"Zheng Zhaoye's little cub is coming to beat us."

"Come to Talaizhou? Why did he abandon Jinan and come to Laizhou? ”

"Of course you can't beat Jinan, even I know it." Qin Xuance said as a matter of course.

Dong Jihe's face was blank and said, "Then tell me why he can't beat Jinan." ”

Qin Xuance was still very afraid of Dong Jihe, and he didn't dare to show off anymore, so he said honestly: "I don't know." ”

"He is suffering from the four towns of Jiangbei and is unwilling to do his best. These warlords are more concerned about their own nests. At the same time, they should have run out of food. Jinan has 40,000 defenders, and the wall is high and the city is strong. If the fight continues, the Jiangnan army's morale will only become more and more chaotic. Xia Xiangwei said: "Laizhou is different, Laizhou has empty troops, but there is a lot of money and food. He encouraged the soldiers and horses of the four towns to rob them, which was much easier than holding them to fight Jinan. ”

Wang Xiao nodded and said, "He can see that I have money." ”

He stared at the map, and continued: "Zheng Zhaoye should have guessed that we did not conquer Xuzhou, Sizhou, Luzhou and other places. But he couldn't suppress the morale of the army, so he first led the troops to Laizhou to rob the captivity, and then the news of Jiangbei should also be transmitted, and the grain and grass were also available, and he could continue to attack Jinan. ”

Xia Xiangwei said: "And he can solve the teacher first, and then he will have no worries." ”

"Probably that's what happened."

"Then how do we keep it?" Qin Xuance said: "They have more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and we only have more than 2,000 soldiers and horses in our hands. ”

"yes, how to keep it." Wang Xiao sighed.

"You haven't thought about it?"

"What do you think, can this huge gap be maintained?"

"What if you can't hold it?"

"Aren't you afraid of death?"

Qin Xuance patted his head, quite speechless.

Several people in the hall looked at the map and fell silent.

They knew that Wang Xiao might have a plan, but he couldn't be a subordinate without any ideas.

Everyone pondered for a long time, first Dong Jihe laughed "ha", and walked away with his hands behind his back, looking at ease. Others thought about it for a while and spread out to get busy with their own things.

Qin Xuance propped his head and looked at the map, looking at it, his eyes became heavier and heavier, and finally fell asleep.

Xia Xiangwei has always been meditating.

"How can you defeat 100,000 with 2,000?"

Until the night, Wang Xiao raised his head from the official document and said, "Don't think about it, you are in the wrong direction." ”

"Please also ask the teacher for advice."

"Our opponent is Zheng Yuanhua, not his grandson."

Xia Xiangwei said: "The teacher is saying that the key to breaking the game is not Zheng Zhaoye? ”

"His understanding of war is very naïve, in his eyes, war is to conquer cities and kill opponents." Wang smiled and sighed: "But you have to remember that war is in the service of economics and politics. ”

"The students don't understand."

"How did this battle start? The decision is up to Zheng Yuanhua, and Zheng Zhaoye is just a chess piece. Zheng Yuanhua is very necessary to attack Jinan, he wants to help Zhou Yu succeed to the throne, so he wants to get rid of His Majesty and His Royal Highness, and at the same time, he must also have the reputation of His Highness killing the king. Sending troops over to fight a battle, a hundred, this is the easiest way. So here he is? The 170,000-strong army is like a fire, and in the final analysis, it is still for politics.

We can't beat him for the time being. Or is it? Even if we can defeat this 170,000 army? Jiangnan has more than 400,000 troops? The financial resources are far superior to us, and we will stop this wave? He sent another wave. Keep calling and fighting, and we don't get life? Struggling to hold on? In the end, will you still lose at his hands? Or lose both sides and be easily cleaned up by other opponents.

So, what I had to do at the beginning was to tell Zheng Yuanhua, one, we are not so easy to fight; Two? For political purposes? There's no need to fight me to the death. ”

Xia Xiangwei thought for a while and said, "The student still doesn't fully understand. ”

"I deliberately broke up with His Highness for many reasons, such as finding a reason to lead troops out of Jinan? sneak up on their rear; For example, avoid the meticulous work of Jinan City, lest we fall into the hands of others whenever we make a move; Another example? Paralyze Zheng Zhaoye and make him think that I escaped......

But in Zheng Yuanhua's eyes, even if he knew that I played all this, he would think that there was a rift between me and His Highness. Because he knows that the human heart is fragile, and suspicion is inevitable. With this judgment, then there is a basis for my peace talks with Zheng Yuanhua. ”

Xia Xiangwei was stunned for a moment and asked, "Peace talks?" But ......"

He couldn't speak for a while, so Wang Xiao asked, "But what?" ”

"But we still have an advantage, not necessarily without a chance to ......"

