Drain~

In June, the climate in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River has entered a fickle season, when the sky is still clear, but by noon it is already dark clouds, and drizzle covers the entire Pinggang City.

In the rain and fog, the streets in Pinggang City are sparsely populated, and a large number of shops and houses on both sides of the street are also closed, and the whole city seems to be extremely empty and silent.

As the political center of the power of Nanwang Kongyoude, Pinggang City was once one of the most prosperous areas on both sides of the Yangtze River, but it quickly declined in less than a year, according to the latest statistics of Nanwangfu, Pinggang City, which covers an area of more than 60 square kilometers, has less than 200,000 people, including military and civilians.

Since the war with Sima Yu last year, all regions under the rule of Southern King Kong Youde have been boycotted by the Yongzhou commercial forces led by the Qilin Business Alliance. Without the entry of Yongzhou merchants, the economy of various places under Kong Youde regressed rapidly.

Among them, Pinggang City, which was originally the most prosperous city, suffered the most serious decline, and the shops on several commercial streets in the city closed their doors because there was no foreign goods entering them, and they ran away.

Faced with this situation, Kong Youde, who had no knowledge of commercial operations, ordered the arrest of many businessmen who had run away, and forced various localities to transfer materials to enrich Pinggang City.

As a result, not only did Pinggang fail to regain its prosperity, but the arrest of merchants caused its image to plummet in the eyes of local merchants, which eventually caused a large number of merchants to flee, and the commercial development of Kong Youde's territory almost completely came to a standstill.

At the end of last year, Sima Yu led his troops to raid Pinggang City, which caused a devastating blow to the entire central and northern parts of Shimo County, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

Since then, the population of Pinggang City under the rule of the entire Nanwang Mansion has been in a state of loss.

"Crunch~"

In the drizzle, a carriage, escorted by several knights, slowly drove along the street in the direction of the southern palace in the city.

Inside the carriage, Chen Shuming's mood was as heavy as the sky outside the carriage.

As one of the most important strategists under Kong Youde, all Chen Shuming's rights come from Kong Youde, and if Kong Youde loses power, all his rights will also disappear. And the current situation is very unfavorable for Kong Youde's Nanwang Mansion.

Driven by the coachman, the carriage quickly drove into the Nanwang Mansion, Chen Shuming walked quickly to the study, and Nanwang Kong Youde was sitting in the study with a solemn face.

"Dingyuan (Chen Shuming's character Dingyuan), you are here!"

Seeing Chen Shuming coming in, Kong Youde, who had been staring at the letter in his hand, returned to the Divine Dao.

Since Liu Xuanchu left, Chen Shuming has become the most trusted strategist under Kong Youde.

"Shuming, this is a letter of plead sent by Youshun, the southern Wang army has been broken two days ago, Dongting, Zhonggang and other towns are also crumbling under the siege of the enemy, due to his negligence in the Sichuan City, the wealthy merchants have escaped more than half of them in one day, and now the entire Sichuan City has been floating in the hearts of the people, and Youshun bluntly said that if there is no reinforcement of the Sichuan City, I am afraid it will be difficult to protect it!"

Raising the letter in his hand, Kong Youde's brows furrowed into a Sichuan shape, and he looked at Chen Shumingdao.

"Lord Wang, we must immediately rush to the aid of Sichuan City, Sichuan City is where Baisha County is located, only 200 miles away from Pinggang City, once Sichuan City is broken, the entire Baisha County and Shimo County will be in no danger to defend, in the face of the southern royal army with a large number of cavalry, we have no chance of winning!"

When Chen Shuming heard this, he immediately made a suggestion.

There are only four counties of Bailu, Yangshi, Baisha and Shimo in the whole Jinzhou, and the Liangshan Army and Kong Youde were originally bounded by Horseshoe Mountain, each occupying two counties. Kong Youde set up four towns of Sanli, Dongting, Zhonggang, Changxing, and Xinlong on the western border of Baisha County in order to guard against the Liangshan army, with Sichuan City as the center, and the five cities as each other's horns, and Mao Youshun led 30,000 Kong Youde troops to garrison, which should have been a foolproof situation.

But who would have thought that under the soldiers of the Southern Wang Army, Xue Ju's father and son, who had just occupied the power of the Liangshan Army, were defeated too quickly, Mao Youshun had not yet gotten the news, and tens of thousands of Southern Wang Jun had been killed, and the defenseless Sanli Town was broken in one day, and the remaining four towns were also crumbling under the strong soldiers of the Southern Wang Army, and at this time, Sichuan City had become their last fortress against the Southern Wang Army.

"I naturally know this, but on the Yangtze River, 100 miles away from Pinggang City, we have found a large number of fleets of the Southern Wangfu Naval Division, and they obviously want to repeat their old tricks, land on the river, and go straight to Pinggang City. At this time, if troops are sent to rescue Sichuan City, Pinggang City will be in danger! ”

Kong Youde sighed when he heard this, and said with a dejected face.

