After last night's defeat, Xu Ruchang and Li Jingsui had a small conflict. As the commander-in-chief of the entire army, Li Jingsui was naturally distressed. He kept complaining that so many soldiers and horses were killed and wounded but he failed to make any achievements. Although he did not explicitly say that Xu Ruchang's command was wrong, to Xu Ruchang's ears, this was obviously blaming himself. of incompetence.
Of course Xu Ruchang would not be polite and responded without hesitation. In Xu Ruchang's view, Li Jingsui's mentality today is very different from that of the original uprising. He is just sitting back and enjoying the success, and cannot help at all in the siege.
In the final analysis, the former titular emperor's brother could become the tycoon he is today because he helped him plan everything. What he says now is obviously an offense to himself.
Especially at this time, when Xu Ruchang himself was anxious and angry because of yesterday's defeat, Li Jingsui did not come to comfort him, but made irresponsible remarks. No matter how well-trained Xu Ruchang was, Xu Ruchang couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Your Highness, the war has been lost, and I am very anxious. However, I cannot accept the ridicule Your Highness said to me. If Your Highness feels that I am not competent, you can remove me from my duties, and Your Highness can personally command the battle. I thought , with His Majesty’s talent in the world, he will be able to conquer Suzhou in one fell swoop, and I will wait to see His Majesty show off his power.”
These are Xu Ruchang's original words. Xu Ruchang is an educated man and does not use curse words when swearing. This remark is extremely sarcastic, and the general idea is that you are only as powerful as your mouth. If you have the ability, don’t rely on me. If you are good at it, go ahead. If you are not good at it, don’t beep.
Li Jingsui immediately stopped. He didn't want to offend Xu Ruchang. Although Li Jingsui didn't have much ability, he knew that hugging Xu Ruchang's thigh was the most important thing for him to do.
Xu Ruchang's abilities were many times greater than his own, but what was rare was that this man didn't seem to have any ambitions. If he can't do it, then he can't do it either. You must not offend Xu Ruchang at this time. If he gives up, it will be all over.
Li Jingsui immediately made a sincere self-criticism, blaming himself for being too impatient, and in turn comforted Xu Ruchang. Xu Ruchang was not one to hold on to him, and the relationship between the two quickly returned to normal.
After the two calmed down, they began to discuss the most urgent issue at the moment. This problem did not exist before. What I was worried about before was not whether to take it, but when to take it. But now I have to consider how to take it.
"Your Highness, do you know the reason for our defeat yesterday?" Xu Ruchang asked.
Li Jingsui thought for a moment. He wanted to say, "Is it because he didn't plan properly in advance?", but he still swallowed these words abruptly.
"Soldiers are not doing their best? Are generals greedy for life and afraid of death?" Li Jingsui said.
Xu Ruchang shook his head and said, "The soldiers have already tried their best in yesterday's battle. How can we expect them to contribute even though so many soldiers were killed or wounded?"
"Then I don't know the reason." Li Jingsui didn't want to guess anymore, thinking that if he guessed any more, it would inevitably lead to improper strategy.
"Your Highness, the reason why this battle was lost was not because the soldiers were not killed, nor because there was a problem with the minister's plan, nor because of how strong the opponent was. The problem only came from one person." Xu Ruchang frowned and said solemnly.
"A person? What do you mean by that?" Li Jingsui asked in surprise.
"I'm afraid Your Highness still doesn't know who is leading the army in Suzhou City." Xu Ruchang said.
"Isn't he the Zhongwu Jiedushi of Wuyue Kingdom? What is his name, Sun Chengyou?" Li Jingsui asked.
Xu Ruchang shook his head and sighed: "It would be great if it was really him. This Sun Chengyou was originally a scholar who should be elected, a person who is good at flattery, has no reputation in martial arts, and has no ability. If he had been sitting in command, the city would have been destroyed last night. Unfortunately not. He, but someone else. A person who gives me a headache is sitting here, so we are making progress difficult, paying a huge price but achieving nothing."
"Who is that? Who has such great ability?" Li Jingsui asked in surprise.
"Your Highness, please don't panic when I tell you. That person is the Emperor of Chu, Li Yuan." Xu Ruchang said solemnly.
"What? Li, Li Yuan?" Li Jingsui took a breath and said in shock: "How could it be him? Wasn't the Chu army still fighting in the Xuanhe area? He had wings and flew over
Can't come? "
"I didn't believe it was him at first, but several of my generals saw him at the top of the city. Judging from the description, it was undoubtedly Li Yuan. In addition, I also thought about who else could have him besides Li Yuan. To deal with us in this way? To make the state capital of Wuyue State with weak city defenses and weak defenders so difficult to conquer?
He is probably the only one in this world. I admit that there were indeed some flaws in yesterday's siege strategy, but ordinary people would never find the loopholes in it. But if it was Li Yuan who was guarding the city, nothing would be able to escape his eyes. Xu Ruchang sighed.
