weaving

Chapter 1298 Don’t act rashly!

Inside the main military tent of the Yongning Marquis' headquarters, after everyone had made fun of the intruders' artillery camp, the topic turned back to the real business of fighting the bandits. They all spoke one after another, expressing their suggestions and concerns.

Most people thought of defending as offense, further strengthening the defensive fortifications of the camps around Xinchengji, preparing to delay and wait for changes. At the same time, they also withdrew the troops from Liuzhuang and Daguantou so that everyone could gather together to rescue each other.

There were also those like Deputy General Zhang Dechang who suggested defending the camp while asking for help from the court. If there were 30,000 to 50,000 brave soldiers coming to reinforce, then there would be no need to worry about the large number of bandits.

He even proposed that the Earl of Yongning write a letter to the General Zuo Liangyu, advising him to reorganize the troops and march north from Xiangyang, come to the city of Kaifeng again, and unite the troops to defeat the rebels in order to establish immortal merit.

He even asked the Earl of Yongning to advise the court to take advantage of the fact that the Eastern Tartars had no intention of invading for the time being and to transfer a part of the cavalry from Liaodong to reinforce Henan in order to defeat the main force of the rebels.

In addition, Zhang Guangda and several others proposed to take the initiative...

They did not intend to attack the rebel army camp directly, but instead sent out teams of cavalry to restore the governance of the prefectures and counties around Kaifeng while harassing the rebel army's food supply in order to disrupt their morale.

Of course, there are other details such as strengthening the defensive positions in the camp and strengthening the protection of various grain transportation checkpoints, especially sending more scouts to both conceal our battlefield movements and keep abreast of the enemy's dynamics at all times.

"Mr. Sun, everyone has made so many suggestions. What do you think? Please share your thoughts!"

Sun Shixiang was sitting in the first seat on the left. Although everyone's discussion was very interesting and there were many funny moments, he just kept listening with a smile and didn't say a word.

Now that the Earl of Yongning had personally mentioned his name, he couldn't get away with not speaking up: "My Lord, the proposals made by the generals all make sense."

He first affirmed everyone's comments, and then expressed his own thoughts: "I think today's battle is of great importance, so we should be cautious and avoid rash attacks.

At present, my teacher has the following five advantages...

The soldiers of our division are brave and well-armored, this is the first point; the orders of our division are unified and as easy to use as one's own arm, this is the second point; our division is united and has high morale, this is the third point; our division has Kaifeng behind it and relies on river shipping, so the supply of food and fodder is convenient, this is the fourth point; our division's guns are sharp and the gunpowder is powerful, this is the fifth point.

The disadvantages of the bandit army are as follows...

First, although the bandit army has a large number of troops, even several times more than our division, they are not as well-trained as our division, nor as sharp as our guns and cannons; second, although the bandit army gallops across the Central Plains and is invincible, it is still like a tree without roots. Its food and grass supply mostly relies on long-distance transportation from Funiu Mountain, and it still needs to collect food everywhere to barely maintain; third, affected by Luo Rucai's departure, the bandit army has not only greatly reduced its strength, but also its morale is much worse than before. This can be seen from the fact that it only surrounded the Xianggong Temple but did not attack it! "

Sun Shixiang said so much at once that his mouth was dry. He stopped to drink some herbal tea before continuing, "My army has these five advantages, while the enemy army has these three disadvantages. From this, we can see that the advantage of this battle is on my side, not on the enemy side."

Cao Shixi felt that he was of low status, so he didn't say much even though he was sitting in the front row. After listening to Sun Shixiang's analysis, he couldn't help but praise him: "Mr. Sun is really a god. I feel like I have been enlightened after hearing your words." He stood up and continued: "I just thought that my teacher would win, but I couldn't explain why. I've been sitting here holding my breath until my face is redder than a monkey's butt, and I don't know how to say this."

Finally, he gave a thumbs up and praised: "Our Mr. Sun is really amazing. He explained the truth clearly with just a few words!"

Watching him performing on his own, several people secretly shook their heads and smiled bitterly, but they didn't know how to say anything to his face.

However, everyone saw that Earl Yongning, who was sitting high at the chief commander's desk, did not say anything about this. He just looked at everyone in the commander's tent with a smile on his face, without a trace of embarrassment.

Zhang Guangda was a straightforward person. He didn't want to listen to Cao Shixi's useless words anymore, so he asked, "Mr. Sun, what you said is all reasonable, and I can understand it."

He suddenly changed the subject and asked directly, "But how should we deal with the bandits now?"

Zhang Guangda pressed on, "In your opinion, should we hold our ground and wait for help, or should we take the initiative to attack, advance and seek change, and force the intruders to reveal their weaknesses?"

Sun Shixiang did not back down because of his questioning. He stood up like Cao Shixi, bowed to the Yongning Earl at the top, and then said to Zhang Guangda: "General Zhang, don't worry, just listen to what I have to say."

As he spoke, he walked to the left side of the commander's tent and stopped in front of a large hanging map. Everyone followed him, even Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng.

Sun Shixiang picked up a wooden stick and pointed at the marks on the map, saying to everyone, "There are Cao's troops led by Luo Rucai stationed in the Guide Prefecture area. In order to avoid unnecessary friction and not to provoke Luo Rucai for the time being, the rebels will not go there to get food.

Although the eastern part of Henan had been attacked and looted by the rebels before, after the arrival of our army, Chenliu and Qi counties were gradually recovered, and the rebels would no longer risk coming east to forage for food.

Therefore, apart from transporting food and grass from the Funiushan Mountains, the rebels could only go to Fugou, Taikang, Xihua, Chenzhou, Linying, and Yancheng in southern Henan to get food, or even further to Shangshui, Xiangcheng, or even Runing Prefecture; the other options were to go west to Xinzheng, Changge, Xuzhou, and even Yuzhou and Xiangcheng, and they could even go as far as Ruzhou to get food.

When Sun Shixiang said this, he couldn't help but put down the stick in his hand, turned his head and looked at everyone and said: "In my opinion, my division should send out one or two elite light cavalry.

One option is to go from eastern Henan to southern Henan, all the way to Runing Prefecture, and find small groups of enemy troops that are stealing food and carry out harassment operations on them. This way, we can block their roads and disrupt their morale, and also conceal the entire battlefield so that they are unaware of our true intentions.

Secondly, this elite cavalry heading west can even grope their way forward towards the bandit’s lair in Funiu Mountain, making an appearance of attacking the bandit’s old camp in Funiu Mountain, and preferably force them to send troops to support.

If we can mobilize the enemy troops, we can take the opportunity to find their loopholes and defeat them!"

Sun Shixiang did not wait for anyone to respond and continued, "Today's battle is inevitable. For me, I will not be able to avoid it, so we must unite and prepare for the battle with all our strength."