At the beginning of the lanterns, the moon is like water.

A slender figure came to the outer study of the annex, leaning against the door and looking at the scene inside.

Next to the big case by the window, Lu Shen was writing and drawing on paper with a pen, and there were several large stacks of files in front of him. Song Pei stood not far away, helping Lu Shen add tea and ink from time to time, and quietly looked at Lu Shen's side face the rest of the time.

Lu Shen seemed to feel something, turned his head to look at Lin Xi who was standing by the door, and said with some surprise: "Senior sister is here." ”

"Hmm."

Lin Xi responded gently, and then stepped in.

Song Pei hurriedly saluted, and then retired with knowledge and interest.

Lu Shen got up and moved a chair and put it next to the big case, and said to Lin Xi, "Senior sister, please take a seat." ”

Lin Xi didn't refuse, but just tried to avoid the documents on the case as much as possible, and said, "Should I call you junior brother or Captain Lu now?" ”

"Of course, junior brother."

Lu Shen smiled slightly and said sincerely.

He accepted Xiao Wangzhi's recruitment and became the lieutenant of the Huaizhou Governor's Office, which was roughly equivalent to the staff officer in his previous life.

Lu Shen is no stranger to staff officers, after graduating from the military academy in his previous life, he first went to serve in the army, and later was transferred to the special operations brigade to be promoted to instructor because of his outstanding performance, and finally became a military attache stationed abroad.

The staff officers of the previous life were different from the procuratorial captains of this era, because of the single means of warfare and the difficulty of collecting information, it was difficult for the professional staff system to play a great role.

Most of the time, the chief general of an army will have his own staff to analyze the military situation and provide advice, but that's about it.

For Lu Shen, the biggest problem he faces now is the lack of sufficient information.

Lin Xi looked at the tiredness in his eyes that was difficult to hide, and asked softly, "Got in trouble?" ”

Lu Shen exhaled a turbid breath and sighed, "The Metropolitan Governor's expectations for me are too high. ”

After staying away from the smoke of gunpowder in Guangling, the time spent living in Lai'ancheng Villa was very comfortable for Lin Xi.

Every morning, she took Lu Shenyun to practice, and then taught him the ancestral boxing and knife techniques of the Lin family.

After breakfast, Lu Shen would go to the Governor's Mansion to do things, while she stayed in the other garden to watch the various stories that Lu Shen had collected, and she would rest for half an hour at noon.

Wait until around Shen Shi, Lu Shen will come back and exchange with him about the perception of the Xuan Sutra.

She has lived in the mountains since she was a child, and the only thing she remembers every day is to practice hard, and when she is a little older, she walks the rivers and lakes as a bodhisattva, and there is hardly a day of leisure.

Every night before going to bed, she always felt that she couldn't waste her time like this: Lin Xi, you have to teach him as soon as possible, and then go north to help her father do things.

But when I woke up the next day, in the face of Lu Shen's smiling face and the stories and snacks he had carefully prepared, I felt that I couldn't refuse his kindness.

Seeing that Lu Shen was in a state of torment, Lin Xi thought for a while and said, "Don't rush, take your time." ”

Lu Shen told her some things, such as that Xiao Wangzhi and Lu Tong had been friends for many years, so he would enter the Governor's Mansion.

But she didn't want to get to the bottom of it, because it involved the secret military situation of the Huaizhou Governor's Mansion, and she was not a Qi person after all.

However, for Lu Shen, after experiencing those things before, whether Lin Xi is trustworthy is no longer a question that needs to be considered, and in his heart he is second only to Lu Tong.

As soon as he thought of this, he took the initiative to say: "After winning the battle of Qingxia, Xiao Dudu plans to wait for the arrival of reinforcements from the imperial court, and then launch a counteroffensive on the northern front, the target is Qingtian City and Yongquan Pass of Pseudo-Yan. ”

Lin Xi's eyes softened more and more, and then he said, "What does Governor Xiao want you to do?" ”

Lu Shen leaned back in his chair, pointed to the file on the big case with his left hand, and said slowly: "He hopes that I can formulate a complete counteroffensive strategy." ”

"Huh?"

