After weighing it repeatedly, Bai Liyan finally agreed to Zong Botai's suggestion, but it was not easy to make a good decision. After all, it is to beat the suzerain, and the war is undeclared, without the edict of King Xian, the first cut and then the play, and the main generals of the various armies must be convinced.

At present, Ye Xin and Xue Sheng are outside, there is no need to ask the two of them, Fang Liang, Tian Peng's Sixth Town Army, and Zhou Kong's Eighth Town Army, the problem is not big, and only Xu Jin's first town needs to be persuaded left. Although he had a very good personal relationship with Xu Jin, he might not agree to the undeclared war from King Xian.

That night, Bai Liyan revealed the decision to Zhou Kong first, and he was taken aback:

"Sneaking up on the army of the Son of Heaven without declaring a war, this is something that offends the anger of the public, you are crazy!"

"Don't get excited, listen to me first. Liang will soon collude with Wei Guo and Changsun to attack our army, and if Liang State captures Gongxiang, Peijun, Shangxue and other places, the consequences will be unimaginable. The Liang army will definitely acquiesce to the Liang army to transfer grain and grass and transport troops through the land controlled by the Liang state, and then the Liang state will only need to hide behind the scenes and order Wei and the eldest grandson to attack me.

At that time, even though our army is well armed, if the guards, the Changsun army and I do not notice for a long time, the Jin State, the Zhi State and even the Xu State will take advantage of the situation to attack, and the Xian State will fall under the joint siege of the princes, and the situation will be extremely unfavorable. ”

Zhou Kong doesn't understand politics, and it is difficult for her to understand the truth that Bai Liyan said:

"The eldest grandson and Wei Guo are each other's mortal enemies, how can they give up their past suspicions and join hands to attack me."

"Politics is like this, yesterday you can hate each other, today you can die and live, although the heart is ape and the horse is in the same bed and dreams, but it does not prevent them from giving up their past suspicions and joining forces in the face of a common threat.

At present, our country is showing its edge, the eastern front of the guard army has been defeated, and it is no longer able to resist the offensive of our army, and the eldest grandson is already weak and difficult to support independently. Under the heavy pressure of our army, the external threat is greater than the threat of the two countries, and they will inevitably join forces against us.

Moreover, our army is about to cut off the return route of the guards on the Western Front, and Liang is the only way to retreat south with the guards, and the Liang State must use this as a threat to force the guards to fight to the death with me, and at the same time use the retreat of the guards as a capital to lure the eldest grandson to use troops against me.

If our army's western front falls into a passive or even protracted war, the Jin State will definitely make some moves in Jiangdong, and the Zhiguo will also divert domestic contradictions because of internal worries and start a war against the Xian State. Therefore, the Liang army must be forced to withdraw to the mainland, and the Liang army that entered Gongxiang must be annihilated. ”

"Then you can't cut it first and then play it, if King Xian knows, won't he ask you about the crime."

"Yes, it is possible. However, the situation was urgent, and there was no time to report to the king for permission, and he had to make a decision immediately. ”

The battlefield is changing rapidly, the fighter planes are fleeting, and the backwardness of communication technology under the agricultural civilization seriously restricts the transmission of information, and the front line is in the continuous tense, while the capital is in the lagging tense, and it is impossible to know the dynamics of the front line.

And some events that are big enough to change the fate of the monarch, unable to obtain the permission of the monarch in time, when a decision must be made, it may bury hidden dangers among the monarchs and ministers in the future, and even kill the disaster.

In view of the importance of the stakes, the next day, Bailiyan only arranged for Xu Jin and Jiang Jie to come to the office for secret discussion. Tian Peng and Fang Liang's troops were about 20,000 in Gongxiang, and the rest of the main forces were still in Jingyuan, and for the two of them, they had no idea of the Son of Heaven in their minds at all, except for Bailiyan, no one commanded them.

