Chapter 259 North City Secret Agreement

Author: purple water

Chapter 259 North City Secret Agreement

There is no moon on the new day, and the night sky is so dark.

Above the Xiping Gate in Luzhou, Zhao Tong and Liya Nazha stood side by side, looking down at the city.

Just at dusk, the cavalry who were outside finally returned, and there was a good killing in Luzhou City.

Even though Wang Qing ordered the city to be covered with arrows and opened the city gates to respond, there were still countless casualties in the end. Ten thousand horses left the city and only six thousand returned.

Although the Song army won, they also suffered a lot of losses. In front of the east and west gates, there were countless corpses in the moat, and the water in the moat was dyed scarlet.

Horses that had lost their masters were running around, broken weapons could be seen everywhere, and arrows were scattered everywhere as if they were worthless.

The main camp of the Song Army was set up in the north of Luzhou City, and their scouting horses were constantly circling around Luzhou City, not knowing what they were probing for.

Lianazha suddenly said: "Song Jun's move to lure the tiger away from the mountain was too clever."

Zhao Tong said: "What's so clever about it?"

Liyana said: "The Song army did not go to the Beicheng camp to harass, but instead went to the east and west cities. This gave people the illusion that their purpose was not at the Beicheng camp at all. People did not feel the real intention, and just thought they wanted to attack the east and west cities.

The two cities used tactics, so Marshal Duan fell into the Song army's treacherous plan unintentionally."

Zhao Tong shook his head when he heard this and laughed twice.

Liyana asked: "Could it be that General Li disagrees with me?"

Zhao Tong glanced at her and couldn't see clearly in the darkness, then stretched out his hand to hold Liyanaza's delicate hand.

Liyana trembled and said, "It's better to go to the tower to talk."

The two of them entered the tower. There was an oil lamp on the table inside the tower, the light was like a bean, and the shadows were blurry.

Liyana said: "I just said that the Song army used it well to mobilize the tiger away from the mountain. Why is General Li laughing?"

Zhao Tong said: "Is this what you mean by sending troops to harass the east and west cities of Luzhou, attracting the attention of Beicheng Camp, and luring Beicheng Camp to send troops to pursue them?"

Liyana said: "Isn't it?"

Zhao Tong touched his chin and said, "Why do I feel like you are leading a snake out of its hole?"

Liyanaza asked in confusion: "What lures the snake out of its hole?"

Zhao Tong said: "lay an ambush in advance, and then harass them repeatedly, annoying the people in the Beicheng camp and send troops to chase them, and then lead them to the place of ambush and catch them by surprise."

Liyanaza was stunned for a moment after hearing this: "I'm afraid it can't be that simple... The Song army has used so many ambushes in front of Shouzhou City, and they still used ambushes in Luzhou. How could anyone fall into the trap?"

Zhao Tong shook his head and said: "It's just that there is no suitable place for an ambush around Luzhou City. As for the later plan to evacuate the tiger from the mountain, it was probably a plan to make a living after it failed. There was no place for an ambush, so I thought of evacuating the tiger from the mountain."

Liyanaza looked at Zhao Tong and said, "I don't believe it..."

Zhao Tong smiled and said: "If you don't believe it, you don't believe it. I'm just making random guesses, but King Qi of the Song Dynasty really used his troops like a god, which is admirable."

Liyana's bright eyes flashed, looking at him with a half-smile but not a smile. Looking at her beauty under the lamp, Zhao Zi couldn't help but put her hand into his arms and whispered: "Then King Zhao Zi of Qi has a clever plan. Could it be that General Shangguan has fallen in love with her?"

Liyanaza looked up at him, smiled again, and said nothing. Zhao Tao asked strangely: "Which one is always smiling?"

Liyanaza whispered: "What General Li said is true. I have fallen in love with King Qi. How do you treat him?"

Zhao Tong was shocked when he heard this and said with a smile: "But when did it happen? How could I not know."

