Not long after New Year's Eve, Mi Fang brought news that surprised Wang Zheng.
Linzi, the fifth capital of the Han Dynasty, fell again.
This time, he didn't even last for half a month. Just before the new year, Yuan Tan sent people to instigate a rebellion in the city headed by the Yan family in Linzi. The two sides discussed raising torches as a response, and then launched a surprise attack in the cold winter night.
Defeat the outer city of Linzi in one fell swoop.
After Tian Kai was defeated, he wanted to break out of the siege. After several attempts failed, he was trapped and retreated to the inner city to hold on. Yuan Tan adopted Guo Tu's strategy, dug a tunnel to the downstairs of the inner city, and finally set it on fire.
The poor and dignified governor of Qingzhou was burned to death in the end, leaving no bones left.
However, Wang Zheng had no time to sympathize with this old man at this time. Tian Kai was so ineffective, but it directly disrupted his plan. He originally wanted to spend less effort, but the strategy of slowing down Beihai would soon have to be renewed.
Discussed.
After thinking about this, Wang Zheng pondered for a while and immediately summoned the generals to discuss the matter.
After Mi Fang recounted the whole story of the Linzi battle in detail, Yu Jin blurted out almost without thinking: "General, without further delay, we need to get to Beihai quickly, otherwise things will be difficult!"
Everyone agreed.
Yuan Tan has already captured Linzi, and there is a high probability that he will attack the Beihai Kingdom next. If he misses the opportunity, not only will all the internal support and chess pieces he deployed previously be in vain, but his opponent will switch from the Beihai Navy to the world-famous Jizhou strong army.
Isn't it easier to give up than to take advantage of the other party's territory first?
Wang Zheng nodded, and immediately asked someone to hang up the map brought back by Gu Jian. At the same time, he pointed at the young man and said, "Gu Xiaowei, let's talk about the situation in Beihai Kingdom."
"Here!"
The ancient swords came out in response, and after talking eloquently, the largest county in Qingzhou was laid out in front of everyone.
Beihai Kingdom is located in the middle of the Shandong Peninsula. Its backbone is the two major mountain ranges, Kunyu Mountain and Yishan Mountain. Among them, Yishan Mountain is the first of the five major mountains in the Celestial Dynasty. It was called "Haiyue" in ancient times and also known as "Eastern Taishan Mountain".
From these two mountain ranges, many branches branch out, which are concentrated in Beihai Kingdom and Donglai County. The mountains are winding and the forests are lush.
Between these mountains, there are many mountains and hills with flat tops but very steep slopes. According to the description of the ancient sword, Wang Zheng thought about it and found that the slopes were about fifty or sixty degrees. He couldn't help but secretly marveled at this.
Speaking of cavalry, it is also very difficult for ordinary infantry to climb.
The problem is that it's not just Shanduo.
As the saying goes, without accumulating small streams, it is impossible to form a river or a sea. The name of the county is called Beihai, and that is not just because its east side is close to the sea.
There are six surface water systems in the county, including the transit water systems, namely the Wei River, Mi River, Bailang River, South Jiao Lai River, North Jiao Lai River and Zi River. There are hundreds of other rivers and streams, all of which are connected to the county.
Tributaries of the above major rivers.
The flow direction is from east to west and from north to south. Once the New Year is over and the weather gets warmer, these rivers will soon thaw, and some of them have even already thawed.
If it was Yuan Tan's side, it would be better to attack from the west of Beihai Kingdom, but Wang Zheng's side would attack from the south. If Kong Rong used it properly, both of them could become tactically important lines to block Wang Zheng's northward march.
For example, Mihe and Bailanghe. Within the two rivers, there are intertwined mountains and rivers, and dense forests. Most of the cliffs along the Bailanghe River are broken. Mihe is better, but its south bank is also a natural cliff. As long as Kong Rong prepares in advance, the dangerous area
, it is enough for one man to hold the barrier, but ten thousand men cannot open it.
