Chapter 684: Start the War

The spring rain is falling, the rain and mist are filled, and thousands of silver threads are rippling in the air, just like a bead curtain, covering everything like a cloud of smoke.

Yun Qing stood at the door looking at the rain as fine as silk outside and didn't speak for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking.

Si Bonian said in a low voice: "My lord, General Fang is here, waiting outside."

Yun Qing hummed and said, "Let him in."

Fang Xing walked into the room, saluted Yun Qing who was standing in front of the desk, and called out, "My lord."

Yunqing beckoned Fang to walk to his side, then pointed to a location on the map on the table: "You go to Shangqiu with 50,000 soldiers and horses, and leave before dawn tomorrow, and you must arrive in Shangqiu before it gets dark the next day. Join Fei, rest for one night, and attack Xiayi together with Lu Fei."

Fang Xing thought about it, Lanyang is about two hundred miles away from Shangqiu, two days and one night are enough to arrive. Fang Xing nodded and said, "My lord, I will definitely arrive at Shangqiu before it gets dark the next day." One night's rest time is enough for the soldiers to recharge their spirits.

Yun Qing said solemnly: "No matter how much you pay, you and Lu Fei must take down Xiayi within two days."

When Fang Xing heard this, his face turned cold, and he asked, "My lord, Xiayi is less than two hundred miles away from Xuzhou and Huaizhou. Xiayi is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even if we pay a heavy price, Xiayi can be captured within two days Take it, but once the reinforcements from Xuzhou and Huaizhou arrive, we won’t be able to defend Xiayi.” In two days, he was sure to take Xiayi, but the problem was that he could not defend Xiayi after paying a huge price. Why bother.

Yun Qing said: "You just need to attack Xiayi. When the enemy's reinforcements arrive, you can retreat back to Shangqiu."

Fang Xing suddenly understood that Yunqing had other plans, so he didn't continue to ask, and immediately issued a military order: "Don't worry, my lord, I will definitely take down Xiayi within the specified time. If the task cannot be completed, Fang Xing will ask See you later."

Yun Qing hummed and said, "Have a good rest today."

Send Fang Xing out of the house, the rain is still falling at this time. Yunqing turned back and suddenly said to Si Bonian: "I don't know when the rain will stop?" Originally, Yunqing arrived in Lanyang and was going to rest for two days to attack Caozhou. Unexpectedly, the day after he arrived in Lanyang, it started to rain. Although the rain was not heavy, it was much colder when it rained in February. It just so happened that his attacking Caozhou was also a pretense. Now that it is raining, there is no need to find another excuse for not attacking Caozhou.

Si Bonian said what he knew: "I heard that every February in Lanyang, it always rains non-stop, sometimes for half a month in a row. I don't think there are three or five days of this rain. Can't stop."

Looking at the rain as thin as silk, Yun Qing said softly: "I hope this rain will last for another five days." Even three days is enough.

On the evening of the second day after Fang Xing set off, Yunqing got a message from the capital, saying that Yan Wushuang's flying pigeon had sent a message to Yu Baojia, asking Yu Baojia to send more troops to the city. This is also the disadvantage of forming an alliance. If Yan Wushuang is in charge of the battle, he can directly order the deployment of troops. But Yu Baojia has the final say in Jiangnan, and Yu Baojia can only order troops to be transferred.

Yun Qing's face suddenly changed, maybe Yan Wushuang knew about his plan. Thinking of this, Yun Qing quickly shook his head again. There are only five people including himself who know about his plan, and these five people will never leak the secret.

Spreading out the map, Yunqing studied the map carefully. After a while, Yunqing's expression eased a little. Yan Wushuang asked Yu Baojia to send more troops to Xiayi, probably suspecting that he did not really intend to attack Caozhou when he arrived in Lanyang. But even so, Yun Qing's heart is also on the rise. Once Yu Baojia really sent more troops to Xiayi, Xiayi would be very difficult to break through. Fortunately, the capital is thousands of miles away from Zhejiang, and there is a war going on, even if it took two days for Feige to send the message, the news would not reach Yu Baojia.

And Zhejiang is also thousands of miles away from Huaizhou, and Yu Baojia's order to increase troops will take two days at the fastest to reach Huaizhou. At that time, the war in Xiayi was over.

Thinking of this, Yun Qing immediately wrote a secret letter and asked someone to send it to Lu Fei as quickly as possible.

And the day before Fang Xing and Lu Fei attacked Xiayi, Du Zheng sent troops to attack Fuyang, and at the same time Guan Tai also sent troops to attack Anzhou.

