Chapter 361 Everyone has their own plan, who is the better move?

Chapter 361 Everyone has their own plan, who is the better move?

After hearing the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan's words, Li Xin couldn't help but be slightly startled, frowned tightly, and began to fall into deep thought. He tried hard to figure out the deep meaning of the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan's words, but after a moment of thinking, he still couldn't fully understand the other party's intentions.

Li Xin looked puzzled and said, "General, what does this mean? I really don't understand."

At this time, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan looked at the bewildered Li Xin and slowly explained: "Old General, please listen to me. At present, only if I continue to stay in Yecheng can I more effectively induce Long County to send troops to attack this place. My real purpose is to lead the army to directly raid Guilin County and defeat Gaoyao in one fell swoop. Therefore, now we urgently need someone who is capable of defending Yecheng to stay here, and looking at the overall situation, the one who can take on this important task is none other than the old general!"

At this point, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan paused for a moment, observing Li Xin's reaction. Seeing that he seemed to have understood something, he continued, "At the same time, military operations in other directions must still proceed steadily as planned, and there must be no slackness. We must create an illusion so that Gao Yao cannot understand the true strength and strategic deployment of our army. In this way, he will mistakenly think that we will still focus on competing with him for Long County, and thus relax our vigilance against Guilin County. The Art of War says: 'War is the way of deception.' Now that Gao Yao has just won a major victory, he must be full of confidence and wants to strike while the iron is hot and continue to fight fiercely with the court in the Long County area. Then we might as well follow his idea, maintain the status quo on the surface, and attack quickly in secret to catch him off guard!"

After saying these words, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan stopped talking and just stared at Li Xin quietly, obviously waiting for Li Xin to express his attitude and response.

"General, rest assured. Even if I risk my life, I will definitely defend it!" Li Xin hesitated for a moment, but soon gave a decisive answer. He was so determined for two reasons: first, the previous defeat of the vanguard army made him realize that the root cause was his greed for merit and recklessness; second, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan in front of him was the main general of this operation. Although he was communicating in a tone of negotiation, Li Xin knew that if he dared to express his opposition, this so-called negotiation would probably turn into an unquestionable military order in an instant.

"Okay, thank you, old general! You can rest assured, I will lead 10,000 soldiers and horses to attack Guilin County immediately." Hearing that Li Xin agreed, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan showed satisfaction and nodded slightly.

However, Xin was stunned when he heard the number of troops mentioned by Yi Xiaochuan, and blurted out: "Ten thousand? General, isn't this number of troops a little too few!"

"It doesn't matter. Ten thousand troops are enough. This is the southern border after all. Gao Yao should be able to detect any action of our army. Speed ​​is of the essence in war. The more people we have, the more disadvantageous we are. I will set off soon. We must seize Ye City in our hands in order to firmly attract Gao Yao's attention."

"Well, General, please rest assured that I will never let Yecheng be lost!" After hearing the words of the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan, Li Xin immediately expressed his opinion.

For the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan, at this moment, he has lost the arrogant and domineering attitude he had when he confronted Gao Yao in the past. It must be admitted that Gao Yao's current powerful strength is indeed not to be underestimated, so mysterious Yi Xiaochuan can no longer take it lightly, he knows that he must concentrate on dealing with this powerful enemy in front of him.

At the same time, far away on the other side of Guilin County, Gaoyao finally received the good news from Ying Bu leading the vanguard army.

This record was so amazing that even Zhang Liang could not help but exclaim: "My Lord, what you said is true. Ying Bu is really brave! With only 10,000 troops to ambush 20,000 enemy troops, he was able to win a great victory!" At this moment, Zhang Liang did not hide his admiration for Ying Bu. This praise was actually equivalent to his recognition of Gao Yao. After all, it was Gao Yao who had a unique vision and entrusted Ying Bu with an important task, and the latter immediately handed in such a brilliant answer.

Hearing this, Gao Yao nodded slightly to show his agreement: "Well, to be honest, even I did not expect this result. I did not expect that Ying Bu really gave this general an unexpected surprise." Gao Yao could not hide his inner surprise and joy in his words.

This is definitely not the same as dealing with the Chu army as before! If we just fought against the Chu army and achieved such a result, it would not be something to brag about or be proud of. Because this time we are facing the elite division of the imperial court, among which there are many veterans with rich experience. Although the Southern Border Army has certain advantages in equipment and training, in terms of actual combat experience, they are indeed not comparable to the imperial court army. This is undoubtedly an objective fact that must be frankly acknowledged.

