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Hu Sizheng sighed lightly: "Wang Shichong occupies the eastern capital Luoyang and the surrounding key passes, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. Dongdu is the largest city in the world, with high walls and plenty of grain and grass in the city. And Wang Shichong's troops were mostly the Imperial Forest Army and the Forbidden Army of the Former Sui, which were well-equipped and had strong combat effectiveness. Although Li Mi has a large number of generals, in terms of the combat effectiveness of the troops, it is much worse than Wang Shichong. This is also the reason why Li Mi and Wang Shichong have fought several times, although they have an advantage, but this advantage has never been transformed into a victory. ”

When Yu Ming heard this, he realized a little, and couldn't help but say "um".

"Therefore, although Wang Shichong asked us for help, he also said that the situation was extremely urgent, as if if we did not save him, he would perish...... In Hu's opinion, this is really too exaggerated! Hu Sizheng took a deep breath and said: "Wang Shichong is as cunning as a fox, he wants to take advantage of the enmity between King Zhou and Li Mi, because of Yuhua and the grudge, to induce the Great Zhou to send troops south to attack Li Mi. ”

"He can kill two birds with one stone: first, he can help him share the pressure and alleviate the dangerous situation facing Luoyang; Second, it can make Li Mi think that our army is his greatest enemy, and transfer the main force of the Wei army to deal with us. After all, everyone knows that my Zhou Jun is far stronger than Wang Shichong's Zheng Jun. And King Zhou is several times more wise and decisive than Wang Shichong...... "Hu Sizheng patted Yuming's ass without a trace.

Yu Ming laughed and said: "Si Zheng, you don't have to say these words, everyone is a brother, you don't need to use the set in the former Sui officialdom!" ”

Hu Sizheng said with a straight face at this time: "Hu's words sound like a slap on the back of His Highness, but in fact, it is really not!" Hu really thinks so in his heart...... And it's not just me Hu Sizheng, King Zhou doesn't believe it, you can ask other generals and soldiers in the army, who doesn't think you are twice as strong as Wang Shichong? ”

"Alright, alright! Needless to say! Yu Ming also said with a straight face at this moment: "Since we already know Wang Shichong's intentions!" In the opinion of the government, how should our army act now? ”

Hu Sizheng sighed: "Our army can not advance rashly, so as to attract the attention of the Wei army, so that Li Mi regards us as the main enemy...... And he can't keep being afraid of the tail and marching slowly, so that Wang Shichong loses confidence and asks Li Yuan for help instead, which will make the situation in Henan more complicated......"

"After all, according to the previous truce, our army and the Tang army cannot attack each other...... Although the agreement is only a piece of paper, since it has been announced to the world, it is binding on His Highness and Li Yuan. As long as you all want to win the world, win the hearts of the people, and win the allegiance of the family lords, then you must not be vague on the issue of faith, so that you can obtain the name of righteousness! Hu Sizheng reminded at this moment.

Yu Ming nodded, he naturally knew that in the current situation, he needed to avoid fighting Li Yuan as much as possible.

"Therefore, according to the opinion of my subordinates, it is better for our army to turn to the east and occupy the land of Huanghuai." Hu Sizheng took out a map from his bosom at this time, spread it on a huge stone next to him, and pointed to the east edge of the map and said: "The terrain around Huanghuai is gentle, easy to attack and difficult to defend, if our army wants to seize it, it will not be difficult." ”

Then, he paused for a moment and continued: "Moreover, this place faces the sea in the east, trade is convenient, and it is also a place where the Great Sui is rich in grain, so its strategic position is very important...... And after we capture, we can not only attack Li Mi from the east and form a two-sided attack on him, but also attack the land of Jianghuai in the south and seize Jiangdu, one of the great capitals of the Great Sui. ”

"Of course, the biggest advantage is that we can avoid Li Mi's main force, so that our army and the Wei army will not fight fiercely, and replace Wang Shichong to bear heavy losses in troops. After all, the two of them are the protagonists of this battle! Hu Sizheng smiled mysteriously and said: "But if our army turns to the east to fight, even if we occupy a large part of Li Mi, because it does not threaten his capital, it will make Li Mi's main attention still focus on attacking the eastern capital...... After all, it is in our best interest for both of them to fight and lose! ”

After Yuming heard this, he also praised it greatly, and immediately clapped on the spot and said: "Okay!" Si Zheng, then act according to your plan! I immediately sent Luo Cheng and Yu Yuqing to lead an army of 100,000 to the east to attack Chenliu County. The rest of the troops marched with me, marched south, attacked Runan County, and fought to capture all the places north of the Huai River! ”

"Your Highness is wise!" Hu Sizheng also said with admiration.

……

The next day, the Zhou army divided its troops and swept through the counties north of the Huai River from the north and south.

The Northern Army, led by Luo Cheng and Yu Yuqing, had 80,000 troops, attacked Chenliu County, Qian County and other places, and fought all the way to Haizhou, which was close to the East China Sea.

The southern army was led by Qin Qiong and Cheng Yanjin, with 90,000 troops, and they attacked Runan County in the south, and then along the north bank of the Huai River, attacked Pengcheng, Sizhou and other places, and the final goal was Donghai County.

