When Pan Geng moved to Yin, I initiated Jian Shang

"Damn it! Damn it! Are you all useless?! With so many people, you can't even defeat Zihu, which has less than 3,000 people! You knew they built the city wall on the mountain, but you still haven't found the way up the mountain!"

Zihe roared at his men with great anger.

Many people were trembling.

"As soon as our people went up the mountain, they seemed to have eyes. They were able to find our movements immediately and then attack us."

"That's right, they are locals. All the people near Liyang have moved south. Even if we capture some people nearby, we can't get any information from them.

Because this area of ​​forest has never been explored, the locals are unwilling to go up the mountain and hunt in the forest unless the tribe is short of supplies.

So I know very little about the local area.

Most of the people in Liyang who really knew the local area fled into the mountains.

Now they are all Pi Zi's men. We really have no choice."

His expression gradually calmed down.

At this time, the most difficult area to develop in the Central Plains was not the Jiangnan region, but the largest virgin forest area between the Central Plains, the sea, and the Yellow River floodplain.

The black forests, together with the flow of the Yellow River, have transformed the middle and lower reaches into independent spaces.

This is why Zihe could only march by water when he went to war.

Because apart from the nodes near the waterways, the rest are either wild forests or swamps, where people can't move around, let alone fight.

This time, Pi Zi went up the mountain from the south. Coincidentally, a branch of the Huai River passed through the middle section of the mountains in the southern part of Li Yang.

Therefore, transporting supplies from Pengcheng and Piyi is much faster than moving from the north.

Now the mountains are being cut down trees and leveled.

No matter how many wild forests there are, you have to walk according to the terrain of the mountain.

Most of the horizontal mountains have trees on the north slope and sparse grass on the south slope.

Therefore, Zihe's army that attacked the Liyang Mountains head-on had to face vast and dense forests, while Pizi's way up the mountain was through relatively sparse forests, and he was able to quickly cut a path forward.

This is why Zihe is so angry now, but he just can't fight back.

There were too many trees and his men hadn't cut out a path yet, but they still rushed up impatiently. To Liwu and the others, this was simply courting death.

Really depressing.

Zihe could only ask people to find a solution as soon as possible.

"How about we set fire to the forest?"

"If it takes some time, it might be possible! But now the spring rain has come, and you still want to burn the forest?"

"What should I do?"

"Or the time to send troops is wrong. When have you ever seen troops sent out in early spring?"

"It is now!"

Everyone was mumbling to each other, but as they chatted, Zihe also understood the general idea and looked at them coldly: "If you can't think of a solution, go away and think about it! Don't be an eyesore here!"

The nobles looked at each other.

But some people just walked away, and of course there were also some indignant fellows who sneered, "I've been telling you not to send out troops now, but you won't listen! You deserve the chaos now!"

Zihe wrote down these guys who spoke loudly.

When he wins the war, he will sacrifice these bastards to the Emperor!

This is the game among the top leaders of the Shang family. In fact, most of the time there is no political wisdom to speak of. It is just quarrels among the old and young in the family because of various losses of interests, which may eventually turn into fights.

Before the patriarchal system became a bloodline inheritance system, the division of tribes was the norm.

After a long time, if you are good to me, I will call you king. If you are not good to me, I will not only challenge you, but also go against you if I force you to do so.

As long as you don't dare to destroy me directly, I am invincible.

As soon as the nobles left, Zihe glanced at the slaves serving below and took a deep breath, saying, "Does anyone have an idea? As long as the idea is useful, it is not impossible to make you a minor official or a senior official." The slaves looked at each other, and most of them chose to wait and see. Of course, some of them stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have a plan. We have so many soldiers, why don't we divide them up?
We can block some of them here, and some of them go around the back of the mountain and attack from the other side. In this way, won't we be able to control the war situation?"

"Let's try." Zihe nodded. "Go down and get a deerskin as a reward for coming up with a solution. After the solution is completed, I'll give you another reward."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" the slave was ecstatic.

When the people below saw this, they immediately stood up and offered their suggestions.

But the only option is to divide the troops and force a crossing, which is an extremely risky strategy.

It is not of much help to the current battle situation.

If Zihe had two divisions, then it would be fine to force the crossing.

But he didn't.

Now they have penetrated deep into the enemy's hinterland. It would be risky to divide the troops and force a crossing to the southern slope of the mountain. He does not think it will be easy to capture Pengcheng by force.

As for contacting Mr. Peng, he also contacted them.

But unfortunately, Mrs. Peng now had the quilt more in her hands, and he had no chance to take it off.

We have to think about it in the long term.

But time is what he lacks the most. If he had time, he would not risk sending troops in late winter.

Restless! Constantly restless!

……

"Liu, our scouts have sent us news that Zihe has divided his troops, and one group has gone to the south slope."

Hearing this, Liwu, who was originally drowsy, sat up straight with a start.

His expression changed several times, and he turned to a wizard in a crow feather robe and said, "Have you predicted the recent weather? Will it be sunny in the next few days?"

The Crow Feather Wizard took out a pile of wooden tablets, pieced them together and said, "Compared to previous years, the rainfall in Pengcheng and Liyang this year is relatively high.

But since yesterday, there has been north wind and rain. I will start investigating the wind conditions in Pengcheng tonight.

If the wind starts to blow from the northeast and continues until tomorrow afternoon, and gradually turns to the east or even the south, then it will most likely be sunny in the next few days.”

"Okay! I'll order someone to investigate right away." Liwu immediately called some of his men.

This wizard was sent by Wuxiang and had his own set of research on celestial phenomena and climate.

There was also an Imperial Observatory in the territory of Yan State. Recently, the exchanges between the Imperial Observatory and Wuxiang clan became more frequent. Even Xin Qu expressed his approval of the astronomical and climate research of this era.

In fact, a nation that mainly relies on agriculture must have a large number of records of wizard research on celestial phenomena and climate.

As one of the great witch clans cooperating with the Shang clan, the Wuxiang clan had students and former officials all over the world and connections with countless tribes, so it was quite easy to collect some information.

This is why beings like Fengbo and Yushi were recorded. They were the people who recorded celestial phenomena and were the ancestors of historians.

Bragging about one's ancestors has been a common practice throughout the dynasties.

Therefore, the witch in Liwu integrated their information with that of the locals and obtained the climate patterns over decades or even hundreds of years.

Even if it is not accurate, we can still deduce the general idea.

In the land near Xuhuaiyi, southwest winds are mostly blown in spring.

When the southwest wind and the west wind blow, there will be more cloudy and rainy days, but when the north wind and the northeast wind come, the rain clouds will blow away and the sky will gradually clear up.

Of course, it may not be very accurate. After all, it is spring and is affected by too many different climate factors.

But it is still possible to prepare in advance.

Liwu had his men investigate the wind direction while beginning to arrange firewood, charcoal for starting the fire, saltpeter for helping combustion, and other materials on the south slope.

Just in case of emergency. (End of this chapter)