Winter was about to begin in the blink of an eye. Liu Xingyuan and Lu Zuo's troops seized the opportunity first. When Xun Mou's army was not stable, they took advantage of the opportunity to pursue them. They reached the capital of the Wei Kingdom with overwhelming force. The rebels suffered only a hundred casualties. Except for Lu Manxi, the soldiers were marching. At that time, he fell off his horse and fractured his right hand. No other generals were injured. The rebel army did not encounter too much resistance from the state capital along the way. On the contrary, in some places, they even used pots of wine to welcome the king's army.
When Lu Zuo's army reached the capital of Weiguo, it was already winter in early October, and the army became more powerful, with 250,000 troops and 400,000 troops. Now a camp has been set up fifty miles outside the capital of Weiguo. Lu Zuo summoned the generals to discuss the attack on the city in the central military tent. Now there are two plans. One is that the enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered. Some people advocate encircling the city ten times, waiting for the defenders to run out of ammunition and food, while recruiting and surrendering. Wouldn't it be beautiful if the troops are killed without losing blood? The other is to attack the city directly with all their strength.
Huo Yan was the first to stand up and object to the first plan, "Besiege the city? Surround the Bird City. We have come all the way, so we should fight quickly. How can we wait for them to surrender? What if they take advantage of the gap in defending the city to wait for the surrounding state capitals? What about the arrival of reinforcements to support them? Wouldn’t that be a missed opportunity!”
Lu Xiuyuan shouted loudly: "Huo Yan, don't be rude!"
There was silence in the tent for a moment, and everyone looked embarrassed. Huo Yan looked even more displeased and hesitated to speak.
Liu Xingyuan was filled with thousands of thoughts at this moment, and after frowning for a long time, he felt happy after hearing Huo Yan's words. It seemed that there were still people who supported the attack on the city. He chuckled and calmly said: "What Brother Huo said is not unreasonable. Although it is easy to siege the city and recruit surrender, if any local force supports Xun Yu and his son, then we will really fall short. We might as well just rely on Huo." Brother said, fight quickly."
Everyone looked at each other, seemingly shaken. Lu Xiuyuan's son, Lu Manxi, had a white cloth belt hanging on his right hand. Seeing that Senior Brother Lu Zuo lowered his head and remained silent, he also wanted to speak for Liu Xingyuan, "I support His Highness Prince Ning's suggestion. We have been on a roll without any obstacles. Now, Even if we approach the city with troops, we will definitely be able to capture the capital easily."
Yin Ji also wanted to express his opinion at this time, but when he saw that everyone else was silent, and then saw that the master was still silent, he didn't speak either.
Qin Fu's daughter Qin Hong was confused when everyone was silent, so she raised her eyebrows and said, "I don't agree with what Lu Manxi said."
When Qin Fu saw his daughter talking like this, he quickly stared at her and signaled her to stop talking. Unexpectedly, her daughter pursed her lips more and more, "Why don't you let me talk!" Then he looked at Lu Manxi and shook his head, "What you said makes no sense at all. You said it yourself. We have been on a roll all the way and have not encountered any problems. The resistance of too many soldiers defending the city shows that Xun Yu and his son are simply unpopular. Moreover, Tan Ma also mentioned earlier that there are only 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers defending the city, and most of them are imperial guards of the palace. In addition, in the past few months There are many mutinies in the capital, and the people's hearts are unstable, so we can completely lay siege to the city. Wouldn't it be nice for us to come all the way, with people and horses exhausted, to wait for work in leisure?"
Although Huo Yan did not support the siege, he also appreciated Qin Hong's vision, "Haha... Miss Qin is amazing!"
Liu Xingyuan suddenly saw Huo Yan's face change, glanced at him noncommittally, and then looked at each other with Lu Manxi.
Lu Manxi hurriedly said: "You can't decide such a big thing! Did you know that the soldiers, horses, and food go first? We are unstoppable on this road. The capital is also far away from our Shanzhou headquarters, and it is difficult to keep up with the food and grass transportation. Where Affordable.”
