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"As soon as the south gate is attacked, the defenders of the city will immediately guess where we are coming, so that it is possible to get the word out before we capture the city. In this way, even if we capture this city, it will be in vain, and the Western Jin reinforcements will arrive within a day, and we will not be able to escape at that time. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Shu paused, took the water bladder from his own hand, drank a few large sips of water, and then wiped his mouth casually to wipe off the water stains stuck to his beard. Handing the water bladder to his soldiers, he continued: "Therefore, although we are closest to the south gate, we would rather bypass the south gate than attack directly. In fact, if it were not for the fear of revealing his whereabouts and avoiding extraneous complications, the West Gate would not be the ideal target for attack, and if the conditions permitted, I would prefer to lead an army to attack the East Gate or the North Gate. ”

Wei Yan was very smart, and he said in a low voice: "What the military advisor means is that if we attack the south gate directly, the defenders will immediately think that we are the Jingzhou army, because the enemy in the south is only our Jingzhou army." In contrast, the East Gate and the North Gate are not. At present, Wei has sent troops to attack Henan County, and all the way is like a bamboo, its former army has captured Zhongmu, and may attack Yingchuan in the south at any time. In this way, if the east gate or the north gate is attacked, the defenders in the city will definitely think that it is the soldiers and horses of the Wei State who sneak attack all night, and they will never think that it is our Jingzhou army that attacks the city at night. I wonder if the last general is right? ”

"Exactly." Xu Shu bowed his head in response: "In order to live up to the mission and ensure that we can retreat after completing the mission, we not only have to capture Yangzhai City, but also try our best to confuse the public and hide our whereabouts as much as possible." So. A sneak attack on the East or North Gate is the best option. It's a pity that last night we waited for the removal of the Yellow Water Depression checkpoint. failed to wipe out a group of people stationed at the checkpoint, and when the corpses were counted after the battle, it was found that two people were missing. Fortunately, the two of them hid in the mountains, otherwise the whereabouts of our army would have been exposed to the Yang Zhai defenders at this moment. At this point, we have no time to detour to the east gate or the north gate, so we have no choice but to attack the west gate nearby, and be sure to annihilate the defenders in the city and occupy Yangzhai City before dawn. ”

Wei Yanshen nodded approvingly, and was about to speak, but was robbed by Jiang Qin beside him and interjected: "According to the military advisor, the purpose of our coming to Yangzhai City this time is to fulfill the covenant. Complete the handover with Wei general Cao Ren; For this reason, Pang Tong's army division sent a part of the grain and grass into the city with the help of a caravan three months ago. If this is the case, it means that the Wei general Cao Ren will also lead his army to attack Yangzhai in the near future, and rush to contact our army and fulfill the covenant. In this way, even if our army succeeded in the sneak attack and hid its identity, it exposed the whereabouts of the soldiers and horses under the Wei general Cao Ren's account in advance, so that it would inevitably be intercepted and pursued by the Xiliang army. To do so is not to trap me in unrighteousness? Put Cao Ren's army in danger? ”

As Jiang Qin said, there are only two vassal states that are enemies of the Western Jin Dynasty, and if the defenders in the city can't guess that it was the Jingzhou army that attacked the city, they would definitely think that it was the Cao army. It's as simple as that. Either/or, there is no third possibility. The reason for this result is that the place of transfer between the Southern Han and Northern Wei dynasties to fulfill the covenant was set in Yangzhai, the county seat of Yingchuan.

Xu Shu turned his head to look at Jiang Qin. was silent, and Jiang Qin couldn't see Xu Shu's face and eyes clearly in the dark. But he could feel that his words made Xu Shu very displeased, and maybe he would be angry. But Jiang Qin was not afraid. No matter whether Xu Shugao is happy or not, whether he likes to listen to it or not, he must say what he should say. At present, the Southern Han Dynasty and the Northern Wei Dynasty are allies, joining forces to fight against the Western Jin Dynasty, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses are fighting with the Western Jin Dynasty army. However, Xu Shu's doing so was tantamount to betraying his allies, which made Jiang Qin indignant and unable to accept Xu Shu's practice of only caring about protecting himself and not caring about the lives of his allies.

In addition, there is another important reason why Jiang Qin openly questioned it, which is that Xu Shu asked Zhou Tai to lead 300 personal soldiers into the city in disguise during the day, thinking that he should respond. This made Jiang Qin very uneasy, and he was worried about Zhou Tai all day long, because the general of the Western Jin Dynasty stationed in Yangzhai City was none other than Ji Ling, the general of the former Yuan Shu account, who had had several relationships with Zhou Tai. In addition to Ji Ling, the defending generals also included Lei Bo and Chen Lan, these three were quite familiar with Jiangdong generals, and they had worked together under Yuan Shu's account for a period of time. Therefore, if Zhou Tai is not careful and is bumped into by these three people, the consequences will be unimaginable.

It is precisely because of this that Jiang Qin was indignant, Xu Shu obviously knew that the generals defending the city were all old generals under Yuan Shu's account, and he also knew that Zhou Tai had followed Sun Ce as a general under Yuan Shu's account, and was very familiar with Ji Ling, Lei Bo and others, but he still sent Zhou Tai to sneak into the city and wait for an opportunity to attack the city gate. Wouldn't this make Zhou Tai go to his death, why didn't he send Wei Yan there? Is it because Wei Yan is a general in Jingzhou, and he Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai are Jiangdong generals? keeps saying that the Jiangdong Army and the Jingzhou Army are one family, it's all, and when it comes to the critical moment, the Jiangdong Army will become the queen mother, and all the things that lose their heads will be handed over to the Jiangdong generals to do. How can this really be true?

