After Fang Congzhe offered advice, he was ordered to go by himself, and the next day he set off for Jinling.

Let's say that on the same day, after Fang Congzhebai resigned, Deng She, Hong Jixun and others continued to talk. He asked Hong Jixun and said: "The strategy offered by Zhonghan Shicai, in the opinion of Mr., how likely is it to succeed?" ”

Hong Jixun is also the same as Deng She, and the other party is not optimistic about Congzhe's strategy. He said: "As Fang Congzhe said, Wu Guogong is not a mediocre master, and he cannot be regarded as a person like Zhang Shicheng. Although the minister didn't know much about Wu Guogong, he had pondered his military methods. Judging from his many use of troops, whether it is fighting with Chen Youliang or confronting Zhang Shicheng, whether it is offensive or defensive, it seems that there is always a method that he is accustomed to. ”

Deng She became interested and said, "Oh? There's always a trick he's used to? What modusive? ”

"Wu Guogong always likes to cut off all the perimeter of the enemy's main force and remove its wings before a decisive battle with the enemy. For example, this time, I Yidu used troops in Jining, and the tactic adopted by the lord was to besiege the city and send reinforcements. By attacking Ningyang, Wenshang and other places, the Yuan army in Yanzhou was mobilized. Attack the enemy and save it, and destroy the enemy in a mobile way. And if Wu Guogong is replaced as the commander, there is a chance that he will first conquer all the cities around Yanzhou, such as Wenshang, Qufu, Ningyang, etc., and then mobilize the main force to storm Yanzhou.

"The main public soldiers, good at surprise attacks, more stratagems, if compared to 'strange'; then the public soldiers of Wu State, many dignified formations, steady and steady, can be 'positive'. Although the minister did not know Wu Guogong, from this point of view, it can also be inferred from his method of using soldiers, it seems that this person's personality is not risky.

"Therefore, even if he has great talents, but with his 'steady' side, it seems that he should not be too interested in Fang Congzhe's proposal.

"Fang Congzhe's proposal seems to be beneficial to Wu Guogong, 'the two families are divided into Henan', but in fact? If you want to implement Fang Congzhe's proposal, for Wu Guogong, the premise is that you need to ignore the threats of Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng first. At present, Wu Guogongzhi's roots are in Jinling, and his great enemies are not Chahan or Henan, but Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang. If we act according to this discussion, we will 'put the cart before the horse', and we will do this for the sake of it.

"Of course, Wu Guogong and the lord are both Song ministers, and they have the feeling of being a minister in the same hall, maybe he will look at the face of the lord and will not explicitly reject Fang Congzhe. But Yichen guessed that it was very likely that he would use Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng as excuses. In short, I will not agree with Fang Congzhe's proposal. ”

Hong Jixun has never met Zhu Yuanzhang and doesn't know much about Zhu Yuanzhang, but from Zhu Yuanzhang's preferred means of using troops, he boldly made an inference about Zhu Yuanzhang's character and temper. and from this, it was inferred that Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely use Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng as an excuse to euphemistically reject Fang Congzhe.

Deng She listened, lowered his head and thought for a while, couldn't help admiring, and said: "The ancients said: 'See the subtle knowledge. Mr. can infer Wu Guogong's character from the means that Wu Guogong is good at using soldiers. The words 'seeing the subtle knowledge' are well-deserved. ”

In any case, Fang Congzhe was sent out anyway, whether it succeeds or not, there will be news back in more than half a month at most. It is done, nature is the best; If it doesn't work, it won't have much impact on Yidu's capture of Jining.

Deng She said a few words with Hong Jixun and the others, diverted the topic, asked Hong Jixun, and said: "Since Mr. thinks that it is unlikely that Wu Guogong and I will join forces, do you have any opinion on the current battle situation on Jining Road?" ”

"So far, our army's offensive on Jining Road has been quite smooth. In the morning, a military report came back from the front, saying that Xizuo had seen Wang Baobao's banner in Juye City. Wang Baobao was the adopted son of Chakhan Timur. Until the critical moment, Chakhan Timur would never send Wang Baobao to Jining. This says two things. ”

"What two things?"

