Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 678 Hit the snake seven inches

In Yanqing Prefecture, in the camp of the central army in Chongshan Town.

Yang Chengye was discussing the next strategic layout with his generals.

They have temporarily completed the layout of besieging Kyoto from all sides, but the Daliang army is still guarding Kyoto and has no intention of attacking.

This didn't fit in with their plans.

According to their plan, they wanted to lure the snake out of its hole.

Being besieged from all sides means that the troops will be dispersed, giving the Daliang army the opportunity to divide and conquer and defeat them one by one.

Yang Chengye did not want to attack Kyoto, which had high walls and deep moats. He wanted to lure the Daliang army out of Kyoto, but the Daliang army had no intention of leaving Kyoto at all, which made his painstaking efforts to arrange the battle situation go to waste.

"Everyone, what do you think?"

Yang Chengye looked at everyone in the tent.

At this time, there were two veteran generals, Niu Zhuang and Yang Mingwu, as well as a group of young generals including Yang Qinhu, Liang Xiu, Song Jie, and Lu Miaoheng in the tent.

Luo Feiyu is in charge of the eastern army, and Yang Qinteng is in charge of the western army. They are not here.

Niu Zhuang looked at the map and pondered.

At this time, they were not far from Kyoto, only more than 500 miles away. If the Daliang army did not attack, they would have to take the initiative to go to Kyoto and launch a siege.

"My Lord, it's not us who should be anxious now, but the Daliang Army. We have a constant supply of food and grass, but the Daliang Army can't. Although they have occupied Kyoto now, there is not much food and grass in Kyoto City! They can't afford it at all."

Yang Chengye nodded slightly. What they were least afraid of now was a war of attrition. The longer it dragged on, the more advantageous it would be for them.

They have a year's worth of food and fodder stored up, as well as aid from the overseas Shenmu Island. Even if the war lasts for a year, they can afford it.

The situation is different with Daliang. Although Daliang now occupies several provinces, the people's livelihood in the three provinces of Longyuan has not yet recovered and they are simply unable to provide too much food and grass for Daliang, not to mention Shanhe Province and Bashu. It would be good enough if these two provinces did not let Daliang provide them with food.

"We can delay for a while, until their food and grass are running low, and until they have to leave the city to fight!" Niu Zhuang felt that this was the safest way at the moment.

Yang Chengye felt that this was too passive, but he had no better solution for the time being.

Siege?

Now he is facing not the Darong court, but the Daliang army.

The Daliang army was able to easily capture Kyoto because the morale of the troops in Kyoto was low and Wang He defected in the middle of the battle.

But if they attacked the city, they would be facing the Daliang army, which had just won a victory and whose morale was high.

Therefore, he was always reluctant to attack the city.

Just when Yang Chengye was hesitating whether to delay for a while longer, footsteps suddenly came from outside the tent.

"Greetings, old marquis!"

The personal guard on duty outside the tent bowed.

Old Marquis!
Yang Chengye was stunned for a moment, then he was overjoyed.

My good grandpa is finally willing to show up!

Before he could get up and leave the camp, the door curtain of the tent had been lifted, and Yang Zhengshan, An Yuxing, Zhou Tianci and Liang Shengze walked in one after another.

"Greetings, old marquis!"

All the generals in the tent bowed in unison.

"Grandson greets grandfather!" Yang Chengye also stood up and bowed.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly and said calmly, "No need to be polite!"

He said without hesitation, looking up at the map hanging on the screen.

After everyone stood up, he said, "Are you planning to delay it?"

Niu Zhuang replied, "Old Marquis, we are not dragging it out. We want to let Daliang consume some food and grass first to lower their morale!"

Yang Zhengshan shook his head, then walked up to the upper seat and unceremoniously drove his eldest grandson away.

At this time, the weakness of Chongshan Town was exposed, as there was no experienced and wise general.

Both Niu Zhuang and Yang Mingwu are veterans who have experienced many battles, but neither of them is a general who is good at strategy.

Yang Chengye was calm and intelligent, but his shortcomings were also obvious and he had never commanded a decent war.

They may have a sense of the overall situation and be able to analyze the battle situation clearly, but they are somewhat timid in making decisions and lack the ability to truly command a large army.

