Let the city be branched, and the city will be surrendered.

Haiyang City, Kaicheng Nakyu.

Lonely bamboo city, open city to fall.

And Xu Wucheng, who used to be the mobilization base of the Northern Yan Eastern Expedition, only symbolically resisted.

It turned out that Murong Ping's cronies and generals in the city had already fled after learning of the fate of the fat city guard. And the reason why the remaining city officials did not open the city directly was just to make a good name and make the new master look up to himself a little bit.

Of course, no one admitted this, but Li Cheng didn't think that an army that really had the heart to defend the city would completely shoot its bow and arrow into an open place where no one was in the face of the besieging party, without pushing ladders, throwing stones, burning oil, or pouring gold juice.

When the vanguard climbed the city wall, they were not faced with the swords, guns, swords, and halberds of the Northern Yan soldiers preparing for hand-to-hand combat, but the officials who had already lined up at the head of the wall seemed to be sacrificing their egos and were concerned about the common people's crying and kneeling: "Although Your Highness is a righteous act, we are still the vassals of Dayan, loyal to Your Majesty, and responsible for defending the land." But now that he is unable to resist, he naturally allows His Highness to fall down, and only asks His Highness to treat the people in the city well, and not to let the soldiers disturb him! ”

Such a method of resistance is indeed very incompetent......

With the fall of Xu Wucheng, the entire Youbeiping County was easily swept away by Li Jiajun like an autumn wind sweeping leaves.

Next, as long as Yuyang County is won again, then Jicheng, the capital of Beiyan, and Guangyang County, where it is located, will be close at hand.

As for Yuyang County......

In the gap when Li Jiajun took Xu Wucheng and rested in place, there were already many letters from the defenders of the county under Yuyang's rule, which were sent to Li Cheng's desk.

"Locally, there are neither elite soldiers nor strong generals, nor resolute fighting spirit; In the center, Murong Ping lost face, and Murong Chui rebelled and fled. In this way, if all goes well, it should be enough to reach the city of Jicheng before winter. Now the most important thing for Childe to worry about is how to take Jicheng at the lowest cost. After all, as the capital of a country, Beiyan has been in business for nearly a hundred years, so it will not be so unreasonable. ”

Zhuge Dan said as he looked at Murong Ling who was silently on the side, and the sneer on the corner of his mouth could be seen by everyone.

After taking Youbeiping County, Li Cheng began to consciously slow down the pace of the attack. After waiting for all the available soldiers and subordinates to arrive at Xu Wucheng, a meeting was held to discuss the next step.

The initial quick battle was to break the psychological defense of the Northern Yan court; And the slowdown at this moment is to leave enough space to suppress the bearing capacity of the Northern Yan Imperial Court.

It's like at the beginning, an adult strong man can't think of what a child can do to himself, at this time, a quick beating can make the other party fearful; And once the seeds of fear are planted, there is no need to do anything at this time, as long as the child approaches slowly with a proud face, the strong man will be slowly defeated by the fear in his heart, and take out the money and belongings on his body first, and beg you to let him go.

Whether in terms of the urgency of time, the siege quality of the soldiers, or the total number of troops, Li Jiajun did not have the real ability to attack fortifications.

Not to mention Jicheng, a heroic city in the world.

No matter how incompetent the defenders of Jicheng are, as long as they really have a strong enough will to defend the city and dare to fill the wall with their lives, then Li Cheng now has only one way to return.

Therefore, psychological warfare has become the top priority at this time.

"What's the best way to take a sabbatical?"

Regarding Zhuge Dan's ridicule, Li Cheng only didn't know. Anyway, Murong Ling's current situation is that "Xu Shu enters Cao Ying", but whenever there is an internal meeting of the Li family, he never says a word. But when it's really time to use him, he can also appease Xianbei and demote generals with a pleasant face, which is enough.

