Chapter 378: Imperial Guards Leave the Capital
"General, what should we do next?" Niu Zhuang asked.

Yang Zhengshan continued to look at the map, but fell into silence.

Everyone looked at each other and did not disturb Yang Zhengshan.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan did not take Cui Liang seriously. Although Cui Liang now had tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, in Yang Zhengshan's view, Cui Liang's army was just a bunch of weaklings and could not withstand a single blow.

It is not difficult to defeat Cui Liang.

The real difficulty came from the 80,000-strong army of the Wulianghu tribe.

That’s 80,000 Hu cavalry!
The Wuliang Hu tribe is just like the Donghai Hu tribe. Every member of the tribe is a soldier and grew up riding horseback.

Moreover, the Wulianghu tribe was a stable dynasty that had lasted for hundreds of years, and their army was a well-trained army, which was much stronger than that of the Donghai Hu tribe.

Perhaps the Wulianghu cavalry is far inferior to the Five Army Camps of Tenglong Guard, but it is definitely stronger than the cavalry of Chongshan Town.

Obviously, confronting the Wulianghu tribe head-on is not a wise choice.

"Let's take a detour here!"

Yang Zhengshan pointed to a valley in the northwest and said.

Everyone looked at it, all puzzled.

Yang Zhengshan pointed to the valley and said, "This is the only way they can leave Chongshan Town!"

The west road of Chongshan Town is full of mountains, which is very different from other places in Chongshan Town.

Although there are continuous mountains in the central and eastern parts of Chongshan Town, it is not difficult to cross Chongshan Town because the mountains are relatively low and the terrain is relatively flat.

But the west road of Chongshan Town is different. There are many mountains and the terrain is steep, and there are not many roads that run through the north and south.

This was the route the Wulianghu people used to enter western Liaoning.

Now, if the Wulianghu people want to evacuate, this is the only way they can take.

The location Yang Zhengshan pointed to was the northernmost end of the road. As long as you cross this valley, you will see an endless grassland.

And this valley is the place he chose for the final battle!
He wanted to close the door and beat the dog, but whether he could close the door depended on his strength.

"Minghao, send someone back to Chongshan Pass immediately to inform Master Pang that we need a large amount of kerosene. Ask him to prepare as much kerosene as possible for us as soon as possible!"

"General Niu, General Tang, you will lead the army to march here. I require you to arrive here within half a month!"

If you fail to arrive, you will be punished according to military law!"

Yang Zhengshan looked at Niu Zhuang and Tang Feihu with sharp eyes.

The army set out. If they failed to reach their destination on time, Yang Zhengshan would have no problem killing them.

However, he was not targeting Niuzhuang and Tang Feihu. He believed that Niuzhuang and Tang Feihu knew the importance of the matter.

He said this because he was targeting middle and low-level military attachés.

There are bound to be some incompetent people among the tens of thousands of troops, especially the southern reinforcement camp that has just joined the army. It is not that Yang Zhengshan looks down on them, but they are really far inferior to the soldiers of Tenglong Guard.

In order to prevent these incompetent people from hindering his work, Yang Zhengshan issued such an order.

"I obey your command!" Niu Zhuang and Tang Feihu quickly stood up and clasped their fists in response.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly and said, "Tomorrow I will lead the personal guard battalion to check here first. The army will be temporarily commanded by General Niu and General Tang. You must obey the orders of the two generals. Do you understand?"

"Yes!" Everyone stood up and responded.

Silent all night.

Early the next morning, Yang Zhengshan left the military camp with his entourage and guards, heading north and then west to the valley he had chosen.

As for the Ying River that was cut off by Cui Liang, let them continue to wait there.

Yang Zhengshan was very curious about how Cui Liang would react when he found out that they did not go to Guining City, and how he would deal with the diverted river water.

July 28th.

Yang Zhengshan came to the nameless valley.

This nameless valley only has a rough outline on the map, without detailed markings, but Yang Zhengshan had some expectations about this before.

A valley is nothing more than a low place between two mountains.

The valley in front of us is very large, more than ten miles long from north to south and four or five miles wide from east to west. It is shaped like a trumpet facing south. The valley is surrounded by high mountains, and the exit on the north is not very narrow. There are two relatively gentle slopes on both sides of the exit.

If a pass is built here, it will be easy to block this passage.

But if we just deploy a large army here to block the enemy, there will not be much geographical advantage.

Simply put, there is no terrain condition where one man can block the passage of ten thousand.

But this is exactly what Yang Zhengshan wants.

This is the terrain he needs.

Standing on the hillside, looking at the long and narrow valley, Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard with his eyes shining.

"Cui Liang, haha, you really gave me a surprise!"

