People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1609: The Army Approaches, vs.
In the mourning hall filled with mourning, Li Xuan accompanied Qu Chongyu to light three incense sticks for Li Xian. After bowing and paying their respects, they walked to the backyard.

"My dear son-in-law, the food and grass from Hezhou have been delivered to you. Now there is an order from the court to appoint Li Hui, the Duke of Hejian, as the general of the Right Jinwu Guard, to lead the northwestern armies to quell the rebellion. Wang Xiaojie will be his deputy general to assist him. He will mobilize and command an army of 70,000 to attack Changzhou. How are your preparations going?" Qu Chongyu sat down in the central hall of the backyard and looked at Li Xuan with a serious gaze.

"They want to suppress the rebellion, and we want to fight the rebellion. It depends on who can hold his temper longer." Li Xuan poured a cup of tea for Qu Chongyu, and then said, "My son-in-law's biggest advantage is the plateau miasma here, and Wang Xiaojie understands this best, so he would prefer to place the battlefield on the plains between Lanzhou, Dingxi and Tianshui."

"After all, the imperial court has sufficient military equipment!" Qu Chongyu nodded.

Compared with Li Xuan, the biggest advantage of the imperial army is that it has countless weapons.

This is especially true for crossbows.

"So, if nothing unexpected happens, their plan should be for the Duke of Hejian to stay in Tianshui, Wang Xiaojie to personally command the central army of Dingzhou, and the vanguard should be Hua Dazhi." Li Xuan couldn't help but laugh when he thought of Hua Dazhi.

Back then, all the armies, whether it was Li Xuan, Heichi Changzhi, Li Duozuo, or Wang Xiaojie, were under Hua Dazhi. Who would have thought that over the years, some of them were generals, some were great generals, and only Hua Dazhi was still only the general of the Right Guard.

"Wang Xiaojie wants to use Hua Dazhi to test your plan?" Qu Chongyu immediately understood.

Li Xuan nodded and said, "My son-in-law's actions of damming the Huangshui River cannot be concealed. Wang Xiaojie is well aware of the dangers involved, so he will use the Hua Dazhi tribe to test the waters, and finally go out personally to directly remove all the dams on the Huangshui River and clear all possible dangers of flooding."

"Then they will have to go deep into the plateau." Qu Chongyu immediately understood that Wang Xiaojie had only two choices. He could either wait and allow Li Xian to flood the city with water, or he could only fight his way into the mountains and face the miasma of the plateau.

"Yes!" Li Xuan nodded gently and said, "That's basically it, but Wang Xiaojie can make an exception, that is, he can just abandon the entire Lanzhou City, retreat the army to Dingxi, and make room to force my son-in-law to come down the mountain for a decisive battle."

Qu Chongyu felt a little amused and waved his hands, saying, "He doesn't dare. The court asked him to suppress the rebellion. If he abandons Lanzhou City without a fight, the court will not let him go."

"Yes!" Li Xuan nodded calmly, then collected his thoughts, looked at Qu Chongyu and said, "Lanzhou should be only one route, but there are two other routes in the war. One is the military force of Wang Fangyi's four Anxi towns in the north, and the other is my father-in-law's Hezhou."

Qu Chongyu nodded slightly and said, "Yes, you fought your way to the plateau from Hezhou back then, and he will definitely follow your path."

"I have already contacted people in Taozhou, and they will not help either side. So my father-in-law's Hezhou will become Wang Xiaojie's first focus." Li Xuan looked at Qu Chongyu seriously. Once Wang Xiaojie came up from Hezhou, he would be able to go straight into Li Xuan's heartland.

"It's not that easy." Qu Chongyu calmly shook his head, then smiled and said, "If you want to break into Hezhou, there are only three narrow mountain roads and a waterway from Hezhou to Lanzhou. I can block the mountain roads, but this waterway..."

"Father-in-law wants to borrow the navy, right?" Li Xuan saw through Qu Chongyu's idea at a glance, and then he nodded and said, "Okay, I can transfer 2,000 navy soldiers to stop Wang Xiaojie on the river, but I have a better idea."

"You say." Qu Chongyu looked at Li Xuan curiously.

"Let's store water in Hezhou as well." Li Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly, and then said: "Compared with Shanzhou, Hezhou is lower in terrain, so it is difficult for the water to scour and attack. So my son-in-law suggests that the navy use Bingling Lake as its base. One part is in the front section, where the lake water flows to Lanzhou and dams the river. The other part is in the back section, where the water is blocked and dammed at Jishi Town in the mountains."

