books44 Chapter 167: Inferior to others!
Chapter 167: Inferior to others!
Ye Kun smiled and said, "You can give it a try, but remember, if the enemy withdraws from the valley, you are not allowed to pursue them."
Qin Erwu nodded and led five hundred archers down the mountain.
But before they came into range, the Jiaozhou soldiers on the opposite side retreated, returned to the opposite mountain, and continued to curse.
Qin Erwu was so angry that he was grunting and cursing.
Ye Kun didn't care. He waved his hand and said, "Send another two hundred people with straw mats in the afternoon to rebuild the Great Wall for me!"
Wu Xuan sighed, "Master Ye, straw mats can't withstand fire, even if you build a Great Wall, it's useless!"
In everyone's opinion, Ye Kun is just mentally ill.
It’s amazing that he could come up with the idea of building the Great Wall with straw mats!
"This is a general's order, just execute it." Ye Kun glared.
Wu Xuan clasped his fists, went to carry out the order, and led the soldiers to rebuild the straw mat Great Wall.
Before dusk, the Jiaozhou soldiers from the opposite side came to the valley again and burned Ye Kun's straw mat Great Wall to ashes, laughing loudly:
"Ye Kun, Grandpa is here to destroy your Great Wall again, what can you do to me?"
Ye Kun was not angry at all.
After dinner, Ye Kun personally led the archers and engineers down into the valley and first built a wall with straw mats to block the enemy's sight.
Then they dug a hole behind the straw mat and buried more than a hundred small mines.
The fuse of the small mine is connected to the straw mat and connected to the soil with bamboo poles, so that one call can attract hundreds of responses.
Then move the mats to make a pocket-shaped minefield.
After the arrangements were completed, Ye Kun ordered the archers to guard from a distance and to withdraw only after daybreak.
Before dawn, Ye Kun ordered Qin Erwu and Wu Xuan to lead an army each and be ready for battle.
As long as there was a sound of thunder in the valley, they would split into two groups and attack the left and right small camps of Jigongzhai directly, and he would lead his troops to attack Jigongzhai directly.
In order to prevent the other party from digging traps on the road, Ye Kun designed and made a flail, which was a long wooden stick with a meteor hammer tied to the front end, and used to hit the ground to clear a path.
After daybreak, everyone kept their troops in place, waiting for the enemy to take the bait.
Xue Ju's soldiers on the opposite side didn't know what was happening. They swaggered down the valley, came to the straw mat wall, set it on fire, and laughed loudly:
"Ye Kun, your Great Wall is gone again, haha..."
boom!
Boom boom boom——!
The small pre-buried mines were detonated, a thunderstorm broke out, and smoke rose.
In the valley, broken limbs and arms flew everywhere, and screams of terror were heard continuously.
Those soldiers had never encountered a landmine before, and they were so frightened that they even forgot to run away.
"Kill them, capture the prisoners and lead the way, and directly attack the bandit's lair!"
Ye Kun drew his sword and urged his horse to rush down the valley.
The three ambushes came out together and quickly rushed into the valley.
Most of the Jiaozhou soldiers in the valley were killed or wounded.
Ye Kun captured several prisoners and ordered them to lead the way. Those who were unwilling to lead the way were immediately killed.
There were also two merchant guides who led the way, over the hill and straight to Jigongzhai.
Xue Ju had already received the news and hurriedly organized an attack.
On the mountain road, Ye Kun shot down more than 200 enemies with a hail of arrows.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the other Jiaozhou soldiers fled.
"Don't chase after the defeated soldiers who are fleeing, but go straight to Huanglong!"
Ye Kun gave the order to continue approaching Jigongzhai.
At dusk, Qin Erwu and Wu Xuan captured the small villages on both wings of Jigong Village and surrounded Ye Kun on three sides.
Jigongzhai was isolated and helpless, so Xue Ju surrendered and led his entire clan to surrender.
Ye Kun sat upright in the lobby of Jigongzhai.
Xue Ju was brought in.
The man was about forty years old, dark-skinned, and not very tall, but he had bright eyes and looked like a smart man.
Seeing Ye Kun, Xue Ju had no choice but to kneel down and bow his head and said: "As a defeated general, I have offended the general's majesty and deserve to be put to death."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "You are the General who suppresses the north, and I am the General who pacifies the south. Tell me, is it you who suppresses me in the north, or is it me who pacifies you in the south?"
Xue Ju sighed: "Lord Ye is a master at using troops. I admit defeat."
"You are wrong. It's your fault that you are not as good as others in weapons. It's not your fault."
Ye Kun stood up, walked to the steps, cut the ropes that bound Xue Ju, and helped him up:
"General Xue, you are also a minister of the Han Dynasty, but you do not follow the rules of a minister, do not obey the king's rule, and repeatedly harass the people in our territory. I have no choice but to lead the troops here. As long as you are willing to submit to the court, I can spare your life."
Xue Ju was overjoyed and clasped his fists and said, "I am willing to surrender. Thank you, Lord Ye, for sparing my life!"
