Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 515: Lengzi Meets Gou Wang

"Everyone, stand up! How can a man of your stature kneel on the ground like this?"

In the lobby of the government office, Fang Chongyong shouted with an unhappy look on his face.

The generals then stood up.

“This map of Hebei is not very detailed, but it’s generally good.”

Fang Zhongyong turned sideways, pointed at a map of Hebei hanging on the wall, and continued, "If Huangfu Weiming sends out a surprise attack and goes straight to Liaocheng, blocking our retreat to the south, and then sets up fences and digs here, how should we respond?"

Hearing this, all the generals frowned and their expressions changed slightly.

Logically speaking, the Hebei bandit army's speed could not be faster than theirs, and they could not be closer to Liaocheng than them.

It is basically impossible to plug this hole.

However, we should always be prepared for the worst!
"Get the charcoal!"

Fang Zhongyong stretched out his hand, and Che Guangqian took out a charcoal pencil from her arms and handed it to him.

"If I were Huangfu Weiming, I would have Weizhou's troops block the gap in Liaocheng, and then have Li Guiren lead the cavalry to outflanking Beizhou. From common sense, after losing Liaocheng, Beizhou will definitely not be able to stay, so we will definitely find a ferry on the bank of the Yellow River to cross the river, and finally return to Bianzhou.

If we go east, the other side of the river is a long and narrow strip of land sandwiched between the Yellow River and the Jishui River. If we are chased by the enemy army and cannot quickly cross the Jishui River, we will be useless even if we have all the skills.

Going west, although it is closer to Bianzhou, it is also closer to Yecheng. Huangfu Weiming can concentrate his forces to block us from all directions, just like this."

Fang Zhongyong drew several marching routes on the map, all starting from the current location of the Hebei rebels. Since Yuwen Kuan had already revealed the deployment location of the Hebei rebels, the current battle situation was not a guess for Fang Zhongyong.

In fact, we can already tell how the other side will use its troops.

If we only look at the marching route shown on the current map, once Liaocheng is occupied by the Hebei rebels and the defense is strengthened, the Silver Spear Xiaojie Army will definitely lose this battle.

"Marshal Jie, we have to head towards Liaocheng now, run away quickly!"

He Changqi was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and quickly gave a suggestion.

Yuancheng, the capital of Weizhou, is only more than 200 miles away from Liaocheng, the capital of Bozhou! If the Hebei rebels over there raid Liaocheng, it will take no more than two days, and if it is fast, it can arrive in one day and one night.

How can this not be scary?

"Returning to Liaocheng is good, but we didn't bite Huangfu Weiming hard enough this time. They still have plenty of energy to stir up trouble in Henan.

Li Guiren's main force has not yet made large-scale deployments, which means that he has not given up his intention to move south."

Fang Zhongyong sighed and continued, "Aren't you afraid that the Hebei bandits will come south to retaliate this winter? Can you hide for a while, but can you hide forever?"

All the generals were silent.

Perhaps, they greatly damaged the political structure and grassroots social relations of Bozhou and Beizhou, and destroyed Huangfu Weiming's rule in these two states.

But that is at most just half of the Wei Bo vassal state!
Even without these two states, Hebei's strength is still there. Even if the hematopoietic function of these two states is lost, as a strategic location of the canal, there will be no problem.

This battle did not cause any serious damage to the Hebei rebels.

"Do you have any feasible suggestions? If not, just follow my orders."

Fang Zhongyong asked impatiently.

"General, I have another question."

Che Guangqian stepped forward and asked, "How can we return to Bianzhou? Once we go north, the enemy army will definitely chase us and intercept us. It will be impossible to return and cross the Yellow River from the north bank. Even if we can capture Youzhou by then, it will be meaningless!"

Hearing this, all the generals nodded slightly and whispered to each other.

What Che Guangqian said makes a lot of sense. No one is afraid to move forward bravely. As long as there is a way to survive in the end, they will grit their teeth and move forward.

What’s the point if it’s just to “have a carefree walk”?

People all hope to walk in fine clothes during the day, rather than die in fine clothes!
"You don't know much about the official system of our Tang Dynasty. In fact, before the Kaiyuan period, there was a very special official position called Hebei Maritime Transport Envoy."

Fang Chongyong said slowly.

At this moment, it was as if the roof was taken down by God, allowing sunlight to shine into the house and dispelling all darkness.

The generals present were not fools or amateurs, they understood it as soon as they heard it!
"Back then, in order to support the Youzhou border troops, which are now the Youzhou Jiedushi and Pinglu Jiedushi, the imperial court specially opened up a sea route to ensure smooth food and fodder supply.

For this purpose, a corresponding position was established, namely the Hebei Maritime Transport Envoy.

Today, this position has been concurrently held by the Jiedushi of Youzhou. It is not as prestigious, but the functions still exist.

This sea route has a port in the north, which leads directly to the Yongji Canal.

Merchants have always shipped grain and fodder from Jiangnan, Jiaodong and other places to the port by sea. After unloading and loading, they traveled along the canal to Youzhou and Pingzhou. This route is along the coast, and people can disembark at many places along the way.

