The meeting at the edge of the Yellow River made Zhiyao have a very good impression of Bai Gongsheng.
If it weren't for his acting skills, it would seem that Bai Gongsheng has a very distinct personality, he values friendship and speaks very directly. To some extent, he also shows that he values personal kindness more than national interests.
But then again, Bai Gongsheng led his army to attack Zheng State with personal feelings, which was in conflict with Chu State's national policy.
The Chu State did not want to have frequent wars with the Zheng State recently, purely because Bai Gongsheng wanted to avenge his father. Chu Junzhang and Ling Yin Zixi understood Bai Gongsheng's character and had no choice but to allow Bai Gongsheng to lead his army to attack Zheng.
At present, the Chu State does not want to antagonize the Jin State. Secondly, the threat from the Wu State is greater. It can gain some benefits by attacking the Zheng State. If it continues to expand northward, it is more likely that the overly sensitive Jin State will redirect its attention to the Chu State.
It's really not a good thing for Chu State.
Therefore, the State of Chu, which repeatedly attacked the State of Zheng, did not occupy the cities of the State of Zheng. After each attack, it carried out a thorough retaliation. This was completely different from the greedy state that Chu State had repeatedly shown.
Did the State of Chu annex the State of Chen, right? The State of Chen was one of the three members of the Zhou royal family, that is to say, the State of Chen was a country responsible for the sacrifices of Yu and Shun, and it would be destroyed at any time.
The other two "Ke" are Qi State and Song State, which correspond to the relevant sacrifices of Dayu and Yin Shang respectively.
What? The Yue Kingdom was a country that was enfeoffed in order to offer sacrifices to Dayu? That’s right.
However, Qi State and Yue State are both descendants of Dayu, and there is a division of labor in sacrifices.
The Zhou rites emphasized sacrifices and had special sacrificial tasks. They may have been or are weak in the past. In the past, they did not have to worry about the country's subjugation. Now the situation seems to have become different? At the very least, after knowing that the Chen Kingdom was destroyed, Qi State should be worried that one day it will be destroyed.
Wouldn't it be possible for the country to suddenly perish?
Logically speaking, the Jin State, which still aspired to become the overlord, should have condemned the Chu State for destroying the Chen State, but it did not.
There was no voice at the national level. When Zhiyao and Bai Gongsheng met with them today, they neither mentioned the topic of Chen Guo.
"Why did Jin attack Zheng this time?" Bai Gongsheng asked.
Zhiyao said: "My misfortune, Zheng Yan dares to deal with it, how can he not be punished?"
Zheng Guo participated in the civil strife of Jin State. The Fan clan and Zhonghang clan they chose were defeated and would definitely be punished.
Could Duke Bai not know that truth? He must know it.
"In this case, you and I may be able to attack Xinzheng together." Bai Gongsheng suggested.
Zhiyao shook his head and said: "'Xinzheng' is a fortified city. Our four 'divisions' have less than 50,000 soldiers under Duke Bai's tent. The attackers will cause more casualties."
Not to mention that it is difficult to capture, even if it can be captured, the casualties will be huge.
Besides, it is difficult for Jin and Chu to trust each other. Cooperation that lacks a basis of mutual trust cannot be without intrigues.
Bai Gongsheng showed a surprised expression and said: "Everywhere I go, will I lose my reputation as a conqueror?"
What's the meaning?
It tells the story of Zhiyao's deeds of conquering "Linzi", "Puyang" and "Xianyu", but when he came to "Xinzheng" he did not want to conquer it. Not only was he not like Zhiyao's character, but he also made the "siege master"
There is a flaw in the nickname.
Zhiyao said truthfully: "If I want to conquer Zhengdu, I need two 'armies', and it will take two years?"
Both legions must also come from the Zhi family and cannot be troops from other families.
Bai Gongsheng was silent for a while, then burst out laughing suddenly, and while laughing, he said: "The eldest son of the Zhi family is a wonderful person, and he is also a good person."
