"How to capture Shouchun City?" After returning from a personal visit to the city, this question has been lingering in Tao Ying's mind. In Tao Ying's view, given the city's defense situation in Shouchun, if the Xuzhou army attacked at all costs and cooperated with others, it would surpass the times.

It was only a matter of time before the counterweighted Xiangyang cannon defeated Shouchun City. However, the casualties would definitely be a pain that the Xuzhou army could not bear. It would be extremely detrimental to the Xuzhou army's subsequent campaign to capture the entire territory of Huainan, so Tao Ying did not consider it from the beginning.

After a frontal attack, they made up their mind to outsmart Shouchun City and capture Shouchun, the most important town in Huainan, at the minimum cost.

Outsmarting Shouchun is easier said than done. The first point is that the prerequisites for using tactics are extremely insufficient. Since Shouchun City does not have a capable internal response from the Xuzhou army and does not have enough intelligence support, it is impossible to know ourselves and the enemy. At the same time, Shouchun City

The special terrain of Chun surrounded by water also created a lot of trouble for the Xuzhou army's raid. They had to forcibly cross the Feishui River and then alert the enemy. It would be even more difficult for Little Yuan Sangong to take it lightly and expose his flaws. He could not forcefully cross the Feishui River and directly attack Shouchun City without success.

Being in a dilemma and self-contradictory, Deputy Director Rutao, who was so resourceful, couldn't think of any good way to quickly capture Shouchun City.

Fortunately, the Xuzhou army still has some time. The most dangerous hidden danger, Liu Huangshu, has been eradicated by the Xuzhou Army and the Huainan Army. The two waves of reinforcements from Lujiang and Liyang of the Huainan Army were also defeated by the Xuzhou Army. Except for Shouchun, Huainan North

All the important towns along the line and the grain and grass in the city have also fallen into the hands of the Xuzhou army. For a certain period of time, they can have peace of mind. Tao Ying still has some time to prepare for the siege and figure out his best tricks to deal with Xiao Yuan Sangong.

In the next two days, the Xuzhou army, apart from seizing the opportunity to cut down suitable trees to build Xiangyang cannons, did not launch a crossing battle. They just pushed the existing twenty Xiangyang cannons to the bank of Feishui and headed towards Yuan Shu on the other side.

The military river fortifications were bombarded indiscriminately, destroying many of the antlers built by Yuan Shu's army. Yuan Shu's army did not dare to cross the river to attack the Xiangyang artillery team of the Xuzhou army. They could only carefully avoid the huge stone bombs that flew from time to time, while making emergency repairs at any time.

The fortifications were carried out, and the turtle did not come out of its shell and resolutely faced the Xuzhou army across the river.

In view of the fact that the Xiangyang artillery had little effect on the damage to these temporary fortifications, Yuan Shujun repaired and rebuilt these simple temporary fortifications at any time. Some Xuzhou generals also suggested to Tao Ying to stop throwing stones and reduce the wear and tear of the Xiangyang artillery for future sieges, leaving the good steel behind.

On the blade. But Tao Ying shook his head and rejected this well-intentioned suggestion, saying: "There is no need to stop throwing stones in a hurry. Let the enemy see the power of the Xiangyang cannon with his own eyes, let the enemy know that their Shouchun City may not be indestructible, and develop a cowardice, and then

Only then can we seize the opportunity to take advantage of the loophole, so don’t stop throwing stones for the time being and wait until the Thunderbolt Chariot achieves certain results."

Xu Sheng, who made this suggestion, obeyed and resigned honestly. Lu Su, who was acting for Tao Ying in Xuzhou's rear area, heard the clues and asked tentatively: "To make the enemy timid, does the lord want to use psychological tactics?"

Tao Ying did not rush to answer Lu Su's question. He pondered for a long time before slowly answering: "Based on the current situation, the psychological attack tactic is indeed a good choice. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the situation in Shouchun City. There is also Yuan Shu.

Everyone knows nothing about the situation in the army and the enemy's situation is unclear. We can only imagine and speculate on Yuan Shu's current psychological state. If we want to attack Yuan Shu's heart, we have no way to start, let alone be sure."

