Chapter 231 – Turning Point

After Ning Emei left the courtyard, slightly drunk Xu Fengyen was cleaning up the mess on the stone table, the two vice marshals Zhou Kang and Chen Yuntui came together with heavy faces, Xu Fengyen already had a few premonitions, signaling the two border army mountain leaders to sit down, and sure enough Chen Yuntui told the bad news, the main general of the Youzhou cavalry army, Tian Heng, split his army into two, allowing the vice general Yu Luan blade to lead 20,000 riders to continue to rush to Hulukou outside of the bypass, and the veteran general himself led 10,000 riders to stop The iron hooves from the North Mang two Liao east line, three times and retreat, and finally only four thousand riders left, all died in the Youhe two states bordering the chicken head slope, Yan Wenluan had to urgently draw from the Youbei sixteen thousand elite foot soldiers, reinforce the consolidation of the northeastern part of the state of the Helan Mountain defense line, in the meantime, due to the two Huai Festival Minister Cai Nan’s not moving, set his mind on watching the fire from the other side of the bank, resulting in the entire state of the Hezhou is a virtual virtual void, Wang Sui riding army like entering into no one’s territory, and attacked the eastern gate of Youzhou directly.

Chen Yunzhui sighed: “Although I have long known that the court can not be relied on, but holding more than 100,000 heavy troops Cai Nan, at least once was also considered Gu Jiantang’s right-hand man, in the end, even the courage to symbolically fight a field battle is not, and it is not clear whether it is Cai Nan’s own intention, or the new Secretary Han Lin that civil master secretly got the authorization of the city of Tai’an. ”

Jin partridge Zhou Kang coldly grunted: “There is no difference, Cai Nan is Gu Jiantang raised outside a dog, Gu Jiantang itself good to where, the same is the Zhao family threw to the two Liao’s dog, this time to avoid the war, the huge a river state hands to Wang Sui, estimated Cai Nan and Han Lin is a tacit understanding, the court hopes that the north of the Liang deaths, Gu Jiantang thinking of preserving the strength of the future only to be good to bargain with the Zhao family Now, the real full-fledged troops under the hand of the surname Gu, only the Duoyan elite cavalry pulled up by Tang Tieshuang is still passable, if Cai Nan’s vitality is greatly injured, he won’t be able to return to Tai’an City in style in this life.”

Xu Fengnian shook his head and said, “Actually, Cai Nan and Han Lin have passed the gas, both of them want to fight this battle, only Han Lin wants to fight right away, while Cai Nan is waiting for Gu Jiantang’s secret message.”

Chen Yunzhui and Zhou Kang looked at each other in dismay, Zhou Kang was acute and couldn’t hide his words, he lowered his voice and asked curiously, “Your Highness, is this the spy report obtained by the Whisking Water Room?”

Xu Fengnian laughed, “Previously at the foot of the Wudang Mountains in the Escape Summer Town, I had dealings with Yin Maochun and Han Lin’s son, so I made an unseen deal in passing, this time, Han Lin took the initiative to divulge the true intentions of the capital’s centralized center, it is considered to be a sign of sincerity with Beiliang.”

Zhou Kang was surprised, “This is strange, can’t it be that Zhao’s son and Gu’s brain are both caught in the door panel? Why have they suddenly changed their behavior and become the Bodhisattva of goodwill?”

Xu Fengyen said, “Gu Jiantang wants to fight, it is the situation, not to mention his grudge with Wang Sui, the extra horse harnessed by the side of a team of the Emperor of East Vietnam, this time Wang Sui swaggered away from the Eastern Front, it is openly hitting Gu Jiantang’s face, Gu Jiantang can tolerate it again, but also have to consider the audience’s mouths up and down the court, the reason why they want to let Cai Nan strike later, I guess it is to cooperate with the two Liao Border Army to play a big game, before that, naturally they want to let Wang Sui first talk with the Liao Border Army, and they want to let him fight with them. Naturally, I want to let Wang Sui first with our Youzhou defenders dead for a while, he and Cai Nan good to reap the benefits of fishing. For Gu Jiantang, this opportunity is too good, once the success, the two Liao side of the border situation between the two dynasties, can be from an evenly matched protracted confrontation, instantly transformed into the advantage of the two Liao. As for the court side …… Han Lin also did not say much, I can only figure out some of the implication, as if someone in the small court meeting put forward an extremely offensive strategy to Jibei and Hezhou as a bait to lure the enemy into the depths of the bait, in order to complete the deployment of not only Cai Nan, as well as Yuan Tingshan only remaining Li family Yan Fort private army, as well as the newly risen Jizhou Vice General Han Fang, will all become pawns who can’t help themselves.”

