In the following period of time, new information continued to come, and the beginning and end of the Jin army's raid on Yunzhou gradually became clear.

"There is no doubt that this operation should be a risky attempt made by King Jin and Li Siyuan; Lone was very suspicious, these two people were afraid that they would take action without a strict plan, and it was completely the idea of 'fight first and then talk'. ”

In the Chongzheng Palace, after putting down the intelligence documents he had just obtained, Yang Wu said to Zhou Ben and the others with some tears and laughter.

This is already the sixth day after the fall of Yunzhou, however, all indications indicate that the Jin army's surprise operation seems to have only a plan for the beginning, and there is no further plan, so that the Jin army has not actually taken further action these days.

Not only that, but the news from Hebei shows that Li Cunqiao, the king of Jin, is still in Weizhou, and the main force of the Jin army is also in Weizhou, and he did not rush to the front line of Yang Liudu!

"I have long heard that King Jin likes to take risks with soldiers, and now it seems to be true. General Zhou, if you were the king of Jin, how would you use your troops? Yang Wu asked.

"King, if you let the minister command the Jin army, the minister will definitely prepare the follow-up troops before sending troops to attack Yunzhou, and once the surprise attack is successful, he will take advantage of the situation to cross the river and launch an attack, and try to seize as much territory as possible before the arrival of the main force of our army, so as to establish a defensive depth and ensure the safety of Yangliu Ferry." Zhou Ben replied.

"Yes, but the Jin army didn't do this, and even the main force of the Jin army is still in Weizhou, isn't this ridiculous?"

Guo Chongtao said: "Great King, the minister thought that perhaps the King of Jin himself did not expect the surprise operation to be successful; Or maybe the purpose of leaving the main force in Weizhou was to confuse our army and make our army mistakenly believe that they had no intention of crossing the river. ”

"You have a point." Yang Wu nodded and said, "But there is not much point in discussing the idea of King Jin now. Since Yunzhou has been lost, then we must recover it. Not only Yunzhou, but also Yangliu Ferry, as well as Huaizhou, Mengzhou, Hezhongfu and other places, must be recovered this time. ”

Now that the situation is clear, and the armies are basically mobilized these days, it is time to launch a counterattack.

"I wonder how the king plans to use his troops?" Zhou Ben asked.

Yang Wu did not answer directly, but ordered someone to hang up the large map, pointed to Yang Liudu on the map, and said: "The key to this battle is not in Yunzhou, but in Yang Liudu." If our army can take the ferry, and then block the passage on both sides of the river with the navy, then Yunzhou will be ours sooner or later. ”

"So the king plans to lead the army to attack Yang Liudu directly?"

"No, before attacking Yang Liudu, Lone plans to capture this place first." Yang Wu pointed to a point on the map.

"Weizhou?" The generals were a little surprised.

"Yes, since the Jin army can launch a surprise attack on our army, why can't our army launch a surprise attack on the enemy army?"

"Does the king mean to rule others the way of others?" Li Chengding said with some excitement.

"Well, I heard that Li Cunru, the assassin of Weizhou, this person's surname is Yang, his name is his mother-in-law, because he can act, so he was favored by the king of Jin, gave him his name, and appointed him as the assassin. This Li Cunru specially collected the people's wealth in Weizhou, that is, the soldiers who defended the city, and also levied monthly taxes on them. Such a greedy person, do you think we have a chance to take it down? ”

The king of Jin, Li Cunqing, loves Youling, which is well-known, and there are many Youling around him who are reused because of their good singing and singing.

It's a pity that these people who are fortunate enough to get in by singing are often greedy for money and incompetent villains, and Li Cunru is a typical example.

Li Chengding immediately said: "King, the minister is willing to personally lead people across the river to raid and give the Jin army a color!" ”

"The minister is also willing to personally lead people to raid, and ask the king for permission." Zhou Ben and other generals immediately stood up and asked for their lives.

Yang Wu smiled and said: "There is only one Weizhou, why bother with all the governors? In solitary opinion, it is enough to send a commander to lead the troops. ”

He looked at Liu Renzhen, who was standing below, and said, "General Liu, you are responsible for this raid on Weizhou. ”

Seeing that Yang Wu had given him such an important task, Liu Renzhen immediately rejoiced: "The last general will obey the order and promise to take Weizhou." ”

"Well, Lone also believes that with your ability, it will definitely not be a problem to take Weizhou down." Yang Wu nodded.

Immediately, he asked very seriously: "But it is not difficult to take Weizhou, but it is difficult to hold Weizhou." The importance of Weizhou to the Jin State is not below that of Shanzhou, once it falls into the hands of our army, the King of Jin will definitely send troops to fight back. ”

"And the main force of our army will go down the river to attack Yang Liudu after taking Weizhou, and you will probably have to face the crusade of the Jin King's army alone at that time, can you hold the city?"

