Even Xue Wei, who was called a mad tiger by the Qi people, was shocked at this moment.
He was stunned for a while, looking at Shen Xu with something wrong.
Shen Xu bowed slightly and said with a smile: "General, don't be suspicious. Now most of the combat power of Northern Qi, and even their northern border troops, have been sent to my seventh brother. There cannot be too many people in Shanxi. "
"The pressure on the general will not be too great."
"However, even if there are not many defenders, it is not easy to attack the city. If we attack Shanxi city by city, there are so many prefectures and counties in Shanxi, and the general's army will win consecutive battles without losing a single battle. Logistics and supplies , and troop supplies can all keep up."
Shen Xu said softly: "It will take at least one or two years to conquer such a large Shanxi province. If something goes wrong, it may take even longer."
"And after such a long time, the battle with Seventh Brother is probably over."
Shen Xu sat down and continued: "Only by taking Taiyuan directly, and taking the heartland of Shanxi, can the people of Qi feel threatened, attract the strength and attention of the people of Qi, and relieve some pressure from the seventh brother."
Xue Wei still frowned, and he said: "After being ordered to go north, I learned a lot about the situation in Shanxi. The walls of Taiyuan City are tall and strong. Even if there are only 10,000 defenders in the city, we can't possibly attack them. "
"What's more, the garrison in Taiyuan should be more than 10,000 people."
Shen Xu nodded and said softly: "There are three guard posts near Taiyuan. In addition, the Northern Qi Dynasty set up General Taiyuan in Taiyuan. He also has two to three thousand soldiers and horses under his command. Plus the troops of Shanxi Zhensi Yamen, Taiyuan's military strength... "
He lowered his head and calculated it, then said: "It should be in the early 20,000."
"As for the specific number of people, my family will send them to the army as soon as possible and inform the general."
Xue Wei was startled and looked at Shen Xu: "Not Mr. Bao Zhi?"
Shen Xu shook his head slightly and said with a smile: "Although I was born in Jiangdu, I grew up in the north after all. In the eyes of many people, I am actually from Qi."
"My contact with outsiders at this time is suspected of passing on information to outsiders. The seventh brother is now in an important position and has a heavy burden. Since I want to help him, I naturally have to avoid suspicion."
He looked at Xue Wei and said with a smile: "This saves you from having to worry too much, General."
Xue Wei looked at Shen Xu. After being silent for a while, he shook his head and said with emotion: "As expected of the Marquis's brother, he is as smart as the Marquis."
Shen Xu shook his head slightly, looked up and said quietly: "I was not smart when I was a child. When I was fourteen or fifteen years old, I followed my father to do business outside. I met more people and knew more things. , naturally seems to be more sensible than ordinary people."
"Like the Seventh Brother, who started from a humble beginning and soared to the sky in just ten years, becoming a great figure that almost everyone in the world knows. That is great wisdom."
"People like me are incomparable."
Having said this, Shen Xu looked to the south and said with a smile: "I heard that among the brothers of the same generation, there is also a brother who is an official in the Southern Dynasty."
Xue Wei lowered his head and drank tea.
"Ninth Young Master has outstanding literary talent and was the most beautiful woman in Hongde for ten years."
"Tsk..."
Shen Xu was a little lost in thought: "When I have free time in the future, I must go and meet this cousin."
After saying this, he looked at Xue Wei and continued: "General, let's continue talking."
"What the general is worried about is that after arriving in Taiyuan, he will be unable to break through Taiyuan, and then he will be involved in Taiyuan and do nothing more."
He looked at Xue Wei, took a deep breath, and said: "If the general can surround Taiyuan, Shen may be able to help the general open the gate of Taiyuan."
Xue Wei opened his eyes suddenly and looked at Shen Xu.
The latter looked calm and said quietly: "My father has been operating in Taiyuan for twenty years."
"In addition, there are some official connections, and Taiyuan City is not monolithic, so there are many loopholes that can be exploited."
"At that time, even if we cannot open the gate of Taiyuan City, we can at least report the movements of the Taiyuan garrison and the deployment of troops to the general at any time."
