"It doesn't seem to be useful, but in fact it's just the beginning, and before the end, who can guarantee that you'll always be the one who laughs?"

It is still a small courtyard under Qixia Mountain, Gu Huai, who wanted to turn over the soil while the sky was clear, held a hoe and said to Wei Laosan on the side: "Since you are a secret spy, you should never let the enemy know your true purpose, once the purpose is exposed, it will be difficult to find flaws." ”

Seeing that the chief official was doing farm work and enjoying himself, Wei Laosan only felt that the adult was afraid that something was wrong with his idleness, but he didn't dare to say it explicitly, so he could only be an echo worm: "I know, my lord." ”

"By the way, there's news from the north?"

The mention of this Wei Laosan shook his spirits, he took out the spy report and licked his fingers, and read: "In October, the prince sent troops to Cangzhou, which was heavily garrisoned by the Southern Army, annihilated tens of thousands of Southern Army, and captured the general Xu Kai, and then the cavalry kept going, traveling hundreds of miles, Lianke Jining, Linqing and other places, Sheng Yong led the troops to garrison Xu County, and Texas was far away, and he did not dare to send troops to oppose him, so he could only hold on. ”

Another big victory... Gu Huai was not surprised by this, he scattered the army of the imperial court, and the Yan army with many cavalry naturally unshackled and could raid everywhere as much as he wanted, and the imperial army scattered all over the place could not organize a decent offensive or defensive position at all, and now the newly appointed rebellious general Sheng Yong had the ability to fight head-on with the Yan army, but he led the army around the Shandong border.

It's just that this big victory made Gu Huai frown, Zhu Di... Isn't it too anxious? The rear needs to be stable, the results of the battle need to be digested, and the soldiers need to rest, and the successive battles can indeed make the southern army tired, but on the contrary, the Yan army also missed the only time to recuperate from late autumn to winter next year.

It shouldn't be.

But in any case, it is a good thing to be able to win another battle after all, Wei Laosan, the elm pimple, seemed to suddenly open his mind, and he was so excited that he was gearing up: "My lord, do you want to spread this news to the city as well?" I inquired, and the news was pressed by the court, but it didn't come out at all. ”

Contrary to his expectations, Gu Huai shook his head: "No." ”

"Why?"

"Publicizing it will make the court disgusting and disgusting at most, after all, the defeat of the Battle of Jinan is here, and it is useless to publicize this kind of defeat, and this matter is contrary to our purpose."

Wei Laosan had a constipated expression on his face: "My lord, what is our purpose?" ”

Gu Huai glanced at him and continued to raise his hoe: "Will you blow people?" ”

"Blow what?"

"The idiom is to capture the old and indulge, the scientific name is to kill, and the common saying is to take what you want to give first," Gu Huai patiently explained: "Iron waste Li Jinglong, Ming God of War Sheng Yong, how to blow next, do you still need me to teach more?" ”

……

Sheng Yong, the god of war of the Ming Dynasty in Gu Huai's mouth, didn't know that someone had already buried a pit for him in Jinling, and at this time he was looking at the map of the northern territory in front of him and worried.

Zhu Di's movements are too fast... God is pitiful, the will of the court has come down, Sheng Yong feels extremely glorious at the same time, but also feels the pressure on his body, because although the will is not explicitly stated, but every sentence is urging him, the new rebellious general, to hurry up the northern expedition, and quickly bring the happy Zhu Di to justice, in desperation, Sheng Yong can only take the army from Xuzhou to the Shandong border, and fall into contemplation against Zhu Di on the opposite side.

But before the Northern Expedition began, Zhu Di took the preemptive strike, the Yan army rushed all the way to attack, and the southern army stationed in the south had no time to react, and this time the Yan army also had great changes, it was a very difficult thing for them to attack the city with many cavalry, in the past, they were mostly fighting in the field, even if they won't get anything, but this time they brought fire guns, all the way to attack the city, Sheng Yong's front of the defense map on behalf of the Yan army The color is spreading at a terrifying speed.

It's not going to go on like this.

But even if he realized this clearly, Sheng Yong was desperate to find that he had no way, the old bottom of the court was basically exhausted in the first two Northern Expeditions to counterinsurgency, and now he has made the rear tight with more than 100,000 troops, if he really attacks Beiping again in winter, it really doesn't need Zhu Di to make a move, and he can be consumed to death in the north.

At this time, Zhu Di obviously had a stronger desire to attack than before, because the imperial army that could hinder him had been dispersed, and he and the Yan army could attack everywhere with the advantage of firearms, and he was crazy to expand his territory.

Sheng Yong pressed his hands on the handsome case, and only felt a deep helplessness filling his heart.

What to do?

