weaving

Chapter 1351 Breaking the pot
Ten miles northeast of the Xianggong Temple is the tent of Li Zicheng, the Grand Marshal of Civil and Military Affairs, who advocated the Fengtian Righteousness.

After taking a look at Liu Zongmin, General Yuan Zongdi said to the King of Chuang: "Grand Marshal, the official army at Xianggong Temple is less than 10,000 people, but they have deep trenches and high fortifications, and their artillery and stone are fierce. If our army wants to take Xianggong Temple, it will definitely suffer great losses, but it will not be of much help to the entire battlefield.

In my opinion, it would be better to attack the main camp of the government army in Xinchengji directly. While the long trenches separate the main camps and prevent them from rescuing each other, we can use a small number of troops to contain the government army in Xianggong Temple and other government camps. Then, we can concentrate all the cannons, archers, infantry, and cavalry to attack Xinchengji. As long as we break the main camp of the government army, the other government troops will flee in fear! "

After hearing what Yuan Zongdi said, even King Chuang nodded slightly, but he did not make a decision. Instead, he asked, "Military Advisor, what do you think of Han Ju's proposal?"

Song Xiance smacked his lips and said, "Han Ju's idea is very good. Once the Xincheng camp of the government army is breached, it will surely be defeated. Even if the remaining camps do not collapse, they will definitely not be able to withstand the offensive of our army."

"Ah."

Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, said: "Does the military advisor also think that Han Ju's method is feasible?"

Song Xiance just smiled, but did not directly answer the question of King Chuang. Instead, he turned to the central army Wu Ruyi and asked him: "Ziyi, has the government army made any moves recently?"

"It's still the same. Apart from the fact that General Buzhi and Master Li have been fighting, the government troops on the Xincheng side seem to be dead. Our long trench is about to close in, but they haven't come out to stop us."

After listening to Wu Ruyi's words, Song Xiance asked, "How are the scouts of the government troops in Xincheng?"

"As usual, they only cover their camp and prevent our scouts from approaching. Occasionally, they will approach the long trench to observe, but their numbers are too small to stop us from digging the trench."

"Did the spies find any signs of troop movements?"

"No, there is no news from Liuzhuang or Daguantou."

After Song Xiance finished his question, he said to King Chuang: "Grand Marshal, Xiance thinks Han Ju's strategy is feasible."

He then added: "But there is one very strange thing that I still cannot understand."

"Oh." Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, asked him suspiciously, "What is it that even the military advisor can't figure out?"

Song Xiance took a sip of herbal tea before speaking, "Although the government troops in the north are weaker than ours in terms of manpower, they are not incapable of fighting. This can be seen from their scouts. Moreover, we have fought against the government troops in Liuzhuang, Daguantou... and Xianggong Temple. I believe everyone is very clear about their combat effectiveness."

When everyone heard this, they all nodded in agreement, even King Chuang himself was no exception. It can be seen that everyone has a very consistent opinion on the new opponent, the Yongyi Army.

Seeing that his point of view was recognized, Song Xiance continued, "Now, we are digging trenches outside the government army camp. Although there are soldiers stationed along the way, the government army is obviously very capable of fighting, but they are indifferent to this. This is very unreasonable."

He finally added: "I'm afraid there's something fishy going on here!"

Liu Zongmin was very dissatisfied with this. He said, "Military Advisor, I don't think so. Although this group of government troops is more capable than other government troops, they only have tens of thousands of soldiers. Facing my 500,000-strong army, they dare not fight. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong." Yuan Zongdi also echoed, "If I were the commander of this group of government troops, I would not dare to fight rashly with such a huge gap in strength. After all, they are short of troops. If there are more losses, how can we fight this battle?"

Although what Liu Zongmin and Yuan Zongdi said was not without reason, Gao Yigong did not agree with them. He continued, "I don't think so. The commander of the opposing government army is Zhang Cheng. He fought a battle with us in the eleventh year, and defeated the Tartars in Liaodong last year. I think we should never compare him with the governor-general of the government army next to him."

He took a sip of herbal tea and continued, "Other government troops retreated when they saw our army, but Zhang Cheng dared to send out a small army to cut off our food supply and disturb our troops who were seeking food. This situation has never been seen before.

I think that Military Advisor Song's worries are not without reason. We cannot judge Zhang Cheng by common sense. Although I dare not say whether he has other plans for the government army, we must be on guard against it!"

"I also think it is unreasonable that Zhang Cheng turned a blind eye to our digging of trenches." Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, also held a very skeptical attitude.

Liu Zongmin looked at Li Zicheng, the Prince of Rebellion, and said, "Brother Li Zicheng, no matter how unpredictable and cunning Zhang Cheng is, we have no choice. We have to fight this battle anyway. In my opinion, no matter what his plot is, we should attack him with all our forces. Even if he has any plot, it will be useless in front of our absolutely superior military force."

Yuan Zongdi also said: "We have more than twice as many troops as him. We can focus our main force on attacking Xincheng, and then send more menial workers and hungry people to other places to act as decoys. This can not only tie down the government troops in other places, but also make them unaware of where we will attack before the battle."

Seeing that everyone had expressed their opinions, King Chuang asked Niu Jinxing, "Qidong, what do you think?"

"Everyone present here today has fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. When it comes to politics, I am naturally the best person to lead. But when it comes to marching and fighting, everyone is an expert. Since everyone has the same opinion, it must be right."

Niu Jinxing played a trick, and then he looked at Li Zicheng and said, "The Grand Marshal has already made up his mind. The next step is nothing more than the details of the troop deployment, which still needs to be discussed in detail."

"Hahaha……"

Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, pointed at Niu Jinxing and said with a smile, "Qidong, you are so good. You are waiting for me here. You really deserve to be the worm in my stomach."

Everyone started laughing when they heard this.

"The military rations can only last for more than half a month. The war cannot be dragged on any longer!"

Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, looked at Liu Zongmin and said, "Jiexuan, what do you think?"

"King Chuang, I think we should immediately dispatch all the troops. Within five days, the rations of the troops without leadership tasks will be reduced by half, and as much rations as possible should be dispatched to the brothers with tasks."

Liu Zongmin went on to say: "From the fifth day onwards, all the soldiers will have enough food. They will eat well for two days to restore their energy. On the seventh day, we will launch a general attack and capture the government army camp in Xincheng in one fell swoop."

After hearing this, King Chuang fell into deep thought, and the other generals were also counting the days in their minds.

Only Song Xiance glanced at Niu Jinxing and saw that he was still shaking the folding fan in his hand without any sign of uneasiness. He felt a little disappointed and thought to himself, "Alas, isn't this a 'burn the boats and burn the bridges' strategy?"