Zhou Kang tsked, “This is a rare masterstroke in Tai’an City… Your Majesty, that bunch of corpse-ridden old men, such as Zhao Kui Yang Shen Xing, should not have this kind of vigor, right?”

Xu Fengyen hesitated, his face dark and uncertain, “the door under the province of the left loose riding standing minister Chen Wang, just rolled out from the state son prison Sun Yin, from the Jing’an king Zhao Xun side of the new owner of the hermit Lu Deng, must be the planning of one of these three people, only this strategy put forward, there is no Qiyanglong and Huan Wen’s nod, there is no Zhao right age and Yin Maochun’s concurrence, doomed to not be able to conveyed out of the capital to the local Han Lin.”

Zhou Kang said with an odd expression, “Why does it sound like we, Beiliang, have undertaken a great favor.”

Xu Fengnian joked, “You can’t say that, Tai’an City is just a stubborn and capricious little brat, suddenly one day it knows to take the big picture into consideration, although in the end it’s still a matter of protecting its own interests, but inevitably it will still be surprising to the adults next to it.”

After Chen Yuntui laughed, he worriedly said, “Wang Sui’s army is pressing in, will it have an impact on the Hulukou battle?”

Xu Fengnian nodded, “Of course there is an impact, but Wang Sui still can’t change the big picture, and maybe Wang Sui never had this idea from the beginning to the end, Yang Yuanzan, Liu Gui, and the resurfaced Huang Songpu are all roadblocks to Wang Sui’s reign of military power in North Mang, being able to have the foresight to rush to assist Youzhou has already spoken for itself on the side of the Old Woman and the Order of the Peace, just watch, as long as the eastern front of North Mang is dragged into a quagmire by Gu Jiantang dragged into the quagmire, coupled with the destruction of Yang Yuanzan’s army, Wang Sui will be able to stand out all of a sudden, from being the commander-in-chief of just one front amongst the powerful figures that do not lose out to Dong Zhuo, and when that day comes, that will be the beginning of Wang Sui’s true ability to show off his skills.”

Chen Yuntui lamented, “It’s not the right time to lose Hutou City, but there’s nothing we can do about it, Liu Yunu has done well enough. The battle has come to this point now, so we can only see who is more capable of surviving.”

In Li Yishan Yan Wenluan’s established strategy of these older generation of Northern Liang staff and military leaders, although it was envisioned early on that Northern Mang would attack Northern Liang to the south with the power of the nation, but specifically which one as a breakthrough, excluding the rear of Lingshou, the two battlefields of Liushou and Youzhou are obviously more in line with common sense than Liangzhou where the soldiers and horses are in full force, but Dong Zhuo has made two unexpected moves, firstly, the three lines of pressure to maximize the compression of the single First, he pressed on three fronts, minimizing the advantage of the Northern Liang iron horsemen on the battlefield of a certain state, and the tactical intention of the Northern Liang border troops to move around through the well-developed post roads of his side. Then, he personally took charge of the centerline army, spared no effort to attack Hutou City regardless of the loss, and during the critical period when the main force of the cavalry elites outside Liangzhou Pass were quietly heading to Hulukou, he “coincidentally” captured Hutou City, which was expected to be defended for another two to three months.

Xu Fengyen calmly said, “The war between Northern Liang and Northern Mang actually had two turning points, one was Poria’s cavalry general Wei Liang’s rash attack, and both sides set up their own ambushes, looking back now, it was indeed Dong Zhuo’s appetite that was bigger at that time, but it was a pity that because of that Poria’s small captain Kilvolt Longguan’s intervention, both sides’ intentions fell through, unintentionally letting Northern Liang escape a disaster. The second turning point was Dong Zhuo’s attempt to reintroduce Liuzhou as a breakthrough, allowing tens of thousands of Dong’s own troops to stealthily break away from the center line, only to be stopped by Chu Lushan’s 8,000 horsemen. I had thought that Hulukou would become the third turning point for Beiliang to take the initiative ……”

Xu Fengnian smiled to himself, “There doesn’t seem to be much point in talking about this now.”

