Tian Boyuan hesitated for a moment, and then lowered his voice slightly: "Presumably General Sun also saw it, now that the personnel in my Yanmen Pass are complex and numerous, in addition to the ordinary soldiers and generals, there are still twenty or thirty thousand people staying here, don't you think it's a little strange?" ”

"yes, I think this looks weird, what, it has to do with the danger you are talking about?" Sun Tu was even more curious: "By the way, why don't they leave here?" ”

"Because I can't go." Tian Boyuan smiled bitterly: "It's not a secret, these people are all people from all over the Daimyo's Mansion, and they were transferred to help transport ordnance, military rations and other materials to the front line. ”

The war of war against the country is not only a competition between the two countries' military strength, but also a protracted war like this will test the logistical supply capacity between the enemy and us, as well as the soft and hard power that is matched with the war in other aspects.

Now that the Great Song Dynasty has hundreds of thousands of troops fighting on the front line, it is an extremely terrifying gold-swallowing beast, and the daily consumption of grain, rice, vegetables, and so on is an astronomical amount. Even if the imperial court had already begun to arrange it many years ago, after a year of attrition, it was necessary to provide a steady stream of logistical support from the rear. At this time, Yanmen Pass became a transit point for hoarding and transporting these logistics materials, and almost half of the materials were sent north from here, so that most of the people who were requisitioned and issued would naturally arrive here.

And now, these people are all trapped here, and when they contact Tian Boyuan's difficult face, Sun Tu naturally guessed something: "Isn't there something wrong with the grain road in the north?" ”

"I don't dare to hide it from General Sun, that's exactly the case. In the past month, the three teams we sent to transport supplies to the north were all attacked and disturbed by the Liao cavalry, and two teams were almost completely wiped out, and the last team was able to get out after several battles because of preparations, but there were also many casualties, and more than half of the food was lost...... According to what they said, there were thousands of Liao cavalry outside the pass, coming and going like the wind, and the attack was fierce, and they couldn't be guarded against it at all. So much so that now we can no longer send food and supplies to the north, otherwise it will only fall into their hands, and those people can only stay in the customs for a while. ”

These words also made Sun Tu's face extremely solemn. This is really a big problem, you must know that the Song army on the front line is already at a disadvantage, once the grain route is blocked for a long time, and the army is really cut off, I am afraid that there will really be a big defeat. But then, he thought of the question again: "For such a big event, why didn't General Tian report to the front line quickly, and besides, shouldn't you lead the army to break the enemy and clean up the grain road?" I've taken a cursory look, but there are quite a few soldiers and horses in Yanmen Pass, which should be enough to deal with this problem, right? ”

"How could General Sun say that the lower officials had never done it? Let's just say that this is a letter, in the past few days, I have sent no less than five groups of people to the north, but the result is like a stone sinking into the sea, and there is no news. And to send troops to fight these Liao cavalry, I also tried. But several times sent troops out of the customs, but failed to find their traces, these Liao people are as cunning as foxes, and just like an unpredictable prophet, as long as the logistics grain team out of the customs can be intercepted in time, if our officers and troops are dispatched, but they have fled without a trace. After several times, the morale of the army was frustrated, and the people in the customs were even more panicked. Now even those people know about it, and they don't dare to venture out again. Fortunately, the army at the front has always had the habit of hoarding food for March, otherwise there would really be chaos at the end of this month. ”

After saying this with a bitter face, Tian Boyuan looked at Sun Tu again and said: "General Sun, you should also know that if you go to the plain, a comparable number of cavalry will have a great advantage over the foot soldiers, if you really go out of the pass like this, you are only afraid of ......" The latter words need not be said, the meaning can be made clear.

And Sun Tu's brows were already tightly furrowed: "Is this the reason?" But I still feel that this matter is a little strange, where did these Liao cavalry come from, and why were they able to bypass my front-line army and appear near Yanmen Pass? Also, don't you wonder how they can distinguish between the grain transport team and the army on the expedition so clearly, and never miss a shot? Even those on the front line of the letter can be easily intercepted by them. ”

"This subordinate has naturally thought about it, the former is not easy to say, the latter should be because there are Liao spies in my Yanmen Pass, and he can transmit these news, so that the Liao people outside have a target. In fact, Xia Guan has carefully checked the defenders in the past few days, and has also taken down a few suspicious people, but he still hasn't gained much......" Tian Boyuan said helplessly. As a defender, if he talks about the deployment of troops, the familiarity with the city, or the coping strategy once the enemy attacks, he will not be embarrassed at all. However, it would be too difficult for him to find the hidden Liao spy among the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians like this.

Not only Tian Boyuan, but also the other soldiers in this Yanmen Pass are helpless against this, the only thing they can do is to warn the front line for help, hoping that those generals can send troops to help protect the grain road, and find out those Liao cavalry to annihilate in one fell swoop.