"First of all, it shows that Li Chahan has realized the criticality of the Jining battle situation, and after Wang Baobao goes to Juye, he will definitely redeploy to the front line. The Chahan reinforcements in Dongping and even Henan may soon be able to assemble. Perhaps, our army will be attacked by the Yuan army on a large scale in the next few days. In other words, the situation of our army on the front line is smooth, or it will face a turning point. If it withstands the imminent counterattack of the Yuan army, Jining Road will be considered in the owner's pocket. ”

Wang Baobao's visit to Jining in person shows that Li Chahan has reacted to the battle on Jining Road, and it also indicates that the situation of the Yuan army being passively beaten will be reversed. This is not good for the benefit of the people.

"And next?"

"The Lord will not move until it is absolutely necessary. It can also be seen through Chahan Timur's dispatch of Wang Baobao to Juye that Chahan's war with Polo in Jinji and Guannei is really in full swing, and he must not have time to take care of Jining, otherwise, he would not have sent Wang Baobao to the front line so easily. This also shows that at least in the short term, the Chahan army in Jinji and Guannei will never have the spare strength to rush to the aid of Jining. The opponents faced by our army on the front line were at most part of the Henan Chahan army. ”

Because Chahan was unable to take care of Jining, and because Jining's status was very important, Chahan had no choice but to send Wang Baobao to Juye. The enemy that Yidu will face, in addition to the Yuan army on Jining's main road, is at most a part of the Henan army. This is a positive side for Yidu.

Ji Zongzhou suddenly laughed, and interjected: "A few days ago, I was discussing "Lao Tzu" with the lord, and the lord said a new term, saying that it was what to use the perspective of 'dialectics' to look at problems. It's like a doctor looking at things and analyzing things 'dialectically'. Mr. went to Juye from Wang Baobao, and saw both the unfavorable side for me and the favorable side for me. Lord, this is dialectics, right? ”

"Dialectic" is a term in traditional Chinese medicine, and it is collectively referred to as "dialectic". Therefore, Ji Zongzhou used the doctor's medical treatment to compare "dialectic". Deng She smiled when he heard this.

Hong Jixun opened the folding fan, and with a "snap", it closed again. He disdained Ji Zongzhou's disguised patting of Deng She's ass, ignored it, and continued to take care of himself: "These are two sides that are beneficial and unfavorable to our army. In addition, for the war on the front line, outside Jining Road, the minister has another worry. ”

"Beyond Jining Road? Why worry? ”

"Appropriate, the minister analyzed the skills of Wu Guogong and the lord who are good at using soldiers. May I ask the lord, do you know the art of using troops that Timur of Chakhan is good at? ”

"Please sir elaborate. I'd like to hear about it. ”

"Chahan uses soldiers, and the first priority is fierce. Not only sharp, but also calculating. The strength of the public soldiers of the state of Wu is the word 'stability'; the strength of the main public soldiers is the character of 'sharp'; while the strength of the Chahan soldiers is not only 'stable' but also 'sharp'. Looking at the battle of Yidu a year ago, he used Guan Bao to take the southeast of our country for the sake of 'sharp'; he used tens of thousands of troops to surround our Yidu, and when he saw that our reinforcements were coming, he refused to entangle and immediately withdrew his troops, in order to 'stabilize'. It is necessary to admire that this person's military skills are very old-fashioned.

"Now, there is Polo fighting with him in Jinji, and our army is competing with Jining in the front. It seems that he is in a dangerous situation of being attacked by the enemy on his back, but in terms of his subordinates, the more so, the more likely he is to highlight the surprise soldiers, and under the premise of 'stability', he will repeat his old tricks, and give me a 'sharp'! ”

"How to 'sharp' it?"

"First of all, please say 'steady' to the lord. He sent Wang Baobao to Juye, transferred the Henan army to aid Jining, and fought steadily, taking the preservation of Jining as the first priority, which is 'stability'. ”

"Not bad. What about 'sharp'? ”

"Just like the Guanbao surprise attack on the southeast a year ago. The minister thought that he would most likely send an army at some point, or attack the east and west, or besiege Wei to save Zhao. Choose a weak area on our front line and attack it fiercely, so as to threaten Yidu, thus forcing our Tai'an army to retreat from the Jining front. ”

"What Sir means is that Chahan will send another army to raid a key point on our front line while ordering Wang Baobao to engage our armies head-on in Jining. A two-pronged approach to force me to withdraw? ”

"Exactly."