Sima Yu's hand of land and water obviously hit Kong Youde's weakness, and now he is likely to be taken advantage of by the southern Wang army on the water to save Sichuan City, if he does not save it, Sichuan City will soon be broken, and finally he will face the southern Wang Army's land and water attack.

Is it really a catastrophe? Kong Youde is unwilling!

"Does the prince want to admit defeat?"

Chen Shuming raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard this, and asked softly.

From the words just now, Chen Shuming had already heard that Kong Youde had the intention of giving in, this is not a good phenomenon, before reaching the last moment, he is really unwilling to give up the glory and wealth in front of him.

"Yes, Wei Rui and Bao Ren have persuaded me, the soldiers of the Southern Wang Army are too strong, this time we will take advantage of the power of the Liangshan Army to invade, I am afraid we will not be able to resist it!" Kong Youde nodded and said decadently.

"Lord Wang, with all due respect to his subordinates, Wei Rui and Bao Ren are just a courtier, even if they surrender, in order to appease the public, Sima Yu will still reuse them, and I am afraid that the duties of a county will not be able to run, but what about you, Lord Wang? The prince has monopolized Shimo and Baisha counties for nearly two years, even if Sima Yu does not persecute the prince in large quantities, he will inevitably let the prince move to Qilin City and be an idle rich man. ”

Chen Shuming's voice gradually raised and said, he must arouse Kong Youde's fighting spirit. If it is done this time, Kong Youde will definitely remember his kindness today, and if he loses, he will only run away at most, as for what will happen to Kong Youde, he can't control it.

"I don't want to, but we don't have any chance of winning!" Kong Youde drooped his head and said in a low voice.

"Lord Wang, in fact, we may not have no chance of winning right now," Chen Shuming frowned when he saw this, and said softly.

"Oh? What is the meaning of Dingyuan's words? ”

Hearing that there was still hope, Kong Youde's eyes suddenly lit up, and he stared at Chen Shuming and asked.

"Sima Yu is probably also carried away by the successive victories and achievements, if he can lie dormant after swallowing the Liangshan Army, we may really have no hope after Bailu and Yangshi counties are stabilized, but he chose to start a war at this time, which is really a big failure!"

Chen Shuming shook his head and said with a look of pity.

"What is the best plan for Dingyuan, let's talk about it quickly!"

Chen Shuming shook his head and dragged the text here, but Kong Youde didn't want to listen to this nonsense, so he couldn't wait.

"Back to the prince, there are three disadvantages for the southern king army in this battle! First, the southern royal army has just gone through a series of fierce battles with Gongsun Sheng, Xue Ju and his sons, and others. Second, the southern royal army has just occupied Bailu and Yangshi counties, with a population of nearly 500,000 under its rule, and these areas have not yet stabilized, not only can not provide logistical support for the southern royal army, but will involve a lot of their manpower and material resources, otherwise this attack may not be 50,000 southern royal army western troops. Third, although Sima Yu defeated Gongsun Sheng and Xue Ju before, he did not cut the grass and eradicate the roots, and most of the Liangshan army was retained, most of these people were reckless and unruly, and they would never surrender willingly.

Therefore, the key to our victory in this battle is dragging. The northern part of Pinggang City is a horse Pingchuan, there is no danger to defend, we have no chance of winning in this area and the southern king army, in this case, why not simply give up, concentrate troops, take advantage of the southern king army water division did not arrive when the prince personally led the troops to aid Sichuan City, Pinggang City is tall and strong, only need to leave more than 10,000 elite garrisons. The southern royal army attacking from the west was only 50,000, and with the support of the prince himself, the situation in Sichuan City was bound to stabilize soon. As long as we can resist the attack of the southern king army for a period of time, the southern king army is bound to show fatigue, we only need to send people to infiltrate Bailu and Yangshi counties to provoke a little, the two counties will be chaotic, and the southern king army is not without opponents, and then defend at the same time can also send people to infiltrate the surrounding states of Yongzhou, there are many barbarians in those places, and the wealth of Yongzhou may not be able to say that they can not be moved to attack. If it can really be said that the tens of millions of barbarians in the mountains and forests are tempted, let alone annex us, it is unknown whether Sima Yu can recover from this blow! ”

Under Kong Youde's earnest gaze, Chen Shuming said slowly.

"Drag!"

The words suddenly made Kong Youde, who was drowning, find the life-saving straw, and the whole person's expression suddenly changed, and he walked back and forth and muttered.

Seeing this, Chen Shuming stopped talking, and stood aside quietly waiting for Kong Youde to make a decision.

"Good! According to what Dingyuan said, I will lead the troops to support Sichuan City tomorrow, and if I can repel the southern Wang army this time, Dingyuan should be credited with the first credit! ”

After pondering back and forth for a long time, Kong Youde finally made up his mind and said excitedly.

Chen Shuming's words made him see the future again, and he decided to fight again!

"The prince is wise!"

Chen Shuming bowed and saluted when he heard this, looking at Kong Youde, who was excited, but he couldn't help but flash a gentle sigh in his heart, he didn't know where Kong Youde's army would be taken by what he said just now, and the rest of the matter was no longer beyond his control.