The Prodigal Son

After eating the noodles cooked by his granddaughter-in-law, Qin Fumeng immediately went into work mode.

In the room, Qin Fumeng, Xue Chengdao, Dong Liu, and Qin Yu sat together.

A pot of tea, a plate of dried meat.

"According to preliminary intelligence, there are 20,000 troops stationed in Zhu County, 30,000 in Changping, and about 20,000 troops in Wangzhou Prefecture where Zong Laogou is stationed! In addition, there are 20,000 troops in Panshi Fortress, which is located between Zhu County, Changping and Wangzhou Prefecture."

"What I mean is, we should deliberately create friction in Changping to lure the enemy troops at Panshibao to reinforce Changping!"

"All our cavalry will be concentrated at Panyang. We will seize the opportunity to launch a swift surprise attack. Our goal is not to annihilate the enemy, but simply to quickly capture the sparsely defended Panshi Fortress and actively walk into the enemy's encirclement! This will also be like driving a thorn into the enemy's heart!"

"If the enemy besieges Rock Fortress, our two armies will immediately advance head-on, joining forces with the troops at Rock Fortress to counter-encircle the enemy! At the same time, we will cut off their supply lines!"

"If the enemy doesn't move, then all the troops in Panyang will be deployed, and the cavalry from Panshi Fort will also send some troops to attack the enemy forces in Zhuan County from both sides, forcing Zong Laogou to send troops from Wangzhou Prefecture to rescue his precious son!"

"Once the troops in Wangzhou Prefecture are weakened, the forces from Panshi Fort will immediately launch a surprise attack on Wangzhou Prefecture."

"Once we capture Wangzhou Prefecture, our troops fighting on the front lines can quickly disengage and engage the enemy in a stalemate. Once the enemy runs out of supplies, they will be ours for the taking..."

Qin Fumeng was the first to express his thoughts.

He prefers fast breaks!

Before the enemy can react, launch a swift attack and remove Rock Fortress as a thorn in their side.

Once they take down Rock Fortress, the initiative will be completely in their hands.

Zong Bi sent troops from Wangzhou Prefecture to provide relief, but Wangzhou Prefecture might fall.

If he doesn't provide aid, the tens of thousands of troops in Zhu County and Changping will just be waiting to die!

"Your idea isn't wrong, but it's too risky!"

Xue Chengdao said in a deep voice, "If we concentrate all our cavalry, breaking through the defenses of each prefecture will not be difficult at all!"

"But Rock Fortress took almost thirteen years to build, and its terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even if someone manages to break in, they may not be able to take Rock Fortress quickly!"

"If we can't quickly capture Rock Fortress and receive no supplies, these tens of thousands of cavalry will be put on the defensive..."

Qin Fumeng's strategy is definitely sound.

However, his strategy was based on quickly capturing Rockhold.

If you want to rush in quickly, you definitely can't carry too many supplies; at most, you can only carry a day or two's worth of dry rations and beans.

With 20,000 cavalrymen plus more than 20,000 troops from the Wudang Flying Army, the total number of men was nearly 45,000.

Ninety thousand warhorses!

Without supplies, plundering alone is simply not enough to keep such a large force well-supplied.

Moreover, these tens of thousands of cavalrymen were the core force for their subsequent rapid raid!

If we suffer heavy losses even in attacking Rock Fortress, we will be at a disadvantage in the subsequent battles.

If Bei Qi comes to their mouths to snatch food, what will they use to fight back?

"If we put Ning Huang and Zhao Po in the cavalry, taking Panshi Fort shouldn't be too difficult! Alternatively, we can send 10,000 cavalry through Du County to launch a surprise attack on Pengzhao, which is undefended, and cut off Zong Laogou's supply line to Changping!"

"You want to force Zongbi to support Zhu County, wipe out their support troops, and then launch a surprise attack on Wangzhou?"

"That's right! Zong Zhao is Zong Laogou's son. His route to support Changping has been blocked by us. Both officially and privately, he can only support Zhu County!"