"When it comes to war, you have to remember the purpose of fighting this war in the first place. It is impossible for us to occupy Jiangnan with our current strength, and if this battle continues, there is an absolute probability of losing, and if we win, we can only destroy Jiangnan's existing economy, even if it is rotten. And the situation in the north will not give us more time to build up the economic system of the heart. In other words, if this battle continues, there is not much benefit except for fighting for the right to succeed His Highness.

Only by putting an end to it as soon as possible will we be able to gain the precious time needed for development, and with this time of peaceful and steady development, we will be able to surpass our opponents politically and economically. Therefore, no matter how smoothly we fight now, we should not be carried away by the temporary situation and keep in mind the fundamental strategic purpose. We worked hard to achieve results in order to let Zheng Yuanhua understand that we were not good at fighting and to gain more bargaining chips. ”

Xia Xiangwei thought about it again and said, "Then will Zheng Yuanhua agree to negotiate peace with us?" ”

"Yes, what he wants is for Zhou Yu to succeed to the throne, and what I want is for Taoguang to raise his time, which is not a conflict." Wang Xiao sighed and said, "I should have gone to Nanjing to talk to him in person, but as soon as I went, he would kill me, so I had to let my second brother go." ”

At this point, a trace of imperceptible worry flashed in his eyes.

"There is a teacher sitting in Shandong, Zheng Yuanhua should not dare to touch Mr. Er." Xia Xiangwei groaned, "But can he allow the teacher to develop steadily for two years?" ”

"Why not?" The king smiled: "He is superior to me in terms of prestige, financial resources, military strength, population, territory, and so on. In two or three years, he should be able to develop better, and he still has this confidence. ”

"In other words, the teacher is also confident that he will be stronger than him in two or three years?"

"yes." Wang Xiao turned his head, looked out the window, and said in a low voice: "He doesn't understand, I don't even need to occupy those useless cities, because I have a high density of industry...... Higher productivity, more efficient production relations, these are the ...... he couldn't have imagined"

But at the end of the night, Wang Xiao looked at the night sky from nobody, but he still showed a worried look.

"Is it too late? Second brother, you have to do it as soon as possible......"

That night, Wang Zhukan ran from Xuzhou to Nanjing.

~~

Zheng Zhaoye left 30,000 people to occupy Qingzhou and waited to join the five military camps, and personally led an army of 90,000 to Laizhou.

Maybe it's because the city of Jinan is deflated and he has the intention to take revenge, or maybe it's because there is a real lack of food and grass, this time he no longer restricts military discipline, but connives, and the soldiers loot.

From Jinan to Qingzhou, from Qingzhou to Laizhou, where the army passed on the land of 300 miles, murdered, burned houses, looted, corpses were everywhere, and refugees fled in all directions.

In Zheng Zhaoye's eyes, the fighting spirit of this army has finally recovered somewhat.

During this day's march, Zheng Zhaoye looked up and saw a hill in front of him, so he asked people: "What kind of mountain is that?" ”

"Your Excellency, it's Black Sheep Mountain. After Heiyang Mountain, it is only less than thirty miles away from Laizhou. ”

Zheng Zhaoye nodded and said, "Tell Inspector Yang to send someone to find out if there is an ambush." ”

"Yes."

Zheng Zhaoye was still riding a horse, but after a while, a personal guard stepped forward and said in a low voice: "Childe, last night they went to look for food, and picked a good appearance to offer to Childe, and it was in the carriage, Childe ......"

With a "snap" sound, Zheng Zhaoye slapped the guard in the face.

"Childe ......"

"Who is this child? Find some peasant women who dare to put them on my carriage, and they won't get it down!" ”

Zheng Zhaoye is not bad at this, but he looks down on people in his heart.

In his mind, when Laizhou and Jinan are defeated, it is called happiness to choose the best posture among those officials...... As for the women taken captive from the countryside? Scold.

With a snort in his heart, the army was walking through Black Sheep Mountain.

The soldiers in front had already walked over, apparently not encountering an ambush.

Zheng Zhaoye looked up at the mountain, thinking that the name of this mountain also had a stupid smell......

A few frightened birds flew out of the mountains......

Zheng Zhaoye was stunned suddenly, and in his pupils, the birds were getting bigger and bigger......

- Wait, this is not a bird.

"Quick! Disperse! ”

"Boom!"

A loud bang exploded in front, and firelight, shrapnel, and flesh splattered.

Zheng Zhaoye turned his head a little dazedly, only to see Sun Yourong running down from the carriage with his head in his hands, shouting "I'm scared to death of our family, protect our family quickly", and the person went to the soldier's pawn.

"Boom, boom......"

