The south bank of the river is quite busy at the moment.
A large number of soldiers carried the rafts and sent them into the river one by one. The river, which was more than 20 meters wide, was far and near.
There were three hundred people in the first batch to cross the river, including all upgraded soldiers.
There are zombies on the other side of the river, and the Ming army may come at any time, so they need to go to the other side first to establish a defense line.
The raft quickly pushed across the distance of twenty meters, and the first batch of soldiers crossing the river rushed ashore, only to be greeted by a large number of zombies.
The zombies were vicious and had been waiting on the river bank for a long time, so the soldiers first went on the boat and pulled all the zombies into the water.
This method of elimination is less laborious than killing zombies.
Zombies disappeared one after another after being hooked into the river, and then another zombie fell into the river.
As time passed, the zombie density gradually decreased, and the soldiers moved from the raft to the shore.
But even after reaching the shore, these soldiers could not relax because there were always zombies rushing towards them.
But in the end, the defense line was stabilized by them, and more people could start crossing the river.
A rope was tied to the raft so that it could be easily pulled back to the other side, and then the next group of soldiers continued to cross the river.
Zombies kept coming, but the Ming army cruising in the distance never dared to attack.
There were nearly three hundred of them, all cavalrymen who came and went freely, led by Zhu Xiaohe.
At this moment, he was extremely helpless. He really wanted to lead people to kill him, but he was not sure of winning, let alone the courage to bear failure.
Every bit of force now is a guarantee for the defense of Liaoping, so he can only lead his troops back.
The result of this was that Yong's army was able to successfully cross the river and then continue to move towards Liaoping.
Of course, before they continued northward, they had to use rafts to build a pontoon bridge, which would make it easier to mobilize troops and transfer food.
Building a pontoon bridge does not require very high skills. After stumbling and stumbling, it took them about twenty minutes to build a simple pontoon bridge.
In this way, horses can also cross the river quickly, and they can carry large amounts of military rations.
After crossing the river, the large force continued to move north. Zhao Yanxun left a hundred people to guard the pontoon. These people would be withdrawn only after Liaoping was encircled.
Leading a large group of troops to the north, Zhao Yanxun continued to receive reports from the scouts, giving him a clear understanding of the situation in Liaoping.
While receiving the report, Zhao Yanxun also received news that Xingyuan and Liu'an had been captured, and people who were willing to go to Liaoping to persuade them to surrender were also recruited.
Zhao Yanxun actually knew that Liu'an Xingyuan was captured in advance because the system prompted him to increase the actual population under control.
Now the actual population under his control has reached 88,658.
"Send an order to Wang Cheng and Fang Sheng, asking them to send the sergeants who have been given the power of the gods to Xingyuan and Liu'an respectively, and to transport the people from the two places to the north!"
Gao Zheng'an didn't have many troops, and he had to defend two county towns, so Zhao Yanxun had to share the pressure for him.
Although we will arrive at Liaoping Fucheng today, we will not directly attack the city, so the upgraded soldiers are of no use for the time being. Sending them to pick up people will make the best use of them.
Fang Sheng and Fang Sheng quickly responded to the order conveyed by Zhao Yanxun, and they quickly dispatched their men.
As the army continued to move north, they would still encounter zombies along the way, so it was not until late in the afternoon that Zhao Yanxun and his party arrived outside the city of Liaoping Prefecture.
This city has tall walls, but no moat. It can be said that it has some inherent deficiencies.
But this was Zhu Jinzhang's best choice. Several other small counties did have moats, but the small ditches in the city were shallow and of little use.
The Yong Army troops arrived, and under Zhao Yanxun's instructions, the army began to set up camp.
I don’t know how long it will take here, so the camp must be built. There is actually a lot of knowledge involved.
In this regard, Zhao Yanxun was not as good as the two Qianhu, so he did not point fingers at random.
To build a camp, the demand for wood was relatively large, so Zhao Yanxun sent people to cut down trees.
The zombie density around Liaoping Fucheng is not too high. This is also due to Zhu Jinzhang's cleanup. He wanted to build his own base north of Suihe.
But his hard work for more than half a year has now made Zhao Yanxun's wedding dress, so that he can set up camp with peace of mind.
Of course, the low density of zombies does not mean that there are no zombies, so Zhao Yanxun also gave special instructions to all soldiers who cut down trees to be careful.
On the city wall, looking at the busy Yong army in the distance, Zhu Jinzhang's expression was extremely solemn.
Now, there are only 800 veterans under his command. In order to secure the city's defense, Zhu Jinzhang recruited another 2,000 young men from the city.
The city has a population of about 13,000, and Zhu Jinzhang temporarily recruited 2,000 people, which is already at the limit of expansion.
Only when he was forced into a desperate situation would Zhu Jinzhang make such arrangements. He couldn't care less about anything at the moment.
Although there are many defenders on the city now, Zhu Jinzhang does not feel much sense of security.
In several fights with Zhao Yanxun, Zhu Jinzhang never won, which made him extremely afraid of Zhao Yanxun.
Can it be defended? Zhu Jinzhang cannot guarantee it.
At this time, someone reported: "Brother, Xiaoan is back!"
"Has the food been shipped back?"
"They escaped and lost some brothers again this time!"
Hearing this, Zhu Jinzhang almost died of anger.
"Call him over!" Zhu Jinzhang was furious.
After a while, Zhu Xiaoan appeared on the city wall.
Zhu Xiaoan said very decisively: "Brother, punish me!"
"I asked you to transport grain and sent you more manpower, but you can't do this well?" Zhu Jinzhang asked coldly.
While asking this question, Zhu Jinzhang thought of his defeats in recent months, so that he suddenly felt relieved.
He himself failed to defeat Yong's army on the battlefield, so what qualifications did he have to ask Zhu Xiao'an to do so.
Looking back at Zhu Xiaoan, Zhu Jinzhang regained his composure and said, "What is the situation in Xingyuan?"
"I was leading the army to suppress the people, but due to the complicated terrain around Xingyuan, the sentry was not discovered until the Yong army was approaching, so..."
"So you just ran away!"
Faced with these words, Zhu Xiaoan also had no way of replying.
"Yong's army is powerful and has united the people in the city. I have no choice but to evacuate first!"
Zhu Jinzhang had no intention of pursuing it, but asked: "How much food did you bring back?"
"There are three hundred stones left in the granary, and I only took away more than eighty stones!"
"How many brothers have you lost?"
"There were originally three hundred people, but only ninety-five people returned with my younger brother!"
There was silence on the city wall for a while. Zhu Jinzhang endured it again and again, but now he couldn't bear it anymore.
"Don't lead troops anymore, get out!"
Zhu Xiaoan was slightly disappointed at being fired from his position, but then he felt relieved.
It doesn't matter if you don't lead the troops, at least you don't have to worry.
