"Didi Da ......"

In the early morning, as soon as the sky was bright, the loud wake-up call woke Li Zhongyi from his sleep.

After breakfast, the large army set out on the road one after another in accordance with the marching plan drawn up in advance, and headed towards the south, over the mountains and mountains.

The Xiaoyong battalion walked in the forefront of the whole army, opened roads in the mountains, built bridges in the water, and solved the sentinels of the Shu army at the same time, which was their heavy task.

Li Zhongyi walked in the middle of the army with a hand-sharpened wooden cane in his hand, surrounded by soldiers of the Guards Battalion, in addition to the guards with knives.

As we all know, the officers and men of the A Battalion of the Guards Army are guards with knives when they enter, and they are at least the commanders of one battalion when they go out.

From Zhenbeibao to Xutingzhai, it is about two hundred miles apart, and because it is in the mountainous area, the marching speed of the entire army is at most fifty miles a day.

On Li Zhongyi's military sand table, the basic layout of Xu Tingzhai has a clear outline.

According to the common sense of the garrison, Xu Tingzhai, which is only a little more than two miles in circumference, can only garrison about 2,000 troops at best. After all, the village also needs to hoard the grain, grass and weapons needed by the Shu army.

"There are 3,000 of us, and the Shu army of Xu Tingzhai is 2,000, are you sure that we will win?"

While resting on the way, Li Zhongyi called Zhang Sanzheng and the military senators to his side and asked questions.

Zhang Sanzheng touched his chin, pondered for a while, looked up and smiled: "Ming attack is definitely the next strategy." If it is with the help of artillery, a sneak attack at night, Weichen is more than fifty percent sure. ”

Li Zhongyi nodded, the northern part of Xu Tingzhai is extremely dangerous, and there is room for at most five people to charge side by side in front of the gate of the village. It can be said that it is a dangerous pass that cannot be opened.

Liu Wenchang, the commander of the Xiaoyong battalion, saw that Li Zhongyi's eyes moved to him, so he arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, in the opinion of Weichen, after the Shu army lost Zhenbei Fort, it must have been frightened. Let's take advantage of the situation to divide the troops, and let Weichen lead the elite warriors who dare to fight, and attack Xu Tingzhai at night......"

Liu Wenchang and Zhang Sanzheng both agreed with the night attack, and Li Zhongyi also supported the night attack, after all, what the Han army lacked most now was time.

It's just that Li Zhongyi thinks that after quickly taking Xu Tingzhai, he can turn around and go east, and then he can go east along the Ba Shui and Fu rivers, and cut off the logistics supply of Lin Renzhao's tens of thousands of sailors from the upstream.

If it turns to the west, it can coerce Chengdu and take advantage of the situation to seize the feng shui treasure land of the Central Sichuan Plain.

More importantly, once Xuting Village is successfully taken, the fall of Changning Village, which is the far north, will be just around the corner.

"Okay, Liu Wenchang, I will give you a thousand soldiers and horses, plus five artillery pieces, and be sure to take Xu Tingzhai within ten days."

After careful consideration, Li Zhongyi made up his mind to take Xu Tingzhai as soon as possible at all costs.

Liu Wenchang was overjoyed when he heard this, if he successfully completed the task and won Xu Tingzhai, it would be a miracle.

Zhang Sanzheng secretly felt sorry, if he led his troops to attack Xu Tingzhai and had five artillery pieces to help, would he still be able to run away from the great credit?

It's a pity that Zhang Sanzheng is already the commander of the Guards, and it is his natural duty to ensure Li Zhongyi's absolute safety, which is ten times more important than winning a battle?

Li Zhongyi's temper, which of the henchmen and courtiers doesn't know? As long as he has made up his mind, Jiuniu can't pull it back!

After Liu Wenchang received the order, he immediately ordered the soldiers and horses of the Xiaoyong Battalion, plus the support of the B Battalion of the Guards, and went forward to kill Xu Tingzhai.

After Liu Wenchang left, Li Zhongyi beckoned Zhang Sanzheng and instructed: "You lead a thousand people from the C and Ding camps, follow Liu Wenchang, and you must not fall too far behind." ”

Zhang Sanzheng looked very hesitant, Li Zhongyi understood his worries very well, so he smiled and said: "With Gao Changzhi on his side, I don't have to worry about it." ”

Gao Changzhi is Gao Qiang, and Changzhi is his expression. Gao Qiang is also from the old department of the Hechi Township Army, who was originally the commander of the A Battalion of the Guards, and is now the deputy commander of the Guards Army and the commander of the Qinya Guard Battalion.

Zhang Sanzheng knew in his heart that the battle of Xu Tingzhai was very important, and there was absolutely no room for failure. Moreover, Gao Qiang is a guy with an unusually meticulous mind, and he is usually quite reliable in running errands, and he has never been out of the business pool.

"Wechen obeys." Zhang Sanzheng gritted his teeth, turned his heart sideways, and simply accepted the military order.

It's just that when they were about to separate, Zhang Sanzheng had the courage to say to Li Zhongyi: "Your Majesty, it is better to retreat a hundred miles than to be in danger." ”

Li Zhongyi smiled, raised his hand and patted Zhang Sanzheng's shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, I'm not stupid." ”

After Zhang Sanzheng led his troops to chase Liu Wenchang, Li Zhongyi's side was left with more than 1,400 soldiers and horses from the Guards Battalion and the Guards Battalion.

The Guards Battalion was the first battalion in the world, with a total of more than 1,100 officers and men.

As for the Qinya guard battalion, under normal circumstances, there are more than 300 guards with knives in the formation.

