"Very good!" Butler Wu said sternly, "Mr. Sun is very insightful and has given me a lot of strategies. I am full of praise. After Mr. Sun resigned and left, I still sighed and said that it is hard to find talents."
He swallowed: "I once heard my master say that General Wu and General Ke, who were fighting on the northwest front, did not use Mr. Sun's strategy, and the war fell into a passive position. Every mistake was made, and every step was wrong."
He Lingchuan remembered that Sun Hongye had given Ke Jihai advice on how to capture Gucheng and Zhongyun Lake on the Wuzhou front.
This solid city, surrounded by high walls and deep ditches, was the first obstacle encountered by the army when they invaded Wuzhou.
Sun Hongye's suggestion at that time was to abandon Gucheng, attack Baoguan on the west side, and then blow up the Qingdi!
This is a good plan, but it is also a poisonous plan, because exploding the embankment will inevitably flood countless fields and houses, and at least more than 100,000 civilians in the villages and counties will be affected.
War is a dilemma.
Neither Ke Jihai nor Wu Di dared to use this strategy.
Although Gucheng was later captured, the army paid a huge price. Not only did it suffer heavy casualties, it also took four months longer than Sun Hongye's plan.
For more than one hundred and thirty days, the consumption of Wu Ke's army, from men and horses to food and grass, was astonishing.
Da Sima had enough time in these four months to make many arrangements, which made the battle behind Wu Ke's army difficult.
It can be said that the Battle of Gucheng had a far-reaching impact, and even today, the decline of the army is inseparable from it.
Da Sima not only recaptured Gucheng, but also advanced more than a hundred miles south.
Every time He Chunhua talks about this crucial battle, he sighs with regret.
"So, from the time Sun Hongye arrived in Yuandu until he left, what was unusual during this period?"
"Abnormal?" Butler Wu frowned and thought for a long time before shaking his head, "I didn't notice it."
"Okay." He Lingchuan patted his shoulder, "Thank you for your hard work."
Seeing him walking out, Butler Wu asked, "Where are you going, young master? I can send a car."
He Lingchuan smiled and said, "No need, I'll just walk around."
Butler Wu watched him leave for a while before going back to his own work.
…
The next person He Lingchuan found was Shan Youjun.
As soon as this person entered He Mansion, He Lingchuan caught him and asked, "Where does Sun Hongye live?"
"Ah?" Shan Youjun was startled, "Sun... isn't he gone?"
"Where will you stay before leaving?" He Lingchuan said impatiently, "It can't be Shihuan City, right?"
Sun Hongye once had a small house in Shihuan City, which he sold before he went north to Xiazhou with He Lingchuan last year.
"I have been there." Shan Youjun was still as smart as before, "I will take you there."
He Lingchuan said casually: "You are quite familiar with him."
"Where?" Shan Youjun said with a smile, "We are all working under Mr. He, and we haven't seen each other for a year and a half, so at least we have to look familiar."
"Then he didn't tell you, why did he leave suddenly?"
Shan Youjun was startled and shook his head: "I didn't tell you. I didn't know until he left for two days."
He led He Lingchuan away from He Mansion without taking a carriage. He walked seven or eight hundred steps east, turned two alleys, and stopped in front of a house: "We're here."
Shan Youjun knocked on the door and was answered by a fat middle-aged man.
He is the landlord, and Sun Hongye rents a house from him.
"Oh, the tenant surnamed Sun?" The fat landlord was a little displeased when the two explained their intention, "This guy is not kind. He clearly agreed to rent for six months before moving in, but he left after only eleven days!
I didn’t refund his deposit.”
He Lingchuan handed over a piece of broken silver: "Can I see where he lives?"
The landlord was also happy. He took the money and opened the wooden door diagonally opposite: "It's right here, you can look around as you like."
He Lingchuan and Shan Youjun went in and saw that it was a small courtyard upon entering. The structure was very simple, the courtyard was less than fifty square meters, with three and a half rooms, bedroom, living room, kitchen, and half of it was a woodshed.
The house is clean, and there is no fumes on the kitchen stove. This yard has not found a new tenant yet, so it remains the same as it was before Sun Hongye left.
The landlord looked like a lazy person, so he said it himself and didn't clean anymore.
The place is so big, I have to lift my legs and go back and forth a few times.
He Lingchuan paid close attention to every corner, observed carefully, and asked the landlord: "Have you seen Sun Hongye a few days before he left?"
"He leaves early and comes back late. He can't say ten words to me in eleven days. Besides, I'm running my own business and I'm not home very often."
He Lingchuan looked at it and asked, "Did he leave a message?"
"No." The landlord sneezed, "He just said he was leaving, and then he left."
"Leave just now?"
"Yes, he knocked on my door with a bag on his back and said he would check out and leave immediately." The landlord recalled, "I told him that the rent and deposit would not be refunded, and he said it was okay, and then left without looking back.
Already."
"He looks anxious?"
"Urgent, it looks like there is a ghost chasing you." The landlord touched his nose, "It's such a cold day, and there's sweat on his nose."
He Lingchuan nodded: "Thank you very much."
After that, he took Shan Youjun and left.
Shan Youjun asked him on the way back: "Young Master, is there anything wrong?"
"Sun Hongye checked out of the hotel by himself, but he left suddenly." He Lingchuan pondered, "What did he find?"
"Discovered?" Shan Youjun was puzzled, "We have just arrived in Yuandu, what is he going to discover?"
"Where has he been these days?"
"Ah, I have to ask Butler Wu about that."
He Lingchuan glanced at him: "He doesn't have any close friends in the mansion or in the support army?"
"He has a good relationship with everyone, but when it comes to making particularly good friends, well, he doesn't seem to have any." Shan Youjun thought for a while, "Should I go back and ask around?"
"Well, I leave it to you."
Before He Lingchuan entered the house, his servants rushed out to report:
"Young Master, Master Wang is here!"
The Dian Ke ordered Mr. Wang to come to He's Mansion in person. He Chunhua had been away on business for a long time, and it was Mrs. Ying who came to receive him.
Normally, when Dian Ke ordered to receive a foreign envoy, he would ask the envoy to come to the door, but this time he actually came in person.
Mrs. Ying's face was dignified and she responded appropriately. When she saw He Lingchuan, she even smiled like a flower, with pride on her face:
"Chuan'er, Your Majesty wants to see you."
In terms of etiquette, He Lingchuan could not see Lord Yuan just because he was the special envoy of Rongshan Mountain. Just like when he was the special envoy of Chiyan, he could not see the emperor of Bejia. People announced that he went to Xushan Mountain to express condolences.
With other purposes in mind, he was sent back as soon as the God's judgment was over, so he never saw the face of the emperor from the beginning to the end.
This time Yuan Jun actually announced his congratulations to Lingchuan for coming to the palace, which shows that he attaches great importance to money.
That's why Mr. Wang came to invite He Lingchuan in person.
As he walked out, Mrs. Ying reminded her eldest son in a low voice: "Chuan'er, you must be polite when meeting your Majesty."