"You have the advantage of the time, the place, and the people. Then I will have the advantage of the time, the place, and the people. With this precious place and this good time, it will be difficult for me to lose!"

Yang Zhengshan looked up at the blue sky, and the smile on his face became brighter. He chose this place because he was inspired by Cui Liang's blocking of Yinghe River.

To be honest, he has been thinking about how to deal with the Wuliang army these days.

The 80,000-strong Wuliang army put a lot of pressure on him.

He racked his brains but could not think of a way to defeat the Wuliang army.

But after learning that Cui Liang had cut off Yinghe River, an idea came to his mind.

That is to take advantage of the terrain.

Looking at this valley now, the plan in his mind should be able to be realized perfectly.

The third day of August.

The court finally ordered the mobilization of six of the twelve imperial guards' battalions, namely Fenwu, Yaowu, Lianwu, Xianwu, Ganyong and Guoyong, to march north to Jizhou to block the Wuliang army.

However, on the third day after the six battalions of the Imperial Guards set out, Prince Uto began to retreat.

When the imperial army arrived in Jizhou in June, Prince Wutuo had already retreated to Huade Prefecture.

Eighty thousand Hu cavalrymen gathered in Huade Prefecture with cartloads of collected treasures.

These were all the wealth they looted, including a lot of gold, silver and jewelry, of course, but also food, livestock, herbs, cloth, furs and other supplies.

It can be said that the Hu cavalry made a huge fortune this time.

Its value is at least tens of millions of taels of silver.

The Liaoxi area that was ravaged by them was completely turned into a poor place, and most of the people were plundered by them.

At the same time, Cui Liang, who had been waiting in the canyon west of Guining City for more than ten days, finally discovered that the army of Chongshan Town had left.

In fact, he had felt something was wrong a long time ago. Logically, the army of Chongshan Town should have reached Guining City long ago, but he did not dare to send scouts out to investigate. He could only wait anxiously until he could no longer bear it, and then he sent scouts out to investigate.

As a result of this investigation, it was discovered that the army of Chongshan Town did not come to Guining City at all, but turned around and headed north.

Looking at the canyon that had turned into an ocean, Cui Liang's face looked extremely ugly.

The brilliant plan he had finally come up with was shattered before it even had any effect.

Not only that, now he looked at the vast ocean and didn't know what to do with it.

Dig open the blocked canyon exit?
The Guining City below would immediately turn into a swamp, and tens of thousands of civilians and military households would be sacrificed in vain.

Well, he didn't care about the civilians and military households, nor did he care about Guining City. He was just angry that his clever plan was of no use.

So he finally chose to leave, taking two thousand soldiers with him and abandoning a vast canyon.

However, he gave up not only this canyon, but also tens of thousands of civilians and military households on the east side of the canyon.

On the third day after they left, the exit of the canyon was washed open by the surging water.

A horrific flood poured out, mixed with a large amount of rocks and soil, covering the sky and the earth, unstoppable, and engulfing hundreds of miles.

In just one day, the area within a hundred miles around Guining City turned into a vast ocean.

Tens of thousands of people became underwater dead souls.

When Yang Zhengshan received the news, he sat in the tent in silence for more than half an hour.

In fact, he could have stopped it.

But he didn't stop!
Because he needed to seize the valley in front of him as soon as possible. If the direction of the army was exposed in advance, Cui Liang would most likely occupy the valley before them.

Then his plan would fail.

In addition to this reason, there was another reason, which was that he wanted the people and military households in the west of Chongshan Town to recognize Cui Liang's character.

Sacrifice tens of thousands of civilians and military households to make more civilians and military households recognize Cui Liang's true character!

Ji Feiyu and Cui Liang had been operating in the west road of Chongshan Town for nearly twenty years, causing the common people and military households in the west road of Chongshan Town to only recognize the lieutenant general and not the court.

If the common people and military households are not made to recognize Cui Liang's true character, they will most likely follow Cui Liang all the way to the end.

"Eunuch Lu, it will be up to you Secret Guards from now on!" Yang Zhengshan sat behind the desk, raised his head and looked at Lu Hua who was leisurely sipping tea beside him.

Faced with the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians and military households, Yang Zhengshan must have felt some guilt and self-blame, but Lu Hua was surprisingly calm, as if nothing had happened.

It was as if those civilians and military households were just insignificant weeds.

Zhou Lan once said that Lu Hua was a cruel, ruthless and ungrateful person.

Now it seems that Zhou Lan was not wrong.

"General Yang, don't worry. I have arranged people to spread the news that Cui Liang flooded Guining City!" Lu Hua said lightly.

Yang Zhengshan was too lazy to argue with him and nodded slightly.

The matter has come to this, and it is useless to think too much about it.

And even if he wanted to make a fuss about it, there would be no point.

(End of this chapter)