"I can understand the first part, but as for the second part, my dear son-in-law, do you mean that my father-in-law cannot defend Hezhou?" Qu Chongyu couldn't help but frowned.

Li Xuan shook his head and said, "Father-in-law, it is enough for you to send people to defend the mountain roads and waterways. If Wang Xiaojie attacks Hezhou, you can send people to retreat to the old course of the Yellow River. There is no need to destroy the lives of the people in Hezhou... But the food and grass still need to be taken away."

Qu Chongyu was still in deep thought, but when he heard Li Xuan's last words, he immediately understood what Li Xuan was planning again.

Hezhou was not originally a grain-growing place, and the local grain produced each year was barely enough for the local population's own use. But before the autumn harvest, the people would still encounter food shortages.

Qu Chongyu was a pretty good governor. Whenever there was a famine in autumn, he would lend the people some food on credit. But now that he has left Hezhou and taken the food with him, Wang Xiaojie is short of food, and the people of Hezhou are bound to suffer.

With such a hidden danger, as long as the front line is slightly unfavorable and Hezhou is in turmoil again, Wang Xiaojie will immediately be in big trouble.

Qu Chongyu took a deep breath and nodded calmly to accept it. He was not the kind of general who would be too soft-hearted.

“Hezhou may start a war before Shanzhou, and Shanzhou may start a war before the north, but what really decides everything is Governor Wang’s northern line. As long as he makes a detour to Tianshui and captures the Duke of Hejian, my son-in-law will directly break through in Lanzhou, and my father-in-law will break out of Hezhou... Soon, we will be able to return to Chang'an.” Li Xuan clenched his fists lightly.

Seeing that Li Xuan had calculated everything, Qu Chongyu couldn't help but advise: "Be more careful."

Li Xuan immediately calmed down, nodded and said, "My father-in-law is right. In a war, we cannot make any mistakes. I will try my best not to reveal any flaws. Besides, I also have a trump card."

"What?" Qu Chongyu looked at Li Xuan curiously.

"Li Xian!"

……

Time flies, and it is already the eighth day of the first lunar month.

Outside Qizhou City, there are densely packed camps.

The night was dark, but the central army camp was still brightly lit.

In front of the huge sand table, Wang Xiaojie, wearing a red lining, frowned as he looked at the long mountain road between Lanzhou and Shannan. The mountain was steep, the road was undulating, and it kept winding upwards.

The height difference between Lanzhou City and Shanzhou City is more than 200 feet, and there are dams that can release flood water at any time. How can we fight against them?

"Why, haven't you figured out a solution yet?"

A calm voice sounded from the side, but Wang Xiaojie couldn't help but flash a trace of disgust across his face.

He knew that this was related to the fact that the other party had been to Bazhou before. It was true that this was the order of the Queen Mother, but that didn't mean that Wang Xiaojie would be nice to him.

Wang Xiaojie said coldly: "You know very well who King Peng is. He has no fixed rules for marching. He makes a feint to the east and attacks the west, sneaks through Chencang, and attacks with fire and water. Last time, he had a chance to capture Lanzhou City, but he took the initiative to retreat in order to maintain the terrain advantage. At the same time, he could also use the power of the Huangshui River to build a dam and prepare for a water attack."

At this point, Wang Xiaojie couldn't help but shook his head and said, "King Peng is still King Peng. Before we understand all his tricks, we must be cautious."

"Are you so afraid of him?" As he spoke, Ma Zongsi walked out from the dark shadows and looked at Wang Xiaojie with a mocking look on his face.

I don’t know if it’s because of the light, but Ma Zongsi’s face looks inexplicably pale.

Wang Xiaojie didn't turn around, but raised his head and gestured, saying, "What do you think we should do?"

“What else can I say? Divide the troops into three groups. From Ganliang Road, cross the Qilian Mountains and attack Fuqi City. From Hezhou, attack Xinghai. From Lanzhou, attack Qugou. A three-pronged attack is enough to destroy him.” Ma Sizong’s face was full of ferocity.

"Have you ever thought about how much we will lose?" Wang Xiaojie looked up at Ma Sizong and sneered, "From Qilian Mountain to Fuqi City, from Hezhou to Xinghai, from Lanzhou to Qugou, half of my 70,000 soldiers will die just by reaching the plateau, and the remaining half will lose their combat effectiveness due to the plateau miasma.

