Three Kingdoms: Peak Summons

Chapter 2956 Zhang Liang’s clever plan to capture Qingnan, Su Lie’s flying horse attack on Langya (Part 1)

Chapter 2952: Zhang Liang makes a clever plan to conquer Qingnan, Su Lie flies to attack Langya (Part 1)

"Although Qingnan has temporarily returned to stability, there are still many hidden dangers under the calm, and a large number of secret spies are lurking here."

Hearing Zhang Liang's words, Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang instantly understood the reason why the other party took the initiative to lower the defenders.

If there are too many defenders, these people will not dare to take the initiative. Only if there are few defenders and give these people hope of success, will they dare to take the initiative.

Obviously, Zhang Liang wanted to lure the snakes out of their holes, so that they could be caught in one fell swoop, and solve the hidden dangers in Qingnan once and for all, so that the Qin army's rear would be completely stable.

"Awesome."

Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang couldn't help but admire in their hearts. After all, although this plan was simple, it was a naked conspiracy.

Even if Zhu Di knew that this might be a trap set by Zhang Liang, it was true that Qingnan had set up 10,000 defenders, so he would not let go of this opportunity to disrupt the Qin army's rear.

Since Zhang Liang had set up a plan to completely eliminate hidden dangers in Qingnan, Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang naturally had no reason to refuse.

After the three of them finalized the details and the division of labor for dispatching troops, they officially issued the order to dispatch troops.

Early the next morning, Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang joined forces. After publicly announcing the dispatch of troops, they led an army of 210,000 southward, leaving Zhang Liang with only 10,000 defenders to guard the three counties of Qingnan.

As Zhang Liang expected, as soon as Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang left, the Ming army spies lurking in Qingnan began to make moves, and then large-scale rumors broke out in Qingnan.

The content of the rumor is also very simple. It is said that Zhang Liang is only the nominal governor of Qingxu, and has been isolated by the joint efforts of Zhuge Liang and Su Dingfang. He has no real power at all, so he only leaves 10,000 defenders. Qingnan will also be defeated by Qin. The army fell into chaos again due to internal fighting.

As the rumors continued to spread, Zhang Liang had to stand up and explain. Although it appeased most people, it also made some people think that he had indeed been excluded, otherwise he would not have explained so urgently. This also caused a bigger storm to start brewing in the three counties of Qingnan.

——————

Xuzhou, Xiapi County, Xiapi City.

As the second capital of the Ming Dynasty, Xiapi's geographical location was not good.

To be precise, Xuzhou, which is located in a vast plain, has no geographical advantages.

But it is precisely because of this that Zhu Di was able to defend the three-acre land left to him by Zhu Yuanzhang under the siege of Cao Cao and Zhao Kuangyin, and even developed it. It turned out to be stronger, which makes it even more rare and valuable.

The territory of the Ming Dynasty during the Zhu Yuanzhang period not only included the entire Xuzhou, but also occupied the entire Lu County in Yuzhou, most of Pei County, the eastern part of Liang County, and the southern part of Taishan County in Yanzhou. It was only half a step away from becoming the overlord of the Central Plains.

If Zhu Yuanzhang hadn't coveted the millions of people in Taihang and went to the Taihang Mountains to deal with Ying Hao in person, he would probably have wiped out all the princes in the Central Plains and become the lord of the four states.

By the time of Zhu Di, although the three Central Plains Wars caused the Ming Dynasty to lose all its territory outside Xuzhou, and the south gate Guangling County was also taken away by the Zhao Song Dynasty, the western half of the county, and even the east gate and the former capital Pengcheng County were captured by Cao Wei .

On the surface, Zhu Di seemed to be in a very miserable situation and could fall into the state of subjugation at any time. However, as Zhu Tianpeng led his army and the entire Qi State surrendered, the overall strength of the Ming State increased instead of falling. The overall national strength was still at the level of Wei and Song Dynasties. above the country.

After the fall of Pengcheng, there were actually few cities suitable to serve as the capital of the Ming Dynasty. They were just the three fortified cities of Xiapi, Guangling, and Kaiyang (the seat of Langya County), and these three cities represented three different development direction.

