lcionline Chapter 429: A Word of Awakening
Chapter 429: A Word of Awakening
Shen Changgong looked at the map, and the terrain of Qi State appeared in his mind.
The State of Qi was almost entirely plains. To the west was the Loess Plateau, which belonged to the territory of the State of Liang, and to the east was all the State of Qi.
Qi State also had mountains, but not many. The most famous one was undoubtedly Mount Tai outside Linzi City.
(This is a fictional history, and the place names are all made up. They are just a reference to part of history, so there is no need to refer to the map of my country)
Jiang Shun, the commander of the Southern Expedition Army, said,
"My Lords, we are now heading towards Qi State. We will enter from the northwest and fight our way to the southeast. There are two routes we can take.
One route is to go south into Heqi County, and then go east to Linzi.
One way is to go directly east, enter Dexing County, and then go south.
Both of these roads are flat and easy to walk on. Even if we encounter an enemy, we are not afraid. We can just flatten them."
Shen Changgong shook his head and asked,
"The main question is, where are the enemy troops now? Qi's central army only has 200,000 men left. The local troops in the capital must have been temporarily recruited and are still undergoing armed training. The local troops in the south are also rushing towards the capital.
The local army in the north is also gathering now.
Both Qi and Wei were populous countries with a lot of money. Qi was still very powerful and could easily arm its local troops, making it much stronger than Liang.
We must first eliminate the main force of the local army in the north, and then go straight to Huanglong and fight a decisive battle with the Qi army in the capital of Linzi.
After destroying Qi in one fell swoop, send some troops to support Lao Guan and let him fight a decisive battle with the Qin army."
Gongsun Wan'er shook her head and said,
"The intelligence is too mixed. The local troops in the northern border of Qi are scattered everywhere, but they are all gathering in the center. No one can tell where they will gather for defense.
However, the commander-in-chief appointed by Qi State is known.
This man's name is Tong Xuan. He is not a famous general. The famous generals of Qi State are all on the northern and western battlefields, and now... they are almost all dead.
There is relatively little information about Tong Xuan. We only know that he is quite old, has a long history, is an old aristocrat, and has nothing remarkable about him.
The Emperor of Qi ordered Tong Xuan to take charge of the overall situation and command all local armies in the northern border."
Southern King Ma Ling nodded and said,
"It sounds like he's just like Nie Bei last year, being pushed out as cannon fodder."
Nie Bei's mouth twitched when he heard this. King Nan, are you polite?
Ma Ling continued,
“Last time we fought Kun Country, we won the battle quickly because we had fewer soldiers and Kun Country had more. We had to use our superior forces to defeat them one by one and then quickly destroy Kun Country in order to win.
However, it also led to the failure to stabilize the counties in a timely manner, causing rebellions everywhere. Wasn’t the Yellow Croaker Sect the cause of much trouble this year?
This king believes that it is better to proceed steadily and steadily, conquering each place and controlling it, thus reducing the number of able-bodied soldiers that Qi can call upon."
Shen Changgong pondered for a moment, shook his head, and murmured,
"No, we must fight quickly and decisively, and destroy Qi as quickly as possible."
"Huh? Why is that?"
King Nan asked.
Shen Changgong sighed and said,
“As you said, it is to reduce the population that Qi can recruit.
It is precisely because the population of Qi is so large that we must fight quickly and decisively.
Once the war drags on, even if we control the north, Qi in the south will have time to recruit more people to fight.
By then, I'm afraid we will be caught in the vast ocean of people's war.
We can't kill all the Qi people, right?
While the troops from all regions have not yet been trained and recruited, we should attack directly. After destroying Qi, its various factions will be scattered and leaderless. We can defeat them one by one, or even conquer them with a single edict."
Hearing this, Ma Ling also looked at the map and began to think carefully.
Zhang Han grinned and said,
"It's just a small country like Qi. Why should we be so cautious? If it were you, I'd just go ahead and attack it.
No matter where the army is or what route it takes, we will just head southeast without being picky about the route.
If those local troops dare to provoke us, we will destroy them. If they don’t dare to come, we will directly attack Linzi and destroy their capital.
Anyway, they have cannons, so they can’t defend the city at all.
Do we still need to go after their main force? They are more anxious than we are, they will come after us.
We decide where the battlefield is, not them!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Changgong and Ma Ling both looked up at Zhang Han.
Zhang Han was startled when he saw this, scratched his head, and smiled awkwardly.
"Don't take it seriously, my Lords. I was just saying it casually. You know, I'm just a reckless man..."
"No, no, no, you're absolutely right."
Shen Changgong's eyes lit up and he said,
"Your words have enlightened me. The most important thing is that we don't need to look for the enemy; the enemy will come to us.
Our goal is to destroy the State of Qi and storm its capital.
What was the manager's name? His job was to stop us.
We can ignore him, but he can't ignore us.
They can gather wherever they want, what does it have to do with us?
We can collect food by attacking cities and strongholds as we fight our way forward, and we can get even more food if we capture Linzi. Qi is a major grain-producing country, so we don't have to worry about logistics or food routes at all.
If he really has the guts, he can trade places with us. I wonder if it’s faster for us to destroy Qi or for them to attack us.”
The Southern King also nodded and said,
"At worst, we still have the Zhennan Army to charge at full speed. I want to see who can stop the Great Yan cavalry on this thousand-mile plain."
Zhang Han was shocked when he heard this.
"Ah? So, I'm right?"
"Well, you are right. We now have an army of 550,000, countless artillery and muskets, and 100,000 cavalrymen. Among all the countries in the world, how many countries can defeat us?
It was the Southern King and I who fell into a misunderstanding. We were always thinking about how to destroy the enemy and failed to see the greater strategic nature.
In fact, we don't need to think so much, just kill all the way, kill anyone who stands in our way, kill the Buddha, no one can stop us from unifying the world!"
The Southern King also had a sharp look in his eyes and said domineeringly,
"Yes, this is Dayan!"
Everyone looked at each other and saw excitement and pride in each other's eyes.
Dayan is no longer the Dayan that was bullied by others.
Now Dayan doesn’t need to think too much about what he wants to do.
Just sweep and crush them all the way.
Dayan wants to use the most domineering attitude to tell the world that Dayan is not to be messed with!
In the evening, King Ma Ling of the South held a banquet and drank with everyone.
At the banquet, Zhang Han was very proud. With just a few words today, he solved the problem that had been troubling the King of the South and the King of Lanling, and set a strategic direction. He drank too much that night.
Shen Changgong also made Ma Ling drink several bowls of wine and asked him to apologize to him.