Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1198 Three points to break the game
Fast forward to the beginning of August.More and more Jin troops gathered in Xing Mingci, but the results of the battle became smaller and smaller.

On the first day of August, Li Ke attacked Handan with the army he supervised, but failed, and was chased and killed when he retreated, causing heavy losses.However, Xia Jun also chased too far, and was killed by the Jin army again, and the loss was also heavy.

Li Keyong, who chased all the way to the city of Handan, could only sigh in vain looking at the tall city.

Handan has more than [-] soldiers from the Xia Army and Tiande Army, and tens of thousands of Tutuan peasants. The camps inside and outside the city are connected by fences, and it is difficult to attack. He has no hope.

Handan failed, Li Keyong personally led the troops, detoured towards Fuyang in the south, advanced to Zhaoyi County, and tentatively attacked Fuyang.However, there were thousands of German troops and more than ten thousand Tutuan villagers in Cizhou City. After three days of fierce attack, the Jin army could not afford to consume it, so they gave up.Try to bypass Cizhou and let it go, the defenders in the city went out to attack again, entangled endlessly, so you don't have a stable logistics channel.

This is really a dilemma.

Although the Jin army's combat effectiveness is good, it has little capital.Unlike the Xia people, they have a large territory, many household registrations, and a large army, which can drive a large number of soldiers to besiege a city.Li Keyong is really reluctant to spend so much.After thinking about it, he could only plunder, and then left hundreds of soldiers in Zhaoyi County to watch, and led the main force back to Wu'an.

But the Jin army left, and the Xia people came again.As the general strategic reserve, the Wuwei Army sent more than ten thousand troops to attack Zhaoyi.The remaining Jin soldiers fled, and the Xia army pursued them all the way to Fukou Town, where they met Li Keyong's main force who came to reinforce them.In the end, the Xia army retreated, leaving hundreds of soldiers to guard Zhaoyi, and the main force returned to Yecheng.

The Jin army chased after them, and the Xia soldiers who stayed at Zhaoyi fled. However, the Jin soldiers were not interested in defending the city. It will only divide one's own strength, not only the defensive strength is insufficient, but also it is easy to not get enough people when counterattacking.

After Xing Ming went around in the magnetic field for half a month, Li Keyong realized that this meeting was just a mouse pulling a turtle, and he had nowhere to say it, which was really uncomfortable.

If you want to say that Xia Jun will stick to it, that's not correct.Because they often mobilize troops from the rear, they have enough counterattack force, and they fight very well. If the Jin army is not paying attention, it will be bitten down.

You said that Xia Jun is very aggressive, but that's not always the case.They basically still focus on defense, leaving only a few weak soldiers at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain to monitor, and the main force is stationed in the rear. They first use the fortified city to kill their strength and morale, then use cavalry to harass the logistics line, and finally mobilize enough active forces to fight back.

Basically, they still focus on defense, and their tactics are relatively conservative, but they are very effective. In the beginning, the Jin army also tried to occupy some cities with weak defenses of the Xia army, but when they found that the stretched transportation lines cost a lot to maintain, They gave up and started to be more pragmatic.

This tactic is actually very deadly.

Obviously his strength is enough to fight a decisive battle with you, and he may not fail, but he just won't fight.Instead, put the new force at the rear, always staring at your flaws, once you show fatigue, a large number of elite soldiers who have been resting for a long time will be transferred up, and you will be beaten into a mess.When you retreat, he will not forcefully attack the city you are guarding to avoid unnecessary consumption.

Li Ke didn't know how to deal with it.

"After fighting for so long, have you figured it out?" Li Keyong looked at the generals around him, and said, "Xing Mingci Sanzhou, Xia people regard defense as the top priority. What does this mean?"

Everyone looked at me and I looked at you. In the end, the young Lang Li Cunxu was the most impatient. He was the first to jump out and said, "Grandpa, Lu Yanwei is nesting in Nanpi, calling for help repeatedly. Ge Cong sent troops on Monday." Plundering the village, collecting food and grass, and harassing Jizhou, he didn't seem to be in a hurry. My son thought that this journey was false. Xing Mingci, in fact, is also false."

