Looking down at his wound and the silk book in his hand, Zhao Kuo knew that the next close combat was not his strength, and his body was not strong enough to support him in the battle again.
Fortunately, Zhao Jun still had Lian Po and Tian Dan. So what he has to do now is to arrange the defense of the North Road, and at the same time put as much of the extra army on the North Road into the hands of Generals Lian Po and Tian Dan.
"Lian Po and General Tian Dan came to report: The Qin army has obtained food and grass from the Wei army. There is no danger of food shortage in a short period of time. They are now reorganizing their troops and heading south towards Jiepailing." He has a full understanding of the current battlefield situation. After getting to know each other, Zhao Kuo calmed down his previous expression and briefly reported the current situation.
Sun Gu and other generals present were shocked when they heard this. It was obvious that the generals were not stupid, and they naturally understood what a huge impact the more than 100,000 Qin troops would have on the entire campaign after they obtained the food and fodder of the Wei army.
"No wonder the general's expression changed. The Qin army should not be underestimated. Even in such a desperate situation, they can still find food and a way to break the situation."
"Can Jiepailing withstand the Qin army's offensive?"
"Will the Qin army turn back and attack the north?"
"The Qin army has food and grass, so wouldn't our siege be in vain?"
For a time, the generals were talking a lot, and some people were even pessimistic about the outcome of this battle.
All the performance of the generals naturally fell into Zhao Kuo's eyes, and this was exactly what Zhao Kuo wanted. Otherwise, it would not be enough to make the generals who were already a little confused realize the seriousness of the matter, let alone completely abandon their mentality of underestimating the enemy. Of course, the generals cannot completely lose confidence.
With a slight cough, Zhao Kuo swept across the generals with a razor-like gaze, and the camp instantly became silent.
"Army, don't panic." Zhao Kuo continued: "General Lian Po was aware of the enemy first, and a fire had already burned the Wei army's food and grass to pieces. It was only because of the sudden heavy rain that the Qin army was able to rescue them. Some of the grain was harvested. However, according to General Lian Po's estimation, the grain obtained by the Qin army can supply the Qin army of more than 100,000 people for five or six days at most."
"I see!"
"It's only five or six days, so there's no need to be afraid of him."
"It is simply a delusion to think of breaking through our defense line within five or six days."
"The direction of Jiepailing should also have received news."
"Given how steep Jiepai Ridge is, five or six days will not be a problem."
Soon, the knots between the generals' brows gradually dissipated.
"Currently, the cavalry sent to report that the Qin army has moved south." Zhao Kuo ignored the generals' joy and continued: "However, Qin general Bai Qi is best at the art of attacking the north from the south. Our army must Be careful!"
"Yes!" The generals looked at each other, obviously realizing that Zhao Kuo was about to make specific arrangements, and then they bowed and obeyed his orders.
"In the past few days, our army has been slacking off on the North Road. This is all my fault." The expression on Zhao Kuo's face became more and more serious, and his deep voice made his words extremely cold: "Fortunately, the Qin army Our army has not yet reached the northern route, but after the Qin army obtains food, it will have more room for maneuver, so we must not be cautious on the northern route."
"After all the armies return, they should immediately gather their morale and reorganize the camp. There should never be any slacking off and celebrating the victory. Within one day, I want the whole army to have a completely new look!" Zhao Kuo continued to give the order in a cold voice: "Do you understand? ?」
"Yes!" Sun Gu and other generals present accepted the order one after another, not even daring to breathe.
After a series of ups and downs, Zhao Kuo finally changed the hearts of the generals. However, it was inevitable that after hard work, the red on Zhao Kuo's chest became brighter and brighter.
Xu Li and his soldiers on the side wanted to step forward several times to check, but they were forced back by Zhao Kuo's stern eyes.
Zhao Kuo knew that there were two more things that had to be arranged while he still had energy and could hold on.
Blade-like eyes swept across the faces of the generals, and finally stopped on the face of Sun Gu, the first person on Zhao Kuo's left, and the deep voice sounded again: "Sun Gu!"
"The general is here." After hearing the order, Sun Gu immediately clasped his fists and came out.
"The current North Road army is roughly composed of 20,000 elite troops under Xu Li and my subordinates.
The 50,000-strong army brought out from the encirclement of the Qin army. Zhao Kuo paused for a moment. After thinking about it, he finally made up his mind and said, "I'll give you 10,000 elite troops and 30,000 young troops to defend the mouth of the bag in the north. Is there any problem?"
Sun Gu was a little confused when he heard this. Not only him, but also the generals present were quite surprised.
Without him, the general who everyone expected to guard the gate should be Xu Li.
Everyone knows that although the Qin army has the possibility of attacking from the south to the north, the land of Shangdang is not the Central Plains area. It is full of mountains and forests. Even if there are official roads, they are twists and turns. Although it is beneficial to the Qin army The concealment will inevitably delay the Qin army's march. For the Qin army, which is still short of food, time is life.
The risk of claiming South and attacking North is too great. Even if the Qin army really wants to open a gap from the north, once it is prepared, it will not be a problem to defend the few gaps in Zoumaling with tens of thousands of troops.
Therefore, it can be said that staying in the north is almost a ready-made achievement, and the remaining people, without Zhao Kuo's explicit words, everyone knows that they should go south, and going south means that there is a high probability of a head-on confrontation with the Qin army. He even had to attack from a disadvantageous position.
Which one is better and which one is worse is simply clear.
Of course, everyone guessed that the commander of the North Road was Xu Li and not someone else. It was not just because Xu Li was Zhao Kuo’s family general. As Zhao Kuo said, there are now 70,000 soldiers in the North Road, 50,000 of whom are Qing. Strong army. The young and strong army's combat power was weak, which had been clearly reflected in the previous battles. Therefore, the main force guarding the northern pocket was the 20,000 elite men under Xu Li.
It is precisely for this reason that other generals, including Sun Gu himself, have already acquiesced in their hearts that the leader of the North Road is Xu Li.
Zhao Kuo naturally had his reasons for doing this. One of the important points is that Sun Gu did perform very well in the battle of Shangdang, especially in the later period, when there were almost no troops to send, and he could only use "pulling broken teeth". When using his tactics to delay the Qin army's attack, Sun Gu was able to quickly understand the intention, adjust his troops, and successfully delay the Qin army.
This undoubtedly left a good impression on Zhao Kuo - Sun Gu was really good at it!
Therefore, in this final battle, Zhao Kuo had no sectarian opinions at all, especially when he had already delayed a lot of time by opening the champagne at halftime. Whoever can guard the north road better should do it. Commander.
Obviously, Sun Gu, who is good at defense, is more suitable to stay and defend the North Road than Xu Li, who is good at attacking.
That's all.
