"Are you leaving?"
Li Jiangyao looked at Xia Hou Ninghan with some reluctance.
Xiahou Ninghan took the Hanhua Sword in his hand, nodded and said: "I just received the news from the imperial capital. Brother Shuxuan has indeed taken the bait. According to the distance, if we set off now, we can be ahead of him and be one day ahead of schedule." Arrive in Yongchang.”
Li Jiangyao took the cloak and put it on Xiahou Ninghan's shoulders: "Oh, I should go with you..."
Xiahou Ninghan raised her hand and held Li Jiangyao's hand, and said with a smile: "Oh, don't worry, I'm not a child. What's more, there are people from the Intelligence Department there to look after and protect you. Jiang Yao will be fine." , the Turks have invaded the territory with their troops, and the burden on your shoulders is much heavier than mine. You must take good care of yourself while I am away, do you understand?"
Li Jiangyao nodded silently, and then asked: "What was your plan before? Are you sure of it?"
"I can't say I'm 100% sure, but it's not too far off." The Marquis of Jingjue Kingdom, Lian Ji pretended to be his wife. All the servants and maids are all spies of the Intelligence Department. I have tried them one by one, and they are all very good."
"As long as Brother Shuxuan comes to his door, Kezmutijiang will agree with him on the time and place to trade Jin Xuelian in exchange for the protection of the Turkic military. When the time comes, we will take action together and kill him on the spot."
Li Jiangyao thought for a while and said: "Last time you dealt with brother Shu Xuan, you almost fell into his poisonous attack. Do you have any special precautions this time?"
Xiahou Ninghan responded with a smile: "Of course. Our Zhenjiang Army itself has many talents who can use poisons and medicines. Yuduoluo and Lianji have already made preparations for them. Every operative will carry antidotes with them to guard against brother. Shu Xuan is doing bad things. But I am even more powerful than them."
As she spoke, she took out a sachet from her waist. The sachet was embroidered with very complicated and gorgeous patterns. Judging from the style, it was not something that people from Shengtang were used to.
"What is this?" Li Jiangyao couldn't help but be curious.
"Do you still remember Wu Rong and Amenta?" They immediately took out their treasures for me to use for self-defense."
Li Jiangyao's eyes lit up: "Is this the antidote for Miao and Yunnan?"
Xiahou Ninghan showed an arrogant look: "To be precise, it should be the magic antidote! Do you think it's a joke about the special skills of the two masters of Miao and Xinjiang in Yunnan? Senior Amenta said that these two antidotes should be taken at the same time. , I’m afraid there’s no poisonous insect or poison in the world that can hurt me. How about it, are you relieved this time?”
Li Jiangyao nodded happily: "Well, I feel a little more relieved. With your martial arts, coupled with this protective shield that is invulnerable to all poisons, ordinary dangers should not be difficult for my little Ninghan. However, it is a Turk after all. In your territory, the other party can mobilize an army to besiege you at any time, so you need to be cautious in everything."
"I obey my orders." Xiahou Ninghan held his sword in his hand and said with a naughty smile: "Please wait for our good news, the Protector."
Li Jiangyao pinched her cheek in an angry and funny manner: "Naughty! Okay, let's set off quickly. The road is difficult to walk after dark. The white-robed army will escort you for a while. When you get close to Yongchang County, It’s up to you.”
After personally sending Xiahou Ninghan out of Zijin Pass, Li Jiangyao turned around and went straight to the expedition camp to discuss the deployment of the next war with Xu Youchang and others.
At this time, there were new changes in the composition of the expedition camp.
Originally, the Fifth Army was responsible for garrisoning Zijin Pass, the Fourth Army was responsible for garrisoning Shengyuguan, and the remaining seven armies were concentrated in the camp, practicing day and night to prepare for war.
Later, Li Jiangyao suggested that the Shenhua Fourth Army of Montenegro be sent forward to the Yongliang area, hiding and on standby, ready to attack the Turks' rear supply lines at any time. Therefore, the defense task of Shengyuguan fell back to Du Jian's fierce fire. On the Second Army.
At the same time, in order to strengthen the defense force in the direction of Shengyuguan, the Seventh Army, which had just been upgraded to a heavy armored infantry corps, also went with it to assist the Second Army in its defense.
As a result, the expedition camp was left with only the First Gale Army, the Third Army of Thunder, the Sixth Army of Furious Waves, the Eighth Army of Cold Wave, and the Nineth Army of Kuangsha, totaling 240,000 troops.
When Li Jiangyao arrived at the camp, Xu Youchang and others had just finished dinner and were gathering around the map to study the enemy's situation. When they saw the generals arriving, all the generals stood up and saluted.
Li Jiangyao invited everyone to sit down, pointed to the map on the table and asked, "Did you come up with any new tricks?"
Xu Youchang smiled and shook his head: "It's still the same idea as before, relying on the strong fortifications of Zijin Pass to kill the Turks."
Princess Holia of Nanhua County continued: "According to the Intelligence Department, Ashina's Zhijin is indeed planning to fight us desperately this time. Liangzhou Prefecture alone has gathered nearly 200,000 of the main force of the Golden Clan, plus The total number of other Turkic tribe armies is estimated to exceed 350,000 troops. In this situation, it is really not appropriate to leave the border easily and rush to fight with the opponent on the plains."
