Pei Gai discussed with Zu Ti about the next policy and strategy, and Zu Ti said casually: "Now that the thief has been defeated, when I don't dare to go out of the city to fight again, I can surround it on all sides and look for opportunities to attack the city." ”

Pei Cai thought for a while and suggested: "In this case, within a month and a half of Shiliang and Yiquan, the Wubao can be rebuilt, the west road can be blocked, and Liu Cang will return, and there will be no reinforcements for Yanshi." Shall I try to besiege the city and send reinforcements? ”

Zu Ti pondered for a while, shook his head and said, "The troops are a little insufficient. ”

Pei Gai said with a smile: "I still have 5,000 people on the East Road, and I will arrive in six or seven days, and I will draw 20,000 soldiers from Gao and Gong County." The newly surrendered soldiers have no chance of winning against Liu Cang, but it is not difficult to set up a strong base to block the two Yanshi. I don't know if the ancestor may seal his other two doors? ”

Zu Ti replied: "I sent Xun Daoxuan (that is, Xun Di, the son of Xun Fan) to recruit the same clan in Yingchuan and Xiangcheng, but seven or eight thousand, and it will be ...... soon."

Pei should say that it will be fine, "Today, I will strangle Mengjin in the north, prolong life in the south, close the north and south gates of Luoyang, and if Liu Cang returns, stop an ear." First make the stone beam and a spring reject it to frustrate its momentum, and then let it come to the city for a decisive battle, which can be broken for a while. When Liu Cang is broken, Yanshi will not attack himself. ”

Zu Ti pondered for a long time, and raised two fingers: "Although the plan is good, there are two difficulties. One is that the grain in our army is difficult to sustain and cannot be sustained for a long time; Second, Liu Cang's generals are going west, or to block the Son of Heaven, if I don't attack the Yanshi, but wait for him to return, I am afraid that the Son of Heaven will be taken captive, so what can I do? ”

When Zu Ti sent his troops to the north, the total number of troops was 30,000, although there were losses on the way, and after occupying the city, he divided his troops to garrison, but at the same time, he also recruited a lot of surrounding separatist forces, for example, the number of Li Ju and Wei should not decrease but increased, and the supply pressure naturally increased. In those years, the level of roads was very low, and the means of transportation were backward, so it was necessary to support an army of 30,000 for a long time, and the military rations alone were astronomical, and the farther the expedition, the greater the consumption.

Therefore, an expedition of tens of thousands of people five hundred miles away generally has to accumulate for many years, and it can only be planned for several months or even half a year before it can fight one or two big battles, which is also the main reason why Pei Gai and Zu Ti must show weakness and lead Liu Cang across the Yellow River, otherwise if they are forced to Jiutun Henan, they may be threatened by the main force of the Hu army at any time, no matter how rich Xuzhou is, it will not be able to supply.

Of course, you can also try to fight the enemy because of food. Basically, all cities and key passes have grain in stock, and as long as one place is laid, it is equivalent to increasing the food and straw of your own army, and also weakening the enemy's supply capacity. Henan is among the "world", with a prosperous household registration and developed agriculture, and it is not difficult for the 350,000 troops to survive on old grain until next year's autumn harvest.

Problem: This Northern Expedition, first of all, the Jiankang side ordered in a hurry, did not speak in advance, and only used the form of almost electrifying the whole country when the autumn harvest was approaching, of course, it could not be so fast, it was simply forcing Xu and Yu to move troops, obviously to make trouble for their own people, to ventilate the enemy, but not to let you fight too far. And if you don't dare to fight because of this, it will be even better, Jiankang also has an excuse not to go on the Northern Expedition, and Xu and Yu also successfully carried the black pot on their shoulders.

Moreover, so far, the huge Jiangnan region, even if it is not counted as the turmoil and turmoil, there are also four states, all of which are verbal promises, and have not actually transported a grain of rice to Jiangbei. There were hundreds of empty grain ships, and Pei should have asked for them temporarily through Sima Qi.

Secondly, Henan at this time is different from ten years ago, after the ravages of Hu Qi, most of the cities are dilapidated, the people have fled, and the household registration is not two or three compared to the heyday. What's worse is that the Hu Han regime did not regain enough dominance in Henan, and often the garrisons and grain stores in the giant cities and Dayi were not as large as the nearby dock forts......

Zu Ti was anxious for the Northern Expedition, and Pei should have money in his pocket, so he didn't care much about Jiankang, and you couldn't care about it, so he hurriedly sent troops north. Pei Gai spent a lot of thought on the way, building fortresses everywhere, blocking roads, connecting cities, recruiting people, and saving a lot of time and labor by ship, but even so, he was robbed by Chen Chuan Lengzi. As for Zu Ti, the grain was not enough originally, but now he asked Xuzhou for it, and he was deducted half of it by Lu Ye and Dai Yuan.