"The two generals are invited here today because there is a major matter to discuss with them." As she spoke, Bai Liyan took out the secret letter sent last night and gave it to Xu Jin first, and then continued: "The idea has been decided, but I don't know what the two of you think. ”

When the words fell, Jiang Jie hurriedly asked:

"Lieutenant Marshal, what is the news?"

At this time, Xu Jin, who was reading the letter, blurted out:

"Liang Guo has sent troops!"

Jiang Jie was surprised when he heard the news, looked down at Xu Jin's hand and said:

"Liang sent troops, is it to Gongxiang?"

"Exactly, the forbidden army of the Liang State that is still mobilized should join the main force of the Liang army stationed north of Tun before sending troops. According to this calculation, it should occupy more land in Gongxiang before our army. It's just that Liang Guo should send troops to be beneficial to our army, and the deputy marshal summoned us and others to discuss this matter, does Liang Jun want to be unfavorable to our army? ”

Xu Jin guessed, and Jiang Jie on the side answered:

"Liang Guo has always sowed discord on both sides and with three knives, and he is really a villain in his name, according to his consistent temperament in the past, he will not have any good intentions when he sends troops this time. At present, the main force of the western front of the guard army is pressed by hundreds of thousands of people in the territory of Changsun, if the southward return passage of the guard army is cut off, and our army is strong, the guard army will not fight to the death.

Now that Liang Guo took the initiative to provoke Wei Guo, it was to give the Wei army a way to avoid reality and survive when attacking Liang Guo. Liang Jun knew this reason, and he should defend himself and not provoke the defense of the country, but he took the risk of attacking and defending, and he must have malicious intentions. ”

"What General Jiang said is good, Liang Guo is indeed unpredictable." Bai Liyan said affirmatively, took out the map and spread it on the table, pointed at Gong Xiang and the two of them, and continued: "Gong Xiang and Jingyuan are the only way for the Wei army to return south, in addition, the Wei army either goes south from Liang State, or makes a detour to attack Kang County and Mingtian County to the south, so while our army cuts off the way back of the Wei army, Liang Guo also cuts off the way back of the Wei army.

But our army will definitely not let the guards return to the south, but the Liang State may not. If the Liang State joins forces to defend the country and attack us, our army will fall into a very passive situation on the Western Front. ”

"Our army has sophisticated firearms and artillery, and the guards are not vulnerable at all, even if Liang Guo interferes with it, how can he prevent our army from sweeping the guards."

Xu Jin said disdainfully, Bai Liyan was very cautious, he said:

"If the guards avoid fighting and defending all places, the main force of our army will be nailed to the Western Front for a long time, consuming money and grain, wasting people's power and delaying farming. Liang did not intend to defeat our country militarily, but to bring down the storage and treasury of the Xian State.

Even though our country is rich in the world, it cannot afford to waste the national treasury by 2.3 million young and middle-aged people, hundreds of thousands of guards and prisoners, so that nearly 3 million people in the country need to provide for three meals a day.

The longer it drags on, the more unfavorable it will be to Xianguo, and at that time, not only Wei Guo, but also the eldest grandson, Jin Guo, and Zhiguo will take the opportunity to fall into the well and stab them in the back, which is the sinister intention of Liang Guo. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, the commander formulated a quick decision. ”

Thermal weapons are not invincible equipment, and the Battle of Hukou Bay also proved this.

If the guards do not take the initiative to attack, but adopt a defensive posture, dig a large number of trenches and build bunkers, and the number of weapons of the Xian army is not enough to pose a major threat, this will provide time for the defenders to persist in fighting, and the Liang State only needs to continuously supply grain and grass, and the war on the Western Front will be deadlocked.

To a large extent, the battle in Dekang County was due to Du Ruixun's ignorance of the details of the Xian army, and he was transferred to the main force by Bailiyan under the artillery of the Xian army in the field, so the current tactical advantage of the Xian army is field team battles and large depth division and encirclement.

If the defenders avoided the field battle and chose to hold on to the city and build trenches, it would become a battle for each city and land, and the war would drag into a protracted war of attrition, which was obviously the most desired outcome of the Liang state.

