Chapter 388 (There is another chapter in the evening)

In the afternoon, Song Nan convened the generals again in the big tent to discuss, although the generals had time to think about the siege strategy, but the methods were not reliable.

Cao Sugongjian, the commander of the avant-garde in Tianjin, said: "Governor Dadu, let's simply bypass Gunzhou, the army will go directly south, first annihilate the thief soldiers on the north bank of the Yellow River who seek to occupy Feiyundu, and then turn back to clean up the enemy in Gunzhou. ”

The generals said that this was a good way to go south to annihilate Liu Liu's main thief soldiers, and also cut off the connection between Yang Hu and Liu Liu in Gunzhou, so as to avoid Liu Liu leading his army back to help when the siege was in full swing.

Song Nan ruthlessly vetoed this suggestion, because if he abandoned Gunzhou and went south to exterminate the thieves led by Liu Liu, he was sure to force Liu Liu to fight a decisive battle with himself, but Yang Hu of Gunzhou would definitely abandon the city and flee north; Most of the soldiers and horses in the north went south with their own army, leaving only a small number of soldiers and horses to maintain law and order and participate in the reconstruction. Even if he returned to the army to annihilate Yang Hu, the gains outweighed the losses.

After Song Nan said this, the generals were speechless, as leading generals, they considered from the perspective of how to defeat the enemy, and did not consider whether the people would suffer a second time and other things, that was not the matter considered by the generals who led the troops to fight; They also didn't understand Song Nan's concerns.

Song Nan didn't want to explain too much to them, the reason why the military attachés of the Ming Dynasty were not welcomed, I am afraid it was also related to the fact that they only focused on military merit and unscrupulous means, and the generals of the border towns gave the people the impression that if they could kill an enemy army, even if they killed or injured ten people, they would not hesitate to do so, because the head of the Tartar was meritorious, and the lives of the people were worthless.

"Governor, this can't be done, that's not possible, should we camp here and watch? Let's simply not call them officers and soldiers, just shrunken turtle soldiers. ”

Peng Zhong, the commander of the Tianjin Left Guard, was a violent temper, and when Xu Yande was leading the army, he quarreled with Xu Yande several times because he was dissatisfied with Xu Yande's incompetence, and was almost cut off by Xu Yande; Now looking at Song Nan again, he looked hesitant, a nameless fire couldn't be suppressed, his eyes were staring, and his tone was not good.

Wang Yong shouted angrily: "Peng Zhong, are you talking to the Metropolitan Governor? Licentious! ”

Peng Zhong rolled his eyes and said: "I'm telling you the truth, I've never seen such a battle, the number of troops is twice as large as others, and you can make the thieves surrender if you stare at it?" The joke is very. ”

Wang Yong stepped forward and grabbed Peng Zhong's neck, Peng Zhong did not show weakness, even if he wanted to fight back, Song Nan shouted and said, "Stop." ”

The two of them stopped their hands, and Song Nan frowned and said, "General Peng, you have to use your brains to fight, what's the use of just being brave?" I just ordered a strong attack on Gunzhou, and after taking Gunzhou, more than half of the army was killed and wounded, which is also called victory? To obtain the greatest victory with the smallest loss is to be a qualified general, the court soldiers and horses are not pigs, dogs, cattle and sheep, they are all a lot of silver offered, how can they be sent to death in vain? ”

Peng Zhong said: "I'm not afraid of death. ”

Song Nan said: "Isn't it great if you're not afraid of death?" Senseless sacrifices are stupid. ”

Peng Zhong stiffened his neck and said, "Then let's do it here and watch it, is it a smart move?" ”

Song Nan laughed angrily: "Who said we have to do it? Isn't the Governor of Pontus deliberating on a siege strategy? None of them could come up with a good solution, so the governor of Bendu came to tell me what I could do. ”

Peng Zhong was stunned and said: "It turns out that the Metropolitan Governor has already planned to attack the city, and he is willing to be the vanguard of the urgency, and he will be the first to set foot on the head of the city of Gunzhou." ”

Song Nan shook his head helplessly, although this Peng Zhong was reckless, but his temperament was also cute, and he was also eager to break the city, it is estimated that Xu Yande was bullied by the thieves when he was the governor of the East Road, and he felt a vicious anger in his heart.

Cao Sugong, who was also one of the commanders of the Tianjin Sanwei, shouted: "Peng Zhong, if you don't retreat, you have made enough trouble, the governor of the capital is open to you, how can you be allowed to make such nonsense above the military tent meeting." ”

Peng Zhong and Cao Sugong had a very good relationship, they were both commanders of Tianjin Sanwei, and their relationship was as close as brothers, and they also knew that Cao Sugong's reprimand was to oust himself, so he hurriedly confessed and stepped aside.

Everyone heard that Song Nan had a plan in his heart, and they all looked at Song Nan with blank eyes, Song Nan coughed and said: "Everyone, the army has traveled all the way, and along the way encountered many people who desperately escaped from the hands of the thieves, when we recovered Dongchang Mansion, it was almost effortless, the thieves did not fight and handed over Dongchang Mansion, have you considered what the reason is?" ”

All the generals looked at each other, and thought in their hearts: This still needs to be asked, there are only more than 2,000 thieves in Dongchang Mansion, and my tens of thousands of troops are crushed, can they flee without abandoning the city?

