Chapter 211: Chapter 147: Desperate Resistance
Translator: 549690339
Seven Star Sect, this time, truly suffered a terrible loss.
When Lu Yuan led the main force of the army, arrived at Luyang Prefecture, he received two pieces of good news.
One was that the Seven Star Sect’s Rebel Head Qiao Xiuyuan, after fleeing back to Fu City of Luyang Prefecture, immediately began gathering troops from all over the place, preparing to assemble his forces and defend the city to the
death.
As a result, the defenses of the other counties in Luyang Prefecture became very weak and could be easily taken.
The other was that some local people who were loyal to the court in Luyang Prefecture, seeing the imperial army fighting back, rose their troops to respond, and many of them had now joined forces with the righteous army.
Even some of the enemy officers stationed in various county towns by the Seven Star Sect started to actively surrender and submit to the court when they saw that the Sect was about to be finished.
So when Lu Yuan arrived in Pingyang County three days later, to meet with his disciple Zhou Qing, this disciple had already gained an additional two thousand righteous troops under his command.
Furthermore, there were five other counties where rebellious nobles had risen up or enemy forces had surrendered.
Counting the three counties that had been previously reclaimed, eight out of the ten counties of Luyang Prefecture had once again hoisted the banner of the court.
However, except for the first three counties that were directly controlled by Lu Yuan, the remaining five were controlled by those local powerholders.
For now, the momentum of the imperial court was mighty, and the local powerholders chose to surrender.
However, if they performed poorly and the trend was unfavorable, perhaps the enemy’s banners would be raised again.
Therefore, after understanding the situation, Lu Yuan immediately began to split his forces, arranging for his disciples to lead the army to take control of the counties’ defenses.
As for those local powerholders and surrendering officers, they were all required to assemble in Pingyang County under the direct jurisdiction of the valiant Army Leader, Lu Yuan.
The Tianluo Grand Meeting is coming soon.
Lu Yuan wants to destroy the Seven Star Sect and refine the Divine Blood Elixir within the remaining six months, thereby breaking through to the peak of the first-class realm, leaving very little time.
In this limited time, he does not allow any changes in the situation of Luyang Prefecture to affect his participation in the Grand Meeting.
Those local powerholders and surrendering troops are all unstable factors, and Lu Yuan naturally will not tolerate them staying in their territories, causing trouble for him.
Zhou Qing had been stationed in Pingyang County for a few days, and those counties that had risen up in rebellion or surrendered were still nominally accepted by him.
Therefore, he was very clear about the situation in Luyang Prefecture.
Hearing his master’s arrangements, he couldn’t help but worry: “Master, those local nobles and surrendering officers and soldiers regard the counties they occupy as their territories, and I’m afraid it won’t be easy for them to submit.”
In chaotic times, armies and territories are undoubtedly the most important things for military leaders.
Now, Lu Yuan wants to take control of both their territories and armies. It is unlikely that any military officer with a bit of blood in them would accept this.
The process of taking control may not go smoothly.
“All the counties’ towns are territories of the court. When did they become theirs? As a valiant military officer, I have the responsibility to command all local troops and horses in the county.
Now, when fighting against the rebels, it is just and reasonable to have them come and obey my orders.
If they do not accept this order, it is undoubtedly because they have ulterior motives and are part of the rebels. It is good to discover this early so that they can be eliminated.
Otherwise, during the intense battle between the main army and the Seven Star rebels, they may cause trouble for me from behind.” Lu Yuan’s tone was cold.
He had already ordered his disciples that if those local powerholders and surrendering troops did not obey orders, they would simply lead their troops to eliminate them.
For him, anything less than complete obedience, even if only in name, was tantamount to resisting the court.
Those who cannot be used have no value in being left behind.
Now that Lu Yuan’s momentum was strong and his troops were sharp, this was when he had his strongest strength.
The more than twenty thousand Seven Star rebels had already been defeated in one battle by him. The total ragtag army of the other five counties didn’t even amount to a few thousand people. What was there to be afraid of?
Those guys, with such strength, still wanted to bargain with Lu Yuan? They were really overthinking it.
“If it really comes to that, I’m afraid it won’t be possible to immediately attack
Luyang Prefecture’s Fu City.”
Zhou Qing sighed helplessly, “I’m afraid that the longer this drags on, the more it will let the Seven Star Sect rebels recover. By the time we want to eliminate them, it will be even more difficult.
Moreover, since the Seven Star Sect has run out of options, they might be forced into desperate measures and ally themselves with the Miao Rebel Army.
If the Miao people are drawn over, the situation in this war will become much more unpredictable.”
Lu Yuan’s tone remained cold: “That’s precisely why we need to clean up those unstable local powerholders. If the Miao people really attack, and seeing the unfavorable situation, they turn to the Miao people, then we will lose our outer defenses, leaving us vulnerable to attacks from both sides.”
Of course, he knew what his disciple was worried about.
To the south of Luyang Prefecture were Yangshan Prefecture, and to the west were Jiuyi Prefecture and Lingling Prefecture. These three prefectures were mostly mountainous areas and had always been the places where the Miao people had the strongest influence.
Now, it is even earlier occupied by the Miao rebels, and the territory of these three prefectures no longer belonged to the imperial court.
The rebellious Miao people of these three prefectures were connected to each other, claiming to have a force of one hundred thousand, making them the largest group of Miao Rebel Army in Dongting.
In addition to these Miao people, the headquarters of the Poison Sect in Wuling Prefecture to the north had also been occupied by the Miao people, and the entire prefecture had fallen.
Moreover, next to Wuling Prefecture was Changsha Prefecture, where there were currently tens of thousands of Miao people causing trouble. However, they had not captured the city and had only occupied four counties in the western part of Changsha, and they had already joined forces with the Miao Rebel Army in Wuling Prefecture.
This group of Miao Rebel Army in the north also claimed to have one hundred thousand people, but this was probably an inflated number. According to Lu Yuan’s years of investigation, the other side should only have sixty to seventy thousand people..
