On the fifth day of the second month of the 15th year of Xiantong, Gongsun Lan came to meet Li Guan again and brought the latest situation in the Liaohai Sea.

On the third day of the second month, Duli Town and Beisha City secretly joined forces and advanced along the water and land. On the evening of the third day, the troops of Duli Town and Beisha City launched a raid on Qingnipu at the same time. This time, the two armies dispatched a total of 30,000 troops, not including logistics auxiliary soldiers and civilians. It is the largest war in southern Liaoning in a century. The powerful joint fleet of 20,000 people in Duli Town, nearly 200 warships of the size of raided the islands outside Qingniwan at night.

At the beginning, he was so powerful that he caught the other party off guard and advanced step by step. Before dawn, he had already broken through nine outer islands in Qingnipu. However, the successive victory blocked the eyes of the officers below. Although Pei You, who was commanding in the rear, felt that the war was a bit strange, the situation reported on the nine islands that had been captured showed that before each island was conquered, the people on the island fled on a boat.

It is normal for one or two islands to have such a situation, but nine islands in a row do not resist head-on and escape at the touch, and things are a little bit unpleasant.

Pei You reported this situation to the city lord Wang Pu who came to take the formation personally, which aroused Wang Pu's vigilance. Wang Pu is not a literati city lord. He is a veteran with more than 20 military experience and has fought more than a dozen tough battles. He is very experienced in judging the situation ahead that may be a trap. Pei You immediately ordered the ships to slow down the attack rhythm and start to maintain the formation. He first steadily occupied the nine islands as the forward base.

However, it was already a little late when the order was passed. The officers of the ships in Duli Town, who had just won consecutive victories, would not be willing to miss such a great opportunity, let alone the warships who first captured the islands had grabbed a large amount of money and were desperately loading them on the ship. Under such stimulation, without waiting for the orders from the rear to be sent, the battleships of the Combined Fleet had already opened the nine island passages in advance, and rushed to the harbor.

Everything was as expected and judged by Pei You and Wang Pu. The scouts on Qingnipu had already known that they had found out about the movement of the joint fleet. The previous abandonment of the nine outer islands was just a deception, in order to lure the enemy into a light advance. When about twenty or thirty fleets rushed into the harbor, the fleet of only three thousand people in Qingnipu, hidden in the darkness of the island outside, suddenly broke out and cut into the chaotic formation of the joint fleet from both wings.

Rockets, squat oil, bows, poles, and even catapults attacked everywhere. However, the nine islands that had just been attacked suddenly appeared from somewhere. They directly pulled up crossbow beds and catapults, and attacked the warships loaded with spoils from the shore. There were also a large group of swordsmen and archers who were fighting out, chasing the soldiers of Duli Town who were covered with silk and were holding money in their hands.

In a fierce battle, one warship after another was ignited. Although Wang Pu and Pei You were determined to rescue them, the nine islands that had just been captured were soon taken back by the defenders. The defenders reblocked the entire periphery of the harbor. The shore defense catapults of dozens of islands, crossbows, and a fleet of 3,000 people from Qingnipu, were cruising around, completely locking the fleet that was attacking the harbor inside.

At the critical moment, Wang Pu cut off his arm and ordered Pei You to withdraw the fleet back and reorganize. In front of the blockade line composed of more than 40 islands with tight defense and the three thousand navy fleet, the chaotic and disorderly attack could not get any benefits. After retreating, the joint fleet lost twenty-seven warships, of which nine of the main warships lost. The twenty-seven warships with more than three thousand men were thrown on the battlefield. Although more than half of the lost warships were locked in the harbor and were not annihilated, in fact, they were no different from being annihilated and could not escape. It was only a matter of time before they were annihilated.

In the first battle, the Duli Town fleet suffered heavy losses and completely fell into the defense's plan. First, it was a fraudulent defeat, and then an ambush. After suffering a great loss, Wang Pu did not dare to attack easily, but began to assemble warships from the outermost periphery, concentrating its forces to prepare for the advancement of each island.

At the same time, there were 3,000 cavalry in Beisha City, 5,000 infantry, and more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilians in the logistics industry, and 30,000 people and horses also began to attack by land. However, the horse thieves in Beisha City were very cunning. Although they did not advance with great fanfare on the surface, they did not conceal the march in Sihao. They deliberately leaked the marching news to the spies in Qingnipu, but secretly sent the three thousand cavalry out first, sneaking all the way to Qingnipu City.

When the Duli Town fleet was trapped, the three thousand cavalrymen in Beisha City built a plank road openly and crossed Chencang secretly. They walked smoothly into the range of Qingnipu. They also bypassed several forts and directly Qingnipu City.