Putting aside the reason behind Bai Gongsheng's conclusion about Zhiyao, Zhiyao's statement is undoubtedly very pertinent.
"Xinzheng", the capital of the Zheng Kingdom, was different from other cities. In the early days, two outer city walls were built under the original scale of the city, and it became a city with three walls combined with the palace city. Later, "Xinzheng" repeatedly added outer walls, not only to the city.
In order to expand outward, six "illegal" defense chains were built, turning "Xinzheng" into a fortified city with nine defense chains.
This kind of city has taken down one of the enemy's defenses and eight more, which means that it is not possible to peel off all the shells by means of a surprise attack. It can use cunning means to take down a city wall while it is unprepared. The city wall behind can only be relied on.
Use hard power to seize them one by one.
So, if you want to conquer "Xinzheng", there is almost no possibility of trickery. If you don't bring enough troops and determination, what will happen?
Zhiyao was said to be a little confused.
Is there any downside to finally earning the nickname "siege master" based on strength? No one is happy about it.
Of course, Zhiyao had made relevant mental preparations in advance and had already thought about what to do.
Zhiyao and Bai Gongsheng chatted for a long time, from morning to evening, and even had a meal together.
Is it just right? Bai Gongsheng was a bit dumbfounded that Zhiyao wanted to have a meal at noon.
Nowadays, people, even nobles, basically have two main meals a day and have no concept of lunch.
Zhiyao didn't explain either, and there was no need to explain.
In fact, not everyone in the Zhi family eats three square meals a day. At first, Zhi Yao did it in her own family, and later even the Xinjun did it, and it slowly spread to all families who had the conditions.
The reason why the new army eats three square meals is quite simple. Their training tasks are too heavy. No matter how well they eat, eating one more meal will make it less likely to break down the body.
Don't think that Zhi's new army was the first to do this. Wei had been doing it when he was training heavy infantry. The difference is that Wei did not provide food and drink for the heavy infantry. It was completely because the heavy infantry being trained was overwhelmed and some people brought extra food.
Eat a meal at noon to relieve hunger and be able to cope with the physical exertion in the afternoon, and the rest will follow.
Before Zhiyao could take a breath after returning to the camp, a group of friends gathered around him.
Gu Xi
"Is it true that Duke Bai is determined to attack Zheng?" Wei Ju asked.
Zhao Bolu asked: "Will our army attack the city?"
Han Geng, Hu You and Zhong Wu also had questions, which were roughly the same as those of Wei Ju and Zhao Bolu, so there was no need to speak any more.
It must be that Bai Gongsheng had to attack Zheng. The kings and ministers of Chu reluctantly agreed and gave him only 80,000 troops, and their quality was actually a bit worrying.
Bai Gongsheng was able to lead the Chu army of that quality to repeatedly defeat the Zheng army. It can only be said that his ability to command troops is really not bad.
Attacking "Xinzheng"? Zhiyao knew that "Xinzheng" was difficult to conquer. Bai Gongsheng had no reason not to know. It just depends on whether Bai Gongsheng has reason.
Zhiyao did not mention whether Bai Gongsheng would attack the capital of Zheng, but said: "Yao wants to enter the city, who will go with him?"
For a moment, the scene fell into silence.
After a while, Hu You seemed to have lost his mind and asked blankly: "How to enter the city?"
Anyway, it’s not about attacking with troops, but peeling off the shells layer by layer before entering.
"Wu Go." Zhong Wu said.
As "Qing", Wei Ju and Zhao Bolu are not suitable to appear in public.
Zhiyao looked at Han Geng and Hu You who had not expressed their opinions, then finally fell on Zhong Wu and said: "In this case, the two of us will enter the city."
In fact, after Zhong Wu expressed his stance, the others looked at him somewhat differently.
