Dust and smoke billowed, banners obscured the sun, five thousand vanguard cavalry of the Western Route Army appeared on a low earth mound.

  "Halt! General, not far ahead is the city of Gaozhou. According to the scout's report, the walls of Gaozhou are low and the three city gates are wide open. They didn't see a single guard around the perimeter. Should we charge in and take the city to pave the way for our main army?" asked Mu Ying's chief bodyguard, reining in his horse.

  Mu Ying raised her hand to shield the wind and sand, narrowed her eyes to look ahead, nodded slightly, and the captain of the guard loudly gave the order: "Prepare for battle! Target is Gaizhou City in front, charge!"

  Five thousand armored cavalry slowly lowered their face masks, and the horses began to exert force under their control. In an instant, five thousand people transformed from a square formation into a sharp arrow-shaped offensive formation.

  With four hooves flying, like a strong crossbow string opening, in the blink of an eye, Gaozhou City was clearly visible. Mu Ying waved her hand and ordered the soldiers to raise their flags, and an arrow suddenly split into three branches, rushing towards the three city gates of Gaozhou City.

  Just as they were about to reach the city gate, the orderlies of the three troops waved their blue flags, and the knights stood up, took their bows, and strung their arrows. Three waves of arrow rain fell, but there was still no movement inside Gaozhou City. The horses did not stop, and the people did not rein in, as they charged into the city with a loud battle cry.

  "General! The men have searched everywhere and haven't found any sign of the enemy!"

  "General! There is not a single grain of food in the granary inside the city!"

  "General! …………"

  A series of reports made Mu Ying frown, previously when they were marching in the wilderness, not even a single Beiyuan person could be seen, now that they had arrived at Gaozhou City, it was even more so, and the matter seemed to have a hint of strangeness.

  According to the previous ones in Gubeikou, they were burned by the Northern Yuan people to open them up. The Northern Yuan court should have known that they had a large army coming to commit crimes, but now they didn't block it at all and even gave them an empty city for nothing.

  "After going back to the rear army to report the situation here, it was said that the vanguard had taken down Gaozhou City, but there was no one in the city. Please let the commander decide."

  ……

  "General, the situation is like this. Our general is waiting for your next move." Mu Ying's messenger conveyed the message to this point, and Xu Da, who was leading the army forward slowly, fell into deep thought after hearing it.

  The orderly waited for a long time before hearing the order: "Order Mu Ying to leave one thousand men to guard the city, and turn the rest into scouts. Disperse as widely as possible, and return to report before nightfall!"

  The orderly departed at the command, and Xu Da ordered again: "Pass on the order to speed up the army's pace and rush towards Gaozhou City. We will stay there tonight!"

  "Promise!"

  ……

  Mu Ying was standing on the city wall looking out in all directions when Xu Da's central army arrived below, busy setting up camp. This small city of Gaozhou could not accommodate the 200,000 soldiers of the Northern Expedition.

  Only grain and luggage were stored inside, the remaining people set up a large camp on the earthen slopes at both ends of Gaozhou City. Zhang Feng and his men also took on the responsibility of guarding the grain, so they entered the city together.

  Gaozhou City, the city wall is low and short, the pool is narrow and small, in the eyes of a great man, this can't even be considered a perfect city, it's just a small fortress like an earthwork.

  There is no brick wall, no wooden house, only a single yellow earth. The city wall is built with sand and soil, the houses are dug underground and covered with a layer of earth on top, this is the city of the Northern Yuan people, simple to the point of being unable to be simpler, but it is indeed the largest trading market nearby, merchants from all over come here to sell their goods.

  But now it has become an empty city, just right for the army to store grain. Xu Da carefully observed the map, and they had already walked more than half of the distance from their designated meeting point with the Eastern Route Army at Danning Town. At this moment, their main force had not encountered any resistance on the way, which made Xu Da feel increasingly uneasy, indicating that the situation of the Eastern Route Army might be grim.

  At this time, a herdsman dressed man went straight into Xu Da's central army account. After showing a waist card, Xu Da's guards all retreated from the account.

  "Imperial Uncle! We've received intelligence..." The man whispered in Xu Da's ear, Xu Da first furrowed his brow, then gradually relaxed, stood up and saluted the herdsman, who also calmly accepted it and bid farewell with a bow.