Xue Wei stood up and looked at Shen Xu: "Sir, this matter is not a trivial matter. You can't talk nonsense, let alone joke."
Shen Xu shook his head slightly: "Seventh brother and I have also said this."
"My family is in business and we never make fun of serious matters."
"This matter involves a lot. The general can think about it for a few days, or write a letter to seventh brother."
Xue Wei was silent for a while and replied: "There is no need to think about this matter."
"I will send troops and rush to Taiyuan."
He said slowly: "As long as we get to the vicinity of Taiyuan, regardless of whether we fight or not, we will definitely attract more attention from the Qi people and take some pressure off the Marquis. As for whether we can enter Taiyuan..."
Xue Wei took a deep breath and said slowly: "It's not that important anymore."
Shen Xu stood up, his face became serious, he bowed his head and saluted Xue Wei: "It's really admirable that the general can think like this."
Xue Wei smiled at Shen Xu and said, "If you can open the gate of Taiyuan City, sir, half of Shanxi's contribution should be attributed to you."
Shen Xulian said he didn't dare.
After the two exchanged some polite words, Shen Xu said goodbye and left. Xue Wei personally sent him out and asked someone to arrange for him to go down and rest.
After seeing Shen Xu off, Xue Wei returned to his study, where Wan Zhong was already waiting.
General Xue sat in his seat and looked at Wan Zhong: "You have heard what I just said. You are very wise. How trustworthy are you?"
Wan Zhong hesitated for a moment and then said: "If someone else said it, I don't think it is credible at all, but this is Mr. Shen's cousin and he was sent by Mr. Shen."
"It shows that Mr. Shen thinks he is trustworthy."
Xue Wei nodded: "I think so too."
General Xue fiddled with the pen holder on the table and said slowly: "But I just thought about it. All the troops in Shanxi combined will not be much more than ours, and most of them are local troops, and their combat effectiveness is much worse. ."
"If they defend each state and county separately, and we capture them one by one, it will indeed take a long time."
"Let's go directly to Taiyuan."
General Xue said solemnly: "Even if the gates of Taiyuan cannot be opened, after we surround Taiyuan, we can at least do what Duke Shen said."
"Surround the area for reinforcements!"
"After crippling the local army in Shanxi, if we can't attack Taiyuan, we will fight eastward to attack the flanks of the Qi army!"
Xue Crazy Hu became angry, looked at Wan Zhong, gritted his teeth and said: "Now that the northern troops are empty, we can even attack Yandu and force those Qi troops to turn back!"
Hearing these words, Wan Zhong was startled. He stared at Xue Wei and murmured: "You are too courageous."
"If we really want to go to Yandu and attract the Qi people to turn around, I'm afraid none of our brothers will be able to come back."
"I only chose to do that as a last resort."
Xue Wei grinned: "Let's go to Taiyuan first. If Mr. Shen can really open the gate of Taiyuan, and we occupy Taiyuan, we will be able to establish a foothold in the north immediately, and then we can fight as we want."
Wan Zhong nodded, looked at the map of Shanxi on Xue Wei's table, and murmured: "If we occupy Taiyuan and Duke Shen can advance and retreat freely, it will be much easier in the future."
Xue Wei snorted: "Such a heavy burden falls entirely on his shoulders."
"The imperial court..."
Wan Zhong frowned: "Okay."
"We can't cause trouble to Mr. Shen."
Xue Wei curled his lips and did not continue, but said: "Tomorrow, we will lead the troops to Taiyuan. We will leave two thousand-household battalions here in Zezhou as our retreat."
Wan Zhong nodded.
"I'll go get ready right now."
…………
Leling, on Mr. Shen's desk.
The intelligence from the internal guards had just been sent. Shen Yi looked at the information in front of him, and a smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"The cavalry composed of the true disciples of Zhu Lizhen of Yandu..."
"I thought it was the local army."
He closed the document and his eyes fell on the map.
"You have to go south from Leling..."
"Maybe I can go north from Leling..."
I have a cold, it’s so uncomfortable, brothers, pay attention to the flu...