Lin Xi couldn't help but be surprised.

She doesn't know military affairs and knows the difficulty of this matter, the real war is definitely not a dispute between several cottages, even the latter will have all kinds of accidents.

If you want to plan a real war, it takes a lot of effort, and the key is that you have to have the ability to do so.

Lin Xi did not doubt whether Lu Shen had such ability, judging from the various performances in the Battle of Guangling, this young junior disciple did have military talent, Xiao Wangzhi should have taken a fancy to this point so he tested him.

She said with some distress: "How to start this?" ”

Lu Shen's scalp was numb these days, so he simply emptied his head, took out a simple map he had drawn from the table, and then moved the chair closer to Lin Xi, and the distance between the two quickly disappeared.

Lin Xi's eyes moved slightly, but in the end, he still didn't make any movement.

Lu Shen didn't feel that it was inappropriate, and pointed to the map and said: "Senior sister, look at it, the northern part of Huaizhou is the Lai'an defense line, blocking the pseudo-Yan army from going south. From the north of the security line is the Yongquan Pass of the pseudo-Yan, which is located between the mountains and has a steep terrain, which is very similar to the geographical overview of Panlong Pass on our side. ”

Lin Xi watched seriously.

Lu Shen moved his fingers, stayed in the northwest direction of the Lai'an Defense Line, and said: "This is Qingtian City, located in the valley, and the north is the hinterland of Dongyang Road of Pseudo-Yan. If our army wants to counterattack the pseudo-Yan Dongyang Road, Qingtian City is the only way. There are a large number of Jing Dynasty veterans stationed here, but there are not many puppet Yan troops. ”

Lin Xi bowed his head and said, "I understand." If Huaizhou wants to counterattack the Dongyang Road of Yanguo, it will either lay Qingtian City as the foundation of the attack, or storm Yongquan Pass to open the passage to the north, and there are only these two roads. ”

"Senior sister is very smart."

Lu Shen praised and said: "For the Qi State, the meaning of Huaizhou is to protect the land south of the Yangtze River while retaining the springboard for the Northern Expedition. If the puppet Yan and Jing Dynasty occupied the ferry port along the north bank of the river, then the Qi State would not have any ability to fight back. So no matter what the big names in the court think, they must support Xiao Dudu. ”

"On the border between Huaizhou and Pseudo-Yan, from west to east, Panlong Pass, Qingtian City and Yongquan Pass are the three most critical strategic points. If these three places are under the control of the Huaizhou Governor's Office, then our army will have the absolute initiative. If we want to go on a northern expedition, our army can send troops north from these three places, and if we want to hold on, as long as these three places are not lost, the northern army will not be able to enter the territory of Huaizhou. ”

Lu Shen's explanation was simple but accurate, and Lin Xi quickly understood the reason.

She frowned slightly and said, "Since Qingtian City and Yongquan Pass are so important, I'm afraid it's difficult to fight down, right?" ”

"It's hard."

Lu Shen sighed softly, and then said: "Qingtian City is a military city, with a standing army of 10,000 people, and countless grains, grass, and ordnance to defend the city. After the Battle of Qingxia, Pseudo Yan sent 5,000 additional reinforcements here, and they could continue to send reinforcements through the passage north of Qingtian at any time. The terrain of Yongquan Pass is extremely steep, and normally only two thousand people are needed to defend it, but Jing Chao has three thousand old soldiers stationed here, as well as two thousand pseudo-Yan soldiers and horses. ”

The two major defeats of Guangling and Qingxia thwarted the offensive of the Northern Yan, but it did not mean that they were already seriously injured and could not even hold on to the border.

