Chapter 711: Surprise Attack on Taiyuan

After dealing with all kinds of unstable factors along the line, Shi Bin led a large army to chase Li Chao's vanguard. The address is not large, from Luzhou to Taiyuan is only more than 200 miles. Afraid of being calculated by Chen Guojun, Li Chao settled in a small city still eighty miles away from Taiyuan City, so Shi Bin caught up in only two days.

The two armies and Shi Bin immediately raised their accounts, he wanted to know the specific situation of Taiyuan, and he wanted to get the best way to capture Taiyuan City as soon as possible.

Li Chao, Xie Qiangbing, Wang Jian. Xiang Shibi and Zhou Xunliang both knew Shi Bin's thoughts, so as soon as they heard the sound of the drums, they immediately put down the things in their hands and quickly came to the handsome tent. Shi Bin was very satisfied with the performance of the five people this time, and from the moment they entered the account, Shi Bin was smiling.

"We are only eighty miles away from Taiyuan City of the addressee, and it is not so easy to capture Gao Chishen, the bandit nest city at the address. Now that we have reached the hinterland of the handover site, we need to think about how to consolidate the occupied areas while fighting. As long as Taiyuan City is firmly in hand, the address is in the bag. Shi Bin said in a deep voice.

understood what Shi Bin's words meant, and Li Chao and the five people also thought so. Indeed, not far south of Taiyuan is Hanoi, the capital of Hanoi, and once Hanoi is captured, the country will be destroyed.

"Dashuai, how do you plan to attack Taiyuan? Although the addressers are poorly equipped and have just suffered a major defeat, their king and generals are staunch fighters, and the addressers are still good at fighting. Now that our army is approaching Taiyuan, it is very close to Hanoi, and the people at the address have been forced into such a situation, and it may not be easy to capture Taiyuan. The last general thought that Hanoi would send a steady stream of reinforcements to support Taiyuan. Li Chao said.

"Li Chao, what you said is true, that's why Ben Shuai brought you all to discuss. Li Chao, tell me how many handover troops there are in Taiyuan City today. ”

"Marshal, according to the last general's observation, there should be 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers and horses in Taiyuan City now. Grain and grass were all sent from Hanoi, and we could hardly cut off the grain route or stop it from sending reinforcements. Li Chao said with some frustration.

After listening to Li Chao's words, several people in the tent suddenly felt a lot of pressure. Wang Jian opened his mouth and asked, "Master Li, can you try to divide and disintegrate them from within, just like we have done all the way here?" ”

"It's not impossible, but it's hard. Because most of these are the descendants of the royal family, they are very loyal to the Chen dynasty. Their king had recently prayed for the soldiers who had died at our hands and had doubled their pensions, thus further strengthening the loyalty and cohesion of his army. Li Chao said.

"It's really a cunning guy, he knows how to buy people's hearts with sacrifice and money, it seems that this Taiyuan City will either become a pile of ruins or it will make my Great Song Dynasty sacrifice a lot of warriors." After Shi Bin finished speaking, he closed his eyes and began to think.

"Dashuai, since you can't find a suitable way for the time being, it's better to fight first, and you can't let the addresser have too much time to react. After all, we've wasted a lot of time along the way. We don't have a lot of grain and grass, and we can support it for another half a year at most. Xie Qiangbing reminded.

Half a year sounds like a short time, but if you meet a tough opponent, it is common to fight under a city for a few years. So after Xie Qiangbing's reminder, Shi Bin realized that things were not good, so he immediately ordered the army to pull out, and two days later began to attack Taiyuan City with all his might.

After arriving at Taiyuan City, I saw that the flags were fluttering in the city, and the soldiers were all in strict order, as if they had not encountered a major defeat, but an army that had just won a big victory.

"Xu Feng, this Chen Guojun is very powerful, and it has only been a few days to demoralize those defeated soldiers." Shi Bin said with a smile.

