Chapter 58: Conquering in All Directions

  Thinking of this, Cheng Yu asked: "If I were to serve as an official, I wonder how you would arrange for me?"

  Li Chong knew that success or failure depended on this one move, and after a moment of contemplation, he slowly said: "Not to deceive you, Lord Cheng, but today the world is in great chaos, with frequent battles. At first, I still needed to rely on your military strategy, perhaps waiting until the situation stabilizes before allowing you to focus on governance."

  Cheng Yu closed his eyes, and after a while, he opened them again and said: "Cheng Wu!"

  "Father!" Cheng Wu hastily stood up and replied.

  Cheng Yu said slowly: "Order the family members to pack up their belongings and set off for Guangwu with Lord Li tomorrow."

  "...is!" Cheng Wu opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but he was stunned for half a day and only silently responded with a "yes" before getting up and leaving.

  Li Chong was overjoyed in his heart, but he also felt a little surprised. He stared blankly at Cheng Yu and asked: "Mr. Cheng doesn't have to...doesn't have to be so hasty, it's not too late to take care of family matters properly."

  Cheng Yu sighed and said: "I am not as good as the master, this year I have already passed fifty years old, do not know how many days can be prolonged, hehe..."

  Li Zhong cursed silently: Ah! You old thing that won't die, you can live to be eighty years old, who knows if you'll outlive me or not.

  "Cheng Gong's spirit is vigorous and his body is light and healthy, he should live to be a hundred years old." Li Zhong said with a smile.

  Cheng Yu stroked his beard with satisfaction, clearly pleased with Li Chong's flattery. The two things that Cheng Yu was most proud of in his life were his appearance and his physique. He stood at an impressive eight feet three inches tall (190cm), with a beautiful beard and mustache, making him a stunningly handsome man. Secondly, he was proud of his body, for despite being at the age where one knows their fate, which is not young by ancient standards, he still maintained a lean and healthy physique that rivaled those in their prime.

  Cheng Yu was scratched by Li Chong in a ticklish spot and felt great, standing up to kneel and say: "Cheng Yu pays respects to his lord."

  Li Chong hastily reached out to support him and repeatedly said: "Mr. Cheng's age can be compared to that of Li Ziyue's father, so please don't perform this grand courtesy."

  Cheng Yu just pretended to make a gesture, Li Chong was too young, he couldn't bring himself to bow, so he took advantage of the momentum and made a quick bow before sitting down again to continue talking about grain and fodder.

  Cheng Yu arranged for everyone to have dinner without mentioning it, and only talked about Cheng Wu. Cheng Wu handled things very efficiently and finished all the tasks that night. The next morning, everyone got up early and rushed straight to Guangwu County.

  Of course, Cheng's family business also has someone to take care of it. Cheng Yu's second son, Cheng Yan, stayed in Dong'a to manage the ancestral property.

  They arrived at Guangdu without incident, and it was already ten days later. Li Chong, disregarding the fatigue of the journey and the late hour, immediately summoned Taishi Ci and others to discuss matters.

  First introduce Cheng Yu and his son to everyone, Li Chong asked about the spoils of war from last time.

  The last batch of captured enemy troops were taken back to Shenchi by Gou He for custody, and the seized horses had been accounted for. Except for those that were too severely injured and slaughtered on the spot, there were over 450 horses in total.

  Of these 450-odd warhorses, some were lightly injured and could no longer be used for battle, but could be left behind to till the land; there were 413 that could still be ridden.

  Cheng Yu and his son listened in shock, they could easily infer that Zhang Yan had left behind at least 500 cavalrymen, while Li Chong had annihilated all of them. How did he manage to do it?!

  Cheng Yu couldn't help but ask the doubts in his heart, Taishi Ci glanced at Li Chong and found that Li Chong didn't mean to hide it, so he told Cheng Yu about Li Chong's creation of horseshoes.

  Of course, Taishi Ci's words were somewhat exaggerated, heavily beautifying Li Chong's wise and martial prowess, as well as his commanding presence.

  Cheng Yu listened to the effect of horseshoes and shook his head, saying: "Horseshoes are a matter of great importance. The lord must guard the secret carefully and not let outsiders know, especially the Hu people. They have many war horses. Once they master the technique of making horseshoes, it will be like adding wings to a tiger, and there will be endless troubles."

