Chapter 462 Initiative

Chapter 462 Initiative

Chapter 462 Initiative

Lu Ming climbed to the top of a dock and overlooked the south.

The Qi River meanders southward across the vast flat plains.

The wilderness is desolate and quiet, with wild meadows everywhere.

When it reaches Fangtou, the Qi River seems to have encountered tremendous resistance and is tamed by the earth. It turns eastward and merges into Baigou.

In the triangle area where Baigou and Qishui meet, there were flags everywhere and people were crowded around.

Countless young men with bare chests laid a solid foundation.

A large group of auxiliary soldiers held nets woven with hemp ropes and repeatedly sifted through the fine soil.

There were also people pointing and planning the layout of the city.

What a lively scene of city building!

A trench has been dug to the north of the city construction site, and a second one is being dug.

The moat connects to the Qi River and serves as a moat.

Behind the trench, a low earth wall was built, and soldiers were standing guard behind the wall, quietly looking ahead. At intervals, they even placed powerful crossbows, and the soldiers who operated them sat on the ground, ready to be deployed at any time.

The area before the trench seemed flat and boundless, but in fact, there were many horse traps dug there, and they had suffered losses there before.

Needless to say, this posture shows that they are definitely planning to stay here for a long time.

"Bang!" The drawbridge on the first trench wall was lowered.

The cavalry filed out and formed up in the field.

Lu Ming didn't even look at it and continued to observe the huge camp.

"General, do you want to fight?" someone came up and asked.

"You select the men and fight with them." Lu Ming waved his hand casually and said.

The men took the order and left.

Lu Ming sighed, feeling even more worried.

The imperial court was still asking them to attack the northern city of Heyang. Before they set off, Lu Ming learned that Da Hu had received two imperial edicts in succession, which seemed to indicate that they were inclined to mobilize troops and head to Heyang.

But what about Fangtou? Will they change their ways? This place is only 200 miles away from Yecheng. If the Jin people gain a foothold and march north, Yecheng will face siege, which will be a huge blow to the prestige of the Great Hu.

Heyang or Fangtou, a choice must be made.

Or he could repeat his old tactics, choose a place to cross the river, attack into Henan, and force the Jin army to withdraw.

Three choices, three endings, all seem quite difficult.

The cavalry of both sides were already engaged in a battle, but Lu Ming had no interest in watching any longer. He went straight down the tall building and came to the courtyard of the fort.

The commander of the fort and his family stood by respectfully.

Lu Ming glanced at them casually and suddenly found that Wubao Shuai's youngest son was secretly looking at him.

This was not surprising. His appearance was different from that of the people in Jin Dynasty. He was often peeped at, so he was used to it.

But today he felt something strange, which made him alert.

The Jin army crossed the river in large numbers, which had not happened for several years. Some people would speculate whether the situation was about to undergo a major change. After all, they were all from Jin, so they naturally felt close to each other and it was easy to hook up with each other.

Lu Ming's heart trembled, and suddenly he felt that Da Hu seemed to have no choice.

Yes, all three options were bullshit, he only had one option: push the Jin army down the river and keep them away from Hebei.

Otherwise, it would be common for the Hebei nobles, powerful people, and commanders of the fortresses to collude with Shao Xun and become close to him.

Ultimately, it all comes down to the people’s support.

Sima Yue may not have a good reputation in Hebei, but Shao Xun may not.

This man led two expeditions to Hebei, and during one of them he recaptured Yecheng. He erected a monument to commemorate his achievements and created a great reputation in Hebei.

Although those Hebei people who were on good terms with Shao Xun either moved south to serve as officials under Shao Xun or died, there were still many who stayed behind. This was a huge hidden danger that had to be guarded against.

"Someone, come and report to the...general." The more he thought about it, the more anxious Lu Ming became, and he immediately called for a messenger.

In fact, Shi Le had already left Yecheng and headed straight for Dangyin.

After receiving Lu Ming's letter halfway, he asked his aide to read it, then threw it on the ground without even looking at it.