"It's really powerful, but most of it is strong from the outside. That is, relying on some wealth and a few empty words to boost morale, and when the real fight starts, I am afraid that it will be another head-hugging rat. Xu Feng said disdainfully.

"That makes sense, but don't take the enemy lightly." Next, Shi Bin ordered Wang Jian to lead his troops to attack Taiyuan.

Although the weapons of the handover soldiers were backward, the individual combat power was very strong, and the defenders of the city were waiting for work, so even if Wang Jian attacked the city with all his might, he only attacked the city wall twice in the morning, but in the end he was driven down by the handover army.

This record made Wang Jian very ashamed, but after the truce between the two sides, Wang Jian did not enter the tent for a long time, but walked back and forth outside the tent, obviously uneasy.

Knowing this, Shi Bin walked out of the tent and called Wang Jian in. "Lord Wang, why don't you enter the account and report the battle situation to Ben Shuai?"

"The marshal has never been invincible, and all the generals can also fight well, the last general's result of this siege must have been known, and the last general has no shame to see the marshal and all the generals." Wang Jian said with a flushed face and ashamedness.

"Lord Wang, Ben Shuai didn't expect you to be such a face-saving person. Knowing this, I sent him to Shibi. Shi Bin said with a smile, "Victory and defeat are commonplace, although your results in this battle are not good, but you also helped our army find out the combat strength of the handover army in Taiyuan City." Besides, we've long said that we're trying to figure out a way while attacking, so it's not your fault. ”

"Thank you for your grace." Wang Jian said.

"Polite words aside, you should know more on the front line. Let's talk about the current situation of the addresser. ”

"Yes. As Master Li said, the battle spirit of the handover army in the city is very strong, and it must be the elite of the elite. It seems that there are some plans to burn the jade. If we can't dismantle this thinking, I'm afraid we will suffer a lot of casualties. If you want to reduce the number of casualties, then I am afraid that you can only use the return cannon. Wang Jian said solemnly.

"Jade burning?" Shi Bin was a little surprised, "Are you sure?" ”

"Dashuai, the last general dares to vouch for the head of the Xiang, and many of them have the idea of burning jade. Because I saw with my own eyes many of the soldiers who were already seriously wounded, not only did not flee from the battlefield, but also fell off the city wall with my Great Song soldiers. The scene was so shocking that those people were completely dead. But fortunately, there don't seem to be a lot of them. ”

Wang Jian's words reminded Shi Bin of Japan's 'suicide attacks' during World War II. Although Japan was ultimately defeated, the American army also suffered heavy losses.

"Lord Wang, the information you provided is very useful, and this time you have not only done no fault, but have meritorious." Shi Bin said, "We have to find a way to eliminate the crazy idea of the addresser, otherwise even if we destroy the address, we won't be able to effectively rule here." ”

This is a very difficult problem, and we must find a good solution as soon as possible, otherwise we can only slaughter or withdraw our troops.

"Great Marshal, the last general thinks that we can use the methods we used to deal with those villages to deal with the army in the city. A person's thoughts, even if they are all dead, will be a little contradictory. So if we could find out what was going on, maybe things would be much easier. Xie Qiangbing said.

A thousand people and a thousand ideas, Xie Qiangbing's statement is absolutely correct, the question is how to find this gap?

After thinking for a while, Shi Bin felt thirsty and ordered his subordinates to send a few pots of tea, asking everyone to drink tea first and then think about the problem, which was better. Li Chao, Xie Qiangbing, Wang Jian and Xiang Shibi all agreed with a smile, but Zhou Xunliang said that he only needed boiled water, because he was not used to drinking tea.

After listening to Zhou Xunliang's words, Shi Bin was stunned for a long time and did not react, Li Chao and the other four people thought that Shi Bin was angry because of this, and they were ready to intercede for Zhou Xunliang, and gave him a look, signaling him to hurry up and ask for guilt.

