Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1199 Give Them Some Hope
On August [-]th of the third year of Jianji, outside the city of Cangzhou, the two armies had been stalemate for many days.

On this day, Ge Congzhou secretly came to the front line.

The Art of War says: Generals who leave the army can attack them quickly.

But Ge Congzhou was commanding such a huge battle for the first time. On the surface, he was calm and stable like an old dog, but in fact he was under great psychological pressure.When night fell, he tossed and turned, sleeping very lightly.Sometimes I can't sleep at all, so I get up and think about the war to see if there are any omissions.

This time I came to Cangzhou because I was worried about the war here, and I was afraid that Zang Dubao and others would not respond properly.

If you are weak in coping, you may suffer yourself.If the response is too strong, it may scare away the Jin army.Don't worry about it, just have a look.

It is conceivable that the two armies of Tianxiong and General Tu will not give him any good looks - Kang Yanxiao, the general of the sudden army, looks pretty, but Zang Dubao, the envoy of Tianxiong's army, is obviously not happy up.

It's nothing more than a descendant, why are you so human-looking like a dog?You can fight, we can't fight, right?I don't even think about who was beaten to annihilation in the city of Boshui back then.

Ge Congzhou didn't seem to see the resentment -- or arrogance -- of the Tianxiong army.He climbed up to the high platform on his own, carefully observing the enemy's movements.

The Jin army camp moved forward again.They camped in a village three or four miles northwest of Cangzhou. Judging from the banners and the size of the camp, the total strength of the camp should be in the early [-]s.According to the information obtained from previous spying, there should not be more than [-] real Jin soldiers here, and the rest are either Cangjing soldiers or Cangzhou Tutuan villagers.

According to the combat effectiveness of these soldiers, judging from the record of the two sides fighting many times before, it should still be possible.

There are no real underdogs in the North.

Even Wei Bo, who has already been flattened, can really be as obedient as Xia Bing. If the atmosphere of the army changes, it is still uncertain who will win the field battle.

Ge Congzhou looked at Cangzhou City again.

With the help of the Jin army, the city has been rescued.Lu Kuang, the commander of the Yanei Army of the Henghai Navy, came to work in the Jin camp. The two sides interacted frequently, revived their morale, and increased their combat effectiveness out of thin air.

Ge Congzhou's observation ability is very strong.From the resoluteness of the Cangjing soldiers' patrolling, changing defenses, and harassing actions, he could see that they had slowed down from the most dangerous stage.

From an objective point of view, it is now impossible for the Xia army to capture Cangzhou, and they are very stable.

"Zang Dutou, can the stalemate continue?" Ge Congzhou asked.

"Ge Shuai, don't worry, I'm not old enough yet," Zang Dubao said.

This sounds okay, but it always makes people feel that it is not that taste.Fortunately, Ge Congzhou didn't care about it, and said with a smile: "Tianxiong Junerlang, he can still fight, he is worthy of being a saint's Imperial Forest Army."

Zang Dubao smiled and said, "Where does Ge Shuai's words put Tielin Army?"

Ge Congzhou laughed loudly, avoided the question, and asked again: "If the whole army withdraws to the south and defends at Zhirao'an, is it safe?"

Zang Dubao gasped, and was taken aback by Ge Congzhou.

"Just say it's okay?" Ge Congzhou asked with a straight face.

Zang Dubao looked at Ge Congzhou suspiciously, but did not speak.

"Zang Dutou, this is a military order, okay?" Ge Congzhou asked with a more serious tone.

Zang Dubao was silent for a moment, then said: "I asked Li Lin to stay. It is not difficult to lead a battalion with more martial arts students. After the deadly battle is over, it is not difficult. If you go like this, you will definitely be suspicious, and you may not be able to achieve your goal.”

Hearing it on Monday, Ge Cong felt that it made sense, but he no longer insisted on his previous thoughts, saying: "This is true. You follow orders and just prepare to retreat. As for whether to leave, we will see."

The stalemate between the two armies does not mean doing nothing.In fact, more than [-] troops confront each other, and the "technical content" is very high.

Take the confrontation between Li Shimin and Liu Heitai as an example. The Tang army kept going around and harassed Liu Heitai's grain road, which made his transportation efficiency drop, and the supplies that were transferred to the front line gradually became insufficient.The longer the confrontation lasted, the more impatient Liu Heita became, and the more inclined he was to take the initiative to seek a fight.Once this mood becomes impatient, it is easy to show flaws and be caught by the opponent in the end, needless to say the end.

And when Liu Heita has enough food and grass, what kind of vigorous appearance does he look like?

In July, led a small number of people to defeat the governors of Tangbeizhou and Weizhou, incorporated their descendants, and formally rebelled.

In the eighth month, Wang Xingmin, general of Tunwei, was defeated and killed.

In September, the allied forces of Li Shentong, King of Huainan, and Luo Yi, Governor of Youzhou were defeated, and brothers Xue Wanjun were captured alive.

In November, Li Xuantong, the governor of Dingzhou, was defeated and killed.

In December, Jizhou was broken and the general manager Qu Ling was killed.In the same month, Li Ji was defeated again, and the transcript was exempted.

Within a few months, three senior generals of the Tang army were killed, two were captured alive, and Li Shentong, Luo Yi, Li Ji and others were blasted.

After Li Shimin arrived, he still couldn't contain Liu Heitai's offensive.Several battles were not ideal and it was difficult to win.There is no other way but to wait for Liu Heitai's army to decline and its combat power to weaken, and then try to defeat it.

Xia and Jin are now in the same situation.