"General." All the generals looked at him.

Shi Le suddenly smiled, drew his sword, and said, "No need to look, just go south to Fangtou."

The generals were awe-inspiring.

The autumn harvest is approaching, and the army is not yet fully prepared. Only the cavalry and a small number of infantry can be deployed now.

But Da Hu's order was firm, which made everyone abandon all distracting thoughts and boosted their morale.

It's just a fight to the death, what else is there to say?

"Kong Tun, Zhao Lu." Shi Le called out while wiping his sword with cloth.

"I am here." The two of them stepped forward together.

"You two will each lead 5,000 cavalrymen, and bring many horses..."

"Zhiquliu, you lead three thousand cavalrymen to..."

……

In an instant, Shi Le issued several orders and sent out more than 10,000 cavalry.

When the autumn is high and the horses are fat, the cavalry is in the best condition and has the strongest fighting capacity in the year, which is perfect for driving.

After the three generals took their men away, the number of troops heading south suddenly became much smaller.

"Your Majesty." The Right Chief Clerk Diao Ying stepped forward, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

Shi Le waved his hand and said, "Don't say any more."

Diao Ying was stunned.

Shi Le smiled lightly and said, "It's already this time, why do you still care about those things? Shao Xun is extremely bold, but also extremely steady. He has now put the knife to my lower abdomen. If I still think about this and that, wouldn't it be a joke? If I lose Yecheng, will the court send troops to capture it for me? Haha. Gather all the troops and march south. Even if the emperor himself comes, the army cannot be withdrawn." Diao Ying was silent, and after a moment he cupped his hands.

"My king, we still need to make some adjustments in Yewang and Pingyang," Zhang Bin reminded.

Shi Le readily followed the advice and turned to look at Diao Ying.

Diao Ying immediately accepted the order and said, "I will go there myself."

"Thank you for your hard work." Shi Le said in a gentle voice.

After seeing Diao Ying leave, Shi Le looked at Zhang Bin again and asked, "Meng Sun is quite intelligent and well-versed in military strategy. He has many good strategies when he goes on expeditions. Why is it that he has no strategy against Shao Xun?"

Zhang Bin was silent for a long time, and finally he just sighed and said: "In ancient times, there were those who were eager to achieve success, so they used troops to advance rashly without equipment, or only roughly equipped, so that there would be opportunities to take advantage of; there were those who looked ahead and behind, and frightened the enemy a little, so they set up a confusing formation, so that the enemy's actions would be slow, and there would also be opportunities to take advantage of; there were also those who claimed to be wise generals, or they would make all kinds of moves, or show the enemy weakness, or sow discord and attack the mind. These people are not difficult to deal with. No matter how many twists and turns they make, I will seek the straight path. In the battle, I still have to rely on swords and guns to fight, so there is also a chance. I ask the king a few questions-"

"But there's no harm in talking."

"Is Shao Xun taking risks?"

Shi Le thought about it and shook his head, saying, "It seems that they like surprise attacks, but in fact they have deployed a large number of troops inside, and they have many back-up plans. This is not a one-time deal."

"Does he look ahead and behind?"

"I'm afraid he won't be scared. In the Battle of Zhamadi, the whole army crossed the river on a rainy night, acting decisively. This time he went to Fangtou to build a city, taking risks personally. He is a very daring person."

"Does he like to play tricks?"

Shi Le laughed: "He is just a murderous warrior who spends all day trying to win over the hearts of the troops and use his power to suppress others."

"He has very few weaknesses." Zhang Bin sighed, "If someone else were in his position, he might have assembled an army of more than 50,000 and marched straight into Yecheng. The outcome would be decided by fate. But he built a city and took every step carefully. To deal with such a man, we can only fight him to the limit."

Shi Le pondered for a while and said, "Going north from Fangtou and heading straight to Yecheng is too risky. Even I would not do that. Once the troops are stationed under a strong city, the food supply route will be repeatedly harassed, the army will be in chaos, and the time to retreat will be a great defeat."

Speaking of this, Shi Le also sighed.

