Chapter 154 Showing Weakness
The generals had made their decision, and the army set out quickly.

Generals Zhang Xuanyu and Cao Renshi could not wait and led their troops as vanguards to Danzhou, followed by Zhao Ji, Yang Xuanji and others.

While the Zhou army was marching towards Danzhou, the Khitans were also not idle and were actively preparing for war.

Snake Spirit's spies were omnipresent, and the news of the army's mobilization could not be concealed. Xiao Jing personally passed the information to Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong.

After hearing the information provided by Xiao Jing, Li Jinzhong couldn't help feeling a little depressed.

When he just started the rebellion, he was fearless, and after he was proclaimed Khan, he was even more proud and complacent. But now that he was facing the danger of a large army approaching him, he was in a completely different state of mind.

Li Jinzhong was nearly seventy years old, and time was not forgiving. He was no longer able to put on armor and go into battle himself, so he was naturally a little nervous. On the contrary, Sun Wanrong was relatively young and strong.

As for Sun Wanrong, he is Li Jinzhong's brother-in-law. In a political marriage, it is inevitable that the old cow will eat the young grass.

Sun Wanrong had always been Li Jinzhong's right-hand man. After Li Jinzhong proclaimed himself Khan, he was appointed marshal and took command of the army.

At this time, the Zhou army was attacking, so Li Jinzhong naturally asked Sun Wanrong for his opinion: "Marshal, the Zhou army is coming with great momentum. Should we take the initiative to fight back and dampen their spirit, or should we retreat to Yingzhou for the time being and wait for them to become exhausted before looking for an opportunity to fight?"

Sun Wanrong heard this and said with a determined look, "Khan, how can we just sit there and wait for death? We must take the initiative to attack and not let the Zhou army reach Yingzhou."

After all, after becoming Khan, Li Jinzhong, Sun Wanrong and many families of Khitan nobles moved to Yingzhou, and they couldn't let anyone surround their old nest.

Li Jinzhong asked somewhat unconfidently: "But the Zhou army is powerful after all. In a head-on battle, it would be difficult for us Khitans to defeat them."

Sun Wanrong was confident and said with a smile: "Khan, of course we can't fight head-on. We have to use our wits to lure the Zhou army to attack and trick them into the Huangzhang Valley. The terrain there is dangerous. We will ambush them in advance and we will definitely be able to defeat the Zhou army."

Li Jinzhong nodded first, then asked doubtfully, "We are trying to outsmart them, but will the Zhou army be so obedient as to rush headfirst into the Yellow Croaker Valley?"

Sun Wanrong smiled mysteriously: "Khan, I have already made a plan. First, we will show the enemy our weakness and lure them to attack. Then, we will have allies to help us."

As he spoke, Sun Wanrong leaned close to Li Jinzhong's ear and told him the plan.

Li Jinzhong pondered for a moment, then made up his mind and said, "Okay, the Marshal's plan is brilliant, I'll listen to him."
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After conquering Yingzhou, Sun Wanrong captured hundreds of prisoners from the Great Zhou army, which were of perfect use at this moment.

Under Sun Wanrong's arrangement, these hundreds of captives had already begun to live on bran porridge, which was very shabby.

That night, several relatively influential officers were captured. The remaining captured soldiers thought they were going to be killed and wanted to make some trouble, but they were starving and had no power to resist.

However, unexpectedly, these officers were sent back intact soon after, and their return immediately became the focus of attention of the prisoners.

One of the officers explained the situation to everyone: "The Khitans had suffered a famine before, and Governor Zhao refused to provide relief, so they rebelled. Now the court has sent a large army to suppress the rebellion."

"I heard that some Khitans have starved to death. They are afraid of the imperial power and have no food, so they are ready to surrender to the imperial court, but the prerequisite is that the imperial court provides food relief."

These words are reasonable and consistent with the personal experience of ordinary low-level officers and soldiers in Yingzhou, and also consistent with their cognition. Don’t you see that everyone can only eat bran?
These words were like a powerful medicine. The soldiers' spirits, which had been weakened by hunger, were slightly lifted, and everyone began to talk.

The optimists hoped that the imperial army would arrive as soon as possible, win the battle and rescue them; they hoped that the Khitans would surrender as soon as possible and regain their freedom; the pessimists were afraid that the Khitans and the imperial court would fail to reach an agreement and both would perish, so they killed their captives first to vent their anger.

What no one noticed was that among the officers who were taken out together, two of their subordinates who had no surviving subordinates had been replaced.

Another day has passed, and pessimists don't have to be pessimistic, because the situation is so good that even optimists can't believe it.

A Khitan leader-like figure named He Axiao came to the prison, visited the prisoners, and even gave the Zhou army prisoners a full meal.

