Chapter 1138: Carrying on the Past and Opening up the Future (Twenty-Eight)
Jicheng, the Yamen of the Ministry of War, and the Staff Department were filled with deathly silence. A dozen staff officers stood against the wall, all looking at their noses and hearts, not daring to take a breath. One person seemed to want to cough and rinse. , but he covered his mouth desperately, his face turned red from holding it in. The originally spacious staff room was now filled with big shots, and the person sitting in front of the huge sand table in the middle of the room was none other than the king of the Han Kingdom, Gao Yuan.
The terrain above the sand table is around Pengcheng, but now it is filled with flags of all sizes. The blue ones represent the Chu army, and the red ones represent the Han people. The blue flags representing the Chu army are now filled with the sand table, and the red ones represent the Chu army. The flag was surrounded by people in the middle.
"Tell me the specific situation!" Gao Yuan looked at the flags in the sand table. There was no emotion or anger on his face, but people who knew him well knew that Gao Yuan's expression meant that he was really angry.
Ye Zhong glanced at Zhao Yi'an, the director of the Staff Department. Zhao Yi'an was one of the first batch of top students to graduate from the General Staff Department. After graduation, he was sent to Bai Yucheng's Qilu Army, where he participated in planning all the battles to overthrow the Qi State. After being captured by the Han Dynasty, Zhao Yian was also transferred back to the Ministry of War and was promoted to the director of the Staff Department due to his merit.
"Your Majesty, according to the information we have received, the new First Army is surrounded by the Chu army in the Sixi and Pengcheng areas. As of now, the losses of the New First Army except for the third division Dong Zhuang, The first and second divisions and the army headquarters have not yet suffered a fatal blow. The Chu army formed a stable triangular ambush circle at three points: Pengcheng, Tucheng, and Sixi, and assembled more than 100,000 troops. They are all the main force of the Chu army. The commander is Qu Wan, who was defeated by us in Qi State." Zhao Yian held a wicker pole in his hand and pointed on the sand table.
"That is to say, with their own strength, they are unable to break through." Gao Yuan said in a deep voice.
"Yes." Zhao Yian's face was heavy, "The Chu army's defense line is very thick, and its military strength is twice that of mine. More importantly, it has been a month since the newly formed First Army fell into the opponent's trap. Their supplies of food and grass are already running low, and if the army is without food, it will be unstable."
Gao Yuan turned his head and looked at Ye Chong, "Who is the closest unit to them?"
"Your Majesty, the closest unit to them is Xu Yuan's Northern Field Army Group, but Xu Yuan has just sent an urgent report. The Qin general Tan Feng opposite him has been dispatching troops during this period and has the intention of a large-scale attack. He I'm afraid that we won't be able to mobilize troops to rescue them." Ye Zhong said: "And Bai Yucheng is too far away from them. I'm afraid that by the time Bai Yucheng arrives, the New First Army will not die in battle, but will starve to death."
"As expected!" Gao Yuan closed his eyes slightly. "Qin Chu really colluded together. This matter was a big trap from the beginning. Okay, okay, I underestimated the heroes of the world. From the beginning, they They are plotting against us, but our eyes are covered by underestimation and pride, and we cannot clearly see the enemy's true purpose after a series of actions."
"Your Majesty, this is a dereliction of duty on the part of the ministers." Ye Chong said in a low voice.
Gao Yuan smiled and said, "The ministers' dereliction of duty is not my dereliction of duty." He slowly stood up and looked deeply at the red flags surrounded by them. Those small red flags seemed to turn into One by one, the Han soldiers were struggling hard under the enemy's attack and the threat of hunger.
It was a huge conspiracy from the beginning. Now that things have come to a point, Gao Yuan has finally figured out the causes and consequences.
From the moment Tan Feng started planning to kidnap Mao Wei, the conspiracy began to unfold step by step.
In this era when cold weapons are king, an earth-shattering explosion in Kangping City announced the official debut of new weapons on this continent. As soon as explosives were used on the battlefield, the amazing destructive power they displayed immediately attracted people. It has attracted everyone's attention. At this time, whether it is the Qin people or the Chu people, it is completely predictable that they are trying every possible means to get such a powerful weapon.
Tan Feng kidnapped Mao Wei, an extremely important researcher at the Yizhen Research Institute, and successfully attracted everyone's attention, and also completely attracted the intelligence agencies of the Han Kingdom. The Oversight Council invested a lot of manpower and material resources in order to Mao Wei took him back or killed him to protect the interests of the Han Kingdom. Such a large-scale investment also caused them to ignore other aspects of information.
In the second step, in order to escape the pursuit of the Han people, the Qin people passed by Chu State. There seemed to be a problem between the two parties who had cooperated sincerely in advance. Mao Wei was detained by the Chu people in Jiangzhong County and refused to release him, while Qin general Zhou Yu immediately He raised his troops brazenly, defeated the Chu army in Suizhou in one fell swoop, and occupied Suizhou in Chu state.
Qin and Chu seemed to have turned against each other because of the huge temptation of explosives. This was the second step for Qin and Chu to successfully confuse the Han Dynasty. The Qin State sent troops, and the Chu State mobilized the whole country in response to Qin's sudden invasion in order to regain Suizhou. When deploying troops and generals on a large scale, Gao Yuan still clearly remembers that when he was in the palace at that time, he shook his head and said to Jing'er that good fortune lies on the back of misfortune, and misfortune lies on the back of good fortune. Now that I think about it, it is really ridiculous. Chu people They were deploying troops on a large scale, not to deal with the Qin people, but to target themselves.
