Chapter 220 Foresight

When under the roof of another, one must bow under the eaves. Li Ye had taken over Tongguan now, and might take over Hua Zhou soon, which meant owning the path to the capital city. The Yanmen Army was about to advance to the capital and fight with Huang Chao to earn merits. But Li Keyong might meet a few road blocks if Li Ye refused to open the road.

After saying these words, Li Keyong felt awkward. He suddenly remembered that he consulted with Huiming to scheme against Li Ye before coming here. Now it seemed that he had been reckoned by Li Ye.

Of course, this was not a feeling, but a fact. Li Keyong was clear that Li Ye had intentionally hidden his elite forces previously, creating the optics that it was very difficult for him to attack. He did so to make Li Keyong slack off. Today, he seized the moment and suddenly sent all the elites out to take Tongguan. Not even leaving Li Keyong the scraps. If that wasn’t a calculated move Li Keyong didn’t know what it was.

Li Keyong was uneasy about the changing of positions, from being the schemer to being schemed.

Worse still, he had to be respectful to the people who had stitched him up. It was as though counting the money for the one that had sold you out. Even though you knew who had sold you out, you still had to laugh and count the money for him... When had Li Keyong ever taken such a beating?

Li Ye smiled and added, “General Li, that’s all right, you and I both are ministers of the country. It is within our duties to wipe out the rebels for our country.”

Seeing how serious Li Ye was, Li Keyong opened his mouth but did not know what to say.

Soon, the news that Shangguan Qingcheng had taken Huazhou had reached back to them.

At the same time, nearly all the Pinglu Army had entered the city and were on their way to Hua Zhou. However, the Yanmen Army was still outside Tongguan. Where there were several hundred thousand troops traveling on the road, it was inevitable that the army formation would be continued for dozens of miles.

When the whole army arrived in Hua Zhou and set up camp outside the city, Li Ye, Wang Duo, Zhou Ji, Yang Fuguang, Li Keyong and others gathered again to discuss the arrangement plan for the next battle.

It was a shock to everyone how fast the Pinglu Army breached Tongguan. Shangguan Qingcheng controlled Hua Zhou’s main road before Wang Duo even had time to arrange things, which made him feel utterly helpless.

Moreover, the ordinance and weapons Huang Chao hoarded in Hua Zhou had all been taken by Shangguan Qingcheng. Obviously, after this battle, Pinglu Army’s fighting capacity would be further advanced.

Wang Duo was already under Huiming’s Buddhist enchantment, thus his focus was not on Li Ye at all, so he said to Li Ye, “The Pinglu army must be tired after over ten days of battle, breaching Tongguan and Hua Zhou during the process. So the soldiers have to be exhausted, therefore they need to rest up. We can’t expect the Pinglu army to take on all the pressure of wiping out the rebels, for it’s too big of a deal after all. Not to mention how unfair it is on Prince An. The Yanmen Army has been resting all this time, so they’re eager for a good battle. Hence, in my humble opinion, the Yanmen Army should head the next attack and clear the way for the rest of the troops, so they could charge towards Chang’an.”

This was a plan to let Pinglu Army make way and stay behind, giving the Yanmen Army a chance to make contributions.

Hard though it was to breach Tongguan, the Pinglu Army accomplished it. Since it was unlikely to encounter danger down to Chang’an, It was the perfect opportunity to earn military exploits.

All the generals of the Pinglu Army showed unpleasant looks upon hearing Wang Duo’s words. Liu Dazheng, Zhao Polu and the others were expressing vehemence and stressed that Pinglu Army did not need to rest, they could fight again. The Pinglu Army wanted to restore the capital to the dynasty!

Wang Duo naturally expressed disagreement, but his reasons were very altisonant so that Liu Dazheng and Zhao Polu could not pick a fault. But they still insisted that the Pinglu Army would never stop.