Liyana said: "This cannot be said. General Li should not inquire."

Zhao Tong thought deeply: "I just remembered something. What happened to the royal seal of Fang Jingjue in the Longyou Stone Forest at that time?"

Liyana asked: "General Li actually still remembers this?"

Zhao Tong smiled and said: "Of course I remember that I have always been curious about the purpose of the seal. I originally thought that the seal contained some secret of the ancient country, but then I thought about it and it was unlikely. The thing itself can sell some silver."

Liyanaza whispered: "It has nothing to do with any secret. It is a tradition of our Uighur royal family. I can't tell you at the moment. I will tell you more carefully when I have time."

Zhao Tong nodded. He really didn't know much about the Uighurs. Even in later generations, there were very few records about the Uighurs. Most of them were just superficial things.

At this time, Zhao Tong's official position was restored to Luzhou Defense Envoy. However, because the Song army was approaching the city, there was no longer a distinction between left and right envoys. Instead, five Luzhou Defense Envoys were directly appointed, with an additional five-city military and horse steward.

Qiu Xiang was appointed to inspect Luzhou's defense together.

Zhao Tong has not yet contacted anyone outside the city. After all, the Song army needs repairs after successive battles, especially for lazy soldiers like the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army. It is a miracle that they can win the battle. Therefore, even if they are contacted at this moment, they may not be able to act on the secret message immediately.

The content of the secret message Huang Gu brought was actually very simple. It was to wait for an opportunity, agree on a time, then secretly open the Xiping Gate, and cooperate with each other to defeat Luzhou.

It's easy to wait for this opportunity. The main reason is that the Song Army must be prepared. The daily situation in Luzhou City is similar, so there is no need to wait for any special opportunity.

As for the agreed time, it was naturally the time agreed upon for a sneak attack to open the Xiping Gate. As long as Zhao Tong could contact the other party, the time could be determined through semaphores.

The two then chatted for a while, and Zhao Tan went downstairs to leave. Now, the five defense envoys in Luzhou City do not need to patrol day and night as before. They all come in rotation, and they can repair after a fixed hour.

When he went to court the next day, Wang Qing roared again in the palace, but the ministers could not think of any quick way to retreat from the enemy, so they had to disperse hastily.

In the evening, Zhao Tong went to the neighboring house to explain thirty-six strategies to Liyanaza. Liyanaza was extremely talented in military affairs and learned very quickly, and could almost draw inferences from one instance to other cases.

A few days passed like this, and the Song army outside the city neither attacked the city nor attacked the formation, and just faced off like this.

However, the Song Army's scouting horses continued to circle around the city. Once the city gate opened and wanted to pursue them, they turned around and ran away.

At noon that day, Zhao Tong inspected the North City. The general of Beicheng was still Lu Cheng, but there were also two additional generals and three deputy generals. Three generals and five deputy generals guarded the city day and night.

Zhao Tong stood at the top of the city and looked into the distance. He could see the Song Army camp in the distance.

The Song army did not lie dormant in the camp, but there were a few sentries wandering outside, and one of them looked like he was about to rush to Luzhou City.

Lu Cheng said with a tangled look on his face: "These Song soldiers come here every day to provoke them. They can't shoot, but they can't catch up. It's abominable."

Zhao Tong sighed: "Now the government can't come up with a regulation. It's not a good idea to just defend it. We have to fight it out."

Lu Chengdao: "Who says it's not the case? We are guarding like this... General Li, look at this Song army coming to provoke again!"

Zhao Tong looked around and saw a Song army of about seven or eight hundred men marching towards Luzhou City at an unhurried pace.

Two generals were vaguely visible in front of these cavalry, both wearing military command armor. One seemed to have a gun in his hand, and the other had a weapon hanging beside the horse.

The cavalry stopped just a stone's throw away from Luzhou City. It was a little closer. He could vaguely see the outline of the face on the other side. Zhao Tong glanced at it for a few times and raised his eyebrows. One of the two generals was looking at him.

