The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

What can Su Jin do? If [-] Xixia troops attack Weizhou, even if the city wall is raised and widened by two feet, it will not help, and it will eventually fail.

Seeing the gloating looks of Han and Fan, Su Jin suddenly smiled: "I can't help it. If the Xixia army really comes towards Weizhou, I have only one way to go."

Han Qi said, "Which way?"

Su Jin said: "Abandon the city and go."

Everyone rolled their eyes and ran away before the battle was fought. What kind of method is this?

"The emperor just issued an order to reward you, and you abandoned the city and fled. Isn't this slapping the emperor? Besides, you are the magistrate of Weizhou, and now you are the acting envoy of Jingyuan Road. If you dare to abandon the city and flee, no one will save you." Without you, I will definitely be punished by military law." Han Qi said angrily.

Su Jin said with a sad face: "That's no way, it's better for me to die alone than for the Xixia army to slaughter more than [-] soldiers and civilians in the city. Originally, I wanted to tie myself up and send it to Yuan Hao to kill, but I was afraid that even if I died Even if it is done, it will still be a stigma of defecting to the enemy, so I can only choose to retreat."

Han Qi scolded: "What are you talking about? The emperor expects a lot from you, and this is how you serve the court?"

Su Jin shrugged his shoulders and said there was nothing he could do, Han Qi's beard was blown high and he was about to reprimand him, Fan Zhongyan suddenly laughed.

Han Qi said angrily: "Brother Xiwen, if you don't say a word, Mr. Su is too outrageous, thanks to you, you are still happy."

Fan Zhongyan's dark and thin face was wrinkled into orange peel, and he said with a smile: "Han Shuai was deceived by him, so he won't abandon the city and run away."

Han Qi was surprised: "How did you see it? Didn't he say it himself?"

Fan Zhongyan smiled and said: "You and I accompanied Eunuch Huang to this city, don't you remember what you heard and saw? The people in the city are busy, the wood and stones in the city are piled up like mountains, and the urn city is still being built outside the north gate of the city. Could it be that he wants to hand over the city? Han Shuai lied to him."

Suddenly, Han Qi turned to Su Jin and said displeasedly: "Master Su seems to have played me, Han Qi, like a monkey. I want to inform Lord Sansi about this and ask him to comment. I want to ask Mr. Yan Shu. The elders are disrespectful, isn't that what he taught?"

Su Jin hurriedly got up to salute, and said with a smile: "Don't blame Shuai Han, but you can't blame me. The two teased me that Su Jin was the first. I'm just learning and selling now."

Fan Zhongyan laughed loudly and said, "When am I going to tease you?"

Su Jindao: "Since the two adults came to Weizhou to talk to me about this matter, how could there be no way to save them, but they came to ask me what to do? Isn't this just a joke?"

Fan Zhongyan said: "You have a good plan. Could it be that the old man and Han Shuai have a plan to defeat the enemy when they come here? Don't dream."

Su Jin was stunned and said: "Don't you two adults send troops to help me defend the city?"

Fan Zhongyan said: "All of this is speculation. Although the capture of Jianxi has inquired about your position and revealed the western thief's marching plan, but the western thief is cunning and treacherous. The army of Qinglu came to Weizhou, what if the western thieves suddenly attacked Yanzhou and Qingzhou? The cavalry of the western thieves was fast and flexible, and they could pretend to attack Weizhou. In a few days, the soldiers can come to the city of Qingzhou, and it will take four or five days for my infantry to return to the rescue, and they will be lost when they return to Qingzhou."

Su Jin didn't feel that Fan Zhongyan was joking at all. In fact, the battlefield is ever-changing. The two armies will go to great lengths to win the battle. Su Jin is a person who has read the Three Kingdoms. The IQ is not inferior to the people of later generations, especially in the military.

"Han Shuai can help you, but there are only more than [-] troops on Qinfeng Road, and it is impossible to go out in full force. The six or seven cities under his jurisdiction must be guarded by soldiers. I estimate that Han Shuai can support you with about [-] soldiers at most. , Han Shuai, what do you say?"

Han Qi nodded and said, "I've done some calculations, and I can probably dispatch about [-] people, and nothing more will do."

Su Jin scratched his head and said: "5000 people plus [-] people in the city are only [-] people, and since the western thieves attacked Jingyuan, they are very likely to attack Weizhou and Jingzhou and Yuanzhou at the same time, even if they don't If I divide my troops to attack other state capitals, I will definitely not dare to send troops to help, if the western bandits besiege the city to fight for reinforcements, and my infantry will intercept them on the way, and there is no danger to defend, then I dare not think about the consequences."

Fan Zhongyan said solemnly: "It's good that you understand. It seems that you have some understanding of the Western Thief's combat methods. Now the Western Thieves hope that we will face the enemy head-on with them, and the old man emphasizes that the strategy of sticking to the counterattack is to use our own power to fight back." The advantage of defeating the enemy is that once you start fighting, unless you are absolutely sure, I don’t recommend going out of the city for field battles or long-distance assistance; even if you can detect the enemy’s movements in advance, it will not work, because the speed of the thief’s action is several times faster than ours. , Once you are bitten, you may suffer a big loss, so you have to be more careful about the allocation of troops on Jingyuan Road to Gezhou Prefecture."