A year ago, he served as a general under Geng Bingwen; Half a year ago, he became the governor under Li Jinglong. These two things have a lot in common, that is, he didn't get any chance to play, but he both experienced defeat inexplicably.

experienced the defeat of Zhending, and he followed Geng Bingwen to watch Zhu Di show off his martial arts in Zhending City; After experiencing the battle of Baigou River, he was even more unlucky than last time, and inexplicably became the guard of Jinan City, and then he held it for three months.

He learned a lot of things, such as how to escape after defeating the battle, how to choose an escape route, how to clean up the remnants of the defeated generals, etc., in one failed battle after another, he seems to have become accustomed to the role of the vanquished, people run, he also runs, from Zhending to Beiping, and from Beiping to Dezhou, Jinan, has always been driven around like a duck, even the highlight of his military career is blocked in the city without a little hope.

Thinking of this, Sheng Yong couldn't help but smile bitterly, the so-called dignity of a soldier seems to have become a joke in him, failure, escape, failure, and escape, what dignity is there in the military career like a lost dog?

In this way, it seemed that the battle of Jinan had finally come to work, and all the injustices of the previous fate had become rewards, and he became the rebellious general of the imperial court and took over Li Jinglong's position, but even so, he could only look at Zhu Di's figure from afar, and asked himself: Is this person really something he can defeat?

Zhu Di's ability to command the cavalry to attack and break through quickly, the suddenness of the choice of timing and the accurate battlefield judgment have been fully revealed in the year of Jingjing, every time Sheng Yong sees him taking the lead, leading the elite cavalry to and fro, no one can stop the majestic posture, there will always be endless emotion and inferiority.

Including at this moment, Zhu Di is sweeping the north, occupying one city after another, and setting his sights on the dragon chair located in Jinling, but he Sheng Yong can only watch here, whether Zhu Di can be blocked or not, whether he can win is another matter.

But he is no longer that little general or governor, he commands the army, carrying all the hopes of Zhu Yunwen, and he also knows that he can no longer let Zhu Di expand the base area so well, and then one day the troops will be directed at Jinan, the imperial court needs to stabilize the situation, and it can no longer be dragged on as before.

Small fights cannot solve the problem, and a decisive battle is imperative.

There are many generals in the military tent, most of them were promoted by him in the Battle of Jinan, Sheng Yong's eyes swept over their faces one by one, and he saw that they were as unwilling as himself, the same... Hungry for victory.

His fingers focused on one place: "I have made up my mind, I should fight Yan Yi in this place!" ”

"Dongchang!"

……

While Sheng Yong was trying his best to choose the location of the decisive battle against the map, Zhu Di also looked south after laying another city.

Indeed, as Sheng Yong expected, the failure of Jinan made Zhu Di sleepless, especially Tie Xuan's use of means such as hanging the god card to force him back made him feel teased, so he did not use winter to digest the results of the year as planned at the beginning, but attacked from all sides, laid down one city after another, scattered the garrisons in one place after another, captured the supplies of the imperial court, and forced Sheng Yong's army in Shandong to continue to move north, until he was far away from Texas, but he did not dare to take the initiative to attack even one step.

This feeling of having everything under control is beautiful, different from being forced to fight a decisive battle with the imperial army before, at this moment Zhu Di clearly realized that the initiative on the battlefield was in his own hands, and Jinan's defeat was just because Tie Xuan played some cleverness, and Sheng Yong on the opposite side only had the ability to defend, and what really decided the outcome of the battlefield was the offense.

When it comes to attacking, if you look at the world, who can match you?

Sheng Yong's real plan to conquer the city was not unaware of Sheng Yong's real plan to attack the city with a cold eye on the border troops, but he had full self-confidence, and this self-confidence was even more inflated after he took over the investigation and espionage report of Sheng Yong by the Secret Spy Division, because in his opinion, there is only one Ping An who can be called his opponent in the Southern Army, if Ping An becomes the commander of the Southern Army, it will indeed be difficult to deal with, but Zhu Yunwen seems to have made another big mistake, he made Sheng Yong the commander, and only let Ping An be Sheng Yong's deputy.

How can a general who has no merits, who only defends a city by despicable means, and who is extremely bad at commanding cavalry, be worthy of being his opponent?

In the era of cold weapons, cavalry was the main force of war, and Zhu Di was precisely the best cavalry general in the Northern and Southern Army. A nobody, why should he worry about any of his designs?

If you want a decisive battle, then come! This war is destined to have no suspense.

In November, the Yan army successively captured Dong'e and Dongping, and this time the southern army finally did not stand idly by, Sheng Yong with his army, was waiting for Zhu Di in front.

More than 100,000 against more than 100,000, since the beginning of the Jingjing, the two sides set up a position for the first time with equal troops, and what surprised Zhu Di was that Sheng Yong did not choose to stick to the city like Jinan, but... Set up camp in your back and prepare to meet yourself.

He narrowed his eyes and opened the march map.

"Dongchang..."