Ah Xiao announced to everyone, "We have no more food. We cannot afford to feed hundreds of you. If we kill you, we may offend the imperial army."

"I will give you a full meal today, no more. I am going to let you go back to Danzhou. Please tell General Zhang and the Great Zhou court that we Khitan are willing to surrender. Please ask the Great Zhou court to send a large army with food to Yingzhou as soon as possible."

The captives could not believe what they heard for a moment, but then they realized that the Khitans were not joking and were really going to let them go back, so the entire cell suddenly exploded and everyone started talking loudly.

Ah Xiao was not a playboy, and soon released the captives in batches, and even carefully instructed the officers who had been captured before to equip them with some horses so that they could reach Tanzhou as soon as possible. No one cared whether the Khitans really surrendered or not, and for the captives, surviving was the most important thing.

After the Zhou troops left the Yingzhou city gate, Sun Wanrong and Li Jinzhong on the city wall laughed triumphantly.

Yingzhou is not close to Danzhou, and not all of these soldiers who have been hungry for many days can return to Danzhou alive.

However, most of the officers on horseback returned to Danzhou safely.

However, they failed to report the news to Zhang Jiujie as the Khitans predicted, because Zhang Xuanyu had already arrived in Danzhou City with his army.

Zhang Xuanyu was fully armed and sat on the command platform. Cao Renshi and Ma Renjie were on his left and right sides, while Zhang Jiujie was squeezed to Cao Renshi's side.

Next in line were Yan Feishi, Zong Huaichang and other twenty-eight generals. Only Zhao Ji and Yang Xuanji had not arrived yet.

A smelly, unkempt, and dirty Yingzhou officer was standing in the hall, reporting the situation. This was the fifth prisoner Zhang Xuanyu had interrogated.

"…The famine among the Khitan people this year is a real fact. When I left the city, I saw many Khitan people collapse from hunger on the road. I can only eat bran while I am in prison."

Zhang Xuanyu glanced at Zhang Jiujie when he heard this. Zhang Jiujie immediately understood and whispered, "There is news of a famine in Khitan, but I don't know exactly what the situation is."

The officer continued, "The Khitans said that the general should send troops as soon as possible and bring enough food. As soon as the army reaches Yingzhou, they will surrender."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuanyu crossed his hands in front of his chest, frowned, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Ma Renjie suddenly showed a fierce look on his face, sneered, slammed the table and shouted angrily: "You didn't take the benefits of the Khitans and came here to cheat!"

The officer was shocked when he heard this, and immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said, "General, please understand. I am a Han Chinese. Now that I have escaped, what benefit can I get from working for the Khitans? Moreover, all the captured brothers know about this, and you will know it once you ask!"

Seeing this, Master Cao Ren nodded to show his relief: "Yes, you have suffered. Go down and wash up and fill your stomach first."

"Thank you, General!" The officer was grateful and saluted again before slowly retreating.

Ma Renjie turned to Zhang Xuanyu and said, "General, this is the fifth one. They are all common excuses. I heard that there are hundreds of soldiers behind them. It doesn't seem like they are cheating."

However, Zhang Xuanyu remained unmoved and shook his head, saying, "Li Jinmie has evil intentions and is extremely rebellious. How could he have deceived me with such a petty trick? This must be a false surrender. We must send a large army to wipe him out."

Cao Renshi and Ma Renjie both nodded. With the banner of anti-Zhou and restoration of Tang raised, it was too late to surrender. Even if they really surrendered, they could only pretend not to see it.

Ma Renjie added: "Let's not talk about surrendering first. It seems true that the Khitans are short of food. I think we can advance quickly and catch the Khitans off guard."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuanyu slammed his desk and said loudly, "General Cao is absolutely right! I have made up my mind. I will send troops to Yingzhou tomorrow!"

Zhang Jiujie looked worried and reminded him, "General Zhang, the army has just arrived in Tanzhou. Shouldn't we take a break for a while? I heard that the troops of General Yang and General Zhao in the rear army are still on the way. Why rush?"

Zhang Xuanyu glanced at Zhang Jiujie with contempt: "We already have 30,000 elite soldiers in the front, which is enough to deal with the enemy. Speed ​​is of the essence in war, how can we miss the opportunity to fight? We don't want you to send troops, you just need to guard the grain road with General Yang who will arrive later."

"General Li Duozuo and I have already decided on our assignments. I have the final say on matters at the front. You don't need to send any troops, do you want to control me?"

Zhang Jiujie narrowed his eyes slightly, cupped his hands and said, "General, what are you talking about? I will obey your orders."

"Does anyone have any objections?" Zhang Xuanyu looked around at the generals again.

All the generals were silent.

"Okay! Since you have no objection, then follow my command: Send troops tomorrow and attack Yingzhou directly!"

(End of this chapter)