They also lack decisiveness. Perhaps it is because they have lived in peace for too long, or perhaps it is because they have not experienced a war for too long, so they are more indecisive.

They only thought about playing it safe and being careful, but they forgot the strategic idea that "the art of war is all about deception".

In fact, Yang Chengye should have brought Lin Zhan with him instead of leaving him behind to be responsible for logistics.

Lin Zhancai is the apprentice taught by Yang Zhengshan himself.

But there is no point in saying this now. Yang Zhengshan just felt that Yang Chengye was too calm, so he did not come forward to help his grandson with the command.

"Send the order!"

He gave the order without explanation.

"Yes!" No one objected and they responded immediately, waiting for orders.

"Order Zhou Lan to lead Beiyuan Town southward immediately and wipe out all enemy forces in Longyuan as soon as possible!"

"Order Yang Qinteng to lead the Western Route Army into Longnan and attack Hanzhong Prefecture directly!"

"Order Yu Tonghai to lead the Beihai Navy to the south of Runan Prefecture to prevent Chen Hengchang from heading north!"

It is right to stop sieging Kyoto, but there is no need to play a game of consumption with Daliang.

Since Daliang likes to be in Kyoto, let them stay in Kyoto, and we will go to raid Hanzhong Prefecture, their old nest.

The foundation of Daliang is not Kyoto, but Longnan.

Once Longnan is lost, Daliang will become a group of bandits without a base. "Hit the snake at its weakest point. Where is Daliang's weak spot? It's not the capital, nor the 300,000 Daliang troops in Shanhe Province, but Longnan, Hanzhong Prefecture!"

"Don't focus on attacking Kyoto, focus on attacking Hanzhong Prefecture!"

"Send an order, order Luo Feiyu to lead the Eastern Route Army to join us immediately, and then the Central Route Army will immediately march south to attack Baoding Prefecture!"

"We must turn the passive situation into the active one and block the retreat route of the Daliang Army back to Hanzhong Prefecture. Then we will occupy Baoding Prefecture and let them attack the city!"

"Of course, in order to prevent the Daliang army from not acting according to plan, we will order Jizhou to strengthen its defenses and mobilize the garrison troops from Pingyuan to Jizhou!"

Yang Zhengshan explained while giving orders.

The more they listened, the brighter their eyes became, and the brighter their expressions became when they looked at Yang Zhengshan.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan's plan was not without flaws. First, Longnan and Hanzhong Prefecture were not so easy to conquer. The 15,000 soldiers under Yang Qinteng's command might not be able to capture Hanzhong Prefecture. But it didn't matter. As long as Yang Qinteng could make a splash, Daliang would not dare to gamble and would definitely find a way to send back for support.

Second, if the Daliang army also did the opposite, ignoring Hanzhong Prefecture and instead heading for Liaodong, it would probably be difficult for Liaodong to resist Daliang's 300,000-strong army.

Yang Zhengshan had also considered this possibility. If the Daliang army really dared to do so, he could lead the central army and the eastern army in pursuit.

It is estimated that they will be able to catch up as soon as the Daliang army reaches Jizhou.

Jizhou not only has high cities, but also rivers to defend.

Perhaps Jizhou cannot withstand the attack of 300,000 Daliang troops, but it should not be difficult to delay it for half a month or twenty days.

By then, the situation of the Daliang army will become even more difficult.

The third disadvantage is Chen Hengchang in Jiangnan. If Chen Hengchang takes the opportunity to go north, Yu Tonghai will be under great pressure.

Yang Zhengshan also considered this point. The worst that could happen was to let Yu Tonghai give up Runan Prefecture and let Chen Hengchang go north.

After dealing with Daliang, I can turn around and deal with Chen Hengchang.

There are many risks in such a layout, but Chongshan Town also has a large tolerance rate.

Even Chongshan Town could abandon Kyoto and the mountains and rivers, retreat to Jizhou, and then take the opportunity to seize the three provinces of Longyuan.

Simply put, Yang Zhengshan’s target in this battle was not Kyoto and Shanhe Province, but the three provinces of Longyuan.

