First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 383
...

After returning to the tent, Li Jing couldn't sleep. He was familiar with military books since he was a child, and he grew up to be a man of power. Although he didn't have much actual combat experience, he knew from the bottom of his heart. The biggest danger in this battle.

If the generals are at odds and cause internal strife, then no matter how good the tactics are, no matter how clever the strategy is, it will not help.

It was really difficult to fall asleep, so Li Jing turned over and got up, came to the desk, looked solemnly, stared at the map, and followed his gaze.

After a long time, he suddenly showed joy, sat down immediately, picked up a pen and laid paper.

A quarter of an hour later, Li Jing summoned his entourage, "Go to Jizhou overnight, and hand over this letter to the envoy Jia of Jizhou with your own hands. Remember, people are trustworthy."

This entourage is the son of the Li family, who is absolutely loyal and holds the letter in his arms, "Don't worry, sir, you are trustworthy."

"This battle must not be lost." Looking at the empty tent, Li Jing's eyes were firm.

In this battle, Li Yuan placed high hopes on him, he must win the beauty, he is over half a hundred years old, if he wants to realize his ambition of becoming a general, he needs to cherish every opportunity and not allow any mistakes.

Thinking of this, Li Jing turned around and sat down, lit the lamp to read at night, and continued to perfect the deployment of the army formation.

Shuzhou, the army gathered here, Li Xiaogong gave Gao Chong great face, and personally led all the generals out of the camp to meet him.

"I have seen the king", seeing Li Xiaogong greeted him at the gate of the camp, Gao Chong got off his horse, stepped forward to salute and said: "How dare you bother the king to greet you, Zhe Sha Gao Chong."

Li Xiaogong laughed, and put his arms around Gao Chong's shoulders, "Youzhi, don't leave me alone, your trick to lure the enemy has defeated Chen Dangshi's [-] bandit army, and lifted the siege of Jing County, that's it! Well, the king will welcome him in person."

Everyone greeted and entered the camp.

Gao Chong greeted them one by one, and it was the first time he met several people in the tent, such as Zhang Zhenzhou, the governor of Shuzhou, Huang Junhan, the governor of Huaizhou, etc.

After each of them took their seats, Li Xiaogong suddenly looked sad and sighed heavily, "The decisive battle is imminent, but it's a pity that Governor Zhou of Huangzhou died for his country. Every time I think of it, my heart is utterly devastated."

Hearing the words, the generals had no choice but to comfort him, Gao Chong also admired Li Xiaogong in his heart, at least Li Xiaogong's superficial skills were in place.

Zhou Faming died for the country, Li Xiaogong, as the coach, must be responsible, but after Li Xiaogong's "truthful expression".

After returning to Beijing, Zhou Faming's crime of martyrdom can be greatly reduced. Naturally, no one mentions the fact that Zhou Faming was reprimanded before and caused him to leave in anger.

"Fortunately, Li Shijun in Anzhou, my good friend Li Daliang made a solitary plan to capture Zhang thief alive, and he can also comfort the spirit of Chief Zhou in the sky." Li Xiaogong changed his voice and said excitedly.

Many people here are not aware of Li Daliang's feat, including Gao Chong, and they are very curious when they hear this.

Li Xiaogong then narrated the cause and effect to everyone, after listening, all the generals were amazed.

"Li Shijun is a true hero."

"How strong it is to board a thief ship alone."

"I heard that Li Shijun went out of the city alone to persuade the Turkic barbarians to retreat, but I still don't believe it...".

All the generals praised Li Daliang unceasingly, and some of them praised Li Xiaogong for his knowledge of people, and praised him for his courage to capture Zhang Thief, it will be a good story.

Li Xiaogong grinned when he heard the words, Gao Youzhi, the governor of Jingzhou among these people, is really shameless.

Li Xiaogong pressed down with his hands and cheered up: "Everyone, now the auxiliary bandits are retreating to Danyang, in front of them is the mighty river as a natural barrier.

According to the report of the scouts, the auxiliary bandits deployed heavy troops on the two mountains on the bank of the river.

