C279

Tang Yin gave the order and posted a notice, stating that the entire city would like to collect food, but the citizens of Linqiao City were too scared to go out, and the notice was posted outside, and no one could see it, and no one came to provide food. Seeing that, Tang Yin planned to force them to do so.

Just at that moment, Ai Jia led a dozen Earth Web scouts to rush to Linqiao City. After seeing Tang Yin, she first bowed to greet him, then asked: "Master, do you want to gather food in the city?"

Hearing that, Tang Yin raised his eyebrows. As the person in charge of their own intelligence agency, Ai Jia was completely unaware of the enemies' movements. He nodded and said in a deep voice, "That's right! "Our army's logistics supplies have been ambushed, and more than half of our provisions have been burned away. If we do not gather our supplies, what will our army eat with so many soldiers?"

"Then... Is there anyone who wishes to provide food now? "

"No one is making food."

"Master, what do you plan to do?"

Tang Yin squinted his eyes and said: "A soldier must have food every day, even if they have to use forced methods, they must have enough food!"

Hearing this, Ai Jia could not help but shiver inside, not because of Tang Yin's decision, but because his prediction was accurate.

The reason she rushed to Linqiao City in such a hurry was also because he was assigned to do so by Qiu Zhen. The latter was worried that Tang Yin would need to use force to gather food after taking over Linqiao.

She swallowed her saliva and whispered, "Sir, before I came, Master Qiu had repeatedly reminded me that I must prevent you from using forced methods to gather food."

"Oh?" Tang Yin was startled, how did Qiu Zhen know that he was going to collect the food? And how did he know that he would use such a forceful method?

Seeing his confused expression, Ai Jia explained: "Master Qiu said, since the enemy troops dare to sneak attack us from the city, they must have sent out all their resources, and county chief Mao An is so crafty, he would definitely not leave any supplies in the city for our army, so, there is no food in the city, and Master will always gather food when there is no food, but Lehu County has always been controlled by Zhong Tian's trusted aides, and every family does not have too many food, moreover, it has been under Zhong Tian's control for a long time, so it is unlikely that many people will provide food for our army.

After hearing what Ai Jia had said, Tang Yin was shocked, and couldn't help but gasp. Not only had Qiu Zhen seen through the intentions of the enemy, even his own character and style of conduct were exactly the same. This was simply too frightening …

Tang Yin was silent for a moment, then asked: "What trap will we fall into?"

Ai Jia said: "The enemy will make a big fuss out of this, scaring the citizens of Lehu County, causing their hostility towards our army to deepen. In addition, the enemy will also use this matter to lure more people from Lehu County to join the army, and create a lot of resistance to our army's south!"

So that's how it was! Tang Yin was a smart person, he understood what Mao An meant just by a little. After listening to Ai Jia's narration, he had a rough understanding of Mao An's intentions. This person really couldn't be underestimated. Although he was just the county governor, he was a schemer. Whether it was in the army or in the overall strategy, he had his own unique qualities.

He clenched his fists and murmured, "If we don't gather food, our army will lose food!"

Ai Jia said anxiously: "Master Qiu has already sent people to the Jinguang County, to get them to send over an urgent batch of food, and has also sent people to look for General Xiao and General Li, to get the other two armies to send reinforcements. It is estimated that in two days, the reinforcements will arrive."

"Oh!" Tang Yin responded and at the same time, heaved a sigh of relief. With Qiu Zhen here, it would save him a lot of trouble.

With Qiu Zhen's warning, Tang Yin immediately took back the order to collect food, and then ordered his soldiers to temporarily station themselves in Linqiao City, waiting for the Pingyuan Army, Chifeng Army, and Jinguang County to be delivered to him before making his plans.

As more than half of the rations had been destroyed, Tang Yin did not dare to go any deeper.

The county chief of Shang Bei County, Mao An, did not fight head on with Tang Yin, and he could not fight either. He only had a total of eight thousand soldiers under his command, but he had managed to hold Tang Yin's hundred thousand Directly Subordinate Army and thirty thousand Basa Cavalry Soldiers firmly within the city. He had delayed them for two whole days, which also bought more than two days of preparation time for County Head's side.

In the past two days, not only did the Directly Subordinate Army under Tang Yin's command not disturb the citizens of the Linqiao, their main force did not even enter the city, and only camped outside. This caused the citizens of the Linqiao City to have a much deeper understanding of Tianyuan Army, greatly reducing their fear and dread towards them.

After Mao An ran away, the Mayor ran away, and almost all the large and small officials of Linqiao City escaped to the Western Hundred Provincial Capital, Tang Yin, Zhang Zhe, Zong Yuan, Zong Yuan and the rest of the strategists discussed for a while, and decided that they still need to establish a county chief or a Mayor, to stabilize Linqiao City, after all, Linqiao was a county city, and the city was big, and the position was important. In the future, if they wanted to attack the Western Hundred, they would have to pass through the Linqiao.

