end song

Chapter 496 Race
Jianmenguan is very busy.

"Hey! Feng Yousan, the sentry horse, return to the camp after exploring Lizhou!"

"Come and see!"

Song He on the north wall personally looked at it, and saw that it was indeed a soldier under his command.

"Watch tower! Is there a Mongolian army following on the pavilion road?"

"Report! There is no dust and smoke for miles!"

"Open the gate of the city, let the sentry horse enter the pass..."

The south gate of the city was open, and teams of soldiers from the Song Army were cutting wood, replenishing the walls with wood, and firing artillery carts.

Every once in a while, more than a dozen sentinel horses rushed away.

In the dusty pavilion road, there are also fast horses galloping.

"Hey! Repost, the order of Lu Shuai, the envoy of Sichuan's appeasement system, who also knows Chongqing, the governor of Baokang Army and Ningwu Army..."

"Damn, I know how to remind and remind, three military orders a day, annoyed a person... Watchtower! Are there any enemy soldiers following the tails of these messengers on the pavilion road?!"

"The messenger in the city is waiting! My general is busy with military affairs!"

Liu Jinsuo yelled towards the city, turned around and walked across the top of the city, only listening to the sound of tinkling, tinkling, and building cannons and ladders along the way.

With a sound of "boom", the ladder was erected on the inner city wall.

"Siege!"

A group of Song soldiers rushed up from the ladder, startling Liu Jinsuo.

That was Yu Tian leading people to drill, practicing the siege tactics.

Looking at the school field in the city, a square formation of Song troops was still in formation.

"Old Yu! Do you want me to lead someone to smash you?! Siege is so easy..."

"Go away, don't stand in my way..."

Liu Jinsuo laughed loudly and strode towards the gate tower, being hit by Lin Zi on the way.

"You short-sighted hozen." Lin Zi also had a pot helmet cake in his mouth, dropped it on the ground, picked it up and stuffed it into Liu Jinsuo's mouth.

"Where's Piphon?"

"Then...you pass the order? What's the matter? Why don't you let me..."

"Shut up, it's none of your business."

Liu Jinsuo laughed again, and went up to the gate tower, only to see a team of sentries come down in a hurry, obviously they had just reported the information about Lizhou.

"Report! Lu Wende sent someone again!" Liu Jinsuo shouted.

"Wait."

Liu Jinsuo went in and waited, listening to Li Xia discussing with Kong Xian and Yang Ben.

……

"There is no chance to sneak attack Lizhou, we can only attack by force."

"Jianmen Pass is a dangerous place. With the news that the general has captured Jianmen Pass, Lizhou must have received the news, and the defenders are ready."

Li Xia raised his hand to mark on the map.

"Wang Weizheng... As far as I know, this man is the eldest son of Wang Dechen. He is about the same age as me. He is named Gongli and has a Mongolian name called 'Zhacier'."

Kong Xian asked, "How does the general know this?"

Knowing that Li Xia has moved to the post of Chief of the Chengdu Fulu Army and Magistrate of Yizhou, although the official seal has not yet been received, Kong Xian has already made a gesture.

What's more, the news of the Battle of Diaoyu City has not yet reached Lin'an, and when it does, Li Xia will inevitably be promoted.

"I have a friend named Li Tingyu, who said it in a casual chat."

Liu Jinsuo heard Lin Zi talk about Li Xia's infiltrating into Liyi Mountain City, and laughed at the word "friend", and was glared at by Yang Ben.

Li Xia ignored them, pondered, and said slowly: "Accountably, Wang Dechen died in Diaoyu City. Wang Weizheng was probably ordered to come from Gongchang to attack the noble, and stop at Lizhou... This man is the new commander-in-chief. But I haven't got the Golden Tiger Talisman yet."

Although Kong Xian didn't know Wang Weizheng well, but he had fought Hanzhong with Yu Jie, so he still knew Wang Weizheng well.

"Wang Weizheng is young, so it should be nothing to worry about, but the Wang family brothers are all difficult, Wang Zhichen, Wang Liangchen, Wang Hanchen, Wang Zuochen, Wang Qingchen... As long as one of them is in Lizhou, this battle will not be easy."

"Yes."

Li Xia was still bowing his head to mark.

"We haven't fully ascertained the strength of Lizhou's troops. We only said that the sentry horse has found out... Zhaohua City has [-] troops."

Zhaohua is a small city, located at the confluence of Bailong River and Jialing River, and it is the first fortress encountered on the way out of the pavilion from Jianmen Pass.It is equivalent to another gateway of Lizhou.

"It can be calculated that the total army strength in Lizhou City may approach 3 people." Li Xia said.

Kong Xian asked: "There are so many?"

"Even more than that."

Yang Ben said: "Did A Lang count logistics?"

"Yes, the Mongolian Army's logistics is called 'Aulu Army'. Although not all of them are soldiers, they are more than enough to defend the city." Li Xia said: "Even the Aulu Army is stronger than our township soldiers."

Kong Xian was a little disappointed after hearing this.

