Shen Yi's eyes fell on the map. After sorting out his words, he said: "The Qi army near Xuzhou now is about 170,000 people."
"Now that Suqian and Haizhou are threatened at the same time, they are likely to divide their troops. If they divide their troops, there should be about 100,000 to 120,000 enemies left near Xuzhou City."
"At that time, we will have room to move."
"When the inner guards confirm the news of Qi people's division of troops..."
Shen Yi pointed at Xuzhou City and said: "If the Qi people are still like now, focusing on attacking one city gate, then our other three gates can find opportunities to leave the city."
Mr. Shen pointed to an inconspicuous place on the map in the northwest of Xuzhou City and said, "This place is called Zhangzhuang."
"It's only thirty or forty miles away from Xuzhou City."
"According to information from the internal guards, there are a lot of supplies for the Qi army here. In addition to food and armor, there are also bows, crossbows and arrows..."
Shen Yi looked up at the two men and continued: "In the best case scenario, our army can take advantage of them to attack the east gate, send cavalry out of the city, surprise Zhangzhuang, and snatch some supplies back."
"Mainly... snatching arrows."
Ever since the last meeting, when these generals complained to Shen Yi that they had no arrows, Mr. Shen has always kept this in mind.
However, there are currently no conditions for making arrows in Xuzhou city, and there are no raw materials for making arrows, so Shen Yi is also a clever woman who cannot make a meal without rice.
However, he told the internal guards to help investigate the news, and two days ago they finally found the place where Northern Qi stored supplies.
The Northern Qi Dynasty currently has nearly 200,000 troops near Xuzhou. With such a number of people, the daily cost of food and drink, as well as the loss of consumables such as arrows, are very huge.
At this point, Mr. Shen paused and continued: "However, this is not an inevitable goal. We will adapt to changes when the time comes. If it is too dangerous, we will give up at the last moment and focus on killing the enemy."
The two generals looked at each other, and both clasped their fists and saluted Shen Yi: "The general will remember it!"
Mr. Shen sat in his seat and said: "That's all for today. Whether we can fight well in these few months will affect whether the progress of the Northern Expedition will be smooth in the future. The two generals must be careful..."
The two of them stood up one after another, clasped their fists and saluted: "General, I will obey your orders!"
Shen Yi waved his hand, indicating that the two of them could go down. The two of them lowered their heads and left with fists clasped together.
After walking out of Shen Yi's study, Ling Su called Su Ding, first hugged his fists, and then said with a smile: "General Su, I have something to trouble you."
Su Ding was stunned for a moment, then he clasped his fists in return and said, "I don't dare, it's just General Ling's order."
"During this period, the Qi army has been mainly attacking the east gate. Now the east gate has been damaged a lot. Looking at the current situation, the Qi people will probably attack the east gate in the future."
"General Su is guarding the east gate, so the task of leaving the city to attack Zhangzhuang will probably fall on Ling."
After a pause, he continued: "When the time comes to attack Zhangzhuang from the city, we will probably all use cavalry. I don't have enough horses. I will have to borrow some cavalry from General Su to help."
Hearing this, Su Ding nodded in agreement without hesitation: "Of course there is no problem with this. Mr. Shen has said it many times. East and West are one and there is no distinction between them. When the time comes, all the cavalry from Su's place will be dispatched to General Ling." ."
Ling Su crossed his fists.
"Thank you very much."
After he finished saying this, he hesitated and asked: "General Su, did General Xue have an affair with you before he left the city?"
Su Ding was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "No."
Ling Su was a little surprised: "General Xue is under your command, General Su, and you didn't know anything about it beforehand?"
"You can't say that."
Su Ding shook his head slightly: "General Xue was my superior officer, but he was punished by Duke Shen because he made a mistake. I am only in charge of the Eastern Route Army. You cannot say that General Xue is under my command."
"Previously, I guarded the east gate and General Su guarded the south gate. There was no superiority or inferiority."
Ling Su nodded and said with a smile: "I felt relieved when General Su said this. I originally thought that I was the only one who didn't know."
Having said this, he hugged Su Ding, and the two of them parted at the gate of the Zhizhou Yamen, and went to work on military affairs.