Moreover, as the route continues to expand, it will be able to go to Korea and Japan in the north and to Guangzhou in the south.

We are just a handful of people, are we afraid that we won't be able to find a ship to return to?"

A smile finally appeared on Fang Chongyong’s face. Although his plan was not to “travel” to the north before leaving, his retreat route was indeed to return by sea.

"Is everything alright? If it's alright, then we can withdraw."

Fang Zhongyong waved his hand and turned to leave, and all the generals followed him out in a line. He took nothing, looking extremely cool.

He Changqi, who was walking at the end of the team, grabbed Che Guangqian's arm and asked in a low voice, "I have another question that I don't understand."

"What's so unclear about this?"

Che Guangqian asked back with a confused look on his face. He felt that Fang Zhongyong had made it clear enough, and it could even be considered as "leaking military secrets".

"Huangfu Weiming must know that the main force of our army is in Hebei. Why don't they take this opportunity to go south to Bianzhou and besiege Wei to save Zhao?"

In fact, He Changqi never understood this question, but it was indeed the case.

Fang Chongyong was not worried that Huangfu Weiming would go south now, and the latter did not send troops south.

"If Huangfu Weiming takes over Henan, then Lianghuai and Jiangnan will not be safe, and most of the world will belong to him.

At this point, the outcome between Li Longji and Li Heng was no longer important, so both sides kept their eyes on Huangfu Weiming.

Once the Hebei bandit army moves south, they will not be able to fight anymore and will definitely join forces to deal with Huangfu Weiming and protect Henan."

Che Guangqian still explained it patiently.

In fact, Fang Chongyong is not a serious threat to Huangfu Weiming, or he is not worthy of it for the time being!
Military generals like He Changqi are good at fighting in battle rather than analyzing strategies.

The so-called "opportunities" he sees are often traps.

It’s just like when you are playing chess, you think you can capture one of your opponent’s knights, but after the move you find that you have indeed captured the knight, but your opponent has captured a large number of your own pieces!

It's totally worth the loss.

Huangfu Weiming was a man of great vision and good at controlling the overall situation. He would not make such a low-level mistake. Many generals present did not raise this issue, but He Changqi did, which was very telling.

Isn't it the biggest strategic failure to let two powerful enemies ready for a decisive battle join hands against you?
No matter how stupid Huangfu Weiming is, he can't be this stupid, right?
Che Guangqian felt that He Changqi was worrying for nothing.

"If you ask me, Huangfu Weiming is just not decisive. He just keeps killing and killing. He will wait until he has killed all the prefectures in Henan before he can deal with any difficulties.

At least now I won’t be so passive! "

He Changqi said this with a look of disdain, as if he looked down on Huangfu Weiming.

Che Guangqian shook her head and laughed. If a reckless man like He Changqi were to go against Huangfu Weiming, he would be beaten so badly that even his parents wouldn't be able to recognize him!

But he was right about one thing. Huangfu Weiming did not let go and do things recklessly.

Because what he wanted was a complete world, not a world torn apart by fighting and corpses everywhere. He Changqi was certainly very cool and reckless, and perhaps also very useful, and could gain power for a while.

But his vision and mind are far inferior to Huangfu Weiming's?
Che Guangqian sighed in her heart, only when you meet a worthy opponent can you play chess. But Changqi is like this, he has no qualifications to sit down and play chess.

At most, he was a chess piece with a weak point, pinned to death on the chessboard by someone else's hand. No matter how he struggled, he could not determine the overall outcome.

He thought as he walked, and his pace slowed down a lot.

He Changqi asked impatiently, "Old Che, why aren't you leaving yet?"

"I was wondering what would happen if Huangfu Weiming led his troops south without caring about anything?"

Che Guangqian said this casually with a laugh, but her words were completely insincere.

But He Changqi snorted with contempt: "If he wants Bianzhou, then let him take it. We might as well take Youzhou and use Youzhou as our base. Wouldn't that be great? Why should we be afraid of him?"

Are you taking Huangfu Weiming for a fool?

Che Guangqian didn't know how to comment on these remarks.

The group left the government office and went to check the soldiers.

An hour later, they boarded a canal boat moored at the canal ferry in Qinghe County and headed north to Dezhou along the canal. Among them were a lot of food, fodder, and arrows and javelins, which could be said to be abundant in supplies.

……

Weizhou Yuancheng is a big city in Hebei Province. It was also the famous Damingfu later. Weizhou is also densely populated and powerful. The reason why it is poor is that the local area has suffered endless exploitation from the court, not because of poor blood-making ability.

On the top of Yuancheng, An Shouzhong, a man of burly stature and somewhat ferocious appearance, took the letter from the messenger. He opened it in front of him, read it at a glance, then nodded slightly and said to the messenger: "I understand, and I will set off with my troops to Liaocheng immediately."

This envoy was none other than Zhang Xiu, who had been to Bianzhou before. He knew very well how cunning and skilled in disguise Fang Chongyong was.

Seeing that An Shouzhong didn't seem to take Fang Zhongyong seriously, he quickly reminded him, "Although Fang Qing is young, he is insidious and cunning. General An, don't underestimate the enemy!"

