Tu Wenxiu's marching tent stood on a hill outside Pinglu City. Although the hill was not very high, it could better monitor the movements in the city. Tonight, there were many military lieutenant generals around the tent, taking turns watching the actions in the city with three monocular telescopes.
Kuaibai was originally a military officer of the Ming Dynasty, so he naturally had the telescope that Gao Pragmatic introduced into the army. It's just that the priority of equipment on the three sides of Shaanxi was not too high before, so the equipment in the Ningxia army was limited. This time Tu Wenxiu went to Pinglu, the whole army only had five armies. Except for the scout team who took away two, the remaining three armies were concentrated here.
Tu Wenxiu's face was gloomy and he seemed a little unhappy. Seeing this, a trusted general beside him asked cautiously: "Is the general angry because Prince Wei is unfair?"
Tu Wenxiu glanced at him: "When did Prince Wei treat things unfairly?"
The general raised his eyebrows and said: "The general is his number one general. Now he can't sit in Ningxia City, but is sent to Pinglu City to eat sand. Isn't this unfair? Not to mention you, the general, but all of you. Pao was also very angry when he mentioned this matter."
"Humph, you idiot." Tu Wenxiu sneered: "Of all the generals under Prince Yi, when they go out on an expedition or out of town, I have the strongest military force. Is this unfair?"
The general seemed to be a true confidant of the local Wenxiu. He was not afraid of being scolded at all. He stiffened his neck and said, "What the general said is wrong. In terms of military strength, the general's subordinates are naturally strong, but in terms of status? Why is that guy Liu Dongyang so powerful?" Can he be the commander-in-chief of Ningxia? In the past, he was only one of the four battalion commanders, not even as good as the general. But now he can sit in Ningxia with Prince Kuai and his son, and instead send the general to a distant place. I think he might have a lot of influence on Prince Kuai. There is something wrong!"
Tu Wenxiu was silent for a few breaths and sighed: "Tell me the truth, do many people in the army think so?"
"Yes!" the general replied immediately.
"You are too short-sighted." Tu Wenxiu shook his head and said, "I was the one who took the initiative to join the expedition against the captives."
The general was stunned and said in surprise: "Why is this? We have fought against Pinglu City once before, and it was not easy to fight. Xiao Ruxun is like a turtle shell. I don't know how to take down Pinglu City. How many hands and feet will be spent, how many brothers will die. We are afraid that we will not be able to refuse this kind of errand, why does the general take the initiative to ask for it? "
Tu Wenxiu snorted softly: "If Ningxia is impregnable, no matter how strong Pinglu City is, sooner or later we will surround it until it surrenders. What will it cost? But what if Ningxia cannot defend it?"
He looked at the general with piercing eyes, and said grimly: "Why don't we just accompany the prince and his son to death, so that they can be summoned to the capital together?"
The general gasped when he heard this, and hurriedly looked around. He saw that he and Tu Wenxiu were standing alone, and the generals around them were at least four or five feet away. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his voice and asked: "General , are you not optimistic about Prince Wei’s future?”
Tu Wenxiu did not answer directly, but was silent for a while, and then slowly said: "I was optimistic about it originally, but now... No matter whether I am optimistic about it or not, it is always good to prepare a way out first."
The general hesitated and said, "Is this retreat related to the siege of Pinglu City?"
"Of course." Tu Wenxiu said calmly: "Ningxia is a wedge embedded in Mongolia, and the head of this wedge is Pinglu City. If the imperial army comes to suppress the rebellion, it will only be able to defeat Pinglu in the end. You know what this means. What are you wearing?"
If the general couldn't react at this time, then it would have been in vain. Hearing this, he immediately said: "It means that if Ningxia suffers a loss, if we think we are losing, we can immediately escape into the grassland and not be in a row." I can’t even save my life.”
Tu Wenxiu nodded and said, "Do you understand now?"
The general said hurriedly: "I understand, I understand, the general is really far-sighted and far-sighted, and the general will never be able to catch up."
"I haven't finished speaking yet." Tu Wenxiu chuckled and said, "I just talked about the situation where the imperial court has the advantage, and I haven't mentioned the situation where Prince Yi has the advantage."
The general asked in surprise: "Does Prince Wei still have a chance to gain an advantage?"
"Opportunities are always created by oneself. If you don't reach out, any opportunity will be in vain." Tu Wenxiu said: "If Prince Yi doesn't have any chance, why should I follow him to cause trouble? Do I think my life is too long? Of course he still has a chance. The one who rules the roost.”
The general seemed to be more yearning for this future. Hearing this, his eyes lit up and he asked, "I wonder where this opportunity lies? I would like to ask the general for some advice."