I understood the meaning in the officialdom for a long time, but when Zhou Xunliang was about to ask for guilt, Shi Bin smiled and said, "Zhou Xunliang, what are you doing here?" Thought I was angry? I don't seem to be that stingy. I'll tell you, I got some ideas from drinking tea and drinking plain water. ”

Knowing that Shi Bin had an idea, everyone was immediately very happy and asked.

"Didn't Wang Jian say before that there are a lot of soldiers in the city who plan to be dead soldiers, but these people don't seem to be many, right? In other words, most of them aren't that crazy yet. The difference in the attitude of the soldiers to life and death is the biggest flaw in Taiyuan City. Shi Bin said with a smile, "Most of the soldiers in the city should have parents, relatives and friends, we can use these people to disintegrate the people in the city." Even if you don't let them surrender, you can make them suspicious of each other, so that they don't go all the way to the dark. ”

This time, everyone understood what Shi Bin meant. Indeed, people cherish their lives, even those who are not afraid of death do not want to die immediately, and if there is a glimmer of hope for life, they will want to live. And those who don't want to die at all will immediately contradict these people who are not afraid of death, which will cause Taiyuan City to no longer be so impregnable. This is typical psychological warfare.

So from the next day, Shi Bin arranged for many people who surrendered to the Great Song Dynasty, gained a lot of benefits, and had relatives and friends defending the city in Taiyuan City to persuade them to surrender.

Of course, it is impossible to persuade once to have an effect, so Shi Bin came to a 'fight and persuasion'. The effect is obvious, from the third persuasion to surrender, the combat strength of the handover army in Taiyuan City has decreased significantly, and it is no longer so desperate.

This is great news, seeing that Taiyuan City may be breached at any time, Shi Bin, who does not want more casualties, will be raised again.

"Now Taiyuan City is in danger, and it will be attacked by my Great Song Dynasty at any time. Is there any way to break through Taiyuan at a smaller cost? Shi Bin asked.

In fact, in the eyes of everyone, the price paid by the Song army to fight on the territory of the addressee is already very small, and it is almost impossible to be small. However, Shi Bin is famous for cherishing his soldiers and never wants to die more, so the soldiers admired him very much, and Li Chao and the others also attacked Taiyuan at a smaller cost according to his ideas.

Not long after, Li Chao spoke: "Dashuai, there will be a method that may work." ”

"Tell me about it."

"Yes. Now the addressee is focusing all their attention on the north side, and I believe that they will not pay so much attention to the south gate of the address. If we figure out who is stationed at the south gate of the address, and if those who are stationed are not loyal to the king of the address, it will be much easier for us to break through Taiyuan City. ”

It turned out that Li Chao had the idea of hitting the south gate of Taiyuan. That's a good idea. Because generals generally put the most elite troops in front of the enemy, the flanks are slightly inferior main forces, and at the end are some old soldiers who can only fight with the wind.

Taiyuan is very close to Hanoi, and Hanoi has a steady stream of soldiers and grain and grass to support. Therefore, the defenders of the south gate of Taiyuan will definitely be much lax, as long as they figure out the situation, they can indeed take Taiyuan City down.

So Shi Bin sent Li Chao to personally lead the 3,000 elite Song troops wearing military uniforms to raid the south gate of Taiyuan. As Li Chao expected, the defenders of the south gate of Taiyuan were very lax. Li Chaoxian sent the people who had already taken refuge in the Great Song Dynasty to lobby the defenders of the South Gate, many of whom did not have the concept of 'country'. It's more about 'being a soldier and eating food', and not long after Li Chao promised enough benefits, they agreed to fight back. Once an agreement was reached, Li Chao attacked Taiyuan with all his might.

Such a surprise attack caught Chen Guojun off guard. Li Chao shouted 'Chen Guojun treason to the enemy' while fighting, and Taiyuan City was in chaos for a while, but Taiyuan City was taken in two hours. Tran Quoc Jun had no choice but to retreat to Hanoi with the remnants of his army.