Seeing that it was only 30 miles away from Qingnipu City, the commanding general of the cavalry was excited, looking forward to a time to attack Qingnipu City at night. The city lord of Qingnipu City Li Lingfu personally led the 3,000 elite cavalry of the Crane Control Cavalry under his command to set up an ambush here. When the cavalry of Beisha City arrived, countless bows and crossbows suddenly flew out like rain. Then Li Lingfu led the Crane Control Cavalry, which he formed according to the name of the Tang Dynasty's elite imperial guards, to break out everywhere. The cavalry of Beisha City was caught off guard and the array was scattered and divided. Then, the cavalry of Beisha City, which was not as elite as the Crane Control Army, was defeated without any suspense. Most of them turned around and fled, and the rest were all killed and captured.

After dawn, the news that the water and land armies were defeated by the vanguards reached various troops, and Wang Pu and the commander generals of Beisha City were both shocked and angry. However, the war then fell into a conventional confrontation from the raid. The Duli Town fleet was cautious and dared not advance lightly. The Beisha City also began to regroup infantry and cavalry, and then slowly advanced, and first fought offensive and defensive strongholds around the village forts and forts on the periphery with Qingnipu. In a short period of time, the result was never seen.

Hearing this result, Li Yan couldn't help but be amazed. Qingnipu fought against two, and the situation was originally critical, but after these two battles, Li Lingfu easily reversed the situation on the entire battlefield with two ambush battles.

"Who is Li Lingfu? Do you have any information about him?"

Gongsun Lan smiled slightly, "Li Lingfu is not simple. Everyone calls Qingnipu a nest of horse thieves. In fact, when Qingnipu was first seized by the Han forces, there were horse thieves, but only a small part. When the Tang Dynasty retreated from Liaodong, there were a large number of Han people in the entire Liaodong and Liaoxi. Among them, many of them were the children of the Pinglu army guarding the western and Liaodong areas of Liaodong and did not follow them. Li Lingfu's father was the Pinglu army at that time.

The children, it is said that their ancestors were originally Han people, later joined the Pinglu Army to serve. Later, some descendants married the daughter of the fallen royal family of Goguryeo. Since then, their family has mixed blood between Han and Goguryeo. Speaking of which, it is said that the Li Lingfu family is still related to Li Zheng, a Goguryeo who came from Yingzhou to Shandong and finally seized the position of Jieshuai in Ziqing Town, and created the 60-year pattern of the Li family separating Ziqing for three generations and four generations.

"When Li Lingfu's ancestors stayed in Yingzhou, they gradually developed southward. After Li Zhengye became the Jieshuai commander who separatist Ziqing, they received secret support from Li Zhengye and began to gather many unevacuated Han people, as well as some bandits, horse thieves, and pirate forces as Yi, and eventually occupied Qingnipu and managed steadily. During the sixty years when Li Zhengye's family controlled Ziqing Town, it was also decades of Qingnipu's steady rise and development. Until the Li family was finally defeated by the court and divided Ziqing Town, Qingnipu was also greatly affected and its power declined. Then Duli Town dared to change the previous secret pursuit into an open attack."

"This Li Lingfu is even more simple. He was originally just his father's fifth son, and there were four elder brothers with succession on him. When he was fifteen years old, he took the initiative to take several generals away from Qingnipu and walk away from the grassland. Twenty years later, Li Lingfu was already the most famous horse thief in the western Liaoning Corridor. He had a total of a thousand elite horse thieves, and he called the Crane Control Army. At that time, Duli Town attacked Qingnipu again, and that time they even bribed many generals from Qingnipu.

And lured one of Li Lingfu's brothers to join forces secretly. That time, Qingnipu almost lost, the old city lord and his three sons died in the protruding rebellion of another son, and almost all the outer islands were lost. But just when Qingnipu City was about to fall, Li Lingfu, who had been away from home for 20 years, appeared, and led his 1,000 horse thieves to turn the tide, kill the rebellious brother, and stabilize the situation. Then, he was ordered to become the new city lord of Qingnipu, and then actually guarded Qingnipu with those people."

"Legend, so legendary. Li Lingfu's experience is so legendary." Li Guan had to sigh.

Gongsun Lan also chuckled: "Yes, now another ten years have passed. Li Lingfu is only forty-five years old. It is the time when he is most ambitious and strong. Over the past ten years, he has been preparing for war and strengthening Qingnipu. His Crane Control Army has gone from a thousand people ten years ago to three thousand people today. This is the most powerful support Qingnipu now, all of whom are the most brave and fierce knights, fearless of death. Although Li Lingfu has not fought with Duli Town in recent years, his small movements have not stopped for ten years. His 3,000 Crane Control Army took turns to attack, specifically robbing the land merchant regiment and fortresses in Duli Town. Through these actions, his Crane Control Cavalry not only became more and more brave, but also plundered a large amount of money and gave Duli Town a considerable blow."

"It's better to give timely help!" Li Guan pondered, "Li Lingfu is a hero. Do you think if I take the initiative to contact him and are willing to form a secret alliance with him and help him deal with Duli Town together, will he accept it?"
Chapter completed!