To be able to peacefully capture Shuangli City without losing a single soldier, without any casualties, even though Xiao Changyi’s face remained expressionless and utterly dignified, he was quite pleased in his heart.
An Jing was also happy.
The other soldiers were also happy.
Xiao Changyi slightly turned his head, and after exchanging a glance with An Jing, he mounted his horse, and with Qiao Shouye leading the way, they headed to the military headquarters of Shuangli City.
It took three days for Xiyun to completely take over Shuangli City.
After resting for five more days, seeing that the troops had rested enough, Xiao Changyi decided to continue the march. However, this ti, Xiao Changyi planned to divide the forces into three routes, with himself, Qi Tengfei, and Liu Buli each leading their own army, converging at a location twenty li away from the Chilin Imperial City.
The reason for splitting into three routes and each attacking their own city was entirely because the Emperor of Chilin had now moved most of his forces to the Imperial City, leaving few troops in other cities. And even if there were forces, a large portion were weak soldiers, incapable of resisting; if they divided their forces into three routes, the ti to flatten Chilin would be considerably shortened.
Of course, this was also thanks to Qiao Shouye who had inford Xiao Changyi of everything. Otherwise, their army would still be marching together.
"General Qiao, are you willing to join Su Mou in attacking the Imperial City?" On the eve of leaving Shuangli City, Xiao Changyi asked Qiao Shouye.
Qiao Shouye was slightly taken aback. Generally, those who surrender are not trusted enough to be asked to join a major battle, are they?
Xiao Changyi continued, "General Qiao is brave and skilled in battle, stationed in this city is a waste of talent. My Emperor values ability, and you are a talented individual; if Su Mou does not make good use of you, upon return, My Emperor would bla ."
Qiao Shouye, with reddening old eyes, clasped his fists and said, "This General is willing, and will by no ans betray the trust of the Emperor and the Great General!"
He was once a great general who dominated the battlefield; how could he be content just guarding this city?
Moreover, being insignificant and having little influence, as long as he is used more, in the future he can speak more for the common people and do more things.
...
More smoothly than An Jing and Xiao Changyi anticipated, in the following year, Xiyun received one city after another from Chilin, receiving a total of thirty cities. Apart from ’Shixing City’ ’Bahe City’ ’Yongbei City’ ’Wanping City’ ’Feibi City’, which were captured, the others all surrendered voluntarily.
And the five cities that were captured did not deplete much of Xiyun’s forces, simply because those five cities did not have many troops, and the soldiers were weak, not strong at all, thus easily captured.
The common people of those five cities were inclined to submit to fate and surrender, but because the garrison generals did not want to, it resulted in confrontations between the two sides.
In this year, after capturing thirty cities from Chilin, plus previously incorporated ’Jingye City’ and ’Shuangli City’ into Xiyun, Xiyun has now taken over thirty-two cities of Chilin, while Chilin itself only has thirty-three cities, with the Imperial City being the largest.
Yet, no matter how large the Imperial City is, it’s not larger than the combined area of the other thirty-two cities.
One could say, ninety percent of Chilin’s territory is already in Xiyun’s hands.
When Xiao Changyi, Liu Buli, and Qi Tengfei each led their armies to converge at a point twenty li outside the Chilin Imperial City, it was the sixth day of August in the ninth year since An Jing arrived.
Everyone hadn’t seen each other for a year, and upon this reunion, they were very happy.
Now, they have five hundred thousand troops in their hands, stationed here, ready to seize the opportunity to fully attack the Imperial City.
This is the final battle; once it’s over, they can go ho, and everyone was very excited.
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