Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 347 A battle of wits and courage
The importance of having a legitimate reason for a war is self-evident. That's why when Xiao Yizi took out the Bible as the deed, a group of Southeast Asian countries slammed the table and shouted bullshit at him. After all, once this thing is passed, Rome next door will have been dead for many years, but the big guy over there is still alive.

So if Xia Lin wants to make him Duke Dingguo, he cannot just do that. He must have a legitimate reason, and he must convince the people and make them feel that it is natural to make him Duke Dingguo.

There are three paths in front of Xia Lin now. The simplest one is to wait for a defensive counterattack. After the pirates attack him, he will attack the Duke's base in the name of tracking down the pirates' followers.

This method is simple and efficient, but the problem is that it is not reliable and can be easily exposed. After all, this is still the sphere of influence of others. Xia Lin still understands the principle that a powerful dragon cannot defeat a local snake. So although this method is simple, the tolerance rate is too low. If someone finds someone to point out that Xia Lin is framing Duke Dingguo in the name of suppressing bandits, then he has no reason to do so.

The second path is relatively complicated. Although it is also after the pirates invade, find evidence of Duke Dingguo's instigation, and then encircle and suppress them. The advantage of this is that no matter what, there is a legitimate reason, but the disadvantage is that after the evidence is conclusive, they cannot arbitrarily deal with Duke Dingguo, because he is a military hero and represents the face of the Wei Dynasty. The Military Hero Group will not allow a new noble like Xia Lin to offend their majesty. Even if Duke Dingguo has made a big mistake, they have to judge him.

This plan won't work. Xia Lin is now like a StarCraft player who has stockpiled an aircraft carrier with 200 people. If he can't attack all the way, he feels that the game is played in vain.

The third path is the most complicated, but also the most certain. No matter whether the pirates come or not three days later, Duke Dingguo will be directly charged with the crime of treason, and he will be executed first and investigated later. Anyway, there will be no false or wrongful convictions on the Duke Dingguo's side.

But there are many issues involved here. First of all, according to the report from the scouts, there are six camps under the command of Duke Dingguo, with a total of about 50,000 people. He brought about 2,000 people with him. A direct attack could indeed crush the Duke Dingguo's plan, but the problem is that he doesn't need to die with honor, right?

So there is a problem of deployment and planning here. The naval guns are out of reach, and the number of soldiers cannot keep up. It is not known whether one can win or not, but the losses will definitely not be small. Moreover, once one loses, one will become the one who rebelled, and he will be the one who will be killed first and investigated later.

Therefore, the most critical issue was how to make Duke Dingguo expose himself and stay away from the six camps.

Xia Lin sat in his tent and thought carefully. How could one allow others to snore on the couch? He knew that Duke Dingguo must understand this as well, so the people in the court actually understood it as well. When the imperial edict came down, it meant that one of these two people would die.

"No, don't be impatient." Xia Lin turned his head and called out, "Chunliang, come in for a moment."

Deputy General Jiang came hurriedly: "General, what do you want me to do?"

"Come here."

Xia Lin asked Deputy General Jiang to come to him and whispered, "Go back to Fuliang immediately, mobilize 20,000 soldiers, and transport 20 cannons. Be careful and don't let any news leak out."

"Order!"

"be quick!"

Xia Lin knew that he was a numerical freak. The meaning of a numerical freak was to achieve numerical crushing and minimize casualties. Duke Dingguo had about 50,000 people, so it shouldn't be a problem for him to use 20,000 people plus cannons.

Here we have the Tiger Crouching Cannon of the Shenji Camp. Although we know that epoch-making weapons can inflict epoch-making damage, this is the first time for the young lady to get married. We can't just test the lives of the soldiers we have trained with great effort, right? Although the role of soldiers on the battlefield is to be the cards in the commander's hand, they are also living lives.

Next, Xia Lin just waited. He did nothing, as if he knew nothing and cared nothing. He gave people the feeling that he was young, frivolous and arrogant.

He was waiting for the two thousand "water bandits" to come, and also waiting for the reinforcements from Fuliang. Duke Dingguo would not relax his vigilance, and every move in the camp was watched these days, including the reclamation of the surrounding area, daily military training, etc. All matters were reported to Duke Dingguo in detail.

