Since retreating into the city, Zhao Yu has been weighing the question of the rebels' 'going to stay'.

As Ju Sheng said, the rebels have a way to retreat, they can retreat to Dingling, Zhaoling and other places to spend this winter, and they don't have to take Kunyang.

The most fundamental reason why Guan Shuo wants to take Kunyang is simply because Kunyang is very close to Ye County, only forty miles, which is conducive to Guan Shuo's next attack on Ye County.

However, if the casualties in the capture of Kunyang exceeded Guan Shuo's capacity, it was not impossible for Guan Shuo to give up the capture of Kunyang, and by the way, when he withdrew, he set fire to the city as a retaliation.

What if Guan Shuo really did this? Is there a way back in Kunyang?

Actually, there are.

Zhao Yu could retreat with the people of Kunyang to Xiangcheng and Runan counties—he had many means to bring Wang Yong and Liu Yi to their knees.

It's just that in this way, Kunyang will be gone, and the loss of the entire county will make Zhao Yu unbearable, after all, to a certain extent, Kunyang County is now equivalent to his foundation, if it is burned to the ground by Guan Shuo, then Zhao Yu may only continue to be a 'bandit'.

What's more, Guan Shuo may not be as simple as just setting a fire.

If Guan Shuo is a little more ruthless, he can send troops to encircle after setting fire, with the current situation, with Guan Shuo's intelligence, he can obviously guess that the Kunyang people can only break through to Xiangcheng and Runan, as long as they send an army to block the road ahead in advance, tens of thousands of Kunyang people will probably starve to death and freeze to death in this winter.

In this way, Zhao Yu's loss will be even greater.

Therefore, after thinking about it, Zhao Yu thought that Guan Shuo should be given a little hope that 'Kunyang can be captured', so as not to make more radical actions on the other side.

And this is also the reason why Zhang Feng's defense is unfavorable today, but Zhao Yu does not blame him - although Zhang Feng's defense is unfavorable because of his lack of ability, but from the perspective of the whole strategy, a little bit of rout is more conducive to stabilizing Guan Shuo.

Even, Zhao Yu also intended to release some more water to let the rebels occupy a larger area of the city.

And this, which is equivalent to cutting meat and feeding wolves, is undoubtedly a very dangerous thing, a wrong grasp, let the rebels take advantage of the situation to attack half of the city, and attack the northern half of the city, then Kunyang's defense line and Kunyang people's fighting spirit may completely collapse.

Therefore, Zhao Yu summoned Ju Sheng to hear how this rebel-born general views the current rebels, so that he can finally make up his mind.

After hearing Zhao Yu's inquiry, Ju Sheng thought for a while, shook his head and said, "According to what the last general saw, the morale of the rebels ...... Very sluggish. Because of the close distance between the positions on the two sides, the last general heard the soldiers on the opposite side complain several times today, and many rebel soldiers originally thought that as long as the city wall was breached, I Kunyang would give in, and they didn't expect that our side would resort to street fighting......"

"That's why you're worried that Guan Shuo will give up the siege, right?" Zhao Yu asked.

Ju Sheng nodded: "If the soldiers have no morale, Guan Shuo can only retreat." ”

Zhao Yu paced a few steps in the room with his hands behind his back, and suddenly asked, "Then what if we give them a little hope?" For example, the day after tomorrow, let the rebels occupy a little more space? ”

Ju Sheng looked at Zhao Yu in surprise.

In fact, he also considered this matter, but he didn't dare to mention it, because this move was too risky, and it might even be questioned by Zhou Hu and others - is there any conspiracy for you to ask me to deliberately let the rebels occupy more territory?

Unexpectedly, the leader of the black tiger thief in front of him brought it up himself.

