While Deng She and Hong Jixun were talking, someone outside came to report: "The secret performance of the General Political Division, the front-line military report." ”

The two stopped.

Deng She commanded, "Bring it up." ”

First open the "Secret Report of the General Administration", there are two copies. The top one is the original from Xuzhou and Suzhou, and the bottom one is the analysis report written by Li Shousheng.

After Deng She read it, he handed it to Hong Jixun and said with a smile: "Say Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived." I was about to talk to my husband about Zhang Shicheng and speculate on what he would do in the current situation. ......, you see, the information from Xuzhou and Suzhou has been sent. ”

Hong Jixun caught it, looked at it carefully, and saw that the original document read: "The Zhejiang army opposite Xu and Su is gradually increasing. Songjiang Wind Legend: Shicheng and Chahan have signed a covenant, which echoes each other, and has the meaning of Jining, Xu, and Su. ”

Li Shousheng's analysis report wrote: "The matter of Shicheng signing an alliance with Chahan was heard by the minister before and had already been presented to the lord. Now, after judging and collecting evidence from all sides, it can be determined that it is true.

However, although this matter is true, judging from various intelligence and news from Xu, Su, Huaisi and other places: Zhang Shicheng's determination to go north does not seem to be firm so far. He was hesitant and hesitant.

"......, as of the day the intelligence was sent, his total reinforcements to Huaisi were only more than 5,000 people. According to the least optimistic estimates, even if he quadrupled the number of troops reinforcing Huaisi, and even if all of them were used to attack our Xu and Su, our local garrison would be enough to support us for more than a month without foreign aid. ”

Deng She asked Hong Jixun: "What do you think, sir?" ”

Hong Jixun was stunned and said with contempt: "There is a tiger on Shicheng's side, how dare you go north with all your might?" He was able to send thousands of people north to Huaisi, which was beyond the expectations of the ministers, which was very good. The minister still has this opinion: there is no need to pay too much attention to him. - "There are tigers on the side" Yunyun, he refers to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Deng She nodded and said, "What the gentleman said is very true. But we can't be careless. He unfolded his pen and ink, wrote a military order, and ordered it to be sent to the front line of Xu and Su. In the military order, he demanded that the garrison must be vigilant, must hold the Yellow River, and not allow Zhang Shicheng's army to cross the river on horseback.

After he finished writing and told people to send him away immediately, Hong Jixun continued: "Shicheng is not worried. The minister thought that what needed to be focused on now should be Chengwu and Caozhou. Regarding 'luring the snake out of the hole', our army has been or is preparing to launch in all aspects, will Chakhan Timur suddenly withdraw at this time? Or will there be any changes?

"At present, our Liaodong Army has moved south, and it will soon enter the Guannei and appear on the periphery of Dadu. At that time, the news will definitely not be blocked, and what will Chahan do? Chen believes that this is the focus that we should pay attention to and consider. ”

Deng She's first said yes, opened the second front-line military report, read it at a glance, and still handed it to Hong Jixun. Hong Jixun asked, "What's the situation?" Deng She smiled: "Sir will know when you see it." ”

Hong Jixun saw it, his face was happy, and he said: "So, Richard Han has already entered the middle of the world?" ”

"The gentleman was worried about whether he would withdraw suddenly, and this military report came. What a timely rain! ”

But it turned out that this military report was sent by Zhao Guo.

In the military report, Zhao Guo reported on the battle situation in recent days, which was divided into two parts.

The first part explains in detail how he lied that Deng She would lead 200,000 horses to intimidate Caozhou, and wrote later: "The minister pretended to be in the name of the lord and falsely passed the decree, which is a great crime. Due to the urgency of the front line, I did not dare to leave for a while, and waited for the crime to become a weapon and waited for the punishment of the lord. ”

When Hong Jixun saw this, he laughed and said: "Zhao Zuocheng is upright and upright, but he didn't expect to have such a scheme!" Chahan is resourceful, so suspicious, suspicious will think more, and it is inevitable to be fooled if you think too much! Speaking of which, only by using this method can we drag it in Caozhou without killing one stone. ”

Deng She smiled: "Yes." This plan is surprising. ......, but, nevertheless, he asked me to punish him, what did you think, sir? ”

Hong Jixun refused to answer, and asked instead: "What about the Lord's will?" ”

"The trick works, it's meritorious; False heralds, there have been. If you don't reward your merits, you can't punish them. Well, how about giving him some money and deducting some money? ”

Hong Jixun shook his head and said, "The minister thinks that it is inappropriate for the lord to do this. ”

"Oh?"

