Zhu Youzhen took the words of Zhang Quanyi and Jingxiang as a warning. Duan Ning officially replaced Wang Yanzhang and became the last commander of the Liang army in front. At the same time, cooperating with digging rivers and substitutions, Hou Liang also formulated a large-scale and ambitious counterattack plan. Zhu Youzhen and his confidants were not pessimistic about the current situation, and they did not expect that their good days would come to an end soon.

The details of the counterattack plan of the Later Liang Dynasty were soon revealed. It turned out that in mid-to-late August, Duan Ning led the Liang army's main force to cross the river and attacked Chanzhou, and robbed them in a large number of special forces to destroy the material reserves of the Later Tang Dynasty. Li Cunxu led his army to Chaocheng to confront him. At this time, Duan Ning's general had already found an opportunity to secretly communicate with Li Cunxu. He led more than 100 personal soldiers to leave Liangying and join Chaocheng Tangying.

When Li Cunxu saw Kang Yanxiao, he immediately took off the brocade robe and jade belt he wore and gave it to the hero who had already offered advice to Majiakou before he had arrived. In addition to this kind of spiritual reward, Kang Yanxiao received a lot of benefits. He was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Southern Raiders and the governor of Bozhou, which was worthy of his wishes and made his debut.

Of course, Li Cunxu's reward was not for nothing. He held his back and asked Kang Yanxiao to explain the inside story of Houliang as he knew and evaluate the situation. Kang Yanxiao pondered for a moment and left a diagnostic report with severe internal injuries for the Houliang Empire, which still looked impressive.

He said: "The territory of the Liang Dynasty is not small, and its military strength is not small. But when I observe its government and internal and external measures, I know that it will perish! Why do I say that? First of all, the Lord of Liang Zhu Youzhen is a man of mediocre intelligence, a dark and cowardly personality, and is easily influenced by his close ministers. The person around Zhu Youzhen who can influence him is precisely a group of slander ministers led by Zhao Yan and Zhang Hanjie. There is no good thing here! They collude with close servants in the palace and join forces to deceive the emperor, while they are corrupt and abused the law outside, making it the top priority for themselves to make money."

"When appointing officials, the level of the position depends on how much you bribe them. You do not consider your talents and character, nor do you examine your achievements! For example, Duan Ning, who is neither wise nor brave, is ranked above the generals of outstanding meritorious achievements such as Wang Yanzhang and Huo Yanwei. Who can convince him? Moreover, since he took office, the only thing he has to do is to deduct the soldiers' food and salary, and then use the ill-gotten wealth scraped from the soldiers to bribe the powerful and powerful in the court to consolidate his own power. What's worse is that every time the Liang army goes out, Zhu Youzhen refuses to let the commander in the front control take full control of military power, and often sends close ministers to serve as military supervisors. The progress of the army is often interfered by the layman's supervisors. How can the army win the battle?"

Then, Kang Yanxiao talked about the counterattack plan that Hou Liang was about to launch and its fatal weaknesses: "Before I came, I heard that the Liang army was planning to launch a four-way counterattack, from west to east, namely: First, Dong Zhang led the Zhenguo army, joined Li Jitao's An Yi army, and went north to attack Taiyuan. Second, Huo Yanwei led the Ru and Luo troops to the prime minister, Wei, Xing and Ming, and the final goal was to Zhending; Third, the head coach Duan Ning and deputy commander Du Yanqiu led the main force of the Liang army to force Xingtang to restrain His Majesty's actions; Fourth, Wang Yanzhang and Zhang Hanjie led the Bianliang imperial army to counterattack Yunzhou. The four troops were expected to be fully prepared by October and were dispatched at the same time! The Yellow River embankment was opened in Huazhou, so that the river water could flood the large area between Cao and Pu and Yunzhou, thinking that this would be possible

It made it difficult for the Northern Army to move south from the ferry crossings of the Yellow River that had been captured."

"I participated in the military convention in the Liang army and understood the entire plan. According to my private assessment, if the Liang army gathered together, the strength of the troops would be quite large. If it was divided into four, the strength of the troops on each battlefield would be very limited. Therefore, this plan was aggressive on the surface, but in fact it was a taboo in military strategists! It was the opportunity they gave us. Your Majesty might as well accumulate energy and wait for them to divide the troops into four places. When they were not careful, they would just send five thousand cavalry, traveled from Yunzhou day and night to Bianliang, and captured Zhu Youzhen alive. From one day to ten days, the world could be settled!"

Li Cunxu was so excited that he couldn't help but applaud! Kang Yanxiao's words also had problems: According to the Liang army's four-way counterattack plan, Wang Yanzhang's goal was Yunzhou. It just blocked Kang Yanxiao's plan, and the Tang army rushed to the road of Bianliang!

What is the specific distribution of troops in the counterattack of the Liang army in the four routes? Among the four routes, Dong Zhang and Huo Yanwei had about 25,000 troops. Wang Yanzhang's troops, which may directly hinder Kang Yanxiao's plan, had a total of about 10,000 troops. Among the four routes, Liang army, the troops were obviously the weakest. Because Wang Yanzhang was worried, he could not give him too many people. Besides, according to Zhu Youzhen and his confidant's judgment, 10,000 attacks on Yunzhou was enough. At this time, the Tang army had only 5,000 elite troops in Yunzhou, and Wang Yanzhang's troops were twice his.

