The large military tent outside the capital city.
Liu Mingzhi and a group of generals were gathered around a simple sand table to discuss tomorrow's siege strategy, when a scout rushed into the tent holding an order flag.
"Report, Commander-in-Chief, the 100,000 soldiers and horsemen under King Zhao's command are divided into two directions, heading south and west of the city in a detour several miles away from the rear camp of our army.
They have no intention of taking action against my camp yet, but their intention seems to be to cooperate with the Imperial Guards in the capital to outflank our army when they attack the city tomorrow. "
"Report, Commander-in-Chief, the 50,000 soldiers and horsemen under Yong'an Gong Nangong Ye's command divided into two groups and detoured to the east and north of the city. They did not make any move to attack our army's camp."
Liu Mingzhi raised his eyes and glanced at the two scouts who rushed into the tent one after another. He held the flag in his hand and scratched his forehead several times.
“Continue to investigate and see where their final resting place was.
In addition, the soldiers of each battalion were ordered to send 500 additional patrol guards and ten more groups of hidden sentries to pay close attention to all the movements of the soldiers and horses of King Zhao and Yong'an. If something was wrong, report it immediately. "
"I have been ordered to resign from my humble position!"
After the two scouts left the tent, Cheng Kai and dozens of other generals looked at each other solemnly, and then looked at Liu Mingzhi, who was standing in front of the sand table thoughtfully.
Zhou Baoyu placed the flag in his hand on the edge of the sand table, leaned over and inspected the sand table.
"Commander, General Nangong and King Zhao are clearly planning to plant a nail behind our backs.
The intention is self-evident, just as the scout brothers analyzed, they stabbed my siege troops in the back at the most important moment, in order to cooperate with the imperial guards in the capital to outflank my army brothers. "
Ye Baotong nodded in agreement, the solemn look in his single eye undisguised.
"Commander, I agree with General Zhou's speculation.
Although the 100,000 soldiers and horses under the command of King Zhao are miscellaneous soldiers with varying combat capabilities.
But after all, there are hundreds of thousands of people.
We are not afraid of confronting them head-on, but we are afraid that they will stab our brothers who are attacking the city at the critical moment.
If it doesn’t kill you, it will disgust you to death.
If they focus on sneak attacks to share the pressure of the imperial guards on the capital city wall, our siege speed will inevitably be delayed for some time. "
Liu Mingzhi threw the flag in his hand on the sand table and looked at Ning Chao, Cheng Kai and the others: "Do you have anything to say?"
Ning Chao, Feng Buer and the others set their sights on Cheng Kai, the big brother, and wanted to see if he had any better suggestions.
Cheng Kai felt the gazes of a group of brothers and leaned over the flash drive and scanned it for a long time.
"Commander, as the saying goes, a defeat is like a mountain. The general believes that after tomorrow's announcement, we will not focus on attacking the capital, but use all our forces to attack the 100,000 miscellaneous soldiers under the command of King Zhao Li Tao.
One hundred thousand miscellaneous soldiers and 200,000 cavalry under our army rushed through and surrounded them. They were defeated in less than half a day, and the morale of the army was completely depleted.
Even though the 50,000 elite soldiers under Duke Yong'an will interfere with us, after we allocate part of our troops, we still have the absolute upper hand in dealing with the miscellaneous soldiers under the command of King Zhao Li Tao.
When attacking them, the main purpose is not to kill the enemy.
Rather, we want to demoralize them in one fell swoop so that they will not dare to do evil things to our army again.
The general feels that as long as we give him a thunderous blow, no matter how King Zhao orders it, those miscellaneous soldiers will not dare to plot evil behind our army easily again.
I wonder what the commander-in-chief thinks? "
"Commander, I will add Brother Cheng's suggestion at the end, pick the weak ones first.
Only after the miscellaneous soldiers under King Zhao's command are completely defeated will they no longer dare to obstruct our siege.
In this way, after allocating some troops to deal with the 50,000 elite troops under Duke Yong'an, we can concentrate on attacking the city without any worries. "
"The general also agrees, pick the soft persimmon first!"
Liu Mingzhi took a few sips of the tea, squinted his eyes and pondered for a moment.
"What is your psychological expectation for us to invade the capital?"
"Today is different from what it used to be. Today's guards in the capital are not the King of Shu, King Qing's small number of elite soldiers and the rabble gathered together by Dong Ping and Xi Min. Instead, they are all soldiers and horses of the Forbidden Army and the Military Guard.
After the last time the King of Shu raised his troops, there were only tens of thousands of soldiers and horses left in the imperial army in the capital, and later tens of thousands of new soldiers were added.
Although most of these recruits have no combat experience, the battlefield is the best place for training.