Chen Yuntui said with a straight face, “Nearly 200,000 heads of Northern Mang barbarians, especially when there is also such a one as Yang Yuanzan! Your Highness, wouldn’t this be meaningless?!”

Xu Fengyen was silent for a moment and slowly said, “Earlier in the council hall, I only said some empty words and big words to boost morale, since you, Zhou Kang, took the initiative to come to the door, I’ll open up the sky window and say something bright.”

Zhou Kang said resentfully, “If you want to beat or scold, your majesty is free to do as you please, today I am still able to walk into this courtyard and not eat the closed door, so I am already very satisfied.”

Xu Fengnian waved his hand and said, “On the cavalry side, currently outside Liangzhou Pass there are 30,000 left cavalry troops gathered by you Zhou Kang, Qi Dangguo’s Iron Floaters and Yuan Nanting’s White Feather Guards, together with He Zhongshu’s scattered 40,000 right cavalry troops, a total of more than 80,000, so you can say that most of the combat strength of my Beiliang Border Pass Cavalry Army are all here, and on the side of the infantry troops, leaving aside the troops that have already entered the two towns of Huai Yang Guan and Willow Buds Poring, Gu Dada’s troops have already entered the two towns of Huai Yang Guan and Willow Buds Poria. On the infantry side, leaving aside the troops that have entered the towns of Huai Yang Pass and Liu Bud Poria, Gu Da Zu still has 30,000 in his hands, and old General Chen here has also brought a portion of the Youzhou infantry. You Zhou Kang is not willing to hunker down in the area of the heavy mound is not wrong, but Gu Dazu is worried about 30,000 left cavalry all consumed in the exchange of forces, and even more so, Gu Dazu has a sentence can be said to hit the nail on the head, and now anyone outside the Liangzhou Pass any soldiers can die, as long as you can let the new city in the xiangfu three years before the autumn successfully completed, only to be counted as the right to die. Then next, all troop movements and strikes with Huaiyang Pass and Chongzuka as the center of their respective attacks and defenses need to revolve around this tenet.”

Xu Fengyen poured a full glass of wine, dipped his finger in the glass, and quickly pointed on the stone table, “The first complete line of defense outside my Liangzhou Pass is to use Huitou City as the core, with the two towns of Liuya Poria cavalry troops located on the two flanks at the back to be used as a drawback, and then sit on the treacherous Huaiyang Pass, and the two towns of Qingyuan of Heavy Mound that are inclined to defend themselves as a second small line of defense under the big framework, forming horns for each other, and even if Huitou Even if Tiger Head City fell, it would not be a total loss. Now there is no tiger’s head city this thorn in the flesh, the North Mang army has formed a full line of the spread of the situation, at present in addition to the heavy mound, not only Huaiyang pass, willow bud Poria and Qingyuan three towns have been faced with North Mang infantry siege, in my opinion, Poria willow buds can be thrown, and even Huaiyang pass can be unable to hold, but only the Qingyuan this town can not be fallen, lost control of Liangzhou outside the west gate of Qingyuan, not only HeZhongHu dispersed all over the 40 thousand The only thing we can’t do is to lose Qingyuan. If we lose Qingyuan, not only will He Zhonghu’s 40,000-strong cavalry force be forced to shrink, but also Dong Zhuo will be able to hit Liuzhou as he wants to. Therefore, Zhou Kang, you need to help Qingyuan and intercept Dong Zhuo’s cavalry force that has already been divided up, not only should you stop his ministry from driving southward too smoothly but also strive to eat this cavalry force of 40,000 people or more in a single breath. .”

Zhou Kang frowned, “In that case, the surname Gu on the heavy mound side ……”

Zhou Kang suddenly noticed Xu Fengyen gently casting a strange look and hurriedly changed his words, “Will Commander Gu be under too much pressure? With only 6,000 Iron Floaters and half of the White Feather Guards, the battle for the Heavy Mound Military Town could be a complete loss of initiative.”

Xu Fengnian glanced at this Jin Partridge and said in a deep voice, “So this is Gu Dazu using the price of the Heavy Mound Infantry being a shrinking violet and being passive to allow you, Zhou Kang, to be able to ride the sands in Qingyuan.”