Since the main force of Li Mi's Wei army went west to attack Wang Shichong, most of the Wei troops who stayed in these places were old, weak, sick and disabled, and they were simply unable to resist the Zhou army, which had an advantage in the quality and number of soldiers.

Yuming was well prepared for this attack, with many generals under his command, and was equipped with a large number of trebuchets, siege vehicles and other heavy siege equipment.

At the same time, because Li Mi killed Zhai Rang before, it also caused a great shock in their hearts, many of them were the original Zhai Rang's subordinates, although because Zhai Rang was killed, they temporarily succumbed to Li Mi and listened to his orders, but in their hearts they had great dissatisfaction and deep fear of Li Mi.

Although Zhai Rang is indeed unambitious, and he is not as good as Li Mi in terms of talent, he is like a brother to his subordinate generals, which makes the old generals of the Wagang Army respect this old village master very much.

Li Mi naturally knew this, so he didn't dare to kill all of Zhai Rang's old generals in order to provoke a mutiny. But most of them dare not reuse.

This time he attacked Wang Shichong, and he didn't want these people to attack with him on the front line, for fear that they would defect to the enemy on the front line. So he stationed all of them far away in the Huanghuai area, and the newly occupied counties were garrisoned.

And these circumstances, Yu Ming learned from Red Sleeves early in the morning. Therefore, when attacking this area, the two methods of attacking by force and sending envoys to persuade surrender are combined. For those counties with low walls and weak troops, they mainly attacked to show the strong attack power of the Zhou army.

For those counties with high walls and strong troops, they are mainly lured to surrender. Avoid inflicting heavy losses on your own army.

Therefore, Yuming sent a large number of eloquent people to act as envoys to the Huaibei city that was about to be attacked, and persuaded the Wei army defenders to surrender to the Zhou army.

These envoys not only knew the benefits and disadvantages, but also made it clear to the Wei generals that there was no future for Li Mi, and that Li Mi would be defeated under the attack of the Zhou army and the Zheng army. He also promised heavy profits: he promised that if they were willing to surrender to Da Zhou, their official positions and treatment would not be worse than under Li Mi. The king of Zhou would treat them as the generals of Liaodong's lineage, and hire them according to their abilities.

For those who are discouraged and unwilling to continue to be officials, they will also be given a large amount of retirement allowance to let them return to their hometowns for retirement.

In this way, not only those Wagang Army generals who were depressed by Zhai Rang's death had a will. Even those generals who are ambitious and want to continue to do something have also moved their minds.

After all, in terms of territory and troops, Yuming's Great Zhou is the most powerful one among the candidates in the world. Although Li Mi was powerful at the beginning of the uprising, after so many years, the Wagang Army has not made any progress, and is still trapped in the small land of Henan. The later candidates, whether it was Yu Ming, Li Yuan, Du Fuwei and others, all developed very quickly, and the upward momentum far surpassed Li Mi.

As a result, many of Zhai Rang's old subordinates surrendered to the Zhou army with their troops, and Yuming also comforted these people with kind words, and let them continue to hold their original positions and stay behind, and all the officers and soldiers under his jurisdiction remained unchanged, but the banner changed from "Wei" to "Zhou".

This move made the general, who was originally a little nervous in his heart, suddenly reassured. At the same time, they also used their own experiences to persuade their former friends, subordinates, and superiors to surrender with them. And these people are doing the work, which is more efficient than the messengers sent by Yuming before.

More than a month later, the entire area north of the Huai River has almost become the territory of the Great Zhou, only Haizhou, Donghai and a few other remote places near the sea are still in the hands of Li Mi, but under the fierce attack of the Zhou army, it can not support it for a few days.

……

The Zhou army marched south, and the drastic changes in the situation in the Huanghuai area naturally reached Li Mi's ears long ago. It's just that he has never been able to cope.

Only then did Li Mi feel that he had made a big mistake: he shouldn't have killed Zhai Rang so early. If Zhai Rang is allowed to stay in the eastern region at this time.

Although Zhai Rang is incompetent, he will win people's hearts after all. As long as he doesn't surrender, the generals of the Wagang Army will not surrender, but will fight to the death. Even if they can't defeat Yuming, it will take a lot of time for the Zhou army to take this area, and even if they barely conquer these cities, they will inevitably lose their vitality. At that time, he had already destroyed Wang Shichong, and the main force returned to the division.

But now it's obviously too late to say anything, and there is no regret medicine in the world. He could only watch as the Zhou army captured a large area of fertile land in the Huanghuai area.

It's not that Li Mi doesn't want to return to the division to defend, it's just that the war between him and Wang Shichong has reached the most critical moment, and no one dares to relax. He knew very well that as long as he relaxed a little, Wang Shichong would move eastward and recover all the cities he had conquered before. At that time, the Wei army fell under the attack of the Zheng army in the west and the Zhou army in the east, and would only die faster.

"We must lay the Tiger Prison within these two days!" Li Mi looked at the map on the table and said to himself anxiously.

As long as he took the Tiger Prison Pass, he opened the door to Luoyang. Although he will not attack Luoyang immediately, his room for maneuver is much greater. The tiger prison is in his hands, and he only needs to send Yiliang to guard it, so he doesn't have to worry about Zheng Jun threatening his queen. You can move the main force to the east, fight a decisive battle with Yuming, and regain the lost territory.

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