"What if Zong Bi chooses to wait and see? You know that this old tortoise's defensive skills are no less than Qian Zhui's."

"If he doesn't move, we'll seize it, we'll besiege every prefecture! I want to see how long he can remain a turtle!"

The two continued their discussion.

There was no map or sand table in front of them.

They already knew the map of Wangzhou by heart.

The two discussed it for a while, but still couldn't reach a consensus.

Finally, Xue Chengdao's gaze fell on Qin Yu and Dong Liu. "You two are both skilled attackers, won't you share your opinions?"

Dong Liu narrowed his eyes: "Since we're going to take a risk anyway, instead of attacking Panshi Fortress, why not take two days' worth of dry rations and beans and head straight for Wangzhou Prefecture! Capture the leader first!"

Qin Yu was stunned by Dong Liu's words.

Depend on!

This person's ideas are even more radical!

"You're a lunatic too!"

Xue Chengdao smiled helplessly and asked Qin Yu, "What about you? Don't tell me you didn't have any ideas before."

"My thinking is very simple."

Qin Yu smiled and said, "After we launch a surprise attack on Zhu County and occupy it, we will drive all the people of Zhu County and the surrounding area towards Wangzhou Prefecture and Panshi Fort! If the enemy tries to stop us, we will fight them; if they don't, we will continue our advance..."

Consuming food!

As soon as Qin Yu spoke, the three of them instantly understood his intention.

"The idea is fine, but it's a bit slow."

Qin Fumeng said solemnly, "Our goal is to occupy Wangzhou as quickly as possible, and ideally, Shangxing County in Luzhou. If the enemy fails to quickly assemble defensive forces, we will continue our attack! If they do assemble a large army to defend, we will confront and wear them down! We can attack or defend as needed!"

"I tend to favor Qin Yu's strategy."

Xue Chengdao stroked his long beard and said with a smile, "Don't forget, it's Wang Sengyuan who's guarding Changping!"

"Although this man is a general who is often defeated, he is exceptionally bold. Once we lose one prefecture after another, he will not stand idly by and watch his army collapse without a fight after running out of supplies. He will likely launch a counterattack against us!"

"If he dares to counterattack, we'll be ready to trap him!"

"If he doesn't counterattack, he'll either have to wait to die, or he'll have to abandon Changping and retreat with his troops to Pengzhao, forming a unified defensive line with Panshibao and Wangzhou Prefecture..."

However, as long as Wang Sengyuan led his troops to retreat to Pengzhao, it would give them another group of men the opportunity to pursue them.

At this point, the enemy forces at Panshi Fortress will face a difficult choice.

If they support and assist Wang Sengyuan, then Panshi Fort will be attacked by the troops that have captured the county and will likely fall.

If they hold their ground at Panshi Fortress, Wang Sengyuan's forces may be wiped out!

As long as their other army defeats Wang Sengyuan's forces, they can immediately occupy Pengzhao.

In this way, the enemy forces at Panshi Fortress were trapped and became isolated.

Therefore, no matter what choice Wang Sengyuan makes, the initiative is in their hands.

If we follow Qin Yu's strategy, progress may be slower, but it will be more reliable.

In fact, in his view, this battle was not that complicated.

If he were Zong Bi, given the current situation in Yan, if any of the counties or Changping County were to fall, he would immediately abandon Wangzhou and order all troops to retreat to Shangxing County to block Daning from advancing further.

If Zong Bi insists on holding onto Wangzhou, he will only end up fighting a piecemeal war, wasting his troops in vain.

The wisest choice is to consolidate our forces, intercept them at Shangying, and confront them.

Just like how Da Ning previously abandoned Shuozhou!

Giving up doesn't mean failure!

Stabilizing the situation and preventing it from deteriorating further is the most important thing!

However, it won't be so easy for Zong Bi to shrink his power!

After all, their tens of thousands of cavalrymen were no pushovers!

Contracting forces can only reduce losses, not prevent them!

Just like the battle of Da Ning in Shuozhou...