Once Chongshan Town occupies the three provinces of Longyuan, the three provinces of Liaodong, Liaoxi and Longyuan will be connected. Then, Longbei Town and Suzhou Town can be taken, and plus Shuzhou, the Yang family will occupy half of Dayong.

As for Shanhe Province and Kyoto, if all else fails, just leave them to Daliang and Chen Hengchang and let them fight for them.

Naturally, there was no disobedience in Chongshan Town regarding Yang Zhengshan's orders.

As the orders were conveyed one by one, the Yang family's armies immediately took action.

Zhou Lan led 30,000 Beiyuan troops and immediately marched south to capture the southern part of Longyuan Province.

Yang Qinteng led a battalion of 15,000 reinforcements to support Zhou Lan's Beiyuan Army while marching towards Longnan.

Yu Tonghai led 15,000 soldiers of the Beihai Navy to abandon Jinhaiwei and march towards Runan.

After the Eastern Army led by Luo Feiyu joined forces with the Central Army, they immediately headed south to Baoding Prefecture.

Baoding Prefecture was on the grain route of the Daliang army, and Daliang deployed 8,000 soldiers to guard the city. However, facing the aggressive army of Chongshan Town, the defenders in Baoding Prefecture were defeated after only three days.

A series of military maneuvers in Chongshan Town confused the Daliang army in Kyoto.

At first, they wanted to leave Kyoto to block Chongshan Town, but later they found that Chongshan Town was under siege by four armies. They then thought of guarding Kyoto and waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out, and then defending the city.

So they were waiting in Kyoto for Chongshan's army to arrive, but they didn't expect that Chongshan's army would be mobilized again and again, and the situation of being besieged from all sides became inexplicable.

Not to mention Emperor Tianwu, even Zhang Luan was a little confused and couldn't see clearly what the Chongshan Town army wanted to do.

It was not until Chongshan Town arrived in Baoding Prefecture that Zhang Luan figured out Yang Zhengshan's idea.

The atmosphere in the magnificent Tai Chi Hall was particularly heavy.

Emperor Tianwu sat on the dragon throne, looking solemnly at the civil and military officials under his command.

"What should we do next? Do you have any rules?"

A group of civil and military officials frowned in thought, unable to make up their minds for a moment.

"Senior Zhang!" Emperor Tianwu could only turn his gaze to Zhang Luan.

Zhang Luan stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, for now, we can only abandon Kyoto and retreat back to Hanzhong Prefecture!"

"What!" Emperor Tianwu could no longer hold his temper and stood up in an instant.

Others were also discussing the matter. Some thought Zhang Luan was right, while others thought he was talking nonsense.

They had finally captured Kyoto. This battle cost them a huge amount of money and food and sacrificed tens of thousands of soldiers. Now they were asked to give up Kyoto. How could they bear to do that?

Zhang Luan took a deep breath and asked, "Your Majesty, which is more important, the capital or Hanzhong Prefecture?"

Emperor Tianwu's expression changed again and again, "Can't we have both?"

"No, if we want both, we may lose both in the end! And we will definitely lose Hanzhong Prefecture first. Not only Hanzhong Prefecture, but also the three provinces of Longyuan!"

At this time, Zhang Luan saw things very clearly. He saw through Yang Zhengshan's plan, but it was too late.

There are only two paths before them now. One is to defend Kyoto and give up Hanzhong Prefecture. The second is to lead the troops back. Now Baoding Prefecture will fight a big battle with Chongshan Army. If they win, they can go back to defend Hanzhong Prefecture. If they lose, everything will become vain.

Emperor Tianwu frowned and pondered for a while before he slowly said, "Return to Hanzhong Prefecture!"

He had no other choice. Perhaps strategically he had many choices, but don't forget that he still had a wife and children, who were in Hanzhong Prefecture.

In this way, the Daliang army withdrew from Kyoto, but when they evacuated Kyoto, they looted the entire city of Kyoto for a while.

Kyoto, once the most prosperous city in Daiei, has now become the city with the most disasters.

First, many powerful officials fled, then the city was breached by the Daliang army, and now it is being plundered by the Daliang army again.

Fortunately, the Daliang army only looted property and did not kill people in Kyoto.

(End of this chapter)