As for grain and grass, today's Chang Yu must do what he says and what he says is more effective and efficient than the imperial court. Those nobles in Nanjing who were responsible for the western expedition of grain and grass were responsible for the part, and most of the goods confiscated by Liu Zeqing were used as military rations. Gao Jie There are donations and loans there, passing through various states and counties at key points. These grains and grass are being transported to Kaifeng, Luoyang and Puzhou through Octopus. In Li Yan's words, he could not survive even if he starved to death. Fortunately, he could not cross the river a year ago. It will be fine until next spring.
Chang Yu spread out the map and clicked on Tongguan: "General Zhou and I have agreed on this place with the Secretary of History. What does General Li think?"
Tongguan is only a hundred miles away in a straight line in the southwest of Puzhou, separated by mountains and rivers. The mountains are the middle mountain and the river is the Yellow River.
The Yellow River makes a 90-degree turn at Tongguan and turns due east. Tongguan is backed by Huashan Mountain and faces the Yellow River in front of it. The Wei River leads to Chang'an. It has always been a battleground for military strategists.
Li Yan stared at the map for a long time, frowned deeply and said three times in a row: "It's difficult, it's difficult, it's difficult."
"I would like to hear the details." Chang Yu listened intently.
"Firstly, Tongguan is the east gate of Xi'an, and there are heavy troops stationed by the invaders. Secondly, Tongguan has a dangerous terrain, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Although there is a direct line from the Wei River to Xi'an, it is difficult to move forward. Thirdly, we are in Kaifeng, and the troops stationed in Luoyang are all on the Yellow River. The purpose of this line is too obvious, how can we not guard against intruders?"
Li Yan came one by one, Chang Yu frowned: "General, can you stay on the other side of Tongguan? Has the Yellow River frozen?"
"The final general will set up three defense points on the Yellow River on the other side of Tongguan. He will keep a close eye on the other side and has sent people to cross the river for reconnaissance... Although it is cold today, it is not cold enough. There are several places on the river that are frozen, but there is not enough ice to stand on it."
"General, do you mean to cross the river from Puzhou to attack from the front?" Chang Yu raised his eyebrows, and Li Yan nodded: "After crossing the river in Puzhou, it will be flat, and the army can go straight to Huanglong."
"The intruders themselves have measured themselves, how can they allow us to drive straight in? Now they have stationed heavy troops on the other side of Puzhou to defend the coast. Even if we break the Yellow River defense line, they can still build another line of defense in the Beiluo River ahead to block it. At the same time, they can When we mobilized troops from Tongguan to besiege us from behind, we were attacked from behind..." Chang Yu had his own concerns, but Li Yan had already considered it: "Divide the troops to contain Tongguan and use Puzhou as the main attack point."
This is exactly contrary to the previous considerations of Chang Yu and others. They originally planned to attack from Tongguan under the guise of Puzhou. After all, Wu Sangui and others' troops are in Kaifeng and Luoyang and they can dispatch their troops to Tongguan City along the Yellow River. If It would be too troublesome to transfer Puzhou to cross the river to the west as early as possible.
"The intruder thought so too, so we went in the opposite direction." Li Yan smiled slightly, Chang Yu patted his thigh and extended his thumb: "Wonderful. In this case, we divided our troops into three groups and let him touch the real and the weak. well".
Li Yan reacted instantly: "General Zhou crossed the river from Piantou Pass in the north and advanced towards Yan'an through Yulin. We crossed the river from Puzhou and broke through Tongzhou (today's Dali County area) and went straight to Xi'an alone. General Wu and others Take the southern route to Tongguan..."
"We will formulate the basic strategy first, and the specific combat plan needs to be carefully polished by General Li and the generals. The Japanese Governor will return to Beijing soon, and General Li will have to trouble General Li with the remaining military affairs." Chang Yu cupped his hand, and Li Yan quickly returned the courtesy: "Why bother with what you have to do?" He glanced at Zhu Cixiang who was listening with interest and said, "Are you going to send His Highness the Crown Prince back to the capital?"
Chang Yu nodded and said slightly apologetically: "I'm afraid the general won't be able to reunite with his wife this year."
Li Yan smiled: "State affairs are the most important thing."
Zhu Cixiang was slightly moved and said to Li Yan: "General Li is loyal to the emperor and defends the country. I admire you deeply." Li Yan quickly returned the courtesy. Chang Yu rolled his eyes at Zhu Cixiang: "Don't talk casually, it will make General Li look uncomfortable." Feel free, just say polite words to waste time."
"Okay." Zhu Cixiang smiled sheepishly, but Li Yan was shocked. This...
"Is it because General Li didn't enter the city because of Zhao Jianji?" Chang Yu and Li Yan chatted for a long time about military affairs and became tired, so they started chatting. Li Yan smiled bitterly: "Civil officials are different from military generals. They hold grudges very much. Not everyone does. Like General Zhou...hey, I feel a little uncomfortable after all." He then asked curiously: "Zhao Jianji was originally the governor of Shanxi, so he had meritorious service in guarding Taiyuan. Why was he not promoted but instead demoted to the post of prefect of Pingyang?"