Zhuge Dan straightened his chest slightly: "Although the prince has pulled up the banner on the side of the Qing monarch, this is only on the surface, and the Xianbei nobles must not be convinced." Childe needs to show ...... Huh! Look at my memory! It is His Royal Highness the Prince of the World, and he needs to show his determination and self-confidence in the Northern Yan National Weapon, so that these Xianbei nobles can finally defect. ”

"I know what it means to be on vacation." Li Cheng stroked his palms and smiled. "For these nobles, it doesn't really matter who becomes the emperor, what matters is whether their interests can be guaranteed. If His Royal Highness promises that the inherent interests of the Xianbei nobles will remain unchanged, and can make achievements in resisting foreign enemies, I believe that those Xianbei nobles have no reason to ******** hang themselves on such a weak court tree, right? ”

Zhuge Dan bowed slightly: "Although the words of the son are simple and unpretentious, they hit the nail on the head. That's what it means. ”

Li Cheng shook his head with a smile and said, "I just understood the meaning, but I didn't know what to do yet." Don't bother to praise me on public leave, let's talk about your thoughts. ”

Zhuge Dan looked around and saw that the rest of the people had no desire to speak, so he coughed lightly and said: "On the way to the west, Gongzi took the strategy of breaking through first and then being adopted by Shizi. But now it can be changed: it is better for His Royal Highness the Prince to come to the cities in person and preach comfort. In this way, it seems that our army is not a temporary rebel, but has the style of a calm and confident king with the great weapon of a country. ”

"After these surfaces are done, let His Royal Highness the Prince send people to infiltrate Jicheng and make contact with some Xianbei nobles who are sure. From the outside, it is impossible to resist our army, and struggling to resist is just a useless work, but it makes the world unhappy; From the inside, welcoming the sons of the world into the great unification not only has no loss for them, but also strengthens the foundation and the country, so that the Northern Wei Dynasty and others can no longer be bullied at will. In this contrast, it is obvious what choice they will make. ”

"Of course, this also requires the cooperation of the generals in terms of the speed of the march and the degree of demonstration......

…………

Just when Zhuge was talking eloquently, pondering for several days and constantly improving, and finally felt that the perfect Dingyan Great Strategy was presented to Li Cheng, in an empty and obscure hall, there were also two people who were talking about deciding the fate of Beiyan.

"Your Majesty, if Murong Ping is just a rebellion in the East, it is not unusual. However, according to the report of the spies, Murong Ping invited another 30,000 reinforcements, saying that he was rebellious and moved Goguryeo to rebel together...... Hehe, this must be Murong Ping's deliberate move to go to Goguryeo in order to establish his prestige in the Northern Yan army. In this way, the Northern Yan army is deeply trapped in Liaodong, and the people of the world will not guess that our Wei army will launch the battle of Yan for the second time in a year when the army is newly defeated and is about to enter winter. Your Majesty should not miss such an opportunity! ”

Only a few of the sunlight outside the hall can penetrate the panes, and in the vast hall it is absorbed and annihilated by the main color of iron black, and when it finally falls on the face of the speaker, only half of the face can be seen.

But if it is a familiar person, I am afraid that I will jump up immediately: this is obviously the Northern Wei Situ Cui Hao who has been ordered by Emperor Wei Tuoba Tao to be imprisoned in the mansion and not allowed to go out!

At this moment, the only person who can sit opposite Cui Hao is naturally Tuoba Tao. I saw Tuoba Tao sigh: "It is obviously a disaster of defeat, but Situ can suppress the generals of the Korean and Chinese military departments at the same time, as well as the civilian officials and scholars, and curb the momentum of these people who are arrogant and disregard the royal law in recent years." Now he is seeking victory in defeat to cover up the loss of the widow, Situ, the true countryman! ”

Cui Hao smiled lightly and saluted: "Your Majesty has praised it." It is said that the scholars are arrogant, and it is indispensable for Weichen to be the head of the Cui family and occupy a high position. ”

Speaking of this, Cui Hao paused as if unintentionally.

But as a monarch and minister who have known each other for so many years, Tuoba Tao is very clear about the deep meaning of this small action: the arrogance of the Han people and civil officials is my Cui Hao's problem; Then the arrogance of the Xianbei generals of the military department is the problem of your tuobatao. Now that I, Cui Hao, have voluntarily stepped down from the position of the first prime minister of the Han people to complete the growth of the Northern Wei Dynasty, then Your Majesty, you should also let go of the false name of the emperor through the ages, and let the Han people and the Xianbei nobles advance and retreat together, which is the blessing of the Great Wei.

Although there is nothing wrong with the truth, even Cui Hao's posture of taking the lead in giving in is also very good.