However, since Song Nan has this question, the answer must not be so simple, everyone frowned and pondered, and saw Lu Wan, who was five short figures, arched his hand and said: "Governor, according to the lower officials, the military heart of the thieves has been chaotic, the thieves are coerced by the people from the thieves, and the people are unwilling from the bottom of their hearts, the reason why the thieves have grown rapidly is that the people dare not disobey, and the second is that the people dare not disobey, and the second is the ......."

Lu Wan stammered a little, Song Nan looked at him with a smile and said, "Just say it, what's there to hesitate about." ”

Lu Wan gritted his teeth and said: "Second, the law of Shiwu sitting together promulgated by the imperial court is out of date, forcing the people to become thieves. Along the way, we captured thousands of escaped thieves, who were ordinary people, and who believed that this must have something to do with the imperial court's decree to end the Shiwu sitting; The court is not to blame for the past, who among the people is willing to be a thief? Naturally, he ran away at the first opportunity. ”

Song Nan smiled and nodded: "Lord Lu is worthy of being a member of the military department, and he can see the key points at a glance. ”

Lu Wan arched his hand and said: "The Metropolitan Governor has won the award, and the Metropolitan Governor is as wise as a torch, and the Metropolitan Governor asked the imperial court to terminate the method of Shiwu sitting, I am afraid that he also wants to shake the military heart of the thief soldiers, so that the people who are helpless to follow the thief have hope for life." ”

Song Nan said with a smile: "It's true, it seems to have had an effect, but I think that in the city occupied by the thieves, the holy decree of the imperial court will definitely not be able to be conveyed, and many people who have no choice but to follow the thieves do not know that the imperial court has pardoned their crimes of being thieves, should we give them propaganda?" ”

Lu Wan's eyes lit up, and he pointed tall and said: "Clever plan, clever plan, first disintegrate the fighting spirit, and then attack the city, get twice the result with half the effort." ”

Most of the generals in the tent didn't understand what the two were saying, and the war was a war, and it had anything to do with the promulgation or repeal of the imperial court's decree on birds?

I heard Song Nan say: "Lord Lu, since you know my thoughts, I will leave this matter to you, you can use a bow and arrow to shoot leaflets into the city, or you can order people to shout under the city to tell you, in short, be sure to let everyone in the city of Gunzhou know." ”

Lu Wan arched his hand and said: "Follow the orders of the Grand Governor." Then he hurriedly withdrew from the big tent and set it up.

Peng Zhong couldn't help but ask, "Metropolitan Governor, is this your siege strategy?" Could it be that the thieves will go out of the city and surrender on their own? ”

Song Nan laughed and said: "General Peng is an impatient, this method is a move to shake the morale of the army, if you want to break through Gunzhou, you naturally need strong means, and you can do it with real swords and guns." Now comes the point. ”

Everyone was confused by Song Nan and asked him for details.

Song Nan didn't sell Guanzi either, and ordered the guards to carry out a long case and put it in the middle of the big tent, on which was a topographic map of the surrounding areas of Gunzhou made of sand and stones, and left the seat to hold a bamboo pole and came to the sand table and said: "Everyone, where is the fortification of Gunzhou City?" Can anyone tell me? ”

Xu Taidao: "Then you still need to say? The city defense is strong, the moat is wide, and there are many bandit soldiers in the city. ”

Song Nan said: "That's right, according to your opinion, the city gate on that side is the most difficult to take?" ”

Xu Taidao: "Naturally, it is the east gate, Surabaya flows along the city wall, and Gunzhou takes Surabaya as the east moat, and then leads Surabaya to surround the other three gates; The east gate is the main stream of Surabaya, which is more than ten zhang wide, and it is impossible to attack the city gate at all. ”

Song Nan said: "The analysis is right, such a layout, the east gate actually only needs to be arranged with a small number of people, and there is no need to worry about the officers and soldiers reaching under the city wall, because there is no way to build a passage through the main stream of Surabaya under the shroud of arrows, so the east gate is the southernmost attack, which is why the thieves and soldiers only have the least number of people guarding the city at the east gate." ”

Hou Dabiao said: "Is it difficult for adults to know the difficulties and advance? This is ...... That's not a good idea. ”

Song Nan laughed, finished laughing, and waved his hand: "Bring it up." ”

Wang Yong snapped: "Bring it up." ”

The curtain of the big tent was lifted, and an old man with gray hair walked in, followed by a child of eight or nine years old who looked timidly at the hem of the old man's clothes.

The generals were full of suspicions, and they didn't know what Song Nan was doing, but when they saw Song Nan step forward and arch his hand, he said: "Uncle, you are polite, I am afraid that I will bother your old man this time." ”

The old man was busy kneeling down and saluting, but Song Nan hurriedly grabbed him and led him to the sand table.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you, this old man is an old stonemason in Niujia Village in the west of the city, and which little brother is his grandson Xiaohu." Song Nan said with a smile.

The generals rolled their eyes, what are the governors doing? At the moment of the war, there is still kung fu to bring an old man and a weeping boy to the big tent to tease the boring child.

"Xu Tai said just now that the East Gate is the most difficult to attack, and I agree with this; If it were to attack the other gates, it might only cost 810,000 casualties, but attacking the east gate would cost at least twice as many casualties, and no one would be stupid enough to attack the east gate. But there is no absolute, there is a saying that things must be reversed, and the more dangerous the place, the more unexpected it is; When we set up camp this morning, Wang Yong and I walked around and met Uncle Niu in Niujiazhuang in the west. ”