Tu Wenxiu said: "If Gao Guang had not lost his official position first, Prince Yi's chances would have been quite good. However, Gao Guang had lost his official hat first, and I am too lazy to talk about it. In short, now that Gao Guang is replaced by pragmatism, the situation will not be so easy - this is also The reason why I temporarily asked Ying to come to pacify the prisoners."
A trace of fear flashed across the general's face, and he whispered: "I heard that this highly pragmatic man in Annan and the north has never lost a single victory, and all his victories are great victories. I don't know much about Annan's affairs at the end, but he has Monan and Liaonan." The two battles were really fierce. We... well, the sum of the heads of frontier commanders that the imperial court has received in recent decades is probably not as much as those from these two battles."
A hint of gloom flashed across Tu Wenxiu's face, and she nodded solemnly: "Otherwise, what would I do in Pinglu? However, although his high pragmatism is remarkable, when I think about it carefully, he is not without weaknesses."
The general was surprised and happy, and asked quickly: "Really? What are his weaknesses?"
"It's too harsh to spend money." Tu Wenxiu said in a deep voice: "I remember that after the Battle of Monan, there was a wave of controversy in the court, questioning Gao pragmatically spending too much money in that battle. Later, it seemed that the emperor felt that the money was too much. It's not a waste of money, so I put the matter under control."
The general was greatly disappointed: "That's it? Even if it's of no use. Everyone knows that Gao Pragmatic is the emperor's favorite. As long as he can win, the emperor will not blame him. Isn't it Prince Wei and us who are so unlucky?"
"Otherwise." Tu Wenxiu shook his head: "At this time and that time, during the Monan War, although the imperial court was not particularly wealthy, under the management of the three chief assistants Gao Gong, Guo Pu, and Zhang Siwei, at least It is still possible to make a slight surplus, and occasionally the court can afford to spend a sum of money to win a big victory.
But this time it was different. The imperial court started to open the vassal ban last year, and it was said that it would cost tens of millions of taels of silver to do it. Therefore, even our military pay in Ningxia was cut a lot, which gave Prince Yi the opportunity to start an uprising. At this time, the imperial court actually replaced Gao Yingshi, a man who spends a lot of money to fight this war. It was really beyond my expectation... After thinking about it, I felt that the imperial court probably wanted Gao Yingshi to come. Using three axes to pacify Ningxia as quickly as possible is not as long-term pain as short-term pain. "
The general suddenly said: "Oh, it means that the imperial court is also betting. Can the high bet be pragmatic and the fight be fast enough?"
"Yes, I think the imperial court has this idea." Tu Wenxiu sneered: "So now I have to wait and see to see if Prince Yi is worth assisting... If he can withstand Gao Pragmatic's three axes, I will Tu Wenxiu can peacefully conquer the world with him. Even if he cannot conquer Liuhe, he may have a King of Qin who can do it, and you and I can also have hope.
But if he can't bear it, then it's no wonder that my brothers and I are alone. We are not the little ones picked up on the road. We are all raising families. How can we easily accompany him to the capital? dont you agree? "
"That's natural, that's natural." The general said hesitantly: "But general, let's continue what we just said, if Prince Kuai still has the upper hand, what's the use of us in Pinglu?"
Tu Wenxiu laughed and said: "I just mentioned the position of Pinglu, why didn't you take it seriously? After Ningxia rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, Pinglu was Ningxia's rear and retreat. This is just like during a war. If not My absolute confidant, can I leave my retreat to you? I, Tu Wenxiu, am in charge of Pinglu, and no matter how well Ningxia fights, they cannot ignore me."
The general was overjoyed: "So that's it. The general is really wise."
Tu Wenxiu smiled, then suddenly showed a hint of murderous intent, and hummed: "If you really dare not take me seriously, when the Ningxia army goes out to fight, and I send my troops south to station in Ningxia in anger, they will all become I believe Prince Kui will not understand this truth."
The general couldn't help but admire: "General, you really have no plan left. This battle against the Pingqi is really a wonderful move. It is a stroke of genius that can advance, attack, retreat, and defend."
Tu Wenxiu laughed proudly. Before he finished laughing, a general came to report: "General, there seems to be no unusual movement in Pinglu City. Is it possible that they have cut off the source of the information and don't know that Boshu Ketu is gone?"
Tu Wenxiu stopped laughing, frowned and thought for a while, and his tone became a little hesitant: "There are also many Mongolians among the Xiao family's servants. Our army is not very strong at the moment, so they went out to investigate as a spy. It’s not difficult to find out. Logically speaking, the news should not be cut off. Since we can get the news, why is there no response in the city? "
The general who came to report said: "Could it be that Xiao Ruxun became timid after being injured last time? Even if Boshu Ketu left, Xiao Ruxun would not dare to chase after him?"