"Duke, there are only about 2,000 real soldiers in that young boy's camp, and the majority are craftsmen and merchants. I think he has been planning to occupy our place for a long time."

The staff bowed and reported to the Duke about the current situation on Xia Lin's side.

"What has he been doing these days?"

"Nothing. Most of the time, we are just reclaiming land and building houses for those poor guys. It's just routine training in the morning and evening."

Duke Dingguo sneered after hearing this: "Ah, I wonder what ability this world-famous Xia Daosheng has. It seems that he is just a guy who rose to fame by relying on the likes of Guo Da and King Teng."

"In my opinion, that is indeed the case. What should the Duke order now?"

"Let him relax for a few days. When the other side is ready, I will let him see the real viciousness of the pirates."

In terms of strategic determination, both of them were holding back their moves and waiting for the CD, but in comparison, Xia Lin's scout skills were more comprehensive, and he received relatively more information. With the relentless pursuit of these spies deep behind enemy lines, the two thousand soldiers from the Duke's Mansion that disappeared overnight had gradually revealed their tracks.

Two thousand people is not a small number, and their movements are not difficult to track, so Xia Lin's spies quickly discovered clues from the daily changes in various commodities in the market, and then followed the clues to find the place where this group of people were quietly stationed.

Now that they have their location, their movements become easier to figure out. The spies keep a close eye on these people every day. To put it in an exaggerated way, even when these people poop or fart can be recorded.

Both sides are holding back this energy, and it just depends on who can't hold it back first. The one who can't hold it back first will become the turtle in the jar.

Of course, Xia Lin must have determination, because he still has a lot to do. He is now writing one memorial a day. The first one is saying that the name Zhenhai is not good. Zhenhai Zhenhai, how can the sea contain hundreds of rivers? Children all know that the name should not be too big, it is unlucky. Isn't Zhenhai for Ningbo? Just change it to Ningbo.

The second memorial said that this place was good, a natural salt field, and he wanted to build a salt-drying site here, but the problem was that he was in charge of military power and had no administrative power. He wanted to ask the court to send a county magistrate here. This place was vast and there was a large uninhabited island in the east. It was indeed an excellent place if it was well developed.

The third memorial was about how the weather has been getting warmer and colder recently. How is your Majesty? How is the Crown Prince? How is the Prince of Teng? How is your godfather? How is Prime Minister Gao? How is Prime Minister Zeng?

The fourth memorial was written to inquire about the results of this year's spring examination, and then complained to the Crown Prince that he, a northern man, was not used to the climate and soil here by the sea, and that he had diarrhea yesterday and felt a little unwell today, etc.

The density of these letters and memorials is really very high. Although they are full of boring content about family matters, the problem is that people don't know about it.

On the Duke Dingguo side, he saw something different. He only knew that in the small Zhenhai County, one letter was sent out every day, eight hundred miles away. Who wouldn't be nervous when seeing this? Eight hundred miles away, each letter cost hundreds of taels of silver. He couldn't be writing a letter home, right?

This made Duke Dingguo extremely panicked. When Xia Lin wrote the fifth letter, he could no longer sit still.

That night, he summoned several of his secret agents to his residence. As soon as they sat in the small dark room, he said, "There is no time to delay. We need to cut the Gordian knot quickly, otherwise there will be more trouble. Tomorrow morning, you will support Yang Dexi in attacking Zhenhai. Go to the camp and prepare without delay."

"Sir, are you rushing into this? I heard that they are all new soldiers who have defeated the enemy. It may be risky to act rashly."

"It has come to this point. No matter how risky it is, if we don't take action now, with this guy's scheming, all our efforts will be in vain."

"Since the Lord has said so, we will serve you till our death!"

"Everyone, may your military fortune flourish!"

A drizzle of rain had begun to fall at the seaside in early spring. Xia Lin stood among the fields and was thankful that he had finally finished sowing the new land before the spring rain.

Looking at the flat fields and the joy of the surrounding people from afar, he actually knew that what was planted in these fields was not just food, but more importantly, the hope for these people to survive.

"General."

A lieutenant came quickly to Xia Lin and said, "General, I have something to report."

Xia Lin looked back at him, then walked into the big tent with his hands behind his back, humming a song.