This is also one of the reasons why Beihai rarely encountered attacks from the south in history. On the one hand, Kong Rong had a friendly relationship with Tao Qian, the two-term Xuzhou pastor, and Liu Bei. On the other hand, it was also hindered by the terrain.
"So that everyone knows." At this point, Gu Jian concluded: "The terrain of Beihai Kingdom is roughly like this, and a thousand words can only be said in one sentence."
"The Northern Navy's combat power is average, but the terrain here is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so it is not easy to fight."
Yu Jin came close to the map hanging on the wall, looked at it for a while, and shook his head: "It is indeed difficult to fight. There are not many naval forces in Xuzhou and there are not enough ships. There are only a few big rivers, so I'm afraid it will be difficult to cross."
After a pause, he sighed and said: "It's still too late for Tian Kai to help. Otherwise, if we go to recapture Linzi first and attack slowly, it might be easier to attack from the west."
"Waterways are indeed not what we are good at." Wang Zheng also nodded and said: "That's why we have to put our heads together to see if we can solve these difficulties and come up with a good way."
Solving difficulties is nothing more than knowing ourselves and our enemies, exploiting strengths and avoiding weaknesses.
It's easy to know yourself and your enemy, but it's a little more difficult to use your strengths and avoid weaknesses.
"General." Yu Jin said: "Our strengths are our strong cavalry and numerous infantry. Moreover, during the past two years of the campaign, our army has been trained a lot, whether it is fighting in the mountains or attacking cities and forts.
He is very experienced. But the problem is that the Beihai Kingdom is not only mountainous but also crisscrossed by rivers. How can we use this advantage of our army when we cannot use cavalry and our army lacks naval forces?"
In the final analysis, it is still a question of how to solve the problem of too many waterways in the North Sea, making it difficult to move forward in a long way. After all, when fighting on a foreign land, it is most difficult to get into a long-term tug of war.
"Isn't it easy to resolve this contradiction?"
At this time, Wu Sheng finally couldn't help it anymore and said directly: "There are not many naval forces, so we will recruit them immediately. If there are not enough ships, then we will collect existing ships from the people and levy them for military use. If there are still not enough, we will build new ships."
"Confiscating too many ships will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the fishermen; simply building ships will take a long time..." Yu Jin said disapprovingly: "Even if we have enough ships, how can we go deep into the Beihai Kingdom and bring it into its hinterland?
It would cost too much to mobilize the troops and the roads would not be safe."
"Then recruit them on the spot!" Wu Sheng snorted coldly: "Simply send the army everywhere and seize all the local ships in the Beihai Kingdom for my use."
"The country of Beihai will not clear its territory without strengthening its walls. Even if there are fish that slip through the net, our army can capture one or two, but what if the number is not enough?"
"this..."
Wang Zheng also disagreed; "We hope that the enemy will help us solve our difficulties. Such a move is too risky and is an unprepared battle. It should not be done." After a pause, he looked at Jin again: "Wen Ze, is there any good way?
"
Yu Jin thought for a while and said: "General, let's make more skin bags and other things. This kind of thing is simple and easy to make, does not waste time, and can be carried with you. When you encounter a river, fill it with air and you can float across the water."
Before Wang Zheng could answer, Wu Sheng intervened and refuted: "General Yu, have you never heard of the word "spring cold"? The year has just passed, and it is said that spring is coming from the east, but now the weather is still cold, the rivers are thawing, and the water is still biting.
, you let our son swim across the river?"
"Even though they are blessed by the Yellow Sky, they are physically strong and can cross one or two rivers with gritted teeth. As Gang Gujian said, there are many rivers in Beihai Country, so we can't just toss them all the way, right?"
"Besides, where can we find enough leather and airbags at once?"
