Chapter 365 (Xie Lunar New Year's Salty Tablets, the monthly ticket of the two brothers who are not hungry when they are full; Ask for a subscription! ）

The sentinel sent out in the morning brought back a piece of news that surprised Song Nan, the thieves who captured Xiongxian did not go south to attack Xin'an County, but instead attacked in the northwest direction, and yesterday night raided and captured Rongcheng County in the northeast of Baoding Prefecture.

This news greatly surprised Song Nan, according to Song Nan's original estimate, the thief soldiers did not dare to attack the northwest of Baoding Mansion, after all, the more than 13,000 soldiers and horses of the Bauhinia Pass Guard and the Maoshan Guard were not decorations, but the thieves were like stunned and did not play their cards according to common sense, which made people really confused.

Facing everyone's eyes, Song Nan understood that everyone thought in their hearts that they had failed in their predictions this time, but they were just embarrassed to say it; Song Nan ordered someone to fetch the map, frowning, and thinking carefully about the thief's intentions. After the thieves captured Rongcheng County, there was only a ninety mile gap between them and Baoding Mansion, and the last barrier in the middle was Ansu County. If this is the case, the appetite of the thieves will be too great.

Although there are only more than 3,000 soldiers and horses in the city, because it is the place where the government is located, the pro-guards and horses of each yamen add up to at least 1,000 people, plus more than 1,000 Jinyi guards and horses of Baoding Mansion Jinyi Wei Qianhu, plus armed forces such as the Ya Servant and the fast capture, there are five or six thousand regular armed guards to defend the city with a little pulling.

In addition, the population of Baoding Mansion is hundreds of thousands, and the strong man alone can easily organize tens of thousands of people, in this case, it is difficult to capture Baoding Mansion even if there are 30,000 or 50,000 people, and the thieves will be stupid enough to touch the stone by themselves?

If the thief soldiers really intended to Baoding Mansion, Song Nan breathed a sigh of relief, this was exactly the result he wanted to see, the original plan was to hold the passage to the south and return to Xinping, and force the thieves to advance to the northwest where the heavy troops were stationed, so as to encircle and annihilate them in one fell swoop; However, the problem is that the thieves are so stupid that it is obviously unreasonable to get into a dead end by themselves.

"My lord, we should rush to Baoding Mansion immediately, and then reinforce Ansu County, strive to fight the thieves in Ansu County, drive them to the north, and stay in Xin'an County, I'm afraid it's useless."

Hou Dabiao couldn't help but speak, although this is equivalent to saying that Song Nan's previous arrangement has no results, which will make Song Nan feel embarrassed, but Hou Dabiao can't care about this.

Song Nan frowned and paced back and forth on the bluestone slab in the courtyard, stopping from time to time to look back at the map, and everyone's necks turned with him, one by one like sunflowers.

Song Nan finally stood still in front of everyone and said with a smile: "We can't go." ”

Hou Dabiao was stunned and said, "Commander, why is this?" If the thieves don't come to Xin'an County, what's the use of us staying here? ”

Song Nan shook his head and said: "Hou Dabiao, if you are a thief, will you not take the road of going south to avoid the officers and soldiers, but go to find death by yourself?" ”

Hou Dabiao said: "Naturally, I am unwilling to be humble, but the problem is that the thieves are very stupid, and we estimated them too smart in advance." ”

Song Nan tilted his head and said, "Are you stupid?" If it was a stupid rabble, why did Xu Shangyi of the Thousand Households in Xinzhen lose 500 officers and soldiers and gave his own life? Why was Chen Wei's more than 5,000 soldiers and horses defeated by a thief who only had more than 2,000 people? At this time, if you still look down on Liu Liu and Liu Qi, then it is called stupidity, if you think so, you will repeat the mistakes of Chen Wei and Xu Shangyi. ”

Hou Dabiao blushed, but he was a little unconvinced: "Then tell us, why did the thieves faint and capture Rongcheng?" I really can't understand the lowly position. ”

Song Nan smiled and beckoned, "You guys take a look at the map." ”

A cadre of people hurriedly stretched their necks and lay on the map to look at it, and they didn't see the name for a long time, Zheng Da Weng said angrily: "Don't sell it, don't sell it, don't do what you say, our brothers will do it, I, Zheng Da, only listen to adults, don't think about anything." ”

Li Daniu nodded and said, "Yes, yes, I just listen to Brother Nan'er's instructions and do things, and I don't care what the fucking thieves want to do." ”

Song Nan lowered his face and said: "This is not right, you are all my good brothers Song Nan, we have also experienced a lot of ups and downs together in the past few years, but although our officials are getting bigger and bigger, our ability should also be improved, otherwise our talents are insufficient, won't we become mediocre officials in the corpse position?" Sooner or later, you will have to become a figure in your own right, we are military attachés, and we must not only study bravery, but also the way to lead troops against the enemy, otherwise we are just reckless. ”

A few people blushed and bowed their heads, introspection is indeed too dependent on Song Nan, and they basically don't use their brains, but these talents are not achieved overnight, and there are a few people who can come up with an idea in the blink of an eye like Commander Song, which is also too embarrassing.

