Nanming Engineer

Chapter 133 Design
The news was brought by Ma Wannian. He stayed in Tusi City to coordinate the affairs of Longevity Valley and the Xuanwei Commissioner, but he never returned. When Kuai Ma came back, he brought the bad news that the soldiers were suppressing the border.

In the afternoon, Wang Huan rushed back from the gunpowder field as soon as possible and called Zu Bian, Ma Xintian and Xu Tiezhu. Everyone sat down in order in the hall of the official office and passed around Qin Liangyu's message.

Wang Huan tapped his fingers habitually, and said in a deep voice: "Chen Xiang sent back the news that Zeng Ying is fully deploying his defenses and preparing to meet Zhang Xianzhong's attack, and the digging in the Black Valley has also stopped. It seems that there will be no soldiers coming from the direction of Chongqing Mansion. .”

Ma Wannian was sitting on the right side and heard the voice: "Yes, this is also the news that my grandmother found out. Her old man's letter also made it clear that this time Zeng Ying sent his general Tan Wen to lead the troops from Fengjie direction. Come from the river."

Wang Huan nodded and said: "Sure enough, this is almost the same as our analysis. Zeng Ying will not move the main army, but will only send a small team to try to eat the stone pillars."

Ma Xintian sat still with his face as calm as water, and said: "It seems that Zeng Ying is obsessed with the silver mine thieves, and he thinks that I, Shizhu, are too weak, so he is so trusting, and sends a general to try to defeat a general in the imperial court." The Shizhu Xuanwei envoy was guarded by two deputy general soldiers. Although he lost in the battle in the Black Valley, it gave him stronger self-confidence."

Wang Huan smiled slightly: "It was our original intention to show him weakness, but we don't know what role this Tan Wen is, and how powerful are his subordinates?"

Everyone's eyes were on Ma Wannian, and Ma Wannian hurriedly said: "Tan Wen is a native of Fengjie County, Kuizhou Prefecture. He used to be the governor of Chen Shiqi's army, but later joined Zeng Ying, and now he is a military attache in Zeng Ying's army, with 4000 soldiers under his command, of which 1000 are soldiers from his clan, and the rest are miscellaneous soldiers."

"When it comes to combat power, Tan Wen is good at strategizing, and he must rely on geography in every battle. He is a wise general, but my grandmother commented that this man is too smart, considerate, considerate, and lack of courage. In the past ten years, he has served in two The governor and Zeng Ying's subordinates are generals, they don't have many battles, they are good at preserving their strength, they run fast when they win, and they run fast when they are defeated. Therefore, despite the chaos in the middle of Sichuan, he fought more and more troops. This time he attacked Shizhu. I heard that he was the one who volunteered."

Wang Huan rapped his knuckles on the table and said with a smile: "I see, this guy thought of my stone pillar as a soft persimmon, letting him flatten and round it."

Ma Wannian said with a worried voice, frowning: "My lord, don't underestimate this man, but Tan Wen is not unprepared. He must have found out that our Shizhu army is weak. Although he only has 4000 people, my grandmother has been fighting for the past two months. Only 2000 people have been trained, among which there are few middle-aged men, most of them are old and young, and the situation is not optimistic for Tan Wen."

"The stone pillars are no more than the Longevity Valley. It is just across the river from Fengjie. Although the Yangtze River is naturally dangerous, it is tens of miles away. Tan Wenda can find a place where there is no one to cross the river. Qin Zongbing can't deploy defenses along the river, but can only wait. He will fight with him after he crosses the river." Ma Xintian is familiar with the terrain of the stone pillars, and at this time he also said: "Although Tan Wen is not a brave general, he is cunning. The commander-in-chief has few troops, so this battle is very difficult."

Wang Huan nodded and said: "Ma Xintian is right, if the stepmother makes a mistake, my Longevity Valley will definitely not be preserved, my lips will be dead and my teeth will be cold."

He stood up, walked back and forth in the hall twice, looked at Ma Wannian and said, "When will Tan Wen send troops?"

Ma Wannian got up quickly and said: "Many leaders in Fengjie are from the old tribe that my grandmother led troops to fight in the past. They sent a message that Tan Wen has issued a conscription order, asking them to lead their tribal soldiers to join the Yangtze River outside Fengjie County within three days. , It is estimated that the troops will be dispatched in three days."

Wang Huan frowned: "So, we still have three days to prepare."

He turned his attention to Ma Xintian and Zu Bian. Without waiting for him to ask, the two men immediately stood up and said: "Sir, the three thousand people are only in their early stages. They have no military knowledge and cannot be considered soldiers. They are not even as good as miscellaneous soldiers. If you go into battle hastily, I'm afraid you will be killed." And like the Battle of the Black Valley, the effect is limited."

