Dingjiangshan

On the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Ning Huaijin and Xie Jue finally arrived in Xinyang City.

To be on the safe side, they chose the official road, so they were two days behind the normal schedule.

Unlike those martial arts practitioners like them, Cheng Yuan could travel day and night, and when he was halfway there, he split up with them and left with the caravan. Counting the days, he would arrive in about two days.

Xinyang had already entered a state of combat readiness. Before Ning Huaijin and Xie Jue arrived, they had encountered two small waves of ambushes. Fortunately, the lieutenants defending the city knew it well, so there was no major disturbance.

But Xinyang was obviously not stable anymore. He was on the front line, and there was a lot of gunfire outside. Even if he couldn't get in, it was scary just listening to it.

When Xinyang attacked the city a few years ago, she had already lost her vitality, and now she hasn't recovered well. Ning Huaijin thought about it all the way, and the first thing she did when she entered the government office was to ask the local officials to come out and take stock of the remaining civilians in the city.

If there is someone looking for relatives, a sum of money will be sent in the name of the court as travel expenses, and they will be sent out of Xinyang.If there is really nowhere to go, they will be gathered together and sent back to several small counties in the rear to find an inn or medical center for temporary placement.

Although there are not many people left in Xinyang City, it will cost a lot of money to gather them together.

Ning Huaijin knew that Ning Yan had just fought a secret battle with Ning Zheng on food tax years ago, and he expected that he would not have enough money now, so he didn't report it at all, and the money was paid out of his own account.

Prince Gong has been in charge for ten years, although he has been a clean and honest official, but he can't stand Ning Yan's eccentricity. He has never cut off the rewards openly and secretly, and he has quite a bit of family property in his hands.

With his big Buddha behind him, the remaining civilians in Xinyang Mansion also moved seven or eight in three days.

Xie Jue disrupted and reorganized the defenders of Xinyang, divided the left and right central troops into Xinyang City, demolished half of the houses, and turned the entire Xinyang into a garrison.

Xinyang is making intensive arrangements, and the other side is not idle. These days, not to mention the two counties of Huaibin and Hengchuan on the opposite side of Xinyang, even Shunchang Prefecture has also made new moves.

According to reports from the spies, martial law began in Shunchang Mansion from the tenth day of the first lunar month, the whole city was allowed to leave and not allowed to enter, and the guards around the main city had also changed, and it was even stricter than before.

After Ning Huaijin heard about it, she closed the door with Xie Jue and studied it for a while, and they all guessed a possibility—maybe it was Ning Zheng who came.

As Ning Yan guessed before, no matter how talented the children of the royal family are, they have been spinning around in the Six Arts and the Art of War since the beginning of their enlightenment.

It's another story to say that I haven't been on the battlefield before, but I have learned a lot of planning, military deployment, and martial arts riding and shooting.If it is true, Ning Zheng has more than twice as many years of studying as Ning Yan.

"Your Majesty is right, there is no one to use him now." Ning Huaijin put two wooden sticks on the sand table near Shunchang Mansion, and said in a deep voice: "So he can't sit still, even if he doesn't go to the battlefield, We also need to find a place closer to the battlefield, and keep an eye on the front line all the time to be at ease."

"If he doesn't come now, I'll admire him." Xie Jue threw a piece of firewood as thick as a forearm into the brazier, and said, "The spies from the front came to report that Anqing Mansion was also under martial law, and there were three-way soldiers Ma came out of Anqing Mansion and went to several cities around Shunchang, I guess it was Ning Zheng's trick to go out - suspicious people like to use this."

Conditions at the front line are no better than at the rear, and many precious things are not available.There are very few charcoal fires, and the brazier burning in the house can only use firewood, which makes a lot of noise when it burns.

Xie Jue ordered the guards to dismantle the government office of Xinyang Mansion from inside to outside. The inner courtyard was dismantled into a large courtyard and turned into a wounded soldier's station.The outer courtyard was converted into a military intelligence department, the wall panels in several rooms were smashed, and they were dismantled into a large study room, which was used for daily discussion of military affairs.

When there was nothing unusual on the front line, only Xie Jue and Ning Huaijin were here, and there was some echo when they spoke, sounding empty.

"The king of Changle really wants to live a good life, but he insists on going to this dead end." Xie Jue put his elbows on his knees, and was roasting his hands by the brazier. He raised his head awkwardly, pointed his chin outside the door, and said, " Sometimes when I think about the casualties on the front line, I really wish that some strange person would descend from the sky and wipe Ning Zheng's neck."

Xie Jue's words were tactful, but Ning Huaijin also knew that he was talking about the ten miles guarded outside the door.

"It's not that easy." Ning Huaijin said: "If His Majesty doesn't speak, who can really take the life of King Changle... That is the blood of the Tian family, His Majesty's eldest brother."

"Indeed." Xie Jue only complained a few words, and that was fine.He paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered something, and asked: "...But, do you want to tell Your Majesty about this?"

Ning Huaijin was stopped by his question.

Prince Gong frowned, stared at the Shunchang Mansion on the sand table for a while, and said hesitantly: "...The news is still undecided, so let's not talk about it."

Xie Jue didn't doubt that there was him, but he only thought that he was acting cautiously and reported everything after everything was confirmed, so he nodded dispensably and said, "That's fine, anyway, if Ning Zheng really comes, there will always be him." A day of showing off."