"Yes, we have too little grasp of the enemy situation in Shouchun. We cannot know ourselves and the enemy and adapt measures to local conditions." Lu Su sighed in agreement, and then said bitterly: "Damn that Yuan Shu, he not only sealed the Shouchun city gate tightly,

Let our army be careful and unable to pass the news out of the city, and ignore the moral rules of the two countries fighting and not kill the envoys, and kill our envoys. Otherwise, our envoys can find any excuse to enter the city to meet with Yuan Shu, and maybe they can touch him.

Let’s look at the current situation in Shouchun.”

"Moral rules?" Tao Ying snorted disdainfully, "Yuan Shu, a common man, was so arrogant that he dreamed of becoming an emperor. How could ordinary people's moral rules restrain him? In the eyes of this common man, his words were moral principles, and his

Interests are rules..., huh?"

As usual, the honest words of Lu Su, an honest man, can often wake up Deputy Director Tao, who is three points smarter than Crystal Monkey. It was the same this time. Deputy Director Tao's heart moved as he casually chatted, and a pair of triangular eyes

The mung bean eyes inside immediately started to spin quickly, and his mouth began to murmur out of habit, "Messenger? Messenger?" Lu Su had been with Tao Ying for a long time, and knew Tao Ying's weird habits, so he quickly closed his mouth,

Not daring to disturb Tao Ying's train of thought, waiting patiently for Tao Ying to calculate and perfect it would definitely be another evil conspiracy that caused the smoke in the ancestral graves.

Sure enough, after Mung Bean's eyes rolled dozens of times, Tao Ying hit the case and said happily: "Thanks to Zijing for reminding me, I almost forgot about the trick of envoys coming into the city to deceive and kidnap. Hurry, call that boy Song Kai right away."

see me."

"My lord, Yuan Shu hates our army to the core, but he has already killed our army's envoys. Isn't Song Kai going to the city to die in vain?" Lu Su reminded in shock.

"Song Kai entered the city under the banner of our army, and he died in vain." Tao Ying replied with a sly smile: "But if Song Kai entered the city under the banner of another prince, Yuan Shu would definitely not kill him, and he would definitely

I will meet him personally!"

"Enter the city under the banner of another prince? That prince?" The honest man Lu Su obviously had not turned his head for a while.

"What do you think?" Tao Ying asked with a smile.

Lu Su rolled his eyes a few times, then immediately slapped his forehead and said with a smile: "Su is confused. He asked Song Kai to cross the river and enter the city under his banner. Yuan Shu would not dare to kill Song Kai, and he would definitely do it himself."

Meet Song Kai!"

……………………

One day later, in Shouchun City, after the daily routine of worshiping heaven and earth and praying to the gods to bless him to ascend to the Nine Five-Year Plan soon, Little Yuan Sangong finally came to the meeting hall to discuss with the civil and military officials in Huainan how to retreat from the enemy and understand the current situation.

Shouchun battle situation. Sitting arrogantly in the middle, it was not until all the Huainan officials knelt down that Little Yuan Sangong hummed nondescriptly: "Pingshen, please get up. Is there any movement from the Xuzhou rebel army today?"

"Replying to my lord, it's still the same." Yuan Si, one of the most trusted generals of Little Yuan Sangong, replied respectfully: "At dawn, they pushed their stone carts to the bank of Feishui. They kept throwing stones at our army's defense line.

So far, four of our soldiers were killed and two were injured due to accidental avoidance. The others are the same as yesterday. The main force of the Xuzhou bandit army is stationary on the west bank of Feishui. Our soldiers are repairing river defenses at any time and patrolling the banks of Feishui River closely.

Don’t give the Xuzhou bandit army any loopholes to take advantage of.”

"That's good." Little Yuan Sangong was very satisfied and said: "As long as the little thief Tao Ying does not dare to cross the Feishui, it will be fine. Shouchun can be as safe as Mount Tai, and wait for the follow-up reinforcements from Lujiang and Liyang to arrive.

Once there, our army can plan a counterattack and recapture all the occupied lands and cities."

Not everyone is as confident as Xiao Yuan Sangong. At least Lord Bo Yanxiang did not dare to be optimistic casually. Without Xiao Yuan Sangong's permission, he asked Yuan Si: "General Yuan, the current morale of our army's Feishui defense line is

How? The Xuzhou bandit army continues to bombard our defense line with stone-throwing machines, what impact does it have on morale?"