Before setting out for the expedition, Pei Cai carefully calculated the stock of grain and straw, and estimated that Yuzhou would send 30,000 troops, and Xuzhou would send 20,000 troops, all the way to Henan, which could support four or five months, and Xuzhou would not break his muscles and bones. In other words, it will be able to fight until the beginning of spring next year. But of course, he can't carry all the grain and grass on his back, unless he uses more than ten times the soldiers and horses, and the more people he uses, the faster the grain and straw will be consumed, and the people will have to eat! Therefore, there is a saying that the grain supply is guaranteed, and it is enough to maintain the food necessary for the army for one month at any time. At present, the grain route is quite smooth, and the looting along the way is mainly to seize Liu's military rations by the ditch water, although the quantity is not much, and there is a slight supplement, there is no problem with his supply here for the time being.

On the Zu Ti side, it is obviously much more stretched.

Pei Gai asked Zu Ti in a low voice: "In the Yuzhou army, how many days do you have to store food?" ”

Zu Ti sighed: "It's less than half a month, and I've collected some from Yuan, Longevity, and the Wu Clan, otherwise I'm afraid that the food will be exhausted in ten days!" It is because I want to attack Yanshi urgently, and it is expected that in the city, the grain will be abundant. ”

Looking at the Hu soldiers killed in Kaicheng today, there must be at least forty or fifty thousand, and what they eat will not only be the grain stored by Yanshi, but also the input of Liu Cang and Hu Yanyan's accompanying grain trucks, so they can eat for a month or two. If the Yanshi can be removed, the food problem in Yuzhou will definitely be solved temporarily.

Pei Cai thought for a while, and replied: "Our army's grain road is still passable, and the grain of the scattered people in the surrounding area can be supported for two months, and it should be divided with Zujun...... "He exaggerated a little, and with the heart of An Zu, "Pingxian, Henan, Gucheng and other places, it is expected that there can be a small supplement, I should besiege Yanshi and send other troops to attack."

"I heard that Zujun sent the captured Hu soldiers to Suiyang to offer prisoners, and he could send a hundred old soldiers to escort him, and take the opportunity to ask Lu and Dai for food and straw, or he was timid when he saw the situation, and he didn't dare not ...... with him."

Speaking of this, the corners of his mouth went up slightly: "Although the imperial court has not awarded the festival today, for the sake of the great cause of the Northern Expedition, it is impossible to kill one or two people to establish power, but I don't know if the ancestor is willing to make this decision?" ”

Zu Ti was silent.

Pei Gai said in a low voice: "You can send an unknown general to go, pretending that there is no food in the army, and the soldiers will starve to death, if they don't meet again, the sergeant will make a noise, occupy Suiyang, and open a warehouse to carry it." As long as it doesn't hurt the king of the East China Sea, it doesn't matter, and Xie Jiankang can kill him afterwards. ”

When Zu Ti heard this, he was slightly taken aback, and glanced at Pei Gai: "After several expeditions, the text covenant is different from the past, the heart of power and scheming is becoming more and more serious, and the intention of killing is getting worse and let me think about it carefully." ”

Pei Gai didn't want to push too much, so he didn't mention the grain, and changed the topic: "As for the Son of Heaven...... Liu Cang went west, whether it was to block the east of the Son of Heaven, I don't know ......"

Zu Ti waved his hand: "After the war, we must all be rectified, so if we want to attack Yanshi, we are not in a hurry to be here for a day or two." Let's wait a little longer to see if there is a letter from the child, and then let's do the district. ”

As for the news of Liu Cang, they received a report the next day that Zu Jian had sent a letter back from the vicinity of Huangchi in Hongnong County, informing them of two things: first, tens of thousands of Hu troops had hastily crossed north from Tianjin and Maojin to Hedong, and they did not know what their intentions were; Second, in Tongguan and Huayin, there seems to be a Hu army stationed, and it is no longer the land of the Jin family......