If the capital is moved to Guangling or Kaiyang, two cities with one south and one north, it means that Zhu Di was afraid of being beaten by the Wei and Song Dynasties and had no confidence in defeating Cao Cao and Zhao Kuangyin, so he was ready to abandon the Central Plains and move to Yangzhou in the south. Or Qingzhou in the north has developed.

But if the capital is moved to Xiapi, it shows the determination of Zhu Di and the Wei and Song Dynasties to fight to the end. After all, Xiapi, like Pengcheng, is still on the front line of the Three Kingdoms melee.

The emperor guarded the country and the king died in the country, which shows Zhu Di's determination and courage to fight to the end.

Facts have proved that Zhu Di's decision to move the capital to Xiapi was extremely correct.

If Zhu Di moved the capital to Guangling at that time, no matter how optimistic Zhu Tianpeng was about him, it would be impossible to convince the senior officials of Qi State to submit to a coward who had no courage to fight and only wanted to live in peace.

If Zhu Di moves the capital to Kaiyang, even if Zhu Tianpeng is unwilling, he must reluctantly send troops to destroy him, because the Ming Dynasty, which has changed its development direction, is destined to become the enemy of Qi.

But it was Zhu Di who moved the capital to Xiapi. This move not only stabilized the turbulent people internally, but also showed externally that he had no intention of becoming an enemy of Qi, thus convincing the Qi pro-Ming faction headed by Zhu Tianpeng.

Among the three wars in the Central Plains that Zhu Di experienced, the first offensive and defensive battle at Xiapi was the most thrilling, because Pengcheng, the capital of the country, had just fallen. The morale of the Ming army was extremely weak, and Xu Shiji and Xu Da were both restrained and unable to carry out effective operations. support, so Xiapi City can only be defended by Zhu Di himself.

Once Zhu Di is unable to defend Xiapi and the capital is breached for the second time, the Ming army will no longer have any morale at all, and the Ming Kingdom will be doomed.

But Zhu Di managed to hold on, and even waited for reinforcements from Zhu Tianpeng, thus reversing the embarrassing situation where the enemy was strong and we were weak, and we had been passively beaten.

It has to be said that every step of Zhu Di's journey to this point was extremely difficult. The difficulty of starting a business is actually still higher than that of Cao Cao, but he did better than Cao Cao. The Ming Dynasty, whether it was economy, military, or people The support is much better than that of Cao Wei.

This also shows Zhu Di's strong ability.

If Zhu Di is given another ten years, he may really be able to grow to the point where he can compete with the two top talented players Liu Xiugang and Li Shimin, and then threaten Ying Hao, but unfortunately he doesn't have that much time. If the Qin army cannot be repulsed this time, Zhu Di's hegemony will come to an end, and there will be no other room left.

On the surface, the Qin army this time only has 210,000, which is hundreds of thousands less than the Ming army. Its level of danger is far less than that during the Central Plains War, where the Ming Dynasty may be destroyed at any time, but the fact is that Is that so?

Apparently not.

On the Qingxu battlefield, although the Qin army is smaller than the coalition forces, this Central Plains war is about the overall situation, not the victory or defeat of a single battle on a single battlefield.

If the coalition forces fail in any of the three major battlefields of Yanzhou, Qingxu, and Runan, it will be the straw that breaks the camel's back, creating a situation where the enemy is defeated at one point and then catastrophically catastrophized.

It is precisely because of this that Zhu Di's purpose in this battle is not to defend at all, but to repel or even defeat the Qingxu Qin army, because only in this way can he spare efforts to support Cao Cao in Yanzhou, and then maintain the balance of the entire Central Plains war situation.

But the actual development far exceeded expectations.

Facing the three-pronged thirty-three Qin armies led by Zhuge Liang, Su Dingfang, and Zhou Yu, Zhu Di could not win even with 500,000 coalition troops. He even fell into a dilemma of being suppressed due to lack of water power.

Finally, Zhou Yu's navy was severely damaged, but the land battle fell into a disadvantage due to continuous attrition. In order to minimize the losses, they had to abandon Qingnan. However, with low morale, they still could not win, and they wanted to restore morale. He needed time again, but Qin Jun didn't give him time.

