Chapter 372 Zhao Yun VS Budugen - Part 1 (1/2)
Chapter 372 – Zhao Yun VS Budugen - Part 1
May 1st, 190 A.D.
Ji Commandery
Budugen received the report that Xu Huang had moved from Beiping to Xiangping. As Ji County located west of Beiping, this was their golden chance to attack Tong's cities!
Budugen had two targets.
One was Zhongshan, which was the territory of Zhen Yi. The other one was Beiping, which Xu Huang had just left.
At first, he wanted to seize Zhongshan as it was protected by only 10,000 garrisoned police officers. However, he was afraid of Julu, where Tong's father was residing. As Julu was Tong's secondary capital city, Budugen estimated that Tong might have hidden more forces there.
Budugen's deduction was accurate. Zhang Jiao, Sima Fang, and Te Langpu established a military academy there. Therefore, Julu was their military center which continued training soldiers and police officers for years.
Each year, at least 10,000 soldiers and policemen graduated from the school, and they would be transferred to Tong's affiliated cities. Elite students with good moral character were also enlisted into an advanced military academy in Ye Capital, which they would soon join the FBI agency.
Furthermore, Julu was also a headquarter of Tong's cannon factories. Each month, a bronze wheeled cannon was produced there.
In other words, had Budugen picked Zhongshan as his target, he would have faced a reinforcement of students from this academy and Zhang Jiao's followers, including their cannon battalion.
Now, Budugen aimed to take Beiping. Once the commandery was occupied, Xu Huang would be isolated within Gongsun Du's territory. Then, their massive army would destroy itself from the lack of supplies.
.
May 10th.
Budugen mobilized his 20,000 men-army to Beiping. His force consisted of only Xian Bei horse archers.
Budugen refused to conscript forces from the local. Instead, he called his tribesmen and his supporters from his homeland here, so he could share his wealth with them.
Furthermore, all able men in Ji Commandery had already migrated to Zhongshan, Nanpi, or Julu since they heard about Gongsun Zan's death. Only elders remained in this region. Thus, Budugen could not draft the local people.
This left Ji County unprotected. Budugen had to gamble, or he would not be able to defeat the strongest powerhouse like Tong.
.
May 17th.
Budugen's deployment news reached Zhongshan. Zhen Yi, the governor of Zhongshan, was alarmed.
Zhen Yi had attempted to seduce Tong with his daughters a few years ago. Currently, most of his daughters had already married, leaving only his youngest daughter, Zhen Fu (Zhenji).
Zhen Yi finally joined Tong's clan chat this year, and he could make use of it at this moment.
The news relayed to Tong and everybody right away.
Zhao Yun: ”I'm already at Beiping. I'll take care of this.”
Tong: ”Zhen Yi, mobilize your soldiers and take over Ji County right now!”
Zhen Yi: ”It shall be done, your majesty!”
Tong: ”Wang Yun, deploy troops from Nanpi to support Beiping.”
Wang Yun: ”Understood, my lord.”
Tong: ”Zhao Yun, you're the commander of the defensive forces.”
Zhao Yun: ”I won't let you down!”
A new temporary force was formed to protect Beiping.
Meanwhile, Tian Yu brought 10,000 police officers to Linyu County. Although they were not trained for war, they had experienced with defensive tactics, such as riot management and city battles. Thus, they entered the county and maintained the order of the local civilians.
The rest of Xu Huang's reserve troops in Linyu also helped. They had already fortified the county and got ready for any surprise attack from the barbarians.
Still, none of them detected an ambush party after Xu Huang had fortified a camp on the East Linyu.
The game of patience had begun since the beginning of the month, yet nobody was aware of this but Xu Huang and other high ranking officers in the main army.
.
May 20th.
Kebineng returned to Xiangping to report their battle result to Gongsun Du.
Upon hearing that Xu Huang retreated, Gongsun Du celebrated.
”Haha! Good job, brother Kebineng! You've proved your worth!”
”It's too early to celebrate. We haven't really defeated that Silver Axe Legion yet.”
”But a win is still a win. You forced them into a retreat, so that's an achievement. Come, toast with us! Cheers!”
”…”
Kebineng had a bad feeling about Xu Huang's action. He believed that the fortification was the start of something irreversible.
.
May 23rd.
Budugen reached Beiping City without an interception from Tong's forces. He began constructing siege ladders, hoping to attack the city the next day.
To intimidate the city defenders, he also set up his camp 500 meters away from the city wall!
Zhao Yun observed the barbarian soldiers from the top of the wall with his subordinates. All followers cursed at these invaders in anger as their action was a direct slap to their face.
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However, Zhao Yun was unperturbed. As he faced many battles and experienced many failures, he learned from his mistakes.
His mind was as calm as still water. He gazed into the direction of his enemy camp as he formed a scheme to counter the barbarian's plan.
”How many of you can ride a horse?”
A sudden question of Zhao Yun shut his subordinates' mouth. They turned to their leader as they counted their men.
Several of these soldiers were the former soldiers of Gongsun Zan. After they integrated themselves into Tong's system, many of them joined Zhao Yun bodyguard battalion.
Currently, Zhao Yun was one of the exceptional people who had the right to own private troops. He had 3,000 soldiers under his command.