Xu Ji, Le Yi, and Gao Shun were standing in front of the military sand table, talking and laughing. If you are seen by outsiders, you will be greatly stunned.

If you don't improve the reunion between Shun and Xu Ji that you haven't seen for a long time, you can only say that the cavalry army under Gao Shun is less than 30,000 people, but Wang Kuang's own troops have more than 40,000 people, plus the local powerful clan soldiers and private troops, the total strength is probably at least 80,000 people, although the Yanzhou army led by Gao Shun is strong, but in the face of a group of enemies who are determined to defend to the death, the situation is still not optimistic.

Moreover, the division of labor in the army in Yanzhou since the restructuring was extremely clear, and the system of coordinated operations of all arms of the army similar to that stolen by Xu Ji from later generations was implemented.

Gao Shun's trapping camp was originally the most elite attack and garrison in Yanzhou, but at present, the army led by Gao Shun is not actually the descendant of his training but the earliest elite troops in Yanzhou, which actually belongs to the mixed arms, this is the earliest cavalry recruited by Chen Zhi plus Xu Ji's personal guard army from Yingchuan, this army can be said to be the most well-equipped in the Yanzhou army, the best at lightning tactics, especially the Yanzhou cavalry trained by Chen Zhi, influenced by Xu Ji's thinking, The cavalry he trained had the characteristics of both heavy cavalry and light cavalry. Because of its incomparably strong aggressiveness, the other troops that Gao Shun brought out this time, such as swordsmen, heavy infantry, and hook and sickle soldiers, are equivalent to Chen Zhi's subordinates of this cavalry. In addition, Gao Shun accepted Xu Ji's suggestion and adopted the tactics of the Mongolian cavalry of later generations in the Yanzhou cavalry, which made the combination of light and heavy cavalry more and more reasonable.

The Bocai army is good at guerrilla warfare and mountain warfare, and its soldiers have extremely strong fighting ability, which makes it exert a powerful attack power that is not inferior to that of cavalry in some favorable terrain.

The army in the hands of Zhang He and Gao Lan, who stayed in Youzhou, was a unit dominated by heavy equipment. This army is best at siege cities, and all kinds of ranged weapons are very powerful. However, because it has been standing still in Youzhou, the power of this army is still unknown to the world. But if you think that this army has low melee capabilities. That's a big mistake, and Gongsun Zhan's defeat is the best example.

The army led by Xun You is almost the same as the army led by Gao Shun this time, but because Xun You's army is known for its stability, it is better at using the army according to local conditions, but there is one thing the same as Gao Shun's army, that is, siege is not its strength, of course, if you have to storm the city, it is not necessary, because the strong crossbowmen in the two armies are still very powerful, and the cavalry's divine arm bow is also a sharp weapon for siege. It's just a last resort. The army of Gao Shun will never attack the city. Some time ago, he fought against the flamboyant Yang Chou army and trapped the other party in the city, which was also a very rare situation, after all, the other party was already seriously injured at that time, and he was even more frightened and unable to break through.

But now the situation is completely different, Wenxi, Anyi and Xia County are basically connected from end to end, because the three places are not far apart, so they can echo each other from afar. How can the army of Gao Shun be qualified to besiege the city? So the relaxed atmosphere in the barracks is very surprising now.

At this time, Gao Shun was introducing the situation of Wenxi, Anyi and Xia County to Xu Ji, only to hear Gao Shun talk eloquently: "Lord, although we are outside Wenxi City now. But in fact, they are facing enemies on three sides, and the troops of Wenxi, Anyi, and Xia County together have a total of 50,000 people, especially Anyi. It is the seat of Hedong County, and the walls are high. The equipment for defending the city is complete, and there is a lot of grain and grass in the city. There are also enemies in Xia County who are horns of each other, which is really impregnable. If we want to attack Anyi directly with our troops, we will definitely suffer huge casualties, and the gains will outweigh the losses, but fortunately, Wenxi's troops are not many, and the defenders of the city are only about 15,000 people. And this is already the limit of Wenxi. We might as well strike at Wenxi's enemies first. ”

The heroic man on the side, Le Yi, rarely used his brain at this time, and said: "However, the fortifications of Wenxi City are built by the big river, and it is already summer, and the river has begun to rise, and the water is quite turbulent, so it is not the best strategy to attack the city urgently." It is better to cross the river to the north of Wenxi City, and then attack Wenxi, it is the best policy. ”

