Du Guoying thought for a while and replied: "Presumably, this Caesar is getting older, and the twilight is getting longer, so naturally he won't take risks!" ”

"Huh!" Liu Cheng listened to Du Guoying's answer and said with a smile: "This person was less than sixty when he died, and he defeated strong enemies one after another, where did he come from." Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"And why?"

"This man said in his autobiography: The military is dangerous, and when you are young, you have nothing, so you naturally want to win by surprise; But the more you win, the more you gain, and if you lose, you will lose all your past gains, so you should be cautious and don't take risks! Do you see what I mean? ”

"If you lose, you will lose everything you have gained in the past!" Du Guoying muttered a few words of Liu Cheng's words, and already understood what Liu Cheng meant, but still asked with the hope of just in case: "My lord, our new victory, morale is booming, if we clash with the reinforcements of the Eastern Prisoner, my subordinates have at least a seventy percent chance of winning-"

"You don't have to say it!" Liu Cheng interrupted Du Guoying's words, he saw the disappointment on his subordinates' faces, and finally decided to explain. Liu Cheng glanced at Hao Shaoqi on the side, and Hao Shaoqi, who knew about it, shouted, and the guards in front and behind immediately opened up some distance, leaving only Du Guoying next to Liu Cheng.

"Guoying, it's not a question of a few odds! This kind of fighting, unless it can force the enemy army into a corner, if only one family wants to fight, it will not be able to fight. You think there is a seventy percent chance of winning, but Dongyu is not a fool, can't they see it? If he doesn't fight you, what is the use of you having a 100% chance of winning? ”

"My lord!"

"Listen to me! What is our purpose in this crusade? It is to take the left wing of Mongolia, and the logistics, route, and climate of our army's plan are all formulated around taking the left flank. After the battle of the Laoha River, most of the left-wing troops have been lost, and the rest have been discouraged, our goal has been achieved, so why bother? ”

"But the East is not broken, and the remnants of the left wing still have scruples after all!"

"Yes, if I were Huang Taiji, I would definitely migrate the remnants of the left wing to the Liao River Valley for the winter, but the East Captives protected him for a while, and I couldn't protect him for a lifetime. In this way, the grasslands in the south of the mountains and in the clouds will be vacated, and I can divide them to my Zasak, and move the captured left-wing troops to the line of Helan Mountain, Daqing Mountain, and Yinshan Mountain, and recuperate, but in a few years, I will have 100,000 of them. Every spring, when the old grass is exhausted, and the grass is about to grow, and the cattle are mating, I harass them with light horses, so that they cannot breed; In autumn, when the grass is deep and the horses are fat, they attack with a large army, plunder their cattle and people, but the rest of the army is exhausted in a few years, so why take the risk of fighting a decisive battle with the eastern captives now? Speaking of this, Liu Cheng smiled slightly: "Actually, there is another benefit to withdrawing troops now!" ”

"Another benefit? What are the benefits? ”

"If you think about it, since the Eastern Captives have taken over the remnants of the left flank, their leader will certainly beg the Eastern Captives to send troops to retake their troops. If I return to the west, show weakness to him, and if the chieftain pursues him, now that the weather is cold, the farther he goes, the farther he will be from the rear, and the closer I will be to the rear, even if the confrontation is not against me, I can hold on and wait for help; And as soon as he is defeated, the whole army will be wiped out, and the horse will not return! ”

"What if the East Capture doesn't chase after him?"

"If the captive chieftain does not chase after him, the remnants of the left wing will be resentful when they see the eastern captives sitting back and watching their relatives and tribes being taken captive, and I will start from here in the future and make a divisive plan!"

