A glimmer of hope arose in Zhong Shidao's heart and said quickly: "Let the soldiers who report the letter come in!"

After a moment, a soldier walked into the door and knelt down on one knee to present a battle report. "The latest battle report in Hebei, please read it!"

Zhong Shidao took the battle report and opened it and read it quickly. He slapped the table with excitement, "Okay!"

Zhang Shuye and Zong Ze were both startled and asked quickly: "But Hebei's good news?"

Zhong Shidao nodded, "Hebei Liangshan Army has been destroyed north of Gaotang County, and the commander Zhang Cen died in the chaos."

Zhang Shuye and Zong Ze were both surprised and happy. This disappearance came too timely, which would inevitably greatly boost the morale of the army. Zhong Shidao gave the battle report to the two, and he asked the report of the soldiers again, "How are we casualties?"

"In the last battle, we only suffered a dozen brothers."

Zhong Shidao was surprised, "How could it be?"

The soldier reported the situation of the last battle in detail to Zhong Shidao. The more he heard it, the more surprised he was, he actually followed him for six days and six nights before he started to annihilate the enemy. Even if he could not do this patience and tenacity, he secretly praised him. He did not read the wrong person. Li Yanqing did have the foundation of a famous general.

Zhang Shuye gave a thumbs up and praised: "You can be tenacious and patiently look for opportunities for war. This person will definitely be the pillar of my Song Dynasty to resist foreign races in the future. The general is wise to know people!"

Zhang Shuye has always not understood why Zhong Shidao valued Li Yanqing so much. Now he finally understood that he led two thousand troops into Hebei and finally annihilated tens of thousands of Liangshan troops. This is indeed not something that ordinary people can do.

"The general must report good news to the emperor immediately!" Zong Ze said with a smile beside him.

Zhong Shidao nodded, and he immediately stamped his seal on Li Yanqing's battle report, and sent several soldiers to Bianjing to report the news with the soldiers sent by Li Yanqing.

Zhong Shidao's confidence suddenly increased greatly. He sent another soldier to Gaotang County to deliver a letter to Li Yanqing, allowing him to go south to Qizhou.

It was not so easy for Li Yanqing to go south to Qizhou. He first had to properly solve the problem of resettlement of the township soldiers. Of course, the township soldiers could not be disbanded. Li Yanqing rushed to Daming Prefecture and handed over the 10,000 township soldiers recruited by Daming Prefecture to Liang Zhongshu, who was responsible for allocating these 10,000 township soldiers between Daming Prefecture and Bozhou. Daming Prefecture needed to add defenders, and Bozhou also needed soldiers to defend the city.

As for the four thousand township soldiers in Xiangzhou, Li Yanqing left behind two thousand young and strong men, and the remaining two thousand were handed over to the Xiangzhou regiment and the regent officer Zhang Changyi to bring back to Anyang County. The previous order for the Privy Council to transfer troops to Xiangzhou and Daming Prefecture to participate in the suppression of bandits. When the bandits were eliminated, the soldiers returned to the villages were deported. The order for the dispatch was not clearly limited to the bandits in Hebei. Of course, he understood it as the bandits in Liangshan, so the order for the suppression of bandits across the Yellow River did not disobey the order.

At the Yellow River Wharf in Yucheng County, Qizhou, ten large ships arrived at the wharf one after another. A thousand infantry rushed out of the ship, quickly assembled on the wharf, deployed defenses on the wharf to prevent the Liangshan army from attacking the wharf.

Li Yanqing only had ten large ships, and these ships had to transport at least a dozen trips before they could transport all soldiers, war horses, livestock and food to the south bank. It is the top priority to ensure the safety of the wharf.

In fact, Li Yanqing's worries were a little unnecessary. Not long after the first batch of soldiers arrived ashore, the magistrate of Yucheng County hurried to the dock.

"I'm here Liu Guang, the magistrate of Yucheng. Who is your lord?" the magistrate asked loudly.

Lu Fei walked up and said, "Our Lord is still on the other side, and I am responsible for it. What's wrong with you?"

The magistrate Liu Guang turned around and waved his hand. Dozens of large trucks came up, including grain and dozens of fat pigs. He clasped his fists and said, "This is the little intention our county has given to his brothers. I beg the general to lead his army to station in our county."

Lu Fei asked strangely: "Are there no Liangshan bandits stationed in Yucheng County?"

Liu Guang shook his head, "Yucheng is a small county, and the bandits in Liangshan are not favored. In the past, when the bandits in Liangshan passed by, they did not enter the city. However, there were thousands of bandits in Liangshan who were stationed in Licheng County."

"Since the Liangshan rioters look down on Yucheng County, why did the magistrate invite us to camp again?"