It's Huang Gu.

If you are not a familiar person, you may not be able to recognize each other just by looking at the outline of the face from such a distance. However, since the two have known each other since they were young, they can identify each other just by looking at their backs. Zhao Yan naturally recognized Huang Gu at a glance.

.

He leaned forward slightly at the top of the city and said, "General Lu, does the Song army send these soldiers and horses here every day?"

Lu Cheng nodded and looked at the city with a look of resentment: "These Song soldiers are different from those who harassed the east and west cities before. They neither shoot arrows nor curse. They just stand there chatting with loud voices and laughing wildly from time to time.

They simply treat me like I’m nothing.”

"That's it..." Zhao Tong continued to look down the city, and saw the Song soldiers also looking up. After he was sure that Huang Gu could see his house, he couldn't help but smile: "General Lu, in fact, they are helpless against Luzhou.

, otherwise we would have already attacked the city, so why use these useless tricks."

Lu Chengdao: "The city of Luzhou is tall and strong, and there is plenty of food and grass at the moment. Although we have suffered some losses after a few defeats, our troops and horses are not much less than the Song army, so it will not be easy to attack."

Zhao Tong nodded and said: "If the city is united, with Luzhou's food, grass and troops, if the Song army wants to attack by force, I'm afraid it will not be possible without an additional 50% of its troops!"

Lu Cheng shook his head and said: "General Li overestimated these Song troops. Although Lu is not very familiar with military affairs, he also knows that it is difficult to attack the city. For a high city like Luzhou, even if the Song army is given twice as many troops, I am afraid that

It’s impossible, unless we use some conspiracy and trickery, we can defeat Luzhou.”

Zhao Tong laughed twice when he heard this and said: "General Lu is right."

He knew that what Lu Cheng said was right. According to records in "Historical Records", "Zuo Zhuan" and other books, if an army wants to attack a city by force, it needs at least five times the enemy's strength. And if it wants to besiege a city and attack it,

The number of troops required is more than ten times, and it is unclear whether it can be broken.

However, there are not many who actually deployed several times the army and attacked the city to the end. Most of them were after the troops came to the city. The people in the city were either frightened and fled, or they directly opened the city and surrendered, or they were trapped for a period of time, without food and grass.

In the end, I had no choice but to surrender.

There are some people who are unable to defend themselves against several or even ten times more troops and insist on fighting to the end, but there are very few.

There is actually a question here, which is why it is necessary to attack the city during the battle.

If you can easily bypass the city and directly attack the enemy's capital, and if you can defeat its capital, the country will naturally be in chaos, and the remaining cities will be more likely to fall. Wouldn't it be even faster?

The Battle of Baiju between Wu and Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period was like this.

Wei Yan also had the same idea in his Ziwu Valley Plan, but it failed to come to fruition. Instead, Deng Ai's battle to destroy Shu did.

Even the battle of Jingnan in later generations went deep into Yingtian Mansion and succeeded in one fell swoop.

But why this is rarely done is because many cities and passes are often built according to the terrain and fit in with the natural dangers. Even if there are roads outside the city that can be detoured, many of them are not official roads, which only increases the risk of enemy attacks.

Since the city has not yet been captured, there are also great hidden dangers in terms of logistics and food supplies. Once surrounded by enemy troops, there will be no recovery.

Therefore, most of the time, you have to attack the city. After capturing the city, you will have a reliable rear area for collecting supplies, transporting troops, and recuperating. This is very important.

In addition, the battle of Baiju, the battle of Wei's destruction of Ji and Han, and Jingnan's penetration into Yingtian Mansion were because not all cities had reliable natural hazards, so it was actually possible to break into the enemy's rear.

However, if you want to accomplish such a feat, it is difficult to do it with infantry alone. You need a strong cavalry team to have the opportunity to make a quick surprise attack.

However, the cost of setting up a cavalry is very high, and commanding such a cavalry is even more difficult.
To be continued...