Xu Ji and Gao Shun looked at each other and smiled, and the latter said to Le Yi: "What General Le Yi said is the other party's conjecture about our army's actions, if our army is really like this, then it is really in line with the other party's wishes!" ”

Le Yi was stunned for a moment, and was about to speak, but was intercepted by Xu Ji, Xu Ji smiled: "Hey, Fenwu, don't be impatient, don't be unconvinced, Zihe has a point." If we only attack Wenxi, we have no way to cross the river from the east of Wenxi City to attack Wenxi, I am afraid that we are only halfway through the river, and we have already become a mobile target for archers in the city, so a fool can guess that our only choice is to cross the river from the north of Wenxi, and then attack Wenxi's northern city, you say that in this case, how can the defenders of Wenxi City on the opposite side not send heavy troops to guard the river in the north to prevent us from crossing the river? ”

Le Yi looked at the sand table carefully, and said unwillingly: "We may retreat to the dry place at the northern foot of Zhongtiao Mountain to bypass the lower reaches of this big river, and naturally attack Wenxi's enemy from the north." ”

Xu Ji shook his head and said: "This is not a good policy, although Wenxi City is not big, but its city scale is difficult to expand is due to its natural geographical environment, in addition to the big river in the east of Wenxi City, there is another big river in the west of Wenxi City, it can be said that Wenxi City is sandwiched between the two rivers, if it is according to your suggestion, we must pass through the narrow land area formed by the two big rivers before reaching Wenxi, it is a very dangerous thing, In that kind of terrain, our cavalry will lose their mobility, and the dense forests on both sides of the river are a good place for ambushes. ”

Le Yi silently, it is already summer, there is a lot of rain, the heavily armed Yanzhou cavalry in that kind of narrow land walking is asking for hardship, not to mention the complex terrain makes it difficult for the war horse to gallop, as long as a heavy rain falls, the original because of the infiltration of the two big rivers and the wet and fertile land will become more muddy, due to the problem of the war horse's hooves, once stepping into the mud, it is difficult to pull out at all, every step forward will pay considerable hardship. If there were ambushes at this time, the losses of the Yanzhou army would be unimaginable.

Gao Shun sighed and said, "If it can solve the problem that the horse's hooves can't cope with the muddy ground." Our people in Yanzhou don't use oxen but horses when cultivating the land, after all, horses have the same strength as oxen. But the speed is above the ox. ”

Hearing this, Le Yi nodded again and again, and sighed: "No wonder the main guild handed over the elite army of Yanzhou to you, the general, and no wonder my brother is full of praise for the general and wants me to learn more from the general." ”

Although Xu Ji knew early on that Gao Shun was absolutely qualified as a general, he was obviously not as handsome as Chen, but now it is different, Gao Shun seems to have made a lot of progress after not seeing him for a long time, so after hearing Le Yi's words, he couldn't help but look at Gao Shun again, he really didn't expect that Gao Shun, a person who marched and fought in the war, would actually care about the development of agriculture.

Gao Shun saw Xu Ji looking at him, and couldn't help but be embarrassed and said: "I highly respect the new 'Five Virtues of the End' implemented by the lord in Yanzhou. It is very much in line with the essence of the "Art of War". The victory of a war must not only see how many enemies are killed and how many cities are occupied, but we should take into account our own gains and losses; during the war, the logistics support of the army is really important, and it is not just a matter of whether our grain and grass can be transported in time, the peasants' harvest every year should be a matter of concern to the generals, and the purpose of our war is to fight stronger and stronger, if we insist on going our own way. That's the reckless army, so I have a little experience in the life of the peasants, didn't the lord say that the five elements are interlocking? If I do this, it can be regarded as a Jinde person's concern for the affairs of Tude, right? ”

Xu Ji was moved when he heard this, isn't this the idea of the so-called war of attrition that "the war is fought as a logistical support" in later generations?

Xu Ji once again felt the strong receptivity and self-renewal ability of the ancients of the Three Kingdoms era for new doctrines and new ideas.

In fact, the so-called new "Five Virtues of the Beginning" perfected by Yan Rou for Xu Ji is actually just a concept. However, once it was proposed, it was applied to various fields by the intellectuals of the Three Kingdoms period, who were originally good at summarizing and summarizing philosophical thoughts, and it proved more and more the advanced nature of this theory.

I still remember when I was pretending to be Lejin and going to Chang'an, I talked about feng shui with Liu Bei and Chen Deng and others. Liu Bei once said that his statement has the flavor of a new "five virtues".

