Hua Mulan took a bite of the dish, put down her chopsticks, got up, walked to the side, picked up a baton, pointed to the map on the wall, and gestured to everyone: "In the past few days, General Ben and Mr. Cui, the military advisor, have had a rough discussion, and decided to fight Kumo Xi first, then Khitan, and finally Beji!" With this strategic idea as the baseline, first gather heavy troops to flank Kumoxi from the west and south! ”

"If you want to fight Kumoxi, you must first guard against Kumoxi sending people to contact the Khitan and Beji, and even the barbarians such as Murowei, so when the main force of our army is attacking Kumoxi, the two generals Gao Xu and Cao Jiao must send troops to gather on the southern border of Khitan and Beji at the same time, and contain these two barbarians from sending people to reinforce Kumoxi!"

"After our army exterminates Kumoxi, we will march eastward, and Gao Xu's department will cooperate with the main force of our army to deal with the Khitan, and then General Cao Jiao will lead his troops and my main force to deal with Beji! The general offensive idea is like this, I don't know if you have different opinions and ideas, if you have other better suggestions, you can also put forward, as long as it is adopted, credit one! ”

After speaking, Mulan walked back to the main seat and sat down, and continued to eat wine and food.

Gao Xu's deputy general Cai Guangtong stood up and clenched his fists and asked: "The general said that Kumoxi was attacked from the west and south, should he send troops to attack from the west from now on?" ”

Hua Mulan came out this time and brought her and Zhao Junsheng's brother-in-law Liang Yi and Yizi Wei Jing over for training, and she motioned to Liang Yi and asked him to explain to everyone.

Liang Yi calmed down, strengthened his courage, and stood up and said to everyone: "For this expedition against the barbarians, the general has sent fast horses to ask the prince to temporarily return the soldiers and horses of Yuyi Town to the general's control, and there will be news within three days at the latest, once the prince agrees, the general will have the right to dispatch the soldiers and horses of Yuyi Town, and then the soldiers and horses of Yuyi Town will advance to the east, and the main force of our army will send troops north to attack Kumoxi on both sides!" ”

"When will the Yingzhou army set off to assemble on the southern border of the Khitan?" Cai Guangtong asked again.

Hua Mulan said: "Starting tomorrow, the Yingzhou Army and the Anton Army must be in the northern border area at the same time on the 10th, and without the general's military order, the Yingzhou Army and the Anton Army are not allowed to attack deep into the enemy's territory without authorization!" ”

Cai Guangtong and Gao Shan glanced at each other, and at the same time hugged their fists and said, "The last general understands!" ”

After the two sat down, the veteran general Guo Sheng asked: "Dare to ask the general, if the Kumo Xi people do not fight our army head-on, but all retreat into the mountains, waiting for an opportunity to sneak attack our army, I don't know how the general plans to deal with it?" ”

This question stopped Mulan, she had never thought that the war would be in such a state before, and she didn't know how to answer for a while, so she said: "I didn't think of this question, I don't know what General Guo suggests?" ”

Guo Sheng said: "In the past, the Northern Yan and the Kumo Xi people had many wars, every time the Kumo Xi people could not be defeated, they retreated into the mountains and forests to hide, the Northern Yan army was not familiar with the terrain and roads in the mountains, and soon lost the traces of the Kumo Xi people, and the long-term stationing consumed food and grass in vain, and each time they could only retreat and end hastily. If they sent troops to garrison for a long time, the Kumo Xi people often came out of the deep mountains to sneak attack, cut off the supply and grain routes of the Northern Yan army, and made the Northern Yan army suffer heavy losses, but they were helpless, and finally they could only retreat, and the then king Feng Hong had no choice but to canonize their leader Yu Chuku as the king of Guishan, and promised to let them exchange furs and medicinal materials for food and daily necessities to barely appease them! ”

"For so many years, the last general has been thinking about what method to use to restrain their tactics, thinking about it, the last general thinks that the superior forces can be used to encircle and tightly seal the deep mountains where they are hiding, especially in key places, to prevent them from moving down the mountain, if they are concentrated and hiding, the demand for food will be great, it is impossible to stay in one place for a long time, after a long time, the food must be transferred and re-found a place to obtain food, so as long as they are enclosed in a fixed area, It will completely block their access to food, and force them to go down the mountain to fight us! ”

After listening to Guo Sheng's method, Hua Mulan felt that her thinking horizons had broadened a lot, and she thought that since she could encircle and blockade the deep mountains where the Kumo Xi people were hiding with superior forces, could she also send a small group of elite men and horses into the mountains to suppress them under the condition of encirclement and blockade?

After thinking about it by herself, Mulan said to Guo Sheng: "General Guo's method makes General Ben feel suddenly enlightened," This is indeed a good way! Now that my brigade of soldiers and horses is coming, I believe that the Kumo Xi people have received the news, will they move immediately after receiving the news? ”

Guo Sheng said: "This is very possible, the Kumo Xi people have already fought with us and have experience, in the past, as long as the Northern Yan Army moved, they would soon get the news, before the Northern Yan Army set off, they moved to the deep mountains in advance, and when the Northern Yan Army killed it, they would pounce every time!" ”

Hua Mulan pondered, and after a while, she asked Guo Sheng, "Does the general know where the Kumoxi people usually live?" Can it be marked on the map? ”

"Yes!" Guo Sheng agreed, got up and walked to the map to check, and a scribe next to him handed over a brush.

