Wuxia: Drinking with Spring Breeze

By the time the sun was high in the sky.

Yang Ge had returned to Datong and landed on the city wall.

Waiting for him on the city wall, Liu Tang and Yu Guanhai, the commandant of Datong, hurriedly brought food to greet him.

Liu Tang handed him a water bottle, "Second Brother, how are things?"

Yang Ge took the water bottle and unscrewed the cap without thinking and took a big gulp.

"Puh..."

He looked at Liu Tang speechlessly, "Why is it alcohol?"

Liu Tang awkwardly chuckled, "This...hahaha..."

Yang Ge casually threw the water bottle back into his arms, "Get me some water, I’m dying of thirst!"

Liu Tang quickly turned and shouted, "Zhang, hurry and brew some tea for Second Brother!"

Yang Ge pointed at the tray in Yu Guanhai’s hands which held a roast goose and made a few cuts, dividing the whole goose into three parts.

He grabbed a drumstick, tore off a bite, and while eating said, "Your guesses were right, the enemy troops are split into three divisions. The left-wing army outside the Datong pass consists of just over a hundred thousand troops, including twenty thousand cavalry and over eighty thousand infantry."

"The central army with heavy troops is headed straight for Jizhou Town, with a troop strength of no less than two hundred thousand, thirty thousand cavalry, and a surplus of seventeen to eighteen thousand infantry."

"The light army on the left is headed straight for Liaodong Town. Although its strength isn’t up to a hundred thousand, the cavalry makes up more than half..."

"The enemy’s total strength, at least four hundred thousand!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Tang and Yu Guanhai’s faces showed a touch of sober contemplation, but neither displayed shock.

This slightly relieved Yang Ge’s heavy mood... In a standoff between two armies, he feared not the numerous and powerful enemy, but his own generals being clueless and manipulated by the enemy commander.

After a moment of thought, Liu Tang spoke softly, "It seems this time the enemy... really cannot recover."

Yu Guanhai nodded gravely in agreement, saying, "During the Taizong era, when Meng Yuan was still vibrant, the enemy rarely mobilized such a large army of four hundred thousand, aiming surely to turn the tide with this battle!"

Both sighed softly, then in unison lamented, "Xiahou Xiong has doomed the nation!"

If it were not for Xiahou Xiong’s disastrous defeat in the southwest, where a three hundred thousand strong army was routed by over a hundred thousand disorganized indigenous forces, revealing the lax military preparations to the enemy, would they dare to gamble all on this battle?

Yang Ge stuffed the remaining half of the drumstick, skin and bone included, into his mouth, "I have already informed Zhou Fu, the commandant of Jizhou, and Jiang Kui, the commandant of Liaodong, about the enemy’s movements. Now, the most urgent matter is to reinforce Jizhou Town quickly. Jizhou Town has merely over sixty thousand troops, and Liaodong Town even fewer. If Jizhou Town falls, the enemy will immediately control the entire Yan Yun region, and then regain their breath..."

"This..."

Liu Tang and Yu Guanhai immediately showed hesitancy.

Yang Ge raised an eyebrow, a displeased look about to speak.

Seeing this, Yu Guanhai quickly handed the tray to Liu Tang and bowed, "I will immediately write letters to Xuanfu Town and Shanxi Town, requesting the commandants there to prepare troops for reinforcement to Jizhou Town!"

Having said this, he didn’t wait for Yang Ge to reply and turned to run.

He didn’t forget to grab a piece of roast goose from the tray as he left...

Yang Ge, puzzled, looked towards Liu Tang.

Liu Tang quickly explained, "Second Brother, as the commandant of Datong, Yu is responsible for its defense. Without a superior command, how could he dare to mobilize troops... This matter must still be overseen by General Lan, the Duke of Liuyang, to come and take control of the situation!"

Yang Ge immediately said, "Where is he? I’ll bring him here now!"

Liu Tang replied, "The dispatch received yesterday stated that General Lan has already arrived in Taiyuan..."

Yang Ge nodded and said "Good," then transformed into a streak of golden light that soared into the sky, speeding towards the south.

Just then, Zhang hurried over with a pot of tea, looking around curiously, "Where is Second Brother?"

...

The next day, eighty thousand troops were drawn from Datong, Xuanfu, and Shanxi and hurriedly sent to reinforce Jizhou Town.

On the third day before dawn, the battle for Jizhou erupted. Two hundred thousand Meng Yuan troops launched a fierce attack on Jizhou Town at midnight!

The countless enemy troops, under the cover of over a hundred artillery pieces, swarmed up the city walls of Jizhou Town. Even Zhou Fu, who had been prepared, was bewildered by the hail-like intensive artillery bombardment, and the sixty thousand defenders of Jizhou were pressed down by the enemy’s artillery fire.

Who would not grind their teeth in hatred upon seeing this scene, wishing they could return to the capital and behead the complacent officials?

How could the enemy, so scarce in supplies that they had to trade cattle and sheep for iron pots from the Central Plains, produce so many artillery pieces?

How dare they???

Even Yang Ge, who had arrived early at Jizhou, seeing this scene, thought to himself no wonder...

No wonder the enemy hadn’t launched troops earlier or later; they attacked the south as soon as he had cleared half of the court.

No wonder the enemy had previously only made small incursions, but now dared to carry all their families in a single sweep.

At the critical moment, Yang Ge stepped up...

He first circled the city walls, clearing thousands of enemy brutes surging up, stabilizing the defense.

Then he alone left the city head and sneaked all the way to the enemy’s artillery positions against the charging troops, setting fire to the gunpowder kegs in the artillery position like lighting firecrackers—one by one...

In a series of thunderous blasts and soaring flames, the enemy’s artillery position turned into a sea of fire, and over a hundred artillery pieces were reduced to rubble.

In the midst of the enemy troops’ frantic and confused cries, Yang Ge calmly retreated back to the city walls, concealing his achievements and fame.

Seeing that the enemy had lost their artillery support, the morale of Jizhou’s soldiers surged, and the officers at all levels organized their soldiers to stabilize the defense line. Zhou Fu, commanding the army, made a decisive decision, taking advantage of the enemy’s disarray, and sent out a contingent of elite troops to charge out of the city gates and disrupt the enemy’s formation...