"Brother Lao, what do you think of Murong Xue?"
Bao Yuchun asked with interest while sipping the fragrant tea.
Lao Jianhua sat opposite him, smiled calmly, and said calmly: "There are only three conditions for this son to be in a high position at a young age."
"Oh? Which three?" Bao Yuchun put down his teacup and stared at Lao Jianhua: "At his age, I didn't have such a prominent official position."
Lao Jianhua smiled slightly: "Firstly, Murong Xue was born into a wealthy family in Western Shu. Not only was his family rich, but more importantly, his business was spread all over the world. He had extensive friends and a strong background. Many people in the court wanted to give him face. Secondly, Murong Xue When he accompanied Dong Gong, he won the trust of Li Bing because of Xie Guang, and even became a life-and-death friend. Is there any reason to become friends with the emperor and not have a smooth career? Thirdly, according to rumors, Murong Xue is not Murong Qianqiu's biological son. , but the illegitimate son of Nian Jinsong and Murong Qianqiu’s sister. Therefore, Nian Jinsong once cared deeply about Murong Xue and cultivated her deliberately. "
Bao Yuchun was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand: "These things are not of interest to me. Brother Lao, I'm asking, what kind of person is Murong Xue? Personality, likes and dislikes, style, habits, and so on."
Lao Jianhua knew that he was trying to figure out his opponent, so he nodded in understanding and continued: "Murong Xue has been trained by his family since he was a child. He is both civil and military, and he does have some talents. But..."
He paused briefly and said with a smile: "This man is young, energetic, and arrogant. He is often smart in dealing with things, but not cautious enough. He is especially prone to being emotional and indecisive. In this regard, he is quite similar to Li Bing. No wonder they are both. Can be friends.”
"How brave is Murong Xue? Is he big?" Bao Yuchun asked.
"Hmm... courage, objectively speaking, Murong Xue is still a bit fearless. Otherwise, she would not have gone to Dongdu alone."
Hearing this, Bao Yuchun nodded slightly, thought for a while and then asked: "I heard that Murong Xue left the martial arts hall as a special martial arts major. I guess she has some skills in military use, right?"
Lao Jianhua chuckled and said: "Shuai Bao, you were once the first instructor of the martial arts hall. Don't you still understand the level of your students?"
Bao Yuchun also smiled and said: "I did it in name only. When Murong Xue was studying in the martial arts hall, I was leading the navy to destroy pirates in Kuohai, so I didn't really teach him."
Lao Jianhua stroked his beard: "This time, you, the teacher of the martial arts hall, can give a good lesson to this ineffective student. Commander Bao, do you already have a strategy for dealing with Murong Xue? Or should you surround the spot and call for reinforcements?" "
Bao Yuchun shook his head: "The strategy may need to be adjusted slightly. In recent days, I have studied again Murong Xue's previous battles against the Huaiyang Army. This guy is quite good at commanding operations. He is very courageous. , has a flexible mind, and especially likes to take things by surprise and take the wrong approach. Therefore, I think he may not directly send troops to assist Gong Chengze."
"Oh? So what kind of actions might he take?" Lao Jianhua was very curious: "Is there any other tricks?"
"When it comes to tricks, there are a lot of them." Bao Yuchun smiled: "The most powerful trick among them is to send troops to raid Tanghe."
Lao Jianhua thought for a while, and then said in agreement: "Well, what Commander Bao said makes sense. Tanghe County is currently empty of troops, and there is a major camp of our army's food, grass and baggage. Once there is an attack there, it will indeed cause great harm to us." Massive destruction. Although it will not defeat our army, it can completely disrupt our plan to attack Nanyang."
Seeing that the other party agreed with his judgment, Bao Yuchun said in a deep voice: "I think it is impossible for Murong Xue not to guess that I will surround the area for reinforcements, so he will never get into the trap obediently. On the contrary, if he takes advantage of our army Now we have the opportunity to focus on Nanyang and send a surprise force to sneak attack our rear. This can not only avoid being ambushed by me, but also have the effect of disrupting us and rescuing Nanyang."
"So...how does Bao Shuai plan to deal with it?" Lao Jianhua stared at Bao Yuchun with burning eyes.
Bao Yuchun smiled calmly: "Then I will do another trick. I will cut Murong Xue with a knife, just like I did to Gong Chengze. Although I won't kill him, I will hurt him, hahaha."
According to Bao Yuchun's idea, the 80,000 soldiers and horses attacking Nanyang stayed put and continued to siege the city; the 40,000 black armored cavalry responsible for blocking the ambush also followed the previously formulated plan and were still in Caizhou and Nanyang. Lurking in the jungle area, waiting for the imperial army.
The 40,000 follow-up troops who stayed in Xiangcheng were ordered to secretly go north, taking a special detour into the hilly and mountainous areas in the west, and then passed through Xinye County and arrived at Tanghe County. During the whole process, he traveled day and night and remained invisible, completely avoiding the eyes of the imperial scouts and spies.
On the third day after this force quietly entered Tanghe, Murong Xue's surprise attack force arrived as expected.
Twelve thousand cavalry were all the mobile power Murong Xue currently had at his disposal. This time he was determined to bet big.
However, the opposite happened.
Tanghe County, which was originally empty of troops, suddenly showed up with tens of thousands of rebels. Not only did the surprise attack troops not succeed in stealing their homes, but they also fought a standard ambush near the major grain and grass camp.
Fortunately, the imperial troops were all fast, flexible, and powerful cavalry, while the rebels here in Tanghe were mostly infantry, so Murong Xue's men were not surrounded. After paying the price of more than 4,000 casualties, they finally succeeded in breaking through and retreated hastily to Caizhou.
