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Chapter 438: 225: The Key to Victory_3

Thus, the problem would not be significant.

Concerning this matter, Zhou Qing naturally nodded, “Disciple understands, and will do so later.”

With that, the handling of the prisoners of war had been settled.

The next morning, due to the sudden decision to escort the prisoners away, Lu Yuan arranged for five thousand men to transport the prisoners back to Jiangnan.

As a result, only fifteen thousand soldiers remained in Guining Mansion.

Lan Cai’er led these men, staying in the city and guarding the army’s rear.

As for the remaining fifteen thousand civilian captives, Lu Yuan disbursed travel expenses and sent them home directly.

Now that Guining Mansion had been captured, according to the previous agreement with Bai Mengyang, this place would become the territory of Changsha State in the future. Therefore, the fifteen thousand civilian workers forcibly enlisted from all around Guining Mansion were naturally his subjects.

Lu Yuan would not be too harsh on the people under his rule, nor would he arbitrarily kill them.

Moreover, there was no need to worry about Zhou People coming back at this point. Releasing these civilians who were ordinary people bore little risk.

With this, he could reduce the killing and add some benevolent and righteous reputation to himself, which he was naturally happy to do.

After making these arrangements, Lu Yuan led the remaining seventy-seven thousand men, together with Yang Jing, northward to Fangling Prefecture.

On the way north, the army moved with incredible speed.

Lu Yuan left fifty thousand main forces and ordered Zhou Qing to catch up with the baggage train at a slower pace.

On the other hand, he and Yang Jing led the remaining twenty thousand elite troops on a fast run, marching day and night towards Fangling Prefecture.

Crossing mountains and ridges on the way took two days and two nights, passing through Gaoyang, Yongqing, and Baokang counties before arriving at Fangling Prefecture City on the third day.

At this point, the news of the fall of Guining Mansion and the loss of a series of county towns in the south had not yet reached the city.

Only a thousand city guard soldiers were defending the whole city.

These men were no match for Lu Yuan and Yang Jing, the two Inborn Grandmasters.

With just a slight use of their martial arts external body, they killed hundreds of people, and the city’s defenders collapsed, leading to the fall of the city.

After capturing Fangling Prefecture City, the soldiers were exhausted, and since Zhou Qing had not yet arrived, Lu Yuan did not rashly attack Xiangyang but took some men and continued attacking to the west.

Over three days, they successively captured the cities of Xicheng Prefecture to the west of Fangling.

By this point, the entire Xiangyang Prefecture to the west had been captured by Lu Yuan, including Guining, Fangling, and Xicheng Prefectures.

After that, he led the troops back to Fangling, and several days later, Zhou Qing finally arrived with the main force.

Lu Yuan left more than twenty thousand exhausted soldiers to his disciple.

He then instructed his disciple to recuperate the troops while trying to continue attacking the Zhou Country in Hanzhong Prefecture to the west of Xicheng Prefecture and seizing the city.

If they could capture it, it would be best. If not, they could also plunder the local population and migrate them back to Jiangnan.

Nowadays, in Changsha State’s jurisdiction, Dongting Prefecture had lost more than two-fifths of its population due to years of war.

Various prefectures and counties were sparsely populated.

The desolate landscape was not pleasant to look at.

Moreover, the more people there were, the stronger the national strength, and the more Qi Luck Lu Yuan could gather.

So, in addition to the initial goal of this Northern Expedition, Lu Yuan also planned to seize the opportunity to plunder some of Zhou Country’s population and move them to his own territory.

Now, it was just implementing the established plan.

Having arranged the task for Zhou Qing, Lu Yuan didn’t stop. Instead, he led the fifty thousand soldiers brought by Zhou Qing, taking advantage of the ships collected in Fangling Prefecture over the past few days, and sailed down the Han River towards Xiangyang Prefecture.

At this time.

After several days of buffering, Xiangyang Prefecture finally received news that the Yue army was coming from the west and had already captured Fangling Prefecture.

This news caused great panic in Xiangyang Prefecture.

The governor of Xiangyang immediately ordered the mobilization of civilian workers, county soldiers to assemble in the city, while also enlisting the local strong men to participate in guarding the city.

These responses were extremely rapid and correct.

However, in such a hasty situation, how many troops could be gathered in the city?

By the time Lu Yuan’s troops arrived at the city, only a little over fifty thousand people had been gathered in Xiangyang Prefecture City.

Although the number of soldiers and forces under Lu Yuan was equal, the defenders in the city were mostly civilian workers, with only over seven thousand real soldiers, including prefectural, and county troops.

Such combat power was considered weak.

The only thing worth attention was that the Grand General of the Eastern Pillar State of Zhou, who was stationed in Nanyang Prefecture nearby, arrived in Xiangyang City in a hurry during these days.

With this Inborn Grandmaster present and the cooperation of more than fifty thousand defenders, it would be a bit difficult to break the city.

But that’s okay.

The real purpose of Lu Yuan’s surprise attack was not to take Xiangyang City.

Initially, Bai Mengyang’s plan was just to station troops at Xiangyang to cut off the Zhou People at Dangyang, causing turmoil and difficulty to fight.

Now that Lu Yuan had reached Xiangyang, this strategic goal had been achieved.

What was left to see now was Marquis of Wuan Bai Mengyang’s reaction.

Therefore, Lu Yuan stationed his troops outside Xiangyang City, tried to attack a few times, and found it was difficult, so he did not continue to force the attack.

Instead, he set up camp outside the city, besieging it, and waiting for news from Danyang.

At this time, hundreds of miles south of Xiangyang, on the battlefield of Dangyang.

In the main camp of the United Army, Bai Mengyang finally received the news from Lu Yuan several days later due to the long distance.

After learning that Fangling Prefecture City had been captured, Marquis of Wuan saw the opportunity for victory, and in his elation, immediately assembled the generals to discuss military affairs.

“Gentlemen, four days ago Changsha Wang sent news that he had captured Fangling Prefecture City.

According to the time estimate, Changsha Wang should have already led his army eastward by now, and his troops would have been near Xiangyang Prefecture City.”

Bai Mengyang, holding a piece of brocade silk in his hand, smiled at everyone.