"In the Battle of the Black Valley, the officers and soldiers were all dominated by birds, and our side occupied the terrain. With the tall oars and shields, it was only possible for an army of a hundred men to defeat a thousand officers and soldiers." Ma Xintian continued: "And Min Zhuang fought in this battle. Although they are brave, they also show loose discipline and fear of the enemy and death. Fortunately, the battle went smoothly and nothing went wrong. If they are sent to face Tan Wen, it will be safe unless they find a narrow valley like the Black Valley to do the same. .”

"But we don't know where Tan Wen crossed the river, so where can we go to find the terrain like a black valley?" Zu Bian rubbed his head and said depressedly: "What if the place we are looking for is not in the same place as Tan Wen? , that's the end."

After hearing this, Wang Huan's eyes lit up, a light bulb lit up in his mind, his thoughts were suddenly opened, and Zhanyan burst out laughing.

He came to the huge sand table, touched the non-existent beard on his chin and smiled at the confused people: "Zubian is right, we don't know where Tan Wen came ashore, but we can help him find a place." Place."

Several people in the hall glanced at each other, and they all thought: It's done, Mr. Wang must have some clever plan!
The three of them gathered together and listened to Wang Huan's words. Wang Huan originally wanted to wait for them to ask questions in surprise, and then showed off his deepness. Huan was very bored, so he could only continue talking to himself: "Fengjie and Shizhu meet along the river. Although the area is large, it is not the same. There are steep canyons along the coast, and the river is rushing and fast. If you want to safely let thousands of people cross the river , a pontoon bridge must be built, take a look, where along the river is it suitable to build a pontoon bridge?"

"There are at least a dozen of them." Ma Wannian blinked his eyes and searched in his mind before hesitantly replied.

"Then leaving aside those places that are far away and difficult to travel, how many are left?" Wang Huan asked.

"Well, so to speak... there are three places!" Ma Wannian looked at the sand table and said: "One is Xituo Town, where the water surface of the Yangtze River is open, the water is gentle, and it is most convenient to build a pontoon bridge. Here you can also cross the river by ferry.”

"The other two places are Zhanggongtan, which is ten miles upstream from Xituo Town, and Niu Ma Ferry, which is twenty miles downstream. Both places are original ferries, and the rivers are also very gentle. There are major roads from both places to Shizhu. It is passable, but except for these two places, other areas are either too tight to build a bridge, or there is no way to go after crossing the river."

Wang Huan stared at the three places Ma Wannian mentioned, scanned the sand table with his eyes, moved his eyes back and forth, and kept turning around in three places. After a long time, he raised his head and asked, "Wannian, from Xituo Town? Shizhu, there seems to be a dense forest on the road, isn't it?"

Ma Wannian was concentrating on finding a narrow valley on the sand table. At this moment, Wang Huan suddenly mentioned the dense forest, and after a moment of reaction, he said, "Yes, my lord passed there from Xituo Town to Tusi City. It’s a dense pine forest, called Pine Forest Slope, and the ten-mile radius is full of pine trees, but it’s not a narrow place like a line of sky.”

"Although it is not as narrow as a line of sky, it is still a valley, right? I remember passing there at the time. There were mountains on both sides, and pine forests blocked the sky. Except for the front and rear exits at both ends, there was almost no way to go, right?" Wang Huan asked immediately.

Ma Wannian thought for a while, and said simply: "Yes, that's exactly the case."

"That's fine, just let Tan Wen go this way, and our army will be sure to win!" Wang Huan looked happy, and the melancholy just disappeared, as if he had found some indescribable way to defeat the enemy.

Ma Xintian and Zu Bian looked at each other, and immediately flattered him: "Your Excellency is resourceful and strategizing, please give me an order to let me know what to do!"

In fact, the two of them felt itchy, and there were many things they didn't understand. For example, Tan Wen was not Wang Huan's son, so could he cross the river wherever he was asked?The pine forest is no better than the Black Valley. It is impossible to build a scull shield to resist the enemy. The heavy shield wall is useless for people to turn around. Setting up an ambush here, although it can be taken by surprise, but in the end it has to rely on head-to-head fighting to solve the problem With more than 3000 people in Longevity Valley and more than 2000 people in Tusi City fighting against Tan Wen's 4000 people who have experienced war, the chances of winning are not great, and this has not taken into account the leader tribal soldiers recruited by Tan Wen, plus this, Tan Wen Wen probably has more than 4000 people.

(End of this chapter)