The two sides continued to send people to attack the woodcutters, the grain transport team, and even tried to attack from behind. There were many tricks.

Beating you woodcutters and collecting sergeants will keep you from drinking water and not having enough firewood to cook. After a long time, morale will drop.

Although it is impossible to cut off the food transport team for a long time, the food transported is less, and the morale will also drop after a long time.

These seemingly unpretentious and boring tricks are the norm on the battlefield, and they are all effective methods summed up by the predecessors for thousands of years.

The stalemate is not that simple, in fact, it is a test of the level of the generals of both sides.

"Has Li Cunzhang arrived?" Ge Congzhou asked again after he got off the high platform after watching the enemy's formation.

"A few rangers from the bandit army were captured, and after torture and interrogation, it was determined that the man had arrived, bringing along a lot of soldiers and horses from You, Ying, and Mo prefectures, but the main force of the Jin army should still be Jingsai, Lulong, and Zhuo. Give birth to the three armies."

"In the past few days, give the thieves a little bit of sweetness and let them see some hope." Ge Congzhou said, "Don't keep it tight. Doesn't Zhao Kuangming have hundreds of remnant soldiers left? Aren't there many Helongfan soldiers? Figure out a way."

Zang Dubao grinned, and said: "Ge Shuai is very particular about people, and he didn't take our own people to death."

Ge Congzhou frowned slightly.

This Zang Dubao spoke - did he imply that he was going to take the Tianxiong army to death?The opinion of the sect is so strong, it's hard to understand.

"They're all imperial troops." Ge Congzhou adjusted his mood, smiled, and said.

Of course, this is just saying.

They are all "imperial troops", but some armies are more imperial, which is obvious.Things like near and far will exist no matter when.

"Haven't you won the Dezhou?" Zang Dubao asked after walking with Ge Congzhou for a while.

Both have the surname Wuzang, and both came from the Hengshan party, but strictly speaking, Dubao's background is very problematic, and he can't be regarded as a person without the Zang family name.On the other hand, Wuzang Jieming is a direct descendant of the Wuzang family, and the two are born with vastly different backgrounds, so it's hard to compare them.

But Zang Dubao dared to fight and fight hard, dared to risk his life, and he insisted on relying on his own ability to get ahead slowly.From the bottom of his heart, he looked down on Nozang Jieming a little bit, thinking that his level was limited, and it was useless to join the army with righteousness.

Ge Congzhou glanced at him, smiled without saying a word.

He fully understands Zang Dubao's careful hidden thoughts deep in his heart, and he will not laugh at him because of it.It is understandable that the serfs who turned over hoped to see their former masters deflated in order to prove that they were better than him.

"There are so many people, it's hard to win. Hehe, Wang Qixian can't do it? If the Jin people hadn't gone south, I would have already defeated Cangzhou." Zang Dubao sighed with feigned regret, and said.

"Dezhou is not a problem." Ge Congzhou said: "As long as the Jin army is defeated, Lu Yanwei, Lu Kuang and his son will not be able to make big waves. If their father and son are defeated, Dezhou will be at their fingertips."

"Li Ke used a lot of capital this time. If he can wipe out all of them, the situation will suddenly become clear." Zang Dubao nodded and said, "However, in my opinion, Jin people still have strength. Recently The grabbing is comfortable, and there are big carts and small carts carrying things to the house every day, and the morale has even increased. At this time, it is not appropriate to face it head-on."

There is an institution in Luoyang City, called "Jiangwutang", which is specially for senior military officers from grassroots background to study and study.Shao Shude once gave a lecture in person—actually, it was a discussion over tea with the generals.The senior military generals of the Xia army who have participated in the martial arts lectures all understand one thing. When the morale of the enemy army is at its peak and the combat power increases sharply, they must first avoid the battle, and then use various methods to lower their morale, and then make a final decision.

Lowering the morale of the enemy, from a small point of view, is nothing more than what everyone is used to, attacking woodcutters, cutting off their food roads, or creating disturbances to make them sleep well, or even spreading rumors and so on.From a large perspective, it is more suspenseful, and there are more methods.

"The opportunity is coming. Cangzhou, let's hold on for a while longer. If the Jin army wants to grab it, let them grab it. If they grab too much, they won't have such a strong desire to fight to the death, but it will benefit our army." Ge Congzhou Said: "You have so many troops, control the situation well, do what you want, follow the strategy. Who to send to the battle, you make the decision, and it is good to achieve the effect of paralyzing the enemy. Remember, don't fight in a wave. Invitation to fight, don’t bother. Asking for a fight but failing, it’s them, not our army, who are impatient. However, we must also pay attention to the morale of the camp. Morale down. Anyway, hold your breath."

He is satisfied with Zang Dubao's overall performance.Although this person is not a famous general, he can be considered a qualified general with extremely rich experience, and controlling the field is not a problem-of course, then again, if he wins many battles, he is a famous general, and he can In the history books, there are great books, even if the real level is not particularly brilliant.Whether you can become a famous player or not, you have to be a little lucky. If the opponent has a high level, does not give face, and does not make mistakes, you will not be able to fight a good fight.

Ge Congzhou only stayed on the front line in Cangzhou for one day, and then went straight to Dezhou to learn first-hand information carefully.After the arrangements were made, he returned to the Longxiang army station and continued to entangle with the Cangjing and Chengde troops.

The Hebei battlefield continued to be in a stalemate on the surface.But both Xia and Jin are dispatching troops and generals under the table, and the undercurrent is endlessly surging.

(End of this chapter)