"Hurry! Sentinel horse Feng Yousan, explore Lizhou and return to camp!"
"Come and see!"
Song He, who was on the top of the city in the north, looked over personally and saw that they were indeed soldiers under his command.
"Wangtower! Are there any Mongolian troops following you on the pavilion road?"
"Report! No dust or smoke has been seen for several miles!"
"Open the city gate and put sentry horses in..."
The city gate to the south is open, and groups of Song soldiers are cutting down trees, replenishing the city wall, beating wood, and setting up artillery carts.
Every once in a while, dozens of sentry horses would rush away.
In the dusty pavilion passage, there are also fast horses galloping.
"Um! Again, the order of Sichuan's pacification system, the appointment of envoys, and the knowledge of Chongqing, Baokang Army, and Ningwu Army's Jiedu Envoy Lu Shuai..."
"Damn, you know how to push, push, push. Three military orders a day are annoying to death... Look at the tower! Are there any enemy soldiers following these messengers on the pavilion road?!"
"The messenger below the city is waiting! My general is busy with military affairs!"
Liu Jinsuo shouted to the city, turned around and walked past the city. All along the way he could hear the clanging sounds of gun carriages and ladders being built.
With a "dong" sound, the ladder was set up on the inner city wall...
"Siege the city!"
A group of Song troops jumped up from the ladder, startling Liu Jinsuo.
That was Yu Tian leading people to practice siege tactics.
Looking towards the school grounds in the middle of the city, I saw a square formation of Song troops still lining up.
"Old Yu! Do you want me to lead some people to attack you?! How can siege a city be so light..." 1
"Go away, don't block my people..."
Liu Jinsuo laughed loudly and strode towards the tower. He was bumped into by the forest on the way.
"You blind hozen." Lin Zi also had a pot cake in his mouth. He dropped it to the ground, picked it up and stuffed it into Liu Jinsuo's mouth.
"Where is Pifon?"
"What about...are you giving me an order? What's the matter? Why don't you let me..."
"Shut up, it's none of your business."
Liu Jinsuo laughed again and went up to the tower. He saw a group of sentinels coming down in a hurry. Apparently they had just reported the information about Lizhou.
"Report! Lu Wende has sent someone again!" Liu Jinsuo shouted.
"Wait."
Liu Jinsuo went in and waited, listening to Li Xiazheng's discussion with Kong Xian and Yang Ben.
…
"There is no chance of a sneak attack on Lizhou, we can only attack by force."
"Jianmen Pass is extremely dangerous. There is such a big news that the general captured Jianmen Pass. Lizhou must have received the news and the defenders have been prepared."
Li Xia raised his hand and marked it on the map.
"Wang Weizheng... As far as I know, this man is Wang Dechen's eldest son. He is about the same age as me. He is named Zhengzheng and has a Mongolian name, 'Zhaci'er'." 1
Kong Xian asked: "How does the general know this?"
Now that he knew that Li Xia had been moved to the post of commander-in-chief of the infantry and horse army in Chengdu Prefecture and governor of Yizhou, even though he had not yet received the official seal, Kong Xian had already made a good posture.
What's more, the news of the battle in Diaoyu City has not yet reached Lin'an. When it does, Li Xia will definitely be promoted.
"I have a friend named Li Tingyu, I mentioned it during a casual chat."
Liu Jinsuo heard Lin Zi talk about Li Xia sneaking into Liyi Mountain City. He laughed loudly when he heard the word "friend" and was glared at by Yang Ben.
Li Xia ignored them, pondered, and said slowly: "Finally, Wang Dechen died in Diaoyu City. Wang Weizheng was probably ordered to come from Gongchang to attack the king, and stopped at Lizhou... This man is the new commander-in-chief. But I haven’t gotten the Golden Tiger Talisman yet.”
Although Kong Xian didn't know Wang Weizheng, he followed Yu Jie to Hanzhong, so he knew the Wang family fairly well.