"The ancients said that what is false is true, and what is true is false. How can there be any accuracy?" Shi Shaoyong said from the side, "I heard that Shao's bandits use soldiers and love to learn from Emperor Taizong. Zhengbing can Changing into a strange soldier, a strange soldier can become a real soldier at any time, and Shao thief has fought for half his life, how can he be so pedantic? He is a veteran in the battlefield, and his way of changing is one-hearted. The two ways of Xing Mingci and Jingzhou may not be false If there is no rescue from us, you can see if Ge Congzhou will surround Nanpi and wipe out Lu Yanwei completely."

Li Cunxu couldn't be provoked, and almost stood up to argue with Shi Shaoyong.Sitting next to Li Keyong, Mrs. Liu hurriedly pulled him back, shaking his head slightly.

Li Cunxu sat down sullenly.

"Your Majesty." Li Cunxian, the commander of the Yier Army, stood up and said, "Actually, General Shi is right, Xia Bandit has deployed tens of thousands of elite soldiers in Xingmingci, just to prevent me from going east and cut off the Yongji Canal. Once the Yongji Canal was shut down, the Xia people mobilized so many soldiers and horses, but they couldn’t keep up. The cost of transshipment by land alone was too high. On the other hand, when the Yongji Canal was unblocked, the Xia people had enough food and grass , you can mobilize heavy troops in one place at will to take advantage. Xing Mingci's Tiande and Wuwei armies currently seem to be mainly defensive, but they are also paying close attention to our army. Once they switch to attack, they don't need to rely on the rest Two ways, alone can mobilize a large army and launch a counterattack. The combination of fiction and reality, and the combination of righteousness and oddity, this is the kingly way of using troops."

Li Ke set his sights on Gai Yu.

Gai Yu cleared his throat and said, "I also agree with General Shi. Because Lu Long and other troops went south, the siege of Cangzhou was temporarily lifted. However, there is no sound in Dezhou. If there is no accident, the Xia people must be fighting hard to attack the city. , Once the attack is pulled out, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses will be created out of thin air, no matter which direction they invest in, they can change the local situation."

Li Ke blinked with his right eye, and subconsciously wanted to ask Madam Ji Liu, but considering that everyone here is a rough man, he held back, turned to look at Li Xiji, and asked, "What do you think of Mrs. Li?" ?”

Li Xiji had been thinking for a long time, and upon seeing King Jin's inquiry, he immediately replied: "Your Majesty, I have stopped the momentum of the Xia people's advance. It is difficult for our army to break through Xing Mingci's side, but neither can the Xia army." Advance by an inch. Ge Cong Zhou's army should not be many, and he is unable to completely defeat Lu Yanwei. Kuang Yanwei is still recruiting troops, and the army is recovering. As long as there is no wave of war, Ge Cong can't do anything about him on Monday. Under the city of Beizhou, The Chengde army has been fighting the Xia bandits for a long time, and the Xia people do not have the upper hand. These three fronts are all mired in the quagmire. If I were Ge Congzhou, I should start from the direction of Dezhou at this time, and pull this place first. It's all alive. Judging by its use of troops, it is indeed the same."

Li Keyong thought for a while, and then asked, "How should our army break the situation?"

Li Xiji replied: "There are three strategies to break the situation. First, the king selects elite soldiers, goes south to protect each other, and mobilizes the Xia people. The Xia people squat in place and have no loopholes, but once they move, there may be loopholes. This is to break the situation." Second, send envoys to Zhenzhou to persuade Wang Rong to invest his old capital, expel Xia’s cavalry, and threaten Ge Congzhou’s rear road. Chengde’s horse administration is very good, and there are many cavalry troops, so we should take advantage of it Thirdly, Li Cunzhang led a large number of Youzhou soldiers and horses, and also recruited many Cangjing warriors. On this occasion, we should actively cooperate with Lu Kuang from Cangzhou to defeat the Xia people in front of us."