The shells kept coming down.

"Attack! Attack me ......"

Zheng Zhaoye shouted, turned over and dismounted, and ran towards the foot of the mountain, and there were soldiers who followed him to protect him and were pushed away by him.

"Idiot, don't get together, get out of here!"

He flew fast at the foot of the mountain, and ducked near a large rock before he felt reassured. Looking up, I saw that there were still shells hitting down the mountain, and the Jiangnan army panicked.

- Yang Jia, a fool, doesn't know how to send people to attack the mountain; Kong Yourong, that idiot, ran into the crowd and watched him be smashed by cannonballs for a while......

Thinking like this in his heart, Zheng Zhaoye became more and more angry.

It is not impossible to move the cannon to the mountain to fire, but it is difficult not to mention, and it cannot be held after the battle, which is far less convenient than placing it on the city.

But Zheng Zhaoye understood that the reason why Wang Xiao was able to move the artillery fire to Heiyang Mountain showed that he had seen through his movements, and this was provoking himself.

"Damn it!"

He looked at it, and the shells smashed into his army one after another, but unfortunately, they did not hit Kong Yourong.

Then, Zheng Zhaoye found out...... Everybody ran away.

The procession of 90,000 men was cut in two like a long snake, and the men at the breach ran frantically to both sides. On the ground in front of Zheng Zhaoye, only the dead and wounded were still bleeding and screaming on the ground......

"Wait for me!"

Zheng Zhaoye reluctantly came out from behind the big stone and took a step to chase in the direction of Sun Yourong.

- This group of idiots didn't wait for me......

"Boom!"

There was another loud bang, and a cannonball smashed not far in front of Zheng Zhaoye, and shrapnel flew out and hit Zheng Zhaoye's left eye!

"Ahh

……

On the top of the mountain, Qin Shanqu was furious and slapped an artilleryman on the head with a slap.

"Damn, there aren't many people in that place, what are you going to bang?! Turn the muzzle of the cannon and bang on that side, you ......"

~~

In the darkness, artillery rang out, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and shrapnel flew at a rapid pace......

"Ahh

Zheng Zhaoye screamed and sat up suddenly.

"Second son, it's okay, it's okay, we've got you back......"

"It hurts! I can't see? I can't see! ”

"You can see it, you can see it."

Someone stretched out his hand and carefully lifted the cloth on Zheng Zhaoye's right eye a little.

There was another sharp pain in his left eye, Zheng Zhaoye looked with his right eye, and saw Yang Jia and Sun Yourong in front of him.

"Where are we? Have the rebels on the mountain been killed? Laizhou captured? ”

Yang Jia turned his head and asked his own soldiers, "Where is this?" ”

"Lord Yu, Wamiaokou Village."

"Where is Wamiaokou Village?"

"Fifty miles southwest of Black Sheep Mountain......"

"Southwest?" Zheng Zhaoye was stunned for a moment, and suddenly scolded: "Stupid, why don't you go and knock Laizhou down?" ”

Kong Yourong hurriedly explained: "Everyone was frightened, and they fled all the way here with the second son, and the second son has been in a coma for two days......"

Zheng Zhaoye was furious and shouted: "Why do you want to escape? ”

"Because of the second son, you are injured!"

The eunuch's shrill voice was inexplicably irritable, and Zheng Zhaoye hated to gouge out Kong Yourong's eyeballs and stuff them for himself.

Yang Jia sighed and said, "Ziyi, calm down...... Calm down...... You listen to me, you deduce that Laizhou has only two thousand troops. But, that's just your inference. ”

"I can't be wrong in my inference!"

"Yes," Yang Jia said regretfully: "The old man believes it, but Guan Ming and Tong Yuanwei don't believe it, or they are worried that Wang Xiao will still be ambushed." At least the artillery fire of Heiyang Mountain came down, which means that Wang Xiao had expected that we were going to attack Laizhou......"

Yang Jia was still babbling.

Zheng Zhaoye only felt incredulous.

What made him unacceptable was not that Wang Xiao could anticipate the enemy first, but that the generals of the Chu Dynasty were selfish, greedy for life and afraid of death, and short-sighted to this point!

He always knew that these four general soldiers were hiding their thoughts of supporting the soldiers, but he didn't expect that they could fall through their imagination again and again.

"They think that they will hide when they encounter a strong enemy in this way, and they think that they can be safe by hiding in Jiangbei with the military power in their hands? I'm going to tell them...... If they don't kill Wang Xiao now, Wang Xiao will come to kill them one day! Rat-eyed miscellaneous ......"

Zheng Zhaoye propped up his body and wanted to stand up, but was held down by Yang Jia.

"Ziyi, your injuries are not healed......"