The sudden conflict between Qin and Chu successfully attracted the attention of the Han State and aroused his own greed. The thought of taking advantage of the opportunity filled his heart, and the generals on the front line could not resist the desire to make contributions in this regard. , Zhang Hongyu wanted to capture Pengcheng and separate Xuzhou from the mainland of Chu.
Qin Chu's calculations were not only military calculations, but also calculated on people's hearts.
As for the Han Kingdom, from Gao Yuan himself to the civil servants and generals, they were all plotted by their opponents.
"From now on, I dare not underestimate the heroes of the world!" Gao Yuan sighed. Although he had experienced some setbacks since he started his army, he had been smooth sailing overall and had not suffered too many setbacks and hardships. This was his first complete failure, and he had ruined his entire front army.
When everyone thought that Qin and Chu wanted the explosives that the Han Kingdom had just successfully researched, the other side wanted a great victory over the Han Kingdom.
The Chu people achieved their goal. They successfully surrounded the New First Army and put it in a desperate situation. The victory in this battle made the Han Kingdom's previous victory over Chu a success. The strategic advantage gained from the battle was gone. The destruction of tens of thousands of troops will greatly change the balance of power between Han and Chu on the border, and Chu finally got a chance to catch its breath.
As an ally of Chu, Qin not only gained prestige in this conspiracy, but more importantly, the success of Chu will force the Han Dynasty to pay more attention to the big country in the south, and redeploy troops to achieve a strategic balance with Chu, which is a measure that must be taken.
The Han Kingdom will turn its attention to Chu, and Qin will also get a chance to recuperate in the aggressive offensive of Han. The Han Dynasty will mobilize its troops. The pressure on the Qin people will inevitably decrease when they go to the border between Han and Chu.
It must be said that the strategy of Qin and Chu has achieved unprecedented success this time.
"Your Majesty, the New First Army is now facing a desperate situation, but what puzzles me is why the Chu Army, which has gained an absolute advantage on the battlefield, did not take the offensive. They just besieged our army. Do they want our army to starve to death or wait for our army to surrender?" Zhao Yian said uneasily. If the New First Army is forced to surrender, it will be an absolutely unbearable blow to the morale of the entire Han Kingdom's army.
Gao Yuan is known as the undefeated god of war. He has experienced hundreds of battles and has They have never lost a single time, but now it seems that this title will be gone.
"They are waiting for us to negotiate with them. They will not launch an attack to completely annihilate the New First Army." Gao Yuan reached out and pulled up the flags on the sand table one by one, and threw them to a corner.
"The Chu people are very clear-headed. They will not launch a final attack on the New First Army. If they really wiped out the New First Army, they would lose the capital to negotiate with us, so they are just besieging, not attacking." Gao Yuan pulled out all the flags, turned around, and looked at the Council of State Wu behind him. Wu Qi: "Mr. Wu, please take the trouble to make a trip and start negotiations with the State of Chu."
"Yes, Your Majesty, what is the bottom line of our negotiations?" Wu Qi bowed and asked.
"My bottom line is to bring back all the living soldiers of the New First Army intact. As for the other parts, you can go and negotiate." Gao Yuan waved his hand and said.
"What if the opponent has territorial demands?" Wu Qi hesitated for a moment and still asked.
"This is conceivable. They must have such demands. We want their Pengcheng, and they want our Suiyang. If we occupy Suiyang, Pengcheng will no longer be a problem, so Suiyang will be given to them. In addition, , we can also retreat from Daba Mountain and return to Linyi!" Gao Yuan said: "Give them what they want, I just want my soldiers to come back."
"Yes, King, I understand!" Wu Qi bowed. Gao Yuan gave him great autonomy and bottom line. As for how to talk and to what extent, it depends on his ability.
"You all go out, I want to be alone!" Looking at the sand table that had been completely emptied of flags by himself, Gao Yuan waved his hand.
"King!" Ye Chong stepped forward and wanted to persuade him.
"Go out!" Gao Yuan did not look back, but emphasized his tone and repeated it.
Ye Zhong sighed silently, waved to the staff officers by the wall, and was the first to step out of the door of the General Staff Office. After a moment, everyone left the house, and the door closed silently, leaving Gao Yuan alone in the house.
"Sir, are you really going to let it go? Negotiating with the Chu people, isn't this surrendering to the opponent? If all the cavalry in Beijing are mobilized, they can reach the battlefield in less than ten days. This war is not without a chance to save it!" Zhao Yian looked at Ye Zhong and asked in a low voice.
"If you can see what you can see, can't the king see it? But in this case, tens of thousands of New First Army The soldiers are finished. After we send out the troops, the Chu people will immediately launch a decisive battle against them. Do you think the New First Army still has the strength to fight now?"
"But as long as Pengcheng is captured, the Chu army will still be defeated." Zhao Yian emphasized.
"If the king gives up the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers in the New First Army in exchange for victory, he will never do it. The king once said that if you lose land but keep people, you will gain both people and land. If you lose people but keep land, you will lose both people and land. Yian, you are now the director of the General Staff Department of the Ministry of War and a senior general of the Ministry of War. You must remember the king's words firmly."
"Yes, I have taken note of it." (To be continued...)