Then, Li Keyong vehemently presented his views that the Yanmen Army devoted itself to serving the country. They could not just watch their comrades fight in a bloody battle, and they succumb to the back. That would make the world laugh at them.

The argument would not stop between the two sides. The atmosphere in the tent was quite heated. And later, the heat had erupted into a rage. The generals from both sides glared at each other, and it seemed they were ready to take each other outside to fight it out.

Wang Duo cast his eyes at Li Ye and added, “Your Highness, look at this...”

Li Ye waved his hand and signaled to Wang Duo that he understood. He smiled and added, “I know what Duke Wang means and I also agree with his opinion. It is time for the Yanmen Army to go forward and put on a good show. After all, sacrificing for our country falls upon everyone’s shoulders.”

First, Wang Duo was shocked when Li Ye’s words came out, then Li Keyong was frozen, and finally all the Pinglu generals’ eyes were wide open. They all watched Li Ye incredulously and did not know why Li Ye would say such words.

It seemed that Li Ye did not notice everyone’s expressions, and his smile did not cease. “If General Lee has no objections, you can take the lead and go to the battlefield tomorrow, then you march to the capital.”

Li Keyong was afraid that Li Ye might regret his decision, so he immediately added, “I have no objection!”

Liu Dazheng, Zhao Polu and others still wanted to say something, Li Ye waved his hand and signaled them not to continue.

Yang Fuguang and Zhou Ji looked at each other, and saw the doubts in each other’s eyes. In principle, Prince An would not hand others a great future. Perhaps Prince An really was a righteous and giving person, and he had no intention of taking all the credit. That was just too honorable.

Yang Fuguang looked at Li Ye for a long time.

Everyone went their separate ways after the decision that day. Li Ye also went back to his own military camp. First, he patrolled around and expressed sympathy and solicitude for the wounded, especially after counting the ordinances and weapons Shangguan Qingcheng seized. Finally, he came to the large tent.

It wasn’t long after Li Ye sat down that Shangguan Qingcheng arrived first, followed by Liu Dazheng and Zhao Polu. It seemed that they were quite bitter and did not know the reason why Li Ye sent Li Keyong to head the charge.

Li Ye asked them not to get heated and sat them down. He brought them some water before saying, “We’ve been attacking Tongguan for days and suffered quite a bit of loss. The wounded need time to heal and the exhausted soldiers need to rest. I had planned to give them rest, if not now, then after a couple of battles at the most. Hang Chao has several hundred thousand elite soldiers on his side, so defeating them is no easy task. And even harder to take Chang’an, the bloodiest battles at still in front of us, so it’s best we rest up.”

Liu Dazheng then said in confusion, “Even so, we could send out some of the troops. At least that way the Yanmen Army wouldn’t get all the credit.”

Li Ye replied while shaking his head, “There are many military exploits to be had, and the Pinglu Army should not have all of it. It would just be too greedy to want all the merits. Then no one would want to join forces with us in the future. As for the Yanmen Army, how many merits does General Liu think the Yanmen Army could grab?”

Liu Dazheng then muttered, “Though I don’t like Li Keyong, I must admit that the Shatuo army is elite. So it would not be hard for them to win a few battles, especially since momentum is on their side this time.”

historical

Li Ye asked, “Does General Liu think that Li Keyong could breach Chang’an within the span of a month?”

Liu Dazheng shook his head. It was of course impossible. Huang Chao had over a million troops, even if most of them were hopeless, some of the troops were battle-tested elites.

Li Ye then explained, “There are three parts to this war, breach Tongguan, take Chang’an and kill Huang Chao. We took the first merit, next, we should let Li Keyong face off against Huang Chao. By the time they’re engaged in a fierce battle and offsetting each other’s strength, we’ll send our elites to take Chang’an. Isn’t that the perfect strategy?”

After listening to Li ye, the generals had finally seen the light. They were all in awe and surprised at Li Ye’s plan.

