in the county seat, what about the unharvested crops and the people's homes? It would be strange if these cavalrymen did not burn the wild grains to ashes.

  When winter comes, everyone will have to drink northwest wind for a day.

  "What to do?" The crowd looked at each other in dismay, no one could come up with a solution.

  Cheng Yu finally calmed down a bit and slowly asked: "Zhang Cai, do you know the route of the vanguard's march?"

  Zhang Cai hastily shook his head and said helplessly, "The humble commoner really doesn't know, but the last time Kui Tou plundered Yanmen was in the first year of Yonghan. Perhaps Kui Tou won't change his route, and the time that has passed is not long. Kui Tou's previous march should have left some clues, and Your Excellency may be able to investigate."

  Saying that, Zhang Cai stood up and took out a sheepskin map from his bosom, gently placing it on the table. "This is a topographic map drawn by this humble commoner," he said. "Please take a look at it, esteemed gentlemen."

  "Map!" Li Chong suddenly stood up, took the map in his hand, slowly unfolded it, and looked at it for a moment before shifting his gaze to Zhang Cai, sizing him up back and forth with an expression of suspicion.