Within a day, Yu Baojia and Yu Chunhao received the battle report between Fuyang and Anzhou. Although Yu Chunhao was not good at war, he always felt that something was wrong: "Why did Du Zheng and Guan Tai send troops at this time?" The two places sent troops on the same day, so it was Yun Qing's order without thinking about it.

Looking at the map, Yu Baojia said after a while: "Although they sent troops earlier than we expected, it is delusional that they want to attack Fuyang and Anzhou with the troops at hand." , plus their own 150,000 soldiers and horses, and Anzhou also has his 150,000 elite soldiers. They have a large number of troops against the enemy, and they occupy a favorable position. The city is strong, and the enemy cannot break through their defense.

Yu Chunhao said: "I always feel that something is not quite right."

Yu Baojia also felt a little abnormal, but after thinking about it for a while, he shook his head and said, "I haven't found anything wrong for the time being."

The next day, the morning when Fang Xing and Lu Fei attacked Xiayi, Yu Baojia and Yu Chunhao received a message from Yan Wushuang. Yu Chunhao's expression was a little heavy, and he said, "Uncle Jia, Yan Wushuang said that Yunqing might attack Xiayi, what do you think?"

Although Yu Baojia lived a life of extravagance and corruption, if he had no real ability, even with the support of Prime Minister Yu, he would not be able to sit in the position of Governor of Jiangnan. Yu Baojia clicked on the location of Xiayi on the map, and said the same words as before Fang Xing: "Even if they break through Xiayi, Xiayi is easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as the reinforcements arrive, we can quickly take Xiayi back." Yunqing is a veteran who has fought in the battlefield for twenty years, and he is not an ignorant child, how could he treat war as a trifle?" Knowing that Xiayi will not be able to hold it down, he will continue to fight, unless Yunqing's brain is showing off. If Yan Wushuang hadn't been asked to send reinforcements, he would never have formed an alliance with Yan Wushuang. Regarding the war, he was not willing to listen to Yan Wushuang at all.

It's not that Yu Baojia is blind, but that Yan Wushuang has never led soldiers to fight. Therefore, Yu Baojia believed that Yan Wushuang would only talk about wars on paper and would not fight at all.

Yu Chunhao acted more cautiously, thought for a while and said: "To be on the safe side, let's transfer 40 million troops from Xuzhou and Huaizhou to Xiayi!" There must be his reasons.

Yu Baojia thought for a while and said: "50,000 troops are too many to be dispatched. In this way, 10,000 troops will be dispatched from Xuzhou and Huaizhou each." Xiayi originally had 60,000 troops, and sent another 20,000 , a total of 80,000 horses is enough.

Yu Chunhao thought for a while and said: "If there is a war in Xiayi, they will immediately send troops to reinforce Xiayi."

Yu Baojia nodded in agreement.

Because the distance is too far, even if there is an urgent 800 li, the news of Fang Xing and Lu Fei's attack on Xiayi will not be delivered to Baojia until dark.

When Yu Baojia received the battle report, he was a little unbelievable: "How could it be?" Yan Wushuang actually guessed it right. But the question is, what is Yunqing's purpose in attacking Xiayi?

Knowing that they can't hold on, they still fight, and it's hard to convince them that they don't ask questions. Yu Chunhao's expression was heavy: "What exactly is Yunqing planning to attack Xiayi?"

Yu Baojia couldn't figure it out either.

Yu Chunhao summoned all his staff and told them about the battle in Xiayi. Yu Chunhao gave an overview of the situation and asked everyone to think about Yunqing's purpose in attacking Xiayi.

The staff gave all kinds of answers, some said that Yunqing was suspicious, and some said that Yunqing wanted to relieve Du Zheng's pressure of attacking Fuyang, but they didn't have a convincing statement for a long time.

One of the staff, surnamed Yan, did not interrupt, but fell into deep thought while looking at the map.

When everyone was discussing about the same, Mr. Yan showed a troubled look. He didn't know whether he should speak out his guess.

Seeing this, Yu Chunhao asked, "Mr. Yan, it's okay to say something if you have something to say." This Mr. Yan usually doesn't talk much and gets along with other staff members normally, but his thoughts are not quite the same as ordinary people. Those ideas are generally considered unrealistic. It's just that Yu Chunhao loves his talent and doesn't mind raising another person, so he has always been by his side.

Mr. Yan raised his hand towards Yu Baojia and Yu Chunhao and said: "Your Excellency, Mr. Yu, I have a bold guess. The purpose of Yunqing sending troops to attack Xiayi is not Xiayi, but Fuyang."

Several staff members laughed, but they wisely kept quiet on this occasion.

Yu Chunhao asked, "What do you mean by that, sir?"

Yu Baojia didn't think so, but he didn't interrupt Mr. Yan. Anyway, it's a waste of time.

