weaving

"Guodong, do you know why the commander-in-chief called us here?"

"Brother Ce, you have always been very smart and you are the worm in the commander's stomach. You have always known the commander's plans in advance. Why do you come to ask a rough man like me, Old Zhang, today?"

After Wei Zhice got off his horse, he walked forward, took Zhang Guodong's hand, and said to him: "Brother Dong, everything else is easy. Even if we can't kill the bandits for the time being, we can hold on to our position without any worries given the current situation. What I am most worried about is Chen Zheng and his men in the Xianggong Temple. I am afraid that their morale will be unstable under the heavy siege."

"Although Chen Zheng's troops are not as good as the bandits, they have better armor and weapons, sharp guns and cannons, sufficient food and grass, and experience in defending Changling Mountain. What's more rare is that they are united. If the army's morale is stable and not discouraged, even if they are surrounded, I think there will be no great danger."

"I don't think so."

While Zhang Guodong was stunned, Wei Zhice continued, "You should know that there are thousands of militiamen led by Xu Yousi from Mangshan in Xianggong Temple. Although they were trained by Chen Zhong and others, they have never been on a real battlefield and have never fought in a big battle. Their mental quality is not even as good as Chen Zhong's Yanhe Camp, let alone compared with Chen Zheng's White Tiger Camp."

Zhang Guodong suddenly realized and said, "Brother Ce, are you worried about the chaos in the militia?"

Wei Zhice was about to speak when he saw several riders galloping in from the camp gate, shouting from a distance: "Two generals, Mingyuan is late in meeting you, please forgive me."

It turned out to be Zhang Mingyuan, the Earl of Yongning and the commander-in-chief of the headquarters. He rode on his warhorse, clasped his fists and said, "All the generals are in the commander's tent, waiting for the two generals to arrive."

Hearing Zhang Mingyuan's words, how could Wei Zhice dare to delay any longer with Zhang Guodong? He nodded to Zhang Guodong, indicating that he had just expressed his worries, but he said, "Brother Dong, let's go to the account quickly, but we haven't greeted our commander-in-chief for a long time."

Under the guidance of Zhang Mingyuan, Wei Zhice and Zhang Guodong led more than a hundred of their own guards, rode into the camp and headed straight for the general's tent.

…………

The generals from Xincheng had not seen Wei Zhice and Zhang Guodong for a long time, but Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng did not give them much time to greet and reminisce.

Wei Zhice and Zhang Guodong had just entered the commander's tent. They had just greeted the other generals when they heard a loud shout from the inner tent: "The commander of the six military garrisons, the general commander of the Central Plains bandit suppression, the General Zhenshuo has arrived!"

Upon hearing the voice, everyone's expressions became serious. They no longer dared to whisper to each other. Instead, they stood with their hands hanging down and bowed respectfully to welcome the arrival of Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning.

Yongning Bo did not waste any more words. He sat down on his tiger-skin chair and told the generals who came to attend the military meeting to take their seats. Then he asked Wei Zhice and Zhang Guodong, "Mingyuan has already told you two about yesterday's military meeting, right?"

"Yes." Wei Zhice answered very straightforwardly.

Zhang Guodong also clasped his fists and replied, "Yes, Commander."

"What do you two think about this?"

Zhang Guodong kept silent and just looked at Wei Zhice. Seeing him behave like this, Zhang Cheng naturally saw something was going on and also looked at Wei Zhice, waiting for his statement.

"Commander-in-chief, Zhice believes that it is not the right time to go into battle yet. We should be cautious for now."

"Oh..." After talking with He Biao in the morning, Yongning Bo also felt a little worried. He was no longer as determined as he was during the military meeting yesterday to send troops to harass the trench-digging bandits. After listening to Wei Zhice's words, he became even more interested and asked him, "Zhi Ce, tell me more."

Wei Zhice first looked around at everyone in the general's tent before speaking: "General, the enemy's army is powerful, and this is well known. Although they claim to have 600,000 troops, if we count them accurately, the actual number of combat troops is no more than 150,000, not to mention that Cao the thief is now walking alone to Guide Prefecture.

Even if Li Zicheng incorporated tens of thousands of soldiers and horses including Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue, Zuo Liangyu and others who fled from the defeat at Shuipo Ji, the number of combat troops in his army would not exceed 150,000 at most.

Even this number is twice that of our army, not to mention that there are hundreds of thousands of dependents, servants, menial workers, and hungry people in their army. Our Tengshe Camp has fought several battles with the bandit army at critical moments. Although these people are not strong enough, they are still fearless under the threat of the bandit soldiers' swords, axes, bows and crossbows. "

When he said this, he couldn't help but look at Zhang Guodong and asked him: "General Guodong, your Qinglong Camp also fought several battles with the enemy army in Liuzhuang. Is this really the case?"

"Yes, the enemy army always uses servants as cannon fodder in every battle. Although these people are not strong in combat, it is really difficult to deal with them if they attack them..."

Zhang Guodong paused for a moment before continuing, "Damn it... there are too many thieves to kill them all!"

Wei Zhice nodded and continued, "Commander-in-chief, I think that although the enemy army is powerful, with so many men and horses, the consumption of food and grass will naturally be high. It seems that the enemy army is more unwilling to hold out here for a long time than us.

Moreover, now that Guangda and Li Jiyu have launched two surprise attacks, they have cut off the enemy's food supply and prevented them from stealing food. However, the time is still short and the effect is not yet apparent. Zhice feels that the more it is at this moment, the more our army must be patient and hold the camp firmly. When the enemy's food and grass are insufficient and the soldiers are hungry and exhausted, we can plan a decisive battle with the enemy."

Seeing that he had finished speaking, Earl Yongning did not express his own opinion, but asked everyone in the general's tent: "What do you think of what Zhice said?"

Everyone looked at each other, unable to figure out what Earl Yongning was thinking. None of the nearly twenty generals and staff members in the tent spoke out.

Sun Shixiang stroked the slightly graying beard on his chin, trying to figure out what Earl Yongning was thinking.

He was not trying to please the Lord, but he just said the same thing in different ways. He needed to know what Earl Yongning was thinking so that he could organize his own words.

Lin Fangping was in charge of gathering intelligence in the army. Seeing that no one in the commander's tent responded, he spoke up, "Commander-in-chief, what General Wei said is indeed true. The bandits always drive hungry civilians to the front of the battle, using them as cannon fodder. Although they are not strong in combat, they have more people, which often makes our army waste their medicine and makes them quite difficult to deal with."

"Even so, we cannot tolerate the bandits to continue digging trenches so unscrupulously. Once their long trenches surround our three large camps, won't it affect morale and shake the army's will?" Li Fuming was still brooding over the long trenches dug by the Chuang army.

Wang Pu seemed to want to say something, but after looking at Wei Zhice, he just smacked his lips a few times and swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

Sure enough, Wei Zhice smiled at him, thanking him for his modesty, and then he spoke again: "General Li, now the competition between our army and the thief Li is about who can keep calm. The victory or defeat of this battle depends on who makes the first mistake."

He looked at Li Fuming and added: "Although our army is barely able to maintain its food supply, Li Fuming's situation is even worse than ours. He has been digging trenches for more than a month, consuming so much energy and food. Even if he can complete the encirclement, what can he do?

"The two trenches together are more than a hundred miles long, how can they be defended? Does Li the thief really think that our Yongyi Army is as made of clay as Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu?"

Wei Zhice once again scanned the people in the general's tent, his eyes stopped at Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng, and he clasped his fists and said, "General, Zhice thinks our army should adopt the strategy of 'cutting off the firewood from under the cauldron'!" (End of this chapter)