After everyone left, Li Hao left the main tent and took a patrol with his soldiers to see how the imperial camp's arrangements were going.
It turned out that it was exactly as Xie Youde said, everything had been arranged, and even the soldiers' tents were ready and ready to move in.
Then Li Hao asked someone to call Gu Tingye in and asked, "Can you contact Shitou as soon as possible? I want to see the real situation here."
After hearing this, Gu Tingye asked: "You suspect that Xie Youde lied to us because you think there is something wrong with him?"
Li Hao replied: "Xie Youde should not harm us, but I can only believe a third of his words, especially about the war. I think what he said is exaggerated, so it is better to find out more."
Gu Tingye said: "Okay, then I'll go look for it and see if the stone has any message for us.
In addition, I am sending people to inquire around to see if they can find out anything. "
Li Hao asked Gu Tingye to make the arrangements on his own, and after a busy day, Li Hao went to bed early.
When he got up the next day, Li Hao was still the same as before. He first called Zhu Liangzu and others over and waited in front of him.
Not long after they arrived, they saw Xie Youde coming to visit, saying that he wanted to take Li Hao around the camp to familiarize himself with the environment.
It happened that Li Hao also wanted to see with his own eyes what Xie Youde's men were like, so he readily agreed. However, the others were unwilling to follow, so Li Hao let them move around the camp on their own.
Then I followed Xie Youde around, but was disappointed.
Needless to say, Xiang Jun, Li Hao had no expectations.
But even for the Forbidden Army, what Li Hao saw was that the equipment was poor, morale was low, and the number of soldiers didn't look right, and he was afraid that they had been deprived of a lot of free money.
Its overall appearance is not as good as that of the imperial camp, or even compared with the worst group of people in the western suburbs camp.
Li Hao was skeptical about the combat effectiveness of such an army.
However, Li Hao didn't say anything in person. After all, this was not his subordinate. It was okay to call him on a regular basis, but it was not appropriate to interfere in military affairs.
After seeing all this, Li Hao returned to his camp, waiting for news from Shitou, and began to think about how to fight this battle.
After waiting for two days, Shitou arrived at the camp, and then Gu Tingye brought Shitou to see Li Hao.
When they arrived at Li Hao's camp, Li Hao asked Shi Shi what he had seen along the way, and then asked if he had heard any news about the rebels.
Shitou replied: "We have been exploring all these days, and finally found the location of the rebel camp a few days ago."
Li Hao was overjoyed after hearing this and asked: "Where are they?" He took out the map given by Xie Youde and asked Shitou to point out the location.
After looking at the map, Shitou pointed out the location and said: "I led people into the back of the mountain, encountered several groups of bandits, and then followed them to find it.
In addition, I caught a few tongues and found out that the main force of the rebels is now in Yihuang and setting up defenses along this mountain road. There are also some troops in Chongren, which should add up to seven or eight thousand people. "
Li Hao looked at the location pointed by the stone and found that it was in Huangpi generation, and then asked: "Is the road there good?"
Shitou replied: "It's not easy to walk, but the Chongren side is better. The terrain is relatively flat. The reason why the bandits were not wiped out is that it is close to the mountainous area. Once the war is lost, the bandits will retreat into the mountains and forests, making it difficult to clear them."
As for Yihuang, the terrain here is complex, and the only way to get there is by walking along the river.
The bandits also set up checkpoints along this road at Fenggang and Erdu, which were easy to defend and difficult to attack. A few of us could sneak through the mountains, but the large group could only use this road. "
Li Hao heard that there was a river and asked: "Is this river deep? Do you know how big a boat can be?"
Shitou replied: "I have seen this river. Most of the river is full of rocks and can only be used by small boats, not large ships."
Hearing this, Li Hao couldn't help but said: "Then this will be troublesome."
Gu Tingye also said: "Yes, in this kind of terrain, a force attack is really not advisable. No wonder Xie Youde said to listen to our orders, it seems that he really has no choice."
After hearing this, Li Hao nodded in agreement, and then asked Shitou: "Have you found out how much food they have and how long they can last."
After hearing this, Shitou said: "I've also asked about this. They basically brought in all the food they looted before. They said it was enough for two or three years."
After hearing this, Gu Tingye said: "Then this siege is not good, how can it be delayed for so long."
Li Hao had no choice but to call Xu Ning, Yang Wenyuan, Li Yixing, and Yuan Wenshao.
Then let Shitou tell the news from beginning to end, and listen together to see if there is anything that can be used.
In the end, it was useless to listen to it all the way. I just heard from Shitou a completely different combat experience from what Xie Youde himself said.
It turned out that the people led by Xie Youde were the last ones to arrive at the battlefield. They had only fought against the bandits a few times, and they always took advantage of friendly forces along the way.
That is to say, it turned out that they couldn't get in, so they bypassed Xie Youde and led his troops to block the way out, while the rest of the troops went to clear out other bandits.
Wait for other areas to be cleared, and then join forces to wipe out this group of bandits.
So since Xie Youde came here, he only blocked the road to prevent the bandits from leaving, and never took the initiative to attack.
After hearing this, Li Hao understood why others left the bandit leader with Xie Youde. It turned out that they left with confidence knowing that they could not get in.
After Shi Shi finished speaking, Li Hao asked: "Do you have any ideas to defeat this group of thieves? I guess I can't count on Xie Youde."
After hearing Li Hao's question, several people fell into deep thought, and then Xu Ning said: "This situation is indeed not suitable for a strong attack, and even if we want to attack, our troops are not enough.
As for General Xie's men, I have gone to take a closer look in the past two days. It is possible to fight head-on with the bandits, but it is not possible to attack the city and fortify the stronghold. "
After hearing Xu Ning's words, Yang Wenyuan said: "What should we do? Should we imitate Xie Youde and just stay like this, waiting for other people to come back?"
Li Hao said: "Of course that won't work, so we have to find a way to get them out."
After hearing this, Gu Tingye said: "I'm afraid this won't be easy. They were already defeated, and now they don't lack food and grass. I'm afraid they will stick to it and won't be able to get out easily."
After everyone listened, they all fell into deep thought.
After thinking for a while, Li Hao looked up and saw Gu Tingye and Yang Wenyuan. A sudden thought came to his mind and he said, "I think there is a way to make them willing to come out, but it may require you to take some risks."
Gu Tingye asked: "We are taking risks. What do you want us to do?"
After hearing this, Li Hao looked at Gu Tingye and the others and laughed, making them laugh so hard that he was ready to explain.
