Regarding Shi Bao, Wang Ji had seen his name more than once in the military reports sent back by Tan Ma.
Shi Bao tried his best to slow down the march of Jiangxi's East and West Route Army in Ying County, and even burned part of the food and grass, causing Jiangxi's East and West Route Army to stagnate now that it was less than a day's journey from Jiangling.
This must be a great achievement. Now that Shi Bao has led troops to assist Jiangling, Wang Ji should be the first to welcome the heroes into the city.
But the problem is that Wang Ji has never seen Shi Bao.
God knows whether this Shi Bao outside the north gate is a real person or someone sent by Jiangdong to pretend to be someone who is planning to open the city gate fraudulently? !
Although Shi Bao has an official seal on his body, if Shi Bao is captured, will it be difficult to find Shi Bao's official seal? !
Therefore, after Wang Ji learned that Shi Bao was knocking on the door and requesting to enter the city, he immediately found the same batch of officials in the city who had joined the officialdom with Shi Bao and asked them for information about Shi Bao.
After collecting some intelligence, Wang Ji went to the north gate to check it out for himself.
Shi Bao took five to six hundred people and finally returned to Jiangling City after hard work.
However, Jiangling City did not accept him immediately, which did not surprise Shi Bao.
If the gatekeeper opened the door as soon as he called for it, then Shi Bao would have to worry about whether Jiangling City could be defended.
And he didn't wait long, only about half an hour before Wang Ji appeared on the tower.
Wang Ji had never seen Shi Bao, and Shi Bao had never seen Wang Ji. The two stared at each other with big eyes and small eyes.
After all, Wang Ji was the one who had done his homework. After observing Shi Bao himself, he found that he was similar to what his colleagues described him to be. Let’s put aside his character for now. His appearance does look similar.
After all, these days, it's rare to see a man with Shi Bao's level of appearance.
Taking a closer look at the more than 500 soldiers brought by Shi Bao, they were all in a very miserable condition, and some even had their armor broken, which was obviously the result of many battles.
Wang Ji thought for a while and asked someone to shout to the city.
Let the soldiers under Shi Bao throw away their long weapons and keep their short weapons, and then open the city gate yourself to welcome Shi Bao into the city.
Shi Bao didn't think there was anything strange when he heard this. If he were the general guarding the city, he would ask everyone to take off their weapons and armor before letting people enter the city.
This is not suspicion, just in case.
Wang Ji was quite a kind man, at least he allowed the soldiers to maintain their dignity, and they were allowed to wear armor and carry short weapons.
Although this is somewhat disrespectful to these soldiers who fought hard, they actually do not need superficial respect for these soldiers. After entering the city, they will be rewarded according to their merits, and these fighting men will be very satisfied.
Shi Bao ordered it without any hesitation.
When Wang Ji saw Shi Bao being so cooperative, he immediately felt relieved.
Having reached this point shows that Shi Bao really came to rescue Jiangling City after performing meritorious service. These people are meritorious officials and cannot be treated lightly.
Therefore, Wang Ji personally went down from the city tower, ordered people to open the city gate, and then personally welcomed Shi Bao and other soldiers into the city at the door.
Leaving a prefecture to go to the door in person to greet a county captain and more than 500 soldiers led by him can be said to be a great honor, even for Shi Bao, it was a bit unexpected.
He quickly got off his horse and handed over his hand, saying to Wang Ji, "If you can help me, please come and greet me personally. Bao is a man who has lost his city and his land. He is unworthy of it."
Wang Ji held Shi Bao with one hand and said with emotion, "The general is very clever in using tricks to delay the enemy and burn down the food and grass. This is a great achievement. It is only a small mistake, but the flaws are not covered up."
Wang Ji was giving Shi Bao a characterization and recognized Shi Bao's achievements.
Wang Ji called Shi Bao a general instead of a county captain. It was not a complete compliment, but it also showed that he valued Shi Bao. He now came to see a county captain not as a special agent, but as a guard general. A hero who contributed to the defense of the city.
But as Shi Bao said, he lost Ying County after all, and he was responsible for the loss of land. However, Wang Ji also characterized Shi Bao as having made great contributions and could not hide his shortcomings, expressing that he would not be held responsible for the loss of land. manner.
All of this is Wang Ji's heart in An Shibao. After all, there is no general who can fight in Jiangling City now. Finally, one came, and his ability seems to be good. He must not be alienated because of his neglect. .
And Shi Bao didn't expect that Wang Ji valued him so much. He was somewhat moved and followed the steps laid by Wang Ji and agreed to go to the governor's mansion together for a while to discuss matters.
As for the more than 500 soldiers Shi Bao brought back, Wang Ji did not treat them badly. He announced in public that they would be rewarded according to military merit, and after doubling the rewards, they were allowed to have a good rest first, and they would still be under Shi Bao's personal command the next day.
An arrangement was well-founded and could soothe people's hearts. Shi Bao also had a basic understanding of Wang Ji's abilities.
With such a general who understands people's hearts, guarding the city will at least be much better than when it was in Ying County.
At least this one didn't think about the best way to surrender.
After appeasing the soldiers, Wang Ji took Shi Bao back to the county governor's office and began to discuss the current situation of defending the city.
Wang Ji told Shi Bao about the situation facing Jiangling City now.
Now Lu Meng has led more than 30,000 troops to the city, but the garrison in Jiangling City is only more than 12,000. Although there are still 5,000 soldiers led by Deng Ai to threaten the flanks, these 5,000 men are just miners and have not been trained for more than a month. Their combat effectiveness is worrying. They can only threaten, but they may not be of much help in defending the city.