Li Xia told him that among the two options at the moment, Kong Xian tended to recover Lizhou first and enter Hanzhong.

But things in the world are not that easy. After inquiring about Lizhou's information today, he knew that the situation was not as optimistic as he expected.

"Then... a strong attack on Lizhou will inevitably lead to a stalemate?"

Li Xia said: "The current situation is like a race. Brother Mo and we both want to go to Hanzhong. This is the end point. We want to conquer Lizhou and take the Jinniu Road; Brother Mo wants to defeat Lu Wende and take the Micang Road."

"Yes."

"Then, analyze the enemy and us. We only have nearly ten thousand troops, and we have to divide our troops to guard the Jianmen Pass. We can send up to 8000 people to attack the city; while Brother Mo has more than [-] troops. We are weak, Brother Mo is strong."

Kong Xian said: "But our morale is high."

"Morale is temporary. As the siege continues, morale will drop."

Li Xia pointed to Lizhou and the location of Lu Wende's camp on the map.

"Wang Weizheng, with many soldiers and generals and sufficient food and grass, is guarding Lizhou City, which Wang Dechen has managed for more than ten years; Lu Wende, who entered Shu for the first time, hastily deployed defenses."

Kong Xian nodded and replied: "The general understands, if we choose to attack Lizhou first, once Brother Mo defeats Lu Wende and arrives in Hanzhong first by taking the Micang Road, Lizhou City will have [-] troops in Hanzhong as backup."

Yang Ben added: "Even if we conquer Lizhou first, as long as Brother Mo arrives in Hanzhong before us, the Jinniu Road can be blocked."

Kong Xian let out a long sigh, and said: "After such an analysis, it seems that the best choice is to join forces with Lu Wende to attack Brother Mo first."

He pointed to Jianmen Pass on the map.

"We captured Jianmen Pass, and the defenders of Lizhou could not pass through Jianmen Pass to participate in the battle. In this way, the Mongolian army could not be concentrated, but our Song army could concentrate its forces, which could recover a lot of disadvantages."

Yang Ben felt a little stuffy, and took a deep breath from his nostrils.

He was selected by Fan Wenhu, and when he was sent to spy on Li Xia, he still held the mentality of "I will make a contribution at the end and see if you can support me".

But later he also understood that it was actually Fan Wenhu who picked him because he didn't like him.

The other spies were all killed by Li Xia, which shows that this was not a good job at all.

Today, being reused, he has a worse opinion of Lu Jiajun.

Yang Ben really didn't want to see Li Xia being driven by Lu Wende, but this is the current situation.

"Alang, I also think it's better to attack Brother Mo first."

……

Li Xia thought for a long time.

It's different now.

In the past, he always bypassed Jiancheng and picked places that were easy to fight.This is the style of play for the general.

But now we pay attention to the realization of a large strategic layout, no matter how difficult it is to fight, and no matter how many people will be sacrificed, it must be fought.

After a long time, Li Xia finally spoke.

"My opinion is different. I think we should attack Lizhou first and enter Hanzhong first."

Kong Xian and Yang Ben were both taken aback.

"Keli Prefecture cannot be attacked in the short term..."

"It's true." Li Xia said, "But it's even more impossible for us to wipe out Brother Mo's [-] Mongolian troops."

Then, turning to see Liu Jinsuo guarding the gate, Li Xia said again: "Liu Jinsuo, tell me."

"Alang, what did I say?"

"Why can't we annihilate Brother Mo?"

Liu Jinsuo said loudly: "Hey, the Mongolian army has 5 troops, and we and Lu Wende add up to 4 to [-]. The Mongolian army is cavalry, and we are infantry. How can infantry annihilate cavalry in the field? What a simple truth."

"Then what is the purpose of attacking Brother Mo together with Lu Wende?"

Liu Jinsuo scratched his head and said, "The final general doesn't know!"

"Where is our strategic purpose?"

Liu Jinsuo said: "This general will know! Hanzhong!"

"well said."

Li Xia stood up and said, "Our strategic goal is Hanzhong. Lizhou is the first stop. No matter how long the attack takes, it must be captured. It cannot be avoided or bypassed."

"If we don't attack Lizhou, what are we going to do to attack Brother Mo? Is it just to delineate the battlefield in Sichuan and Shu, and wait for Brother Mo to run out of food and grass, and force him to send out cavalry to plunder?"

"As I said, we are currently at a disadvantage in this race. But we can't feel that we can't win the race and drag our opponents at the starting point. This is useless. What we want is to win, the final victory."

"Then, the conclusion is very simple. We want to take down Lizhou, and we have to let Lu Wende block Brother Mo before that."

Kong Xian and Yang Ben were stunned for a moment.

"Lv Wende...will he agree?"

"Liu Jinsuo, go and tell Lu Wende's messenger." Li Xia said, "Our army suffered heavy casualties and must rest for a whole day. Please hold the line of defense first. In a few days, we will obey orders to attack Brother Mo."

"Ah Lang, didn't you just say attack Lizhou first? Why did it change again?"

"You man." Yang Ben scolded, "It's so honest..."

(End of this chapter)