After receiving the news, Pei Gai and Zu Ti stared at each other, and no one understood what was going on. In the end, it was Zu Shizhi who tried to restore the truth, he said: "Liu Cang abandoned Yanshi and personally led the elite to return to the north, which must be something in the country." or the east of the river is unstable, or ...... Does Liu Yueshi mean to go south to Pingyang? ”

Pei Gai frowned and said: "I heard that Tuoba is advancing westward, helping Wang Pengzu to attack the Duan clan in Liaoxi, counting the time, and returning to the ...... if it is not right" Of course he knew that Tuoba Xianbei could not win this battle, but it was not convenient to confide in Zu Ti, far away from thousands of mountains and rivers, under the premise of unclear information, he could still say it in one sentence, this demon breath was inevitably too strong" With Liu Yueshi's power, may it threaten Pingyang? If Pingyang is empty and cannot be the edge of the stone, Liu Cang should not lead the army south to come to defend us and others before the month. ”

"Could it be ......" Zu Li suddenly raised his eyebrows and guessed, "I heard that Liu Cong has been indulging in wine in recent years, and his body is getting weaker. ”

Pei Cai really can't remember what year Liu Cong died, but theoretically...... In the end, Liu Yao had to capture Chang'an first, capture Sima Ye, and then Liu Cong would hang up after Sima Ye died, right? This achievement of killing the second emperor in a row has not been achieved, how can he die? Waved his hand at the moment: "This is also unknowable." Today, I know two things: first, Liu Cangyuan, I am afraid that it will be difficult to return to Henan within a month; Second, the Son of Heaven did not hunt in the east...... Or when Liu Cang returned, he was afraid that we would make peace with the Son of Heaven, so he sent an army to capture Huayin and defend it, blocking the way for the Son of Heaven to go east. ”

Zu Ti's eyes lit up: "In this case, we can rest assured that we can attack Yanshi!" ”

Previously, the Jin army surrounded the four gates of the Yan Division, but they had not yet made up their minds to attack. Earlier in the day, Pei Gai sent Lu Yan to lead his troops to attack Pingxian, but he was heavily defended by Liu Ya and was in a hurry; On the other hand, Zu Ti sent troops to attack Henan and Gucheng counties west of Luoyang, but they successfully captured them, and then collected all the treasury and brought back a lot of grain and grass.

On the fifth day after the battle in the east of the city, and also the fourth day after receiving the news of Liu Cang's return to the north, the Jin army began to plan to attack the city. Early the next morning, Pei should have pushed all the nine ladders he had built up, but in less than an hour they were all burned, and more than a hundred soldiers were damaged. In terms of the Yuzhou army, compared with the Xuzhou army, it lacked siege equipment, and only built a siege vertebrae, which was much larger than that used by Liu Xun under Chenggao City, but it also failed to break through the door successfully.

On the first day of the offensive, the Jin army did not put all its strength into it. After the battle, Pei and Zu discussed, and they both felt that although the Hu soldiers in the city had only been defeated and their morale was low, there were still a lot of people after all, and Liu Fu and other generals commanded properly, so it didn't seem so easy to attack. Moreover, the scattered siege of the city also felt a deep shortage of manpower for the Jin army.

Zu Ti said: "We should gather troops in one place and attack desperately, so that we can break the city." ”

Pei Gai smiled bitterly: "In this way, I don't know how many people and horses will be injured?" He really didn't want to attack Yanshi and wound the soldiers, but the food pressure was there, even if he could bear it, seeing that Zu Ti couldn't bear it, he couldn't keep supporting the Yuzhou army, and the support was too much, and the food of the Xuzhou army was not enough to eat, so he had to hold his hands behind his back and go around the room for a long time, and then asked Zu Ti: "Can Zu Jun stay with me for ten days?" ”

Zu Ti said that I can afford to wait for ten days, but what do you want to do in ten days?

Pei Gai replied: "First, I want to transfer the guards of Chenggao and other places one after another to increase the strength of the siege; Second, the ladder I built is completely destroyed today, but it must be remade, and I will build more attacking tools, and I will sharpen my weapons first, so that I can do a good job for ten days, and conquer the Yanshi, and then I will succeed. ”

After bidding farewell to Zu Li, Pei should return to his big tent, so he ordered someone to call Xu Yu over. Xu Yu did his homework in advance, and came to Pei Gai with two pieces of paper, planning to wait for the envoy to ask, and report in detail the number of craftsmen today, material reserves and construction speed, and how many ladders do you want, you say, as long as I give enough time and materials, I can complete it on time and according to the texture. Oh yes, a few parts on the ladder still need to be strengthened and strengthened, and I also need to make you nod first, so I can go back and improve.

Who would have thought that Pei should have met Xu Yu, and the first thing he said asked him: "Do you know what a standard is?" ”

Xu Yu was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "The pole is the standard, and the rope is the standard." ”

"Qing makes cars and attacking tools, is there a standard?"

"There is a standard for itself."

Pei Gai shook his head: "According to a certain person, it is far less than ......"