The emperor led his people back to the main tent, leaving only a few important ministers and generals behind, while the rest left them to report the news.
Zhou Man was also left behind.
He looked at everyone, "What do you think of Bai Qing's proposal?"
Feng Shangshu said: "You can give it a try. If it succeeds, the loss will be smaller than a forceful attack."
However, Zhao Guogong was very hopeful, "The city wall is strong, and these Goguryeo soldiers are all prisoners. They can't open the city gate. Even if we subdue them, it won't make much sense."
But the Ox Governor said: "Rat has its own path, and snake has its own path. Maybe there really is such a place?"
The emperor thought so too. The cost for this was not big, just some medicinal materials and food. The most important thing was Zhou Man.
So the emperor looked at Zhou Man and said with a smile on his face: "I'll leave this matter to Zhou Qing."
Manbao bowed in response.
The emperor said: "We have to do this, but we also have to make another kind of preparation. Goguryeo dares to use this vicious trick, obviously it still has great expectations, and it is impossible to surrender in a short time."
He said: "Select death squads from the army. Write down their names, place of origin and family members. Afterwards, they will be rewarded whether they live or die."
Duke Guo of Zhao asked: "When will we attack?"
The emperor turned to look at the dim sky outside and said coldly: "Tonight is a good time to seriously injure two of my ministers. They must be very happy, right?"
Feng Shangshu immediately asked: "Where does Your Majesty want to raid? The city tower?"
Yesterday Goguryeo just poured water on the city wall, and it is now slippery. Even if the opponent's defense is relaxed, a surprise attack at this time will be half the result with half the effort, and may not even get half the result.
He did not recommend risking the lives of the soldiers.
The emperor glanced at him and said, "Of course it's not a city gate."
He signaled Gu Zhong to bring the map, unfolded it, clicked on a few places and said: "We attacked from the east, and this area has been conquered by us, but the northeast and southeast are still left."
Even Duke Zhao couldn't help but was speechless, "Your Majesty, there are only three towns in these two places, not even a county seat."
What's the point of them conquering a place like this?
It doesn’t cost much troops at all, okay?
The emperor said: "Anyway, there is no good result in attacking the domestic city now. They are also in a mood to besiege the city. Everyone is idle. It is better to collect all this area."
General Ashina asked: "Your Majesty, do you want the inner city to become a truly isolated city?"
The emperor sneered and said: "After taking these important towns, collect grain and grass on the spot, find the big households in the town, and those who are the village chiefs. The soldiers are short of grain and grass, so it will be supplemented."
He wanted to see how long the domestic city could last without external support and support.
Although others felt that this method would not work, they still followed it.
Anyway, it was a small town, and further to the side were some small county towns. There were not many defenders in the city, so it was not difficult for the Jin army to capture them.
The reason they don't hit these places is because it's not worth it.
Once you capture the inner city and step into the Goguryeo Palace, even if Goguryeo is destroyed, these small towns will directly belong to the Jin Dynasty without fighting;
If you cannot capture the inner city, you will send troops to attack these places. If they retreat afterwards, these places will still return to the embrace of Goguryeo. Therefore, there is no need to send troops out. This will not only waste troops, but also waste food and fodder.
But it's different if it's in the name of collecting food and grass.
Now the Jin army still has to support the poor people in the small city who were entrusted with the title of Shangshu and the army, so there is some shortage of food and grass.
They now have only two sources of food and grass. The Ministry of Revenue raises food at home, and the army collects food from the cities that have been captured.
Although there are a lot of them, we don’t know how long the siege will last in the domestic city, so it’s always okay to prepare more.
So Xue Gui, Niu Cishi and others took the initiative to invite troops to fight.
The emperor gave them two groups of troops and asked them to divide their troops to attack the northeastern and southeastern towns.
By the time Gao Zhi knew this, Xue Gui and Niu Cishi had conquered more than ten towns and three cities.
It's not that Gao Zhi's news is lagging behind, it's that their speed is too fast.
The troops around the Inner City were either deployed to support Anshi City and now became prisoners, or they were called into the Inner City to defend the Inner City and the Royal Palace together.
There were not many soldiers and horses in the city, and most of them were government officials guarding the city, not to mention the villages and towns outside. Except for the habitual defense of some wealthy families with their servants, the Jin army was simply in a deserted land.
Mainly because Goguryeo did not expect that the Jin army would be so frantic in wasting its troops to attack these towns.
These places are neither gateways nor on their offensive routes, so they have no strategic significance, okay?
Who knew they would take it?
After Xue Gui and Niu Prefect occupied these places, they began to collect grain and grass.
Only when the problem was discovered after harvesting, many poor people fell to the ground crying, and some even preferred to escape in the cold weather rather than take out food and grass.
"General, in the past two months, Goguryeo has collected food and grass three times. Many families now have no food at all. We went into the houses to search, and many families were eating tree bark directly."
Another soldier said: "It's not pure bark, there's still some rice in it, just not much, maybe a few dozen grains."
Xue Gui:......
He could only call back all the soldiers and stop recruiting. The Goguryeo people who were already quietly trying to flee were stunned.
Xue Gui also sat on the stone in a daze, "No wonder Feng Shangshu and Zhao Guogong did not agree to raid these places..."
Because it's really not worth it. Not only is it a waste of troops, it's also a waste of food and grass.
When troops are sent out, the soldiers exercise a lot. Coupled with the cold, they consume more food and grass than usual, okay?
Xue Gui scratched his head with a headache.
On the other side, Niu Cishi, after occupying the small town and the large village below, directly asked the elders in the village and town to be questioned. After asking some questions about Goguryeo's tax situation in the past six months, he roughly figured it out.
He took another random slice and brought the children from each family over to ask questions about what they eat for breakfast and dinner every day, what time they go to bed, what they do every day, whose dinner is the most delicious...
After the conversation, he found out that Niu Cishi did not go to the homes of ordinary people, but directly took his soldiers and horses to sit in the homes of several households.
Without him having to open his mouth, the owner would have prepared several carts of food for him to take away.
Niu Ci Shi calculated that the food and grass were only enough for their own consumption, and there was no amount to support the army at all.
However, after thinking about it, he felt that it was not a loss. At least the army had to spend less on food and fodder for two thousand people, so that part of the food and fodder could be left, which was considered a profit.
So he said to his soldiers: "Go back and tell the logistics that our food and grass will not be provided for the time being and that we can be self-sufficient."