Mr. Yan pointed a line on the map with his hand and said: "Xiayi is more than 500 miles away from Fuyang. If the infantry is fast, it will take four to five days. Such a long time is enough to send troops to stop it. But if you switch to cavalry, it only takes one day and one night to arrive. Moreover, the speed of the cavalry is so fast that we can't stop it at all." The marching speed of the cavalry is four to five times that of the infantry, and the distance is more than 500 miles. A day and a night was enough for the cavalry to arrive.

If the northwest cavalry appeared behind Fuyang, they would surely be overwhelmed by then. No matter how powerful the Liaodong Army is, Fuyang will not be able to keep it. Once Fuyang misses, the whole of Anhui will be in danger. Thinking of this, Yu Chunhao broke out in a cold sweat.

Yu Baojia's mentality was much stronger than Yu Chunhao's. After listening to Mr. Yan's words, he said: "Mr. Qing can conjure up cavalry."

Yu Chunhao calmed down a little, and said: "Yunqing only transferred 50,000 troops from Yucheng, and the cavalry from Xihai and Yucheng did not move." If the cavalry were dispatched, he would have already heard the news.

One of the aides surnamed Hong said: "The cavalry is the main force against the Beiyao people. If the cavalry is transferred out, once the Beiyao people attack the West Sea, the West Sea will be lost." If the West Sea is not protected, the city of Hao may be in danger. . The front is fighting, but the rear is unstable, and this battle cannot be fought.

As soon as this was said, two more staff stood up to deny Mr. Yan's speculation.

Everyone said what they said, and most of them thought that Mr. Yan's speculation was unreliable. Yu Chunhao felt that there was no point in arguing any longer, so he let the staff leave. In fact, there are not many staff but good staff, and there are too many staff around Yu Chunhao.

Mr. Yan was not disappointed either, he just stated his own conjecture, as to whether Yu Baojia and Yu Chunhao believed it was beyond his control.

There were only two people left in the room, and Yu Chunhao fell into deep thought. After a while, Yu Chunhao said: "Uncle Jia, if Mr. Yan's conjecture is true, there is only one possibility. We don't know about this cavalry." It is impossible to mobilize them without knowing.

Yu Baojia remained silent, he was evaluating the authenticity of this matter.

The more Yu Chunhao thought about it, the more he felt that Mr. Yan's guess was right: "The northwest region is vast, and it is not difficult for Yunqing to train a cavalry in a secret place. As long as we avoid our eyes and ears, we will know nothing about it." .”

Yu Baojia looked at the map on the table, but still said nothing.

Yu Chunhao was a little anxious, and said: "Uncle Jia, if Yunqing really has a third cavalry, then we must take immediate measures, otherwise Anhui will be lost."

Yu Baojia said calmly: "A cavalry army can't be built in three to five years. If what you said is true, then Yunqing has been planning this since four years ago."

Yu Chunhao's face suddenly changed when he heard this, and he said: "After the drought, Han Yuxi exchanged grain for a large number of horses outside the Great Wall. It is said that there are many war horses among the horses exchanged." Since they are war horses, as long as they are trained It can be used in one click. But at that time, the cavalry of Xihai and Yucheng were reorganized and expanded. He thought that these horses had been sent to Xihai and Yucheng.

When Yu Baojia heard this, he immediately ordered Xuzhou and Huaizhou to send troops to reinforce Xiayi, and at the same time let them prepare for the enemy's attack. The reason why it was not mentioned that there might be cavalry attacking is because the cavalry is so powerful that one can stand up to ten. If he did, he worried that it would cause unnecessary panic. Of course, if the most important thing is that there are cavalry, even if you tell the generals in Huaizhou, they won't be able to stop them.

After Baojia gave the order, Yu Chunhao said, "Uncle Jia, should we tell General Qiu about this?" To save the cavalry from arriving, they would be caught off guard.

Yu Baojia shook his head and said: "These are just our conjectures, they haven't been confirmed yet. If we tell them, once the news leaks out, it will shake the morale of the army." If Qiu Dashan is told, no one can guarantee Qiu Dashan He will not lead his troops to flee back to Shandong. Not to mention, Qiu Dashan can still last for a while.

If Yu Xi was here, she would definitely laugh. It's no surprise that they can win this battle if they can't be of one mind.

Yu Chunhao said worriedly: "Now I am most worried that the reinforcements from Xuzhou and Huaizhou have not yet reached Xiayi, Xiayi has already been breached." Only a high and thick city wall can stop the cavalry. Can go straight to Bozhou.

Yu Baojia said: "The skills are not as good as others, so we have to admit it." Losing to such an opponent, he was convinced. (to be continued)