King Peng only needs to leave 5,000 men on the plateau, no more, just 5,000 cavalry, which is enough to wipe out all of us, not to mention that he might dig a dam in the middle. "

Wang Xiaojie was already gritting his teeth as he spoke to the end. He was sure that if he dared to do that, Li Xuan would make him die without knowing how.

"Then what is your military strategy? You can't just do nothing when you get there, right?" Ma Sizong suddenly calmed down and looked at Wang Xiaojie with sarcasm.

Wang Xiaojie glanced at Ma Sizong, then looked at the sand table again, and then said thoughtfully: "Although King Peng now has troops from Changzhou, Fanzhou, the Western Regions, and Anxi, there are not many people who are willing to join him in mobilizing troops. In total, there are no more than 50,000."

"Fifty thousand?" Ma Sizong was full of surprise. The military strength of Changzhou, the Western Regions, Anxi, any place was greater than this.

"King Peng is not that simple." Wang Xiaojie shook his head and said, "His most trusted 5,000 Right Guard Cavalry, led by Right Guard Lieutenant General Yan Tao, guard the western foot of Tianshan Mountain to prevent the Persians from entering the Western Regions again and suppress the rebellion of the Western Turks. So this part of the people can't move at all. The other Left Xiaowei and Right Wuwei will not move either. So if all factors are taken into account, his force should be around 50,000."

Ma Sizong fell silent.

Wang Xiaojie went on to say: "Fifty thousand troops is not a lot, but it is not a small amount either. This is basically the limit of what he can support with the food and grass he has. It is even possible that he will not survive until this autumn."

The lack of food and fodder is generally recognized as Li Xuan’s Achilles’ heel.

"In addition to food and grass, he also lacks military equipment, especially crossbows." Wang Xiaojie sneered and said, "So, the most appropriate military strategy is to kill him step by step from Lanzhou, use shield catapults to consume his crossbows, and at the same time use crossbows to kill his soldiers, so as to injure others with our own strength."

The capital here is the countless crossbow arrows accumulated in Chang'an.

Because of the chaos in Yangzhou this time, there was a shortage of food and grass, but there were more than enough crossbows and arrows.

"These are the only stupid tricks you have." Ma Sizong couldn't help but sneer.

"Do you think I really have no other options?" Wang Xiaojie angrily glanced at Ma Sizong, his eyes fixed on the direction of Lanzhou. He gritted his teeth and said, "If it weren't for the Queen Mother's unwillingness, this great general would have given up this broken place of Lanzhou long ago, leaving a large area of ​​plains, and fought against King Peng and defeated him head-on."

"You are still exploiting his weakness of insufficient crossbow arrows." Ma Sizong nodded calmly. He could see that the insufficient crossbow arrows in Li Xuan's hand was his biggest flaw.

"Yes, he himself understands this, so he didn't take Lanzhou." Wang Xiaojie shook his head slightly and said, "If he was in Lanzhou, although he had the power to defend the city, his footsteps would be very difficult. Now we just need to wait for the results in Yangzhou to come out, and King Peng will be trapped."

"Yangzhou!" Ma Sizong looked up at Wang Xiaojie and said, "General, how long do you think it will take to pacify Yangzhou?"

After a brief pause, Wang Xiaojie said, "It will take at least three months, and at most half a year. After all, even with the ability of the Duke of Jiang, he can't hold out for long with those new soldiers in Yangzhou who have no military experience. Once the prince is captured, the righteousness of the King of Peng will be gone, and his army will lose its morale."

"Then why don't you wait until his army's morale is broken before taking action?" Ma Sizong was a little curious.

"If that happens, King Peng will lead his army back to Fanzhou and create another Tubo." Wang Xiaojie shook his head and said, "The plateau miasma gets more serious as we go to Fanzhou. I am not willing to fight Tubo once. Not everyone can conquer Tubo like King Peng did."

After a brief pause, Wang Xiaojie frowned and said, "Also, Yangzhou will be defeated in the autumn, but it is time for King Peng to harvest the autumn grain in Changzhou... In addition, I feel that King Peng is not that simple. I always feel that he has some deadly trump card in his hand..."

Having said that, Wang Xiaojie couldn't help but look at Ma Sizong and narrowed his eyes slightly.

(End of this chapter)