Zhuge Liang was also a little helpless on his face: "Lord, there are only 4,000 soldiers in the hands of the ministers, no matter how they set up an ambush, the casualties will be quite large, only by burning it like this, and then waving the army to attack, can it be defeated lightly, which is also a helpless thing!" ”

Wang Xu's face was a little stiff, and after a long while, he whispered: "Kong Ming, if the plan of fire attack is successful, it will be extremely miserable, it will hurt the heavens and harmony, since ancient times, people who love fire attack have always died early, and even have no good death, if you can not use it in the future, you still don't need it, you are my arm, I don't want you to die!" ”

What he said is the truth, some things are just not clear, since ancient times, the generals who have hurt Tianhe have never seen anyone get a good death.

"Thank you for your care, the minister will try his best to avoid such cruel killing in the future!" Zhuge Liang bowed down and replied.

"That's good!" Wang Xu nodded, and didn't want to talk about it more, so he smiled and said: "In this battle, Pang Tong used exquisite tactical layout, luring the enemy to attack, outflanking the enemy, attacking the east and west, between the virtual and the real, and by surprise, etc., to play the Jiaozhou army in applause, which can be called a classic battle in ancient times. ”

"It's really good enough to be included in the book!" Zhuge Liang agreed with a smile.

The current situation made Wang Xu completely relieved, took a sip of the teacup, and said with a smile: "These battles were fought beautifully, burning Alin, you defeated 30,000 Jiaozhou soldiers, Pang Tong then broke the two large camps in Jiaozhou, plus you burned Yuquanpo here, a total of 50,000 soldiers were broken, and the loss of grain and grass materials is not concerned for the time being, the damage to the Jiaozhou troops alone may have reached 60,000 or 70,000!" ”

"My lord, the minister has roughly calculated. If combined with the situation transmitted by Pang Shiyuan. The death toll of the Jiaozhou Army should be more than 40,000. The number of prisoners is more than 20,000, and the wounded who have temporarily lost their combat strength should be more than 10,000 people, in general, Jiaozhou has lost more than 80,000 fighting strength, and its main army is probably only more than 30,000 people, plus Jiangdong now has more than 40,000 elite soldiers to fight, a total of about 80,000 people, in terms of troops. The gap with us is not big, and the combat strength of the Jiaozhou Army is far weaker than ours, and only the Jiangdong soldiers and horses are really feared. ”

"What about our losses? How much combat power is left? Wang Xu frowned and asked.

"The losses in this battle are not big, only Yang Huai and Liu Yunxi on the way to Yulin, more than 3,000 people were killed and wounded, and the other is the night when Huang Xu intercepted the Jiangdong Army and the Jiaozhou East Daying, 10,000 people went out, and in less than two hours, more than 6,000 people were killed and wounded, and the Jiangdong Army was dead that night."

Zhuge Liang said. shook the feather fan, and then continued: "In addition, it was the earlier support of the ban, Xiang Cun and others who were greedy for merit. Our entire Dongda Battalion was defeated, with more than 12,000 dead and wounded, and the 3,000 defenders of Weipu Pass were defeated, with more than 1,000 dead and wounded, and the rest fled from the north gate of the pass and hid in Jingnan. It was not until Pang Tong returned from the counterattack that the defeated army was reorganized. Therefore, in several major battles, the total casualties of our army should be more than 20,000 people. However, in the past few months, we have been fighting fiercely with Jiangdong and Jiaozhou, and although the damage is very small each time, it has accumulated to five or six thousand. ”

"So we've lost almost 30,000 people? And more than 50,000 forces to fight? Wang Xu interjected.