Come to think of it, even if Li Keyong defeats the massive Huang Chao Army, and no matter how many enemies they killed, the merit they would earn would not compare to taking Chang’an. As long as the Pinglu troops were the first to attack and charge into Chang’an, the credit would belong to them.

“So the chief intends to use Li Keyong as a lure to hinder the Huang Chao Army, and then swoop in from behind?” Zhao Polu was quite shocked when he realized the strategy. Then admiration appeared on his face, and he added, “Chief General, you are marvelous!”

Zhao Polu used to guard the borders, and he was once under Li Keyong’s command. But since surrendering to Li Ye, he gradually became loyal to Li Ye. Now that he had heard Li Ye’s plans to stitch Li Keyong up, he had no empathy towards his former general at all.

Liu Dazheng had now understood what was going to happen, so he quickly clasped his fist in his hand and said, “Chief General, your intelligence is second to none! You have my utmost respect!”

Li Ye smiled at his compliment, not taking it too seriously.

Shangguan Qingcheng then suddenly added, “If Li Keyong happens to kill Huang Chao, that would be a big achievement.”

Li Ye replied, “Don’t worry Huang Chao won’t die that easily. He’s now the Qi’s pseudo emperor, so he won’t personally fight. At most he’d be commanding, and when things start looking bad, he would escape.”

As he said that, Li Ye smiled. “Now that we’ve breached Tongguan, Huang Chao is most definitely shaken up. To turn things around, he would most definitely attack with his elite force. And in that case even if we could win, our side would suffer quite a bit of loss. So it’s better to let Li Keyong deal with this sort of thing.”

Chang’an.

Ever since Zhu Wen surrendered, the Qi Empire military forces had suffered many defeats. Zhu Wen and Wang Chongrong had joined forces ready to attack the capital and the surrounding lands. That aside, even Fengxiang was recruiting troops, buying horses and training day and night. When the opportunity presented itself, Fengxiang would be ready to give Chang’an the lethal attack. So Huang Chao was under a lot of pressure.

On this day, after Huang Chao finished checking his camp, he sat down in the Weiyang Palace and began thinking about the future.

Every so often, the maid would bring Huang Chao fine wine. As he drank the wine, he lifted his head up to look at this innocent, beautiful maid and couldn’t suppress his lust. With his index finger, he made a hook to signal her over, and then he grabbed her to his side. He ran both his hands down her body, which made her squeal oohs and aahs.

The maid was aroused and just as Huang Chao was about to savor her, sudden footsteps could be heard. Then someone hastily reported, “Your Majesty, a report had come from the Tongguan Army and it is urgent!”

“Tongguan?” Huang Chao frowned. He was quite clear about the battle situation in Tongguan. After Li Ye led the Pinglu and Zhongwu forces and took Guandong, they went to Tongguan. Later, Li Keyong also got there with his 200,000 troops and they joined forces to attack Tongguan.

But according to the reports from the last few days, Tongguan was safe for the time being. Plus, there were two Spiritual Master Realm Taoists guarding it, so Huang Chao did not think Li Ye and Li Keyong could take Tongguan.

However, when he heard that an urgent report had come from Tongguan, he was a little shocked. He then thought to himself, “Could it be that the battle situation had changed? Now the Qi Empire is facing enemies from all four sides, but none of the situations were dire. It also means that the Vassal States don’t have any really strong forces that could defeat the Qi Empire forces. That was the only reason Huang Chao could hold on to Guanzhong, albeit barely. And there was still Tongguan’s geographical advantage, which had up until now, kept Li Ye at bay.

If Tongguan was lost, then the already wobbly situation of the Qi Empire battles from all sides would be broken. The loss of Tongguan would leave a huge gaping hole in their defense.

Huang Chao had no longer had time for the maid, he quickly got up and ordered, “Give me the order, immediately!”

The eunuch bowed and entered holding the battle report over his head. As Huang Chao took the report and read it, his face suddenly turned pale. He couldn’t help retreating three steps while trembling, he almost fell down.