Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Various rumors, a jumbled mess, and contradictory among themselves.

Yue Fei's nighttime threats accelerated the spread of rumors within the city.

Even without any elaborate fabrication, the panicked soldiers and civilians of Western Xia were already creating and spreading rumors themselves.

Rumors originating from the public quickly affected officials and soldiers.

After daybreak, although Yue Fei had led his army and disappeared without a trace, the people of Xingqing Prefecture were still filled with fear and anxiety.

Li Renzhong selected brave men and once again sent them out of the city to seek reinforcements.

Those seeking help went in three directions: some went southwest to Shunzhou, some went due south to Jingzhou, and some went due east to Huaizhou.

Yue Fei deliberately let these messengers go; he still hadn't given up on besieging the city and attacking reinforcements.

……

Huaizhou City.

The second wave of messengers seeking help has arrived, delivering Li Ren'ai's handwritten letter to Wang Cunli.

After reading the letter, Wang Cunli felt even more conflicted.

On the very day Yue Fei approached Xingqing Prefecture, Wang Cunli had already received a letter requesting assistance.

Chapter 3795 Grassland

He dispatched light cavalry to scout ahead while simultaneously sending someone to inform Richard.

Richard, with 20,000 cavalry, was stationed at several pastures on the edge of the desert.

Li Yanxian is currently stationed in Yanzhou, overseeing the allocation of grain and troops.

Zhong Yanchong and Xiao Heda are leading the vanguard and are heading towards Huaizhou City.

However, the march was extremely slow because the supply convoys were attacked several times.

Both sides were having a very difficult time.

Because Li Yanxian led the main force to stay put in Yanzhou, Richard could only launch small-scale raids on the grain supplies time and time again, trying to lure the Ming army in Yanzhou deeper into the territory.

The reason Li Yanxian stayed in Yanzhou was because there was a problem with the transport of grain supplies—Wang Cunli's retreat was too swift.

Li Yanxian's troops were pursuing too fast, which suddenly stretched the supply lines, causing the baggage trains to fall behind.

Furthermore, all of Li Yanxian's generals were eager to fight, wanting to quickly pursue and capture Huaizhou so they could directly take Xingqing Prefecture.

Wang Cunli was a terrible fighter, and the Ming army won too easily. The entire army was filled with a sense of complacency and arrogance.

They believed that there was no need to worry about food supplies; as long as they pursued the enemy relentlessly, the enemy would inevitably collapse, and they could easily conquer and destroy the Western Xia!

"General Li, another batch of provisions arrived yesterday, and the entire army can now set off," Zhang Xian suggested.

Li Yanxian shook her head: "It's not enough. We need to stockpile more grain and fodder here."

"Then take more laborers and transport grain with the army all the way to Huaizhou."

Yao Pingzhong said, "It's only three hundred li from Yanzhou to Huaizhou."

“Leave an army to garrison Yanzhou so that supplies can be continuously transported in.”

"As for the food supplies for the front-line troops, they can be transported from Yanzhou, which is 300 li away."

"How did the enemy cut off our supply lines? With just that Wang Cunli? Would he dare to leave the city and cut off our food supply?"

"If he sends out fewer troops, the grain transport team can handle it."

"He has sent out too many troops; we can turn back and annihilate them all!"

“General Yao is right,” Zhang Xian couldn’t help but say.

Yao Pingzhong said anxiously, "If we don't advance our troops quickly, Xingqing Prefecture will be captured by our allies!"

They've lost their minds in their eagerness to claim credit.

Or rather, knowing full well the potential danger, they were willing to gamble for the glory of conquering a nation.

Li Yanxian reassured him, "Three days, just three more days. You two should send your generals with more cavalry to scout around. I have a feeling that there are still enemies hiding somewhere."

“If Yanzhou City is more fortified, I will agree to your strategy.”

"But Yanzhou City is low and dilapidated. If we use it as a grain transfer point, it will be easy for the enemy to break through and cut off our food supply after our main force leaves."

Zhang Xian said, "Just leave plenty of thunderbolts inside the city!"

Li Yanxian shook his head: "Wang Cunli has many infantrymen under his command. They are good at crossing mountains and climbing city walls, and they are fearless in battle."

"If a fierce general leads his troops to launch a forced attack on the city regardless of casualties, Yanzhou City may not be able to hold out."

Yao Pingzhong said, "Then let the garrison troops and laborers gathered in Yanzhou pretend to be elite troops and follow the main force to attack Huaizhou, so as to lure the enemy to attack Yanzhou."

"We'll secretly leave behind a few thousand elite troops, and not station many soldiers on the city walls, so we can suddenly attack when the enemy arrives!"

Li Yanxian smiled and said, "That's a good idea."

Chapter 3796 Deployment Vulnerabilities

Li Yanxian's "main force" finally moved, because they were "in a hurry" to get there.

Without deploying a large number of cavalry for cover, they were quickly "detected" by Richard's light cavalry.

"No rush, let them march for another two days." Richard felt he had found a loophole in the Ming army.

"Da da da da..."

A messenger arrived on horseback and delivered a letter requesting help to Richard.

This is the first request for help; the second request for help has not yet been sent.

After reading the letter, Richard was not in a great hurry; he immediately replied to the Western Xia court.