In one month, Bao Yuchun fought against Murong Xue and Gong Chengze three times, with three battles and three victories. A total of nearly 40,000 imperial troops were annihilated, and Nanyang City was completely besieged. At the same time, it also essentially cut off the connection between Nanyang and Caizhou. contact.
The triangular defense line instantly became shaky.
Taking advantage of the victory, Lao Jianhua deployed 80,000 additional troops from the south and successively captured important towns in the north of the Yangtze River such as Suizhou, Jingzhou and Guangzhou. The Jingxiang area completely fell into the hands of the rebels.
When the news came, the government and the public were shocked. The civil and military ministers were talking a lot, and they were all worried about the situation on the front line.
You must know that Luoyi is not like the imperial capital, surrounded by eight rivers, overlapping Qinling Mountains, and the dangers of mountains and rivers are natural. Dongdu is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains. Except for Jinhe in the north and Hulao Pass in the east, there is almost no danger to defend in the west and south.
Once Nanyang and Caizhou fall, the rebel army will approach Luoyi!
Li Bing also realized the seriousness of the problem and issued four edicts in succession, urging Murong Xue if he had any good strategies to defeat the enemy.
Murong Xue thought carefully for a long time and proposed a solution: Caizhou left 15,000 soldiers and horses to guard it, while he personally led an army of 30,000, marched northwest first, and met with Dong Tianxing's 20,000 reinforcements near Li Zhai Mountain. Meet up, then turn around and go southwest, crossing the Baihe River to reach Nanyang.
Although such a roundabout marching route takes some time, it can effectively avoid interception or ambush by the rebels.
Of course, the premise is that Gong Chengze can survive until the day when reinforcements appear.
Li Bing quickly approved the plan and urged Murong Xue to implement it quickly. Gong Chengze now sends eight special envoys a day to Dongdu to ask for help, and Li Bing is almost annoyed to death by him.
Murong Xue got the emperor's order and immediately started to make arrangements. One day later, he led 30,000 elite troops to leave Caizhou and headed straight for Li Zhai Mountain. To be honest, they suddenly took such a big detour, which was indeed beyond Bao Yuchun's expectation. By the time Bao Yuchun learned from the scouts that the imperial reinforcements did not go east from Caizhou, but went directly to the northwest, Murong Xue's troops had already entered the Wufeng Mountain area and were only more than 70 miles away from Lizhai Mountain. .
Dong Tianxing, who had been waiting for a long time in Li Zhai Mountain, successfully merged with Murong Xue. The 50,000 soldiers and horses turned again and quickly headed southwest, approaching the Baihe River in a strange route.
Before the rebels could react, Murong Xue ordered to cross the river quickly. It took the army two days and one night to cross the river and reach the west bank of Baihe River.
Although they deliberately avoided the enemy and walked far away, which felt a bit useless, this way they avoided the rebels' sharp edge and gathered the effective forces together.
Next, nearly 100,000 troops can start a battle with the enemy in Nanyang.
Faced with the sudden appearance of the imperial troops on the west bank of the Baihe River, the Xuanjia Army and the Navy immediately raised their alert. In order to prevent being attacked from both inside and outside the city, the rebels who were close to Murong Xue and the others also took the initiative to retreat southward, making way for them to enter Nanyang City.
In this way, Murong Xue successfully joined forces with the troops guarding Nanyang without any effort.
With the reinforcements and food and fodder, the morale of the entire city's defenders was greatly boosted. Gong Chengze also burst into tears with excitement: "Okay, okay, this time my life is finally saved."
Murong Xue left most of his troops outside the city and set up two separate strongholds to echo the city. He and Dong Tianxing entered the city and jointly commanded the next battle with Gong Chengze.
According to different combat strengths, he reorganized the existing troops and divided them into three armies: left, center and right. The 45,000-strong central army is responsible for guarding the city and is under his personal command; the left and right armies are each 20,000-strong and responsible for the fortifications outside the city, commanded by Dong Tianxing and Gong Chengze respectively.
He set several principles for the subsequent battles: First, the rebels must not be allowed to surround Nanyang City, and communication with the outside world must be kept open so that food and supplies can be transported in smoothly. Therefore, once the enemy shows signs of siege, they must launch a counterattack without hesitation.
Secondly, the tribes of Turkic Helianxiong and Ma Hongjie, as well as the tribes of the rebel king Li Kuang and Chang Tao, were all fighting fiercely at this time. Therefore, the imperial court had no spare power to reinforce Nanyang. The entire army should focus on defending the city and wait for a favorable change in the war situation. . It is not necessary to repel or annihilate the invading enemy, let alone fall into Bao Yuchun's plan of luring the enemy deeper.
Thirdly, the main force of Xuanjia and the navy were concentrated here. Most of the new rebels in Tanghe would take the opportunity to attack Caizhou. He knew that Chang Tao, who was fighting on the front line in Bozhou, would be ready to divide his troops to help Caizhou City at any time to relieve the defense pressure there. Therefore, the Nanyang Army does not need to be distracted by Caizhou and can only focus here.
Fourthly, Bao Yuchun is a famous general of the Shengtang Dynasty. He is cunning in his military tactics and good at making strategies. When fighting with him, you must not underestimate the enemy's carelessness, and you must not act without permission to avoid falling into the opponent's trap.
"Especially the one about acting without permission!" Murong Xue glanced at Gong Chengze coldly: "I'm going to say something ugly first. Who dares to disobey this general's order? Don't blame me for being ruthless!"