Ye Kun nodded: "Come with me, go and comfort the subordinates first, send people to inform the villages in all directions not to panic and wait for resettlement."
Xue Ju nodded repeatedly and went with Ye Kun to comfort the people in the village.
Overnight, the entire Jigongzhai area surrendered.
The next morning, Ye Kun summoned Xue Ju to go with him to patrol the villages and understand the situation.
Xue Ju's subordinates consisted of only 3,000 scattered soldiers and guerrillas. More than 1,000 of them were killed or wounded yesterday. They had been severely beaten and were therefore very honest.
The losses in the villages below were not great.
Ye Kun visited every village to appease the people and to survey the situation. It took him two or three days to complete the task.
After returning to Jigongzhai, Ye Kun asked Xue Ju about the situation in Jiaozhou as a whole.
Xue Ju only knew the general distribution of power among the seven forts and thirteen strongholds, but was vague about the specific circumstances.
Ye Kun smiled and said, "General Xue, from now on you will be called General Pingnan. I will use your territory as a base and slowly advance southward to conquer southern Xinjiang. After we take down seven forts and thirteen strongholds, you will be the governor of Jiaozhou!"
"This……"
Xue Ju smiled and said, "Master Ye, do you know how big Jiaozhou is?"
"Of course I know that there is an ocean to the south of Jiaozhou. Beyond the ocean, there is a large island. A hundred years ago, the Dading Kingdom established Zhuya County and Dan'er County there, but they are now abandoned."
Xue Ju chuckled: "Since Lord Ye knows, how many troops do you think it will take to conquer the entire Jiaozhou? In fact, this place is still far away from the real Baiyue land..."
"General Xue, you look down on me."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "In three years at most, I can pacify Jiaozhou and let you be the governor of Jiaozhou. If you don't believe me, you can make a bet."
Xue Ju smiled and said, "Master Ye, I will follow you wholeheartedly from now on!"
This guy is so heartless. Half of his team was just wiped out by Ye Kun, but he can still laugh!
Ye Kun nodded:
"General Xue, I appoint you as the lieutenant of Southern County and lead the troops to be responsible for the defense of the southern part of this county. I will take 1,000 of your soldiers back for rotation training and provide them with uniforms and weapons. I will leave 1,000 soldiers to strengthen your troops, strengthen exchanges between the two sides, and quickly integrate them into one."
Xue Ju thought Ye Kun wanted to weaken his power, so he remained silent.
Ye Kun smiled and said, "Don't think too much. If I wanted to deal with you, I would have killed you long ago. There's no need to go through so much trouble and use tricks to weaken your military strength. I don't even think highly of your small military strength."
Xue Ju clasped his fists and said, "I obey your command!"
"I will also send civil servants and a large number of skilled craftsmen to help you develop production."
Ye Kun patted Xue Ju on the shoulder and said, "Just take care of the southern border defense for me and pay attention to the dynamics of the major forces in the south. Also, recruit civilians to build roads and connect to the main road in Fuling County."
"Don't worry, Lord Ye. If an inch of land is lost, I am willing to be punished by military law!"
"Very good, I'll come back in a few days."
Ye Kun nodded and asked Huangfu Lin to stay with a thousand soldiers to help Xue Ju train his troops and familiarize himself with the traffic roads here.
However, he took his personal soldiers and Xue Ju's 1,000 scattered soldiers back to Dongba City for training.
It took seven or eight days to conquer Xue Ju, and Ye Kun also pushed the southern border line more than a hundred miles southward.
Everyone in Dongba City knew that Ye Kun had returned victoriously. The people were excited and lined the streets to welcome him.
Xue Ju's 1,000 scattered soldiers were sent to two large camps for intensive training.
Ye Kun took Lao He to see the waterwheel produced by the carpenters.
A few days ago, the precise drawings of the waterwheel were sent back, and Lao He also gave detailed requirements for each component. So the craftsmen followed the drawings, worked overtime, produced two waterwheels, and also conducted tests.
Ye Kun and Lao He also tried the water truck and were generally satisfied with it.
Lao He also conducted on-site debugging and held meetings with the master carpenters to determine the wood materials to be used for each component and let everyone go into mass production.
Just as he had finished dealing with the waterwheel issue, a personal soldier came to report: "Master Ye, Qin Caiwei, a merchant from Jingzhou, is seeking an audience at the prefectural governor's mansion!"
Wei Caiqin?
Ye Kun smiled and returned to the county magistrate's mansion to meet the guest.
At the turn of spring and summer, Wei Caiqin was still dressed as a man, wearing a hemp robe, carrying a sword, and looking heroic.
"Brother Qin, you are finally here. I miss you every day!"
Ye Kun stepped forward and held Qin Caiwei's hand.
"Master Ye, congratulations on your promotion. Now you are also a small lord."
Qin Caiwei chuckled, then rolled his eyes and said, "I sent you so much pork and mutton last year and invited you to visit Jingzhou. Why didn't you go? Are you afraid to go?"