Wang Wenzuo stood at the door of the tent, watching the generals file out. He could feel the strange looks in their eyes. He knew what everyone was thinking, but he didn't care - any military plan can only have one main goal, and Not two, all military operations must be carried out around this goal. "Both and want" is ridiculous in war.
The strategic goal of the Tang Dynasty in the northeast was to destroy Goguryeo. This was why it formed a good alliance with Silla. This was why Su Dingfang led an army of 100,000 across the sea to expedition to Baekje. This was also why he withdrew his troops immediately after destroying Baekje.
In this plan, the task of the Sijian garrison was not to pacify Baekje, but to maintain Tang's military presence in Baekje, break the siege of Baekje, Goguryeo, and Japan on Silla, and ensure that it had the spare capacity to support the Tang army's attack on Goguryeo. Conquest.
This is why after the Baekje rebellion broke out, Liu Rengui, who came across the sea as the governor of Fangzhou, did not have many troops at hand. He had to rely on Silla to send troops for help before he won the victory at the mouth of the Unongjin River and arrived at Sixian City. ——Whether it was Tang Gaozong who was far away in Chang'an, or frontline commanders such as Su Dingfang, they all believed that limited forces should be concentrated on the decisive battlefields of Pyongyang and Liaodong, and the Baekje Tang Army only needed to complete the task of containment.
If the Baekje Tang Army were to engage in a battle with the Baekje people under Imcun City at this time, it goes without saying that they would lose; even if they won, they would not have enough follow-up troops to attack the many mountain cities controlled by the rebels and expand the results. Weaken the existing power and give the Silla people an opportunity to take advantage of it. Therefore, in Wang Wenzuo's view, there is no need to carry out this meaningless battle.
"Sanlang!"
"Protector!" Wang Wenzuo stopped and turned around. Only he and Liu Renyuan were left in the tent. A shadow shrouded the old man's face, making it impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.
"There is wine in the cabinet. Pour me a glass and pour yourself a glass too!" The old man returned to his chair and waved tiredly.
"Yes!" Wang Wenzuo obeyed. He handed the wine glass to Liu Renyuan. The old man took a sip and said with a smile: "You always surprise me. It seems that in your eyes there are no secrets in this world! Do you know? I I have seen two people like you in this life, one is Duke Wei and the other is the late Emperor!"
"The Protector has praised me so much, how can I deserve it?"
Perhaps because of drinking, Wang Wenzuo suddenly felt his cheeks heat up. The "Gong Wei" in Liu Renyuan's mouth was none other than Li Jing, the Duke of Wei who defeated Xiao Xian and Fu Gong'er in Nanping in the early Tang Dynasty. He destroyed the Eastern Turks in the north and Tuyuhun in the west. At that time, It is recognized that among the founding generals, the only one who could compare with Emperor Taizong in military skills was Wei Gong. Although Wang Wenzuo regarded himself as extraordinary, he could not compare with these two.
"When it comes to the use of troops, you are naturally far behind these two!" Liu Renyuan smiled: "But formation of troops, dispatching and command can all be learned, but your vision is innate and cannot be learned. Back then Duke Wei defeated Xiao Xian and Fu Gong Er, destroyed the Eastern Turks, and defeated Tuyuhun; the late emperor defeated Dou Jiande in Hulao, all of which were unexpected, and saw what ordinary people had never seen. Afterwards, everyone was in awe of the victory. Those things you just mentioned It's exactly what the chief steward told me before he left, and I didn't even tell Governor Liu!"
Wang Wenzuo moved his belt, not knowing what to say. Compared with thousands of years ago, the external forms of modern military formations, weapons, and tactical formations have undergone earth-shaking changes. Modern military knowledge cannot be copied to ancient times, but the core of war has not changed. It is all about political struggle. Continuation is an action that uses violent means to force the opponent to obey one's will. The strategic principles of concentration of forces, suddenness of attack, and indirect route are all valid at all times and in all countries.
But unlike ancient times when knowledge was monopolized, this strategic knowledge is completely open to the public in modern society. Not only that, the vast amount of war histories, international relations histories, and memoirs on the Internet all use a lot of space to tell how great commanders in ancient times were. Analyze, judge and finally make various decisions from the information. It is certainly not enough to let Wang Wenzuo win decisively against the enemy with these alone, but it is not difficult to make a rough prediction based on the known information.
Liu Renyuan regarded Wang Wenzuo's silence as a concern about the mission. He nodded appreciatively: "Sanlang, you don't need to worry. The Baekje forward is still at least a day and a half away from us, and the team behind is even further away. How about I give you another five hundred cavalry?"
"Thank you, Protector. I will definitely not let the Baekje thieves go too far!"
Thick smoke rose like fingers reaching toward the sky. The scorching flames licked the pyre of the cremated corpse to fill his unsatisfied appetite. They rose one after another and soon the surrounding area became a sea of fire.
"The Tang people are about to withdraw their troops!" Hei Te Changzhi looked at the fire at the bottom of the mountain and whispered.
Sha Zha Xiangru nodded silently, anyone who was not blind could see it. The Tang people not only burned the corpses, but also set fire to all the war tents on the mountain road to protect against falling rocks, and even dug out the narrowest sections of the mountain road. Obviously, they were preparing to prevent the Baekje people from chasing after each other on the mountain. Everything was in order, as if they were preparing for that day's dinner.
"At least we got through it!" Sha Zha Xiangru let out a long breath. He looked back at the hall behind him. It was filled with corpses waiting to be buried. There were three to four hundred of them. The Baekje people didn't have enough. There was no firewood to burn the corpses, and there were not enough manpower to dig graves. If the siege continued for a few more days, there might be a risk of a plague breaking out in the city.
"The Prime Minister should have returned with the troops!" Hei Te Changzhi seemed to be saying to himself: "Otherwise, the Tang people would not have withdrawn their troops!"
"This has nothing to do with us!" Sha Zha Xiangru pointed to the hall behind him: "We have tried our best to get these thousands of recruits to this point. If it had been anyone else, Ren Cun City would have changed hands long ago!"
"Yes!" Hei Te Changzhi sighed. At this time, he felt that he was exhausted. He walked to the corner and sat down against the battlement, leaning on the stones behind him: "Don't disturb me, let me take care of myself." Get some sleep!”
When Hei Te Changzhi woke up again, it was already noon the next day. The returning Baekje forwards had arrived at Imcun Mountain City. He learned from Tanqi that the Baekje attack had gained a lot. Although they did not capture Shuchuan City, they still surrounded it for more than 20 days. , during these more than twenty days, the Baekje people's horsemen plundered on both sides of the fertile Han River and harvested a large amount of grain, cloth, iron tools, people and livestock. It can be said that they returned with a full load.
