unclear

Chapter 601 Hesitating
In the blink of an eye, it had been a full ten days since Emperor Jingyang led the army to Shanhaiguan, and the time had entered February. White and pink colors gradually appeared on the originally bleak hillside, and mountain peach and sorbet flowers were in bloom.

Military households have also appeared in the nearby military fields one after another. The plowing season has arrived. How will the harvest be every year? It is very important to plow the ground, fertilize and sow seeds in spring. If a spring rain can come in time, it will be better for the farmers. It's so perfect.

What is different from previous years is that there are more than a dozen temporary camps built within the border wall, and many weird soldiers live in them. In addition to their strange clothes and strange behaviors, at the beginning of every day, soldiers wearing colorful clothes would blow sharp horns and run in circles around the camp, counting as they ran, rain or shine.

It is said that these soldiers are the imperial guards brought by the emperor, and the emperor lives in Ninghai City near the sea. At first, when they heard that the Jurchen army was coming, the nearby military households were a little uneasy. But now that the emperor came with the army, they immediately put their hearts in their stomachs and no longer worried about the war.

However, if the military households knew that the emperor was not strolling on the beach all day long, or rowing a small boat out to sea to fish and catch crabs, they would probably feel guilty immediately. It seems that you have traveled nearly a thousand miles with tens of thousands of imperial troops, and you are here for a spring outing!
"You two find different excuses to come here every day. Do you also think that I am here for an outing?" Naturally, what the military households thought could not reach the emperor's ears, but Jun Song and Ding Shun's behavior was not the same. The bad ones were noticed.

Hong Tao, who had just gotten off the boat and was holding a few crabs in his hand, had not yet entered Ninghai City when he saw two familiar figures appearing in the city gate. He immediately waved over, giving them a head start.

"I don't dare..." Jun Song smiled reluctantly. Not only did the emperor travel all day long these days, the army also had nothing to do. All the baggage had obviously arrived, but they didn't show any signs of preparation for battle.

On the other hand, the garrison stationed at the pass rotated in three shifts every day, working conscientiously and conscientiously. The two scenes formed a sharp contrast, which had already caused many generals to criticize in private, and they had to think about it more than they wanted to.

"The students thought that Long Live Lord must be waiting for the right opportunity, but they didn't know where the opportunity came from, so they were curious."

Ding Shun is much more honest than Jun Song. This is also what they have been taught since childhood. When talking to the emperor, they must be truthful. Mistakes can be forgiven and given a chance to correct, but they were caught lying only once.

"It's right to be curious, but I can't tell the answer too easily. You have to use your brain to guess first! Juniper, guess along with me. Think hard. If you guess wrong, you're not guilty. Just say it."

Hong Tao handed the crab in his hand to Wang Chengen, looked around, and then found a stone next to the city gate where he could bask in the sun and sat down. He took out a cigar from his arms, lit it, put his neck in his cotton clothes, and smoked. With clear snot cold from the sea breeze, every move he made looked like a driver driving a cart.

"...I think your majesty is waiting for the solar term. Although there is little rain in Liaodong in early spring and the roads are not very muddy, the temperature is not high and the nights are even colder. I am afraid that the soldiers in the pass will have difficulty adapting."

Seeing the emperor's behavior, Jun Song couldn't help but scanned the surroundings, and found that the guards and the warriors in charge of the horse supervision were all indifferent. They seemed to be used to it. Then he temporarily forgot the etiquette and started thinking hard, no matter what Let me make a guess first.

"No, the vast majority of the army are northern soldiers. They can march and camp in the mountains even in winter. They are not afraid of the cold." As expected, this guess was rejected by the emperor, and then he looked at Ding Shun. "The students thought that the Long Live Lord was waiting for the Jurchens to take the initiative to attack. He would first use the fortified city to dampen their energy and kill a large number of people with artillery. When they found that they could not win and had to retreat, they would then lead the troops to pursue them."

Ding Shun's mind has been spinning for several days, and he has considered almost all factors, but he has not found a particularly relevant reason. But the emperor had to guess if he asked him to, so he could only find a perfunctory answer that was reasonable.

"That's not right. The Jurchens, both cavalry and infantry, are better at riding horses than the army. If they want to run away, even if they give me 50,000 troops, they won't be able to catch up. I have worked hard to drive thousands of miles, and I am not here. Helping General Du defend the city, just defeating him is not enough."

The emperor still shook his head, but he curled his lips more than he did with Juniper. It was obvious that he was even more dissatisfied. After all, he is from Katoji, but his eyesight is so shallow, he is not qualified!
"Is Your Majesty waiting for the navy to come back for reinforcements?" Perhaps he was really driven to the point of despair, or perhaps he was resistant to the emperor's contemptuous expression. Juniper came up with another hypothesis. In fact, most of the generals stationed at Shanhaiguan held this idea.

They did not believe that the emperor really dared to lead an army of 30,000 people who had never fought in a big battle to challenge the nearly 100,000 Jurchen army. of navy.

"A little bit closer, but it's not the navy. They are fighting in the Southeast Asia, and they also have to guard the port of Manila and quell the civil unrest in Little Luzon. They have nothing to do." This time the emperor did not continue to curl his lips, and nodded lightly as encouragement. But still didn't guess right.

"Could it be that they are waiting for the Annan mercenaries?" Although the navy's answer was rejected, Ding Shun thought of another possibility!
"The bigger you get, the more cramped you are. Annan is located in the tropics and has never seen ice all year round. Suddenly we arrived in Liaodong. We don't need to fight. One night of frost can cause 30% of the frostbite. How can we fight against the Jurchen army?"
It seems that you still haven't learned the essence of the art of war and have read the book to death. The right time, the right location, and the right people are the three elements of warfare. No one can avoid these three points anywhere. I want to lead my troops out of the border, what are I most worried about? "

Hong Tao gave a failing rating to Ding Shun's performance, and then didn't let them guess. It was pointless to guess further and further away, so he might as well announce the answer. But the answer is not given directly, the question still needs to be answered.

"...It must be the logistics. The roads outside the customs are difficult to travel, and there are many dense forests and lakes, so transportation is not easy!" Jun Song and Ding Shun looked at each other and gave the correct answer in unison.

"Yes, after leaving the customs, the north side is full of mountains. Although it is impossible to communicate between the north and the south, it is easy to hide thousands of people. Once the baggage convoy is destroyed, I and the army will have no return.

This truth is very simple. You understand it, and the Jurchens also understand it. It's not that I don't want to leave the country before the safety of the baggage is solved, it's that I don't dare. Now the question comes, how should I ensure the safety of baggage transportation? Give me an idea! "

(End of this chapter)