"That's not up to you. Lu Manxi, if you don't know what's good and what's good, Brother Huo doesn't have any objections now!"
Lu Xiuyuan shouted: "Don't be rude. Shut up, both of you. You have no place to talk here."
Qin Hong snorted softly and looked at Lu Zuo, "Brother Lu, please speak up and give us a review!"
Lu Zuo raised his head, looked at Qin Hong with stern eyes, and then turned to look at Jing Jingruo sitting next to him. He was still a little confused, so he raised his hand to Lu Xiuyuan, "Second Uncle Lu, do you dare to ask for your opinion?"
Lu Xiuyuan felt embarrassed. In the end, Qin Fu couldn't help but slapped the table and said, "The great cause has not yet been accomplished, and you are pushing back like this. According to my wishes, the brothers we have brought out are not people who are greedy for life and afraid of death." , but if we really want to attack the city, we will inevitably lose our troops. What Qin Hong just said makes some sense. If Xun Mou and the others really have reinforcements and really win the hearts of the people, we will not be able to reach the capital so quickly. Moreover, the walls of Kyoto are high and the city is thick. To siege a city, we must prepare better siege equipment before it is possible to break the city. In my opinion, we should surround him for ten days and a half, and then forge the siege equipment and wait for the time to come. , and then decide whether to attack by force."
Liu Xingyuan heard what Qin Fu said and said nothing more, but Lu Manxi glared at Qin Hong angrily.
The night was dark and the bright moon was hanging high. Looking at the towering city walls of Kyoto from a distance, coupled with the crows of jackdaws, it became even more desolate. Lu Zuo stood on the hill behind the camp, looking coldly in the direction of the capital. Yin Ji stood behind him at some point. He held a blue-white cloak in his hand and carefully put it on his master.
"Master, are you thinking about attacking the city?"
Lu Zuo shook his head.
Yin Ji was puzzled, "Is that because of what happened today?"
Lu Zuo didn't speak.
"According to Ji'er's opinion, no matter what method, it is possible to break the city. But the method mentioned by Master is of course better."
Lu Zuo shook his head, "The city of Kyoto will be destroyed sooner or later, it's not that important!"
Yin Ji rolled his eyes, but still didn't think of the reason, "Master, is there anything inconvenient to say?"
"Brother Lu!"
Suddenly, a voice came from behind, and it was Liu Xingyuan. After the three of them bowed respectfully and exchanged greetings, Liu Xingyuan got straight to the point and asked, "Brother Lu has any objection to whether to attack the city today?"
Lu Zuo shook his head.
Liu Xingyuan smiled awkwardly, "Brother Lu seems to be hesitant to speak?"
"How dare you! I just think that we can either attack the city or besiege it."
"Oh," Liu Xingyuan's eyes lit up, "How do you say this?"
"Both have half the pros and cons, so let's besiege the city. Maybe the sacrifice will be smaller."
Liu Xingyuan nodded, "It seems that Brother Lu is very confident in destroying the traitors."
Lu Zuo nodded.
Liu Xingyuan continued to ask: "If the rebels such as Xun Yu and his son are put down, what does Brother Lu think of the future situation?"
Yin Ji's face darkened, and he instantly understood why the master had been silent today.
But seeing Lu Zuo's brows twitching, he smiled and said, "Your Highness is of the Han Dynasty's bloodline and should inherit the throne."
Liu Xingyuan raised his eyebrows slightly, then frowned again, and made a push-off gesture with his hands, "How can this mean that I just inherited my father's title without any merit. In terms of merit, you are the leader of the rebel army and the brother of Fengjishan. We all also follow your lead. You should be the one sitting on the throne of the Han family..."
Lu Zuoyi raised his hand and said, "Your Highness is joking. I am a commoner who has long been tired of these things. The reason why I dragged this broken body to join the rebel army is to assist you, Your Highness, to ascend to the throne as soon as possible. Those brothers from Fengji Mountain , all to find a way out with you, your Highness, don’t worry. When things come true in the future, I just want to return to my hometown to farm, study and recuperate."
