Chapter 42: Retribution Has Arrived

  Li Chong finally received some good news, which was that the newly recruited soldiers were almost all skilled in horse riding, and some of them were even extremely proficient, to the point where they could let go of the reins and fight with both hands holding guns. This made Li Chong overjoyed and he began to think about forming a mounted archer unit.

  Close combat with swords and spears, long-range combat with bows and arrows, this is Li Chong's ideal invincible cavalry.

  The quality of the soldiers in Bingzhou is extremely high, which is also Li Chong's good fortune. It is worth noting that the Han Dynasty had a horse administration, and the official horse-breeding area was located in Bingzhou and Guanzhong, so there were many horse households in Bingzhou, and the people who raised horses naturally became skilled in riding.

  Taishi Ci selected two hundred soldiers with excellent riding skills and took them to practice horseback riding near the Great Wall, also letting them see blood along the way.

  As for how to see blood, Li Chong, this kind of ruthless person naturally has a way. The grasslands are not many alien tribes, let's take them first. Anyway, Li Chong will eventually go to war with these alien tribes, killing one is one, and can also weaken the enemy's strength first, why not?

  It has to be said that training with blood is the fastest way to train soldiers. In less than a month, the soldiers under Taishi Ci's command had become even more formidable, each person's eyes seeming to have a sharp, knife-like glint.

  To know, only soldiers who have killed people can be called elite soldiers. Soldiers who have not killed people, no matter how good their equipment is, how high their morale is, and how well they are trained, are still new recruits. Once on the battlefield, they may become weak-kneed.

  Guan Yu's eyes turned green with envy, and he also wanted to take his new recruits out for training, but Li Ju immediately rejected Guan Yu's proposal. The soldiers under Taishi Ci were all cavalry, and if something happened, they could rush back in a few days. Guan Yu's men were almost all infantry, marching slowly, what if the main camp encountered an accident?

  As the saying goes, a careful sailor can sail for ten thousand years. Li Zhong's caution was not unreasonable, and by early June, the consequences had arrived.

  That day, Li Zhong was going to find little loli Cai Yan to chat and deepen their feelings. It's worth noting that Li Zhong can now sit shoulder-to-shoulder with Cai Yan, and sometimes even intentionally touch her small hand, which would earn him a white eye. In Li Zhong's eyes, the beauty's white eye was like autumn cabbage.

  Li Zhongzheng was thinking of trying to satisfy his desires, and Zhang Cai came to see him with a frown.

  Although Li Chong was very unhappy, it wasn't the time to turn against this wealthy man yet. Helplessly, Li Chong could only force a smile and ask: "I don't know what brings Mr. Zhang's esteemed presence here, is there something I can help you with?"

  "Your Excellency, disaster has arrived. Wang Dang, a subordinate of Zhang Yan, is seeking revenge against you. I heard that Wang Dang has assembled three thousand troops and will soon lay siege to Guangwu."

  Li Chong heard the words and closed his eyes, he believed Zhang Cai's words, these businessmen's news was extremely well-informed, and Wang Dang and himself indeed had some grudges, finding himself to take revenge was normal.

  Zhang Cai stared at Li Chong without blinking, wanting to see something on his face, but he didn't know if this young county magistrate was really as bold and fearless as the rumors said. What made Zhang Cai disappointed was that he didn't see a hint of panic on Li Chong's face.

  Li reopened his eyes and suddenly smiled, asking: "Does Mr. Zhang know Wang Dang's military route?"

  Zhang Cai nodded and said: "I know. I heard that Wang Daoyan sailed upstream against the current of the Tuo River, passing through Dingxiang and Yunzhong to come here."

  Li Zhong stood up and bowed with his fists: "Thank you, Mr. Zhang, for telling me this. I am deeply grateful."

  Zhang Cai knew that Li Chong was giving the order to expel the guests, so he also stood up and bid farewell. Li Chong immediately summoned Guan Yu, Taishi Ci and Chen Lin to come and discuss matters.

  Arriving at Li Zhong's residence, several people sat down to discuss the matter. Li Zhong carefully recounted the events of Wang Da's surprise attack.

  Guan Hai heard this and became furious: "My lord, Wang Dang is truly ungrateful. Zi Yi spared his life, yet he still dares to attack Guangwu. Please give the order for Guan Hai to lead our troops to meet the enemy head-on, and I will definitely bring back Wang Dang's head as an offering."

  These days, Guan Yu has been envying Taishi Ci. Taishi Ci led more than 200 people to the north of the desert to practice martial arts, often sweeping through some small tribes and plundering countless livestock. Although Taishi Ci is not a petty person, he also often sends some cattle and sheep to Guan Yu to improve his diet, but Guan Yu still feels that it's not satisfying.

  This time Wang came to take revenge, Guan Hai suddenly felt that his opportunity had come, and he must seize some spoils of war.

  But Guan Yu obviously forgot that Wang Zang's army was also poor and had nothing to plunder.

  Chen Lin felt a bit ashamed, thinking that she had some potential to be a jinx, and at the same time felt a bit wronged, she wasn't a stunning beauty who could topple cities, yet she was able to trigger a war, it was really unbelievable.

  Taishi Ci sneered, not taking Wang Yan's defeat to heart. Taishi Ci even thought that if he wasn't afraid of casualties, with just his 200 cavalrymen, he could have defeated Wang Yan's army.

  Li Chong did not plan to go out of the city to meet the enemy. This was the first battle he had commanded, so how could he not be careful?

  Since ancient times, the battle with the lowest requirements for a commander is the defense of a city. As long as you are willing to be a turtle general, even if you are a third-rate commander, you won't be much worse than famous generals like Cao Cao and Zhou Yu.

  Moreover, Wang Dang's army had more than 3,000 people, which was four times the number of his own troops. Going out of the city to fight a decisive battle wasn't seeking death? Li Chong didn't think he was a military genius, and now he was still in the exploratory stage of commanding an army.

  Li Chong thought for a moment and shook his head, saying: "Bo Wen, the enemy is numerous, going out of the city to fight is not wise. Even if we win, it will be at great cost in lives."

  "What does the lord plan to do in response?" Guan Hai also knew that going out of the city to fight a decisive battle was not very feasible, and saying he wanted to go out of the city to fight a decisive battle was just a show of attitude. After all, Wang Da had been with him in the Yellow Turban Army before, and he didn't want Li Chong to think that he still had any affection for those people.

  "My plan is like this..." Li Chong said out his own intention.

  Li Chong's idea was simple: let Hei lead the infantry to defend the city, and Tai Shi Ci lead the cavalry to fight guerrilla warfare, with no technical content at all.

  Chen Lin also had a task, which was to seize the time to stock up on rolling thunder stones for defending the city, and to evacuate the civilians from the nearby villages, letting them temporarily move into the county town to live.

  Zhang Cai's information was not false, and within ten days, Taishi Ci had indeed detected the movements of Wang Lang's army. Wang Lang had already passed through Yuanping County and would soon arrive at Guangwu.

  Three days later, Wang Dun led four thousand cavalry to appear under the city of Guangwu. Li Zhong decided to learn from Sima Yi's "Tortoise Flow" and naturally would not come out of the city to fight, but instead sent his soldiers to the top of the city wall to wait for Wang Dun to attack the city.

  Tai Shi Zi was given great autonomy by Li Chong and could decide for himself when to launch an attack.

  Wang saw that Li Chong did not come out to fight, thinking that Li Chong was afraid, so he ordered people to build siege engines and go out to collect (plunder) grain and fodder.