Of course, instead of entering with force and sending people to make requests before entering the city, the kings and ministers of Zheng State would only kill the guests if they were mentally ill, even if these guests first wreaked havoc in the territory of Zheng State and then led troops to the "Xin Zheng" city.
The security of Zhiyao and Zhongwu is based on the strength of Jin State, not to mention that the Zhi family as a family is stronger than Zheng State in terms of soft and hard strength.
Later, Zheng Junsheng agreed to Zhiyao's request to enter the city and sent Ziyong to lead the way.
The reason why the kings and ministers of Zheng State agreed to Zhiyao's entry into the city was, first of all, that the Jin army who came to the outskirts of "Xinzheng" did not build siege equipment, and secondly, they wanted to see Zhiyao to understand the purpose of the troops approaching the city, and perhaps there were other things they wanted to discuss.
In the early morning of a new day, you can hear all kinds of noises from the Chu army in the south, and the noise is as if they will launch an siege today.
"When I first arrived, where did I find the time to build siege equipment? It was just a demonstration." Zhiyao thought to herself.
Zhong Wu followed Zhi Yao into the city, and naturally he was accompanied by an accompanying bodyguard, which was actually not too many. There were fifty armored soldiers from the Zhi clan and two hundred soldiers of other forms, as well as an equal number of guards from the Zhong clan.
It’s not that Zhiyao and Zhong Wu don’t want to bring more guards, but it’s also up to Zheng Guojun and his ministers to do so.
Even though there were only 500 soldiers in total, the kings and ministers of the Zheng Kingdom still had some doubts. If the number was not too small and it did not match the identities of Zhiyao and Zhongwu, they would have wanted Zhiyao and Zhongwu to enter the city.
There is nothing we can do about it. Who in the world today dares to ignore Zhiyao, who successively conquered the capitals of the Three Kingdoms!?
The gate's thousand-pound gate was slowly raised amidst bursts of noise.
"It seems somewhere is recorded that Confucius' father, Uncle Liang He, carried the Qian Jin gate to let the friendly forces retreat? At that time, Uncle Liang He was in his fifties or sixties." Zhiyao looked at Qian Jin who was slowly being pulled up.
I have some doubts that an old man can carry it.
Of course, Shu Lianghe did not lift the city gate in "Xinzheng", but in a place called "Biyang".
The thousand-jin gate was pulled up, and torches were lit inside the city gate, so that it would not be completely dark.
A considerable number of Zheng troops were on alert to prevent the Jin army from suddenly seizing the door. This shows how defensive the Zheng army was against Zhiyao.
Zhong Wu saw Zheng Jun putting on such a posture and subconsciously looked at Zhi Yao, trying to see the proud expression on Zhi Yao's face.
To be honest, one person should be proud that his body can make the king and ministers of a country so fearful.
Zhiyao just had no expression on her face, and no one else could tell what she was thinking.
Entered the city.
Zhiyao passed through the city gate and saw another city wall about a mile ahead. Looking around, he didn't see many buildings. There were also soldiers standing in front of the buildings. It was obvious that it had become a covered area.
A military city sandwiched between city walls.
After passing the second city wall, the number of buildings increased, and the number of Li Shu people also increased.
Zhiyao saw the deployment of 'Xinzheng' with her own eyes and thought: "Faced with this turtle flow, unless the defenders' will to resist can be broken down, how much price will it cost to conquer it?"
They did not go to the palace city and stopped after passing the fourth city wall.
Going out of the city gate again, Zhiyao saw Zheng Junsheng and all the ministers of Zheng State dressed in fine clothes.
Didn't entertain guests in the palace? This is because Zheng's monarchs and ministers didn't want Zhiyao to see the overall defense situation of "Xin Zheng"!
It's all just because the palace city is built on a high ground. Standing on it, you can have a panoramic view of "Xinzheng" and the overall view can be seen very clearly.
Facing Zhiyao, who is nicknamed the "siege master", in fact, no matter how cautious the kings and ministers of Zheng are, they can never be too cautious!