Li Jingsui said in a daze: "It would be troublesome if Li Yuan personally took charge of Suzhou. This man used to be the number one general in the Tang Dynasty and was everyone's nightmare on the battlefield. Looking at the entire Tang Dynasty, the generals are probably incompetent. Those who are better than him, even that paper was defeated by him. Brother, you are afraid that it is not him——"
Li Jingsui immediately shut up when he said this. He didn't want to irritate Xu Ruchang. But Xu Ruchang didn't care, and said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, you don't need to worry about my face. I am indeed inferior to him, and this is not a shameful thing. Just like the Dongxi barbarians in the Chu region who have been established for nearly a hundred years, they were almost destroyed by him." The entire clan was annihilated. Zhang Wenbiao’s 150,000-strong army was defeated by his 80,000 to 90,000 soldiers and horses, and was nearly wiped out. I, Xu Ruchang, consider myself inferior to him.”
"Hey, what can we do? If he is stationed in Suzhou, it will be like having an extra hundred thousand soldiers stationed here. No wonder he was defeated so miserably. Li Yuan is in Suzhou, so everything makes sense. What's more, he Now that he is the emperor of a country, how can he not be protected by elite soldiers? I am afraid there are still Chu troops stationed in Suzhou city." Li Jingsui was extremely depressed.
"Your Highness, don't worry too much. Even if Li Yuan is here, he is too clever to make a meal without rice. It turned out that I was just as Your Highness thought. I thought that because of Li Yuan's status as the emperor, he should be surrounded by elite soldiers. But after yesterday's battle, It seems that the fighting strength of the Suzhou defenders is not strong. They are always the Wuyue soldiers. Maybe the Chu army did not come with Li Yuan.
I have long heard that Li Yuan is often good at making clever plans in battles. Don't be fooled by his current identity. I expected that Li Yuan must have come to Suzhou with light cavalry. If the Chu army came in large numbers, our scouts would have already come to report. Li Yuan must be intending to defend Suzhou by himself, prevent our army from going south, and drag the Chu army to come. But if he was alone, he had no head and six arms, and there was nothing scary about him. "
Li Jingsui muttered in his heart: "You have been beaten like this, and you still say there is nothing scary. Then how can you be considered scary?"
But I heard Xu Ruchang continue: "The reason why yesterday's battle was taken advantage of by Li Yuan, I just thought about it carefully and found the reason. Your Highness, Li Yuan is good at using strategies. We went south along the river and were eager to attack. They went to Suzhou, so they adopted the simplest and fastest way to invade Suzhou from the waterway.
As everyone knows, it is this approach that gives Li Yuan an opportunity. The various arrangements he made for the waterway in advance, including sinking ships to block the waterway, and using grease rockets to resist the enemy, were all designed for us to attack from the water. The water channel that seemed to be easy to break through was actually our magic obstacle and trap, so we fell headlong into it and were manipulated by him. "
Li Jingsui nodded slightly and said, "It makes sense. With the large number of soldiers, horses and ships, we always thought we could break through through the water channel, but we didn't know that we were playing right into his plan."
"What His Highness said is absolutely true. It is precisely because of this that we experienced a great defeat. But in fact, we should not have braved the trap they prepared. They invested all their troops and facilities in Beicheng, and we It would be unwise to do so. In this case, we should abandon the idea of a quick victory and instead attack the city honestly.
The more we use the simplest and most common methods to attack the city, although it seems too stupid, it will prevent Li Yuan from finding our flaws, leaving him helpless. This is like two people fighting. If you give the other party too much room to move, he can make us dizzy.
But if they are confined to a cage and two people are facing each other and fighting each other without any room to move, then the stronger party will definitely win. "Xu Ruchang said in a deep voice while stroking his beard.
"Brother, what do you mean, how should we attack?" Li Jingsui asked excitedly while swallowing his saliva.
"Abandon the water attack, we will land directly from the open area of Suzhou's west city.
Siege the city. "Xu Ruchang said.
"But we don't have siege equipment, how can we attack the city?"
"We don't need any heavy siege equipment, we just need to build some ladders. We just need to use the advantage of numbers to attack the city with the most primitive and direct siege method. No matter how powerful Li Yuan is, he can only rely on a small number of The Wuyue soldiers and horses guard the city. He can't use any strategies. He is covered in iron, but how many nails can he drive? If he has no room to move, he will be helpless." Xu Ruchang said.
"Okay." Li Jingsui said, stroking his hands: "Brother's unparalleled resourcefulness may not be lost to Li Yuan. If we break Suzhou this time, if we can seize the opportunity to capture the Emperor of Chu, the situation will suddenly reverse! Brother's name That’s better than Li Yuan!”
Xu Ruchang stroked his beard and said: "False fame is like a floating cloud to me. I don't care about these things. My goal is to capture Suzhou. As for whether we can capture Li Yuan, I dare not dream about it and can only do my best because we don't have much time." We must capture Suzhou as soon as possible to survive."
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