"Gao Qiang, tell me, should we continue to go south to Xuting Village, or simply go north to Changning Village?" Li Zhongyi called Gao Qiang and asked him with a smile.

As soon as Gao Qiang heard this, he didn't know well, didn't the emperor want to take risks?

"Your Majesty, naturally you should go south." Gao Qiang suppressed the panic in his heart and pretended to be serious.

Li Zhongyi smiled, raised his right hand, pointed at Gao Qiang, and said, "You kid, monkey spirit, monkey spirit, don't dare to take the slightest risk." ”

Gao Qiang understood in his heart, but he said: "Your Majesty, as long as Xu Tingzhai is taken and Changning Village is cut off, it will definitely be self-defeating." ”

Don't look at the Shu army stationed more than 7,000 soldiers and horses in Changning Village, as long as the grain road is blocked, it will become a turtle in the urn.

Sending Liu Wenchang and Zhang Sanzheng to take Xu Tingzhai is a strategic consideration. After all, less than 100 miles south of Xu Tingzhai is the wide Hanzhong Plain, and it is much more convenient for the army to get grain on the spot.

Now, what Li Zhongyi is most worried about is that the Shu army in Changningzhai has been avoiding the battle and dragging it out for several months, which will be very troublesome.

Gao Qiang obviously knew Li Zhongyi's worries, he thought about it for a while, and said: "There are still more than 1,000 people in Zhenbei Fort, if 500 people are drawn out to participate in the siege of Changning Village, it is a feasible strategy." ”

In the final analysis, Gao Qiang's biggest concern is not whether he can take Changning Village, but Li Zhongyi's safety.

Li Zhongyi smiled, called Li Anguo again, and asked him with a smile: "What do you think should be done next?" ”

Li Anguo is the elder brother of Concubine Li, the grandson of the current Prime Minister Li Qiong, and is a very typical relative.

Gao Qiang has been watching from the sidelines, wanting to weigh Li Anguo's catties and see how much real ability he has?

Li Zhongyi has always emphasized that meritorious service is taken immediately, and no military merit will be awarded. Therefore, so far, Li Anguo is still an empty relative with a military position but no title.

Li Anguo pondered carefully, looked up at Li Zhongyi and said: "Your Majesty, in the opinion of your subordinates, it is better to go north than to go south, and seize Changning Village." After all, the more than 7,000 Shu troops, people eat horses and chew, and they need a lot of firewood. As long as we cut off the firewood of the Shu army, can't we eat raw rice every day? ”

Li Zhongyi smiled happily, turned his head to look at Gao Qiang, and saw Gao Qiang staring at Li Anguo in surprise, looking stupid.

Among the forbidden troops of the Qiang Han Dynasty, the extremely incendiary "cocktail" has become a standard offensive equipment, and almost every battalion is equipped with it.

Changning Village, built on the mountain, just strangled the throat of the Meridian Valley to the south or north.

Objectively speaking, a small Han army of several thousand people can indeed carry a few days' worth of dry food and bypass Changning Village. But the problem is that the dry food carried is not enough to support it out of the Meridian Valley.

Once, after the Han army that crossed Changning Village ran out of food, it would fall into the dilemma of starvation.

Therefore, the Shu army stationed in Changning Village will be as fearless as it is now.

To set fire to Changning Village, we must consider the direction of the wind and the serious consequences of the spread of the fire.

Therefore, what Li Zhongyi pondered was to make a false appearance of setting fire to the mountain and coax the Shu army to escape from Changning Village.

Li Anguo's proposal only took into account the layer of setting fire to the enemy, and although it was flawed, it was also a person with a flexible brain.

In fact, the Shu army in Changning Village should already know the bad news about the loss of Zhenbei Fort.

In this way, the military spirit of the Shu army will inevitably fluctuate, and there will be a chance to take advantage of it.

So, when Liu Wenchang and Zhang Sanzheng went to attack Xu Tingzhai, Li Zhongyi instead of leading the army south, but turned around and went north and went straight to Changning Village.

On the northern front of Changning Village is an army of more than 20,000 led by Wang Ken, the deputy commander of the Guards. After several tentative attacks, Wang Ken has realized that the terrain of Changning Village is too dangerous, and it is difficult to succeed if he fights hard.

Therefore, in the past few days, Wang Ken has made a false appearance of attacking Changning Village, and at the same time has been intensively preparing for a sneak attack.

Before the division, the entire army had fifty 6-pounder guns. When Li Zhongyi led his troops to cross Changning Village and go south, he took away ten 6-pounder guns, and now, Wang Ken still has forty 6-pounder cannons in his hands.

According to Wang Ken's battle plan, he planned to take advantage of the night to pull up all twenty artillery pieces and wait for the opportunity to blast through the gate of Changning Village.

After so many days of fighting, Wang Ken has figured out the true combat effectiveness of the Shu army. To put it bluntly, if it weren't for the natural danger to defend, Changning Village would have been breached a long time ago.

Now, the reason why Wang Ken did not fight hard with the Shu army in the style of human lives was mainly due to the influence of Li Zhongyi.

Li Zhongyi's operational thinking is very clear: We must win the battle without suffering too many casualties. Otherwise, the victory is still defeated!

Wang Ken has been with Li Zhongyi for so many years, and he is naturally clear about the Lord's thoughts.

It's just that the army doesn't have much food in stock. There are more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, people eat horses and chew horses, and the consumption is unusually huge, the Shu army can afford to drag it, but Wang Ken can't afford it.

Just when Wang Ken was about to gamble on a night attack, Li Zhongyi's secret order was delivered to him.

After Wang Ken opened the letter, he looked at it and was immediately ecstatic, the emperor's clever plan can calm the world!