Guo Sheng took the brush and marked six locations on the map, and after the marking, he said to Mulan: "The general must know that the royal family of Kumoxi is the Ahui clan, and this clan is the strongest, so it has been in the dominant position of the Kumoxi people for a long time, and the other five tribes are not as strong as the others, and they are scattered around the Ahui clan!" General, look, here, here, here······ It is the usual residence of their tribes, and once a large army goes to encircle and suppress it, they will burrow into the deep mountains and old forests nearby! ”

Hua Mulan took a look at the location marked by Guo Sheng, and found that the Kumoxi people lived roughly in the area between the corners of two confluent rivers, and she asked, "What is the name of this north-south confluence river?" ”

Guo Sheng shook his head and said: "The veteran doesn't read much, and he really doesn't know what the locals call these two rivers!" ”

Cui Hao stood up and arched his hand and said: "General, according to ancient records, the river next to Fancheng is called Wuhou Qinshui, and the river in the north is called Rao Leshui, which is also called weak Luoshui and Huangshui. These two rivers converge in the east to form the Great Liao River, but the Great Liao River still has several branches further east, so the West Great Liao River is called the West Liao River, and the tributaries in the east are called the East Liao River! ”

"Looking at the points marked by General Guo, the Kumoxi people live in the area between Wuhou Qinshui and Raoleshui west of the Xiliao River, and there are ancient records that call this area the Pine Desert area!"

"Pine desert area? Why is this area called a pine desert? Mulan fell into deep thought and asked, "Why did the Kumoxi people start living here?" Where did they come from? ”

Cui Hao said: "General, there are thousands of miles of pine forests in this area, of course, this is just an exaggeration, but it also shows that there are many pine forests in this area, and its west is the big desert, so this area is called the pine desert!" According to the Xianbei people, the Kumoxi people are actually from the Khitan tribe! More than 200 years ago, there were Yuwen Ministry, Murong Ministry, and Duan Ministry, some people said that Duan's Ministry, in fact, was Xianbei's Han people, and the relationship between Yuwen Ministry, Yuwen Ministry, and Murong Ministry, often fought against each other, and later Murong Ministry, a small number of people in Yuwen Ministry, moved inward to become vassals of Tuoba Ministry, and other people from Yuwen Ministry, who stayed and evolved into Khitans, and Khitan later split out of Kumo Xi, and Kumo Xi came like this! ”

Hua Mulan finally figured out the origin of these Kumo Xi people, she thought for a while and asked, "If the army wants to attack, I'm afraid that I am not familiar with the road and may find people who have been to the Song Desert area?" Shogun Ben needs a guide who is familiar with the roads, terrain and climate change! ”

It's all the military and officialdom bigwigs, where have these people been to the Pine Desert area? No one in the lobby made a sound.

Li Bao stood up and clasped his fists at Hua Mulan and said, "General, the black-clothed guards have been infiltrating and probing the Kumo Xi people in the past few years, and I believe that they should be able to select from the black-clothed guards to spy on the pine desert area. The general can order someone to send the general flag Yu Huachun to inquire about it! ”

"Okay, go find Yu Huachun!" Mulan immediately ordered.

Soon someone brought Yu Huachun to the lobby, "Yu Huachun, the black-clothed guard Pinggang General Banner, greets the general!" ”

Hua Mulan asked: "If General Ben wants to lead an army to attack Kumoxi, he needs to have a guide who is familiar with the topography, principles, environment and climate change of the mountains and rivers in the Song Desert area. ”

Yu Huachun said: "General, there used to be a small banner named Wu Liji in the hundred households where his subordinates are located, he was originally a Sinicized Kumo Xi person, this person has been in Kumo Xi for a long time, and not long ago he was transferred to the Longcheng Thousand Households for his merits, if he can transfer this person over, he must be a good guide."

After hearing this, Mulan gave an order to Li Bao: "In the name of General Ben, send someone to the Black Guard Dragon City Qianhu Office, and ask them to quickly send Wu Liji to Pinggang to report to General Ben!" ”

"Yes, General!"

The day after the end of the military meeting, Gao Xu and Cao Jiao's lieutenants Cai Guangtong and Gao Shan rushed back to Longcheng and Fuyu City in Andong Prefecture as quickly as possible.

They had to convey to Gao Xu and Cao Jiao Mulan's offensive deployment, and the Yingzhou Zhenshu Army and the Andong Prefecture Zhenshu Army had to gather troops and horses within ten days and arrive at the predetermined location to contain the Khitan and Beji respectively.

Three days later, there were 800 miles of expedited fast horses from the Great General's Mansion in Jixian County, Youzhou, and Zhao Junsheng had already led the army back to Jixian County, agreeing to Hua Mulan's request to temporarily assign the soldiers and horses of Yuyi Town to her control, and at the same time sent someone to send an order to Chi Yandong, the general of Yuyi Town, asking him to obey Mulan's dispatch.

After receiving the official letter, Mulan immediately gave the order to Wei Chi Yandong, asking him to lead 3,000 cavalry to advance quickly from west to east, and attack as quickly as possible, so as not to give the Kumo Xi people a chance to flee into the mountains with their cattle.