"Although Zhao Zuocheng's trick worked, he contributed a lot; But the minister thought that his fault was even greater! ......, for the generals to lead tens of millions of people and gallop thousands of miles away, although they should respond to the situation on the spot and not be rigid and not be stubborn, how can they falsely pass the order and order the three armies in this way? If the lord rewards and punishes him again this time, it is clearly a punishment but in fact a reward, it will inevitably set a bad example for other generals in the army. And if they do the same in future wars? ......, there will be endless troubles! ”

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Just because Zhao Zuocheng is the lord's beloved general, the rewards and punishments are unknown. At this time, the front line is still fighting, and you can press it first; But when the war is over, it must be punished severely! ”

Deng She pondered for a moment, thinking that what Hong Jixun said was reasonable, accepted his opinion, and said, "What Mr. said is very true. I almost did something wrong! After thinking about it again, he said, "Although the front line is stalemate now, it cannot be punished, so as not to shake the morale of the army." But since Ah Guo has already pleaded guilty in the military newspaper, if I don't reply a word, I'm afraid he will be uneasy. ......, it's better to reply to him first. ”

Hong Jixun nodded in agreement.

Deng She spread out the paper again, picked up the brush, thought for a while, and wrote only one sentence: "I and the general, with all sincerity." The front-line battle situation, listen to the convenience. Please speak of sin, and I will speak later. And he put it in an envelope, and sealed it, and called in from the door, and commanded it to be sent away at once.

Hong Jixun then looked down, and the second part of the military newspaper was about another thing.

Zhao Guo was worried that the plan of "baiting the enemy" would be seen through by Chahan sooner or later, so he came up with a way to drag Chahan. That is: to cut off the Chahan grain road.

Chakhan Timur had ordered the surrounding prefectures and counties to send him grain, and he could take advantage of this opportunity to send a few small troops to scatter out, pretending to cut off his grain route.

Chakhan Timur will definitely not sit idly by, and will definitely send people out of the city to protect. He did not send people out of the city, but once he sent people out of the city, he seized the opportunity to "fight with them."

The purpose of the fight was threefold: first, to force Chahan to send more troops out of the city, and the more troops he had out of the city, the more difficult it would be for him to withdraw. Second, take the opportunity to seize the key points around Caozhou, as long as the key points can be occupied, then even if Chahan takes the initiative to withdraw, he is not afraid and can intercept it at any time.

The last purpose: the Chahan army is about to run out of food. He cannot be completely starved of food, completely without food, and he will certainly retreat at once and in desperation; But we can't let him have too much food, and having too much food will not be conducive to the decisive battle in the future.

Hong Jixun looked at it, admired it, and said: "Even if the minister is on the front line, he can't do better than Zhao Zuocheng!" Before one strategy is exhausted, the second strategy has already been thought of. The lord has such a public share, what more can the husband ask for? ”

Thinking about the news that "Chahan is going to run out of food", Deng She suddenly had an idea and said: "Sir, since Chahan is already short of food, then let's just raise a large army and besiege it, what do you think?" Will it be a little easier than striking east and west and luring the snake out of the hole? ”

Hong Jixun disagreed, and said: "If I besiege Caozhou, then the Chahan armies distributed in Henan, Shanxi, Gaotang Prefecture and other places will save them with their lives." The fortified city is difficult to overcome, and the enemy is outside, how is it good? ”

"......, what Mr. said is, but I owe it to me."

"It is not the case that the sound of striking the east and the west and luring the snake out of the hole. Use Dadu as bait to mobilize Chahan to run for his life, and I will wait for work at ease, and if I don't fight, I will fight! ”

Dunshe agreed, saying, "That's true. ”

"Right now, now that Chahan has entered the middle of the army, the reorganization and training of our new army and Xu Su's army are almost completed, and they will soon be ......put into use, my lord, can you urge Chen Pingzhang's Liaoyang army to enter the customs?"

The day the Liaoyang army entered the customs was the official beginning of "luring the snake out of the hole".