…………
In the blink of an eye, another four days passed.
That afternoon, Shen Yi appeared on the west city gate tower, and Ling Su stood behind him respectfully.
Mr. Shen used the telescope to look outside the city, then looked up at the thick dark clouds in the sky, and frowned: "It depends on the weather, it might rain today."
They are going out of the city to grab things today. If it rains, there will be some trouble.
Ling Su lowered his head and said, "Mr. Shen, there is someone in the army who is good at understanding the weather. He looked at it and said that there are clouds but no rain tonight."
When Shen Yi heard this, he turned back and glanced at Ling Su.
Ling Su explained: "That man was born in a peasant family. He learned to read clouds from his family since he was a child. From the time he fought against the Japanese pirates, the general took him with him. He could tell whether it would rain in a few days. "
Shen Yi was stunned for a moment, and then said with emotion: "General Ling is a general, after all, and he thinks carefully. If you didn't tell me these things, I really didn't think of them."
He looked up at the sky and said softly: "The ancients said that the time and place are favorable to people. I used to think that the time and place were about timing..."
"Today I suddenly realized that what Tianshi said was not the right time."
Ling Su said with a smile: "The skills I learned at home are not as good as those of Duke Shen. Not to mention the future, just from the achievements of the Huai'an Army from the anti-Japanese army to the present, Duke Shen can already be said to be a famous general in the world. "
"What you have learned through your own practice is much better than what is shown in the military manual."
Shen Yi smiled hoarsely: "General Ling is no longer honest and has learned to flatter others."
The two chatted for a while, and Shen Yi looked to the west and said: "The people from the scout battalion have also been sent out, and with the intelligence from the internal guards, the main force of the Qi army is still in the east at this time. Our Qi army in the west should be Around 10,000 people.”
At this point, Shen Yi paused and continued: "The reason why Tu Yuan arranged his troops in such a way is probably because he wanted to open up an opening. He wanted us to leave Xuzhou City obediently."
"This is an opportunity for us."
Master Shen turned around, looked at Ling Su, and said calmly: "After sunset, the cavalry prepared their horses and left the city, heading straight for Zhangzhuang."
"Outside the west gate, there will be 10,000 Huai'an Army infantry coming out of the city to fight to provide cover for you."
Shen Yi stretched out his hand to calculate and said in a low voice: "There is no need to cherish the horsepower. A round trip of thirty miles only takes more than half an hour, not less than an hour."
Shen Yi stretched out his two fingers: "I'll give you an hour and a half."
"No matter what the situation is in Zhangzhuang, I will see the cavalry return to Xuzhou City in an hour and a half."
Ling Su was stunned for a moment, then shook his head slightly and said: "Mr. Shen, we are riding war horses, which cannot carry anything. If we want to bring the supplies back, we have to use Qi Ren's horses and carts to pull the things back."
"In addition, Zhangzhuang is difficult to guard without Qi people, and the battle will also take time."
"One and a half hours is not enough."
Shen Yi thought for a while, nodded and said: "Then two and a half hours."
"Although Tu Yuan intends to let us leave, he may not be able to bring us here, but as time goes by, nothing can be said for sure. If the Qi army from the east comes around, it will not be easy for you to come back."
Shen Yi added: "Try to come back within two hours."
Ling Su clasped his fists respectfully: "I obey my orders!"
The two people decided on specific tactics and continued to chat on the city wall. When the sky turned completely dark, Ling Su clasped his fists and said, "Mr. Shen, the last general has left."
"The general has made arrangements. If you give the order here, the brothers will immediately set off for the city."
Shen Yi smiled and nodded.
He watched Ling Su descend from the tower.
After a while, the cavalry and infantry in the city were all ready.
Shen Yi no longer hesitated and waved his hand.
"Open the city gate!"
Following Shen Yi's order, the city gate slowly opened.
More than 10,000 Huai'an troops, led by Ling Su, held high torches and fought from the west gate of Xuzhou to the outside of the city.
Ling Su and Xue Wei's styles were different. Xue Wei always charged at the front, while he was used to sitting in the middle of the army. At this time, he was walking in the middle of the team.
Next to him, there was a rider holding a large banner and holding high the "Chen" flag.