"Even if these are not problems, don't forget that our navy in Xuzhou is small, but his navy in Beihai cannot be small, right? Our soldiers cross the river, and its navy takes the opportunity to come and fight. What should I do? Use the flesh and blood of the soldiers
Body, are you going to challenge me?"
Hearing this, Yu Jin was also silent.
The so-called weather, favorable geography, and people. Since ancient times, military strategists have attached great importance to the dangers of mountains and rivers. Summarizing the method of crossing a river, whether it is fording on foot (cutting down trees along the coast, or using cloth bags to hold soil, piling up water, gathering front and back, blocking the river, and then soldiers
You can walk over it.), float across the river (choose soldiers who are good at water-based skills, and form a special floating army to swim across. Or use sheepskin as a bag, fill it with Qi, tie it to your armpit, and float on the water, and use buoyancy to cross the river.
Crossing rivers. Yu Jin previously proposed using airbags to cross rivers (this is the one mentioned), as well as the most common methods of crossing rivers by boat and raft, and building temporary flying bridges.
The generals were quarreling and quarreling, mentioning various methods and refuting each other. The hall was full of excitement, and no conclusion could be reached for a long time.
"Your Majesty, I have a plan to ensure that the army can cross the river without any danger."
But at this moment, a clear voice suddenly sounded, full of energy and extremely loud, which immediately overwhelmed the generals' debate.
The hall immediately became quiet, and everyone looked sideways, seeing that it was Guo Jia who had just surrendered to Wang Zheng.
This was Guo Jia's first time to participate in the military meeting of the Heavenly Army. He was not originally prepared to steal the show when he first appeared, but he just stared at it coldly for a long time. Seeing everyone arguing, he finally couldn't hold back and stepped forward.
"Oh?" Wang Zheng looked over and saw that the young man's eyes were full of confidence, and he immediately felt happy: "Sir, please come quickly."
"This plan is very simple to say the least." Guo Jia looked around at the crowd, smiled calmly, and said with indescribable ease, "One word means avoidance!"
"Avoid?" Wang Zheng looked forward to it more and more: "How to avoid it? I'd like to hear the details."
Guo Jia asked: "Excuse me, my lord. In attacking Beihai this time, do you want to win quickly? Or do you want to win slowly?"
Wang Zheng was startled: "What is quick victory? What is slow victory?"
"Win quickly, go straight ahead, and it will be determined in ten months. Win slowly, fight steadily, and there may be good results within the year."
Everyone was puzzled and whispered. Wu Sheng couldn't help but said: "Sir, what you said is so weird! What else do you need to say? If you can win quickly, it is certainly better than winning slowly."
Strange to say, he has always been at odds with the Confucians, such as Mi Heng, Zhang Zhao and others, who dislike each other. But for some unknown reason, when he first met Guo Jia in Kaiyang that day, he found him very pleasing to the eye, and when he was kidnapped to Kaiyang, he did not look at him at all.
Too rude.
Now that the other party finally surrendered to Wang Zheng, Wu Sheng became even more enthusiastic, and he naturally called out honorifics such as "Sir".
Wang Zheng's heart moved, and he knew that Guo Jia would not take the wrong target, so he smiled and said: "I guess there must be advantages and disadvantages between winning quickly and winning slowly?"
"My lord is wise." Guo Jia nodded: "Swift victory is fast, but dangerous. Slow victory is slow, but the victory is sure."
"I will first tell my lord how to win slowly. First, select the elite as the vanguard; then use the main force of horses, infantry, and water pawns; and use ten thousand new soldiers as backup. Wherever there is difficulty, we will replenish it.
In this way, the troops are mobilized, the banners cover the sky, the troops are divided into three groups, and the entire front is advanced.
"Crossing mountains and wading through rivers. If you capture a city, you must defend it; if you defend a city, you must swallow it. The country of Beihai is thousands of miles deep. This way of fighting is a bit slow, but there will be no worries.