The reply can be summarized as follows:

First, even if Keyimen were to be breached, it couldn't possibly happen so quickly.

The Ming army must have come from the desert.

Secondly, if they came from the desert, then their numbers must be small.

Moreover, they didn't bring much food or provisions.

Third, the Ming army was short of soldiers and supplies, making it impossible for them to capture Xingqing Prefecture.

It would also be impossible to capture Huaizhou, which was heavily fortified.

Fourth, the garrison troops of all cities should not send out troops to rescue indiscriminately, lest they be besieged and their reinforcements attacked by the southward-bound Ming army (Yue Fei).

Xingqing Prefecture, hold it to the death. Huaizhou, also hold it to the death!

Fifth, Keyimen should have divided his forces and marched south, but not to retake Dingzhou, as that would have been too dangerous and likely to result in defeat. Instead, he should have crossed the Yellow River to the west, established fortifications, and blocked Yue Fei's escape route if he ran out of food.

If the Western Xia could truly strictly implement Richard's plan,

So Yue Fei couldn't accomplish anything in the Yinchuan Basin.

They might even be wiped out due to running out of food.

But Richard overlooked two things.

First, he didn't treat the displaced people outside Huaizhou City as human beings.

Therefore, they subconsciously ignored it.

Secondly, he did not realize how terrified the emperor, his officials, soldiers, and civilians in the Western Xia capital were, as the emperor would send letter after letter pleading for help.

If Richard doesn't go back, Wang Cunli will definitely not be able to withstand the pressure and will eventually have to lead troops to rescue Xingqing Prefecture.

Even Ren Dejing might not be able to withstand the pressure, leading to the loss of Jingzhou due to the division of troops to return and reinforce it, allowing Deng Chun's army to advance unimpeded.

Either of these two points is extremely fatal.

But Richard had no choice; he had too few chips to play.

This is his only chance to defeat one of the Ming armies; he cannot possibly lead his troops back.

Otherwise, even if Richard went back and annihilated Yue Fei, Li Yanxian's army could still take the opportunity to attack Huaizhou City.

The Ming army had a full load of bombs, four twos, four aces, and two kings, while Richard only had four threes.

How could he possibly split the only four 3s?

Then play a set of straights and three-of-a-kind, and still have a bunch of loose cards left in your hand?

"Traitor! Traitor! How dare he not return to rescue the emperor?"

In Huaizhou City, Wang Cunli was both surprised and furious upon receiving Richard's reply.

Wang Cunli wanted to lead his army to rescue Xingqing Prefecture, but he was terrified of the Ming army and worried that he would be besieged and attacked by reinforcements.

That's why we're staying put, and we need Richard to come back and lead the troops.

But Richard didn't reply, which infuriated Wang Cunli.

Suddenly, a commotion arose outside the mansion. Wang Cunli summoned his personal guards to inquire, "What's going on outside?"

Just then, a personal guard ran up to report: "Father-in-law, the chieftains of various tribes are requesting an audience, saying they can no longer control their soldiers."

"More than 100,000 people from outside the city came from hundreds of miles away, and they were all the soldiers' family members or clansmen."

"There are rumors circulating in the city that 30,000 Ming troops are marching south, and if they cannot capture Huaizhou, they will slaughter all the civilians outside the city."

Chapter 3797 Hidden Away

This rumor was spread by Li Cunhui.

Upon hearing this, Wang Cunli was utterly bewildered; he truly did not know what to do.

Fifty thousand troops suddenly appeared in Huaizhou City, and civilian houses were also cleared out to store large quantities of grain and fodder.

Where can we find a place to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people?

Moreover, the people who came from afar brought their belongings with them, including four or five hundred thousand head of cattle and sheep.

These people were originally intended to be resettled outside Xingqing Prefecture.

They remained stationary because Yue Fei suddenly attacked.

If people are allowed to move into the city, then cattle and sheep must also move into the city.

If only ordinary people or only cattle and sheep are allowed in, it will cause great chaos.

But they couldn't really stay outside the city; if they left the people outside, the soldiers inside the city would cause trouble.

Leaving cattle and sheep outside is a way to send food to Yue Fei.

Wang Cunli summoned the tribal chiefs, and after some discussion, they decided to let the people and livestock into the city.

Even in the most crowded places, people can still squeeze in; they can sleep right next to each other on the street.

Wang Cunli dispatched a large number of light cavalry to first observe whether there were any enemy troops nearby.

Then they carefully let the people into the city.

Li Cunhui also led a cavalry unit and was sent out to scout out the enemy's situation.

“Commander, have we gone too far?” a cavalryman asked.

Li Cunhui said, "How can we scout out the enemy's situation if we don't go further?"

"That's enough, we've already covered several miles."

"Ten miles isn't enough! Your families are all outside the city. If the Ming army suddenly attacks, will they have time to get into the city?"

Li Cunhui led his cavalry for more than ten miles before arriving at a village to rest.

They had just entered and were dismounting to feed the animals when a large number of Ming soldiers rushed out from the surrounding villages.

Li Cunhui smiled and stopped his men: "We're all on the same side, put down your bows and arrows."

Seeing that the Ming army did not charge and that their superiors were confident, the Western Xia cavalrymen also gave up fighting desperately in a confused state.

Li Cunhui asked, "Do you want to live?"