royal robes

Chapter 596
Xuzhou City

The war was about to break out, and Murong Yanchao was anxious to capture Xuzhou, but Guo Wei actually sent Chai Rong to gather all his troops here. The troops defending the city were not weaker than those who attacked the city. Although the soldiers have enough to eat, they don't have warm clothes. How can they attack the city like this?
It stands to reason that Murong Yanchao should have been anxious at this time and borrowed Li Jing's [-] troops. Before they could attack the city, the soldiers were all hiding in the city to warm themselves up. Although there was enough food and grass, it would not be a problem if it continued like this.The borrowed soldiers must not only fight, but must also win, otherwise he and Li Jing will also become enemies.

But the real situation is that Murong Yanchao is not in a hurry to attack the city at all, but Li Tangfang has been urging him to attack the city quickly.Because of Datang's financial problems, they had to attack the city as soon as possible after receiving the imperial decree to rob the city of resources, otherwise the treasury would no longer be able to support it, and even the salaries of the ministers would not be paid out.

Li Jing knew that there were [-] troops in Xuzhou city, and Lei Hong provided all the food, grass and military pay for these soldiers, because Fan Zhi, the military governor of Xuzhou Zhongwu Army, was Lei Hong's son-in-law, and Lei Hong's daughter Lei Fang was also in the city.Lei Hong got a lot of benefits in Yandao, his grandson was already rich like an enemy, and with the help of Yandao, he was unprecedentedly strong.However, Lei Hong did not send a single soldier, but only supported Guo Wei financially, which also made Li Jing very curious.

Li Jing didn't know why Lei Hong, a wild crane like Lei Hong, had been helping Guo Wei. He only knew one thing. The original setting was that Lei Hong and Zhao Jing were two people, one was a king and the other was a fief.Let the two restrain each other, because Lei Hong and Zhao Jing's martial arts are too high, and ordinary people can't control them at all. If anyone has a heart, there is really nothing they can do about them.

That's why Lei Hong and Zhao Jing had a large army for so many years, but never sent troops.Only the latest time, Lei Hong suddenly sent troops to the Northern Han Dynasty, but came back halfway, and that time all the masters of Lei Wang's mansion went to battle, the whole world was wondering what kind of enmity between Lei Hong and Liu Chong.

Fortunately, this battle was not fought. As long as Lei Hong dared to send troops to the Northern Han Dynasty, Zhao Jing might slowly raise troops to invade the land around Luoyang, expand his power and turn to Kaifeng Bianliang.After all, Lei Hong didn't know how long it would take to attack the Northern Han Dynasty, so Zhao Jing had enough time to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, and then send troops to Lei Wang's mansion.

If this kind of thing really happened, it would be a good thing for Datang, as he could take advantage of the internal turmoil in the Great Zhou to occupy the land of the Great Zhou.Sure enough, it was a person surnamed Lei. There was a lot of thunder and little rain, and he frightened everyone once, but nothing happened.

At this time, in Murong Yanchao's mansion, Li Jingduan was sitting next to Murong Yanchao in the main seat.The two are not monarchs and ministers, and now they are in a cooperative relationship, so they can sit together to discuss matters.

Li Jing said: "King Yan, I have sent 300 troops to help with all the strength of the whole country, but you let my soldiers from the Tang Dynasty freeze here. After so long, you only attacked the city twice, and all of them died [-] people. For the battle, the opponent has deployed an equal force in Xuzhou. If you can't go all out, how long are you going to fight this battle? Guo Wei's army has Lei Hong's help, and there is enough food and grass, but I don't have so much money to spend with you. "

"Your Majesty, what do you call this? Are you spending money to spend with me?" Murong Yanchao said disdainfully: "These soldiers need to eat in Xuzhou, don't they need to eat in Jinling? They just bought a few more clothes , As for being so serious? I know exactly what you are thinking. You just want to take away all the property sent by Lei Hong after capturing the west city of Xuzhou. But you know very well in your heart that siege is always the biggest It is necessary to triple the strength of the troops, but now the strength of the two sides is not much different, even if they attack the city, they will seek their own death. I, Murong Yanchao, have nothing to fear. At worst, I will flee to Kunlun Mountains and see who dares to do anything to me? But if this The one hundred thousand troops all died in Xuzhou, and then you will be truly widowed."

