For the next two days, the thieves no longer went out of the camp to fight. No matter how the officers and soldiers called for battle, they all chose to hold on.

Chen Fangshu and the others led people to attack several times, but they all returned in vain, but they lost many brothers in vain.

Since there has been no progress in the past few days, the officers and generals are a little anxious, and a piece of news brought by the scouts made them gather in Lin Fan's military tent to discuss countermeasures.

"My lord, according to the scout's report, there are signs of reinforcements from the thief army one hundred and thirty miles north of the camp, and they are marching in the direction of the camp." Zeng Liang's tone was a little anxious, and he said to Lin Fan.

Prior to this, everyone here, including Lin Fan, had already known the news, and Zeng Liang's words were asking Lin Fan for how to deal with it.

As soon as the news of the reinforcements of the thief army arrived, the people of Gwangju led by Zhang Qi had no confidence to continue fighting.

Zhang Qi said to Lin Fan on their behalf: "My lord, our last few offensives have not made much progress, so it seems that it is difficult for us to capture the camp of the thief army in a short period of time. And the reinforcements of the thief army are coming, so our army might as well avoid its edge first, and then look for fighters after retreating to Gwangju City. ”

Lin Fan didn't answer his question, but instead summoned the scout who came back with the news. He asked the scout, "How many thieves are there this time?" ”

The scout replied: "Lord Hui, the specific number of reinforcements of the thief army is not clear at present, and it is not less than three thousand. The team is still continuing to follow up and investigate, and the special subordinates are ordered to come back in advance to report, and I believe that new news will come back soon. ”

"Re-investigation, we must find out the specific strength of the thief army and report back in time!" Lin Fan ordered him.

"Yes, sir!" The scout hurriedly got up, withdrew from the camp, and went to carry out Lin Fan's military orders.

Lin Fan was not as passive as Zhang Qi and the others, and after the scout left, he focused his attention on the map in front of him. When he saw a location, his eyes lit up, and he said with some excitement: "Fang Shu, An Ning, I will give you 3,000 troops, you are ambushing here, can you eat this reinforcement of the thief army in one go?" ”

Chen Fangshu and An Ning stepped forward and looked at the point that Lin Fan pointed at: "Standing in Tiger Ridge? ”

"That's right, Juhuling!" Lin Fan nodded.

An Ning has led the cavalry as scouts in the past few days, and has circled around for dozens of miles, and is quite familiar with the nearby terrain.

He thought for a moment and said: "The Huling Mountains are densely forested, but the mountain is not high, and the highest part of the mountain top is only a dozen feet away from the mountain road below, is it really suitable for ambush?" I think if you really want to set up an ambush, the more dangerous Yunfeng is a good choice, as long as the officers and soldiers are ambushed on a high place, even if they are stoned, they can all be stoned to death. ”

Lin Fan said with a smile: "How is it not suitable, it is precisely because it is not the best place to ambush in Huling that there is a possibility of success." Although it is good to enter the cloud peak, we know that the thief army also knows that it will inevitably be guarded against it, and it may not succeed. Juhu Ridge was the last mountain before they arrived here, and if they didn't want to make a long detour, they had to pass through there. And with all the safety and quiet along the way, they are bound to slacken a little, and this is our chance. ”

An Ning nodded and agreed with Lin Fan's statement: "If the thief army really wants to pass through here, it won't take three thousand, two thousand is enough." If the army can't eat these people in ambush, we can just buy a piece of tofu and kill them! ”

His words made everyone in Shenzhou laugh

。

"Don't underestimate the enemy, although Chen Xinglong does not have many troops in his hands that can be called elite soldiers, and the war in the Central Plains Road is tight, in order to keep the old nest of Chen Zhou, it is unlikely that he will press all his family resources to this side. But you have also seen the combat power of Du Zishan's thief army, far beyond ordinary thief soldiers, even if they are not as good as them to support this group of people, Chen Xinglong will never send a group of wine bags and rice bags as their reinforcements, otherwise it will be a mess. Lin Fan also said with a smile.

An Ning's words just now were mostly teasing, he had never really despised the enemy army, so he nodded and agreed to Lin Fan's advice.

Seeing that Lin Fan not only had no intention of retreating, but even wanted to take the initiative, Zhang Qi was a little surprised: "What do you mean, my lord?" ”

Lin Fan replied: "A battle has not been fought, and I don't even know the strength of the thief reinforcements, how can I retreat lightly." ”

Zhang Qi was puzzled: "The order our army received was to block the way for the thieves to go south, and after winning the last battle, the thieves' troops suffered a great loss. Now it is naturally best for our army to break through the thief camp and annihilate the thief army. But even if it can't, as long as our army can hold Gwangju City and prevent the thieves from going south, it will be invincible. Now that the thief army is gone, this battle is defeated, and our army is defeated if it is undefeated, why do you take risks? ”

Lin Fan said: "What General Zhang said is reasonable, our army can be invincible if it defends the city. ”

"But did the general ever think that if our army retreated, the thief army would be able to recover its previous strength and regain the initiative. Our army has suffered a lot of losses in the past few days, and then it can only be beaten passively, and it will not be able to go out of the city to fight. In case there are reinforcements from the thieves in the future, will General Zhang still have the confidence to hold the city? ”

Zhang Qi was speechless by Lin Fan's words.

