That spring hunt that ended hastily seemed to indicate something.磱
Every three or four days, battle reports from the front line were sent back to Chengdu. First, Wuxian Port and Qutang Pass were quickly lost, and Baidi City held on for half a month before changing hands. These just made Liu Zhang secretly curse a few "trash", but the new news that came back today really made Liu Zhang anxious.
On the 6th of this month, a mysterious Chu army raided Xuanhan City in Brazil. The exact number of people is unknown.
On the 7th of this month, Chu army general Huang Zhong led 6,000 soldiers and horses to raid Linjiang. After resting for a day, he was heading towards Jiangzhou City.
There are two troops, one in the northeast of Jiangzhou and one in the southeast of Jiangzhou, and Li Hui only has 10,000 troops in hand. Jiangzhou is in danger!
Liu Zhang anxiously summoned his ministers to discuss countermeasures.
"Has Zhang Ren already surrendered in Kaicheng?"
"Absurd! Zhang Ren has always been loyal to the king. This time he was imprisoned and the king pardoned his death penalty. A few days ago, the battle report mentioned that Zhang Ren recruited Yong'an civilians to resist the Chu army. How could he suddenly surrender?"
"Hmph, Zhang Ren secretly sent troops to Jingzhou with evil intentions. If he really captured Jingzhou, it is impossible to say whether he dedicated it to the king or made himself king. Now that the Chu army is attacking, isn't it Zhang Renchuang's fault? After being imprisoned before, maybe he was not grateful to the king, but instead held a grudge? Seeing that reinforcements did not come for a month, it is not impossible for him to simply surrender to the Chu army."
The courtiers were talking a lot.
Liu Zhang felt that he had planned everything, but he did not expect that the war would progress so fast. In just one month, the Chu army was about to attack Jiangzhou City?
"Okay, okay! The most urgent task now is to send people to negotiate peace with the Chu State? Which of you will go to negotiate peace?"
The ministers became quiet and looked around. For a while, no one took this person seriously.
Liu Zhang glanced displeasedly. Zhang Song must not be able to do it. He had offended Sun Ce before in Jianye, and his eyes immediately focused on Fazheng.
"Xiaozhi, why don't you go on a mission to Chu State this time?"
Li Ping couldn't stand it anymore. As a general in the army, how could he stand this strategy of seeking peace without fighting? He hurriedly clasped his fists.
"Your Majesty, we haven't reached this stage yet. The most important thing right now is to stabilize the front line. Only by defeating the Chu army's offensive can we have the possibility of negotiating peace."
It makes sense. The front line must be stabilized. Otherwise, if the Chu army reaches the gates of Chengdu, how can we negotiate for peace? Liu Zhang understood the truth. He was just temporarily panicked because the war was developing too fast.
Nodding, Liu Zhang looked at everyone again and asked.
"What's your clever plan, sir?"
This time, Fazheng stood up first. As the military advisor of Shu, he would not worry about the king at this time. How could he wait?
"To report to my king, the previous military reports are not enough to conclude that Zhang Ren has led his troops to surrender to the enemy. I believe that Yong'an City has not fallen yet. The Chu army attacked in two directions and directed its troops towards Jiangzhou. It has two intentions."
"On the one hand, he saw that Jiangzhou's military strength was weak and wanted to seize the opportunity. Once Jiangzhou is captured, the Chu army can march straight in, attack Fushui Pass and reach Chengdu City. If Chengdu falls and takes the king hostage, the land of Shu will be returned It’s true.”
"Secondly, the Yong'an Army has suffered losses of more than 10,000. Most of the 20,000 soldiers and horses left in Zhang Ren's hands are new troops. They cannot compete with the elite troops of Chu after leaving the city. If Jiangzhou can be captured, unless Zhang Ren ignores the king Our safety is in danger, otherwise we will have to send troops to Jiangzhou to fight the Chu army in the wild."
