Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

The cold wind at night poured in from the window, and the two booklets on the table were flipped through, one of which was filled with various scribbled handwriting, most of which were Guo Shao's summary and thoughts on the Jingkou Battle; the war before was a struggle before him, but now the war is written in ink on paper. ...,

The other booklet is written by Guo Shao on water warfare tactics and specific observations. He had never experienced a decent water warfare before, so he recorded some of his experiences... In fact, he recorded a lot of things.

Guo Shao was lying on the bed, a little excited and not used to the shaking of the ship, which made him unable to fall asleep for a long time.

"Crackling..." Guo Shao turned over and shook the wooden bed. He couldn't help picking up the map with ink on it again to look at it. The ink that filled the paper was very pale, but the original lines and place names on it were still very clear.

The question is, are these things mine? What do I want to do in the future, can I still say what I want?

The more Guo Shao thought about it, the harder it was to fall asleep, so he put on his clothes and got up. Only after leaving the bed can I really feel the chill of winter, especially floating on the riverside. However, winter is coming to spring very quickly. He remembered his wife and concubine who was pregnant in Tokyo, so he sat down at the desk again to write a letter.

The letter to Fu Ermei is very easy to write, and you can also care about other family members in the letter. But for the letter to Fu Jinzhan, Guo Shao wrote two full pages, but after thinking about it, he tore it up... In the end, he only wrote about the progress of the war ahead, which was a good news.

...

The 20th of the twelfth lunar month is approaching the end of the new year, but this year's Chinese New Year is destined not to be a peaceful festival for many, many people. The 200,000 or 300,000 people in various places in the Zhou army will definitely not be able to go home and reunite.

Good news kept coming to Guo Shao's Chinese army camp.

It is expected that the victory has been established, but there are also some surprises. Cao Bin led Wu Yue's army to capture Changzhou and Runzhou (Zhenjiang) successively; Jingkou Nantang Army Navy was besieged and defeated, with countless losses and surrenders, and it was difficult to know the number for a while.

Han Tong, Li Chuyun, Gao Yanchou and other generals all came to the Zhou army camp outside Jiangning City, and Guo Shao and several others were waiting to meet in the camp. At this moment, a general and several soldiers came first with a prisoner, followed by a horse carrying something, which seemed to be the horse of the prisoner.

"Marshal Guo, this person was caught by our scouts ten miles away. He claimed to be Liu Cheng, a general of the Southern Tang Army, and he came here to surrender." The general clasped his fists.

After Guo Shao and the people around him heard this, they were immediately attracted to the man in the middle. The man was wearing armor, but his helmet had gone somewhere, with a dejected look on his face.

Guo Shao stepped forward and asked, "Are you really Liu Cheng?"

The man said: "I have a seal on me...Your Excellency is the famous General Guo, the commander of the Great Zhou Army?"

"It's my lord." Guo Shao responded casually, and looked at Liu Cheng again. I also thought about Liu Cheng's respectful title and politeness in his speech, which seemed quite flattering. He thought to himself: After Huangfu Jixun returned to Jiangning City after his defeat, it is said that his whole family was slaughtered; the defeat of this guy in front of him is not as light as Huangfu Jixun, is this because he came out of fear of crime?

However, Liu Cheng led the Eastern Front of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and his performance was really good. First, he acted rashly and randomly deployed troops, resulting in the loss of Jiangyin, the reinforcements were ambushed, and then lost the entire battle. Guo Shao really didn't see anything outstanding about him in the war, no matter how high his official position in Southern Tang was, he had already lost interest.

Guo Shao's attitude towards Liu Cheng was obviously much worse than that of Lin Renzhao. He even said in a mocking tone: "General Liu is very generous. He lost three big cities to us, ruined the entire lower reaches of the Southern Tang Kingdom, and lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers by land and water. Should I still thank you?"

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter, and they didn't hide their laughter at all.

Liu Cheng's face was cloudy and uncertain, extremely embarrassing. In the end, he did not become angry, but said: "The defeated general deeply admires General Guo, who uses troops like a god..."

