"Sun Tzu said: 'Soldiers, the major affairs of the country, the place of death and life, and the way of survival, must not be overlooked. Therefore, the scriptures are based on five things, and the school is based on calculations and asks for their feelings'. I don't know what are the five things? I am old, I can't remember clearly, and I dare to ask the king for advice. ”

Since Li Xian said so, Li Ji was not verbose, even if he opened his mouth to ask.

Li Xian smiled slightly when he heard this, because Li Ji's first question was very simple, it was a paragraph at the beginning of "Sun Tzu's Beginning of the Plan", this beginning of the plan is the first article at the beginning, the main introduction is pre-war preparations, and the status is very important, Li Xian knew the importance of this article in his previous life, and he has memorized the entire art of war well in the past half a year, how can he not answer?

Therefore, there was almost no hesitation, he opened his mouth and said: "Therefore, the scriptures are based on five things, and the school is based on calculations to find out their feelings: one is the Tao, the second is the sky, the third is the earth, the fourth is the general, and the fifth is the law." The Taoist (originally "people", renamed "people" because of the avoidance of Taizong's obscurity) agreed with the above, so they can die with it, can live with it, and are not afraid of danger. The heavens, yin and yang, cold and heat, and the time system. The earth, far and near, dangerous, wide and narrow, dead and alive. Generals, wisdom, faith, benevolence, courage, and strictness. The law, the bend system, the official way, and the main use. All these five will be unheard, those who know will win, and those who do not know will not win. Therefore, the school used a plan to ask for its feelings, saying: Who is the master? Who will be capable? Who has heaven and earth? What is the law? Which of the soldiers is stronger? Soldiers' training? What is the reward and punishment? That's how I know what to do. ”

"How do you use the art of war?" Li Ji naturally knew that this paragraph must be difficult to show up, so his face did not change in the slightest, and he continued to ask.

Li Xian was also unambiguous, and even said: "The law of the husband and the soldier, the whole country is the first, and the country is second; The whole army is the first, and the broken army is second; The whole brigade is the first, and the broken brigade is second; The whole pawn is the first, and the broken pawn is second; The whole army is the first, and the army is second. Therefore, a hundred battles are won, and the good ones who are not good are also; A soldier who surrenders without a fight...... Therefore, the method of using soldiers, ten is to surround it, five is to attack it, and the multiple is divided, the enemy can fight, the few can escape, and if not, it can be avoided. Therefore, the small enemy is strong, and the big enemy is also captured. ”

Li Ji then asked some passages from Sun Tzu's Art of War, and when he saw Li Xian coming as soon as he opened his mouth, he couldn't help but nod with satisfaction.

"Hehe, although the king is young, he actually memorizes the book of war backwards, he is really smart, like a rough person like the old man, I am afraid it will be difficult to memorize the book so well in his life, the old man is really admired." Cheng Yanjin, who was on the side, saw that Li Xian was so familiar with the book of war, and he was immediately envious in his heart, and praised again and again.

Li Ji on the side said lightly: "I can just memorize it, what's the use of not understanding the meaning?" Xia Guan believed that the king had worked hard for half a year, and he must have understood his meaning, and Xia Guan did not understand some of the words, and asked the king to solve his doubts for Xia Guan. 'The soldier is like water, the shape of water, avoiding the high and tending down, the shape of the soldier, avoiding the real and hitting the false. The water is controlled by the land, and the soldiers are defeated by the enemy. Therefore, the army is impermanent, the water is impermanent, and those who can win due to the change of the enemy are called gods. ’”

Li Xian just thought that Li Ji was embarrassing himself at first, but later he gradually felt the taste, because what Li Ji asked was all the key points that he should grasp as a commander of the army, and now when he saw Li Ji asking like this, he naturally understood the other party's intentions, but the more this is the case, the more he doesn't understand in his heart, this old fox doesn't know what the purpose is, and it is obvious that he wants to train himself into a general.

However, doubts are doubts, Li Xian didn't want to lose such an opportunity to get the "Art of War", so he didn't think about it anymore and directly translated this passage.

After that, Li Ji really chose a few words to use the way of soldiers to test, but Li Xian held the mind of soldiers to block and cover up the water, and did not hesitate to say those words and translate them with his own meaning.

After such a conversation, Lao Cheng was full of admiration, and a lot of top hats were put on by Li Xian, but Lao Cheng was not good at sycophants, and what he said was nothing more than repeating words such as "The king is smart, I am not as good as it", "The old man is ashamed", "Blessed with the saints" and so on.

But Li Ji was obviously not satisfied, and said lightly: "If you understand the meaning, you may not be a good general, Brother Cheng is not ignorant, there are many people talking on paper in history, Zhao Kuo and Ma Jian are like this." Therefore, if you want to become a good general, you need to have the ability to adapt to changes, the wisdom of anticipating the enemy's opportunity, the virtue of being supported by soldiers, and the courage of Brother Cheng. ”

Although Li Ji's words were said to Cheng Yanjin, he was actually said to Li Xian, which was naturally understood by Li Xian's shrewdness, but in this way, the doubts in his heart deepened, why did this old fox favor him so much? Is there a conspiracy, or do you want to favor yourself, and then take the opportunity to cut off contact with yourself, so that you are embarrassed to go to him again in the future?