Li Jing is a veteran on the battlefield, how could he not understand the situation?Li Jing knew very well that the task of his [-] troops was to contain Guo Wei's [-] troops and let Liu Chong attack with all his might without hesitation.At this time, Guo Wei had no troops, and the situation of this battle was obvious. Jiedu envoys from all over the country would definitely not send troops. Even if Guo Wei issued an imperial edict, it might not be useful, so he had to fight alone.

At this time, only the two or three thousand troops that Guo Wei could barely cobble together to guard Weizhou should be at most removed from the city guards of Bianliang City in Kaifeng, at most about five thousand, and Liu Chong had ten thousand troops more than Guo Wei. With more than twice the strength of the troops, there is no doubt that this battle will be won, there is no suspense.

The next thing is simple, since it is Xuzhou's side, they only need to wait for the good news that Liu Chong has captured Kaifeng.As long as there is any change in Xuzhou's side, troops will be sent to attack the city immediately.

Li Jing said: "Murong Yanchao, you are too calm. This battle is not easy. I think that Liu Chong may not be able to capture Weizhou, so we must attack the city with all our strength, or we will wait for spring tomorrow, and the spring rain will continue At that time, the road was slippery, and the soldiers had to go home to farm, otherwise the family members would starve to death in the coming year, so our time is only after the beginning of spring, no matter whether we win or lose, we have to retreat.”

It is already an international practice to withdraw troops after the beginning of spring, unless there is a reason to continue fighting.At least for Khitan and Li Jing, they don't have this reason. If Li Jing and Khitan retreat, Liu Chong will have to retreat too. The most threatened person will be Murong Yanchao. people.Guo Wei's army was sent to Xuzhou, and he was sure to die.

It’s just that this battle won’t start in the spring, and Guo Wei has no soldiers in his hands. How could he fight against the coalition forces of the Northern Han Dynasty and the Khitan?
"Please rest assured, King Tang. My brother will definitely be able to conquer Weizhou. Guo Wei has no troops at all. How can he resist? We will wait here with peace of mind. News of Weizhou's city destruction will come soon."

Li Jing said: "Don't forget a key person, Zong Xin. Zong Xin is not an ordinary person. He has not failed so far. A small spell can trap all 10,000+ troops in Xuzhou City. Now even the courage to attack the city It's all gone, Liu Chong may not be able to bear it."

"What is a small spell? The weather in southern Xuzhou suddenly blocked the streets with a blizzard. This is an unprecedented event. If Zong Xin is considered a small spell, you send someone to melt the snow, and I will immediately attack the city." " Murong Yanchao said depressedly: "I already knew that Zong Xin was great, but I was more anxious than you. A few years ago, Zong Xin asserted that I died of cold and starvation. At that time, I was already stationed in Xuzhou Naturally, I don’t believe it. In the end, he actually made Xuzhou snow heavily, didn’t he come here for me? I’m really worried that I won’t be able to survive this winter.”

Li Jing said: "Don't believe that, Zong Xin is a magic stick, doesn't he just know some spells? What's the big deal? He just deliberately scares you so that you don't dare to attack the city. If you don't believe him, there is no need to be afraid. If you If you believe it, there is no need to be afraid. Anyway, you died of cold and hunger, not in a siege battle, so you can lead troops to attack the city, or even lead the battle. You can't die, if you die, it means Zong Xin made a mistake, if you don't die, can we worry about this problem?"