And Lin Fan's words were obviously not finished, he continued: "Now the situation seems to be in hand, but can our army really be invincible?" It's easy for us to retreat, so what about the people in Gwangju and the surrounding areas, do you leave them to the scourge of thieves? Have you forgotten how the thieves came to be? They were all members of the court. ”

"As soon as we withdraw, it is equivalent to leaving a large number of reserve soldiers for the thief soldiers, what if the thief army recruits troops on the spot after the siege of the city? What if they drive innocent people to attack the city? I suppose the families of many of your Gwangju soldiers live outside Gwangju City, right? Will our army fight or not by then? ”

"General Zhang, the passive defense variables will only be greater, it is better to take advantage of the fact that they have not yet converged and fight the enemy outside the city, so that they can really be done once and for all."

Don't look at what Lin Fan said so much, but he was actually quibbling, no matter how much he said, for the officials and soldiers, the safest way at present was to withdraw to the city.

It's just that he threw out so many questions in one breath, and Zhang Qi couldn't refute it.

In fact, many of the questions he just mentioned are untenable.

First of all, Chen Xinglong has almost reached the point of exhaustion, and he may not be able to send a second reinforcement. Even if there were, there could not be too many of them.

After the official army withdrew into the city, Gwangju Fortress had more than 5,000 defenders, and without an absolute superiority in troops, it was not easy to capture a well-defended city.

Secondly, local conscription will not work, in order to rescue the comrades in the camp as soon as possible, the thief army must march lightly, and there is not much food and grass with them.

There is no food and grass, what do they take to raise soldiers, and forced conscription can only cause mutiny. At that time, there was no need for the official army to fight, and they themselves were in chaos first

。

As for driving the people to attack the city, it is the most likely, but after all, everything has not happened yet, and Lin Fan's statement is just a guess, and there is no basis.

And there is only one real reason why Lin Fan did this, and that is that he is unwilling to withdraw.

He understands Zhang Qi, and besides, it is not a bad thing to fight for stability. Under the circumstance that the overall situation has been decided, there is really no need for the officers and soldiers to take such a big risk to compete with the thief army for a while.

But Lin Fan is unwilling to withdraw in his heart, this is the first big battle he fought in the real sense. In the case of no victory, just to seek a safe one, he has to retreat before fighting, which is really difficult for him to accept.

If he made this start today, it would seem to him to be a terrible thing.

The world is impermanent, how can everything be safe. If he loses his enterprising spirit, he may withdraw again and again when he is faced with such a situation in the future.

What's more, it is not that there is no chance of victory at the moment, according to Lin Fan's plan, as long as he takes advantage of the opportunity when the thief army has not yet converged, there is a great possibility of success.

Moreover, if this battle is really won, it is very likely that the battle will be decided, end the war in Huainan Province in one fell swoop, and move the battle line north to Zhongyuan Province.

This is a good thing for the Central Plains and Huainan Province, on the one hand, it can completely cut off Chen Xinglong's southward road, and the people of Huainan Road can avoid a military disaster.

On the other hand, after the end of the war in Huainan Road, Lin Fan and the others could also free their hands and go north to Zhongyuan Road in the direction where the thieves came, and join the offensive against Chenzhou, so that the official army encircled the Xingwang army more closely.

Lin Fan didn't say these words, and he understood that even if he said them, the people of Gwangju might not be able to understand them, and it was even more difficult to accept.

In fact, even Deng Wentong, Zeng Liang and others in Shenzhou may not want to choose a more secure method.

But Lin Fan is their boss, unlike Zhang Qi, who is just temporarily under Lin Fan's moderation and has a certain degree of autonomy. So there are some things that Zhang Qi can say, but they may not be able to say it, so they didn't speak.

Lin Fan didn't give Zhang Qi and them more opportunities to speak, he said directly: "I have made up my mind, there is no need to mention anything else!" If you lose this battle, you are only following orders, and the responsibility will be borne by me. ”

When he said this, the others could not say anything, so they could only say, "The last general will obey the orders of the lord!" ”

"That's it for today, everyone go down!" Lin Fan ended the meeting.

Seeing that Lin Fan was already sitting there with his eyes closed, Zhang Qi, who originally wanted to find an opportunity to persuade him again after the meeting, knew that this matter could not be changed, so he could only bow to him and leave the camp, and then the others also left one after another.

After everyone left, Lin Fan could no longer suppress the anger in his heart.

He clenched his fists and slammed them on his thighs, enduring the pain in his legs, he secretly annoyed: "Retreat, retreat, don't look at what the world has become, you have to retreat!" Do you have to wait until the world is gone, and you don't regret it until there is no way back? ”

All are reluctant to take risks and take responsibility. Therefore, everyone made what they thought was the safest choice and used the safest method.

Today you take a step back, tomorrow I take another step back, and the cycle repeats. And the result of this is to make a good world full of thieves and smoke, and today it is almost out of control.