After entering the big tent, the lieutenant bowed and said, "Sir, the spies reported that the pirates have moved this morning and are expected to arrive at our place around noon tomorrow."

"how many people?"

"There are actually 2,639 people, with 50 pack horses, 32 ox carts, and a certain amount of food, fodder and weapons."

After listening to this, Xia Lin nodded and said, "I understand. Go down and inform them that it is raining today, so the training is suspended. We will put on our armor and wait for training tomorrow."

"Order!"

Wearing armor and training is their actual combat code. Once this code is given, the camp today is like celebrating the New Year. They slaughter pigs and sheep, drink and sing, and they are very happy. This is also their unwritten rule. Before the war, there will be such a thing. The wine cup will be raised and put down, and the song will be sung loudly. This is the "see you in the cemetery" of this era.

More than two thousand "water bandits" attacked again. Today, except for the sentinels, everyone else had a good sleep. And on the next morning, in the early spring morning with drizzling rain and thin fog, the camp was filled with a solemn atmosphere. Not a single snoring could be heard. It was clearly not yet daylight, but looking around, one could see figures in armor and carrying swords on the parade ground, looking very majestic.

"This is your first major battle since you joined the army. Today, there are no light armor and no flanks. We are all focusing on the main attack. If for no other reason, you will meet the enemy fifteen miles away. Show your might and momentum, and let people know that the new Po Lu army is invincible!"

Xia Lin stood on the stage with the imperial sword on his waist, and the silver armor of Tiger on his chest sparkled in the dim light of morning.

At this moment, the lieutenant general stepped forward quickly and said, "Prepare for battle!"

All the soldiers began to adjust their armor, weapons and their own conditions, and Xia Lin was very satisfied when he saw these fully equipped and high-spirited wolf soldiers.

He nodded and said, "I'll prepare some celebratory wine for you all to return."

"Form a line! Move out!"

At the command, the sound of uniform movement was heard from the training ground, and the soldiers turned around in unison and trotted out of the camp in marching formation.

The sound of two thousand people's footsteps was like the explosion of spring thunder, with extraordinary momentum.

There are no flanks, only main attacks. If you want to fight, you must show your might and momentum. Hiding your weakness may be a tactic, but showing your sword is always a spirit.

If we lose this spirit, we won't be able to fight more difficult battles in the future.

Two thousand strong men split into two groups when they reached a fork in the road ahead, forming a pincer attack from two directions and heading towards their destination.

At this moment, looking at the "pirate" army again, they are moving forward sparsely, and from a distance they look like the six major sects besieging Guangmingding. These people have dull eyes and are hungry. Although many of them can barely be considered veterans of a hundred battles, veterans who can fight in a hundred battles probably know what they are made of.

According to the intelligence they received, what they were facing today were a group of young soldiers who had never been to the battlefield. They lived a life of luxury and would scream in fear at the sight of blood.

The loss of more than 200 people last time was due to an overestimation of the enemy's capabilities, but this time they have more than 2,000 people, and most of them are private soldiers of the nobles. They are not comparable to those guerrillas formed by bandits from all over the place. These are real people who eat military rations.

But the morale was really low, because in order to further expand the armaments, Duke Dingguo had been frugal in every place in the past two years, and even cut military pay by 40%. The usual meals were also cut a lot. Although it was better than starving to death while farming, it was impossible to boost morale.

Therefore, their progress was about an hour slower than expected, and coupled with this damn rainy day, they were probably an hour behind the actual time.

On the other hand, the new troops were given half a pound of meat each when they set out, and they slept soundly last night. On normal days, they would run ten miles for warm-up and twenty miles for snacks, but today they only ran fifteen miles, and it took them less than half an hour to complete the whole journey.

The two groups of new troops dispersed and hid according to the terrain, and set up an ambush in advance at this only passage.

The rain dripped down their armor. The temperature was not very high, but they were all strong men, so this little cold was no big deal for them.

"I heard there will be two to three thousand people this time. How many heads do you plan to take?"

"I won't give you more or less. Ten will be enough."

“Hahahaha, but you really know how to brag.”

At this moment, the team leader next to him came over and slapped him on the head: "Are you looking for death? Shut up!"

Although there were two thousand people hiding and ambushing in this forest, it was completely silent. The only sounds between heaven and earth were the rumbling thunder and the continuous spring rain.