One is Bowang Mountain, guarded by Feng Huiliang and deputy Chen Dangshi, with a force of [-].

One is Qinglin Mountain, guarded by Chen Zhengtong and deputy Xu Shaozong, with a force of [-].

The four of them are all well-known veteran generals of the Jianghuai River, guarding the dangerous place of the Jiangkou, with a strong force, easy to defend but difficult to attack.

This is the case, what do you think, please speak freely. "

All the generals whispered to each other after hearing the words.

"This big river is wide, so it's not easy to cross it by force."

"It is so dangerous and dangerous, if you cross it by force, you will suffer heavy casualties...".

"The heavy casualties may not necessarily make meritorious deeds...".

Li Xiaogong's face that was full of smiles gradually sank after listening to the discussion from the audience, because basically all he heard were negative remarks.

Gao Chong coughed when he saw this, and said directly: "The natural danger of the Yangtze River is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but you must know that the auxiliary thief is now a turtle in a urn, and it is nothing more than a trapped beast. I heard that the general manager Li of Qizhou has crossed the Huai River, and Xuzhou is the general manager. The entire territory of Yangzhou has been conquered, and the auxiliary bandits are only relying on this corner of Danyang, so why not be afraid!"

"What Youzhi said is true," Li Xiaogong yelled, "The destiny is in the Tang Dynasty. Even if this king is wasted, if I hold back the army of auxiliary thieves here, the other armies can also make meritorious deeds."

Gao Chong was undoubtedly a good trustee, and he pretended to be dissatisfied when he heard the words and complained: "Your Majesty, you can't do this. I'm waiting here to hold back the army of auxiliary thieves, and I just lost the opportunity to make contributions. It's so unfair."

Huang Junhan, the general manager of Huaizhou, also laughed when he heard the words: "Youzhi's words are very true. In the face of such great achievements, I don't want to sit idly by."

Li Xiaogong had a smile in his eyes, looking at Gao Chong with a smile on his face, their cooperation became more and more tacit.

"In your opinion, how should we deal with it?" Li Xiaogong asked directly.

The generals frowned and thought.

At this time, Zhang Zhenzhou, the general manager of Shuzhou, said tentatively: "There are many bandits and soldiers on the other side, and they occupy the water, land and natural dangers, so a strong attack will not be effective.

It is better to imitate Gao Shijun's strategy of defeating Chen Dangshi, crossing the river in a detour, and taking Danyang directly.

Or it may be unexpected, and take Danyang directly, and when Danyang is broken, the assistant bandit will be awarded the head, and the bandit army will collapse without fighting."

Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard the words, and they were all pleasantly surprised: "It's possible."

Li Xiaogong groaned and did not respond, he looked at Gao Chong, sure enough, Gao Chong also frowned and said nothing, "How do you feel?"

"Inappropriate", Gao Chong didn't make a detour, and directly vetoed it: "These two things can't be compared this way. First of all, Chen Dangshi's Nanling is located between Xuancheng and Jingxian County, and the straight-line distance between the three places is only a hundred miles away. , the message is delivered quickly.

But this time, there is a great river blocking, the distance is very long, and the transmission of information is extremely inconvenient. If you go so deep into the enemy's territory, the whole army may be wiped out if you are not careful."

Hearing this, everyone felt that it was reasonable, Zhang Zhenzhou was a little ashamed, and said bluntly: "It was because I didn't think carefully, fortunately, I woke up."

Gao Chong waved his hands and smiled, "The King must have an idea too."

Li Xiaogong nodded, and said directly: "Now the bandits on the other side of Bowang Qinglin Mountain cannot be defeated, and the auxiliary bandits personally lead Jianghuai elite to garrison Danyang for self-protection.

If we take a risky detour and take Danyang directly, it will be difficult to break through Danyang City in a short time, and then the two bandits will follow our army closely, and it will be very dangerous to be attacked by the enemy."

The generals also agreed when they heard the words, and Huang Junhan also nodded in agreement: "A great victory is in sight, and the advantage lies with me. It is not worth taking such a risk."

(End of this chapter)