Lin Xi looked at the file on the table and said cautiously, "Is it okay to attack?" ”

Lu Shen rubbed his eyebrows and groaned: "Attacking is the next policy, and you can only do it as a last resort." According to the battle report of the Governor's Mansion, in the Battle of Qingxia, the Zhenbei Army and the Feiyun Army, which served as the main attacker, suffered losses ranging from more than 1,000 to 2,000 people, and the other armies suffered a lot of casualties, and now the total strength is about 62,000 people. ”

"The Panlong Army can't move without permission, and the same is true for the Guangling Army in the rear, and it also needs to be rectified and recuperated. In this way, the strength that our army can use is about 30,000 people, and the total strength of the three armies of the capital and the south government is less than 70,000 when you count the three armies of the capital and the south government that are still on the road. ”

Lu Shen's expression was very solemn.

70,000 soldiers seemed to be a lot of soldiers, and there should be no problem in removing the obstacles in front of Qingtian City and Yongquan Pass, but if you want to storm these two important places, the troops are still stretched.

The most critical point is that he learned from Xiao Wangzhi yesterday that the imperial court's attitude towards the Huaizhou Governor's Mansion was slightly ambiguous.

It is said that Li Daoyan, the left minister who was in power, said at the court meeting that the three armies of the Southern Ya would continue to move north, under the unified command of Xiao Wangzhi, and support him in his tentative counterattack, but he should judge the situation and not force his advance.

At the same time, there is another thing, Xiao Wangzhi's reward was temporarily suppressed, saying that he would wait until the end of the counteroffensive battle to reward him.

Lu Shen immediately heard the implication of the words, if this battle is fought well, it will be rewarded, if it is not fought well, it will be offset by merit and demerits, if it causes very serious consequences, what awaits Xiao Wangzhi is not reward but punishment.

In other words, the best choice for Xiao Wangzhi is to maintain the status quo and become an official by virtue of the merits of the Qingxia War.

But he did not hesitate to pursue the established strategy.

The elders are so resolute, how can Lu Shen not care?

Lin Xi looked at his frowning brows, and suddenly raised his right hand to help him smooth it, but it stopped in mid-air and shrank back.

Lu Shen was slightly stunned, looking at her pretending to be calm, but the reddish earlobes revealed her mood at the moment.

He watched steadily, the soft candlelight reflected on Lin Xi's fair cheeks until it was a faint pink.

The night is gentle and quiet.

"Is it pretty?" Lin Xi asked with a sudden smile.

Lu Shen was just about to agree, but suddenly woke up, and a sense of crisis arose.

Before he could change the subject, he saw Lin Xi's hand like the wind, and his fingers like green onions pinched his ears, although he didn't really exert himself, his tone was very unkind: "You are now shouldering the expectations of the Grand Governor, and the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers are in your plan, how can you be distracted to think about other things." ”

Lu Shenxin said in his heart I am just an ordinary staff officer, no matter how much Xiao Wangzhi values me, it is impossible to really hand over such an important task to a junior who is weak and weak.

But he knew that now was not the time to discuss these issues, so he honestly shouted: "Senior sister, I didn't think about it. ”

"Huh?" Lin Xi pushed a little harder.

Lu Shen hurriedly changed his words: "Okay, okay, I thought about it." ”

Lin Xi snorted lightly and said crisply: "Don't think about it!" ”

Lu Shen pretended to look aggrieved, as if he wanted to ask if I should think about it?

Or, what do you mean I'm thinking, senior sister?

Lin Xi gave him a blank look and slowly got up.

Seeing this, Lu Shen asked, "Senior sister wants to go back?" ”

There was a little more reluctance in his tone.

Lin Xi sneered, took two steps forward to the side of the big case, picked up the ink ingot on the inkstone with his bare hands, and said angrily: "Do things seriously, I'll help you study ink." ”

"Huh!"

Lu Shen smiled happily, and the speed of his promise was very fast, as if he didn't want her words to fall to the ground.

Lin Xi couldn't help but smile brightly on his face.

(End of chapter)