Unexpectedly, today it was verified by Gao Shun in the military field. The weirdness and abruptness in my heart will not disappear for a long time.

Gao Shun was embarrassed by Xu Ji, lowered his head and said, "Lord." Did your subordinates say anything wrong? “

Xu Ji shook his head and said: "Zi is very good at you, I think after this war, you should go back to Yanzhou Yingyin and give a good lesson to that group of students in the academy, preferably the kind of speech, to let them know that military and war are not games." ”

Gao Shun was stunned when he heard this, but his heart was full of gratitude, knowing that Lu Dao was in the hearts of Yanzhou soldiers, and the people who were invited to give lectures in the hall of the academy in Yingyin, Yanzhou Academic Center, were the top generals in the Yanzhou army. So far, the only people who have spoken in the Jinde Hall are Xu Ji, Guo Jia and Chen Zhi.

Xu Ji talked about the criteria for measuring the victory of a war, while Guo Jia talked about the formulation of strategies, and Chen Zhi talked about how to use the mobility of various arms of the armed forces in a specific battle and the application of troop deployment in war.

It is an indisputable thing for these three people to give lectures in the Jinde Hall, Xu Ji is the military god who made the Yanzhou army from scratch, the reform idea of the Yanzhou military system is completely from his handwriting, Chen Zhi is the first general in Yanzhou, not to mention the strong martial arts, the tactics of the cavalry are even more proficient, except for Lu Bu, I am afraid that no one in the world can block his impact, even the world's first military general Lu Bu is only five or five with him, and Guo Jia is the first military division in Yanzhou, Jizhou is Guo Jia won by himself, In the hearts of Yanzhou soldiers, his status is second only to Xu Ji.

And now he can actually stand in the Jinde Hall to give a lecture, which of course makes Gao Shun have a dreamy feeling, you must know that Lu Dao Bocai, Xun You and Xi Zhong have not yet won this honor.

Looking at Gao Shun's grateful look, Xu Ji said indifferently: "Zihe doesn't have to take it to heart, this is what you deserve." ”

Gao Shun nodded, and once again the feeling of death for a confidant was in his heart.

But Leyi didn't pay attention to these things, ignored the conversation between the two, but looked at the sand table for a long time, and finally said loudly: "Since Wenxi is difficult to break." So why don't we go and attack the defenders of Xia County? ”

Xu Ji shook his head and said: "Fenwu should not only focus on the three counties in front of him, let alone separate these three counties. You must know that the current situation of Lu Dao is clearly not conducive to our siege, you go to Wenxi. The reinforcements of Anyi and Xia County are set up, you go to fight Xia County, the reinforcements of Anyi and Wenxi are set up, you go to fight Anyi, and the reinforcements of Wenxi and Xia County are set up again, how can we act rashly? ”

Le Yi frowned and said: "We have seen this situation before, isn't it all solved by encircling the point to send reinforcements?" Now we can do the same? ”

Gao Shun couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this, obviously thinking that Leyi's plan was unrealistic.

Xu Ji said angrily: "Why don't you think about it without using your brains?" What is the so-called 'encirclement and reinforcement'? You can't even surround the 'point' now, where are you qualified to help? Wenxi, Anyi, and Xia counties all have natural rivers as barriers. It is not an artificial river that is made by diverting water from ordinary cities, and because of the disparity in troops, we are not qualified to play any siege points to help. ”

Gao Shun nodded on the side and said: "What the lord said is extremely true, if it is an ordinary moat, we may have a way to block it, but in this case, there is no way for these people under our hands to deal with it." ”

Le Yi couldn't help but get irritable, and said in a loud voice: "I saw that the lord and the son were so relaxed, and I thought that this city could be easily won." I didn't expect it to be so troublesome, and you can still laugh at it. ”

Xu Ji snorted coldly and said: "From the perspective of overall defense, we really have no chance to take advantage of it, not to mention these three counties. If we look at the entire defense of Wang Kuang's army, the threat of Xinjiang and Pi's to our army is also great. It was difficult for us to cross the river, but they could easily get to and from the other side of the river. Support each other. ”

Le Yi shook his head when he heard this. Sigh.

