Xue Wei has already led his troops to capture Suqian.
The whole process was not too strenuous. When his 5,000 soldiers and horses arrived in Suqian, the 10,000 Huaihe Navy troops had almost arrived in Suqian. At this time, there were only less than 2,000 defenders in Suqian, and the others were all in Xuzhou.
Being close to the city, it would be easy to capture Suqian.
However, the Huai'an Army and the Huaihe Navy did not get along happily in Suqian City these days. In just two or three days, there were many private fights between the two armies.
At this time, Xue Wei was standing on the Suqian city tower, looking north from a distance.
Behind him, there were two people standing. One was the deputy director of the Di Reporting Department, which was Luo Yong's deputy, Ge Zheng.
The other one was Cai Kun, the deputy general of the Huaihe Navy.
Ge Zheng stood behind Xue Wei, lowered his head slightly and said: "General Xue, according to the intelligence from the internal guards and the Di News Department, there are at least 20,000 Qi troops approaching Suqian from Xuzhou. They are expected to arrive in Suqian early tomorrow morning.
."
Xue Wei nodded, looked up at the sky, then touched his chin and said: "There are too many Qi people coming, and it is not easy to defend Suqian."
He looked back at Cai Kun and said calmly: "General Cai, go prepare to evacuate Suqian City."
Cai Kun was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and clasped his fists, frowning and said: "General Xue, we have more than 10,000 people, and we can defend the city with accommodation and relocation."
Xue Wei pointed at the city wall of Suqian and said in a low voice: "The highest part of the Suqian city wall is less than one foot, and the shortest part can be climbed up with bare hands by stepping on someone's shoulders."
"It only took us less than two days to capture Suqian, which is enough to prove that this city has almost no geographical advantages to defend."
Xue Wei glanced at General Cai and said in a deep voice: "If I wait a month or two and can build the city wall high, but at this time I don't even have time to prepare all the materials to defend the city, how can I defend it?"
Cai Kun still frowned: "If we give away the city that was so easy to capture in vain, wouldn't all the hard work of the past few days have been in vain?"
"How can it be in vain?"
Xue Wei grinned, his dark skin revealing teeth that were not very white: "My Shen... Master Shen has told me that during marches and wars, the gains and losses of a city or a place do not matter, it can even be said to have nothing to do with it."
"The most important thing is the ability to kill the enemy."
Cai Kun was stunned.
"General Xue, what is the meaning of this statement?"
Xue Wei scratched his head, and then an idea flashed in his mind, and he suddenly thought of an article written by the Navy Master, and said.
"It says in the military book."
"Don't attack the land alone, but attack the people."
After saying this embarrassing sentence, Xue Wei felt proud and said carelessly: "The general meaning is that it can't just occupy space, but more importantly, kill people!"
Cai Kun and others were thoughtful after hearing this.
In fact, there are some problems with Xue Wei's understanding of this passage. The word "Gong" mentioned in the military book does not mean killing, but refers to strategy.
The best situation is, of course, to win people's hearts after gaining land. This is the so-called "attacking people."
Of course, killing people is also a kind of "strategy", and Xue Wei didn't completely understand it wrong.
General Xue looked forward and said in a deep voice: "There are still five or six hours left, now send my order."
"All Zhu Li's property in the city was confiscated on the spot, especially grain, and all was used as military rations."
"Before dawn tomorrow, evacuate south and leave Suqian!"
Having said this, Xue Wei paused and said in a deep voice: "If it is not necessary, try not to kill anyone."
Cai Kun was stunned for a moment, lowered his head and said: "General Xue, can't you kill those Zhuli barbarians?"
"If you can't help it, don't kill it."
Xue Wei scratched his head and said: "My Lord Shen said that it is okay to kill the Qi army, but killing too many Zhu Lizhen civilians will make it more difficult during the Northern Expedition in the future."
"I don't understand the rationale."
"But what Mr. Shen said is never wrong, so just follow it."