(Here Weber is idle a few digressions: the difference between Liu Cheng and Du Guoying in the book is actually the difference between two strategic ideas, that is, the strategy of attrition and the strategy of annihilation, Liu Cheng chose the former, hoping to use constant maneuver to mobilize the opponent to gain an advantage, and would never accept the battle unless it was under extremely favorable conditions, Du Guoying chose the latter, hoping to use the battle to win the advantage.) The strategy of annihilation holds that there is only one center of gravity in war, that is, the destruction of the enemy's living forces, and that all military operations are carried out around this end, and only through this means can victory be won; The attrition strategy, on the other hand, believes that there are two centers of gravity in war, maneuver and battle, and believes that both can be won. If you use an analogy, when the two sides play chess, they think that if they have eaten almost the opponent's cars, horses, artillery and pawns, the opponent will throw in and admit defeat is the strategy of annihilation; And thinking that even if you eat a few chess pieces, as long as you can be handsome and checkmate, you can win, that is called a attrition strategy. There is no difference between these two strategies, and they should be selected according to the strength of the enemy and the political environment, and most readers usually respect the strategy of annihilation because of Taizu, but Taizu is also a master of attrition strategy, and guerrilla warfare in the War of Resistance against Japan is a typical attrition strategy. Although the anti-Japanese forces behind the enemy lines of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army did not engage in many main battles with the Japanese army, nor did they annihilate many Japanese troops, they threatened the logistics supply and rear areas of the Japanese army through clever maneuvers, forcing the Japanese army to disperse its limited field forces and use them as security forces, which consumed a lot of economic and military resources of the Japanese army, and made the Japanese army reach the end of the attack prematurely. From a political and economic point of view, the war of aggression against China was actually bankrupt in the past 40 years, so no matter how radical the invasion of China was, as long as he entered the cabinet, even if he risked being "condemned" by the adjutants, he would begin to think of negotiating peace with the Chiang government. The reason is simple - Taizu's strategy of attrition has worked, and anyone in that position will find it impossible to solve the Chinese problem by military means alone. For Liu Cheng, even if he won the decisive battle with the Houjin reinforcements, it would be impossible to drive hundreds of kilometers across the Changbai Mountains in the middle of winter to enter the area under the direct control of the Houjin; Losing the battle is tantamount to losing all his previous efforts, so it is only natural that he chooses to retreat and wait for a better chance of decisive battle. These two strategies are very clearly reflected in the confrontation between the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi dynasties for decades for the Hedong and Fenbei regions, and interested book lovers can go to see "Zizhi Tongjian")

Du Guoying thought about what Liu Cheng said from beginning to end, and felt that there was no loophole, no matter whether the Dongyu pursued or retreated, his side would be in a very advantageous position, thinking of his own actions, he couldn't help but bow to Liu Cheng in shame and said: "My lord is far-sighted, beyond the reach of his subordinates, where he just lost his words, please forgive me!" ”

"Hehe, it's okay, it's okay!" Liu Cheng waved his hand: "Actually, what you said is right, if you fight a decisive battle with the reinforcements of the Eastern Captives at this time, the chances of victory are indeed not small, but the captive chieftain may not meet your wishes." The way of the art of war, the most important thing is to take the lead, this time you brave the snow to advance, break the left flank first, is to grab the first move, and then as long as I don't make a big mistake, it will be difficult for Dongyu to get it back. ”

"When are you going to withdraw your troops?"

"If the weather is right, the day after tomorrow!" Liu Cheng looked at the cloudy sky: "Tomorrow, we will build a floating slaughterhouse on the shore, bury the corpses, chant the sutras to surpass the dead, and then parade to show off the military and reward the meritorious soldiers." The construction of the floating slaughter and the burial of the corpse were for the sake of grace; The purpose of the military parade is to show off the prestige, and the combination of grace and power can win the hearts of the people! Speaking of this, Liu Cheng paused slightly, and his voice suddenly became low: "Guoying, I will leave the matter to you after the withdrawal of the army, be sure to send more scouts, and don't take it lightly!" ”

Du Guoying was stunned for a moment, and immediately became energetic: "Yes, my lord!" ”

When Abatai returned to his tent from Dorgon, he called the son of his nurse, and chose two of the Mongol soldiers under his command, both of whom were battle-hardened warriors with skilled bows and horses. Early the next morning, Abatai set out with his scouts, and for the sake of ease of movement, each of them wore no armor, but only a fur coat, carrying a bow and arrow, a sword, and other things, and the rest of the armor rations were placed on the back of the horse. The group went west along the Laoha River, and during the day they hid in the valley among the rocks to rest in shelter from the wind, and did not light a fire, only ate cold and dry food, and only came out at night to hurry. After walking for about two days, not far from the battlefield on the riverside, Abatai saw a small hill not far away, and said to his nursing brother: "Morgen, you can look far away from the mountain, I will go with you to take a look, and the rest of the people will take care of the horses and luggage at the bottom of the mountain, and take care of the wind for us. ”

When the two Mongols answered, they dispersed and stood guard for Abatai, and after a short time a whistle sounded from the mountain, and they led their horses uphill as agreed. The two led the horse uphill, and saw several Mongols lying on the ground, bleeding all over the ground, and they saw that they were no longer alive. Abatai and Morgan were changing their clothes, and Abatai said to them: "These are Liu Cheng's scouts, who are here to see the road down the mountain, but they are lazy to sleep, it is really good luck, quickly strip their clothes and put them on!" ”

The four of them dressed up as the Mongols under Liu Cheng, led their horses, and headed west. By dusk, it was not far from the original battlefield. Looking at the military camp in front of him from a distance, he couldn't see the end, and knew that it was Liu Cheng's army. So he led his horse and found a secluded place to hide, and waited until it was completely dark.

