Chapter 438

After listening to Shao Fang's analysis, Shao Ting's expression did not change much, but his heart was also churning. At this time, he also realized that it was too rash to easily accept Ningguo's request. At the beginning, he did not think too much, but only thought that agreeing to Ningguo's dispatch of troops would be extremely beneficial to Moguo. However, after listening to Shao Fang's words, he suddenly realized that things were far from as simple as he imagined.

Now Feng and Ning are fighting fiercely, and Moguo is watching the fire from the other side, which is both relaxed and comfortable. Once he is also trapped, the situation will not be as optimistic as it is now. He is really looking for trouble! Shao Ting is a person without a strong opinion, soft-hearted, and fickle. At this time, he regretted his rash agreement to Yan Chu's request.

There is no medicine for regret in the world. He has already said it, and it is too late to regret it now.

What should I do? Shao Ting walked back to the royal chair, sat down, and murmured: "I have already promised the historian of Ningguo. Do you want me to go back on my word? What will happen to the prestige of my Mo Kingdom in the future?" "Yes! The king has already promised the historian of Ningguo. If you suddenly regret it, it will damage the prestige of the country and the reputation of the king." Zhang Rong can only grasp this last straw now, hoping that sending troops to Feng can be a foregone conclusion.

"At the critical moment of life and death for our Great Mo, prestige and reputation are all insignificant." Dong Sheng raised his voice and shouted tit for tat: "Do we have to do it just for these false reputations? Lord Zhang wants to push our Great Mo into a dangerous situation from which there is no return?" Zhang Rong's face turned red and white after being scolded by Dong Sheng, and his body was shaking with anger. Just as he was about to open his mouth to refute, Shao Ting waved his hand impatiently and said in a deep voice: "Stop arguing!" After that, he turned his head to look at the left prime minister Guo Hui and the general Li Jin on his right, and asked: "My dear Guo, General Li, what do you think?" If the left prime minister and the general were placed in modern times, their positions would be equivalent to the military and political chief of staff and the defense minister, one in charge of military affairs and the other in charge of military power. The two of them belonged to the middle faction in the court of the Mo Kingdom and did not participate in the dispute over the crown prince, that is, they did not support Shao Fang or Shao Bo.

Hearing Shao Ting's question, Li Jin did not express his opinion immediately, but looked at the left prime minister Guo Hui beside him.

The latter pondered for a moment and said faintly: "My king, I also think it is too risky to use troops against Feng now." After a pause, he looked at the other ministers and continued: "Although there are only more than 30,000 soldiers guarding Fengguo's Baguan Pass at present, the guard is Ying Bu, who has been in Baguan Pass for seven or eight years. During such a long time, he has almost never made a mistake in Baguan Pass, which shows that he is very capable and cautious. In addition, the guards of Baguan Pass are all veterans with rich experience and strong combat power, and they are united. If we rely on the city defense of Baguan Pass, it will be difficult for our army to break through. In addition, according to our intelligence, Fengguo's Sanshui Army and Chifeng Army are not far from Baguan Pass, and the commander of the Sanshui Army, Liang Qi, is a genius. He is known as a great general, and is very good at using troops. He has 150,000 soldiers under his command, and the Chifeng army also has more than 100,000 soldiers. If our army attacks Baguan, these two armies will definitely come to reinforce as soon as possible. By then, the defenders of Baguan will reach 300,000. Given the steepness and defense of Baguan, if our army wants to conquer Baguan, the required force must be at least 800,000. "Guo Hui's analysis is a professional analysis. Dong Sheng and Shao Fang opposed sending troops, and what they said were all big principles. To put it bluntly, they were all empty words, and what Guo Hui said were real problems. It is not easy to raise an army of 800,000. Just preparing the food and grass needed for the 800,000 troops to fight is not something that can be completed in a short time.

Gulp! Shao Ting swallowed his saliva, and his spine softened completely. He thought that his side only needed 200,000 or 300,000 soldiers to attack Baguan, and he never thought that at least 800,000 troops would be enough. This is not an attack on a city, it is basically a national war.

Shao Ting was dumbfounded and speechless for a long time. The ministers also looked at each other, unable to speak. At this time, Li Jin said: "Your Majesty, I have an idea that can not only keep your promise, but also prevent our country from going to war with Feng State." "Oh? General, what's the idea? Tell me quickly!" Shao Ting was shocked and said hurriedly.

“Your Majesty can send out an army of 200,000 to gather at the border of Mofeng, pretending to attack Baguan, and then order our army to garrison there without attacking. In this way, we can deal with Ningguo without making enemies with Fengguo.” “Yes… yes, yes, yes!” Shao Ting responded faintly at first, then thought about it carefully, nodded repeatedly, and said: “What the general said makes sense, but what if the Ning army urges our army to attack?” “Haha!” Li Jin chuckled and said: “There are many excuses for delay, such as insufficient food and grass, shortage of armaments, difficulty in transporting siege weapons, etc. Any excuse can delay for ten days or half a month. As long as we delay two or three times like this, I think Zhan Wushuang will be defeated.” There's no need to save He Zhan Wudi anymore..." "Oh? Haha?" Shao Ting was stunned at first, then he couldn't help clapping his hands and laughing, praising: "Good plan, what a good plan! I think, let's act according to the general's plan!" After speaking, he suddenly realized that he had not yet discussed with other ministers. He hurriedly looked around and asked: "Do you think this plan is feasible?" Dong Sheng, Shao Fang and others naturally had no objection. Even if Zhang Rong had an opinion, he didn't dare to say it out loud at this time. Now even the left prime minister and the general stood on Dong Sheng's side. If he said more, he would not only offend these two people, but also arouse the vigilance of Shao Ting and other ministers.