  Li nodded heavily and thought to himself, "I didn't know that, if Zhang Yan hadn't forced me, I wouldn't have taken this thing out."

  At this time, Taishi Ci asked about the distribution of war horses. Li Chong hesitated for a moment and decided to re-establish a cavalry unit. He also had to consider the feelings of his subordinates. If he allocated all these war horses to Taishi Ci, Guan Yu and others would definitely have opinions. It's better to lead them himself, and in the future, when recruiting generals and soldiers, they can be assigned accordingly.

  The key point is the development issue, Li Chong's two counties have a small population and are not enough to support Li Chong's expansion of the army and preparation for war. The only way out now is to expand.

  Everyone took out their maps and focused on Cheng Yu, waiting to see what he would come up with.

  Cheng Yu stood in front of the map, carefully looked at it once, and slowly said: "The best plan for now is to attack Yinguang."

  Li Chong was pondering Cheng Yu's words and remained silent.

  Tai Shi Zi then spoke up, saying: "General Cheng's words are not suitable. Firstly, our army has only two thousand soldiers, how can we possibly attack and take down the Yin Guan? Secondly, as for the saying 'the troops have a just cause', if we were to recklessly attack the Yin Guan, wouldn't the various counties of Yanmen send out their own troops to assist?"

  Tai Shi's question was exactly what Li Zhong had in mind. Let's not mention the number of troops for now, but Yinguang is the seat of Yanmen Prefecture, and Yang Chou, the magistrate of Yinguang, is also concurrently serving as the prefect of Yanmen. If Li Zhong were to attack Yinguang, it would be a blatant case of insubordination.

  Everyone was watching Cheng Yu, waiting for his explanation.

  Cheng Yu is an old and cunning villain, how can he not know the thoughts of the crowd? Li Chong is very respectful to himself, naturally causing people's jealousy. For now, the only way is to rely on his literary talent to convince the crowd, in order to stand firm under the account. Cheng Yu smiled slightly and replied: "General Taishi's words are not false, but he only sees the surface, not the inside."

  Seeing the crowd's confusion, Cheng Yu said in a deep voice: "First of all, let's talk about the major issue. Although our lord's attack on the Yin Mansion is not justifiable, it is motivated by personal grievances. Zhang Yan has repeatedly attacked Guangwu three to five times, how could Yang Chou not know? Guangwu is under his jurisdiction, why didn't Yang Chou send troops to stop him?"

  At this point, Cheng Yu suddenly smiled and said: "Yang Chou must have colluded with Zhang Yan."

  Tai Shi Ci was stunned for a moment, and after a while, he made a fist at Cheng Yu and said: "Mr. Cheng is really... really... penetrating the human heart, I admire you."

  Everyone understands what Cheng Yu means, it's just looking for a legitimate excuse. What Yang Chou and Zhang Yan colluded with each other is all a frame-up. Taishi Ci really can't describe the kind of framing technique used by Cheng Yu in words. Thinking that Li Zhong also framed Zhang Yan before, he secretly thought to himself: This old and young pair are indeed birds of a feather.

  Cheng Yu continued: "Whether or not we can take down the Yin Mansion is not important, what's important is that you and I need to make a statement. Let's see which counties have people who are colluding with Yang Chou, and then we'll..."

  Everyone nodded in agreement this time. Li Chong also clapped his hands and laughed, saying: "Mr. Cheng's words are extremely reasonable. Since that's the case, let Mr. Cheng rest for a few days before leading the troops to conquer Yinguang."

  The meeting was over, and the crowd dispersed. Li Chong arranged for Cheng Yu to stay in a residence, then returned to his own mansion. The continuous month of war and travel had left him exhausted.

  Shunniang had long been prepared with wine and dishes. Li Chong hastily ate a mouthful and then hugged Shunniang, falling into a deep sleep.

  The next day, Li Chong slept until the sun was high in the sky before getting up to eat breakfast. He suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen Cai Yan for a long time and hurriedly walked towards her room.

  Before he reached the door, Li Chong heard a pleasant sound of the guqin. He pushed open the door and saw Cai Yan sitting in front of the desk wearing casual clothes and playing the guqin.

  Li Chong laughed and said: "Zhaoyi's piano art is unparalleled in the world, this song should only be heard in heaven, how can I be so lucky to hear it?"