But Li Ji obviously didn't want to give him an answer, and before Li Xian could think deeply, he said to Li Xian again: "The king has only heard clearly, so the lower officials think that the king can only understand the book of war, but it is a lot different from use. Therefore, the lower officials still have one last question, if the king passes, the lower officials will accept this military letter, otherwise, the lower officials will not be able to obey their orders. ”

"This last question is to fight with soldiers? But Xiao Wang is young after all, even if he has a heart, how can the saint be willing? What's more, the world is peaceful, even if Xiao Wang wants to use soldiers, how can he be useful? Li Xian had never fought before, and he also knew that fighting this thing could not be practiced overnight, and if he lost the battle, wouldn't he be caught by this old fox? That's why I didn't hesitate to refuse.

But Li Ji smiled and said: "The king misunderstood, Hugh said that there is no war to fight at present, that is, there is a war, although the lower officials are in the same place, and they have the same three products as the East and West, but they also have no right to decide to send troops to fight, not to mention that the war is not an overnight achievement, and the victory in the decisive battle is not determined by unilateral factors, plus the king is a prince, he is young, if it is not for the powerful and stable ministers to protect him, how can the Son of Heaven be willing to let go?" Therefore, the topic is from the lower officials, but it is a simulated ear, the lower officials asked Brother Cheng to lead 5,000 soldiers to defend a city, but the king besieged the city with 50,000 soldiers, and the king was limited to capture the city within five days. ”

"Huh, how? What else? You old fox made it clear that you dug a pit for me to jump, and if I don't jump, can I give up in vain? Li Xian looked at Li Ji's smiling face, and had an urge to step forward and beat the other party, but in view of the fact that he wanted to respect the old-timers, the most important thing was that he could not be an opponent at all, so he had to endure the anger in his heart and reluctantly agreed.

However, Li Xian knew that the opponent in front of him was not easy to deal with, although the strength in his hands was ten times that of the other party, and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers was also set to be the same as the two sides, but the other party was a famous historical general with decades of combat experience, and it was not difficult to capture a city occupied by such a general in five days, and it was impossible to do it without a surprise.

But Li Xian still wanted to try to see if he could forcibly capture a city in a short time with ten times his troops.

So after Li Xian's order, the army under his command began to forcibly attack the city according to his intentions, so a cloud ladder, a clumsy and heavy battering ram, a powerful catapult, and a high well, all kinds of siege equipment were used, and when Li Ji announced the end of the day, Li Xian did not achieve the slightest result except for the loss of more than 3,000 people.

Li Xian was not convinced, and decided to take advantage of the night sneak attack, but the army did not approach the city wall, and was discovered by the night patrol soldiers in the old Cheng army, because Li Xian's army retreated in a panic, but was killed by the old Cheng army, the army lost more than 2,000 people, and the morale suddenly fell a lot.

The next day, Li Xian ordered the soldiers to fight again, but because of the huge physical consumption last night, the soldiers were tired and opposed, Li Xian had no choice but to order a day off.

In this way, two days passed, Li Xian did not achieve the slightest success, and the soldiers under his command also lost more than 5,000 people, and the morale of the whole army was low, which made him sit there and do it in a hurry.

In desperation, Li Xian had to order a reward for the three armies, in order to boost morale, and at the same time on the third day the army continued to fight, this time he took a lot of so-called "strange strategies" to attack the city, but all were cleverly cracked by Lao Cheng, he originally ordered to burn the city tower, but was already guarded by the old Cheng led the city defense army to use a sharp hook knife to hook off the ignited pine branches, hemp poles and other things. After Li Xian ordered the excavation of the tunnel, but the other party heard the sound of digging the tunnel, and dug a long ditch in advance, and when Li Xian's army dug to the long ditch, the soldiers were exposed, and they were dragged away and killed by the other party one by one.

Li Xianben said that he had the means to prevent the other party from hearing the sound of digging a tunnel, and he could judge whether someone in front of him was digging a horizontal ditch in advance, but he thought that this was his biggest secret and could not be exposed, so he had to give up with hatred.

On the fourth day, Li Xian ordered the army to storm for another day, but still found nothing, so when Li Ji announced the end of the fourth day, he said helplessly: "Don't fight, Xiao Wang admits defeat, hum, General Cheng has fought for many years in his life, and has won countless big victories, how can I win a big victory with my little ability, this is obviously unfair, if I am allowed to defend, General Cheng will attack, I believe I can also hold for five days." ”

Before Li Ji could speak, he saw Cheng Biting Jin open his mouth and smiled: "The king's words are too underestimated, and it doesn't matter, since the king is so confident, the old man will change with the king, and the king will defend it, and the old man will guarantee that it will not take five days, but only three days to capture the city under his feet." ”

After finishing speaking, Cheng Yanjin wanted to take Li Xian's talisman, but heard Li Xian say: "Wait, the general will first transfer the defense army of Gongzhi City to the distance, Xiao Wang doesn't want to be said to have taken advantage of the general." ”