Therefore, even though Zhu Di still holds hundreds of thousands of troops and has the entire Xuzhou at his back, he has actually fallen into a vicious cycle. It is difficult to defeat the Qingxu Qin army, let alone defeat the Qingxu Qin army and then support Yanzhou.

Therefore, after receiving the news from the Qingnan spy that Zhang Liang might be isolated because of the Qingnan garrison, Zhu Di keenly realized that this might be his only chance to make a comeback, and immediately summoned Fan Zeng, Yao Guangxiao, Xian Zhen, Li Yan, Jing Xiang, Li Zhen and other counselors discussed.

But after learning the news, the counselors were divided into two groups.

The conservatives headed by Xian Zhen, Jing Xiang, and Li Zhen believed that this was a trap set by Zhang Liang. After all, with Zhang Liang's status and conduct, he would never fall out with Zhuge Liang and Su Lie at the same time. The purpose of this is to lure the snake out of its hole and catch them all in one fell swoop, so you must not be fooled.

The Ming faction radicals headed by Fan Zeng and Yao Guangxiao believed that even if it was a trap, as long as they were careful enough and planned well, they could counterattack Zhang Liang's army. Moreover, given the current situation of the Ming army, if they did not seize this opportunity, There is really no other chance.

Why are the counselors of the Qi clan conservative, while the counselors of the Ming clan are radical?

The reason is very simple. Most of the Ming army's secret agents in Qingnan are people from the Qi clan. If the operation fails, these people will definitely die, and the power of the Qi clan will be lost, so naturally they don't want them to die in vain.

But in the eyes of Ming Dynasty, risks and opportunities coexist.

Where are the opportunities?

Qingnan may be a trap, but the defenders do only have 10,000 troops, and with the backhand left by Zhu Di before retreating, as long as it is done properly, it is not impossible to overturn the table. It just depends on whose method is better.

Besides, it doesn't matter even if it fails, the frontal battlefield will not be affected, and the losses will only be abandoned children who cannot come back.

But once it succeeds, the Qin army's rear will be disrupted, which will then affect the food supply and even morale. The impact will be immeasurable.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di no longer hesitated and immediately gave orders to the spies lurking in Qingnan to create chaos in Qingnan, seize the city, and assassinate Zhang Liang at all costs.

For Zhu Di, the threat from Zhang Liang was too great. He didn't even go to the battlefield. Just serving in Qingnan caused a large number of believers to defect. What if he came to Xuzhou?

Therefore, if we can get rid of Zhang Liang, we still have to get rid of him as soon as possible. If we can't solve it, we can only burn the boat.

In Qingnan, in the cellar of a certain tavern, brother Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian, who were the highest remaining officers of the Ming army, turned pale after reading Zhu Di's message.

"This is a trap, it's a trap. How could my lord be so unwise?" Zhu Youxiao said with a look of disbelief.

"hehe."

After Zhu Youjian gave a wry smile, he said with a sad face: "My lord is not unwise, he just wanted to take a gamble when he had no choice but to take a gamble, and we and the brothers in Qingnan are all abandoned sons."

Logically speaking, when the Ming army withdrew from Qingnan, brothers Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian, who were clan members, must have been among the retreating ranks.

But in order to prevent the people who stayed behind from feeling cold, Zhu Di deliberately left Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian behind, to show that he had not given up on everyone, but was just retreating strategically, and sooner or later he would lead his army to fight back.

Brother Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian thought the same way before, but they didn't expect to become an abandoned son like this. Even if they knew there was a trap ahead, they still let their brothers try with their lives.

To be honest, Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian's brothers were a little chilled at this moment. Obviously they didn't expect Zhu Di to be so cruel. After all, they and Zhu Di were cousins, and they even gave up on the two of them.

The faces of the two brothers were extremely ugly, but when they read the next letter, their faces became a little better. After all, although what Zhu Di asked them to do was dangerous, they gave detailed and careful arrangements. As long as it went well, it would not be a problem. There is no possibility of success.

Brothers Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian themselves cannot disobey Zhu Di. Now that Zhu Di has given a comprehensive plan, they can only do what Zhu Di said honestly.

(End of chapter)