However, they had just taken over Linqiao City, and were not familiar with the place. If they were to assign their trusted aides and personnel to take over the important positions, they might not be able to manage the city well, and the citizens would not be convinced. However, if they were to choose from amongst the locals, who would they choose. Tang Yin was troubled by this, so he gave him an idea to put up a notice to the citizens of the Bridge Forest City to recommend themselves, if they wanted to reward him heavily, there would be brave men, and there would be many capable people below the high officials who were greedy for his title.

Tang Yin felt that Zong Yuan's suggestion was reasonable, and immediately sent someone to write a notice and post it.

Choosing a county leader from among the commoners could be said to be the first step, and no one believed him at first, but they felt that Tang Yin was deliberately putting on a show to win over the hearts of the people, and on the second day, people started to come forward to probe, and Tang Yin treated all of them with respect. As long as they were willing to come, they would not return empty-handed, and even if they were not given the position of County Guardian or Mayor, they would still arrange for him to take up other official positions, and at the very least give him some silver and send people away.

As a result, the news quickly spread.

On the third day, the conscription for the county capital was already packed. At this time, the food that he had received from Pingyuan Army and other Chifeng Army had arrived one after the other. Tang Yin began to prepare to continue his attack from the south, and handed over the matter of selecting the county chief and Mayor to Zong Yuan to handle.

This was also the city at the intersection between Shang Bei County and Baoqing County. As long as they managed to take over the Ji City, Tang Yin's group would be able to enter Baoqing County, straight to the Western Hundred Provincial Capital.

The Ji City was not big, but the garrison army of the city was close to twenty thousand people, of which eight thousand were under Mao An's command. The other majority of them were the citizens and slaves who had been temporarily recruited into the army, while the county chief Mao An was currently in the city, so he was fully prepared to block Tang Yin's army here. At the same time, Mao An also sent someone to deliver a letter to Geng Qiang, explaining his determination to guard the Ji City at all costs. He also asked Geng Qiang to prepare for an attack, and to wait until the second day of the battle with Tang Yin's army, when the enemy was exhausted, for Geng Qiang to lead the main force of the county's reinforcements.

His letter had been successfully delivered into Geng Qiang's hands, but Geng Qiang had secretly grinned at his request. The reason why he dared to stay in Lehu County to defend against Tianyuan Army was mainly because the defense of the city was strong, which was easy to defend and hard to attack. Now that Mao An wanted him to go out of the city to fight Tianyuan Army, he really did not have any confidence.

This was an extremely important matter, so Geng Qiang did not dare to be careless. He and his trusted aides discussed it all night long but in the end, they were unable to come to a conclusion.

They were procrastinating over here, but the Directly Subordinate Army of Tang Yin's commander was not delayed at all, going all the way south, approaching the Ji City.

He raised his eyes and looked at the city in front of him. Its length and width was not even five kilometers, but the city wall was three meters, and that was a city wall that was built according to the rules of a large city. Looking at the wall, he could see a flag waving, and the embroidered ribbon was fluttering.

Ever since Tang Yin led his army into the Lehu County, it was the first time he saw so many enemies. He squinted his eyes and urged his warhorse forward.

Brother Shangguan, Wu Guang, Zhan Hu, Gu Yue, Le Tian, Ai Jia and the rest, seeing that, were afraid that he had lost, and immediately urged their horses to follow.

Just as Tang Yin was riding his horse forward, suddenly, there was a sharp whistling sound from the top of the city wall. A sharp arrow arced through the air and fell to the ground right in front of Tang Yin's horse's hooves.

Seeing that the enemy troops had stopped their horses, Tang Yin shouted from the top of the city wall: "I am Tang Yin! Tell your general to come out and speak to me! "

Just as he finished speaking, he heard someone from above the city shout, "Tang Yin, I have been waiting for you here for a long time!"

Tang Yin looked carefully, and noticed that there was a white masked officer who was around 30 years old standing there. He was dressed in armor with a sword at his waist, and had a moustache on his lips, even though he was wearing a set of armor, he still looked gentle and refined. Tang Yin shouted: "Who are you?"

"Shang Bei County Head, Mao An!"

He laughed out loud, raised his head and pointed at Mao An who was on the city wall, laughing: "Mao An, I am looking for you, so you are here, and today I will take your dog head!"

"Haha …"

Mao An did not show any fear and instead laughed out loud and scolded: "Kid Tang Yin, you disobedient thief! You dare to speak so arrogantly now, if you have the ability, come at me!"

Tang Yin clenched his fists, turned and said: "Yue Tian, shoot him down from the city!"

"Yes!" "My Lord!"

Le Tian responded with a word. He took out a bow and arrow, and retrieved a silver arrow from his bow. As he waved his wrist, the silver arrow turned into a spiritual arrow with long barbed teeth on the body of the arrow. He nocked an arrow and aimed at Mao An who was at the top of the city wall and released an arrow.

The Spirit Arrow flew out and emitted a sharp whistling sound in the air. Its speed was as fast as lightning as it rushed towards Mao An who was at the top of the city wall.