Xu Ji looked at Le Yi's appearance and laughed in his heart. Decided not to tease him anymore, so he smiled: "But no matter how good the defense is, there will be loopholes." What we just saw was only the static defense of Wang Kuang's army, in fact, we can completely change our thinking. ”

Le Yi perked up and asked eagerly, "I don't know if the lord has any good ideas." ”

Xu Ji smiled indifferently, pointed north on the sand table with his hand, and said indifferently: "Let's attack Xinjiang." ”

"What?" Le Yi couldn't help but scream, not understanding why Xu Ji did this. It is important to know that Xinjiang is more difficult to attack than Wenxi, there are large rivers to the east and south of Xinjiang, and the city size of Xinjiang is much larger than Wenxi. I really don't understand why Xu Ji has such thoughts.

Just before he was about to ask, Xu Ji smiled mysteriously: "Fenwu doesn't need to ask more, I have my own measure." ”

Le Yi was stunned, but Gao Shun patted Le Yi, who was more than a head taller than himself, on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Fenwu, the lord has always planned and then moved, why should you worry?" ”

After a pause, he said, "Why don't you ask, why isn't the shadow here?" ”

Le Yi was stunned again, and asked: "Didn't you intercept and kill Zhang Yang's army halfway?" ”

Xu Jiha said with a smile: "Zhang Yang, Ke will die." Since the defeat in Shangdang County, Zhang Yang's army went all the way west and defected to Wang Kuang, which is certain, after all, there are Taihang Mountains in the south, and it is difficult to cross the Taihang Mountains with the quality of Zhang Yang's army. I don't have the courage to face the bandits that may appear in Taihang Mountain, this kind of army will collapse as long as one impact comes down, my shadow is the elite of the Yanzhou army, how can I do such a meaningless thing? ”

Le Yi looked at Xu Ji in a daze.

Xu Ji said indifferently: "I have already sent the shadow from Shangdang County to Pingyang County north of Hedong County, and crossed the river in Pingyang County to attack Xinjiang. ”

Le Yi didn't understand more and more: even with the elite level of the Phantom, it was a very difficult thing to attack Xinjiang, because the Phantom was not good at frontal battlefield operations, although compared to the ordinary army, the Phantom already had a strong attack power.

"So what are we going to do now?" Leyi's good habits played a role again, and if I couldn't figure it out, I simply didn't think about it.

Xu Ji looked at Le Yi and smiled: "Fenwu, in fact, I think your suggestion of crossing the dry place in the lower reaches of the big river outside Wenxi City is very good, I am ready to try it." ”

Le Yi looked at Xu Ji blankly, and said in his heart, you just said that this idea is terrible, why has it become a good idea now?

Gao Shun smiled: "But it wasn't to attack Wenxi. ”

Xu Ji said again: "But before that, we really have to cross the river to attack Wen Xi, otherwise how can we be worthy of the careful arrangement of Wang Kuang's army." ”

Le Yi was stunned and said, "Crossing the river to attack Wenxi? Are we really going to be targeted? ”

Xu Ji nodded, pretending to be solemn and said: "Sometimes it is a great pleasure in life to get two arrows on the body. He immediately looked at the sky outside the big tent and muttered to himself: "It will definitely get foggy every morning, I wonder if it will be more accurate to aim and shoot arrows in the fog?" ”

Gao Shun laughed out loud, but Le Yi scratched his head and looked at the two of them inexplicably.

The next day, under the instructions of Xu Ji, Gao Shun's army took advantage of the heavy fog on the river, got on the boat that had already been prepared, and began to cross the river to attack Wenxi City.

Due to the fog, the actions of Gao Shun's army were not discovered by the defenders in Wenxi City at the beginning, but the guards in Wenxi City were obviously not idle people, and they had already made the soldiers at the head of the city pay more attention to the river, and they were ready to defend the city with huge repeaters.

Therefore, as soon as the ships of Gao Shun's army appeared in the field of vision of the soldiers of Wenxi City, the defenders of Wenxi City began to attack from a distance, and countless crossbow arrows and carved arrows shot at the ships that were killing the sky in the mist. It took about half an hour for Yanzhou's fleet to retreat slowly and silently, leaving only a layer of red liquid on the river.

This attack in the fog lasted for three days before the Yanzhou army gave up.

Of course, the defenders in Wenxi City were thunderous, but they didn't know that the Yanzhou army was also very happy.

Because Xu Ji is playing a "grass boat borrowing arrows", the red liquid on the river is just red paint.

As for those "borrowed" crossbow arrows, of course, they were sent to Bingzhou as a gift to Yan Rou, what is it called Bingzhou cavalry without bows and arrows!

And the wonderful war in Sizhou has just begun. (To be continued......)