Chapter 40: Predicting the enemy first

Meng Da rode a horse to report to Ganning on a starry night. The large army led by Cheng Gongying was obviously one step slower, because the Western Liang army not only had iron cavalry, but also infantry. Press ctrl+d to quickly collect it """

However, when Cheng Gongying returned without success in pursuing Meng Da, he would naturally send cavalry to Wuwei to warn Han Sui.

As a result, Cheng Gongying did not lead his army back to Wuwei before Gan Ning, but the person who sent the letter came to Wuwei first and reported to Han Sui.

Gan Ning led his army to Wuwei, and even directly controlled Wuwei without even sieging the city.

Han Sui ran away!

Han Sui fled to the northwest with the recruits he recruited, leaving Gan Ning with a dilemma of Wuwei.

The people in the city were angry and could no longer be described as unfriendly to the Taiping Army. After Ganning led the army into the city, more than ten civilian killings occurred in less than half a day.

The whole city was covered with martial law, and Gan Ning issued the first order after entering Wuwei.

All the people who wander on the streets are imprisoned and those who resist and refuse to follow will be killed on the spot.

The weather was stuffy and irritating. Gan Ning paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back, Zhang Liao was frowning, and they didn't know how to face the current situation.

Meng Da walked into the tent cursingly and bowed to Gan Ning in anger, "Report to the Grand Governor, this dog thief Han Sui sent all the food he could not transport before he escaped, and spread rumors that the Grand Governor led his army to steal the grain and enslave the people of Wuwei. Now the people in the city don't listen to our explanations. They attacked the patrol guards when they were at the opportunity. Just now, there was another emergency in the north of the city. The people poured boiling water on the patrol soldiers and took the opportunity to seize the knife and kill people. Oh, Grand Governor, what should you do? You should make an idea."

Gan Ning and Zhang Liao looked at each other and saw the deep helplessness in each other's eyes.

Han Sui is an experienced person and has his own experience in winning over people's hearts. He has been building momentum since last year, but at that time the spearhead was aimed at Ma Chao, and he plundered Ma Chao's local resources to enrich himself. On the other hand, it is indeed beneficial to the people of Wuwei, at least they will not be starved to death by the famine.

Han Sui borrowed grain from Guo Jia, which was a favor among the princes. He used food to help the people who were suffering from famine and were in danger of their lives under his control, so the people would count their kindness on Han Sui.

Wuwei was empty, and Han Sui stepped up the recruitment of 10,000 outlaws as the new army. However, once Wuwei was surrounded, Han Sui knew that he would not have a place to die, so he fled and fled, but he could not allow the Taiping Army to take over Wuwei smoothly.

"Our army has never violated the people. This is a military order issued by the lord himself since the founding of the Taiping Army. The current situation is in a dilemma. Allowing the people to act recklessly will be detrimental to our army. If the harsh suppression is excessive, it will cause the people to become more resentful. Wen Yuan, what are your opinions?"

Gan Ning cannot be said to be helpless, but when facing the people, if the methods are not accurate, the consequences will be difficult to predict.

Zhang Liao smiled bitterly. Now he is a famous general. It’s a pity that the light of famous generals is on the battlefield. Treating the people is a reflection of their ability to govern the people. It is difficult for him to make a complete decision.

"Ha, Xingba, don't polite me. What can I have? In my opinion, the most urgent task of our army now is to deploy defenses with Wuwei as the center, and to wipe out the main force of Han Sui behind him in the area south of Wuwei. As for the people, the wind is rainy and the people are most likely to be bewitched. As the saying goes, the Taiping Army abides by military rules and disciplines itself. The people who commit crimes will deal with them according to the law. If our army keeps waiting and watching, there should be people who will continue to realize that the Taiping Army is not the brutal army promoted by Han Sui."

After hearing this, Gan Ning pondered for a while and agreed to Zhang Liao's remarks.

Meng Da shook his head slightly and was not optimistic. His hometown is in Guanzhong and he has a very clear understanding of the folk customs in the northwest. It can be said that the northwest has experienced more than 20 years of turmoil. The people have long been disgusted with the views of the government, and instead tend to accept the rule of the dictatorial warlords. If the Taiping Army does not need to severe punishment and severe punishment to serve as a warning, it is likely that the people will have a stronger resistance mentality.

Meng Da did not say what he thought, because he had no solution. The top priority now is to solve Han Sui's main force behind him. Other matters should be put aside for the time being, so it is better not to cause trouble.

Opening the map and leaning over, Gan Ning looked at the regional situation around Wuwei and looked up and said, "If Zuli's enemy did not attack Jincheng, then even if they retreated northwest, they would definitely expect our army to be ready to ambush them in Wuwei. If we are now deploying defenses across the surface, our army will disperse its troops. Even if we really block the enemy, it will be difficult to wipe out the enemy. I think we should take a risk, concentrate our troops, and fight to the death directly on the way of the enemy's retreat."

The Taiping Army has the advantage of military strength. If this advantage is not exerted and broken into pieces, it is equivalent to giving the enemy the opportunity to defeat one by one. The northwest is vast and the battlefield is mostly plains. If the Western Liang Iron Cavalry charges from all directions without rules, even if the Taiping Army has strong bows and strong masters, they may fall into a passive situation.

Meng Da nodded in agreement, but he looked at the map for a while and had no idea. Wuwei faced hundreds of miles east and west. Where should we defend? Which road would be the place where the enemy must pass? You can walk anywhere in the northwest plains, and how to fight this battle is a difficult problem.

