Chapter 548

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On the yellow earth-covered official road of Yizhou, a line of carriages pulling field cannons was slowly advancing.

On the city wall, Lu Fei was holding a telescope, observing the convoy. Beside him was Luo Xin. They had arrived in Yizhou two days ago. Seeing the last batch of cannons arrive, Lu Fei let out a heavy sigh of relief. He said, “Damn it, you artillerymen are truly like turtles. If you didn’t arrive soon, the flowers would have withered.”

Luo Xin rolled his eyes. “It’s easy for you to say. Each of these cannons weighs four to five hundred catties. Try pulling one yourself.”

“Alright, alright, I won’t argue with you. Now that the field cannons have all arrived, it’s time to take Pengzhou City.” Lu Fei said, “Heh heh, this time I must fight a beautiful battle, so that the soldiers of your Firearm Battalion don’t look down on me.”

Luo Xin shook his head. Since the Qingzhou Army was equipped with firearms, this was the first time the two of them independently led an army. They understood Xiao Ming’s intention. With the world in chaos now, Qingzhou might face multi-front operations, and at such a time, capable and experienced generals were needed.

This time, Xiao Ming’s dispatch of the two clearly indicated his intention to entrust the campaigns in the direction of Wei to them. For this, both of them were extremely excited.

The two bickered their way down from the city wall. At this time, the armies from the three prefectures were being integrated and trained in the Yizhou grand camp. Including the infantry of the Firearm Battalion, there were a total of twenty thousand men. Adding the five thousand cavalry allocated later, this army attacking Pengzhou would consist of twenty thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry. For Qingzhou, this was already a large-scale army, after all, when they fought the barbarians in Jizhou last year, it was only about this number of troops.

Going straight back to his tent, Lu Fei sent for the generals participating in the siege.

Soon, over thirty generals gathered in Lu Fei’s tent. At this moment, Lu Fei said, “Gentlemen, the field cannons have all arrived, and the flintlock guns and plate armor have also been issued to the soldiers. It can be said that everything is now ready. According to the original battle plan, we will rest today and then proceed down the Bian River tomorrow to attack Pengzhou City.”

Luo Hong nodded, “Speed is crucial in warfare. We should catch the Pengzhou City defenders off guard and quickly capture Pengzhou City.”

“Battalion Commander Luo is right. This time we will split our forces into two routes. One part will go downstream by boat along the Bian River to first deal with Pengzhou City’s navy. The other part, led by Luo Xin, will depart from the official road and head directly to the foot of Pengzhou City. At that time, we will converge and capture Pengzhou City in one fell swoop.” Lu Fei knocked on the table.

“Yes, General Lu.” The generals said.

This time, Lu Fei was leading the army on campaign. Xiao Ming bestowed upon him the title of Southern Campaign General and granted him a tiger tally. All of this was to enable him to smoothly command the army.

With the plan set, the generals each went back to prepare. The next day, Lu Fei personally led three thousand musketeers to board ships and went downstream, while Luo Xin led five thousand cavalry and seventeen thousand infantry towards Pengzhou City.

Yizhou is located southwest of Qidi, only a hundred li from Pengzhou City. Departing in the morning, Lu Fei arrived on the Bian River outside Pengzhou City in the afternoon.

Looking at Pengzhou City, built by the water, Lu Fei sneered. In his opinion, although the people of Pengzhou were fierce, no matter how fierce the soldiers, they would be afraid when facing firearms.

As the three warships slowly approached, the Pengzhou city wall immediately fell into chaos. The soldiers were well aware of the situation between Wei and Qi.

These past two days, even Mi Wenyi, the eldest son of the Mi family, had returned to Pengzhou City to gather troops and prepare for war. It could be said that the soldiers of Pengzhou City had been on edge all along. Now that these three warships full of soldiers appeared, they immediately understood that what was coming, had indeed come.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

The soldiers on the city wall shouted. At the same time, some soldiers quickly went to the bed crossbows and aimed them at the continuously advancing warships, while some soldiers descended the city wall to report the matter.

At this time, in the Mi mansion of Pengzhou City, Mi Wenyi was hosting a banquet for the powerful families of the day. This time, he was appointed by the Prince of Wei to personally guard the city of Pengzhou, so as soon as he arrived in Pengzhou City, he invited the local powerful families to discuss the matter together.

While everyone was enjoying the singing and dancing, eating and drinking, a general suddenly burst in and said to Mi Wenyi, “Chief Clerk Mi, three warships full of soldiers have appeared outside the city. It’s probably King Qi’s army.”

“King Qi’s army.”

“How did they get here so fast?”

“Are we really going to fight now?”

“…” Everyone discussed animatedly.

Mi Wenyi’s eyes narrowed. He said to the general, “How many people are there in total?”

“There are less than a thousand soldiers on the warships, but I believe there must be more soldiers hidden in the holds. It should be between two to three thousand.” The general said.

“Only three thousand men? Our Pengzhou City garrison has fifty thousand elite troops, and the various family militias number more than thirty thousand. These enemy soldiers are nothing to fear.” An old man at the banquet said. He was the head of the Lu family, the second largest family in Pengzhou City.

The others echoed, “Exactly. These three thousand aren’t even enough to fill our teeth. This King Qi underestimates our Pengzhou too much.”

At this time, a young man said loudly, “Chief Clerk Mi, our Pengzhou Navy has over thirty warships. Why don’t we send out the navy to sink these three warships in the river? That way, wouldn’t all the invading enemies be fed to the fish?”

Unlike the optimism of these local powerful families, Mi Wenyi said, “Everyone, remember not to underestimate King Qi’s army. King Qi’s ability to defeat the barbarians in the Battle of Cangzhou and the Battle of Jizhou is enough to prove the strength of his army. This time, their dispatch of only these soldiers is probably not arrogance, but rather confidence that these soldiers alone can take Pengzhou City.”

There were still some calm people at the banquet who nodded in agreement.

Mi Wenyi seized the opportunity and said, “However, now that the Prince of Wei and King Qi are at odds, and Pengzhou City is a strategically important location, King Qi’s army appearing here must be to capture Pengzhou City. If the city falls, given King Qi’s past actions, will we, the powerful families, still have a way to survive?”

“We all clearly remember King Qi’s slaughter of local powerful families three years ago. If he captures Pengzhou City this time, he certainly won’t give us a way out!”

“That’s right, we must fight to the death this time!”

“Indeed, falling with the city means death anyway, so it’s better to defend Pengzhou City to the last. I’ll gather the Zhang family’s private army now.” One person said.

“I’m going too.”

“…”

Mi Wenyi’s expression was calm, but he breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. With just one sentence, he had made the local powerful families and himself share a common hatred for the enemy.

He coughed and said, “Gentlemen, since that is the case, I hope you all will provide strong support this time. Our Mi family will send out all our private armies and household retainers, swearing to fight to the death and not let King Qi succeed.”

“Chief Clerk Mi’s righteousness! We will also go back and gather our private armies. Let’s see if King Qi’s soldiers are formidable, or if our soldiers are formidable.”