"General Sun, it's not that the lower officials mean to despise you and the soldiers of the forbidden army, but after all, this is related to your safety, so it's better to be patient for the time being and stay in Yanmen Pass. And I believe that if no food has been sent north in this month, Tong Shuai and others over there should have been able to detect that something was wrong, and at most half a month, the matter would be resolved. Finally, he said with a sincere expression.

Sun Tu weighed the pros and cons, and couldn't help but nod in agreement. Yes, if it is really as Tian Boyuan said, once you leave Yanmen Pass, there is really a lot of danger. Although the Tiger Ben Army under his command is stronger than the ordinary forbidden army, in terms of combat power, it is far inferior to the elite of the Liao army. He had learned this when he was in Youzhou, and even the Qingzhou army, which he was proud of, might not dare to say that it could defeat the elite of the Liao army in a head-to-head duel.

What's more, out of Yanmen Pass, they are even more unfamiliar with the environment, but the other party has been hiding here for a long time, so they naturally occupy a geographical advantage. In addition, the enemy is dark and I am clear, and the initiative is also in the Liao, if we really want to meet it, it is really possible to be defeated.

So no matter how you calculate it, it seems that staying in Yanmen Pass is the most rational and correct choice. Sun Tu didn't want to die before he got out of school, it was too worthless. So after a period of silence, he finally nodded: "What General Tian said is that fortunately, we are not too eager to rush to the front line, so it doesn't hurt to spend a few days at Yanmen Pass first." ”

Seeing him say this, Tian Boyuan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "If General Sun can think like this, the lower officials will be relieved." Come, I will replace wine with water, and I will toast you with a bowl. ”

Sun Tu smiled and raised his glass accordingly, and drank all the white water in the bowl in one go, but he was still thinking about the current situation in his heart, he always felt that this thing looked strange, but for a while he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

It wasn't until the banquet dispersed and he lived in the largest courtyard of the only military post in the Guan, half-leaning on the couch, as if sleeping in a non-sleeping room, that Sun Tu suddenly thought of where he had just felt that something was wrong - what benefit could the Liao people get by doing all this?

On the surface, this question is so strange that even the answer is obvious. The role that these thousands of cavalry appeared in the rear of the Song army was really not small, not only could cut off the Song army's grain route, but also posed a certain threat to the rear of the army, and even completely knocked down the morale of the Great Song Dynasty by relying on the front, and then forced them to retreat south in a hurry, so as to resolve the current crisis.

But Sun Tu saw the hidden behind these will be very unfavorable to the Liao - you must know that the current battle situation is obviously superior to the Liao, if the two sides fight a decisive battle immediately, the Great Song Dynasty will be defeated and lost, so that the pressure on their southern front will disappear completely. But today's approach will make the Song army worry about the instability of the rear, so it is possible to retreat and withdraw the army to avoid the Liao people.

Although the imperial court had ordered Tong Guan and them to fight a decisive battle as soon as possible, after all, the general would not be subject to the orders of the foreign monarch, if he really felt that this was not successful, neither Tong Guan nor other generals who were old in the war would be able to gamble on the chance of winning less than one or two percent. They will withdraw their troops and retreat to Yanmen Pass, which coincides with the previous proposal made by Sun Tu in the court. And more importantly, because there is such a reasonable excuse, even the person who bears the blame is ready-if Tian Boyuan is not enough, then he can also pull out a few officials in charge of logistics support to take the blame - Tong Guan and they are naturally unlikely to have any concerns.

Once it really turns from a quick battle to a protracted tug-of-war, the Liao people are already lacking in national strength, and now the problem of the Jin people wreaking havoc in the rear will appear, and then they will really be dragged down and not far from defeat.

So if you think about it carefully, it is useless for them for the Liao army to do all this, so why bother doing it? Based on Sun Tu's understanding of the Liao people, Yelu Dashi and others are not confused to such an equivalence.

In this way, the answer is very clear, the Liao people must have a deeper conspiracy in doing this, which is far more dangerous than cutting off the grain route of the Song army, but Tian Boyuan and they were confused by the predicament in front of them, and they didn't even notice it.

"What went wrong? What is their purpose? Thinking about this, Sun Tu became more and more irritable, and immediately walked out of the door and came to the courtyard outside, and then saw that the outside of the post house was also a mess, all kinds of tents were set up haphazardly, and they were all van soldiers and people who escorted grain from the south. Because so many unrelated people are in it, this Yanmen Pass no longer has the previous killings, and even the strict curfew cannot operate normally.

And at this moment, Sun Tu's heart suddenly froze, and a terrible thought followed: "Could it be that their real goal is my Yanmen Pass?!" ”