"I know, I know."

An Shouzhong waved his hands impatiently, signaling Zhang Xiu to get out.

Seeing that his persuasion was ineffective, Zhang Xiu sighed helplessly and left angrily, hoping that An Shouzhong would not fall into Fang Chongyong's evil scheme.

After he left, An Shouzhong tore up the letter and looked towards the east, seeming to be quite worried.

Seeing An Shouzhong's expression, Deputy General Zhou Zhi came over and asked in a low voice, "General An, are you worried about the situation in Beizhou?"

In fact, An Shouzhong was the first to learn about the loss of Beizhou granary a few days ago!

After all, Weizhou is not far from Beizhou. As long as there is no grain delivered, it means that something must have happened there.

But An Shouzhong did nothing but ordered his troops to prepare for attack.

Then they keep "preparing" but never attack!
"General Zhou, I now order you to lead 5,000 soldiers and horses across the Yellow River and march south to plunder the land. Do you dare?"

An Shouzhong pondered for a moment and asked back, without answering Zhou Zhi's question.

"I dare not."

Zhou Zhi answered honestly.

"But someone dared to cross the river like this and attack Beizhou!"

An Shouzhong sighed and continued to ask: "Aren't you afraid of such a person?"

Zhou Zhi was speechless. He didn't want to boost others' morale and destroy his own prestige.

But we have to admit that what An Shouzhong said makes sense.

The army went deep into Hebei alone and gained great gains. This kind of thing is really not something that ordinary people can do!

He is the kind of person who is both sexy and fierce.

"In fact, I have long felt that this group of people is difficult to deal with. If we had sent troops a few days ago, the enemy would be at its peak and the enemy situation is unclear. We may suffer a great loss!"

An Shouzhong leaned close to Zhou Zhi's ear and whispered.

The latter suddenly realized.

No wonder this guy ordered the troops to stay put, so this is the case.

Weizhou is very close to Beizhou and Bozhou. Logically speaking, it would be very convenient to send troops to rescue, but An Shouzhong just watched them die without helping!
The reason is that they are afraid of being hit head-on by the enemy!

"General An, how do we fight the enemy?"

Zhou Zhi asked with a confused look on his face.

Before, we could say that the enemy situation was unclear, but now that Huangfu Weiming has delivered the military order, we can’t still say that the enemy situation is unclear, right?

"We were not in a hurry. We followed the army slowly. If they stopped, we stopped too. If they moved, we moved too. We followed their pace and never took risks. We just followed them all the way."

An Shouzhong's ferocious face showed a cunning smile, and the whole face had a mixed temperament that was difficult to describe. His small eyes were narrowed, as if he was thinking about something bad.

"But even so, the enemy army is still attacking the city!"

Zhou Zhi still didn't quite understand what An Shouzhong was doing. If he kept following him, wouldn't that be tantamount to allowing the enemy to attack the city?
"Attack, not attack the city of An.
Plunder does not mean plundering someone's land.

But the brothers who died were all soldiers under my command, General Zhou, please don't make the mistake of priorities. "

An Shouzhong's squinting eyes suddenly widened, and a cold light flashed!
Zhou Zhi's heart tightened and he nodded quickly, not daring to refute.

Seeing him so respectful, An Shouzhong nodded with satisfaction.

He put a hand on Zhou Zhi's shoulder and said, "Avoid their sharp edge and attack them when they are tired. They can go wherever they want, so why should we be afraid of them? Since Beizhou has no food, we should bring fewer cavalry this time and collect food locally."

A sneer appeared on An Shouzhong's face.

It would be great if a strong enemy appeared. What's the point in killing chickens and dogs!
"Gather 10,000 soldiers and horses, let them have a good rest and eat a full meal, and prepare dry food. We will set out tomorrow."

An Shouzhong gave the order in a deep voice, still following the usual routine, without any rush at all.

Zhou Zhi was surprised and asked in confusion: "General An, it would be fine if we set out tomorrow, but why don't you gather 20,000 soldiers?"

An Shouzhong glanced at him, patted his big belly, then turned and left, not bothering to explain to Zhou Zhi.

When he reached the foot of the city, Zhou Zhi suddenly realized what An Shouzhong meant.

Normally, supplying 20,000 people is not a problem, but now the Beizhou granary is likely to be paralyzed.

You lead 20,000 people out and it’s the critical moment to fight the enemy, but what if you run out of food?
Then something big will happen!

Since Huangfu Weiming's military order said that the enemy had only a few thousand people, An Shouzhong felt that according to his own fighting style, ten thousand people would be enough.

There's no need to risk running out of food!
"General An, what are our chances of annihilating the enemy army this time?"

Zhou Zhi suddenly remembered this and stopped An Shouzhong and asked.

The latter thought for a while and said, "If it succeeds, then it's 100% certain; if not, General Zhou should think about which horse will be faster when the time comes."

An Shouzhong seemed to be in a good mood and even teased Zhou Zhi.

Aren't you totally unsure?

Zhou Zhi cursed in his heart. After hearing what he just said, he thought An Shouzhong was very brave!

(End of this chapter)