"Almost!" Zhuge Liang nodded: "Now Deng Xian leads 5,000 soldiers to garrison Weipu Pass, Zhao Yun leads 20,000 people to sit in the middle road camp, Wang Xiong leads 20,000 to sit in the west camp, Huang Xu leads 20,000 to guard the east camp, and Zhao Yun, Wang Xiong, and Huang Xu's two thousand personal soldiers are also counted!" ”

"What about Jiangdong and Jiaozhou? How is it deployed today? ”

"After the fiasco of the Jiaozhou Army, morale fell to the bottom, and Shi Xie's voice in the coalition army was greatly reduced, and he could only rely on Zhou Yu, Lu Su and others! Zhou Yu then ordered the whole army to retreat another thirty miles, reorganize the troops and horses, and all the Jiaozhou troops were returned to the West Battalion, Zhou Yu led 20,000 Jiangdong elite soldiers to the middle camp, and Lu Su led 20,000 Jiangdong elite soldiers to the east camp. ”

"Really?" Wang Xu's fingers began to unnaturally tap on the armrest of the Hu bed, and his brows furrowed tightly: "In this way, it seems to be more difficult to fight, the Jiaozhou army was strong earlier, and they refused to obey Jiangdong's dispatch, and coordination and cooperation between each other became a problem. But now if Zhou Yu can be unified scheduling, it will be even more difficult to fight. ”

"What the lord said is very true!" Zhuge Liang immediately answered: "Jiangdong is not as good as Jiaozhou, Zhou Yu, Lu Su and other generations, not as good as the Shi brothers, it is extremely difficult to let them into the set, if you want to break through from the frontal battlefield, it is really difficult, so the minister admonishes the lord, or start from the hinterland of Jiaozhou, there will be a fierce battle, we will be difficult to overcome them, but they are also difficult to overcome us, to control the general trend of Jiaozhou, and then slowly try to avoid its characteristics of being able to conquer and fight, starting from these places that he cannot control, let him have great ability, and can only be angry in vain!" ”

"Kong Ming, you want to make him powerful and have nowhere to go, and he will die of anger!" Wang Xu said with a sigh.

"The lord laughed!" Zhuge Liang shook his head with a smile.

Jokes aside, it's not so easy to kill a person alive, Wang Xu quickly put away his smiling face and asked solemnly: "Then you said earlier that you were going to attack Jiaozhi, I don't know how to do it?" After all, this is the place where Shixie has been operating for many years, there are 5,000 soldiers stationed in the Jiaozhi County Government, the warehouse money, grain and materials are incalculable, and the people also support him. ”

"The lord can rest assured that the minister is fully prepared for this matter, and the lord only needs to lead the troops to go, and he will be able to take the Jiaozhi defenders lightly?" Zhuge Liang's tone was firm, and his words were full of calmness: "The minister also said just now that the one who stayed in the Jiaozhi County Government was the second son of Shixie, among whom the sergeant was steady, the scholar was resourceful, and the two of them also loved the people like sons, had a generous temperament, and pitied the soldiers. ”

Wang Xu was really confused, his face was inexplicably ingenious: "In this case, wouldn't the attack be more difficult, the people support it, the people are willing, and the people are united, this is a fortified city that cannot be taken by force in the art of war!" Do we have the strength to fight such a fortified city now? ”

Zhuge Liang smiled and waved the feather fan gently, and the belt on his head slowly fluttered because of the flowing breeze, showing the air of dust.

"My lord, if you believe in your ministers, you will march south. The advantages of Jiaozhou are not impossible to take advantage of. There is no absolute reason for everything in the world! ”

"This ......"

Wang Xu hesitated. I really didn't feel at ease, but looking at Zhuge Liang's cool and wise eyes, and the calm bearing exuded from his body, he struggled for a moment, and finally nodded: "Okay, according to your words, wave the army to the south!" ”

Zhuge Liang is a person who cares about time very much, and he and Xue Zong and Cheng Bing have roughly reported the current situation in Jiaozhou. He left at dawn the next day.

After thinking about it, although the soldiers were tired from traveling for days, Wang Xu still agreed and promised not to rest in this place for more.

This cottage set up in Jiaozhou is the last dangerous pass in this section of the road, and after walking south for two days, although there is still a mountain road, it is not so dangerous that people panic, as long as you walk along the main road, you can gradually see people along the way. Before arriving at Tanzhong County, Jiaozhou, he also passed through two Luoyue settlements along the way.

Xue Zong seems to have extremely high prestige in these places. The two settlements originally had no good impression of the passing army, and even had a disgust and embankment color, but with Xue Zong's appearance, they immediately changed their attitude, and even took the initiative to help clean up the debris on the road to facilitate the march of the army.

