Chapter 546: Besieging Yuguo

On October 15, in Guangling County, Yuguocheng Zhao Army camp, after Zhang Jie arranged everything, he led 70,000 main force of the Zhao army to retreat north to Xiapi County. Before leaving, Wen Hong, who was responsible for leaving behind the rear, personally led people to see him off.

"General, take care of yourself all the way!" Wen Hong said to Zhang Jie. Wen Hong knew that this was the last time he and Zhang Jie got along. When they met again next time, they must have been separated forever. However, Wen Hong did not resent Zhang Jie, after all, this was his own decision.

But facing Wen Hong, Zhang Jie still said with guilt: "General Wen, you only need to block Deng's army for one month. After one month, if you have the chance, you will break through. As long as you return to Xia Pi, you will be fine."

"Don't worry, General, the last general is not afraid of death, but it does not mean that they want to die. If you have the chance, you will definitely break through. I hope you will have a good time with the general." Wen Hong smiled and said. Although Wen Hong said that, it is not easy to break through under the heavy encirclement of Deng's army? Not to mention breaking through, it is a blessing to be able to block for a month.

"Report!" Just as Wen Hong and Zhang Jie were about to leave, a spy quickly came to the front and said, "Report to General, the vanguard of Deng's army is less than twenty miles away!"

"Deng's army is coming so fast!" Wen Hong murmured, and then said to Zhang Jie: "General, it is not advisable to stay here for a long time. Please leave quickly, otherwise it will be dragged down by the vanguard of the Deng army. It will not be so easy to leave when the main force of the Deng army arrives."

Zhang Jie nodded. He didn't expect that Deng Jun would come so quickly. It seemed that he could not delay any more. So he said to Wen Hong: "General Wen, take care of him!" Then he turned around and shouted loudly: "All the army obeys the orders and follow me to return to Xia Pi!"

With an order, 70,000 Zhao troops headed towards Xiapi County in a mighty manner. After watching Zhang Jie's army leave, Wen Hong said to the deputy general: "The entire army with me retreated into Yuguo City!"

Wen Hong had the idea from the beginning to use Yuguocheng to resist the Deng army. After all, facing the Deng army whose troops were far above his own, it was difficult to block the Deng army in the wilderness. Only by using Yuguocheng’s city defense can you have the opportunity to achieve it.

As for whether he was worried that the Deng army would bypass Yuguocheng and directly pursue Zhang Jie's army, Wen Hong said he was not worried at all. After all, he had 20,000 elite troops here. If the Deng army dared to pursue the entire army, he could directly attack Guangling City and give the Deng army a cauldron to remove the firewood. If the Deng army left a group of troops to besiege Yuguocheng, there would definitely not be many soldiers and horses that could be sent to pursue. With the 70,000 troops under Zhang Jie's command, it could be completely solved. Therefore, no matter what, the Deng army could not avoid Yuguocheng.

An hour later, the vanguard army of Deng's army had arrived outside Yuguo City. In order to pursue the Zhao army, Guan Yu sent Yang Zongbao, Gao Xingzhou and two others to lead 20,000 troops as vanguards, while he and Deng Ping and Jingxiang led 30,000 troops to follow, but the two armies were not too far apart.

Speaking of Yang Zongbao, when Gao Xingzhou and his two men led their troops to the Yuguo City, they looked at the closed Yuguo City, and the Zhao army on the city was as if they were facing a great enemy. They were ready for battle and did not dare to underestimate them. They lined up on the spot and sent spies to inquire about the news.

One hour later, the spy came back to report: "Reported to General Yang and General Gao, according to the people around him, two hours ago, a large number of Zhao troops led the camp to the north."

"Zong Bao, it seems that Zhang Jie has led the main force of the Zhao army to return to Xia Pi. Now the only one who stays in Yuguo City is the abandoned son left by Zhang Jie. What should we do now?" Gao Xingzhou asked Yang Zongbao.

Yang Zongbao lowered his head and thought for a while, saying, "Although the Zhao army in this city is just an abandoned son left by Zhang Jie, we don't know how many Zhao army there are in the city. If we attack rashly, it may be inappropriate. Moreover, Zhang Jie is a famous general in Zhao State. He is well aware of military affairs and can be entrusted with important tasks by him. The person who left behind the rear must be a brave and resourceful general. Let's wait until the general arrives before making a long-term plan."

Gao Xing Zhou Shen nodded with consent, and then sent someone to report to Guan Yu, who was not far behind him. As for him, he and Yang Zongbao led troops to form a formation under Yuguo City to wait for Guan Yu's arrival.

Two hours later, Guan Yu finally arrived, Gao Xingzhou and Yang Zongbao met and bowed, "Go to the General!"

After seeing Gao Xingzhou and Yang Zongbao, Guan Yu immediately stepped forward and asked, "Where is Xingzhou, Zongbao, and Zhang Jie's army?"

Yang Zongbao replied: "Return to the General, when we arrived at Yuguo City, Zhang Jie had already led the main force of the Zhao army to retreat north, and there was only one Zhao army left behind in Yuguo City. The specific number was unknown. The last generals were afraid of being attacked by Zhang Jie's trick, so they stationed here and waited for the general to arrive."

Guan Yu nodded and said, "You are doing well, military advisor, send someone to find out the truth of the Zhao army immediately. Be sure to break through Yuguo City as soon as possible, otherwise Zhang Jie will go away."

