After pondering for a moment, Kui An took a deep breath and said to Shi Le categorically: "General, now we can only take the initiative to attack, and take Shanshan City before the Jin army launches an attack." ”

The others immediately agreed, and many chimed in: "Not bad! We should indeed take Shanshan City first, and then rely on Shanshan City to start a field battle with the Jin army! ”

Wang Yang, Liu Ying, Zhi Xiong, Lu Ming and others were also quite moved. They also spoke one after another, directly supporting Kui'an's proposal. These people are all brave generals who are born in cavalry, like field battles, and like to lead cavalry the most, to bully the enemy's infantry and so on. Even some people with extremely inflated self-confidence believed that in the field battle, the Jin army must not be the opponent of the cavalry of the Qian.

Only Shile didn't say much, and at all times he had to think more than the others. He prefers to think about problems from the opposite side of things, and makes them more difficult. Kui'an's suggestion is indeed good. The problem is that since the Jin army is coming towards Shanshanguo, it will not let their attack easily succeed.

In the field, no one can guarantee that the cavalry will be victorious. Because Shi Le is still very sober in his heart, the combat effectiveness of the Xiang army is definitely not low. Judging from the collapse of Xianbei in Liaodong and the Xiongnu in Bingzhou, the combat effectiveness of the Great Jin Xiang Army should be quite strong. At least, it is slightly stronger than the Huns and Xianbei. As long as he thought of this, Shile couldn't be happy.

Who can guarantee that while they want the Jin army to fight in the field, the Xiang army will also want to fight with the cavalry of the Qian tribe? Perhaps, the Xiang army put on such a marching posture. It was to attract the cavalry of the Qiang tribe to field battles. From the perspective of the Great Jin, if they can eliminate the main force of the cavalry of the Qiang tribe in the field, it will be very beneficial for them to recover the Western Regions in the future. No matter how you look at it, the cost of a field war is certainly much less than that of a siege war.

To be honest, the cavalry of the Qiang nationality had not had full contact with the Xiang Army before, and their understanding of the Xiang Army was only at the level of the roar of guns. I still don't know much about the tactics, techniques and tactics of the Xiang Army, and I knew it was so. Shi Le regretted a little that he didn't have a big fight with the Jin army in the first place.

In fact. From a strategic point of view, if the Qiang people occupied Shanshan City in advance, it would be equivalent to blocking the road for the Jin army to advance westward. Shile estimated that the basic strategy of the Jin army. It should be under the maintenance of the two fulcrums of Gaochang and Shanshan. Transport of a large number of troops by land. It has gathered in the north and south roads to form two huge arrows to flank the Western Regions Karma tribe. forced them to retreat westward. If you add the Changshi Mansion of the Western Regions of the Prison Sea, which plays a role in diversion, the Jin army will have a three-way army in the Western Regions.

There is nothing surprising about such a strategic approach. Basically, relying on strong strength to fight steadily, there are no obvious flaws, as long as it is a military general, according to the step-by-step implementation, the Jin army can gradually recover the entire Western Regions. However, the problem is precisely that this simplest strategy is also the most difficult to deal with. It's all a clash of strengths, a hard-fought battle, and there's almost nothing fancy. In the face of the all-out attack of the Jin army, it is really not easy for the Jin coalition to crack.

In Shi Le's view, the most critical place to crack the pincer offensive of the Jin army is to take down Shanshan City and firmly control his own hands. This is the most critical point for the Jin army to attack the southern province of the Western Regions, and Shanshan City is a support point for the entire strategy of the Jin army. If this road is not opened, the Jin army will only be left with Gaochang Road, in other words, Shile may concentrate his forces to destroy the other party, after all, it is much stronger to deal with one road than to face two sieges at the same time.

Schle knew that his foundation was still too shallow, and that his 'empire' was nothing more than a castle in the air held together by force, and that in the event of a powerful blow, the empire could collapse in an instant.

After thinking about it for a while, Shi Le finally made up his mind and said in a deep voice: "Ben Jiang is also in favor of taking Shanshan Kingdom first!" ”

When Shi Le convened a military meeting with his confidants, the Jin army was also busy preparing for war. The soldiers of the Xiang army, with the help of the nobles of Shanshanguo, are actively digging trenches and bunkers, seriously stockpiling all kinds of materials, and preparing to persist in long-term battles.

At this time, the transport troops from Liangzhou not only brought ammunition and supplies to the front line, but also evacuated all the wounded and sick. They also sent a large amount of building materials to build fortifications.