Murong Yanchao was already terrified in his heart, but Li Jing said that, of course he was very depressed.Liu Chong will definitely win this battle, so there is no need to forcibly capture Xuzhou. This is also for the sake of the soldiers. If it is cold, do you want to attack the city?The clothes are so thick that you can't even climb the ladder, so how can you attack the city?
Murong Yanchao nodded and said: "Zong Xin's spells are powerful, I have already considered it, but his spells are not so powerful that he can't stand up to thousands of troops no matter how powerful he is alone. Wanma, my eldest brother will definitely be able to capture Weizhou smoothly, and when the time comes, we will drive straight in and the Great Zhou Dynasty will be at our fingertips, and we should give a lot of points at that time."

Although Li Jing was a little worried about Zong Xin, it was indeed the case when he thought about it carefully. As long as Zong Xin couldn't change the army or soldiers, what could he do by himself?But then again, if Zong Xin can really conjure up soldiers, so what if they attack the city here?Still will not be beaten back.

"Well, I will give up my life to accompany the villain, and spend time with you, to see who will die first." Li Jing said depressedly: "But Murong Yanchao, you have to listen to me clearly, the time is until the spring of next year, after the spring, Liu If Chong has not conquered Kaifeng, I will definitely retreat. Without my troops to restrain him, Guo Wei may fight back at any time, you must know this."

"clear."

Both of them actually knew that they could not retreat this time, but they had to negotiate terms and explain their importance.Guo Wei also took a lot of benefits from Zongxin's Salt Island, and these benefits cannot be monopolized by Liu Chong.Although the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty did not contribute much this time, the combined forces of their three parties may not have as many as Li Jing, so Li Jing is the most important help.

Li Hongji said: "Father, you think Zong Xin is too high. From what I see, Zong Xin is not very good. All [-] troops are sent to Xuzhou. If the troops are divided into two groups, they may still be able to defend." Stop. You have also said that the siege requires three times the number of troops. You only need to deploy [-] troops in Xuzhou and send the remaining [-] troops to Weizhou. Not only will you not be so passive, but it will also occupy some of the city's defenders The advantage is right."

Li Jing looked at the eldest son helplessly, how could he have given birth to such a thing in his smart life?In the future, if the country is to be handed over to such a person, the country will perish sooner or later.But this also proves one thing, the eldest son is just an ordinary person, not an imbecile, what he needs is accumulation of experience, and he will gradually get better.

"General Murong, let's stop here today. Let's wait for the battle report from Liu Chong." Li Jing stared at Li Hongji and said, "Stop talking, let's go."

Li Jing left with her three sons, but Murong Yanchao looked at Li Hongji shamelessly.Murong Yanchao was already thinking about how to deal with Datang. Li Jing was an old man, but Li Hongji was easy to deal with.None of Li Jing's three sons were very good. Although Li Congjia was smart and had good martial arts skills, he was blind after all and could not achieve great things.If two idiots, Li Hongji and Li Hongmao, were in charge of the Tang Dynasty, it would not be difficult to seize the Tang Dynasty.

Zong Xin's arrangement has fully demonstrated Zong Xin's wisdom.As long as all the troops are concentrated in Xuzhou, Xuzhou will not be able to fight.In this way, Da Zhou's true strength can be preserved, leaving opportunities for Guo Wei's counterattack.If the troops are divided and both sides attack the city at the same time, no matter which side loses, Guo Wei will be finished.

Moreover, the west city of Xuzhou is a newly built city wall, which is full of bean curd dregs. If Zongxin hadn't blocked the streets with heavy snow, even the same army would have dared to attack.Zong Xin's move really put a stick in the hearts of Murong Yanchao and Li Jing, and they couldn't get up or down.

Obviously, Zongxin's goal is to delay the time until next spring.Before that, Guo Wei was guarding Weizhou. When the city of Weizhou was broken, he moved a step east and continued to guard the city.What they need now is time. Only when they have time can they gather more troops, and Guo Wei's strength has been preserved. This is the only way to survive.

Li Hongji didn't understand, just said something nonsense.He thought he was very smart, but in fact he was the stupidest one.

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(End of this chapter)