In such a seemingly unfavorable situation, Ying Bu was able to defeat the enemy with a small force and successfully win the battle. This was a shot in the arm for the Southern Border Army at the moment, greatly boosting the morale of the army. You know, since the beginning of the war, the Southern Border Army has always been in a state of passive defense, and then reluctantly gave up Xiangjun.

Although this series of actions were carefully planned, it is undeniable that they had a considerable impact on the morale of the Southern Border Army. This was especially true when Gao Yao arrived in Guilin County. Although the soldiers were still able to obey orders and there had been no desertions, it was obvious that their morale had dropped to the lowest point. Many soldiers looked like they had no fighting spirit and were in low spirits.

The fierce battle now was like a drumbeat of war, which greatly boosted the originally low morale of the Southern Border Army. The impact it brought was extremely significant for the next series of military operations.

"Come here! Immediately spread this victory news to the entire army!" Following Gao Yao's loud shout, a messenger immediately entered the main hall.

"Yes," the messenger replied, then turned and left, quickly carrying out the task of conveying the good news.

At this time, Li Yi had no intention of being humble at all and issued orders decisively, because he was well aware of the great significance of this victory.

The messengers rushed away like arrows, carrying the exciting news of victory, and quickly shuttled between the various military camps. At the same time, they sent out multiple batches of scouts to pass the news to Nanhai County and Cao Shen in the breakaway area.

After his excitement subsided, Gao Yao's sharp eyes began to flash with thought. He hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at Zhang Liang beside him and said, "Sir, in my opinion, we should send General Ying Bu to continue to attack Yecheng. What do you think?"

After this inspiring victory, Gao Yao could not wait to launch further strategic deployments, seize the opportunity to win, and completely reverse the situation.

At the same time, this also means that this battle, which lasted for nearly two months and was extremely frustrating, finally ushered in the dawn of a counterattack. According to Zhang Liang's carefully planned layout, the 20,000 southern border troops who were forced to retreat to the mountains and forests were not doing nothing, nor were they just spectators in this fierce war. In fact, the reason why they had been sitting still was that they had a more important and confidential mission, quietly moving outside Xia County and pointing their spearheads directly at the baggage troops responsible for transporting food and grass for the court.

Only in this way can the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan completely forget about the 20,000 troops and relax the management of the rear. As long as this batch of food and grass can be cut off, the imperial army will no longer be able to attack even if it has the ability to turn the tide, and may even have to start to retreat and defend. Without food, the army will have no combat effectiveness at all, and it will take too long to wait for the next batch of food and grass.

This is only the first step. Zhang Liang's second idea is to take advantage of the opportunity to capture Xia County again. In this way, the situation will be completely different. The imperial army that has entered Xiang County will become a turtle in a jar. At that time, it will be time for the Southern Border Army to close the door and fight the dog.

"My lord!" Zhang Liang looked at Gao Yao solemnly, clasped his hands and said, "I still insist that my lord should remain calm at this moment. It is true that we won this battle, but the court has a deep foundation and it is far from being so easily shaken. If we only take a defensive stance, we may be able to barely maintain the situation. Once we choose to take the initiative to attack Yecheng, I am afraid it will be very easy to fall into a passive situation. After all, the enemy only needs to concentrate its superior forces to easily defeat General Ying Bu's troops. Although Ying Bu is brave and fearless, human power is limited. After all, he can't fight against an army of ten thousand people alone!"

Hearing that Gao Yao actually intended to attack Yecheng directly, Zhang Liang was extremely anxious and hurried forward to advise. After this defeat, the imperial army still had at least 80,000 people in Xiang County. On the other hand, Ying Bu and his subordinates, plus the garrison of Long County, had no more than 20,000 people at most. How should this battle be fought with such a huge difference in strength between the two sides? Even if Ying Bu was the bravest of the three armies, he would be unable to turn the tide when facing an enemy that was several times his size.

Just when everyone was silent, Gao Yao suddenly said, "Don't panic, sir. If I say this, it means I have a plan to make Yecheng fall without attacking. Then our army can take it over. What do you think?"

After hearing this, even Zhang Liang, who was always calm and wise, could not help but stand there in a daze. After a while, he came to his senses and asked in a trembling voice: "My lord... are you serious? I wonder what good plan you have?"

At this time, Zhang Liang really didn't understand how Gao Yao could take down Yecheng, which was guarded by at least 30,000 troops, or how it would fall without attacking. Zhang Liang also couldn't think of any way to make the imperial army, or the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan, give up Yecheng voluntarily.