  Cai Yan saw Li Chong coming back and was overjoyed, hastily getting up to welcome him.

  He grasped Cai Yan's small hand, pulled her onto the piano bench and teased: "Zhaoyi, have you missed me?"

  "I don't want to..." Cai Yan said with a red face, she didn't have Li Chong's thick skin, although it had been a long time since they last met, but she couldn't say the word "want".

  Li Zhongke didn't care about these things. He was from modern times, and his way of flirting with girls was to be bold and thick-skinned. Before saying a few words, he started making out with her.

  Before long, Cai Yan was panting and trembling with fear, saying: "Li Lang, stop it quickly, what if someone sees us?"

  Li Chong smiled slyly and said: "Then let's go to bed, others can't see us, hehe..."

  Hearing Li Zhong's words, Cai Yan suddenly blushed and said: "Li Lang, you can't, our matter has not been reported to father yet, Li Lang is so...so...rude to me, it's already against etiquette, absolutely cannot..."

  By this time, Cai Yan had tears in her eyes, and it seemed that she was overcome with homesickness.

  Li Chong was just joking with Cai Yan, and had no intention of pushing her over. He secretly laughed to himself and hastily consoled her, saying: "I was just kidding, Zhao Ji, play a tune for me, I'm exhausted from fighting every day!"

  Cai Yan didn't know that Li Chong was trying to change the subject, and she hastily broke free from his arms, sat up straight in front of the zither, and began playing a lively tune.

  Little did he know that this was completely like playing the piano to a cow, Li Chong didn't know anything about music, sitting there pretending to listen, occasionally shaking his head and nodding, saying "Good... good..."

  After staying at Cai Yan's place for the whole afternoon, Li Chong didn't return to his own room until after dinner, and then he had a fierce battle with Shun Niang for three hundred rounds before falling fast asleep.

  On the third day at dawn, Li Jing led one thousand five hundred cavalrymen, with a fierce momentum, to directly attack the Yin residence.

  This was the first time Cheng Yu had seen Li Chong lead an expedition, and although he didn't know what kind of fighting strength these soldiers had, just in terms of discipline and order, Cheng Yu really hadn't seen any soldiers as strict as Li Chong's.

  Thinking again of Li Zhong's invention of the stirrup, Cheng Yu couldn't help but add a few points to his confidence in Li Zhong, and finally stopped entangling Cao Cao's problem, starting to wholeheartedly plan for Li Zhong.

  The ruler is the minister, and the minister is the ruler. All those who serve as ministers hope that their lord will be wise and powerful, so that they can also prosper in the future and secure good positions for their wives and children. Although Li Chong's current strength may not match Cao Cao's, he was able to capture two counties with his bare hands and command an army of 2,000 men. This is a remarkable achievement, and it is impossible not to admire him.

  Cao Cao is powerful, but he also relies on the support of his family. If you really want to switch positions between Cao Cao and Li Hui, Cheng Yu doesn't believe that Cao Cao can reach Li Hui's level.

  Guangwu to Yinguang is only a two-day journey, passing through the gap in the Great Wall, and entering the territory of Yinguang County.

  Yinguan County is outside the Great Wall, with a flat terrain. Li Chong didn't intend to conceal his tracks either, so he marched openly and ostentatiously all along the way. Yang Chou soon received news of this and assembled his troops, deploying them in battle array on the city walls.

  Yang Chou was unwilling to go out of the city to fight, and he also knew that Li Zhong had defeated Wang Dang's five hundred elite cavalry, although he did not know the specific situation. In his heart, he thought that Li Zhong won by luck and did not want to take risks.

  Zhang Yan is not a benevolent person, known as the Flying General, and his cavalry fighting force is extremely strong after being trained by him, which cannot be compared to ordinary Yellow Turban soldiers.

  Li Chong led five hundred elite cavalrymen and was not afraid of Yang Ugly coming out to fight, swaggeringly commanding the army to set up camp outside the city of Yinguang.

  Li Chong had no intention of attacking the city, nor did he bring much grain or fodder, and he didn't have any siege engines like cloud ladders. So setting up camp was very quick, arriving outside Yinguan City in the morning, before noon, everything was ready, standing under the city wall to curse and shout.