"Rotten dog thing! I'm going to kill them! ”

With this roar, there was a "poof" sound, and blood spurted out of Zheng Zhaoye's mouth, splashing Yang Jia's face.

The sharp pain in his left eye came, but Zheng Zhaoye's heart was even more painful......

~~

Guan Ming, Tong Yuanwei and the others didn't feel that they had done anything wrong.

In their eyes, the result of this Northern Expedition was obviously due to the incompetence of the Nanjing court. All the troops in Jiangbei were transferred to Shandong, but they could not hold the grain route and the rear.

This is a mistake in the decision-making of the imperial court, what does it have to do with these soldiers who fought bravely on the front line?

Zheng Yuanhua was nepotistic and forcibly let Zheng Zhaoye, a fool who talks on paper, point fingers, resulting in the exhaustion of grain and grass and the army's deep hinterland.

It was these generals who kept a clear head and immediately ordered a retreat, which preserved the strength of the army.

"If you want Lao Tzu to say, it is Zheng Zhaoye who is so happy, so that the good situation will be buried, and Lao Tzu will impeach him after he goes back."

Guan Ming nodded and said slowly: "In the final analysis, Lord Shoufu still can't trust us martial artists. sent civil officials as supervisors and eunuchs as supervisors of the army, and a lot of commanders and promotions were installed, and there were vertical people like Zheng Zhaoye interfering in military affairs. How to fight this battle? ”

"Look at the idiot Cao Jun of the Fifth Military Battalion, who fought the hardest, what was the result? Hehe, he suffered the most casualties. If it weren't for our brothers, I don't know what the end would be. ”

"Fortunately, the casualties are not large." Tong Yuanwei said: "According to the meaning of a certain family, it is better to go back and sweep away those thieves in Jiangbei first." Collect grain and grass again, expand the number of troops, and then come to clean up Zhou Yan. ”

"I want Lao Tzu to say, return to Jiangbei and directly let His Royal Highness the Emperor Sun ascend the throne. This battle has also been fought, and it has confirmed Zhou Yan's reputation for killing the king, so what does it matter if he is not beaten? The brothers supported the emperor and grandson and managed Jiangbei well. If the thieves go south, Zhou Yan will have them to clean up. ”

"Makes sense." Guan Ming said: "The reason why the anti-thieves want to help Zhou Yan this time is because our troops are too strong, which makes the anti-thieves jealous. We converged our edge, sat in Jiangbei, and looked back at their two tigers fighting. This is the way to go to war. ”

"Lao Guan is right! Let's go and persuade Inspector Yang together, let's go back to the teacher. ”

"Hey, if you settle the battle merits, Cao Jun Pifu of the Fifth Army Battalion will be the worst."

"Haha, you deserve it......"

The next moment, the soldier reported: "The overseer is here." ”

……

Zheng Zhaoye was caressed into the big tent, and his one eye swept over several generals.

Hatred, malice, contempt...... No one could comprehend the great anger in his heart.

But no matter how angry he was, he could only endure it.

In his eyes, these warlords were like a puddle of stinking mud, as thin as dung.

But he had no choice but to try to pick them up and try to stick them to the wall.

"Please trust me, generals."

Zheng Zhaoye said slowly, no longer in that commanding tone.

After being blind in one eye, he became much more forbearing.

"Regarding Wang Xiao's troops, this is the information I have collected, please take a look, it is impossible for him to have more than 4,000 people to attack the four towns in Jiangbei, I suspect that those battle reports are also false......

It is impossible for the strength of Laizhou to exceed 3,000, and if our 100,000 troops attack it, a battle in Laizhou can be decided. At that time, the grain and grass will be available, Jinan will also be broken, and the immortal work will be in front of you.

Those who travel a hundred miles are half ninety, and the great achievement is only in this last step, I ...... Juniors, juniors, implor the generals not to back down. ”

After Zheng Zhaoye finished saying this last sentence, he lifted his shirt and slowly knelt down.

"I only ask all the generals to fight hard to punish the thieves and share the world with the younger generations!"

Yang Jia and Sun Yourong hurriedly went to help him, Guan Ming, Tong Yuanwei and others were also startled, and they went to pull Zheng Zhaoye one after another.

A petty senator kneels and kneels, that's nothing, if Zheng Yuanhua's grandson kneels for himself, many things will be very troublesome in the future.

"Don't be like this, the second son!" Guan Ming persuaded, "After all, this Laizhou is Wang Xiao's territory, and he is obviously on guard...... What if this ......"

"Please Guan Zongrong believe in the juniors one last time." Zheng Zhaoye said slowly: "Laizhou's troops are empty, and the younger generation is willing to guarantee it with the head of the item......"

ABC