Tu Wenxiu shook his head and said: "This is not the case, otherwise how could Yiyun die? I think Xiao Ruxun may be worried that Boshu Ketu's departure is a fraud, worried that we deliberately tricked him out of the city, so he remained unmoved. "
The general said distressedly: "How can this be a good thing? How about we retreat and let Xiao Ruxun know that there is no ambush around?"
Tu Wenxiu frowned and scolded: "What are you thinking about is horse urine? Boshu Ketu left on the front foot, and we also retreated a distance on the back foot. As long as Xiao Ruxun is not a fool, we can see that we want him to leave the city quickly. , if it were you Xiao Ruxun, would you still leave the city at this time?"
The general's face turned red after being scolded, but Tu Wenxiu was not only his superior, but what he said was indeed reasonable, so he could only bow his head and admit his mistake.
The former Tu Wenxiu's confidant general tried to smooth things over and changed the subject: "Speaking of which, with the departure of Boshu Ketu, our military strength is indeed not that sufficient. Didn't the military manual say that when using troops? The method is to encircle it ten times, attack it five times, and divide it if you double it. Compared with the number of troops in Pinglu City, our current strength is not to mention five times, not even double, I'm afraid. At this time, we will retreat a little bit. , or it seems reasonable to encircle three and one is missing, what do you think, General?"
Tu Wenxiu said: "It's too obvious to retreat, but we can give it a try if we surround three but one is missing." He was also a cheerful person. If he said that three were short of one, he would surround three but one was short. He immediately ordered the mobilization of troops and let go of the north gate.
At this time, in Pinglu City, Xiao Ruxun did not use the big paper, but quietly stood on a certain tower to observe the enemy's situation. When he saw Tu Wenxiu suddenly withdrawing the defense outside the north city gate, he couldn't help but sneered: "We are surrounded by three and one is missing. Let me out of Beicheng?"
Yang, who had been regarded as a heroine, followed him with a bamboo hat wrapped in gauze. Hearing this, she smiled slightly and said, "Tu Wenxiu also wants her husband to leave the city, so that she can seize the opportunity to capture Pinglu and leave a way out for Kuaibai." . But he was not too smart to let go of Beicheng. What are you going to do in the north? Could it be possible to sneak attack on Yijinhuoluo? "
Xiao Ruxun shook his head and said: "No matter what he means, we just need to do our own thing. Madam, after my husband left, the burden of defending Pinglu City fell on your shoulders. Although you are a woman He is a hero, but after all, unlike Mrs. Gao, who has the status of chieftain, it is not easy to personally command. I will leave the Guanfang seal letter in the house, and you can only issue orders in my name on weekdays, so as not to be hurt by material disputes in the future. "
Yang sighed softly and said: "Xunlang, it's not too late to worry about these things later. The most important things right now are two things: first, the timing of your appearance in front of the High Priest must be just right; second, you must also be on guard. Boshu Ketu turned back and attacked you, and suddenly turned around to seek your misfortune. Boshu Ketu had at least 20,000 riders by his side. In this vast wilderness, if he really turned back to attack you, even the young hero Xunlang would not be able to do it. It is inevitable that two fists cannot defeat four hands. If there is someone good or bad..."
Xiao Ruxun smiled: "Although a general should be cautious in using troops, caution does not mean cowardice. If you are afraid of this and that, then why should you bring troops and fight? As for Boshu Ketu, I expected him to act like this Being in a hurry, the situation must be urgent. Although it is not clear what happened, he must have no time to turn around and compete with me again. My trip seems dangerous, but in fact it is not serious.
But Madam, you must be very careful here. Although Tu Wenxiu is not a famous general, he can be regarded as a rare and wise general in the army. Especially after her husband leaves, the troops in his hands will be twice as strong as those of Ping Lu. Madam must remember not to underestimate him. She must still defend carefully and never attack for the sake of merit. As long as she defends Ping Lu, she will wait until her husband is in Gaoshu. If you show your face in front of the stage, the Xiao family will become another Ma family in the future, and Madam will be more able in front of the several sisters-in-law..."
"Okay, okay, why did you come here?" Yang stretched out her hand to press Xiao Ruxun's lips, and said with a smile: "My sisters-in-law are just a little outsiders to me, and they don't bully or suppress me. I don't need my husband to worry about these things. As long as your husband fights this battle well and leaves a young and promising impression on him in front of Gao Shutai, that is the best thing. Do you still remember what I said to your husband before? Gao Shutai likes to use the word youth general."
Xiao Ruxun laughed and said, "Okay, I'm talking too much for my husband's sake. It's windy and cold right now, so there's no need for Madam to stay here with me in the cold. Go back and rest first, and I'll lead the troops myself."
Mrs. Yang was not pretentious at all, she smiled sweetly when she heard this: "That's very good. I wish your husband success immediately."
Xiao Ruxun nodded, took a deep look at his wife, turned and left.
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