"Jingwen, these Yue people seem to respect you very much, it seems that you are good at governance!" Wang Xu observed those and praised them afterwards.

"The lord has won the award, but he is good to them on weekdays, in this Jiaozhou land, the Yue people have a large population and are in groups, so they must be appeased, otherwise there will be chaos!" Xue Zong said.

Wang Xu nodded in agreement: "Well, they are also Hanmin, but their lives are still relatively primitive, and they need to be guided and governed in these places, and they must be gracious and powerful in order to get their respect!" ”

"My lord, in the future, will the Baiyue people in Jiaozhou be treated like the Wuxi barbarians in Jingnan?" Cheng Bing interjected and asked.

"Of course!" Wang Xu's eyes widened, and he said as a matter of course: "They are all the people of the Han Dynasty, and they should be treated equally, but the Baiyue people are relatively backward now, and they must rely on everyone's gradual guidance in the future. ”

"Hehe, the phenomenon of the lord is only found in a few of the most remote tribes, and now most of the tribes have abolished such customs." Xue Zong said with a smile.

"Whether there is or not, everything is strictly forbidden in the area under the rule, and violators will be punished with murder!" Wang Xu's voice was very decisive. "Also, in the future, some other customs that are completely contrary to humanity and morality will be abolished, but don't be in a hurry, step by step!"

Zhuge Liang has been listening, and at this time he couldn't help sighing: "Governing such a region is not benevolent and generous, wise and courageous, and it should not be taken lightly!" ”

On the way south, several people competed for the particularity of Jiaozhou, conducted in-depth exchanges, and also imagined a lot of governance methods according to the facts, Zhuge Liang carefully remembered them in his mind every time.

It was not until a few days later, when the army passed through Bushan County, the capital of Yulin County, that they had to separate.

Xue Zong and Cheng Bing will next sit in the county government, control the affairs of all parties in Yulin County, and cannot continue the southern expedition with the army, and Wang Xu did not enter the city with the army, but only met Yang Huai, Liu Yun, He Yi and other generals who greeted them outside the city, and the generals who got the news in advance also prepared grain and grass supplies for Wang Xu's soldiers and horses.

There are only 5,000 people left in their hands now, and together with Xue Zong's thousands of parts, they work together to guard the Yulin County Mansion and prevent accidents.

After a brief meeting, Wang Xu took the grain and grass allocated by Yulin County, as well as some light siege equipment, and went south again.

This time, the road is far away, in fact, if you talk about the distance in a straight line, it is nothing, but the dense subtropical rainforest of Jiaozhou is enough to reduce the speed of the march to the slowest speed.

Although the major official roads in Jiaozhou, since the time of Zhao Tuo in the Qin Dynasty, after hundreds of years of construction, have been considered unblocked, but after all, there are countless dense forests and mountains, and the speed is not fast even if you want to.

From Bushan, the capital of Yulin County, to the dragon weaving of the county government of Jiaozhi, the whole march of more than ten days, this is still the result of trying their best to hurry, 10,000 guards iron cavalry is miserable, the speed of travel is no different from the infantry, and even Wang Xu regretted it a little, damn it, he shouldn't have brought cavalry.

Oh, the scenery along the way is even more colorful, some soldiers have seen several meters long pythons, fierce elephants, wild rhinoceros, crocodiles in the water, small swamps, all kinds of poisonous insects and beasts, but the elite soldiers of the Guards Corps are dumbfounded, no one dares to leave the big team, every time the camp is cleaned, it is careful, all kinds of medicinal powder are not deadly sprinkled, the fire is everywhere, if it does not shine to all corners, no one can sleep.

The soldiers on duty at night were not only twice as many as usual, but they were all staring at each other, barely dozing off, and all staring at every corner for fear of coming out with something they had never seen before.

Fortunately, the Guards Legion is the most elite of all the legions, and its physique and mental endurance are the strongest, otherwise I am afraid that I haven't reached it yet, and I will be scared until my feet are weak. (To be continued......)