We can start a war at any time, and we can stop the war at any time. With my powerful army, we can at least establish ourselves in an invincible position."
He had also seen the combat effectiveness of Wang Zheng's army in Mount Tai that day, and his words were carefully considered.
"Well, this is a mature way of planning a country." Wang Zheng pondered for a while, then asked: "What about a quick victory?"
"A slow victory requires at least 50,000 soldiers. A quick victory requires only 30,000 soldiers!"
Guo Jia's tone was filled with strong confidence and persuasiveness. With each word, the generals who had already led the army were secretly convinced: "Select a cavalry, an elite troop of ten thousand people, and attack over a long distance, directly towards Juxian County!"
"Although Juxian County is not close to Beihai County Zhipingshou, it is less than four hundred miles away. Our army bypassed the fortified city along the road and suddenly appeared in front of it. It was unexpected and unprepared. I assert that we can conquer its city in one battle!
"
"Now that we have conquered its city and captured Kong Rong, we will then conquer the remaining places. It will take at most three months. I believe Beihai will be settled."
this...
Wang Zheng took a breath, it was really dangerous for the army!
"Bypass the fortified city along the way?" Yu Jin objected: "Mr. Fengxiao, do you want to trap our army to death? We are alone deep behind the enemy's rear. If we cannot defeat the city in one battle, all parts of the Beihai Kingdom will definitely come together to help. It will be timely."
, there is a fortified city in front of our army, surrounded by enemies on all sides, with no way to advance and no way to retreat. How can these ten thousand elites still have a way to survive? It is impossible to escape even if you have wings!"
"Don't be anxious, General. I haven't finished speaking yet." Guo Jia smiled brightly: "The ten thousand people in this ruined city are the vanguard. After the ten thousand people, you can choose another 20,000 people who are good at fighting, and then support them. The vanguard will go around.
All the fortified cities along the way can be handed over to them. Even if the city cannot be conquered in one battle, our army's attack must have already frightened the defenders' courage. It is expected that they would not dare to obstruct them and slowly retreat, which will not be a problem.
."
After hearing this, Yu Jin thought for a while, but still shook his head: "What should I do if the withdrawal fails? This plan is still too risky, general, think twice."
"This is a good plan." Wu Sheng quite agreed: "The Beihai generals are lazy and weak, and they are vulnerable to a single blow. If there were no dangers in the mountains and rivers, they would have been in the hands of our heavenly army! The ancient captain had just defeated the enemy and us.
We have clearly analyzed the advantages and disadvantages, how can we maximize our strengths and avoid our weaknesses? Don’t we still have a clear idea? If we want to maximize our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, the only way is to win quickly! Delaying time will only give the enemy a chance to breathe."
"What's a risk?" He glared at Yu Jin and shouted, "If you don't take risks, how can you win a great victory?"
The other generals, some supporting Wu Sheng and some supporting Yu Jin, immediately divided into two groups and started arguing again.
Guo Jia didn't care at all. He knew that the decision-making power was only in the hands of one person. He looked at Wang Zheng and continued to point to the map and said:
"If our army attacks Beihai, the first fortified city it will encounter is Pingchang. Our army can bypass and go west, cross Yishan Mountain, and go north from Gumu. Within three hundred miles, it will not reach the two county towns of Anqiu and Zhuxu.
That's all. Our army will take a detour, avoid rivers, take mountain roads, and cross mountain passes. Apart from the continuous mountains along the road, only when it is close to Juxian County, it will encounter a river. If it gallops through the starry night, we can reach the city in ten months!
"
Wang Zheng turned around and looked sideways, listening to Guo Jia's analysis without saying a word while walking up and down the map several times with a burning gaze.
At this time, Yu Jin asked again: "Pingshou is sitting on the water near the abyss, surrounded by mountains. There are dozens of large and small cities around it. It can be as close as a dozen miles and as far away as a hundred miles. Reinforcements can arrive day and night. According to what Mr. Xi said, our army
The vanguard has only ten thousand people and is slightly hindered, but the reinforcements are hundreds of miles away, separated by Pingchang, Zhuxu and other cities, and cannot be rescued. What should we do?"