『…… The courage is really great.'"

muttered to himself in his heart, Ju Sheng said cautiously: "Between words, it's indeed possible, but I'm afraid that it will backfire and burn myself...... Not to mention whether this move can make Guan Shuo dispel the idea of retreating, blindly retreating, and soon we will have no way to retreat. There are still more than ten days before the heavy snowfall, and I doubt that this trick will be able to persist until that time. ”

Hearing Ju Sheng's words, Zhao Yu turned his head to look at him with appreciation.

is worthy of being a Qu general in the former rebel army, a general in charge of 2,000 soldiers, he is indeed better than most of his Kunyang people in terms of tactics and experience, and what is even more rare is that Ju Sheng also sees the stakes clearly.

After thinking for a while, Zhao Yu put forward an idea: "What if we adopt the tactic of 'deception'? ”

"Deception?" Ju Sheng was a little confused.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu explained: "In this way, during the day, we will 'shrink' the defense line a little, let the rebels occupy a few defense lines, seize a few urban areas, and let Guan Shuo increase some confidence in the capture ......of Kunyang; Guan Shuo will feel that we are inferior to them in a head-to-head confrontation, and we can only regain the lost ground through night attacks...... Faced with a group of enemies who will only use dastardly tricks to regain defeat, will you give up on winning this battle? ”

Ju Sheng's eyes lit up, and he praised in surprise: "This plan is clever!" ”

But immediately, he frowned again and said cautiously: "But the big leader, once this tactic is adopted, our side is tantamount to tying up our hands and feet. Besides, there is no doubt that Guan Shuo will also strengthen the garrison at night, and if we can't regain the lost land during the day at night, it will be troublesome......"

Of course, Zhao Yu understood Ju Sheng's advice, nodded and explained: "You two questions are very good. Regarding what you said about our 'self-tie hands and feet', in fact, it is not so absolute, even if you want to secretly release water, it does not mean that we can't counterattack, like Liu Tu who assisted you, Guan Shuo also knew that he was a warrior of my Black Tiger Crowd, and he recaptured a street, I guess Guan Shuo is not unacceptable...... You give up five lines of defense during the day, give up two streets and alleys, at night the brigade wolf helps you recapture three lines of defense, and the next day Liu Tu recaptures another street and alley, in general, the situation is still changing in the direction of the rebels, even if Guan Shuo is not satisfied, on the whole he will still accept it. …… As for the opinion, Guan Shuo strengthened the garrison at night, so that our side could not regain the lost territory lost during the day at night, and in the long run, we would have no way to retreat, so we must grasp a scale, neither let the rebels be too excited, nor let them completely decadent and passively slack off the battle......"

Hearing this, Ju Sheng smiled bitterly and said, "Great Chief, you are too embarrassed. ”

"Haha."

Zhao Yu smiled and patted Ju Sheng's arm, and said with relief: "The situation is difficult, hold on, wait until more than ten years, heavy snow falls, ice and snow block the road, Guan Shuo has lost the best opportunity to withdraw troops from Dingling and other places, we don't have to rub against him anymore, when the time comes, even if Guan Shuo guesses our strategy, he doesn't dare to set fire to the city, he can only survive this winter first." ”

"Yes!"

Ju Sheng hugged his fists and bowed away. fervor

The moment he walked out of the yatang, he couldn't help but nod and glance inside the yatang, and glanced at the leader of the black tiger thief.

He was amazed at Zhou Hu's calmness in coming up with countermeasures in this situation, as if no matter what time it was, he would not have any panic.

『…… I don't know if that's the same calm under the mask."

Shaking his head, Ju Sheng left with a lot of curiosity.

At the same time, Zhao Yu walked back to the judgment table in the yatang, staring at the map of the city that he had drawn hand-drawn, thinking about where he could 'give' to the rebels.