"General Xu, the key to this battle of our army is a quick battle, if the guards can't hold out, with the current strength of our army, it is no longer possible to rule Du Ruixun with hundreds of thousands of people like landing in Dekang. If a battlefield is stalemated, our Third Army will lose the ability to quickly assault, and then lose the initiative on the battlefield and fall into passivity, which will be extremely unfavorable to our army. ”

Xu Jin twisted his short white beard and thought for a long time, and nodded in approval:

"What does the lieutenant mean?"

Bai Liyan lowered her voice and said cautiously:

"The Liang State has always had bad intentions, and has calculated our king and our army several times, and this time it intends to drag down our army and harm our country. Therefore, Ben Shuai thought about it, and only by 'asking' Liang Jun to return to China could he solve the current dilemma. ”

"Please Liang Jun return to China, how can this please law."

Xu Jin didn't understand the deep meaning of Bailiyan's word "please", and Jiang Jie didn't understand it either, but it didn't prevent Bailiyan from continuing to "show the way to the immortals", he said:

"Ben Shuai has made up his mind, Tian Peng and Fang Liang's Third Town Army, General Zhou Kong's Eighth Town Army, and a part of the Righteous Army disguised the guards and mountain bandits to attack the Liang Army, and then ......"

Without waiting for the words to fall, Xu and Jiang were both taken aback, and Xu Jin opened his mouth to explain and said:

"Master Hou, the country of Liang is a state, the country of the Son of Heaven, without the consent of the king, rashly attacking the Liang army is a big crime of bullying the king and destroying the family."

"Yes, deputy marshal, without the consent of the king, if you attack Shangbang without declaring a war, if this matter spreads, it will be crusaded against by the princes of the world, and this matter is probably extremely inappropriate."

Ignoring the objections of the two, Bai Liyan continued:

"Listen to Ben Shuai finish his words first. While our army pretended to be a guard to attack the Liang army, General Xu Jin followed the Xian army on the other hand. After defeating the vanguard of the Liang army, I pretended to be a guard and immediately went to attack the Liang State, and General Xu Jin followed closely behind to surround the Liang State, and finally pretended to persuade him to surrender, and included the Liang City in the pocket of our army, and finally used this as a negotiation fund to force the Liang State to compromise and cut off the food route of the Wei army, and the Wei army was forced to be defeated by our army's offensive soon. ”

"But without the king's approval, he sent troops to attack the Liang State, how to explain to the king afterwards."

Xu Jin said worriedly, and Bai Liyan reassured:

"This matter will be secretly played by the king immediately, if the king is to blame, the commander will bear it alone, and it has nothing to do with the generals."

"Then why don't you wait for the king's reply before making a soldier."

Jiang Jie asked, Bai Liyan shook his head and said:

"It's too late. If the Liang army takes control of Gongxiang first, it will seriously delay the speed of our army, and then the Liang army will pour into Gongxiang like a tide, and our army will not be strong enough to divide and encircle. Taking a step back, it is impossible for our army to attack the Liang army in full disguise of the guards, so it is too clumsy.

In addition, the Liang army must have sent troops before lobbying King Wei, and from the perspective of time, Liang's decision should have been made before December, and Liang's envoy should have been on the road or even arrived in Weidu. As long as he agreed on the time to send troops, the envoy would inform King Wei of the dispatch of troops after arriving in Weidu, and the two countries would begin negotiations.

By the consent of King Wei, the Liang army had already occupied all the territory that should be occupied, and even if our army had a thousand miles of leaps, it would take seven or eight days to rush back to Chenling from then on, and the road to defend the country was far less than that of Xianguo, seven or eight days was already very fast, and it would take half a month to go back and forth, and it would take seventeen or eighteen days if it was delayed. At that time, the secret letters of Wei Wang Yu and Liang Guo were already on the way to the guards in various places, and even had been sent to the guards in various places. ”