Chapter 495: A Strategy to Attack the Heart

Twenty miles west of Baihe City.

The Privy Council's border troops finally changed their initial division into several routes and began to gather in one place. At the same time, the Leizhou Army, which had finally crossed Lichuan, finally merged with the border army, bringing this army back to about 50,000 people, which was almost as large as the main force of the Chinese army.

Their plan is also very clear from the big map, which is to concentrate all their strength, abandon the surrounding towns, and want to take over White River City in one fell swoop.

The Chinese army still had no response to this, and continued to advance towards Jinxia without any intention of leaving the Jiujiang area.

If 60,000 Chinese troops were to attack Baihe City at this time, the pressure on Ning Wanjun would become extremely great. She would have to face 110,000 people at once, and the army would not be able to supply ammunition. Unless we defend the city, it will be difficult to continue.

However, according to Xia Fan's point of view, it cannot be a city defense battle under any circumstances. Even if it gives up Baihe City, it cannot lose its mobility advantage.

Once they are besieged in the city by the Privy Council, the disadvantage of the left route army of more than 7,000 people will be fully exposed.

Now the Central Route Army turned a deaf ear to the actions of the frontier troops, which obviously gave Ning Wanjun a rare opportunity.

"The opportunity to completely destroy the enemy's left wing is right in front of us." In the command tent, Princess Guangping slapped her palm on the table and said decisively.

After fighting for seven or eight consecutive days, she had barely taken off the armor on her body. The hair falling on her forehead was a little less supple, and her long eyelashes were stuck together with sweat. But compared to the woman in a loose robe sitting at the desk, the third princess now exudes a soul-stirring charm.

"The Central Route Army's lack of reaction now does not mean that it will do so in the future. It is only three days' journey from Jiujiang to here. Once the Privy Council changes its attention, it may still threaten Baihe City...or even worse."

It is not difficult to understand what Ning Wanjun said. If the Chinese army advances for about a hundred miles and then turns back, then this army of 60,000 people will have the opportunity to block the retreat of Jinxia's left route army and separate them from the Jinxia army in the rear. Xiacheng is separated.

"But as long as we can defeat the Privy Council's frontier troops before the opponent cuts off their rear, even if the enemy's main force turns back, it will no longer pose much of a threat. It can be said that the entire southwest of Shenzhou will become our free and unobstructed passage."

Half a year ago, if anyone had proposed a battle plan to annihilate an army of 50,000 with the strength of 7,000 people, the whole room would have been shocked. But now, after several wars and several changes of enemies, Jinxia City has never been defeated. This is also true. It greatly enhanced the confidence of the army and staff.

Facing an enemy seven times his own size, it is certainly difficult to win, but it is far from impossible.

After Ning Wanjun finished speaking, no one raised any objection, which meant that everyone agreed to completely defeat the left wing of the Privy Council as the latest operational goal.

"We can let General Xu's right army temporarily shrink and concentrate as many Qi Sensing troops as possible on the left."

"Can we send a surprise force from the right to cross Jiujiang from the west and cooperate with us to double-team this enemy force?"

"It's too difficult. The Privy Council has sentries on the edge of Jiujiang. The transfer of more than a thousand people is too easy to be exposed. If it is intercepted, it will be disastrous."

Everyone was talking about it for a while.

"Your Highness, everyone..." He Guicai found an opportunity to speak, "I would like to remind you that if possible, it is best to focus on capturing in this battle, so as not to shake the foundation of Jinxia's governance."

As soon as these words came out, everyone couldn't help but look embarrassed.

Not only must we defeat more with less, but we must also minimize enemy casualties. This goal is really tricky.

But what Staff He said was not without purpose.

Among the gathering enemy troops, there was a force of 20,000 from Shenzhou.

They were the local garrison who were transferred to Ganzhou years ago, but they did not expect that when the snow season was over and they could finally return to their homeland, the owner of Shenzhou Territory had changed.

However, it is undeniable that the vast majority of the soldiers in this team are locals, including those from the two big cities of Baihe and Anshen, as well as from other towns and villages. Many families are still looking forward to the return of their men. If there are too many casualties, it will inevitably seriously damage the image that the Secretariat has worked hard to build.

If it is exploited and incited by people with malicious intentions again, it is not an exaggeration to say that the foundation will be shaken.

"I have an idea." Xia Fan said suddenly. As Jinxia's army and staff matured, he rarely needed to make suggestions. However, as a core figure in the ruling team, the princess would recruit him to participate in meetings whenever he could.

"What is it?" Ning Wanjun asked immediately.

"Attack on the heart." He said as he pondered, "Jinxia continues to win, and the fighting spirit of the frontier army should not be much higher. Especially the Shenzhou Army, for some people, home is just a few dozen miles in front of them. "Compared with dying on the battlefield, returning home safely is more tempting."

"Master Xia wants to persuade you to surrender?" He Guicai said thoughtfully, "The truth is this, but it is very difficult to make 20,000 people defect collectively without internal response and connection. What's more, 20,000 people are only part of the left wing, the main force It is still the Jinzhou Army. Once any team in the Shenzhou Army shows signs of defection, they will inevitably be suppressed by the former. "

"The key lies in the means." Xia Fan knew that there was basically no research on psychological warfare in this era. Due to technical limitations, communication was mostly point-to-point rather than point-to-face, making it difficult for mind-attacking methods to have an impact on the entire army. But as long as you know the means, you can find a way around technical obstacles. "The first is to drop leaflets by air, which can start now."

"airdrop?"

"Yes, print a large number of leaflets and drop them directly from the sky. The content should be as short as possible and can evoke nostalgia. It doesn't matter if most people can't understand it. As long as there are a few people who can read, they can put it on the paper. The content spreads.”

This move is similar to shooting a surrender letter tied with arrows into the camp, but the flying letter only targets the generals, while the leaflet targets all Shenzhou soldiers.

It is difficult for generals who lack relevant experience to defend against this.

What's more, many leaders of the Shenzhou Army were also from the local area.

"After the airdrop, the Jinzhou Army will inevitably be on strict guard. For example, it may surround the Shenzhou Army when setting up camp to prevent them from escaping or roaring in the camp." Xia Fan continued, "So night battles are not inconvenient for Jinxia to achieve her goals and truly launch the war. When fighting, it’s best to stay on the opponent’s marching path.”

"Because the troops from each state will be separated at that time." Ning Wanjun's eyes lit up.

"That's right." Xia Fan smiled and nodded, "They can separate the inside and outside when they are camping, but they can't do this when they are marching." The opponent seems to be an army, but in fact all the soldiers can only follow their own generals. , the corps commander and the chief, the chief and the uncle, even in the same state troops, the generals are relatively independent, it is impossible to mix them, and they cannot uniformly follow a set of instructions. For old-style armies, the very act of trying to command someone else's troops was a huge taboo.

Once it turns into a march, Shenzhou can only be in two states - either at the forefront or at the rear.

"Then we can split this army into two as long as we hit it!" Ning Wanjun continued following this train of thought.

"What if the attack on the heart fails? Our move is tantamount to putting ourselves in danger." Qiuyue showed worry, "After all, we only have seven thousand people."

At that time, 7,000 people were surrounded by 50,000 people.

"So we have to wait until the other party is sure to defect before we can take this step."

"How can you be sure?" He Guicai asked curiously. With neither internal response nor prior coordination, it is difficult for the generals to respond to every call, let alone the "Jinxia enemy army".

Xia Fan slowly said his answer, "Just use a song."

The point is not what song is sung, but who sings it.