As early as when it was determined that this critical battle must be fought, the generals and decision-makers in the military camp had already made a basic judgment.
First of all, Changshui County, as one of the strong counties in Gyeonggi Province, was originally one of the peripheral fortresses of the royal capital, playing a buffering role. Therefore, not only was the county town larger in scale, but the city walls were also higher and stronger than the local county towns.
Therefore, the best strategy for attacking Changshui County is: first, to encircle it without attacking; second, to cut off water and food; and third, to throw the source of disease or attack with fire.
All tactics revolve around a "war of attrition", gradually eroding the morale and supplies of the defenders in the city. When the defenders are exhausted physically and mentally, they can capture the county seat in one go with minimal casualties.
But there are two difficulties with this method.
First, the time requirements are too stringent. The order given above is to capture Changshui County within two months. The longer it is delayed, the more disadvantageous the war in the south will be. If it is really delayed to three months, Qin Feng's army will kill them all. When we get to Gyeonggi, it doesn't make much sense whether we can attack Changshui County or not.
Therefore, time alone makes it impossible to implement a war of attrition.
Secondly, if you want to encircle Changshui County, the morale of the defenders must be easily shaken. Secondly, the material preparations in the city are insufficient.
However, according to the information currently available, the soldiers guarding Changshui County are all elites under Qin Feng's command, especially the Tianji Camp guards, who are the elites among the elites. There is no such thing as "morale collapse". To the guards of the Tianji Battalion, words like "death" are by no means empty words, but a creed that they will truly implement to the end.
Moreover, the commercial transit warehouse built by Qin Feng has become a warehouse with plank roads built openly and secretly. A large amount of materials are stored in it. It can last for three years, let alone three months.
Because of these two limitations, the generals clearly realized that to attack Changshui County, they could only adopt a high-intensity attack, which would inevitably lead to a large number of casualties.
Although most generals are unwilling to admit it, some courageous generals have already made their judgments.
This battle will 100% end with our side winning, but the price will be extremely huge. First of all, in terms of sacrifice, it is conservatively estimated that there will be more than 5,000 casualties. Secondly, there will also be a large consumption of siege equipment, arrows and other war materials.
Relying on the strategy of "kill one thousand enemies and lose ten thousand to yourself", even if you win, it will be a miserable victory.
It is precisely because they understand the brutality of the battle that most of the generals feel very heavy and know in their hearts that the next step will be a hard battle. However, when the deputy general looked at Jing Peng, he found that Jing Peng held his head high and his chest high. Looks like he is bound to win.
It is a good thing to have confidence when marching and fighting, as it can boost morale, but blind confidence will only cause unnecessary losses.
Moreover, in this battle, he was facing Qin Feng, a big shot who played a decisive role in the national war. He didn't know where Jing Peng's confidence came from.
However, considering that Jing Peng was a relative of the emperor and the leader of the vanguard force, although the generals present were displeased with Jing Peng's high-profile behavior, no one took the risk of offending him and boldly gave advice. .
Let him be crazy and let him be crazy. Anyway, if the sky falls, there will be someone tall to hold it up.
Just as Jing Peng was marching toward Changshui County, a messenger suddenly ran over in a hurry.
"General, please stay!"
Jing Peng frowned. He had no intention of stopping. Instead, he glanced at the messenger and said casually: "Stay? How can we stop when the army is out on an expedition? What's important? Just say it."
The ordering soldier did not hesitate and reported immediately: "There is an error in the armament statistics. The mighty general in the rear asks you to stop and re-count the equipment."
Upon hearing this, Jing Peng frowned: "Is the statistics wrong?"
The ordering soldier nodded repeatedly: "Yes, General Mighty has checked the inventory and the arrows sent by the Ministry of War, and found that there are three thousand missing. I guess they were sent to you by mistake. After you count them, you can send the extra arrows." return to."
Jing Peng jerked the reins, stopped, and stared at the messenger coldly: "What else could go wrong? What do those people in the military department do for food?"
"Isn't it just three thousand arrows? When we arrive in Changshui County and set up camp, the general will naturally count the weapons. If he really takes the arrows from the mighty general, he will naturally return them to him."
"Will this general still take advantage of this?"
The messenger shook his head repeatedly and said with a mournful face: "I'm afraid it won't work. General Mighty's attitude is very resolute, and these three thousand arrows are of great importance. If there is a mistake, the shortage of arrows will lead to a disadvantage in the siege. General Mighty cannot afford it." Take this responsibility.”
Jing Peng laughed angrily on the spot: "This place is only a day's journey from Changshui County. If we arrive a little early, we can launch the attack faster. If the inventory of weapons and equipment delays the fighter plane, the mighty general can bear this responsibility." get up?"
The messenger begged in a good voice, but his position was very firm: "General Mighty said that he is not a vanguard, so when to attack the city is not his decision, and it is not his responsibility. He just has to do his part." Just leave it to your own business. If you refuse to hand back the arrows, General Mighty will go to the palace to interrogate you and say that you are eager to do your best and seize the friendly ordnance without caring about the overall situation."
If the messenger hadn't been just a messenger, Jing Peng would have picked up the whip and whipped him.
What the hell is that? !
At the moment of the war, not only did he not share the hatred of the enemy, but he drew the line so clearly. Is this because he was afraid of taking responsibility, or was he deliberately trying to stumbling against Jing Peng?
Jing Peng's face was livid with anger, but he had no choice but to wave his hand and order the whole army to repair on the spot and immediately count the arrows.
Seeing Jing Peng riding his horse, rushing to the supply camp, and personally supervising the inventory of armaments, all the generals present shook their heads and sighed.
"Yeah, it's already chaos before the fight even starts."
"Haha, once we go to war, we will find out who is wearing no pants. Those losers in the Ministry of War can't even do this job well, so what's the use?"
"The Ministry of War has good relations with General Chen Si, and they are both capable ministers. Normally, such a mistake would not happen."
"Besides, when the military supplies were delivered, they had already been counted and the numbers were correct. How could there be three thousand more arrows for nothing? Could it be that the mighty general was deliberately looking for trouble?"
"I don't think so. General Mighty has no background, and our general is a relative of the emperor. Even if he is brave enough, he would not dare to take the initiative to cause trouble for us."
"Anyway, the war is about to begin. If something like this happens, it would be extremely depressing."
In order to rush to Changshui County as soon as possible, Jing Peng personally supervised the soldiers and counted all the arrows. It did not take long, only two hours.
Confirming that it was correct, Jing Peng whipped the messenger directly.