Dunshe was silent. Thinking about it carefully, Hong Jixun's analysis is very reasonable. In terms of the sophistication of the use of Timur's troops, this is not very likely, or even certain. He stood up, paced around the room, pondered for a moment, and asked Hong Jixun, saying, "In the opinion of the gentleman, if Chahan really does not send an army, where is he most likely to attack my front line?" ”

Hong Jixun said for a long time, he was a little thirsty, and he took a sip of tea in a hurry, and then replied: "I am on the front line of Yidu, from the northernmost Dizhou to the southernmost Tai'an, and the border with Li Chahan is not less than hundreds of miles away. Generally speaking, any city on the border of hundreds of miles will be subject to a surprise attack by Chahan. But in Yichen's view, the most likely one can only be Dizhou. ”

Ji Zongzhou asked, "But why?" ”

"Need you say more? In the area of Tai'an, there are many of my main forces, and there are no less than 30,000 or 40,000 military horses, since Chahan is a surprise attack, he will not use too many troops, and he does not have too many troops to adjust, so here in Tai'an, it can be ruled out first. Unless Chahan is dazed and throws himself to his death, he will attack Tai'an. Secondly, the area of Jinan, separated from Gaotang Prefecture by the Yellow River, has a moat, and it is even more difficult to raid. It can also be ruled out. In the end, there is only Dizhou. Chahan's raid on Dizhou has three advantages.

"First, Dizhou borders Hejian Road. Hejian Road has the responsibility of defending the capital, and there are a lot of Yuan troops stationed, and an elite army is also stationed here, and there are enough troops to deploy. Moreover, on the one hand, Hejian Road is far away from Jining, and on the other hand, because there are Baoding and Zhending roads in the west as a buffer zone, it is also far away from Datong, and it is also far away from Jining, so it is not affected by the two battlefields. The mobilization of military horses here is not only convenient, but it will not have much impact on the war in Chahan on the Jining and Jining roads.

"Second, there is no danger from Hejian Road to Dizhou, only a few small rivers need to be crossed. If the route chosen is suitable, it is not an exaggeration to call it a flat river. It is convenient for marching and conducive to raids.

"Of the three, Dizhou is only one or two hundred miles away from me. In between, there are mostly plains. Coming to Yidu from Dizhou, the marching speed is a little faster, and it can be reached in two days. As long as Chahan can capture Dizhou,—— even if he can't, as long as he surrounds Dizhou, it will be a great threat to my benefit.

"To sum up the above three, if Chahan raids my frontline cities, only Dizhou is the best choice."

Deng She added, "And fourth, Dizhou is my new land. Originally, Yang Wanhu was stationed, but now half of the garrison has been divided to go to Jining to participate in the war. Compared with Jinan, which has a natural moat, and Tai'an, which has a heavy army stationed, Dizhou City is indeed the weakest defense force among the cities on the front line. ”

Ji Zongzhou said: "What should I do? ”

"If you have a plan, you may be able to keep Dizhou stable. If the implementation is successful, it will not only ensure the stability of Dizhou, but maybe, it will also give Richard a major blow! ”

"Sir, please."

"The lord had the foresight to assemble a large number of cavalry troops in Yidu in advance. Lord, if Chahan really raided Dizhou as the minister expected, why not immediately send the cavalry of Yidu to attack for a long time, just like our army besieged the city outside Yanzhou City to send reinforcements, and then outside Dizhou City, also staged a similar good show for Chahan? ”

Outside the city of Yanzhou, it is to besiege the enemy city and fight the enemy's aid; If Chahan really raids Dizhou, as Hong Jixun proposed, it will be the enemy besieging our city and I will fight the enemy. Deng She bowed his head and said, "Sir, this is a very good discussion. ”

Ji Zongzhou said: "Sir, this proposal is indeed clever. It's just that Chahan will raid Dizhou, but it's just Mr. Guess. Will Chahan do this? We don't know for sure. If Chahan really comes, it will certainly be good for our army to give him a head-on blow. But what if the gentleman was wrong and Chahan didn't come? ”

Hong Jixun smiled slightly and said, "If Chahan didn't come, why can't our army lure him here?" ”

Deng She's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood Hong Jixun's true intentions.