According to this kind of military strength comparison, if Li Siyuan could not get reinforcements from Li Cunxu's army, it would be great if he could defend Yunzhou. It would be impossible to defeat Wang Yanzhang, who had twice his troops and then attack and seize Bianliang, right? Of course, if Li Cunxu's army appeared in this direction, Wang Yanzhang's 10,000 troops would definitely not be able to stop it.

However, between Li Cunxu's army and Li Siyuan's troops in Yunzhou, there was a dozen miles of quagmire formed by "protecting the water". The Ji River was no longer in the way and should be unable to support each other. Therefore, in this counterattack plan formulated by Zhu Youzhen and his think tank, it was not that they ignored the possible hidden threat in the direction of Yunzhou, but that they believed that this threat did not exist at all. Obviously, this was in a huge contrast with Kang Yanxiao's view.

The most fundamental difference between these two views is whether Li Cunxu's army can pass through the yellow flood zone between the Yellow River and the Ji River? If not, Houliang's plan will be effective. On the contrary, Kang Yanxiao's plan may give Houliang a fatal blow!

Can "Guojia Water" prevent an army from passing? When Kang Yanxiao's plan was proposed, less than a month after the sour jujube burst, it is estimated that it will be very difficult to pass through "Guojia Water". The army can pass through "Guojia Water", but all the supplies and vehicles cannot pass. Soldiers can only carry their own dry food and can fight a quick battle and are not able to cope with a protracted battle.

But Kang Yanxiao believes that this is enough. Where you think you can't go, you can actually go. Where you think a safe place is actually the most dangerous. To be surprised, it is worth taking this risk. However, people with the courage and vision of Kang Yanxiao have always been a minority. What most officials in the Later Tang Dynasty are more likely to understand is the difficulties of their own side, so they are generally not optimistic about the prospects.

At this time, the food shortage problem in the Later Tang Dynasty became even more serious.

The state, Desheng lost its losses and lost millions of stones of military rations. The inventory in Hebei has dropped to a dangerous level. Although Kong Qian, the deputy envoy responsible for collecting grain for the army, was smart and capable, he also used all his ability to collect heavy taxes. However, a large number of farmers fled because they could not pay the imperial grain, and the taxes collected were still reduced day by day.

At the same time, there are rumors in the north that the Khitan army is about to launch a new southern invasion, which will be carried out together with the northern expedition of the Houliang region! If this rumor is true, the difficulties faced by the Tang army will not only be short of food.

Therefore, when Li Cunxu held a military meeting in Chaocheng, most of the attendees were unwilling to take risks and advocated a temporary peace with Hou Liang. The representative of them was the eunuch who was squeezed out of the Privy Council by Guo Chongtao and the Xuanhui envoy Li Shaohong.

Li Shaohong said: "Yunzhou is just an isolated city hanging behind the enemy. Outside the city gate is the territory of Liang State. It is too difficult to defend it. Even if it can be defended, it is not cost-effective. It is better to have this city than not! It is better to use it as a bargaining chip to exchange Weizhou and Liyang occupied by them. The two countries formally negotiated, using the Yellow River as the boundary, and living peacefully together. Let the soldiers and the people rest and overcome this year's difficulties. When the financial situation improves next year, a new plan will be formulated accordingly."

What Li Shaohong said seemed to make sense and was echoed by many people. Li Cunxu was unhappy and said angrily: "If I do this, I will die without a place to bury!" The meeting ended in a bad mood.

After the meeting, Li Cunxu summoned Guo Chongtao alone to hear the opinions of this think tank. Guo Chongtao was obviously a minority. Taking advantage of the lack of outsiders at this time, he first refuted Li Shaohong's argument and stepped on the head of this old leader who had already made enemies with him: "Your Majesty, you have lived a hard life of not washing your head and not untied your armor for fifteen years! What are you trying to do? Isn't it just to eliminate the false Liang and avenge the country! Now, Your Majesty has ascended the throne and become emperor.

The military and civilians north of the Yellow River are all hoping that you can pacify the world and restore peace. If you see that you just obtained a few inches of land in Yunzhou and are forced to give up, then who still believes that you are the true master of the Central Plains? I am afraid that once you make peace with the Liang people and give up Yunzhou, the morale will be shaken and the morale will be disintegrated. Once the food is exhausted in the future, the army will collapse without fighting! Even if the peace agreement is successful at that time, the Liang people agree to draw the Yellow River as the boundary, who will rely on to defend His Majesty?"

Then, Guo Chongtao analyzed in detail for Li Cunxu: "I have asked Kang Yanxiao in detail about the specific situation in Henan these days, compared the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, and repeatedly deduced it for several days and nights. Finally, I thought: the chance of success or failure is this year!"

"Master Liang handed over all his elite troops to Duan Ning and let him invade our southern border. The task of protecting the capital Bianliang was handed over to the Yellow River. They thought that we would not be able to get through the river bank, so there was no strong defense on the eastern front. Although they also sent Wang Yanzhang to attack Yunzhou, they could tell that it was an army without combat effectiveness by looking at the configuration of the personnel and army. At most, they expected that the defenders of Yunzhou would be shaken to be traitors because they could not get assistance."

"Duan Ning is not a general at all, and he does not have the ability to make decisions on the spot. Even if such a person leads a large army, it is not worth worrying. The Liang soldiers who surrender now say that there are almost no troops in Bianliang, which is a good opportunity for a surprise attack."
Chapter completed!