After a long time, he shook his head slightly: "It's not safe." ”

The cow standing on the side scratched his head and said, "Ah Hu, what's not safe." ”

"I mean, it's not safe to avoid letting Guan Shuo give up Kunyang now, and even if he survives this winter, as long as Guan Shuo comes to his senses, he can still set fire to the city in retaliation...... At that time, he burned Kunyang to the ground, and we could only withdraw to Xiangcheng and Runan counties, which was also a nail removed for him, and as for his attack on Ye County, he still had a large camp on the south bank of the Shahe River, and it was not impossible to use it as a stronghold in the rear. …… If you want to stop this, you have to give him no choice. ”

Speaking of this, he suddenly thought of something, and said unhappily: "What the hell is Ye County doing?" Then Yang Ding just watched? ”

That night, Zhao Yu sent several black tiger thieves out of the city quietly and instructed them to carefully cross the rebels' blockade area and go to Ye County.

At this time, the relationship between Kunyang and Ye County has been completely cut off by the rebels, and any assistance from Ye County cannot reach Kunyang, but a few black tiger thieves sneak over, there is no problem, after all, the rebel patrol is not airtight.

Around the end of the night, when Yang Ding, the county commander of Ye County, was resting in the back office of the county government, suddenly Wei Chi, a general, hurriedly came to Tongyu, with a complicated look of surprise on his face: "Young master, Kunyang is still there!" ”

"Huh?"

Rao is Yang Ding is very smart, and he was stunned when he heard this brainless words: "Kunyang is not...... Is it lost? ”

"Not really."

Wei Chi shook his head and said with a little excitement: "Zhou Hu sent a few black tiger thieves over, according to them, Kunyang is only the southern city wall has been breached, and the soldiers and civilians in the city are still engaged in street battles with the rebels under the leadership of Zhou Hu......"

"Street fighting? Fighting the rebels in the streets of the city? ”

Yang Ding's eyes widened in surprise.

After getting Wei Chi's affirmation, he immediately put on his clothes: "Go!" Take me to meet those Black Tiger Thieves! ”

A moment later, Yang Ding saw the black tiger thieves in his room.

Those black tiger thieves didn't save face for him at all because of Yang Dingnaiye County's county order, and with an unceremonious look, they copied Zhao Yu's original words: "Yang County order, what the hell is your county doing?" Could it be that a few people just watched me Kunyang being attacked by the rebels? ”

These words made Yang Ding, Wei Chi, and Wei Dong, Wang Yan, and Gao Chun who came to hear the news inexplicably embarrassed.

"Yang thought it was your county, hehe......"

After laughing dryly, Yang Ding lowered his posture and asked, "How many leaders of Zhou Hu have sent here, but what are your instructions?" ”

Seeing that the other party lowered his posture, the faces of the black tiger thieves also looked much better, and the leader of them clenched their fists and said: "I will convey the meaning of the big leader on my behalf: after the first snowfall, the big leader hopes that Ye County will immediately capture Dingling, and even if he can't, he will cut off the return route of the rebels to Dingling!" ”

“……”

A hint of surprise flashed in Yang Ding's eyes.

He originally thought that Zhou Hu sent people to ask for help, but he didn't expect that Zhou Hu asked him to seize Dingling and cut off the rebels' way back.

"That Zhou Hu, is this to crucify the rebels in Kunyang? …… Is he sure to hold on? He's lost even the walls...... Or is it that Zhou Hu has defected to the rebels, and this is his trick to divert the tiger from the mountain and help the rebels seize My Ye County?"

He frowned and paced a few steps around the room.

Based on the one-sided words of a few black tiger thieves, he couldn't tell what the situation was in Kunyang now.

Moreover, even if he sent people to Kunyang, even if he saw with his own eyes that Kunyang had not yet fallen, it was not enough to show that Zhou Hu was still resisting the rebels, after all, what kind of street fighting, he Yang Ding had never heard of it.

The problem is that Taye County is not close to Dingling, and if you want to capture Dingling immediately after the first snowfall, then Taye County must act immediately.

"Under the fence...... Zhou Hu, you shouldn't be so cowardly, right?"

He looked at the side of the wall in the direction of Kunyang and thought to himself.

Immediately, he turned his head to look at the black tiger thieves and nodded solemnly.

"Please tell Leader Zhou that Yang will do what he wants."