Zhu Xian Town, the garrison of the Vietnamese army.

At this time, the whole army looked depressed and demoralized.

This is an inevitable thing, in the next battle of Kaifeng City today, they were indeed too miserable to lose.

The number of casualties alone reached an unprecedented more than 2,000 people, and many generals were killed or wounded, and even General Liang Zuoche Liang, who was a deputy general in the army and quite popular, actually died in the city.

All of this dealt a heavy blow to the whole army, and it was not even reflected in the specific casualty figures.

And not only ordinary soldiers, but also those generals who are not low in status, are also dissatisfied in their hearts, but they are not easy to show for a while.

Because everyone knows that today's fiasco is, in the final analysis, because of His Majesty the Emperor's willful actions and hasty decisions. If it weren't for the fact that he wanted to punish Liang Zuoche, who made a so-called mistake, how could the latter desperately rush to the city and die in the fire with so many soldiers?

However, how noble is His Majesty the Emperor's status? As courtiers, how dare they express their unhappiness in their hearts?

Of course, everyone's attitude is still transmitted through changes in demeanor and reaction, for example, in the Chinese military tent at this time, from Yanhu down, more than eighty percent of the generals are sad, but silent.

Sun Ning's face was calm, and after learning of the casualties of the defeat in this battle, he sighed lightly: "This is because I underestimated the determination and arrangement of the defenders in the city. Unexpectedly, only this little bit of people remained, and even the Kaifeng defenders who didn't know the life and death of the commander dared to die to the end today. ”

There was silence in response. It wasn't until half an hour later that Yan Hu said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty Mingjian, if it weren't for the thief army's perseverance, the ministers would not have come to besiege Kaifeng and would not have been killed."

"Compared with the surrounding cities that we took down in one fell swoop, this Kaifeng City is much stronger in terms of its own defense and the attitude of the defenders, and I am afraid it is not overnight at all."

As he spoke, he once again gave a deep salute: "So I hope that Your Majesty can put the army first, and don't force it to break the city in a short period of time."

"Because as far as the minister knows, there are still hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Kaifeng City, if you only defend the city, as long as it is a young and strong man, or even a stronger woman, you can rely on the geographical advantage to exert the lethality of an elite soldier.

"Moreover, the city is also extremely abundant in terms of food and other materials - the surrounding small cities before were not so much defeated by the heavenly soldiers of our imperial court, but rather abandoned by them on their own initiative. They had already concentrated all their supplies in Kaifeng City, and they had already made full preparations for holding the city. ”

These words quickly won the unanimous support of the other generals, and they also saluted one after another: "Your Majesty, what General Yan said is very true, this Kaifeng is indeed not so easy to fight, I am afraid it will be a protracted offensive and defensive war." So ......"

Seeing that they were all hesitating, Sun Ning smiled and said, "So in your opinion, the will mentioned in my previous will to take Kaifeng before the year is completely chaotic?" ”

"The minister didn't dare to ......," the generals hurriedly bent down and replied.

It's just that although I don't dare, the meaning is still very clear, and I really don't think that I can break the seal before the year.

Yan Hu said this with his subordinates, but his eyes secretly glanced at Sun Ning, guessing whether His Majesty the Emperor would be angry because of this.

After all, in this way, he is really disobeying the emperor's order and challenging the emperor's authority.

Although there has always been a saying that the general will not be subject to the orders of the foreign monarch, the question is, now that the emperor is in the army, how can he still disobey the order?

Sun Ning didn't get as angry as he feared, but asked in a deep voice, "What if the imperial court continues to look at the increase of troops here?" Can the city be broken as soon as possible? ”

"I'm afraid it's hard." Yan Hu said truthfully, "Your Majesty, the minister just said that there are still hundreds of thousands of people in the city, which are enough for thieves."

"Over the years, Qin Yude, the head of the thief, and others have been quite tolerant of the local people, so they have won the hearts of the local people. Now that they have reached this point, they are naturally willing to fight to the death for it. ”

Sun Ning frowned slightly, but in the end he still accepted this fact: "Okay, it seems that it is indeed impossible to take Kaifeng City blindly by storming." ”

"Your Majesty, the only way to do this now is to use the strength of my Dayue country to slowly consume the city with him, and for a long time, can we capture it at the minimum cost.

"In the minister's opinion, our army can also use a two-pronged strategy to speed up this process."

"Oh? But what is it? ”

"That is, besieging the city on all sides, breaking all contact with the outside world. On the other side, by building a dam, the water of the Bianhe River was cut off and the water was stored in the upper reaches of Kaifeng. In this way, after a few months, at the latest, half a year later, you can flood Kaifeng and reproduce the story of Qin's destruction of Wei Chu! ”

Yan Hu said, his expression was a little excited: "It's just that in this way, the manpower to be requisitioned and mobilized is quite a lot, and His Majesty must issue an order to requisition the people from Lianghuai and Lianghu and other places......"

The other generals also nodded their heads in approval, feeling that this was a strategy for the oldest of the country.

In the face of everyone's statement, Sun Ning fell silent, and only asked after a while: "I ask you, how many innocent people will be buried in the water in this way?" How much will the two Huai and two lakes be delayed? As a result, how many people have gone hungry and their families have died? ”

All the generals were stunned, they really hadn't thought about these things carefully, and even Yan Hu, who proposed this strategy, was a little dazed.

Sun Ning sighed and said, "I know that you are only enterprising for the sake of the imperial court, but such a method will cause too much trouble after all. Even if you don't mention the rear losses of the imperial court as a result, the deaths and injuries of hundreds of thousands of people in Kaifeng after being flooded alone are enough to make people unbearable.

"Don't forget, this is my Dayue world, even if they have been thieves, but they are not guilty to death, they are still my Dayue people."

These words are righteous and awe-inspiring, and they are really difficult to refute.

But everyone inevitably muttered in their hearts, His Majesty the Emperor doesn't have a backache when he stands and talks, the people in the city are people, aren't we waiting for soldiers?

Is it really to protect these rebellious people, so that the soldiers continue to die?

Sun Ning saw what they were thinking, and said with a straight face: "This is the next policy, and it must not be used unless it is a last resort." And here, I still have a good strategy, maybe I can take Kaifeng City at the least cost, and it will definitely take the least time. ”

"What's your majesty's plan?" Yan Hu asked curiously, and the others also looked at Sun Ning with a straight face, and then after he said his strategy, they all showed strange expressions.