Lu Fei was very smart. He heard some contradictory points in the magistrate's words. Liu Guang sighed, "It is estimated that the Liangshan bandits will give up Qizhou. Song Jiang asked Qizhou to raise 50,000 stones of grain, which was divided into 8,000 stones of grain. We don't have so much food. The people in the county are very afraid that the Liangshan bandits come to the county town to grab the grain. Everyone was panic. He heard that the officers and soldiers had crossed the river to the south bank, and everyone unanimously asked me to invite the officers and soldiers to Yuzhou to station."

Only then did Lu Fei understand the magistrate’s intention. At this time, a soldier shouted: “The commander has disembarked!”

When Lu Fei turned around, he saw that the second group of troops began to disembark. The one who came down from the first ship was their chief general Li Yanqing. Lu Fei hurriedly told the magistrate Liu Guang: "Our chief will come, I will take you to see him."

Liu Guang was overjoyed and hurriedly followed Lu Fei to meet Li Yanqing, "Liu Guang, the magistrate of Yucheng, was in charge of General Li!"

Yucheng County is a small county, and the magistrate is only a small official from the eighth rank, while Li Yanqing is a seventh rank censor. Not only is the rank higher than him, but he also has the power to supervise. Of course, Liu Guang didn't know. If he knew, his attitude would only be more respectful.

Lu Fei told Li Yanqing about Liu Guang's purpose. Li Yanqing looked at several carts of fat pigs and smiled and said, "Thank you very much for Liu Magistrate Liu's intentions, but please don't worry. If the Liangshan bandits in Licheng County knew that we were coming, they would no longer have the idea of ​​collecting grain."

Li Yanqing led his army to wipe out the Liangshan bandits in Hebei. His tone of speaking had invisibly a strong self-confidence, which manifested as a majesty, which made the magistrate Liu Guang dare not question Li Yanqing's conclusion. He had to nod and said, "I hope the general can lead his army to quickly suppress the bandits and restore the peace of Qizhou."

Li Yanqing said to Lu Fei again: "Send two brothers to see the situation in Yucheng County. If the city wall is tall and thick enough, you can temporarily regard it as our logistics center."

"I will go check it out in person now." Lu Fei and several soldiers followed the magistrate Liu Guang to the county town.

Yucheng County is located 30 miles away from the Yellow River Wharf, while Licheng County is fifty miles away from Yucheng County, which is about 80 miles away from the Yellow River Wharf.

Li Yanqing learned from the information he has so far that the Liangshan Army had only 3,000 troops stationed in Licheng County, which was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If he could take Licheng County, he would undoubtedly have a dagger inserted into the back of Yunzhou. Song Jiang's army was working hard to deal with the main force of the Zhong Shidao Army who was attacking the north, and he did not realize the danger from Qizhou at all.

He had to seize Licheng County before Song Jiang realized that Qizhou was important and began to increase troops to Qizhou. At this time, Li Yanqing changed his mind and suddenly he had a wonderful plan to seize the city.

The next day, just dawn, about five miles north of Licheng County, a grain convoy transported by 300 mule carts was heading towards Licheng County.

At this time, in the Beisonggang forest about two miles northwest of Licheng County, a cavalry of more than a thousand people had been lurking for a long time. They sneaked into the woods with the help of the night cover at the fifth hour. From the woods, the city wall and the north gate could be clearly seen. Li Yanqing looked at the far-reaching grain transport team. He turned around and whispered: "I'll order all brothers to prepare for attack!"

The soldiers were ready to fight, waiting for the final order to attack

The city gate had just opened, and hawkers and vegetable farmers waiting outside the city immediately flocked in. At this time, the grain transport team gradually approached the city gate.

There were about a hundred soldiers guarding the city, shouting at the top of the city for the capital: "Where did the team come from?"

County magistrate Yao Qing hurriedly stepped forward and said, "I am Yao County magistrate of Yucheng County, and I come to deliver food under the order of the magistrate!"

Yao Qing often came to Licheng County. The officers knew him. The head of the guard city knew that their general distributed 8,000 stones of grain to Yucheng. He sneered and said, "No other counties have come. Your county is the most active. Is it too little to distribute to you?"

"There is a lot of food! We are also very nervous. Now we can only come half of it first and send our other half in a few days."

"Hmph! You County Magistrate Liu knows the knowledgeable person."

Duota waved his hand at the top of the city, "Go up and take a look!"

Several soldiers rushed forward, checked dozens of mule carts in a row, and ran over and said, "It's true that they are all food!"

Dutou nodded and ordered: "Open the city gate and let them enter the city!"

The city gate was originally only a small gap, but now it is creaking and 300 mulemen are driving their mule carts to quickly drive into the city.

Dutou came down from the city and stood by the city gate waiting for the county magistrate. He wanted to get some more benefits. At this time, he found that the mule tycoons were all very strong, majestic, and their backs were straight, not like mule tycoons selling coolies. Especially the man in front of him was extremely tall and strong. He suddenly became suspicious and shouted: "Stop everything, who are you?"
Chapter completed!