Hong Jixun not only wants to ambush Chahan in Dizhou, but also doesn't just want to use Dizhou as a bait to lure Chahan to attack, in connection with his analysis of Chahan's military methods just now, his real intention is actually that Chahan may think of using a surprise attack and encircling Wei to save Zhao to indirectly solve the danger of Jining, so why can't Haidong do the same? By inducing Chahan to invade Dizhou, and then defeating the enemy in Dizhou, he indirectly supported Jining, knocked on the mountain and shook the tiger, and won the final victory.

"Sir's Brilliant Idea!" Deng She clapped his palms and praised, turned his seat, sat down, and asked, "If our army lures Chahan to invade Dizhou, will Ji An come out?" ”

"Without it. There is only one solution. Deliberately showing weakness is. ”

"How do you show weakness?"

"It's a four-step process. The first step was to order Dizhou to strengthen its security, and deliberately release the news of the strengthened security, and it was best to let the Yuan army in Hejian Road and other places know about it as soon as possible. Why did our army strengthen the vigilance in Dizhou? It was precisely because of the fear of a surprise attack by the Yuan army. The second step is to exaggerate the number of defenders in Dizhou, transfer some people, pretend to be soldiers, and drive into the city of Dizhou. But at the same time, this news was deliberately leaked again. In this way, it gave the Yuan army the illusion that our army was bluffing.

"Third, when our army conquered Dizhou, didn't we capture a lot of Tian Feng's soldiers? Choose a few trustworthy ones, tell them to run away, go to Hejian Road, find the Yuan army generals stationed in the local area, and prepare the general Dizhou to listen to them in a false way, and express their willingness to be their township guides, encouraging them to invade.

"If the generals of the Yuan Army on Hejian Road are motivated by this, it is expected that they will definitely go to Chahan as quickly as possible. At this time, the lord can spread a false news, saying that he personally went to the front line in Jining. This is the fourth step. After these four steps, the minister dares to pack the ticket, and no matter how old and calculating Chahan is, with his consistent preference for using soldiers, he will definitely become intentional and intentional, and he will definitely be in the minister's plan. ”

"Know yourself and know your opponent". When two armies are at war, when one side has enough understanding of the other side's commander, it can set up a plan tailored to the temper and preferences of the opponent's commander. No one is perfect, and everyone has shortcomings. Start with the shortcomings of the other party, and this strategy will definitely work.

Deng She was overjoyed and said, "Mr. is really my son's room!" Strategize and win a thousand miles. It was none other than Mr. Wei Yi pondered, and said, "Mr.'s plan is not refined. But there seems to be something worth adding. 'Therefore show one's weakness,' it is not enough to be on guard and bluff. Other measures have to be used. ......, so be it. He looked around, his eyes swept over the faces of He Guangxiu and others, who had not spoken, and fell on Ji Zongzhou's body, and said, "Gong Ji, I will issue an order tomorrow to add you the title of patrol and defense envoy." From now on, you will go out of Yidu and go to Jinan and Dizhou to inspect. You have to remember that on the surface, you seem to be impartial, but in fact, you have to show that the focus of your patrol and defense is actually in Dizhou. You can stay in Dizhou for a longer time. ”

Ji Zongzhou didn't expect the topic to fall on him, and hurriedly got up and said respectfully: "Yes." ”

Deng She smiled, motioned for him to sit down, and said, "Ji Chong is also in Dizhou now. Your father and son have been separated for some time, and this time, you can be regarded as a fake public and private, so you can go and see Ji Chong by the way. ”

Hearing Deng She mention Ji Chong, Rao is Ji Zongzhou can speak kindly, and he didn't know how to answer for a while, so he laughed twice and said, "Thank you for your concern." ”

"Haidong reinforcements, how are they now?"

"Most of them have gathered in Liaozuo and Pyongyang. Please don't worry, if there is a change on my front, reinforcements will come quickly. ”

"That's fine. After there are reinforcements, only then can the subordinates not be chaotic. 'Be confident. This reinforcement is the bamboo in my chest. Since the reinforcements are fine, then we will work together with the monarchs and ministers to fight a good battle with Chahan in Jining and Dizhou, and snow the hatred of Yidu before the snow. ”