For several years, when they encountered Shao Xun, they could only rely on their cavalry advantage to protect themselves.

The party with a large number of cavalry is happy because they have the initiative on the battlefield. They can choose to fight or not, where to fight, when to fight, and how to fight. This advantage is so great that they could have swept across Henan.

But after attacking for several years, the initiative in the war was suddenly lost without them noticing.

Shao Xun is building a city in Fangtou. Can you choose to fight or not? No choice.

The initiative is now in their hands.

It’s really puzzling when you think about it, the side with the cavalry advantage actually lost the initiative on the battlefield.

Judging from the current situation, Shao Xun had to choose the battlefield - it could only be Fangtou.

Shao Xun also chose the fighting style - siege warfare.

The time for fighting is also limited - the sooner the better, because once the city is successfully built, it will be more difficult to fight.

This is fucking awesome!
******
To the north of Fangtou City, the fighting between the cavalry of both sides ended quickly.

Like Lu Ming, Shao Xun did not read it for long, but sat down behind the desk and started writing the letter.

The letter was written to the shogunate, and it contained no other requests except one: transport more food.

Building Fangtou City was a huge project. It would take until the middle of winter to build the two cities in the north and south, plus the water gates, and the cost would be enormous.

This is also the limitation of the city-building tactics.

But facing a side with cavalry advantage, there is no choice but to be safe. This is the only way.

The cities he built were actually military outposts, which not only had to be able to garrison troops, but also had to have warehouses, and were therefore of considerable size.

The four directly governed counties and kingdoms have already collected taxes once, and the rest can only be asked for from the aristocratic families in Henan.

In fact, they had already given a batch of military rations, but it was not enough and they still needed more.

Shao Xun first wrote a letter to his father-in-law. There was no doubt that his relatives should take the lead.

Even the Yu family doesn’t provide any grain, how do you expect other families to provide it?

After writing this letter, he wrote another letter to his two military advisors in the Yanzhou government, Bian Dun and Lu Qiu Chong.

Especially the Jiyin Bian family, which is a big family in Yanzhou. During the heyday of the six dragons of the Bian family, no one knows how much benefit they brought to the family. Now the family is very wealthy.

No doubt, give us the food!

Next were relatively close aristocratic families such as the Wang family of Chen County, the Yuan family of Yangxia, and the Yang family of Taishan.

After writing, they would take the envelopes back home.

Awkward? A little bit, it seems.

But that was the context of the times.

When Shi Le withdrew his troops from Gepi, the aristocratic families could just fortify their cities and clear the fields, causing Shi Le's army to eat each other.

Even Liu Cong, who claimed to have "200,000 cavalry", had to be polite to the Bingzhou gentry such as the Pei, Liu, Xue, Song, and Wang families.

They may not be able to beat you, but they can hold you back and make you fail in the competition with your opponents.

As the city-building tactics progress, the aristocratic families in Henan will surely be "desperately happy". Shao Xun seemed to have already seen the expressions on their faces.

Haha, it feels terrible to use an ATM.

After putting down his brush, he climbed up the city wall again and looked at the sunset in the sky.

At the end of the horizon, a group of carriages and horses were returning.

The soldiers of the Silver Spear Army escorted thousands of auxiliary troops and returned after harvesting millet.

It is August now and the autumn harvest is approaching. There is a lot of grain waiting to be harvested in the fields, which can be used as supplementary rations for the army.

This move would certainly offend the nobles and powerful families in Hebei, but that was not something he could care less about.

If we win, everyone will forget about this shit.

Even if I can't win, it doesn't matter if I feel a little hatred.

Night fell completely, and Fangtou was completely dark inside and outside, so quiet that it didn't seem like a war was about to break out. Or maybe it was just the calm before the storm.

(I forgot to update on time this morning... Starting tomorrow, I will update three times a day. Soldiers, please supervise me. If I fail to achieve my goal, you can chop me up for gold coins. After midnight tonight, I will get double the monthly tickets. Chop me to death.)
(End of this chapter)