Cai Kun raised his head and looked at the young man from the Huai'an Army in front of him. After hesitating for a moment, he lowered his head and clasped his fists and said, "In that case, Cai will obey the general's order."
…………
Xuzhou City.
Shen Yi obtained hundreds of thousands of arrows and finally solved his urgent need. At this time, Mr. Shen was in a good mood and even asked someone to deliver a letter to Tu Yuan.
The general content of the letter was to thank General Tu for his generous loan of arrows. However, Shen always kept his word and returned the hundreds of thousands of arrows. As long as the Qi army came to ask for them, the Huai'an army would definitely return them all.
This letter made Tu Yuan furious to death.
Because the return Shen Yi mentioned was naturally not a normal return, but a bow and crossbow to shoot these arrows back.
It is unknown how many Qi people will be inserted into it at that time.
General Tu was so angry that he also wrote a letter to Shen Yi.
This letter was also sent to Xuzhou City.
At this time, Shen Yi was discussing the order issues in the city with Zhao Jizhou at the Zhizhou Yamen.
Now, the city's food supply is not a problem until the end of the year. The more serious problem is the lack of meat.
After all, Xuzhou is a city, and the meat supply is usually brought in from outside the city. After a few months, even the cured bacon in the city has been completely eaten.
Even Shen Yi himself has no meat in his rice bowl.
This is not a big problem.
After all, for most people in this era, they can only eat meat during the Chinese New Year. As long as they stutter, there won't be much of a problem.
After the two chatted for a while, Shen Yi said with a smile: "Brother, just control the food supply in the city. What you need to pay attention to is that every household should receive food as much as possible to ensure that no one will starve to death."
Mr. Shen paused and continued: "At this time, if someone dies of starvation, there will definitely be someone in the city who wants to cause trouble."
Zhao Jizhou nodded and was about to speak when there was a knock on the door: "Sizheng."
There are not many people in Xuzhou who can directly contact Shen Yi and call Shen Yi Sizheng. After Luo Yong left, Lin Sheng was almost the only one left.
Zhao Er looked at the door, stood up, and said with a smile: "I have written down everything Zi Heng said. Don't worry about the war. I will take care of the affairs in the city."
Speaking of this, he sighed slightly and said with emotion: "When I was idle in Jiankang, I never thought that my old father was anything special. I only thought that he could study, so he became an official. Now that he is doing things outside, he is getting better."
Fa knows how powerful this old man is."
"I am only responsible for the money and food in the city of Xuzhou, and I am already a bit strapped, but this old man has to manage the money and food for the entire country."
Mr. Shen stood up, got up and saw each other off, and said with a smile: "Second brother, don't belittle yourself. Senior uncle can't do it alone. There are many people in the household department, but second brother doesn't have many people under his command now.
"
After a pause, he said: "Now my second brother is on the front line and has made a lot of contributions. When I return to Jiankang, I will recommend my second brother to join the household department, so that he can inherit his father's legacy."
"Let's forget it."
Zhao Jizhou walked to the door and said with a wry smile: "When I enter the Ministry of Household Affairs, my old father will probably think that I am stupid and will scold me in every possible way."
Master Shen pulled his sleeve and said with a smile: "We can't let Senior Brother Song inherit the Zhao family's business in the future."
Zhao Er is very free and easy.
"If he wants it, let him go. He's not an outsider."
When the two of them said this, Zhao Er bowed his hands to Shen Yi and turned to leave.
Shen Yi turned around and returned to his study. Lin Sheng, who was standing at the door, followed him in.
"Sizheng, Luo Siwu Jiankang gave a secret report."
"Also, His Majesty's secret message has also been sent."
Shen Yi nodded and reached out to take the document.
The above was naturally an imperial edict. Shen Yi did not read it first, but read the document sent by Luo Yong.
In the document, the major and minor events that happened in Jiankang City were written.
After reading this, Shen Yi opened the emperor's secret letter.
This is a personal letter from the emperor, and it doesn't say much.
But it's very substantial.
"I am in Jiankang, and I am fully prepared."
"The Northern Expedition to restore the country is just waiting for your wishes..."