"I bet there must be quite a few Nanbarians over there!" Morgan pointed to the camp on the other side of the river and whispered: "You see, there are trenches and fences, and those Tartars (Jurchens' contemptuous name for the Mongols) are not so diligent, at most they put the carts outside, and the cattle and people inside!" ”

"Yes!" One of the Mongol soldiers, who had good eyesight, pointed to a fire and said, "Look, what is that sentry holding in his hand?" It should be a bird gun, and behind him, is that a red-coated cannon? ”

"The cannon?" Morgen's eyes widened, and he looked in the direction of the Mongolian soldier's finger, and saw that in the light of the campfire, he could faintly see a black tube behind the sentry, reflecting the luster of metal. He looked at it carefully, and said with some hesitation: "Probably not, I've seen the red-coated cannon, it's bigger than this, and isn't the red-coated cannon used to siege and defend the city?" Placed outside like this, in the blink of an eye, the kung fu cavalry rushed to him! ”

"Yes, too!" The Mongol soldier also hesitated, unlike Morgen, he had only seen the redcoat cannon from a distance, not seen it up close, let alone understood its powerful performance. However, he still knows that most of the red-coated cannons are mounted on the city walls or used in siege cities. He looked at it and asked, "Could it be a tiger squat cannon?" Or a Furlong cannon? ”

"It's not quite like that!" As Abatai's brother, Morgen's status was much higher than that of the two Mongol soldiers, and he had seen most of the firearms commonly used by the Ming army in Liaodong, and he also knew most of their tactics. A close-range firearm such as the Tiger Squat Cannon, which mainly fires shotguns, is often arranged in the first line, but the weight of the Tiger Squat Cannon generally does not exceed fifty kilograms, and the length of the barrel does not exceed four feet, while the size and length of the gun on the opposite side far exceed; And Frankie's size is right, but Frankie's cannon is usually not placed so far forward, which is really confusing.

"Lord Belle, do you think that?" Morgen asked Abatai, who was concentrating on studying the layout of the enemy's camp on the other side, and Abatai looked in the direction of his fingers with great interest: "It may be a firearm that we have never seen before, this Liu Cheng heard that he married Beji of the Dzungar tribe, and the Dzungar people have close contacts with the Russians and Persians in the west, and it is not surprising that they have learned several new firearms that we have not seen." I can't see it clearly at this distance, so let's talk about it after crossing the river! ”

"Lord Belle, you want to cross the river?" Morgan asked, somewhat surprised.

"Hmmm! After running so far, you can't just look here and go back, right? Abatai said with a smile: "No matter who wins or loses this time, this Liu Cheng will be an important threat to my Dajin in the future, if you don't take this opportunity to probe his bottom well, you will definitely suffer a big loss next time!" ”

Seeing that Abatai didn't look like a joke, Morgen was a little panicked, and hurriedly dissuaded: "Lord Belle, it's too dangerous, or you wait on this side of the river, I'll take the two of them across the river, and I'll come back to tell you when I see something!" ”

"How can this work?" Abatai smiled: "There are some things that you don't understand if you haven't seen them with your own eyes, and you don't have to worry, this kind of camping fortification is just like that, as long as you are careful, you can always find flaws." ”

Morgen knew Abatai's temper and didn't dare to persuade him anymore, so he had to secretly make up his mind that if there was an accident, he would protect his master no matter what. The four men led their horses along the river for a while, found a narrow place to cross the river, and went west along the riverbank, only to see that although it was dark, there were still people and horses coming in and out, and they hid in the shadows, overhearing the commands of the men and sentinels who came in and out. Abatai whispered to the other three: "We can get in now, you all be careful, don't panic in any situation!" ”

The three nodded, and Abatai jumped on his horse, led his subordinates to shout the password, and entered the barracks. Abatai led his horse through the camp, carefully observing the reality of the enemy's army. The battalion sergeants I saw had different appearances, most of them had high noses and deep eyes, brown hair and green eyes, and their dress language was even more bizarre. Abatai couldn't help but be secretly frightened when he looked at it, knowing that most of this was from the west, and secretly wondered where did this Liu Cheng find so many foreign soldiers, could it be that his father-in-law had conquered so many small foreign countries and transferred troops to support his son-in-law? (To be continued.) )