The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 10 Chai Rong's Determination

"Brother Yi, I heard we're not far from Huaizhou City. I can finally take a break. Apart from eating and sleeping, I've been rushing all the way. My new shoes, which I just bought, are almost worn out..."

Listening to Ma Renyu's nagging beside him, Li Yi was speechless: "We spend most of the day riding horses, how can we wear out your new shoes?"

"If your shoes are really worn out, it must be because the shoe seller took advantage of your blindness and sold you inferior shoes as good ones."

"Huh? Brother Yi, you're right." Ma Renyu didn't seem to understand the teasing in Li Yi's words, and agreed seriously, "When the battle is over and we return to Tokyo, I'll smash that guy's signboard!"

Damn! He is truly a god...

Li Yi felt that he could not communicate normally with this guy, so he could only spur his horse and trot forward a few steps to distance himself from him.

Including the day we set out from Tokyo, today is already the sixth day of the expedition.

Long-distance marches do test the physical strength of the soldiers. If Li Yi remembers correctly, Huaizhou at that time should be located in the Jiaozuo area of ​​Henan in later generations.

Walking from Tokyo City to Huaizhou City is equivalent to walking from Kaifeng across Zhengzhou to Jiaozuo.

This stretch of road is at least a hundred kilometers long. It would be too far to drive on the highway in later generations, let alone in this era.

Not only is the distance far, but we also have to sleep in the open air and the road conditions are very poor.

It was fine for people like Li Yi who rode horses. They didn't have to walk most of the way. At most, they would get off the horses and walk for a while occasionally to give both the horses and themselves a break.

In addition, they carried armor, weapons, etc., which were pulled by special ox carts and mules, and rations and utensils could also be carried by auxiliary soldiers.

But even so, traveling for a long time is not pleasant. It is not only physically exhausting, but also mentally exhausting.

The infantrymen who had to travel on foot had a really hard time, as each team could only get one mule and one pack cart.

After all, the food and supplies needed to support logistics also require a large number of livestock to pull them, and the transportation capacity is not sufficient at all.

In this case, there is definitely not enough space to carry the things of twenty or thirty people, so they try to pick up heavy items for the animals to carry, and the rest of the food and personal items have to be carried by themselves.

One person has to carry at least 20 to 30 kilograms of weight, and then has to travel for a long time, which is really a torture.

Perhaps many soldiers would pray in their hearts, hoping to get to the front line quickly so that the battle can be over sooner and there will be less trouble.

But once they finally get on the battlefield, they'll find it's easier to just grit their teeth and keep going...

……

March 16, noon.

The army of the Later Zhou Dynasty finally arrived at Huaizhou City, which was not far from Zezhou.

According to news from the front line, the Northern Han coalition left a small number of troops to besiege Luzhou, while the main force headed south to Zezhou.

The emperor ordered the army to rest for a while in Huaizhou City, and then march day and night to arrive in Zezhou before the Northern Han coalition forces.

After the order came down, many soldiers complained bitterly. They had been rushing on the road all the time, and when they arrived in Huaizhou, everyone thought they could take a break.

I didn't expect that not only did we not get a chance to rest, but we had to speed up our march. Who could stand this?

But the complaints soon stopped because two unlucky guys were the first to speak out.

Zhao Huang, the commander-in-chief of the Control Cranes Army, and Zheng Haoqian, the Tongshi Sheren, were good friends in private.

While the two were having lunch, Zhao Huang casually said, "The bandits are in high spirits, while our army is exhausted from the long journey. We should be more cautious and prudent at this time. How can we rush in rashly?"

This kind of thing would be fine if it was said in private.

But I don’t know what Zheng Haoqian is thinking. After all, he is a Tongshi Sheren. Even if he doesn’t understand military affairs, he is always by the emperor’s side, so he should be able to figure out the emperor’s intentions.

This guy didn't even bother to eat and ran to tell the emperor the words exactly as they were.

Perhaps he thought he was offering advice.

Unexpectedly, Chai Rong became furious after hearing this and asked who instructed him to say so. If he didn't give that person up, his entire family would be killed.

Zheng Haoqian was naturally terrified and sold out his friend without hesitation. Chai Rong immediately ordered Zhao Huang's military power to be taken away and imprisoned in Huaizhou Prison along with Zheng Haoqian, to be dealt with after the war.

As a result, naturally no one dared to offend anyone, and the complaints in the army disappeared without a trace.

Chai Rong's reaction showed his determination to fight to the death with the Northern Han coalition forces no matter what.

Perhaps both the Northern Han and the Khitan could not have imagined that an emperor who had just ascended the throne and did not have much military experience would be so decisive and dare to take such a huge risk to lead the army in person.

This courage alone is admirable.

……

Two days later, the army entered Zezhou, but did not enter the city. Instead, it stationed in the northeast of the city.

Afterwards, the vanguard led by the commander of the cavalry, Fan Ainen, and the commander of the infantry, He Hui, came to join them.

At the same time, he also reported the movements of the Northern Han coalition forces.

It turned out that Liu Chong, the ruler of Northern Han, had led a large army to Gaoping City, north of Zezhou, and was only a few dozen miles away from the troops of Later Zhou. The two armies would soon meet.

Chai Rong ordered the army to rest for one night and prepare to meet the enemy early the next morning.

The soldiers were somewhat unsure about the emperor's decision. When passing through Huaizhou two days ago, in order to speed up the march, Chai Rong only brought cavalry and some infantry.

For this purpose, some horses were specially freed up from the cavalry for this part of the infantry to ride.

These infantrymen are not good at fighting on horseback, but they are fine for traveling.

As for the infantry and logistical food and supplies that could not keep up, they were handed over to the rear army led by Liu Ci, the governor of Heyang.

We were already outnumbered by the enemy, and now we were in a hurry to engage in battle without waiting for the rear troops to arrive. It was inevitable that everyone felt fearful.

But Chai Rong didn't think so. He was determined to catch the Northern Han coalition forces by surprise.

In this way, even though the soldiers were unsure, they did not dare to complain because of the lessons learned from Zhao Huang and Zheng Haoqian.

"Brother Yi, why didn't His Majesty wait for the rear army to arrive before starting the battle?"

"I heard that the Han army and the Khitan army together are said to have 100,000 men. Even if they were evenly matched, that would still be 50,000 to 60,000 men. We only have less than 20,000 men now. Can we defeat them?"

In the evening, while eating, Ma Renyu showed a rare lack of confidence. His doubts might also be something that other soldiers in the army could not understand.

"Your Majesty must have his own plans. All we have to do is fight for our lives."

Li Yi had no way of answering what Chai Rong was thinking, so he could only respond casually.

As for whether or not he can defeat...

"We will definitely win!"

Li Yi is very confident about the answer to this question.

Of course, he was not just answering to Ma Renyu, he was also telling himself... this battle will definitely be won, because that's how it happened in history.

only……

However, history does not record what happened to a low-ranking lieutenant named Li Yi in the Battle of Gaoping.

It is not even certain whether this person existed in the world.

"Not only will this battle be a resounding victory, but you, Brother Ma, will also go down in history."

Li Yi added in a low voice.

Originally, he wanted to become famous through this battle.

But at this moment, he suddenly felt inexplicably uneasy... Could he really resist the inertia of history?

(End of this chapter)