"The Xuzhou bandit army's stone-throwing machine still has a great impact on the morale of our army." Yuan Si replied honestly: "Now our soldiers basically dare not approach within 400 steps of the Xuzhou bandit army's stone-throwing machine for emergency repairs.

The auxiliary soldiers of the fortifications must also be watched by the supervisory team at all times. Otherwise, once the rebel army's stone machine approaches, our auxiliary soldiers may escape completely. For this reason, our army's supervisory team has already killed a team leader.

. Two commanders and a dozen deserters, but our soldiers are still very afraid of the stone-throwing machines of the Xuzhou rebels, and the lower-level generals hope that they can repair the river defenses at night when the rebels' stone-throwing machines stop throwing stones, and concentrate on avoiding the thieves during the day.

The army's stone machine..."

"Fart!" Before Yuan Si finished speaking, Little Yuan Sangong was already furious and cursed regardless of his status. He shouted: "The river defense fortifications must be repaired and rebuilt at any time. They must not be left alone. Otherwise, the Xuzhou bandit army suddenly

What should we do if we rush to cross the river? If we continue to issue this order, if anyone is lazy and refuses to repair the river fortifications, no matter who they are or how many there are, they will all be beheaded and held accountable!"

Yuan Si, who did not need to personally go to repair the fortifications within the coverage of the Xiangyang artillery, respectfully agreed, but several wise counselors from the Huainan army next to him were worried. Shu Shao, who had completely fallen out of favor, said cautiously: "This matter cannot be taken lightly. Our army's field battle

They are not as good as the Xuzhou bandit army. If morale continues to decline, the consequences may be disastrous..."

"Then what should we do?" Little Yuan Sangong glanced at Shu Shao and said in a strange way: "Does Mr. Zhong Ying want to send people to find Duke Xuande again and invite him back?"

"My lord has misunderstood, I didn't mean that." Shu Shao, who had led the wolf into the house, was extremely embarrassed and hurriedly explained. Yan Xiang stood up next to him again, raised his hands to little Yuan Sangong and said: "My lord, let him let go of the past. Shu Zhongying

It is also for the sake of my lord that morale must be boosted but not depressed. If morale continues to decline, it will be very detrimental to our army's future war."

He defended Shu Shao with kindness, and Yan Xiang frowned again and said: "In fact, in my opinion, not only must we pay attention to the wavering military morale, but we should also pay attention to two more points. One is the stone-making machine of the Xuzhou bandit army.

It can be thrown four hundred steps, and Shouchun's moat cannot be widened to more than four hundred steps. Once the Xuzhou rebels succeed in crossing the river, Shouchun's city wall may be like Yinling, and it will be stoned by the Xuzhou rebels.

The planes are bombarding them day and night. Secondly, it is already mid-July, and winter wheat will have to be planted in more than a month. If the Xuzhou rebels are not driven back as soon as possible and farming resumes, there will probably be a famine in Huainan next year.

It’s even more serious.”

Little Yuan Sangong's face darkened, and after gritting his teeth and thinking for a moment, little Yuan Sangong shouted: "From now on, we will do our best to strengthen the Shouchun city wall as a precaution! You and Yuan Si are personally responsible for this matter, and we must learn from it."

Ling’s lesson.”

Yan Xiang respectfully agreed, and then asked cautiously: "My lord, how should we deal with the resumption of farming? I suggest that before the fertilizer and water defense line is lost, the farmers and people in the city can be allowed to go out early and come back late to cultivate the land, sow and work in preparation for the coming year...

….”

"No!" Little Yuan Sangong interrupted Yan Xiang rudely and said angrily: "Yan Gong, you are Gu's wise man, how could you be so confused? Open the city gate and allow the people to go out early and come back late. In case of Xuzhou thieves

What should we do if the army's craftsmen seize the opportunity to sneak into the city? The farmland in Shouchun will be deserted. As long as the Xuzhou bandit army is defeated, we can adjust grain from the south in the coming year."

"What about the people of Shouchun?" Yan Xiang murmured in his heart. He wanted to persist, but he knew that what little Yuan Sangong said was not unreasonable. The Xuzhou army made good use of traitors to lead the party. Quyang City was built because the traitors bribed by the Xuzhou army were in the city.