Song Nan's face turned calm and said: "I'll teach you a lesson today, I'll put forward the main points, you use your brains to answer, and see whose brains turn fast." ”

Everyone applauded in unison, and Zheng Damo shook his hands and said: "I'm good at this, after all, I mixed with adults in Zhengnanfang, and I learned a little bit of skills." ”

Li Daniu glanced at him and said, "Just you?" I grew up with Brother Nan since I was a child, and I didn't learn anything about it. ”

Zheng Da said: "That's you stupid." ”

Li Daniu glared and said, "Are you smarter than me?" ”

The two began to quarrel, but Wan Zhi Wang Yong and Zheng Dabiao waited for Song Nan to tell the reason, and hurriedly persuaded them to stop it, and asked Song Nan to mention the reason.

Song Nan smiled and said, "Look at this map, what is between Xin'an County and Xiong County?" ”

Zheng Da hurriedly said: "It's all a little bit of a circle, what does this mean?" ”

Wan Zhi frowned and stared at the map: "These circles and dots represent the names and terrain of places, and these wavy lines represent rivers and lakes. ”

Hou Dabiao's eyes lit up and he shouted: "What do you mean by this, is there Baiyang Lake between Xiongxian County and Xin'an County?" The thieves captured Rongcheng, could it be that they wanted to make a detour to avoid the lake area of Baiyang Lake? ”

Song Nan laughed and said: "Someone finally understands, everyone, please see, there is a large area of Baiyangdian Lake between Xiongxian County and Xin'an County, although there is a road in the middle, but don't forget, it rained for half a month in July." You have probably heard about the flooding in Baoding Prefecture, but the narrow road in the middle is probably a flooded country, and even after the water recedes, it is muddy and difficult to walk. There must be a reason why the thieves don't go from here. ”

Hou Dabiao patted his head and said: "My lord, I remembered that the cavalry who went to Xiongxian County to reconnoiter back took too long, and just now he scolded him for being too slow." But they said that the road to Xiongxian was all muddy, it was very difficult to walk, and the horses were stuck in the mud several times, so they delayed the time, and they were going to wait for more than three hours to go back and forth, and it took twice as long from morning to afternoon, and I am afraid that this is the reason. ”

Song Nan nodded and said: "That's right, I also predicted the reason, you say so, this must be one of the reasons why the thieves do not directly attack Xin'an County, just imagine, the thieves are all infantry, trekking forward from the muddy swamp, and they may not be able to reach here in a day." I'm afraid that everyone will be tired and half dead when they get here, how can they attack the city without resting? Moreover, if you are intercepted by officers and soldiers in the swamp in Baiyang Lake because of your slow movement, won't it be difficult to fly? ”

Everyone nodded one after another, agreeing with Song Nan's words, the thieves are now competing for time with the officers and soldiers, they don't know that the imperial court has just realized the severity of the problem, and has not mobilized a large army to encircle and suppress, in their hearts, they have been doing things for more than ten days, defeating officers and soldiers in a row, and breaking the city, I am afraid that they have already made a fuss; At this time, it is only right to quickly jump out of the encirclement of the officers and soldiers near Wen'an, and naturally there is no time to take a slow rest, so they will not choose to walk on muddy swampy roads.

"My lord, the humble position is still a little confused, even if the thieves don't want to walk on the muddy road, they don't need to attack Rongcheng County, they can take a detour; There are roads in the north and south of Baiyangdian, and the detour is only an extra fifty or sixty miles. Wang Yong frowned and asked.

Song Nan said: "Brother Wang Yong asked the point, the thieves are on a detour, and it takes hundreds of miles to go south to detour, not to mention that the road is far away and passes through the territory of Wen'an, in the eyes of the thieves, Wen'an is now probably a gathering of officers and soldiers, so it is impossible for them to turn back." They chose to detour to the north, and then they went around to Dawang Town, which was north of Baiyangding, and could have gone south, but there were only forty or fifty miles of land in Rongcheng County, and I estimated that the thieves would simply attack Rongcheng County overnight. ”

"Your Excellency, are you saying that Rongcheng County is just a temporary target for them to attack?" Hou Dabiao asked with puffed eyes.

Song Nan said: "Although it is a temporary intention, but the thieves must also be considered, at least this move has two benefits for them, one is that after taking Rongcheng County, they can rest and expand the team again, and the other is that this move has put a thief soldier who is attacking to the northwest or approaching Baoding Mansion smoke bombs, if the officers and soldiers rush to Rongcheng County or Ansu County Baoding Mansion to reinforce, it is just the thief trick." If my estimation is correct, the thieves are probably already on their way south to Xin'an County. ”

Everyone stared at each other speechlessly, although there was a trace of 'thieves may not have so much consideration' in their hearts, but the analysis of Song Nan was admirable; no wonder Commander Song was able to rise to the top, and he leaned towards the government and the opposition at a young age, all for a reason, every step was taken into account, and never left half a doubt, I am afraid that it is one of the keys to the success of Lord Song.

After Song Nan's analysis, everyone also dispelled their doubts and led people to actively prepare for the war. Since there is still time, the city defense will naturally be strengthened, and when the moat is silted, it will definitely be piled up with mud bags by thieves from the direction of the attack of the two city walls in the northwest, so that the defenders at the head of the city can have more places to stand, so as not to have insufficient troops at the head of the city wall, which is thin in battle.