Su Jin thought for a while and suddenly shouted: "Come here, take the sand table."

Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi didn't even know what a sand table was, but they saw two Ma Jun's personal guards walking in carrying a table-sized wooden table, covered with a red cloth, and placed it on the table.

Su Jin stretched out his hand to uncover the red cloth, but saw that the wooden plate was densely covered with high and low sand dunes, which looked like a map.

Su Jin explained: "My lords, this is a topographic map of Jingyuan Road that I collected from dozens of local hunters and medicine farmers in the city. The red flag is my Jingyuan Road state garrison. The blue one is The flag is the location of the Western Bandit Army reported by the scouts, the white note is the river, the high place is the mountain, and the location is the plain, so it can be seen at a glance."

Fan Zhongyan raised his big finger and praised: "Not bad, a good way, thank you for thinking of it."

Han Qi also nodded again and again, staring at the sand table and wandering back and forth: "This is indeed a good way, it is more clear than the map, the old man will also ask someone to make a Qinfeng Road terrain sand table."

Su Jin didn't know that there was no such thing as a sand table in this era. He was map-blind and couldn't tell the difference between east, west, and north when looking at a map. That's why he made a sand table based on scenes from later war movies, but it became a personal patent unintentionally.

"My lords, look at the topography of Jingyuan. The west of Longshan Mountain is surrounded by Chongshan Mountains, and Liupanshan Mountain is continuous and steep. Therefore, Lanzhou, Hezhou and other counties in the south of Shanshan should not be in danger of being attacked. To the east is Weizhou, Jingzhou and Yuanzhou are arranged in the shape of a character, among which Yuanzhou seems to be the northernmost and seems to bear the brunt, but I think the western thieves will never attack Yuanzhou."

Fan Zhongyan said: "How can you see it?"

Su Jindao: "Wuanzhou is the closest to the two prefectures of Huanqing where Fan Shuai is stationed, even a little closer than Weizhou, and the rescue is the most convenient. The enemy's attack on Yuanzhou is tantamount to directly attacking Fan Shuai's Huanqing Road. Fan Shuai is the last thing they want to do to terrorize the enemy. Of course, this is just speculation, but if Fan Shuai makes some adjustments, he only needs to pretend to mobilize a small number of Yanzhou soldiers and horses to station in Gyeongju City. I will stay away from Yuanzhou, and I am determined not to attack Yuanzhou."

Han Qi nodded and said, "That's right. This trick is called sharpening the knife on the side of the pigsty. It's no wonder that pigs aren't afraid."

Fan Zhongyan said: "Then what good will this do for you? After abandoning Yuanzhou, the first target to attack is Weizhou. Jingzhou is on the side of Weizhou and Yuanzhou, separated by the Jing River. They will definitely not seek far away The one who attacked Jingzhou."

Su Jin nodded and said: "What Fan Shuai said is that I just want to simplify the complicated situation. At present, we can't determine the direction of the enemy's attack. This is the biggest problem. I want to force the western thieves to have no other targets. Let them only come to attack Weizhou City, so that the situation can be clarified, and the other state capitals don't need me to worry about how to help defend, just take care of themselves, and I can wholeheartedly deploy defenses and fight; Although the thieves have the ability to maneuver, unless they don't come, they can only come to Weizhou."

Fan Zhongyan clapped his hands lightly and said, "That's right, this idea is very good, it can indeed clarify the situation."

Han Qi frowned and said, "But in that case, wouldn't the army of [-] be forced to attack Weizhou? Can Weizhou stop it?"

Su Jin said: "If you can't stop it, you have to stop it. No matter where the [-] army is attacking, who can be sure to stop it? Originally, I hoped that Master Fan would lead the troops to help, but what Master Fan said makes sense. The bandits make a plan to attack the west with a false voice, and that will be a big deal; therefore, the soldiers and horses on Yanyan Road and Huanqing Road cannot move, and they can only rely on the [-] soldiers and horses supported by Han Shuai and the [-] soldiers and horses from Weizhou City. withstand."

Han Qi shook his head and said, "If Weizhou falls, wouldn't the situation be bad?"

Su Jindao: "It's not so easy to lose. Weizhou City has the strongest defense among the frontier cities. With the strong city to defend and fight to the death, even if the city is lost, what percentage of the [-] Western Thieves' army will be left? Once the enemy If you become a remnant soldier, won’t Lord Fan come to clean up the mess? As long as the fight starts, Lord Fan can send troops to help. At that time, the main force of the enemy army will appear, and the two roads around Qingqing and Yanyan will not be attacked by the enemy. Could it be that Lord Fan will stand still ?”

Fan Zhongyan looked at Su Jin worriedly and said: "But my old man's reinforcements must have arrived very late. When the enemy's strength is greater than mine, I will not take the risk of encountering them in the wild; moreover, I can only detour from the south to come to support. You can't bear it."