Ma Xian stood on the wall of Shanshan and called the army to join the army, and said thoughtfully: "Join the army, if you are Shi Le, what will you do next?" How do you solve the current dilemma? ”

Joining the army understood that the main general was studying himself again, he didn't dare to slack off, thought for a moment, and said slowly: "If the humble position is Shile, then I will find a way to find an opportunity to take one of Shanshan City and Gaochang City, and then rely on the city to fight a war of attrition with us, and then use the mobility of the cavalry to find an opportunity to annihilate the other way." In fact, as long as Gaochang or Shanshan City is taken, the Qian people will be equivalent to destroying the battle plan drawn up by our army before! ”

Ma Xian asked meaningfully: "Then do you think Shi Le may choose to break through in which direction in the north and south?" ”

Joining the army was stunned when he heard this, and then said honestly: "Lord Hui, I can't think of this humble position." Perhaps, Shi Le will personally lead the army to Gaochang, after all, after defeating Gaochang, the connection between them and Mobei will be unimpeded. At the critical moment, I can also get help from Tuoba Pugen, if I were Ma Qiu, I would definitely attack Gaochang at all costs! However, Ma Qiu did not capture Gaochang for more than a month under Gaochang City, and now the main force of our army has arrived, and the opportunity for the enemy to capture Gaochang has been lost. ”

"Well, you have a point, how do you think Shi Le will react when he joins the army?"

"General, from the humble point of view, it is possible that Shi Le will use Ma Qiu as bait to make us think that he will capture Gaochang, and then secretly Chen Cang will take the opportunity to attack Shanshan! To be honest, sacrificing a Maqiu is no big deal for Shile. ”

Ma Xian said quietly: "Indeed, sacrificing a Ma Qiu is not a big deal. Therefore, Ben General also thought that it was very likely that Shile would come to Shanshanguo. After all, Shanshanguo doesn't want Gaochang, and basically the people who live there are basically Han people. And the nobles of Shanshan Kingdom only had to bow to us because they were forced by the situation. ”

If Schler wasn't stupid, he would never give up such an opportunity. As expected by joining the army, the moment will definitely send the main force to attack Shanshan Kingdom while feintting to attack Gaochang. As long as Shanshan City is taken, it doesn't matter if Ma Qiu is dead or alive. ”

"Then general, do we have enough troops?" Joining the army is a little worried, after all, the Qian people have obtained nearly 400,000 troops through the rectification of the Western Regions, and if Shile comes to attack with all his might, 20,000 people are really a bit stretched.

"There's nothing to worry about, this time Ben has prepared some good things to greet the people!"

Three days later, Ma Xian received a report that the number of the Qiang coalition forces around Shanshan City had greatly increased. In the space of three days, it increased to about 100,000 at least. According to the information provided by the secret spies, these enemy troops who came to reinforce included 20,000 cavalry. The coalition army of the Qiang nationality has surrounded Shanshan State densely.

Subsequently, accurate information was sent. After the military meeting held in Shule, Shile decided to let Liu Ying lead 30,000 troops to support Maqiu and continue to attack Gaochang City to contain the main force of the Jin army on the northern route. The other main force of 120,000 people followed Shi Ledong into Shanshan Kingdom and besieged the local white-clothed army. It is said that Shile had secretly contacted the nobles of Shanshan and promised the other party to restore the country after the war, on the condition that he would stand on his side in the war.

Thinking of the arrival of the army of the Qiang tribe one after another, the mood of Ma Xian and the others suddenly became nervous. There is no way, after all, the number of the Qiang coalition army is too large, and its strength should not be underestimated. In addition, the Jin army fought far away from the homeland and relied heavily on logistics, in case Shi Le went crazy and attacked the Jin army desperately, once the Jin army's stored ammunition ran out, it would be dangerous.

Before the start of the attack and defense of Shanshan City, Shi Le had sent a part of his troops to try to attack the location of the Great Jin Dynasty's Western Regions Changshi Mansion - Prison Sea. As a result, what the other party did not expect was that they were attacked by the fierce counterattack of the Jin army in the prison sea, and after all these years of construction, the strength of the prison sea was no less than that of the cities in the interior of the Great Jin Dynasty, so the Qian people met in the prison sea and broke their blood.

The plan to attack the prison sea failed, which was expected by Shile, but after hearing the news, he still felt a little disappointed. The failure to lay down the prison sea also means that the Jin army has established a solid defense line on the line of prison sea, Gaochang and Shanshan, and the communication between the three places is still unimpeded. The horse team that was temporarily requisitioned has always been going back and forth between the three places and Dunhuang and Zhangye.

Just before Shile attacked, there was another good news that made Ma Xian and others very excited, that is, the killer weapon that Ma Xian had been looking forward to had finally arrived at the Shanshan front. One afternoon, a large transport team of mules and horses was stationed in Shanshan City, and in addition to a large amount of food supplies, what made Ma Xian happiest was a large number of infantry guns.

This was the confidence of the Jin army to fight to the death with more than 100,000 enemy troops outside the city, and 500 artillery pieces finally arrived at the front line at a critical moment after nearly a month of hard work. With these killer features, Ma Xian is absolutely sure to defeat the enemy in front of him. In addition to this, a large number of grenades were sent to the soldiers.

With the Jin army's artillery in place, Shi Le's side is also ready to attack, this time he poured out of the nest, coming towards Shanshan, if there is no passable record, I am afraid that those subjects of the Western Regions who have just been conquered by the Qian people will probably have a bad heart. This great war is related to the future strategy of both the enemy and us, and even the life and death between the two major forces, and its importance is self-evident.

PS: Thank you for your great support from book friend Liu Jifei!! (To be continued......)