Setting fire to cause chaos led to the loss of Quyang City overnight. Opening the city gates to allow people to enter and leave for farming would indeed give the Xuzhou army a great opportunity to repeat their old tricks. Therefore, although Xiao Yuan Sangong's decision was cruel, it was very correct in military terms.

It would be difficult for Yan Xiang to mislead Little Yuan Sangong into making mistakes again.

At this time, a messenger suddenly came in from outside the hall and whispered a few words in the ear of little Yuan Sangong's younger brother Yuan Yin. Yuan Yin's face suddenly became strange. He secretly looked at little Yuan Sangong's desire.

After he stopped talking, Little Yuan Sangong glanced at the movement and asked, "What's the matter? Why don't you report it directly to Gu Zuo?"

"Returning to my lord is a matter of envoy's visit. I am also on an errand as a guest, so the messenger reported to me first." Yuan Yin explained the reason and said tremblingly: "My lord, your brother Benchu ​​Gong...

, sent an envoy. This envoy came out from the camp of the Xuzhou bandits and carried a white flag to Feishui Ferry to ask for a crossing. I hope you can meet me, my lord..."

"Bang!" Little Yuan Sangong slapped the table in front of him with a heavy slap, his thin face suddenly turned red. He roared: "I gave birth to a slave! I allowed his son-in-law to invade Huainan's land and kill the soldiers of Huainan."

, how dare you send an envoy to see Yu Gu? If you don’t see him, tell him to get lost!"

Yuan Yin sang his promise tremblingly, but did not dare to immediately order the emissary of Yuan Shao to be driven away - Yuan Yin was a brother of the same clan as Yuan Sangong and Yuan Sangong. He really understood the grudges between these two top brothers, and he also knew little Yuan Sangong's relationship with him.

Big Yuan Sangong was filled with hatred, fear and jealousy, so before little Yuan Sangong really made a decision, Yuan Yin really didn't dare to carry out what little Yuan Sangong said - otherwise, Yuan Yin might have to be blamed.

The clan brother carried it on his back.

Sure enough, Yan Xiang, who also understood Xiao Yuan Sangong's character, stood up and repaired the steps. He saluted Xiao Yuan Sangong and said: "My lord, I think it's a good idea to meet him. In any case, Yuan Benchu ​​is also your lord's brother and refused to receive his envoy.

It is neither in line with etiquette nor in line with family ties."

Speaking of this, Yan Xiang said cautiously: "Besides, the current enemy of our army, the little thief Tao Ying, is the son-in-law of Duke Benchu. The Xuzhou thief army dared to go south with Yuan Benchu's permission and protection, and with

Lord Benchu ​​keeps in touch, and when necessary, he can also use brotherhood to use Lord Benchu's hand to suppress the little thief Tao Ying, and even... force the little thief Tao Ying to retreat."

There was silence in the lobby. All the officers and soldiers of Yuan Shu's army hoped that Little Yuan Sangong could receive Yuan Shao's envoy to leave a way for his army to retreat. However, none of them were as favored as Yan Xiang and did not dare to persuade casually. They just waited with bated breath for Little Yuan.

Sangong’s decision. After little Yuan Sangong hesitated for a long time while gritting his yellow teeth, he finally did not dare to completely offend his half-brother. He reluctantly said: "Since Yan Gong said that we are brothers, then for the sake of family ties,

For my sake, please let the envoy who has given birth to a slave to me cross the river to pay my respects."

Yuan Yin breathed a sigh of relief and quickly conveyed this order. After more than half an hour, Yuan Shaojun's envoy, a middle-aged scribe in his thirties, was led into the hall and handed over his hands in front of little Yuan Sangong.

He bowed and saluted with neither humility nor arrogance, and said: "Song Kai, Song Bei'an, the guest in the palace of Yuan Gong, the Marquis of Qixiang, is ordered by the lord to pay homage to the second master of the family, General Zuo, Yangzhai Marquis Yuan Gong, and Yuan Gong Jin An. This is a letter from the lord, please invite Yuan Gong.

Storage.”

Speaking respectfully, Song Kai held up a letter with both hands, bowed and raised it above his head. The guards on the left and right came up to take it and presented it to Little Yuan Sangong. Little Yuan Sangong was too lazy to pick it up as if it was dirty, and just pouted to let the guards
To be continued...