By almost three quarters after noon, the first wave of pirates had already entered the encirclement. However, this group of new soldiers who had practiced siege tactics many times were not in a hurry at all. They wanted to play the long game to catch the big fish.

Their method of warfare was the tactic of division. When the enemy's main force came over, the vanguard would rush out to intercept them, and then two more teams would attack to cut off the head and tail, and finally the remaining soldiers would charge forward, making it impossible for the enemy to be connected to the front and tail, and for orders to be issued, and they would be overwhelmed. With the huge disparity in morale between the two sides, this kind of assault could defeat even a force of 30,000 to 50,000 people by a charge of a few thousand.

If there are cavalry, the effect can be super doubled.

Time passed bit by bit, the rain was getting heavier and heavier, the misty rain turned the mountains in the south into a natural landscape painting, but the rough men present had no time to be sentimental, all they thought about was killing, killing, killing, and their eyes were only on the fast-moving military exploits.

Just after the enemy was completely surrounded, the leading general suddenly jumped up, the flag bearer unfurled the flag, the horn sounded instantly, and the whole world was surrounded by shouts of killing in an instant.

No flanks, all main attack!
The murderous aura was boiling, and the all-armored soldiers made the pirates who were holding long swords or even long sticks at a loss for a moment. Not to mention fighting, they even had no direction to escape.

But by the time they reacted, the new army had already surrounded them, leaving them no chance to escape.

The Mo Dao was a heavy weapon, and the blade weighed thirty-seven pounds. With one strike, not to mention a person, even a horseman could be cut in half.

The broadsword is heavy and flexible. In the battle formation, three or two people with rattan shield and broadsword form a sword formation. When fighting with those pirates who have no rules, the opponent will be hit by eight swords before their shield will be hit once.

The shield-armored heavy infantry are the invincible iron turtles on the battlefield. A fifty-seven-pound shield combined with the weight of the shield-armored soldier can create a road of life and death with a bull-like charge. Not only do they clear the way for their companions, but if they are hit head-on by this thing, they will be crippled if not killed. Ordinary weapons cannot break through their armor. There is no need to mention the morale gap and physique gap here, just the equipment gap alone is enough to make people laugh and cry.

At this moment, some of the pirates reacted and wanted to turn back and run away, but there were green mountains on both sides, and there was only this one valley, so they were surrounded on all sides and could not escape at all.

At this moment, they could not get any help from heaven or earth. They could only watch their people being treated like wild boars and rabbits in the mountains and killed crazily.

There were also warriors among them, who could fight with the heavily armored infantry for a few moves, but their swords and knives could not change anything except a white mark and crackling sparks. And if the sword came down, if it was a Mo Dao, it would be impossible to defend against it, and the weapon and the person would be torn apart. If it was a Pu Dao, it would either cut off the hand or the head, leaving no chance of survival.

"Brothers! Put down the rebellion!"

Suddenly someone in the new army shouted this, and at the same time they seemed to have deliberately left a gap. A dozen people took advantage of the chaos and rushed out from the gap, then ran away for their lives without looking back.

The soldiers behind were not in a hurry to chase, they just shouted a few times and then did not go deeper. At this time, only one in ten pirates who could fight on the battlefield remained, and most of them were injured and weak.

"The general has ordered that no one should be left alive." The young general raised his hand and said, "Kill!"

After two days of preparation and more than three hours of waiting, the actual fighting was as easy as chopping melons and vegetables. All the enemies were killed in less than half an hour. The stream in the valley had been dyed red, and corpses were lying on the ground. There was no one left alive.

The most seriously injured among the new soldiers was the one who fell down because the ground was too slippery and the shield soldier accidentally stepped on his left hand and broke it...

"You are such a loser."

"Go get stepped on by the shield warriors!"

"You're still stubborn, and you're the only one who's hurt."

"Isn't Lao Ba also injured?"

At this moment, Lao Ba was being carried downstairs. He was injured because he twisted his waist when he used too much force when chopping. It was not serious, but he could not escape this embarrassing trip.

"Come and take stock of the battlefield, and the rest of you return to the camp in triumph! The general has prepared some fried meatballs for everyone!"

(End of this chapter)