Ning Huaijin hummed, and it was considered to have brought this topic to the fore.

It was also difficult for Ning Huaijin to explain the reason for the sudden uneasiness in his heart at that moment just now. He just felt that no matter whether Ning Zheng really came or not, he couldn't tell Ning Yan now.

Ning Yan had been paying too much attention to Ning Zheng since his personal conquest. Ning Huaijin didn't know what was going on in his mind, but was rather worried about his excessive attention.

——It's not considered a lie, Ning Huaijin comforted himself, if the news is confirmed in the future, it will not be too late for him to report it.

After Ning Huaijin persuaded herself in this way, she stopped thinking about it and turned her attention back to the sand table in front of her.

"Zhaoming." Ning Huaijin waved, "Come here."

Xie Jue threw two pieces of firewood into the brazier, patted the crumbs on his hands, stood up, and walked to the edge of the sand table in two or three steps.

"What's the matter?" Xie Jue asked: "My lord has been looking at this sand table for almost a whole night, did you see any flowers?"

"I'm looking at Huaibin and Hengchuan counties," Ning Huaijin said.

Xie Jue touched the meaning behind what he said, and said, "The lord wants to attack these two counties?"

"Exactly." Ning Huaijin nodded and admitted.

"But these two counties have special terrains, so I'm afraid it's not easy to fight." Xie Jue said honestly.

Huaibin County and Hengchuan County are not far from Xinyang City, about three or four days away.These two counties are not big, but they are both plains, unlike Tongbai where there are mountains and forests to hide around, so it will take a lot of trouble to fight.

What's more, what makes Xie Jue hesitate is not how easy to defend and difficult to attack these two counties, but the geographical location of these two counties is too tricky - the distance between the two counties is not far, and there is a cross river connected, if they fight, The opponent's reinforcements will come faster.

What Xie Jue disagreed with the most was that these two counties were right in front of Shunchang Mansion, and they belonged to the same straight line as Shunchang Mansion. If Huaibin was defeated, it would almost be like hitting the gate of Shunchang Mansion.

Ning Zheng had just designated Shunchang Mansion as a front-line military office, so he probably wouldn't retreat so easily.

So if Ning Huaijin rashly sent troops to these two counties, the gains would outweigh the losses.

According to Xie Jue, they could nibble away at the other small cities around them first, and wait until the frontline cities are connected together, and then they can gnaw at this difficult bone.

"It's better if you lose." Ning Huaijin said calmly.

Xie Jue stumbled when he was full of words, and almost choked on him.

If Xie Jue hadn't known that Ning Huaijin was not a person who was driven by emotions, he would have wondered if this person had quarreled with Ning Yan before leaving and came here to get angry.

"What's your lord's intention?" Xie Jue said sincerely, "Our soldiers are not used to the severe cold weather. It is the time when morale is needed, and the trick of feigning defeat to lure the enemy may be self-defeating."

"It's not what I want to do." Ning Huaijin explained in a gentle tone: "This is what His Majesty meant."

As Ning Huaijin spoke, she briefly mentioned Ning Yan's explanation before leaving.Marching and fighting, these things have to be discussed with a coach like Xie Jue.

Xie Jue probably understood what Ning Yan meant when he heard half of it, so he made a stop gesture and said: "I understand, the rest of the princes don't need to talk about it, as long as your majesty knows it well, there will be no courtiers who will not refuse. "

"It's just that if you want to lose, you have to have a reason for losing." Xie Jue propped his hands on the edge of the table, leaned forward slightly, scanned the sand table with his eyes, and said, "...if the defeat is too small, I'm afraid It won't do much, but if the defeat is too severe, it may damage morale."

"I'm also worried about this." Ning Huaijin sighed, and said, "That's why I thought, we should attack Huaibin and Hengchuan counties first, and even if we lose, there will be an argument, and then we will attack the surrounding small towns." In the county seat, just slow down the morale."

Xie Jue didn't say yes or no, he carefully looked at the deployment of the enemy and our armies on the sand table, and then reached out and pointed in another direction.

"If we want to do what the prince did, we have to take down both Xin County and Luoshan County first." Xie Jue said, "Otherwise Hengchuan counterattacks and the reinforcements from Shunchang Mansion go down Henghe. It will pull our army on the battlefield, and at that time, if Ning Zheng attacks from the direction of Luzhou, our army will be attacked by the enemy."

"I thought about it, but if Luoshan County is attacked, Hengchuan County will definitely be vigilant." Ning Huaijin said: "Although I just want to use these two counties as an excuse, it is not completely unintentional. If you can take advantage of this The opportunity to reduce some troops may not necessarily be a bad thing for us."

"We might as well take Xin County first." Ning Huaijin said, "Leave Luoshan County alone, so as not to startle the snake."

Xie Jue pursed his lips, looked at the sand table and pondered for a while, and felt that what Ning Huaijin said made sense. Luoshan County and Xin County were in diametrically opposite directions. If they went to get Xin County first, it would be easy It made Ning Zheng feel that they wanted to drive straight into Anqing Mansion, which made Hengchuan lower his vigilance.

"My lord makes sense." Xie Jue said, "Why don't we just do this, since we want to 'lose', we can't wait for the other party to come to the door, we must take the initiative to hold this 'speed' in our own hands .”