Zhou Kang was silent.

Xu Fengnian reminded, “I, Bei Liang, care immensely about the gains and losses of Qingyuan, Dong Zhuo can most likely also see that, whether Qingyuan will become a trap for North Mang’s siege or not, this needs to be judged on your own when your left cavalry arrives at the battlefield, at that time, I hope that you can hold back thousands or even tens of thousands of people, once you fall into the blockage of the North Mang’s cavalry’s main force, you should know clearly that no one is capable of scattering beans to make soldiers. ability, there is no way to turn out another 30,000 cavalry troops for you to put into the battlefield of Qingyuan, and after the Left Cavalry and half of the White Feather Guards are counter-encircled by the North Mang, not to mention Qingyuan, there is no need to defend the heavy mounds, and I, Gu Dazu, and Old General Chen can only retreat to He Zhonghu’s army in a single breath, and with only a city behind us that hasn’t been broken into for a long time.”

Zhou Kang suddenly asked in a low voice: “Qingyuan battle, the attempts of both the enemy and us are still not considered hidden, I believe that with Dong Zhuo’s vision, the North Mang barbarians want to encircle the possibilities are very high, at most, they did not think that not only the 30,000 left cavalry troops under my command are all deployed, and even the White Feather Guards will also cooperate, since this is the case, Your Highness, or else we can simply target the ambush troops of the North Mang directly? I have confidence in our crossbowmen, in our own territory, we will definitely be able to pinpoint the backhand of the North Mang barbarians, not to mention that even if we have to fight each other, Dong Zhuo’s crows are not enough to take a look at! Your Majesty, don’t worry, I, Zhou Kang, promise that I will never let my temper come to be, just listen to that Gu Dazu, the left cavalry all killings, all to preserve the strength of the main.”

Xu Fengyen shook his head without hesitation, “Fighting this battle in Qingyuan is just trying my best to keep my Beimang from being too passive, it’s not that I don’t want to take a risk, it’s not that I don’t want to go and bet with Dong Zhuo boldly in the sandbox, but I can’t. Beimang can afford to gamble, lose, and at the very least lose again, but we can’t squander a single chance.”

Speaking here, Xu Fengyen asked with a smile, “General Zhou, toad wants to live and snake wants to be full, isn’t it feeling suffocated?”

Zhou Kang laughed and said, “Suffocating is a bit suffocating, but at least he is an old pawn who has been following the great general in that spring and autumn blood and water for some years, he knows the importance of lightness. But to be honest, after arriving in Northern Liang, smooth sailing so many years past, this time if not the king to the heavy mound, Gu Da Zu may not be able to stop me.”

Chen Yunzhui, who has not spoken much, said thoughtfully, “Indeed, we need to reflect on one or two, Your Highness, you have also seen and heard today’s proceedings, in addition to Gu Commander, I’m afraid that even I can’t bear this breath. Yes, these twenty years, our northern Liang border army with the northern Mang barbarians, a few hundred people of the battle not to mention, more than 10,000 people of the battlefield, we have not lost once, so this time the tiger head city suddenly lost, resulting in Hulukou side of the imminent results of the war greatly reduced, we seem to be all of a sudden some of the confused. If we don’t get this back, we may be in for a big loss this time. Your Highness, it’s not that I, Chen Yuntui, am saying flattering things, you’ve come in time this time.”

When Xu Fengyen sent Zhou Kang and Chen Yuntui to the entrance of the small courtyard, he said to Zhou Kang for no apparent reason, “If Dong Zhuo has two or even more large-scale ambushes in Qingyuan, your Left Cavalry might as well consider the west in terms of their choice of retreat direction, and if that’s not possible, they can just circle around and return to Heavy Mound.”

Zhou Kang froze on the spot, “West? Your Highness, not much farther west, but we will be bordering the Liuzhou border ah?”

Xu Fengnian did not speak.

Zhou Kang’s eyes snapped open and asked cautiously, “Your Highness is saying that we can take down the war in Liuzhou?”

Xu Fengnian laughed softly, “Kou Jianghuai and Shi Fu are both the type of generals who can save the day. As to whether they can do it or not, and whether they can make the Qingyuan Riding Battle turn into the third turning point of the Liangmang War, let’s just wait and see.”