"This ......" Liu Renzhen was silent for a moment, and the generals also understood Yang Wu's intentions.

As long as Weizhou is taken, the Wu army can turn the passive into the active, and use Weizhou to divide the strength of the Jin army, thereby reducing the difficulty of attacking Yang Liudu.

In addition, as long as Weizhou was in the hands of Wu, Huaizhou and Mengzhou, west of Weizhou, would be cut off from Hebei, and it would be much easier to recover these two places in the future.

However, the most critical question is whether Liu Renzhen can hold Weizhou.

The prestige of the King of Jin is not blown out, although he has occasionally suffered small defeats in the past ten years, but on the whole, the Jin army has won consecutive battles, and the edge is flourishing, not under the Wu army.

To lead 5,000 troops to take Weizhou, and to hold the city without reinforcements, even Liu Renzhen did not dare to say that he would be able to do it.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "I wonder how long the king needs to hold on?" And how to ensure the supply of grain and grass and the baggage such as arrows? ”

"You can rest assured, after you capture Weizhou, Gu will send you a large amount of money and grain to ensure the supply of materials for at least half a year. If you think of a way to do it yourself, there should be no problem with the materials. As for how long you need to hold on, it depends on how long it will take for the Yangliu ferry to be breached. ”

Yang Wu couldn't give an exact time, because he couldn't predict how well Yang Liu Ferry was defended and how long it would take to break through it.

Liu Renzhen did not hesitate, and immediately replied: "Please rest assured, since there is no shortage of supplies, then the last general will definitely lead the army to hold on until the day when the king takes Yang Liudu!" ”

Yang Wu looked relieved, Liu Renzhen in history was famous for guarding Shouzhou, and this time let him guard the state, I don't know if he can still perform like in history.

He turned his head to look at Li Chengding and said, "General Li, you immediately make arrangements to reserve enough materials for half a year's army in Suojube as soon as possible, especially arrows for defending the city, and reserve as much as possible." Once General Liu successfully attacked Weizhou, he had to transport these supplies to Weizhou City as soon as possible, can you do it? ”

"Don't worry, the king will handle this matter well." Li Chengding hurriedly replied.

"Okay, you've always been relieved to do things." Yang Wu nodded and said: Other generals must also act, except for the remaining army, the other troops must arrive in Kaifeng within three days to gather! ”

"Obey your orders!" The generals replied in unison.

With Yang Wu's order, the Wu army, which had been silent for nearly two months, moved again, and the forbidden troops that were originally stationed in various places gathered in Kaifeng one after another, waiting for the order to send troops.

……

The large-scale movement of the Wu army soon attracted the attention of the Jin army's spies, and it was not long before news reached Weizhou.

In Weizhou City, as Yang Wu said, the raid launched by Li Cunqiao was indeed just a risky attempt, and he was completely uncertain whether it could become a success.

Just as Wu Guo was jealous of the strength of the Jin State, the Jin State was also deeply jealous of the strength of the Wu State, and the two families were like fierce beasts in chess against each other, full of vigilance and cautious at the same time, for fear that some flaws would be exposed.

For Li Cunxuan, he was originally reluctant to risk a war with Wu when the troubles in Zhenzhou had not been resolved for a long time, and Li Sizhao and many other generals were also opposed to starting a war with Wu at this time.

Only Li Siyuan strongly advocated the start of war now.

"If you don't take this opportunity to start a war, when the Wu State completely digests the Central Plains territory, the Jin State will completely lose the opportunity to unify the world!"

Just this sentence made Li Cunqiao make up his mind to send troops to raid Yunzhou, and Li Siyuan personally proposed to take on this important task.

However, although the attempt to raid Yunzhou has been successful, after the attack on Yunzhou, it is not clear what to do next Li Cunqiao and Li Siyuan.

This is also why Yang Wu will say that they "fight first and then talk", there is no further plan at all, it is completely a step by step.

It's not that there is anything wrong with the strategy of "taking one step at a time", in fact, in such a complicated situation today, Li Cunqiao can only take one step at a time to see the movements of Wu Jun before figuring out the movements of Wu Jun, and then decide on the next move according to Wu Jun's response.

However, one of the problems posed by this strategy was that the Jin army would lose the initiative, allowing the Wu army to calmly arrange a counterattack.

Now the Wu army is already gathering forces, but it is not clear where the Wu army will choose to launch a counterattack, so Li Cunqiao can only gather his forces in the same way and wait for further news to come.

This was three days until the news of the fall of Weizhou came.