Shi Bao also told Wang Ji that although he delayed the Sun brothers' advance, he would only delay it for a few days at most. After a few days, the Sun brothers would lead the Jiangdong Army of about 20,000 people to join Lu Meng.
By then, the siege force in Jiangdong may be more than 50,000.
As for Xiangyang, Wang Ji sent a scout horse to report the military situation to Guan Junhou ten days ago. Guan Junhou should already know the situation, but Wang Ji is not sure when reinforcements will arrive.
Therefore, in the end, we still have to rely on the troops on hand to defend.
As for how to defend specifically, Wang Ji was actually a little hesitant.
There are more than 10,000 people against more than 50,000 people. With the city defense of Jiangling City, it is possible to hold on.
But if Xiangyang delays in sending reinforcements, Jiangling City will eventually be lost if it is defended for a long time. Therefore, Wang Ji still thinks that if there is a chance, he can defeat one of the Jiangdong Army troops, which will be safer.
But Shi Bao felt that with more than 10,000 people, it was not enough to defend the city. How could it be possible to defeat one of the Jiangdong Army's troops? !
Therefore, Shi Bao persuaded Wang Ji, saying, "Don't underestimate the enemy. Lu Meng is a wise general in Jiangdong. He has led troops for many years and has rich experience. Although the Sun brothers are not well-known, Bao Bao knows them well in many battles." We are all cautious people, and we may not be able to take advantage of it for a while. Furthermore, our army has no remaining strength to defend the city, how can we defeat the enemy?!"
It’s not that Wang Ji didn’t know, that’s why he hesitated.
After pacing back and forth for a long time, Wang Jicai said to Shi Bao, "Zhong Rong doesn't know something. Yesterday, Lu Meng wrote to me, hoping to inspire me to fight."
With that said, Wang Ji showed Lu Meng's letter to Shi Bao.
After reading this, Shi Bao had a strange look on his face. He looked at Wang Ji and said cautiously, "Lu Meng has a villain's heart and just doesn't care. He knows this is a provocation, but why?"
You already know that this is their plan, why are you still thinking about going out of the city to fight with Lu Meng in the field? !
Wang Ji said, "I know this is a plan, but Lu Meng provoked me this time, but he also despised me. Even if he leads the army well, if he has contempt for me, I may not have no chance to take advantage of him. In the previous episode, under my account Without generals, even if you have a plan, you can't use it. Now that Zhongrong is here, I have a plan and want to ask Zhongrong for advice."
Shi Bao quickly handed over his hands modestly, and then waited for Wang Ji to tell his plan.
Wang Ji's plan was to take advantage of Lü Meng's despising him and eager to fight in the field, pretending to agree to fight in the field with Lü Meng, and then take advantage of Lü Meng's concentration of troops to fight under Jiangling City to send out partial troops to burn the troops that Lü Meng had hoarded in the rear army. forage.
But there are many aspects of this strategy that you cannot control yourself. It can be said to be a very risky strategy.
Shi Bao felt a little incredible after hearing this.
But Shi Bao did not immediately raise objections because Wang Ji had not finished speaking.
"This plan is not very clever, and it has many loopholes. I know it too." After Wang Ji finished describing the plan, he immediately sighed and said, "First, this plan needs to be in front of the two armies to attract Lu Meng. Lu Meng soldiers. If they sit still and guard the central army, and want to sneak attack the rear army's food and grass, it is no more than a fool's dream. Secondly, the sneak attack army cannot be sent out from the city, otherwise it will be noticed by Lu Meng. I originally wanted to have Deng Ai lead the miner camp. A sneak attack, but no one can contact us for a while, fearing that they will not understand the meaning of our plan and act rashly. The sneak attack will not be successful but will be destroyed by thieves, which will not be beautiful. Third, our army is fighting in the field under the enemy's city. The enemy's army is large and our army is small. , how can we ensure that our army is not defeated and can return to the city safely without damaging too many soldiers? This is also difficult to do. With these three points, I really hesitate and dare not use this strategy indiscriminately. "
When Shi Bao heard this, he was immediately relieved.
Co-author, you still know so many flaws.
I thought he was a nerd who thought he was invincible after reading a few military books, but it turns out he is also a self-aware person. This is a good thing.
But Shi Bao thought about it carefully and found that Wang Ji's plan was not impossible.
Shi Bao did not reply to Wang Ji immediately and persuade Wang Ji to give up this plan. Instead, after thinking carefully, he said to Wang Ji, "Don't use this strategy. It may not be impossible."
Wang Ji was very surprised. Could it be that Shi Bao had the ability to solve these three fatal problems? !
You must know that if one of these three problems cannot be solved, this strategy cannot be used because it is too risky.
But Shi Bao said, "Bao is already aware of Bijia's plan. Please write a handwritten letter from Bijia. Bao will climb over the wall tonight and send it to General Deng. He will stay at General Deng's place as counselor of the military aircraft. There will be no mistakes." "
When Wang Ji heard this, he quickly shook his head and said, "Zhong Rong can't go. Only Zhong Rong has experience in leading troops in the city. If Zhong Rong never comes back, who will I send to lead the troops to fight?!"
But Shi Bao smiled and said, "What can you say if you don't drive here?! Is there a shortage of generals in the city?!"
Wang Ji didn't understand when he heard this.
Who said there is no shortage of generals? If there is no shortage of generals, I can treat you like a cough. No, how can there be no shortage of generals? !
(End of chapter)
