My vicious dog, my horse, I can do whatever I want with it

"Then I'll have to trouble Captain Wang a lot in the future." Zong Yanli smiled and bowed.

"Of course." Wang Kangcheng looked at some military supplies at Zong Yanli's feet and asked, "When do you plan to set off?"

"We will take a short rest and set off in two days." Zong Yanli estimated for a moment and said in a deep voice.

"Okay." Wang Kangcheng nodded in agreement, helped Zong Yanli count the military supplies, and called several other team leaders to discuss matters.

Nankang was just a small country compared to Gao State, and Zong Yanli only led 300 troops to provide assistance this time.

At this time, the State of Wu was still focusing on the war against the State of Gao. Now that the Princess of Gao had come to the capital, the State of Wu would turn around and swallow Nankang once the marriage arrangements were finalized. This was also the biggest war that Zong Yanli had faced in his previous life.

Although Nankang was a small country, it was not easy to annex it. The war lasted for three years.

And now, it’s just the beginning.

On the day when Zong Yanli sent out his troops, Zong Yanhongjing did not show up. This was not a big deal for Pingnan Camp, but Yang Liqun personally saw him off. In front of the military camp, Yang Liqun patted Zong Yanli on the shoulder and said, "Be careful. This general is waiting for your good news in Pingnan Camp."

"I will definitely fulfill your mission!" Zong Yanli bowed and said.

"Go! Let the people of Nankang see the power of our Pingnan Camp!" Yang Liqun waved his hand, and a team of 300 people set out on the journey back to Nankang to provide assistance.

The pass guarded by Hu Zhiyong was called Yongmen Pass, and the terrain was relatively high with many valleys and cliffs.

The march will take about five days, or three if we are fast.

As they entered the cliff canyon, Zong Yanli knew that they were not far from Yongmen Pass.

"How is the battle going at Yongmen Pass?" When the army took a break, Zong Yanli and Wang Kangcheng sat together with several other team leaders.

"Not ideal. Our army has no more than 2,000 soldiers left to guard Yongmen Pass." Wang Kangcheng took out the map sand table and said, "It is winter now. Nankang is short of supplies. It is too bold to want to spend the winter looting our villages and towns inside the pass. Although they are scattered, the initial estimate is that there are at least 5,000 soldiers."

"Our army won because of the excellent terrain, but it is a little difficult for two thousand people to face five thousand people." Wang Kangcheng said, pointing to the location of Yongmen Pass.

"This time we come to reinforce, we must catch them off guard, disperse Nankang, and then cooperate with General Hu to swallow them up one by one." Wang Kangcheng took the initiative to speak up and make suggestions. This is also the best strategy. Although the enemy has a large number of troops, they lack discipline. Once they are dispersed, they will be like headless flies.

"Yeah." Zong Yanli nodded. She thought more about how to act in a way that would cause the least loss to our army.

"Which way do most of the grain and merchants go in Yongmenguan?" Zong Yanli looked carefully and asked again.

"This area has many rocky cliffs and the land is barren and not suitable for farming. The people should be farming here." Another team pointed and said, "According to the news, the places where Nankang looted most of the time are downstream of the river, which is this area."

"Where is the Nankang garrison?" Zong Yanli asked again.

"The troops are stationed behind the canyon, occupying a steep terrain that is difficult to capture." Wang Kangcheng thought that Zong Yanli wanted to attack the enemy camp directly, so he quickly spoke out to object.

"So, if the enemy comes to reinforce, they won't come so quickly?" Zong Yanli's mind was full of thoughts.

"Notify everyone to march at night and speed up!" Zong Yanli suddenly stood up and said.

"The soldiers who marched overnight will probably be too tired to fight when they reach Yongmen Pass," Wang Kangcheng said hurriedly.

"We won't go to Yongmen Pass." Zong Yanli pointed to the outside of the pass on the map and said, "Lure the snake out of its hole."

After a brief moment of confusion, Wang Kangcheng immediately understood what Zong Yanli had asked him. His eyes lit up and he asked, "Are you planning to set up an ambush here?"

Zong Yanli raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "I'm afraid Nankang has also guessed the news of our army's return, but they certainly didn't expect that we would march in the night and arrive ahead of time, clearing out the villages and towns to set up an ambush."

Nankang must have been in urgent need of food and fodder as they had looted villages and towns several times.

If Zong Yanli wants to lure out this snake, he has to use the right strategy, and the grain is the best bait.

There is a squire in Qinghe Township who recently hired a lot of laborers to go to Kangcun. I heard that they were going to transport grain. There were too many villages and towns looted by people from Nankang. The squire had a sum of grain in Kangcun and had never gone to get it. Now that the war has broken out, it seems that he is going to transport the grain and escape.

But no one in the surrounding towns is willing to take this job.

It’s not that the money was not enough, but the Xicun below Kangcun had just been looted by a group of bandits from Nankang a few days ago, and countless people were killed!

Who knows, the next one might be Kangcun. Going to Kangcun at this time would be like asking for death.

The country gentleman named Cao was running around the street in a panic, and the price he offered was higher each time. Others advised him to give up and just consider the little bit of grain as a charity and not take it.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Cao insisted on going, which caused speculation from others. Mr. Cao said that it was just a little grain, but the amount might be quite large. It was said that Mr. Cao collected a lot of grain before the New Year, but no one knew where it went afterwards.

Others say that it might not be grain, but gold or treasure!

There will always be brave men when there is a big reward. Within two days, Mr. Cao disappeared, saying that he had gathered people to go to Kang Village, which made the people of Qinghe Township sigh.

No one noticed that the man who was drinking tea at a tea stall somewhere got up and hurried away after hearing what was said.

"Is it true?" At the Nankang camp, General Ma Hongwei's eyes lit up when he heard the report from the scout. He stood up and asked, "How much food do we have?"

"I don't know about this, but the country gentleman named Cao is a well-known wealthy family in Qinghe Township. I believe he has stored a lot of grain!" The cleverly disguised Nankang spy replied in a low voice.

"Qinghe Township is not close to Kang Village. Why did he store grain there?" Ma Hongwei was puzzled.

"Well, then I don't know..." The spy was not from Wu either. He thought for a moment and said, "Shall I go and check again?"

Ma Hongwei immediately stretched out his hand to stop him: "No need!"

He gritted his teeth and paced in the tent, saying, "Wu State will definitely send reinforcements, and the closest one is the Chen family army in Pingnanying!"

"Gaoguo negotiated peace with them. Now the commander of Pingnan Camp has been replaced. His last name seems to be Zongyan." Ma Hongwei said with a laugh, "There will be a tough battle to fight. We are short of food right now. We must go to Kang Village."

"Go and ask Zhou Hui to come see me!" Ma Hongwei narrowed his eyes and said, "We'll know if it's true or not if we go and check it out."

"Yes!"

Nankang stared at the meat with envy, but did not act rashly. He first went to check whether there was any unusual movement at Yongmen Pass, and then sent scouts to check whether there were any signs of marching on the road from Pingnanying. After making sure that there was nothing unusual, he launched an attack on Kang Village.

At this time, Zong Yanli was wearing cloth clothes and straw sandals, with a bucket beside him, and was sleeping under a tree at the entrance of Kang Village.