Under the shade of the tree, Xu Shu couldn't see Jiang Qin's expression clearly, but he could completely guess what Jiang Qin was thinking at the moment, and why he was complaining for Cao Ren's army for no reason. In fact, Xu Shu knew very well that Jiang Qin did not care about the life or death of Cao Jun's soldiers at all, and the reason why he talked about Cao Jun was to vent his dissatisfaction with Xu Shu, and he was resentful of sending Zhou Tai into the city in disguise.

Thinking of this, Xu Shu said in a low voice: "What General Gongyi said is not unreasonable. At present, we and Cao's army have the same purpose, and each other is an ally, no matter which party's whereabouts are exposed, they will be surrounded and intercepted by the Xiliang army, and it is inevitable that the troops will be defeated. However, our trip is a lone army, the strength is limited, once exposed to the Xiliang army, we will immediately be in a desperate situation, if we are besieged by the Xiliang army again, the whole army will be annihilated.

In contrast, Cao Ren had a lot of troops and horses, even if he was intercepted and pursued by the Xiliang army, he had the ability to break out of the encirclement, at least there was no problem in withdrawing to Yanzhou. Therefore, if we have to expose one between Cao Ren in order to attract the attention of the Western Liang Army or contain the Western Liang Army, Cao Jun is undoubtedly more suitable than us. To put it bluntly, Xu Shu's words can be summed up in one sentence: Dead friends don't die in poverty, just protect yourself, as for allies, they are used to betray.

Jiang Qin didn't agree with Xu Shu's rhetoric at all, and when he was about to open his mouth to argue, he saw Xu Shu raise his hand and shake it in front of his eyes, and said in a deep voice: "Yangzhai City is not so easy to be captured. This city is the county town of Yingchuan, the county guard is called Changlin, it is a capable person under the command of Li Li, the emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, since taking office, he has been governing well, persuading the farmers to teach the mulberry, and the officials are clear and clear, and they are deeply loved by the people. Not only that, but this man had served as a Taishou in Hedong County, which was a critical moment in the battle against Yuan, and he joined hands with the Taishou of Hanoi to lead the soldiers of the two counties to resist the attack of Cao Cao's army, thus holding Hanoi County after Li Li's defeat at Yecheng.

It can be seen that Yingchuan is too conservative and has a lot of strategy, although he is a civil official, he is courageous. In addition, this city is garrisoned by old generals of Yuan Shu such as Ji Ling, Lei Bo, Chen Lan and Liu Xun, and the defenders are as many as 25,000 people. Therefore, if we want to capture this city in one fell swoop, even if we succeed in sneaking up on the city gate, we will not be able to attack it in one go, at least we will have to fight all night. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Shu sighed softly: "Okay, it's useless to talk more, take advantage of this time to rest." When the war is over, there will be no time to rest. After speaking, Xu Shu didn't say anything more, leaned against the tree and closed his eyes. And Jiang Qin had to swallow back when the words came to his mouth, making his face flushed, so uncomfortable, but helpless.

Immediately, Jiang Qin simply fell on the grass under the tree and posed in a "big" shape, fell asleep on his back, and deliberately snored to vent his dissatisfaction. Wei Yan sat under the tree, holding a long-handled war knife in his arms, leaning against the tree and closing his eyes and pretending to sleep, his attitude towards Jiangdong generals was no different from Xu Shu, Pang Tong and others, it was purely for use, and he didn't regard Jiangdong Army as his own at all. So he didn't care about the life or death of the Jiangdong generals, what he cared about was whether Zhou Tai could seize the city gate as soon as possible and welcome the army into the city, as for other things, it had nothing to do with him.

?????? Time passed quietly.

The lights of thousands of homes in Yangzhai City have disappeared, only the wind lanterns on the streets and alleys are still swaying with the evening breeze. In a big city like Yangzhai City, with a population of more than 100,000 people, the wind lanterns on the streets are lit all night, and the state and county towns of the states and counties under the jurisdiction of the Western Jin Dynasty and the cities with a population of more than 100,000 are all like this.

It was silent in the middle of the night, there were no pedestrians on the streets, and more than 100,000 people in the city were immersed in sleep. Suddenly, the watchman appeared on the wide street, striking the gong and shouting: "The weather is dry, watch out for the candles!" ”

The shouting faded away, and the streets and alleys were calm again. At this time, black shadows flickered in the dim light, but no one appeared on the street, which was the figure left by someone who deliberately avoided the light and walked along the houses on both sides of the street, leaving a figure in the oblique moonlight.

At the same time as the black shadow appeared, a group of armor soldiers appeared at the entrance of the alley at the southern end of the street, walking in the middle of the street, and the pace was almost the same, and there were as many as five hundred people from the alley. They are the guards of the city gate who came to change shifts, and they are on duty once every four hours during the day and once every two hours at night, and this is the second group of city guards who have come to change shifts tonight. When they take over, the soldiers who have been replaced will not leave, because it is late at night, they will stay in the class room on the upper floor of the city to rest, sleep for an hour, and then watch for another hour, and then they can go home.

After a short time, five hundred soldiers came to the city tower, and the leading military marquis shouted with the military marquis upstairs in the air, and at the same time quickly climbed the city tower with the soldiers under his own account. In a joke, the shift change has been completed. However, at the moment when the two military marquis staggered, the military marquis who came to take over said in a low voice: "I am too guarded to pass the word, there are wild ghosts in the city tonight, and there are hungry wolves outside the city, and General Lei Bo will defend the city with me." ”

―――――― To be Continued ―――――――――――――――― (To be Continued......