  "Come in! Let us discuss matters within the commander's tent!"

  ……

  "Commander-in-chief, General Xu said that the order is to discuss military affairs with the various generals in the central army, are we going or not?" A thousand households under Tang Yun's command spoke up.

  "They all said to call me General, this is a military camp, not our Yanshanwei's large camp. Besides, why not go? Commander Xu has already said that we are all generals, can't I be one of his generals too? You stay and guard, wait for me to come back after going to the central army tent to receive orders." Tang Yun still smiled and went to the central army tent to listen to orders.

  All the generals on duty of the Northern Expedition's Western Route Army were gathered in Xu Da's tent at this moment, and when Tang Yun lifted the curtain and came in, all the generals looked at him with strange eyes. However, he didn't mind at all, but instead slowly stood up to the position below the crowd of generals. The generals inside the tent thought that Commander-in-Chief Tang was a sensible and polite person who knew that this time he was just helping Yan Wang to make a military achievement.

  After seeing all the generals arrive, Xu Da slowly opened his mouth: "Order Hu Guang to remove the position of Grand Army's Grain Officer and hand it over to Tang Yun for responsibility. Also, let Gaozhou City be our army's granary, with General Tang in charge of defending and transporting grain. The rest of the officers will return to their respective positions, reorganize their troops, and wait for orders. Our great army will set out at dawn to rush to Ningcheng."

  The generals were all bewildered after hearing this, as previously they had been ordered to rest in Gaozhou City for a night and then hurry to join the Eastern Route Army, but they did not expect the marshal to suddenly change his mind.

  Especially Hu Guang, who had been removed from office, was at a loss, although he also wanted to do this grain supervisor job, always responsible for logistics and handling miscellaneous tasks in the back. As a military general, he had long been tired of it, but the marshal wouldn't give it to that old man Tang Yun, would he? Just as Hu Guang wanted to argue, he saw Xu Da's severe gaze staring at him, and the words on his lips could only be swallowed back into his belly.

  But Tang Yun, who was suddenly assigned a new task, was also confused. He had thought that this time he would just follow the Northern Expedition Army and go through the motions, mix with the Yan Wang Temple, grab some military achievements, and that would be it. He had already prepared for a journey without any battles.

  Unexpectedly, Xu Da had come up with this move. According to the agreement between Xu Da and the Prince of Yan's camp, as long as they stayed in the camp for a day, they would have to listen to any order from Xu Da. Now that things had come to this pass, they could only resign themselves to their fate.

  "Everyone else can disperse, General Tang will stay behind. I have something to entrust to him." Xu Da said calmly.

  A group of generals all nodded and retreated, leaving Tang Yun sitting alone in the chair waiting for Xu Da's instructions.

  "Tang brother is surprised why I am so important to you with such an important responsibility?"

  Looking at Xu Da's seemingly smiling yet not quite smiling expression, Tang Yun also didn't conceal the truth: "Indeed, all of our soldiers are new recruits who have just enlisted. This is something that the Commander-in-Chief has long been aware of. So why did he still order me to take on the role of Grain Intendant? I fear this may be a heavy responsibility for General."

  "No! I know what my son-in-law, the King of Yan, has added to your arsenal, and it's exactly what I need to complete a task. Can you grant me this, Brother Tang?" Xu Da said with a tone that seemed to mock Zhu Di, as if saying his own son-in-law was being stingy.

  "What is General talking about?" Tang Yun laughed and didn't want to expose himself.

  "Do I need to make it any clearer? You think I don't know what's in those carts of grain, fodder and military equipment that you brought back? Your lordship is counting on them to gain merit and prestige for himself, isn't he?"

  Xu Da finished speaking, and Tang Yun's expression changed. It seems that their small actions were all under the eyes of General Yuan, who didn't want to make a fuss. Now, it was because of Yan Wang's face that he asked you to follow him and speak peacefully; otherwise, they would have taken them away as military supplies long ago.

  Tang Yun, who understood the situation, immediately bowed and said: "Since the marshal has a request, I will naturally do my best to fulfill it. However, I don't know what task the marshal is entrusting me with?"

  "Come closer and I'll whisper it in your ear..." Xu Da beckoned to Tang Yun, looking mysterious...

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