Chapter 936: Battle of Shouchun (2)
When Yuan Shu heard this, he asked for at least one month's salary. Calculated in this way, an army of 170,000 would cost a full six to seven hundred thousand dollars. After thinking for a while, he said: "The monthly salary is too much. I will take out two hundred thousand guan from the internal treasury. If the remaining amount is not enough, I will make up the remaining amount from the national treasury. Let's reward you with half a month's salary!"
As he said this, with a look of pain on his face, he said to Ji Ling: "General, please make it clear to the soldiers that after repelling the invading enemy, I will give you heavy rewards!"
After hearing this, Ji Ling let out a long sigh in his heart. Half a month's salary is not as good as no reward. However, there was no strange color on his face, and he once again stepped forward to receive the order and thank him.
When Yuan Shu looked at the ministers again, he found that Shu Shao seemed to be hesitant to speak. He was moved in his heart, waved his hand and said: "All the ministers, please retreat. The general, Shu Aiqing, Yang Aiqing and Yan Aiqing stayed behind. ! Follow me to the side hall." After saying that, he got up and headed towards the side hall behind the main hall.
When everyone heard this, except for a few people named by Yuan Shu, everyone else exited the hall. Ji Ling and others went to the side hall under the guidance of the eunuch.
After several people entered the side hall, Yuan Shu was already sitting there waiting for them.
"I am here to see you, Your Majesty!"
"I love you all! Come and give me a seat!" Yuan Shu said softly;
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
After everyone sat down, Yuan Shucai said: "Just now in the main hall, all the ministers were silent. I saw that Shu Aiqing was about to speak but stopped, and seemed to have something to say, so I summoned all the ministers to the side hall to discuss countermeasures. All ministers You are all my loyal ministers. You can tell me everything you know here, and I will pardon you."
Shu Shao saw that Yuan Shu had noticed his actions and did not hide it. He stood up and replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I do have a plan, but there are many eyes and ears in the hall, so I didn't report it to Your Majesty. Please forgive me!"
"My dear, please tell me. I have said that I will forgive you!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Shu Shao cleared his throat and took a few steps forward. Although the side hall was full of important ministers of Yuan Shu's power, he lowered his voice slightly and said, "Your Majesty, sirs, I believe everyone knows Two peaches kill three men!"
Yan Xiang came to his senses and said, "Two peaches kill three men, but where are the peaches?"
Shu Shao raised his head and gently pointed at the jade seal that Yuan Shu carried with him, and stopped talking.
Yang Hong also came to his senses and said, "No, how can you grant a gift of destiny to others?"
Yuan Shu also reacted, grabbed the jade seal, and said: "No, the jade seal must not be given to others. The destiny is mine, and I can do this..."
Shu Shao said: "Your Majesty, the minister's intention is to use the jade seal as bait, not to actually send the jade seal."
As he spoke, Shu Shao explained his thoughts to everyone one by one. After everyone listened, they suddenly realized.
Shu Shao's idea was to wait for the war to continue for a few more days and when the army in Shouchun City became a little tired, he would then quietly send an envoy to a certain prince to express his willingness to surrender with the jade seal, and at the same time, give the news that the jade seal would be dedicated to one of them. It was quietly passed to the ears of several other princes.
In the world, the three princes will definitely fight over the matter of the jade seal. After they are both injured, the army in the city will fight out, and the decision can be made in one battle. If these three armies are defeated, all the lost cities can be recovered. .
As for the jade seal, there is no need to make a fake one, just give away the yellow silk treasure box containing the jade seal.
After discussing the strategy, the next step is who to give it to. Kong Ni? It seems that he is the worst among the princes. He is Huangfu Chaobo's follower. He is the first to be eliminated. If Kong Niao can't do it, what about Sun Ce? It doesn't seem to work, the strength is still too poor, whether it is Huangfu Chaobo or Cao Cao, if any of the two is fierce, Sun Ce will probably be the pill.
Huangfu Chaobo? The overall strength is the strongest, but after the previous battle, the muscles and bones have been damaged. The current army outside Shouchun City is only about 100,000. Judging from the fighting situation in the past few days, it is obviously better than before when Ji Ling led the army. Anfengshi's combat power was a bit weaker.
If both of these two families fail, then only Cao Cao will be left. Cao Cao's army has about 120,000 troops outside the city. Judging from the battles in the past few days,
Ji Ling also felt that among the current attacking armies on the three walls, Cao Cao's army was the most powerful.
In fact, this is also the case. Sun Ce's army expanded too quickly and its combat power did not increase at all. After a great battle, Huangfu Chaobo lost tens of thousands of troops. Today's troops are those that have just arrived, and their combat power is indeed not as good as that of the previous army. Only Cao Cao's army lost some soldiers and horses last year, but they quickly recruited elite soldiers from other cities to replenish them, so his army's combat effectiveness was the strongest among the three.
After careful consideration, everyone decided to present the Jade Seal Box to Cao Cao, and then quietly revealed it to Huangfu Chaobo and Sun Cejun. As for the way, Yuan Shujun's successive defeats had caused some officials to start looking for a way out, so the spies in Yuan Shu's hands We have already obtained evidence that many officials are secretly communicating with the princes outside the city, and we only need to spread the news through them.
Then several people discussed the details of the strategy, and after repeated confirmations, they finally decided on it.
Outside Shouchun City, Huangfu Chaobo and Pang Tong stood on the watchtower of the camp gate, watching tens of thousands of soldiers slowly withdrawing to the camp in the dusk.
"Fengxiao, what day is it today? How is the war going?"
"Back to my lord, today is the eighth day of the siege. Except for the one-day truce on the sixth day, it has been seven days since the attack on Shouchun. If calculated according to the frequency of four rounds of attacks every day, our army has already advanced towards Shouchun. Spring City Wall launched twenty-eight rounds of attacks."
After a short pause, Guo Jia said: "The casualties in each round of attack in the past few days were maintained at about 1,000 people. After a day of rest, the army was reorganized, and the casualties in the past few days have been reduced."
"Even so, after the battles in the past few days, our army has directly killed 8,487 soldiers, seriously injured 3,458 people, and slightly injured 19,598 people. So far, our army has suffered more than 30,000 casualties, and nearly 70,000 soldiers can be dispatched."
In seven days, there were 30,000 casualties, and the casualties reached more than 4,000 people every day. Even though Huangfu Chaobo had some mental preparation, he still felt a headache. The casualties in the siege were really fucking huge.
However, what made Huangfu Chaobo a little more comfortable was that the casualties of Sun Ce's army in the past few days were almost 20,000, and the casualties of Cao Cao's army reached more than 30,000.
According to the observation of the soldiers, the attacks of the two families did not sneak in, and these were real casualties. In the next few days, everyone can see that the combat effectiveness of the defenders in the city has declined compared with the previous few days.