"General, have you ever heard of the word gilding?" Chang Yu chuckled.
Li Yan was slightly startled and then said: "Although I have never heard of it, I roughly know what it means." Chang Yu sighed: "It's not all for gold plating. After the first battle at the beginning of the year, Shanxi's official famine, those who escaped fled, those who surrendered, and those who died died, Zhao Jianji and the others would have been transferred to Beijing long ago, but now they have no choice..."
The wind and snow were howling outside, and Chang Yu and Li Yan were talking indoors at night. Zhu Cihong was making tea and listening until late at night without feeling sleepy. Chang Yu asked him to talk less and listen more, but he kept silent and kept his eyes on Li Yan. Taking a closer look, this man was once a thief and now works for the Ming Dynasty. He is the first counselor under Chang Yu. It is said that Chang Yu can defeat the thief army and the Tatars and regain half of the country in a short period of time. His illustrious military exploits are half that of Li Yan.
Hearing is better than seeing. Li Yan is one of the rare Confucian generals nowadays. His speech and demeanor are not comparable to those of Gao Jie and others. Zhu Cixiang suddenly realized that Chang Yu had some deep intentions in bringing him to see Li Yan.
It's daybreak and it's still snowing.
Chang Yu slept late but was woken up by the sound of bells and chanting in the temple. He turned over and got up and saw that Zhu Cixiang was still sleeping soundly. He got out of bed and saw Qing Yi holding a book and studying outside. He asked out of curiosity: "Is it possible that Qing Yi is not sleeping?" Are you reading Buddhist scriptures?"
Qing Yi waved his hand hurriedly: "How can a Taoist priest read Buddhist scriptures? This is the Taoist scriptures, the master's handwritten copy." As he spoke, he raised the scripture in his hand towards Chang Yu. Chang Yu saw that the word 'mind method' was written on the cover, and he opened it and took a look. I couldn't help but frown, it read: Knock your teeth thirty-six, hold Kunlun with both hands. The heavenly drums were sounded from left to right and heard twenty-four times. Shake the sky pillar slightly. The red dragon stirs the water, drums wash it for thirty-six years, the spirit...
"Qingyi, what is this, inner strength and mental method?"
Qing Yi shook his head: "I don't know this either. My master has taught me to read it and figure it out myself since I was young."
Chang Yu was surprised and thought to himself: Damn it, Master Jue Yuan, this is it! This mental method is the most basic Taoist inner strength method. Many people will never know how to do it in their entire life. They only treat it as a way to maintain health. But she is so talented that she has unknowingly entered the room and said: "Your inner strength is trained according to this." Of?"
Qing Yi thought for a moment, it should be so. If you want to learn from the shopkeeper, I will teach you.
Of course Chang Yu thought about it. The flesh and blood body couldn't stop Qingyi's palm at all, but when he looked at the mental method, what is Kunlun, what is the Tiangu, and what is the Tianzhu, he suddenly got a big headache... "Wait for the future. Let’s talk about it when you have free time, you can teach Master Wang and the others first.”
While she was talking, Lian Xin came in with a basin of hot water: "Shopkeeper, there can't be meat in the temple. Breakfast is only porridge and pickles. Please bear with it."
Chang Yu smiled: "Then let's do as the Romans do and drink porridge. Are you up, Miss Ninth?"
"Not yet. It's cold and I'm lying in bed." Lian Xin chuckled softly. Chang Yu asked again, "Where is your master?"
The master has gone to do morning lessons.
Ah, Chang Yu was startled. Although Sujing was born in Buddhism, his mind became extreme after the death of his master. He no longer regarded himself as a Buddhist disciple, did not read scriptures or worship the Buddha, and fell into the world of killing people. How come he has returned now? Confused, I followed the sound of the sutra to the door of the main hall of the temple and looked inside to see more than ten monks chanting sutras with their eyes closed. They were sitting in the corner with their hands clasped together and their faces pious.
After watching silently at the door of the temple for a while, Chang Yu turned around and went to wash up. Lian Xin had already prepared a meal for him. Li Yan also got up early and had breakfast together, chatting about military affairs. The wind and snow outside were still there, and the sound of sutras was reverberating in the temple. Hundreds of personal guards were distributed in various places performing their duties and did not disturb the temple.
There is nothing more comfortable than sleeping in a warm room on this windy and snowy day. The Zhu brothers and sisters just can't afford to sleep in bed. Chang Yu is also very sympathetic to the two of them. After all, they are both rich and rough guys like them can't. Bi, he was already tired from all the hard work, and he didn't let anyone wake him up, so he just let the two of them sleep soundly.
After dinner, Li Yan asked Chang Yu if he wanted to enter the city.
Chang Yu stood at the door looking at the wind and snow, and shook his head gently: "It's rare to have some quiet time. There is nothing more comfortable than staying in bed on this snowy day, but hiking."
"Since the governor is elegant and prosperous, he will accompany him at the end."
"That's what I asked for!" Chang Yu laughed, and with a few guards put on raincoats, he went up the mountain with Li Yan from the back door of the temple.