"Military strategists say: Miracle and righteousness complement each other. Our army of ten thousand people rushed to attack because of miraculousness. We must not be ungrateful."
Wu Sheng asked: "Correction? How to correct it?"
"There are two reasons." Guo Jiadao: "First, before the attack, first mobilize the new soldiers, coupled with some old soldiers, out of Xuzhou, set off from Dongwu to pretend to attack the south of Beihai, mobilize the border defense of Beihai, and force it to mobilize from the hinterland.
The army moves south, weakening the strength of the neighboring armies, and indirectly reducing the pressure on our attacking army."
"Second, mobilize all Xuzhou's naval forces, move in full force, go north from Langya, go straight to Donglai, and disembark from Changming County. This city is only a few dozen miles away from the sea. Our navy can attack the city immediately after signing in.
It will definitely cause strong oppression to other counties and cities. If the cities in Donglai cannot protect themselves, how can they have the courage to reinforce Beihai and Pingshou? Now I will take away one of their arms!"
"In addition..." After a pause, Guo Jia looked at Mi Fang and said with a smile, "Didn't the Lord ask Mi Gong to contact the Yellow Turban Army in Beihai before he contacted Gu Xiaowei?"
"It takes a thousand days to raise an army, but it takes only a short time to deploy it. I heard that my lord sent these people several batches of supplies years ago. They are short of food and supplies, and they are short of weapons and equipment. This battle is the time to use them!"
Hearing this, Gu Jian frowned and said, "Mr. Fengxiao, although these people are many in number, their combat power is really average and they cannot be entrusted with important responsibilities."
"It's not an important task." Guo Jiadao: "This battle is a risky one, just to complete the victory in one battle. The key is to capture Pingshou and capture Kong Rong!"
"And the Beihai Sea is close to the Bohai Sea. Due to the ancient shipping connections, it is actually very convenient to go to Liaodong. Even when appointing officials, the imperial court regarded these two places as close neighbors."
"What Jia was most afraid of was that Kong Rong, seeing that the situation was not good, fled directly to Liaodong, and could command the Northern Navy from afar to maintain a stalemate with our army."
"And that Guan Chengben is a famous water thief in the North Sea. We will use his power to control the Bohai waters north of Pingshou in advance to prevent Kong Rong from escaping and even failing!"
Hearing this, everyone in the tent looked at Guo Jia in stunned silence, and were speechless for a moment.
Good guy...
The battle hasn't even started yet, but have you considered how to prevent the enemy from escaping?
"In this way, Kong Rong's retreat can be completely cut off. On the other hand, we can reach this place with lightning speed..."
In full view of everyone, Guo Jia raised his head high and let out a deep breath of heroic spirit. He strode forward, punched Ping Shou's position on the map, and said loudly: "This is what the saying goes, if you don't move, it will be over."
...."
"If it moves, it will be thunderous!"
After saying this, Guo Jia took a step back, bowed in the direction of Wang Zheng and said respectfully: "I have finished my words, please make your decision, my lord!"
It was so quiet in the lobby that you could hear a pin drop.
In the solemn silence of the audience, Wang Zheng's eyes flickered with an inexplicable light. He stared at Guo Jia for a while, then suddenly stood up and laughed loudly: "As Sun Tzu said, those who are good defenders hide under the nine earths, and those who are good at attacking are active."
Above the Nine Heavens!"
"This strategy of being filial is a profound way of attaining Samadhi!"
He looked around and asked, "Do you think so?"
You, the boss, have said this. Who dares to say otherwise? Moreover, when he said these words, everyone understood that Wang Zheng had made the final decision.
Zi Zi replied in unison: "I only obey the orders above."