Once we attack the city, within three to five days, 50% to 60% of the surviving recruits in the Forbidden Army will immediately become elite soldiers.
The fortified city was defended, and 50,000 elite cavalrymen followed, and 50,000 elite infantrymen who might have rushed to the city were assisting on the side.
It's not a problem that we can finally break into the city.
However, like the last time they entered Beijing to quell the rebellion, it may not be that easy to invade the city in just a few days.
It will take about half a month to twenty days at the end. "
"The same goes for the last general. It is estimated to be around twenty days. After all, the troops defending the capital now are different from those in the past."
"Seconded."
"Seconded!"
"The last general is also here..."
Liu Mingzhi looked at the estimated deadlines of dozens of generals with similar differences, while the tea lid gently fiddled with the tea foam on the water.
"Ten days, we must attack the capital within ten days. If it takes longer, something unexpected will inevitably happen."
Dozens of generals looked at Liu Mingzhi sitting on the chair and exclaimed: "Ten days!"
“Yes, ten days, you can go early, but you can’t go late.
Why, you all look so unsure of yourself? "
The generals looked at each other in embarrassment and exhaled heavily.
"Commander, it's not that our brothers don't have confidence, it's that although the current military strength in the capital is slightly inferior to ours, it's not much different.
It took ten days to capture a heavily defended city, which put a lot of pressure on the brothers. "
"That's right, although we carry hundreds of artillery pieces, the capital city only has many more artillery pieces than us.
As a result, the power of our artillery will be restricted to the greatest extent.
Moreover, the artillery on the city wall occupies a geographical advantage, and our artillery is at risk of being destroyed at any time.
Once the artillery is destroyed, our army's advantage in siege will be gone! "
"I will give you 50,000 more elite troops and 200 artillery pieces to assist you?"
"What? Do we still have soldiers and horses?"
"You don't have to worry about this. If I say it is possible, it will happen. Under such circumstances, is it possible to break the city in ten days?"
The soldiers looked at each other for a while and nodded silently.
"Yes, but the casualties may be..."
Liu Mingzhi put down his tea cup and paced in the tent: "Unnecessary casualties can be avoided. Try not to increase any casualties.
Jiang Lei! "
"The general is here!"
"I have got ten new artillery pieces for you, and they are now at Wollongong, ten miles away from the official road in the north of the city.
Later, you should immediately lead the brothers to familiarize themselves with the operation of these artillery pieces. Han Zhong is also there. If you don't understand, let him explain it to you. "
Jiang Lei's eyes lit up and he nodded heavily: "Yes!"
Liu Mingzhi looked at the delighted Jiang Lei with complicated eyes, and slowly closed his eyes.
"Remember, if the artillery in hand is successful in attacking the city, these ten new artillery can be used or not. Try not to use them. The premise of casting them is not to bomb your brothers."
"Yes! I will understand!"
"Han Peng!"
"The general is here!"
"You are the eldest brother among the cavalry generals. You suppressed bandits in the south of the Yangtze River, went to the Western Regions, and conquered the Jin Dynasty. You are an invincible cavalry general.
I will set up a battle for you and capture two battalions of troops from each of the two guards. Do you have the confidence that the one hundred thousand miscellaneous soldiers under King Zhao will not harass the siege brothers? "
Han Peng was silent for a while and nodded gently.
"If the purpose is not to kill and annihilate the enemy, but just to support them, you will never have this confidence."
"Think carefully, King Zhao also has 30,000 cavalry under his command!"
"When the general was in the south of the city, he saw the appearance of King Zhao's cavalry through a telescope, so there is nothing to worry about."
"Okay, be careful. You and Vice General Yue each lead 10,000 troops and pay close attention to the movements of King Zhao's army. If they dare to send troops to harass, intercept them immediately."
"We have the order!"
Liu Mingzhi nodded heavily, squatted under the sand tray, took out a jar of wine and placed it on the table, and took out several thick porcelain bowls and placed them one by one.
After patting off the sealing mud, Liu Mingzhi carried the wine jar and passed it over the porcelain bowls one by one.
"Come on, let's make an exception for drinking today, and wish us a successful start."
"To the commander-in-chief."
More than thirty people drank the drinks in their hands and signaled to each other.
"Commander, I don't have any other orders, brothers just go and get ready!"
"Okay, be careful!"
"We have the order!"
"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, a Forbidden Army general outside the camp asked the general to present this letter to you!"
"Where are the people?"
"We've already gone back in the gondola!"
Liu Mingzhi thoughtfully took the letter from the soldier and waved to Cheng Kai and the others.
"Let's go make arrangements for the siege first!"
"We'll leave!"