But for Tuobatao, this is a kind of wordless coercion, using a kind of light and breezy wrist to play with him between applause and force him to compromise.

For a powerful emperor who is nearly middle-aged and already has enough achievements to be recognized and admired by the world, he has long passed the age and stage of being the most humble and obedient, and pays more attention to his own reputation and prestige that must not be challenged.

However, at this time, he still had to rely on the leader of the world's corporal clan in front of him, who was unusually beautiful and had an unparalleled demeanor.

"Eh, Situ is too harsh. However, those vulgar warriors, relying on their military exploits in recent years, have many lawlessness, and this matter has been played several times. It's a pity that the widow has compassion and never bears heavy punishment, and finally makes the upper and lower hearts arrogant, and loses tens of thousands of elites in vain, and the widow is also guilty! ”

Cui Hao smiled slightly.

This smile, in Tuobatao's view, is like a teacher, showing a satisfied smile when he sees his students being smart and obedient.

For a while, this sense of irritability for no reason became clearer and unbearable.

"Your Majesty has a discerning eye and a clear eye, but he is benevolent and does not want to make the heroes feel cold, which is not a mistake. However, the arrogance of military generals really needs to be guarded against. Therefore, this expedition to Yan, Weichen courageously, please Your Majesty to personally conquer, then the previous defeat only belongs to the military department, but now the victory is all to Your Majesty, which can protect Your Majesty's reputation. ”

Tuobatao's eyes lit up.

For a king who founded his country by force, there was nothing more interesting to him than "martial arts" and "heroic name".

However, the next moment, a voice seemed to sound in his ears: "Cui Hao, the old horseman, has already understood the temperament of the widow so far, and has he been able to play with it at will and manipulate it at will?" ”

"Your Majesty?"

Seeing that Tuoba Tao suddenly fell silent after being overjoyed, Cui Hao couldn't help but ask.

"Hmm......"

Tuoba Tao came back to his senses, pondered for a moment, and suddenly smiled: "King Wen laid the foundation, and King Wu Dingding." The world has been falling apart for a long time, and the widow is not sure that it can be fully restored, so it is better to leave some British names and give it to the prince, what does Situ think? ”

Listening to this completely unexpected answer, Cui Hao's mind flashed the face of the intelligent young man who believed in Buddhism, and his brows couldn't help frowning.

The Tao is profound, and heaven and earth are reasonable, how can it be compared with Buddhism's absurd theory that only knows how to avoid taxes and exempt from military service and talk about the afterlife?

"Your Majesty, although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is very intelligent, he is young after all, and he has never led an army alone. If Your Majesty is interested, you can take it with you and teach you by word and deed......"

"Situ's words are wrong." Tuoba Tao raised his hand to interrupt Cui Hao's words. "If you want to be widowed fifteen, you will be in charge of state affairs, and you will go out of northern Xinjiang, how can you say that you are young? My children of the royal family, since the young man should work hard, otherwise how can I stabilize my Great Wei foundation for thousands of years? What's more, as Situ said, Northern Yan is already at the end of the crossbow, if the prince can't even deal with such a scenario, what will happen in the face of Southern Liang and Western Qin in the future? The will of the widow has been decided, and Situ does not need to say more. ”

After a pause, he seemed to feel that his tone was too blunt, and Tuoba Tao slowed down his tone again: "But what Situ is worried about is also for the country." Well...... If not, the widow will go to the Taiwei Mansion tomorrow in person, and ask the Taiwei to be the assistant and walk with the prince, how about it? ”

Cui Hao was silent for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "The prince is responsible for the royal family, and the history is long, and the prince will follow, which will naturally be of great benefit." It's just that the captain is nearly eighty years old, and I heard that he has relapsed recently, so I'm afraid ......"

"How can you believe all the rumors?" Tuoba Tao finally couldn't maintain the harmony on his face, and said with a deep face: "When the widow sees the captain tomorrow, he will naturally know the situation, is it possible that with my Great Wei talents, the widow will still force a veteran general who is infected with Shen Ke to go out with illness?" ”

After speaking, Tuoba Tao simply got up and brushed his sleeves, quickly turned back to the apse, and hung Cui Hao alone in the hall.

"The eldest grandson Song is long in governing the country and short in using soldiers......"

For a long time, Cui Hao's faint sigh came from the hall.