"Here!" Jing Xiang replied.

Jingxiang went down to send people to investigate the facts of the Zhao army, which was not clear in a short time. Tens of thousands of troops could not wait here in the cold wind, so Guan Yu ordered camping on the spot.

After Jing Xiang finally found out the truth of the Zhao army, he came to the central army's tent to report to Guan Yu, saying: "General, the Zhao army in the city is about 20,000 people, and the leading general is Wen Hong, one of the left and right armies under Zhang Jie."

"Wen Hong?" Guan Yu whispered, and then said: "Since the Zhao army entered Guangling County, Wen Hong has fought with our army many times. Although this person is not outstanding in ability, he is considered to be average. Moreover, he has 20,000 elite troops under his command. In addition, Yu Guocheng is under his command, it may be difficult to win the battle and decisively."

"General, this is exactly the effect Zhang Jie wants. He left Wen Hong and 20,000 troops in Yuguo City, just to prevent our army from continuing to pursue. After all, there are 20,000 people here, so it is impossible for us to bypass Yuguo City to go north. It is not possible to break Yuguo City overnight. When our army breaks Yuguo City, Zhang Jie probably has returned to Xia Pi long ago. If we want to continue chasing, we will definitely not be able to do it. It seems that we can only watch Zhang Jie return to Xia Pi safely." Jing Xiang sighed and said.

"Hmph!" Guan Yu snorted coldly and said, "Zhang Jie is indeed cunning. Well, since he can't catch Zhang Jie, he will leave Wen Hong and the 20,000 elite Zhao troops under his command. These two days are just sunny and suitable for our army to attack the city. Military advisor, you immediately contact the people of Mingjing. It is simply delusional to use Yuguo City to make this general lose his troops and lose his generals!"

It was not a matter of one or two days for Deng State to run Guangling County. There were spies with mirrors in Guangling City. Otherwise, Guan Yu would not have given up the large-scale cities of Guangling County so easily, because he knew that as long as he wanted to regain these cities, it would be easy.

Soon, the person in charge sent by Mingjing to assist the Yongping Guard in the battle came to the central army's tent.

"Ming San has met General Guan, Military Advisor Jing and all the generals!" Ming San, one of the top ten secret spies of Mingjing, was also a subordinate who was trained by Su Hong at that time. Later, after the war in the Central Plains began, Yao Guangxiao sent him to Guangling to govern all the secret spies of Mingjing in Guangling County to assist Yongpingwei.

"Mr. Ming San, I would like to know how many secret spies Mingjing has in Yuguo City?" Guan Yu asked Ming San.

Ming Sanhui said: "General Huiguan, Yuguocheng is not the main business place of Mingjing, so there are not many secret agents in the city, about a hundred, but most of them are just some non-staff personnel, and there are only a dozen real elite secret agents, but some rangers and gangsters in Yuguocheng can be used."

"Is this the only one?" Guan Yu and others were suddenly disappointed, but thinking about it, after all, the entire Guangling County is the territory of Deng State, and Mingjing's spies are definitely not as many as those in the enemy country. Moreover, Mingjing's main business places are located in important towns such as Guangling, Gaoyou, and Jiangdu, or border defense centers such as Haixi, Lingxian and Dongyang. It is also very good that a small Yu Country can have about a hundred people.

"General, it seems that it is impossible to knock on the gate of Yuguo City with the power of the mirror. Now we can only rely on ourselves." Jing Xiang sighed and said.

Guan Yu nodded and said, "That's true, but there are 20,000 Zhao troops in the city. If you attack for a strong force, even if you can finally break through the city, our army's losses will be immeasurable. I wonder what suggestions do the military advisor have?"

That's right? 50,000 people attacked the city where 20,000 people were stationed. The losses would definitely not be small. Maybe at least half of the 50,000 army would have to leave behind. After all, the strength of the Zhao army is not bad.

Jing Xiang thought for a while and said, "General, the food and grass of the Zhao army have already had problems. Now that Zhang Jie has led the main army to return to Xia Pi, he must have left few troops, horses, and food and grass. The first thing Zhang Jie did after returning to Xia Pi was to pacify Yu Qi from Xia Pi. He would not go south in a short time. Why don't we leave a group of troops stationed outside Yuguo City and recover other cities in Guangling County first? After the Zhao army was out of ammunition and food, how about siege the city?"

"We have to do this. Then we will wait until the Zhao army has run out of ammunition and food. We will not believe that the Zhao army's food and grass can be eaten for a long time." Guan Yu nodded and said.

After discussion, it was finally decided that Deng Ping and Yang Zongbao would lead their troops to recover Zhucheng, Guangling County, which was lost to the Zhao army. Guan Yu and Gao Xingzhou personally led 30,000 elite troops outside Yuguo City, and sent Jing Xiang back to Guangling City to escort a batch of food and grass.

After Yang Zongbao and Deng Ping led their troops to leave, in just over ten days, they successively recovered Gaoyou, Dongyang, Tangyi, Ping'an, Haixi, Lingxian, Sheyang and other places, and recovered the entire Guangling County. The reason why they could march so quickly was that after the Zhao army retreated north, there were very few defenders left, which was like an empty city. Yang Zongbao and Deng Ping recovered all the cities with almost no effort.
Chapter completed!