Jigriz, the commander of the Sixth Army, nodded: "The princess is right. Although we are not afraid of Turkic ghosts, there is no need to sacrifice our strengths and weaknesses and leave the defenses unused to take advantage of the enemy."
Li Jiangyao smiled with satisfaction: "Okay, that's good if you think so. What I'm most worried about is that the soldiers are eager to fight and think that they are no worse than the Turks, so they plan to fight with each other to the death. The current situation is that Ah Shi Na is in a hurry, but we are not in a hurry. If they are willing to come and die, they can come, but we won’t go out anyway.”
Xu Youchang said: "We were just studying defensive fortifications and city defense tactics, trying not to disappoint the Turkic Khan. However, Yudala's men have just sent two new messages, and I think we must pay attention to them."
Of course, Li Jiangyao received the information earlier than them and nodded slightly: "You are talking about the new Turkic troops and Shengyuguan, right?"
"Exactly these two things." Xu You frowned and said, "The Turks are smart enough to form a special giant crossbow division and trebuchet division, which poses a huge threat to the city defense system."
Li Jiangyao solemnly responded: "War itself is a learning process. Both we and the enemy are constantly learning and evolving rapidly in cruel wars. Since we can imitate the Turkic cavalry style that comes and goes like the wind, , how could Ashi’s Zhijin not learn from our attack style?”
Xu Youchang nodded and said: "That's true. We have fought countless vicious battles over the years. We are making progress, and so are the Turks. All kinds of large-scale siege equipment are almost being used by the Turks. To be honest, our Holy Tang Capital We haven’t formed a division-level equipment unit yet, but we let them take the lead.”
Xie Tanzhi, who had been silent for a long time, spoke at this time: "General Protector, Xu Shuai, the new changes in the use of weapons by the Turks made me make an association. Do you think their combat style and combat ideas will be different?" Did some changes occur as a result?”
"Lao Xie, you are so good. You immediately saw the essence of the problem." Li Jiangyao responded with a smile: "I just want to remind everyone that the Turks specially formed giant crossbow divisions and trebuchet divisions, and they are not weapons on the surface. Equipment upgrade is so simple. In fact, this means that the enemy's high-level combat thinking may have undergone fundamental changes. In other words, their war thinking has more and more shadows of Shengtang civilization."
Xu Youchang thought for a moment and suddenly realized: "You mean, the bravery and stamina of the Turks, coupled with the advanced tactics of the Shengtang?"
"Yes, the two are merging." Li Jiangyao nodded slightly: "You must now study the enemy's situation from a different angle. If you stand outside Zijin Pass and face the strict defense of the Zhenjiang Army, how should you launch an attack and seize the city in one fell swoop? What? Will you still only know how to fight and rush like before, blindly consuming precious combat power? "
Xu Youchang shook his head: "Of course not. Don't say it's me. Even martial arts students who have just graduated from the martial arts hall are familiar with "Nine Methods of Siege" and "Jingguo Gong's Military Intelligence Art". There are dozens of introductions to the strategy and use of equipment in city warfare. Bite the bullet and directly attack a fortified city is the stupidest method."
Li Jiangyao said: "Although the Turkic generals don't know how to read the "Nine Methods of Siege", the cruel battlefield also taught them a lot. Please understand that the other side will not attack Zijin Pass like last time, nor will it attack Zijin Pass again. We will adopt more flexible and clever tactics. Therefore, we must abandon the mentality of underestimating the enemy, stand more from the enemy's perspective, and use advanced tactical thinking to simulate siege warfare. Only in this way can we truly be foolproof."
Upon hearing this, all the generals stood up at the same time, cupped their hands and said, "I sincerely follow the instructions of the Great Protector!"
Xie Tanzhi said again: "Sir, according to what you said, more attention should be paid to the direction of Shengyuguan. Although according to intelligence, the Turks are mainly attacking Zijin Pass and attacking Shengyuguan as a secondary attack, but it is impossible to say that this is a blind eye. The method is to deliberately show reality to the outside world while being imaginary, and to be imaginary while being real.”
"Master Xie is right," Xu Youchang agreed: "Show them you can't do it when you can, show them you can't use it when you're using it, show you the distance when you're close, show you the distance when you're far, once the Turks start playing with the art of war, they won't be able to escape from these. The most basic way.”
Li Jiangyao smiled and asked: "Then what suggestions do you have to deal with it?"
Holia said: "In my opinion, a rapid support force should be set up between Zijin Pass and Shengyuguan to be able to respond in both directions at any time as needed."
Jigriz suggested: "In addition, send a batch of city defense giant crossbows and trebuchets to General Du Jian, as well as corresponding ammunition, to strengthen Shengyuguan's long-range strike power."
Chief Quartermaster Ma Mu also said: "Not only giant crossbows and trebuchets, but also civilians and wood and stone materials must be mobilized to Shengyuguan to repair the city walls and gates that were damaged in the battle."
Li Jiangyao nodded with satisfaction and said to Xu Youchang: "These methods are all good. You should seize the time to implement them as a whole and continue to improve the defense system of the two levels. I judge that the Turks will launch an attack in less than half a month, which will really test our strength." The war is coming soon."