Anyway, I have tried my best, but I can't change the situation alone. There is nothing I can do. Zhang Rong sighed in his heart.

Shao Ting changed his plan to attack Baguan under the advice of Dong Sheng, Shao Fang, Guo Hui, Li Jin and other civil and military ministers. He still sent troops, but he did not attack. The 200,000 Ning troops gathered in front of Baguan City and stationed there, neither cursing nor attacking the city. The two sides lived in peace and almost ate, trained and slept at the same time every day. The only difference was that one side was in the city and the other side was outside the city.

Soon, Tianyan's spies in Zhenjiang reported the situation in the court of Moguo back to Tang Yin. After Tang Yin read the report from beginning to end, he breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that Moguo's gathering of troops was just a bluff, a show for Ningguo to see, and there was no intention to attack Baguan.

This is of course the best, but Tang Yin did not dare to be careless. This report was from Shao Fang. Who knows whether what he said is true or false? What if he just said it on purpose and actually wanted to attack Baguan? Tang Yin did not call back the Sanshui Army sent to Baguan because of this report, but let the Chifeng Army continue to march towards Zhangyu.

More than 100,000 Feng Army led by Tang Yin did not attack the periphery of Zhangyu City, obviously waiting for the arrival of reinforcements. Just as Xiao Muqing had expected, the first to lose patience was Zhangyu.

The Feng Army had reinforcements, but Zhangyu was isolated and helpless, and Zhan Wushuang and Zhan Wudi could not receive any information from the outside world. They were not even sure whether the pigeons for help had flown back to Ningdu Liangzhou. They did not dare to waste time with Tang Yin.

This day was the fifth day of Tang Yin's siege of Zhangyu. Generals Hao Zhao and Jiang Fan both came to Xiao Shang to ask for orders. At night, let them lead the army to attack the enemy camp at night and defeat the Feng Army outside the city in one fell swoop.

Of course, Xiao Shang still disagreed, but Hao Zhao and Jiang Fan were determined and argued with Xiao Shang.

Soon, Zhong Tian, ​​Zhan Wushuang, Zhan Wudi and others also came. Hearing that Hao Zhao and Jiang Fan were going to fight, Zhan Wudi stepped forward and said solemnly: "Defend the city to the death. Once the reinforcements of the Feng Army arrive, we will have no way out. Instead of waiting to die, it is better to give it a try. I am willing to fight with the two generals!" Hearing that Zhan Wudi was also going to fight, Xiao Shang was stunned, not knowing whether to continue to stop him or agree.

Zhan Wushuang nodded and said, "It is indeed very disadvantageous for us to delay. We still have a chance now that the Feng army's reinforcements have not arrived. If we can successfully launch a sneak attack and drive back the enemy, we can pursue the victory and even drive the Feng army out of Gaochuan County in one fell swoop." "This..." Xiao Shang did not hold much hope for this. He said with difficulty, "There are more than 100,000 enemy troops outside the city, and Tang Yin is in charge. How can they be defeated so easily by our army?" Hao Zhao smiled and said confidently, "Maybe the Feng army has the same idea as you, and they expect that our army will not dare to sneak attack outside the city, so they are not on guard. This is very beneficial to us. The enemy's central army is very weak. If we directly launch a sneak attack on the enemy's central army, we have a great chance of success. Once we succeed, the enemy will definitely be in chaos. At that time, we will attack the entire army and will definitely defeat the enemy!" Listening to Hao Zhao's boasting, Xiao Shang still felt a little unsure and hesitated, and did not dare to make a decision easily.

At this time, Zhan Wushuang said: "Through the observations of the past few days, I also found that the enemy's central army is short of troops." "Oh?" Xiao Shang was stunned. He also observed the enemy camp. Why did he feel that the enemy's central army had a lot of troops? He asked back: "I don't know how General Wushuang knew this?" Zhan Wushuang shrugged and said: "In fact, it is very simple. You only need to observe the stoves built in the enemy camp to judge the approximate strength of the troops. The central army of the enemy camp seems to have many tents and stoves in rows, but in fact, every time it is time for dinner, there are only dozens of stoves in the central army that emit smoke. From this, it can be judged that the enemy's central army will not have more than 10,000 troops." Oops! Xiao Shang took a breath. He didn't expect that there was such a saying when observing the enemy camp. The actual strength of the troops can be judged by the stoves that emit smoke. This is something he never knew before. When the enemy just set up the camp, Hao Zhao saw that the enemy's central army was weak. Now Zhan Wushuang also saw this. It should not be wrong. Should we really sneak attack the enemy's central army?