"Wang Weizheng is young, so there is nothing to worry about, but all the Wang brothers are difficult to deal with. Wang Zhichen, Wang Liangchen, Wang Hanchen, Wang Zuochen, Wang Qingchen... If one of them is in Lizhou, this battle will be difficult to fight."
"yes."
Li Xia is still lowering his head to mark.
"We haven't fully ascertained the strength of Lizhou's troops. We only said that the sentinels have found out... that there are five thousand troops in Zhaohua City."
Zhaohua is a small city located at the intersection of Bailong River and Jialing River. It is the first city fort encountered after exiting the pavilion road from Jianmen Pass. It is equivalent to another gateway to Lizhou.
"It can be seen that the total force in Lizhou City can be close to 30,000 people," Li Xia said.
Kong Xian asked: "Are there so many?"
"Even more than that."
Yang Ben said: "Alang is included in the logistics?"
"Yes, the Mongolian army's logistics are called the 'Olu Army'. Although they are not all fighting soldiers, they are more than enough to defend the city." Li Xia said: "Even the Oru Army has stronger combat power than our rural soldiers."
Kong Xian was a little disappointed after hearing this.
Li Xia told him that of the two options at the moment, Kong Xian preferred to regain Lizhou first and then march into Hanzhong.
But things in the world are not that easy. After probing the information about Lizhou today, he found out that the situation was far from as optimistic as he expected.
"Then... the attack on Lizhou will inevitably lead to a stalemate?"
Li Xia said: "The current situation is like a race. We and Brother Mo both want to go to Hanzhong. This is the end point. We want to capture Lizhou and take the Jinniu Road; Brother Mo wants to defeat Lu Wende and take the Micang Road."
"yes."
"Then, let's analyze the enemy and ourselves. We only have nearly 10,000 troops, and we have to divide our troops to defend Jianmen Pass. We can send up to 8,000 people to attack the city; while Brother Mo has more than 50,000 people. We are weak, but Brother Mo is strong."
Kong Xiandao: "But our morale is high."
"Morale is temporary. As the siege continues, morale will drop."
Li Xia pointed to Lizhou on the map and then pointed to the location of Lu Wende's camp.
"Wang Weizheng, with many soldiers and generals, and sufficient food and grass, guarded Lizhou City, which Wang Dechen had managed for more than ten years; Lu Wende, who entered Shu for the first time, hastily deployed defenses."
Kong Xian nodded and responded: "General, I understand. If we choose to attack Lizhou first, once Mo Ge defeats Lu Wende and takes the Micang Road to reach Hanzhong first, Lizhou City will have 50,000 troops in Hanzhong as backup."
Yang Ben added: "Even if we capture Lizhou first, as long as Brother Mo reaches Hanzhong before us, we can block the Jinniu Road."
Kong Xian sighed and said: "After this analysis, it seems that the best choice is to attack Brother Mo together with Lu Wende first."
He pointed to Jianmen Pass on the map.
"We have captured Jianmen Pass, and the defenders of Lizhou cannot pass through Jianmen Pass to join the battle. In this way, the Mongolian army cannot concentrate, but our Song army can concentrate its forces, which can save a lot of disadvantages."
Yang Ben felt a little stuffy and took a deep breath from his nostrils.
When he was selected by Fan Wenhu and sent to Li Xia to spy on the news, he still had the mentality of "I will make a contribution in the end and see if you can help me".
But later he also understood that it was actually Fan Wenhu who picked him because he didn't like him.
Several other spies were killed by Li Xia, which shows that this was not a good job.
Today, after being put in a high position, he has a worse impression of Lu Jiajun.
Yang Ben really didn't want to see Li Xia being driven by Lu Wende, but this was the current situation.
"Alang, I also think it's appropriate to attack Brother Mo first."
…
Li Xia thought for a long time.
Things are different now than before.
In the past, he always bypassed the fortified city and picked the best place to attack. This was the way of fighting for the general.
But now we pay attention to the realization of the grand strategic layout. No matter how difficult it is to fight, no matter how many people will be sacrificed, we must fight it.