ushernet Chapter 173 Taking risks
Chapter 173 Taking risks
The team continued to move forward and were about to reach the mouth of a canyon, which was called Fengjiao Gorge and was the best location for the enemy to ambush.
Watching Wu Guangyao leave, Chu Chengxiong looked at Jiang Fan and said, "Old Eight, if you tell them about the danger like this, aren't you afraid that they will be afraid to fight?"
Jiang Fan heard this, shook his head and said nothing.
Chu Chengrui said, "If we don't tell them, they might get into trouble! After all, if they are attacked by bandits without knowing anything, they won't even be prepared. Even if they have been trained for a long time, they will still get into trouble."
"I told you, they can still prepare. As long as we block the first wave of attacks, that's when we can counterattack!"
Hearing Chu Chengrui's words, Chu Chengxiong showed a thoughtful look in his eyes and nodded slightly.
Although Chu Chengxiong has good fighting skills, he basically doesn't need to use his brain because his brothers and sisters are extremely smart.
Therefore, most of the time, he just followed orders and did not think enough.
In the final analysis, he is just a bit lazy by nature and doesn't want to think. Why should he bother thinking when there are people ready to help him think?
But this doesn't mean that he is really brainless. He can understand many things at a glance!
Seeing him nod, Jiang Fan smiled. He had to find a chance to change this guy's habit of not using his brain.
Otherwise, when he is left to take charge of things on his own one day, it will be too late to train his brain!
"Xiao Qi, go help Wu Guangyao. You will each lead a thousand men. Remember, if the enemy attacks, stop the first wave of attacks. Lao Liu, the two hundred white-robed cavalrymen are now in your hands!"
He gave orders to the Chu brothers.
The two brothers nodded seriously when they heard this. They usually laughed and joked, but when it came to serious matters, they were in the right state.
On one side of the canyon entrance not far ahead, several young and middle-aged men looked at the slowly advancing grain and grass troops with flickering eyes.
One of the bearded men said to the middle-aged man dressed as a scholar beside him:
"Master Lu, do we really have to attack them? If we do so, aren't we afraid of breaking the tacit understanding between us and the court? Don't forget that we have the Eighth Prince, the favorite of Emperor Yan, here. If we really kill him, Emperor Yan will send a large army to encircle and suppress us, and our entire Lianyun Eighteen Villages will probably be wiped out!"
"Yes, the Eighth Prince is responsible for expelling the Northern Mongols. If we kill him, the Northern Mongols will really use Jinzhou to invade the heartland of the Central Plains. I'm afraid that our Lianyun Eighteen Villages will also suffer! The whole world will also spurn us!"
On the other side, a man in blue who looked to be in his thirties said with some hesitation.
The remaining five young and middle-aged men also had different expressions, and they all looked at the middle-aged scholar in the lead.
The middle-aged scholar heard this with a trace of disdain on his lips. He glanced at everyone and said, "Do you think that if we kill Jiang Fan, Emperor Yan is really capable of avenging his son?"
"The Great Yan is now in turmoil. It may be destroyed by the Great Western Dynasty and the Northern Mongolia at any time. It is difficult for the Emperor of Yan to fight against them, let alone against us."
"As for relying on the Eighth Prince to defeat Beimeng, haha... a useless prince who has never even left the palace a few times, even if he has performed amazingly recently, what kind of ability can he have? This is a war, not a game of house, not a conspiracy. Relying on him to defeat Beimeng is ridiculous!"
"Even if he is not there, there will be others to deal with Beimeng. Even if the world spurns us by then, so what? Are we afraid of being spurned?"
"Everyone, don't forget that the first, third, and fifth princes have all agreed to the benefits we can get. As long as Jiang Fan is killed, when any of them ascends the throne, they will establish Bingzhou as a country within China."
"Everyone, if Leng becomes the emperor, you will all be meritorious ministers, and it won't be a problem for you to be crowned as kings or marquises! Are you sure you don't want such a benefit?"
Having said this, the middle-aged scholar glanced coldly at the people around him.
As soon as he said this, most people's faces were filled with joy. To be crowned as a king or a marquis, this was too tempting for those of them who were used to being bandits!
The bearded middle-aged man who spoke first lowered his head helplessly. He didn't want to be crowned a king or a marquis, he just wanted to live a stable life.
But he couldn't afford to offend the person in front of him. To offend him would be to seek death.
This group of people were none other than Leng Yunao, the leader of the Eighteen Villages of Lianyun, and the seven village chiefs he brought with him.
On this trip, their eight villages gathered a total of 10,000 soldiers to kill Jiang Fan and even wanted to seize his food and supplies.
Unfortunately, Jiang Fan left the food and grass in Huaining County, which made their plan fail.
However, although they could not seize the food, they did not give up on killing Jiang Fan.
The promises of the three princes really made Leng Yunao excited. All he had to do was get rid of Jiang Fan, the most powerful heir to the throne.
The remaining three princes will become the final strong contenders for the throne. No matter who comes to the throne, they can achieve their own hegemony.
They didn't even worry that the three princes would dare to disobey. If the three princes dared to go back on their word, they would expose what happened today. With such a handle in hand, what else did they have to fear!
Except for the bearded middle-aged man, the remaining six village chiefs were extremely excited, and everyone hurried down to mobilize their troops.
At this time, the two thousand food and fodder troops led by Jiang Fan, plus the five hundred civilian laborers who had been trained as soldiers, and two hundred lightly armored heavy cavalry had arrived at the canyon.
Chu Chengxiong and Wu Guangyao each led a team of a thousand people and marched on the left and right, with light armor and heavy cavalry in the middle supporting them from the rear. Five hundred civilians were holding bows and arrows, carrying bamboo mines, and pushing carriages to be protected in the middle.
Although they had trained for more than ten days, Jiang Fan did not have high hopes for them because the civilian laborers were not regular soldiers.
So, along the way, in addition to physical training, they were only trained in bow and arrow shooting.
Their task is to serve as artillery and launch bamboo bombs with bows and arrows, with no requirement for accuracy!
The bows and arrows used by the civilians were prepared by Jiang Fan and Zhu Lei in Huaining a long time ago.
In addition to the necessary marching rations and fodder, the rest of the hundreds of grain transport vehicles were loaded with these strategic materials.
Chu Chengxiong was on the left. He looked at the dense forest on the left, frowned, and fighting spirit surged in his eyes.
Wu Guangyao on the right side was also eager to fight, but he was extremely nervous.
The food and fodder soldiers and civilians under his command were also extremely nervous at this time.
They had never participated in a battle, and even after training for so long, they were still extremely timid when they knew that there might be a big battle soon.
Just after the large group of people entered the canyon, the bandits ambushing on both sides had quietly approached through the dense forest.
Standing on one of the hidden boulders, Lianyun Alliance leader Leng Yunao curled his lips in disdain. He said sarcastically:
"Humph... Emperor Yan actually placed his hopes of defeating Northern Mongolia on this useless guy who doesn't know how to march. How ridiculous!"
He had already noticed the nervous expressions of the imperial troops below.
These people knew there might be an ambush, and although they had prepared for it, they simply walked through the canyon like this, which was simply sending themselves into an encirclement. There was not even a single strategy.