After saying these three items, Li Xiji seemed to want to say something more, but shut up again.He is very clear that among the three, it is not easy to achieve any one.But if you want to break the situation, you really have to do this.The current battle situation seems to be stalemate, but in Li Xiji's view, it is still under the control of the Xia people.They decide how to fight, where to fight and when to fight, which is dangerous.

"Dezhou..." Li Ke said twice in a low voice, then stretched out his hand, and said, "Tu Lai."

The attendants handed over the drawings immediately, and slowly unfolded them.

Li Ke watched carefully and found that the situation of the battle was indeed as the generals said, and the point of Xia Jun's breakthrough was in Dezhou.Where is the eye of the Hebei coalition forces?
Maybe it's Yongji Canal, maybe it's under the city of Cangzhou, there are only these two places.

"Husband, the direction of Guizhou should not be ignored." Liu suddenly reminded.

"Hmph! You bastard!" Li Keyong was furious.

The impact of Li Cunxiao's surrender was very bad.He cut off the road from Hedong to Youzhou for a while, and had to divert through Yiding Town.

In order to solve this situation, the three directions of Hedong, Yiding, and Youzhou joined forces to attack Guizhou.Although the city was not broken, the road was reopened.It's just that in the eyes of many people, this is just to win face.In fact, as long as Li Cunxiao is willing to leave the city, he can still cut off the post road. The road leading to Juyongguan via Guizhou is not safe.

If the severance of post roads is just a trivial matter, then it is very uncomfortable to turn a big rear area into a front line.

After the eldest son Li Luoluo became the envoy of Tanjiying Pingzhen, the most important energy was to deal with Li Cunxiao of Guizhou and try to recover more military towns and forts.Zhuozhou and Yiding were also restrained a lot of troops. Li Cunxiao launched a military campaign and recruited troops on a large scale. The cattle, sheep, money and silk supported by the Xia people were very active for a while, and the siege was very hard.

To be honest, if Xia Jun hadn't aggressively attacked Hebei this time, Li Keyong would have killed Li Cunxiao. As his adopted son, it would be hard for him not to kill him.

"You don't need to worry too much about Guizhou." Li Keyong calmed down a little, and said, "After the winter and spring seasons, An Jingsi's strength has been greatly reduced, and no one can be harmed for the time being. My son Luoluo, King Yiding Gao and Daizhou Li Siyuan are continuously marching troops, if the Xia people come to rescue, they will give them a good look. If they don't come to rescue, sooner or later the three parties will make peace."

Mrs. Liu nodded: "It's good that my husband knows it well."

"We should focus on the battlefield in Hebei." Li Keyong thought for a while, and he had already made up his mind. He only heard him say: "In two days, I will lead the army to the south. Yazi, you go back to Luzhou first, send troops to cooperate, and attack first." Smash Xiangzhou's enemies."

"Of order." Li Cunxu replied excitedly.

Li Keyong was also very pleased.

Cunxu is brave and has a keen sense of the battlefield.This is talent, and God appreciates it.

Someone praised him back then that "this son is as good as his father", which is evident.

Last month, he led his army down the mountain alone and attacked Zimo Town. The Shaoxia people had accumulated tens of thousands of dendrobium, and then ambushed the Wuwei army who came to help, beheading more than a thousand, which greatly defeated the enemy's sharpness.

This time going south, the father and son are united, hoping to completely open up the situation.

If this doesn't work, then you have to consider giving up making a fuss in Xing Mingci, and open up another battlefield by virtue of Taoism. Of course, Li Keyong will listen to the ideas of his subordinates, but when it comes to war, he has his own understanding, even if it is possible. If he is wrong, he will also make a decisive decision instead of continuing to be indecisive and miss the opportunity.

(End of this chapter)