"Weizhou was attacked by the Wu army? What does Li Cunru do to eat? Rubbish! What a rubbish! ”

If the news of the fall of Yunzhou made Yang Wu angry and scolded his mother, then this time Wu Jun's sharp and rapid counterattack made Li Cunqiao not only feel angry, but also feel a great loss of face.

As soon as the Jin army attacked Yunzhou, the Wu army counterattacked Weizhou successfully, and this slap was enough to make every Jin army soldier feel frustrated.

It turned out that just a day earlier, almost the same means as Li Siyuan's sneak attack on Yunzhou, the Wu army also took advantage of the cover of night to cross the Yellow River in Shijijin, and then marched to Weizhou, launched an attack before dawn, broke the city in one fell swoop, and captured Li Cunrusheng.

Then, Liu Renzhen continued to send troops to attack the three cities of Gongcheng, Xinxiang and Qimen, which were not far from Weizhou, all of which were broken in a short time, and the Wu army plundered on a large scale, and after taking away what could be taken away, he burned the remaining baggage materials with a fire, and then quickly returned to Weizhou.

"King, not only Weizhou has been lost, but also Gongcheng, Xinxiang, and Qimen to the west of Weizhou have been lost, and our army has lost countless ...... of ordnance reserves."

The officer who came to report the military situation looked at Li Cunqiao in fear, for fear that he would be angry and ordered him to be pulled out and cut down.

Fortunately, although Li Cunmiao was furious, he was still a reasonable person and would not anger others at will.

Although the loss of Weizhou will greatly affect the garrisons of several nearby states, threaten Xiangzhou, Lanzhou and other places, and cut off the connection with Mengzhou and Huaizhou, but the loss of those ordnance materials makes Li Cunqiao feel distressed.

The city can be recaptured if it is lost, but the lost materials cannot be replaced, which is obviously bad news for the Jin State, a country with a weak economic foundation and difficult to fight a protracted war.

After hearing this, many of the generals who remained in Weizhou reacted similarly to the previous Wu generals after hearing that Yunzhou had been lost, and they were also panicked.

There are also many people who propose to take advantage of the unstable foothold of the Wu army to quickly send troops to attack Weizhou and take the city back.

That's what Li Cunqiao thinks.

However, Li Cunxian, who had just arrived from Lanzhou, stood up and said: "Great King, the last general thinks that the main purpose of the Wu army's attack on Weizhou is to disperse the forces of our army, and its fundamental purpose is to recapture Yunzhou. ”

"To recapture Yunzhou, it is necessary to first occupy Yangliudu and cut off the connection between our army and Henan. Therefore, the minister thought that he should not rush to send troops to counterattack Weizhou at present, but should strengthen the garrison of Yang Liudu. ”

Li Cunmiao said unhappily: "Do you just let the Wu army occupy Weizhou and threaten Lanzhou, Xiangzhou, and even Weizhou and other places at all times?" If Weizhou is not recaptured as soon as possible, Mengzhou, Huaizhou, etc. may fall in the short term. ”

After all, Mengzhou and Huaizhou only surrendered to the Jin State not long ago, not only did they have little loyalty to the Jin State, but the local situation was chaotic, once they were attacked by the Wu army, and the Jin army reinforcements could not arrive in time, these two places are likely to choose to surrender.

Zhu Shouyin, Li Cunmiao's confidant general, stood up and echoed: "What the king said is very true, before the Wu army takes action, of course our army cannot act rashly; But now that the Wu army has captured Weizhou, how can our army continue to sit idly by? ”

Other generals also said: "And the Yangliu ferry is defended by General Li Zhou, even if the Wu army sends troops to attack urgently, it will be difficult to capture it." Our army can recover Weizhou first, and then send troops to reinforce Yang Liudu. ”

Li Cunxun frowned suddenly, now it seems that the Wu army has made a move, but the main force of the Wu army has not moved, if the main force of the Jin army is dispatched now, once there is any new change in the future, the Jin army will be in a hurry.

However, everyone, including Li Cunqing, advocated immediately sending troops to counterattack Weizhou, and it was difficult for him to oppose it alone.

What's more, Li Cunxian felt that the Jin army had an absolute advantage in cavalry, and he could go to rescue Yang Liudu at any time, so he didn't have to worry too much, so he didn't say anything.

At this time, Li Cunqiao ordered: "Li Cun's trial order." ”

"The end will be."

"Order you to recruit envoys for Weizhou and lead 20,000 troops to capture Weizhou!" Although Li Cunqiao was determined to recover Weizhou as soon as possible, he was not confused after all, and only invested 20,000 troops in Weizhou, and the other main forces still remained in Weizhou to wait for further changes in the situation.

"The last general obeys!" Li Cunxian hurriedly replied.