"To abandon the near and seek the distant, attack the enemy and rescue them, this is Ji Ziyuan's strategy of 'surrounding Wei and rescuing Zhao'. My king is kind and only wants to understand the grudges between Yong'an County and Chu State, but the affairs of the military can affect the whole body. If Ji Ziyuan If we achieve the above two goals, we can retreat to Yong'an to defend it, and if we advance, we can plan for Chengdu and become invincible."
Fazheng paused here to give Liu Zhang some time to think.
"I see! That Ji Shu is Sun Ce's right-hand man, so he should not be underestimated."
"What Jijiu said made us suddenly enlightened."
Some ministers discussed with each other and expressed their agreement, and some ministers also flattered Fa Zheng.磱
The unknown is the scariest thing. Once Chu Ren's plan is figured out, the heaviness in everyone's hearts fades a bit.
Seeing Liu Zhang nodding in approval, Fazheng continued.
"The most important thing now is the defense of Jiangzhou. If Jiangzhou is not lost, Ji Ziyuan's plan will not succeed. Your Majesty, you can order General Li Hui of Jiangzhou to immediately recruit young men to defend the city, and at the same time let Gao Pei of Fushui Pass lead Five thousand soldiers were sent to support Jiangzhou, while the Chengdu garrison sent 5,000 soldiers to General Wu Lan to take over Fushui Pass. On the other side, Mianzhu Prefect Fei Guan led 3,000 county soldiers and Bajun General Deng Xian's 3,000 soldiers and horses pursued him. Destroy the enemy troops and at the same time strengthen the walls and clear the country so that the Chu army cannot obtain supplies."
As soon as these words came out, someone immediately frowned.
Zhang Song was about to object, but Li Ping spoke first.
"Master Jijiu's deployment of troops is correct, but isn't it too exaggerated to have a strong wall and clear fields in Ba County?"
Li Ping stood up and did not dare to disagree.磱
"Since Yong'an has not been lost, at most, more than a thousand enemy troops have sneaked into Brazil and attacked the city at night. The king gave the order and Deng Xian was able to wipe out the enemy troops within half a month. In the direction of Linjiang, Huang Zhong was just a vanguard. , Chu army’s follow-up troops should be dealt with carefully.”
Li Ping's view is also in line with the views of most courtiers. After all, there are high mountains between Brazil and Yong'an, and only Jiangzhou has an official road leading to Brazil. Yong'an City was not lost, so how could so many Chu troops sneak into Jiangzhou's territory and lurk behind Jiangzhou?
Fazheng was not angry at the moment, he just bowed his head and said softly.
"General Li, we don't know the number of Chu troops in the direction of Brazil yet. I'm just just in case."
Li Ping snorted coldly and said.
"in case?"
"Bajun, Badong, Brazil, and Mianzhu are all important grain-producing areas in Sichuan. It's spring planting now. Why don't you build strong walls and clear the fields? Will the soldiers be exposed to the northwest wind in winter?"
Zhang Song was overjoyed and quickly agreed.
"I also agree with General Li Ping's point of view. The mysterious Chu army should be just used by the Chu people to destroy roads and bridges and delay reinforcements from the north of Jiangzhou. It is not worth paying such a high price to deal with this army."
"I think so too. Maybe Chu's extraordinary army only has a few hundred people? By then, if we make the people of Bajun and Mianzhu miserable, won't we make the Chu people laugh?"
It was Fei Shi who spoke, followed by several ministers who seconded their opinions. Zhang Song, who knew the inside story, was dumbfounded. He could only look at Fazheng in confusion and said indifferently.
"Wei Chen is just being careful. Since so many ministers are against it, I didn't say anything. Please, Your Majesty, order Fei Guan, the governor of Mianzhu, and General Deng Xian of Ba County to pursue and suppress the enemy with all their strength."
Seeing that after a long discussion, the ministers finally reached a unified opinion, Liu Zhang was also very satisfied and immediately issued the decree.