After looking down at the map for a long time, Zhang Liao reached out and tapped his index finger on a piece of land east of Wuwei.

Seeing this, Gan Ning laughed.

"The heroes have a similar view, and what Wen Yuan thinks is what I think. The only way for the enemy to retreat should be outside the Great Wall."

There has been a Great Wall since the Warring States Period, and the Great Wall of Qin State was a glorious achievement in history. In the Han Dynasty, there was also a Great Wall in the Hexi Corridor, but the Great Wall here was built in sections and did not form a single one.

To the east of Wuwei, there is the Great Wall. The Northwest Corridor Great Wall was established to prevent the invasion of foreign tribes such as Qiang, Hu, Di and other foreign tribes.

With this section of the Great Wall in the Hexi Corridor as the boundary point, we need to make a judgment whether the enemy will go inside or outside the Great Wall.

"If the enemy is rescuing Wuwei, then he must come to the front of the road inside the Great Wall. However, if the enemy does not rescue Wuwei, in order to avoid the encirclement and blockade of our army, he must go to the grassland outside the Great Wall."

Zhang Liao analyzed confidently.

Gan Ning nodded in agreement, but Meng Da was a little confused and asked: "Wuwei is in trouble, Han Sui is in danger of his life. Will the enemy troops in the rear ignore Han Sui's safety?"

After all, this is an era of slow transmission of information. The news of Han Sui's escape may not be immediately heard by Cheng Gongying. Even if it is spread, it may be that Cheng Gongying has entered the Taiping Army's defense zone.

In response, Zhang Liao said calmly: "The lord said that Han Sui had a capable person under the tent, who could garrison Zu Li's intention to remove firewood from the underworld, so this person must be among Zu Li's enemy troops. Isn't he clear about Han Sui's style of doing such an extraordinary person? I'm afraid he had expected Han Sui's reaction to our attack, and he would definitely escape! In this case, the enemy troops behind our army would probably not come to rescue Wuwei. They would bypass Wuwei from outside the Great Wall and go northwest to meet with Han Sui."

"That's true!" Gan Ning made a final decision and decided the location of the decisive battle with Han Sui's main army, outside the Great Wall and above the grassland.

Meng Da bowed to Zhang Liao and Gan Ning with admiration and said, "The two generals are a little superb, but they are inferior to them."

When marching and fighting, you have to take risks. As the commander, you have to make a judgment. The judgment must be based on basis and cannot be deployed based on preferences and unfounded speculations.

Han Sui decisively retreated after Cheng Gongying sent cavalry to deliver the letter, and asked the sender to go back to bring the news to Cheng Gongying.

After a while, Cheng Gongying led four of the eight generals under Han Sui to return to the northwest. His itinerary was deliberately slowed down a little, just to be cautious and want to get rewards first before making a decision.

If Han Sui was really in the midst of Wuwei, even if Cheng Gongying knew there was an ambush ahead, he would probably have to bite the bullet and save his master.

When the person who came back from the letter told the story of Han Sui, the new army fled from Wuwei, Cheng Gongying fell into the ground, and invited four generals Yang Qiu, Zhang Heng and Li Kan to discuss how to escape from Wuwei and Wulan to meet with Han Sui.

These four generals obviously had no clever strategies, but when they heard that Han Sui was safe, they began to think about how to save their lives.

Wuwei must have fallen ahead, so they can't go to Wuwei anymore, right?

The four generals unanimously agreed that they should take a detour.

Cheng Gongying had difficulty making decisions. With this boundary point on the Great Wall east of Wuwei, which road is east and west?

The west is through Wuwei, and the east is around the grassland.

Cheng Gongying was a little panicked and could not calm down for a long time.

At this time, you have to make a decision, which is a dead end thinking contest.

If the Taiping Army is in line with the rules, it will definitely be forged defenses in the Wuwei area. If you walk to the west of the Great Wall, you will be killed.

If there are people in the Taiping Army who are very intelligent and highly crafted, if they set up defenses on the east side of the Great Wall, they will fall into the trap by walking on the grassland.

The consideration of choosing one of the two is based on whether the enemy is accurate. Cheng Gongying racked his brains and finally decided to walk on the grassland east of the Great Wall.

Because he thought of Zu Liwai's great victory. Judging from that great victory, the Taiping Army's strategy of attacking the northwest was a bit cautious. Inferring that with the opponent's step-by-step strategy, it seemed too risky to intercept him outside the Great Wall without defense.

Three days later, above the Great Wall, the sky was bright, Gan Ning and Zhang Liao stood on the beacon tower and looked east. Every half an hour, soldiers came up to report the enemy's situation.

"Reported to the Grand Governor, the enemy was found forty miles south, with cavalry leading infantry behind them. Judging from their size, it was about 20,000."

"Explore again! Instruct the scouts to find the horses and do not expose their whereabouts. If they are to alert the enemy, they will be dealt with by military law."

Gan Ning's eyes showed a long-lost fighting spirit. After the soldiers went down to pass the order, he turned around and looked at Zhang Liao, and smiled and said, "Wen Yuan is like a god."

Zhang Liao chuckled and shook his head, "You and I don't want to praise each other here. Let's set up troops as soon as possible."

Gan Ning thought about it and said, "Ma Chao led the Yinling Flying Cavalry to force the enemy to the northwest from behind, Meng Da led the archers to force the enemy to the Great Wall from the north, and the crossbow soldiers in the northwest were led by Lao Wenyuan."

Hearing this deployment, Zhang Liao frowned slightly.

Where is Wu Yi?
Chapter completed!