After hearing this, Shi Yanchao was even more disdainful, and said coldly: "Li Yu is really blind to let such a person take charge of the army. This guy is even worse than a dog!"

Liu Cheng's complexion suddenly changed, turning red like a pig's liver... Although Guo Shao mocked, he was still tactful, and Shi Yanchao, a big man, spoke a little harshly!

Shi Yanchao said again: "Why don't you die? You still have the face to live after losing so many troops in such a complete defeat?"

Guo Shao didn't say a word, he not only turned his head to look at the vast Yangtze River in the distance to the west, how many lives and national power have been lost under the misty water; while the people who control the lives of countless soldiers are just trying to survive here. Guo Shao was a little unhappy in his heart, but he didn't have much hostility at this time. After a while, he let out a breath to stop Shi Yanchao: "That's all, that's all. Come here, find a place for General Liu to settle down."

After Liu Cheng was taken away, not long after, a group of generals who were away from home entered the camp of the Chinese Army. The generals greeted each other, and then went to the main tent of the Chinese army with Guo Shao.

Almost all the generals who sent troops this time gathered, happily narrated their achievements in the big tent, and even the ordinary soldiers outside the tent were also full of joy.

Wang Pu pretended to be calm and said slowly: "Jiangning City has been captured by our country on all sides. It is difficult to find reinforcements from far and near. It has become an isolated city. It is time to completely conquer the Southern Tang Kingdom."

Zuo You asked, "How long does the prince think Jiangning City can hold?"

"Vulnerable." Wang Pu said without hesitation.

After hearing this, all the generals turned their heads to look at Wang Pu, Guo Shao also agreed with Wang Pu's opinion, and listened to his continuation with great interest. If you say such things in public, if you are someone else, you may be considered arrogant and underestimate the enemy, but Wang Pu has always been scheming.

Shi Yanchao said: "Jiangning City has high walls and strong walls. If they defend to the death, it will not be easy to attack the big city."

"Ha!" Wang Pu said with a smile, "The Southern Tang army must gather a large number of troops outside the city to fight me; otherwise, the city will fall faster. If General Shi doesn't believe it, let's wait and see."

He paused and said again: "It is easy to defend the city, but it is difficult to maintain morale. At this time, the Southern Tang Kingdom has suffered repeated defeats, the hearts of the people in the country have been dispersed, and it has been torn apart. There is only an isolated city left. How many people are willing to defend it for the lord? Let's send people to persuade them to surrender first, and then gather all kinds of people and horses to surround the city and attack, and we will be able to conquer the city!"

After hearing this, everyone nodded and thought it made sense, and Guo Shao also nodded. Xin Dao no matter what kind of city, there must be people to defend the battle. The morale and confidence of the army are very important. Wang Pu is a civil servant, but he can directly point out the key points, and he can be regarded as a person who understands the heart. If there is morale, the Hukou reinforcements of the Southern Tang Kingdom in Wankou have not suffered any injuries at all, and the loss is very small. It is reasonable that even if they suffer a little loss, they will soon regain their combat effectiveness.

Wang Pu turned his head to look at Guo Shao who was sitting in front of him, "For the battle to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty, the use of troops is no longer the most important thing. General Guo should be thinking about other things, right?"

Guo Shao felt that Wang Pu's small eyes were very penetrating, and he felt uncomfortable being looked at. He immediately remembered the matter of "persuading him to come in", and immediately asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Wang Pu rubbed his chin and said calmly: "If you conquer a country, of course you must defend and govern it."

After hearing this, Guo Shao suddenly said: "The words are reasonable, what Wang Shijun said is very true..." But he always felt that Wang Pu seemed to be teasing something, and of course Wang Pu would not say such things in public.

Wang Pudao: "General Guo's actions to destroy the Kingdom of Shu have obvious effects. Indiscriminate killing is strictly prohibited and the status quo of all parties is temporarily maintained. From my point of view, these actions can be copied to the Southern Tang Kingdom."

Guo Shao nodded solemnly.

After a discussion among the people, Guo Shao got up and left his seat, and said that he would meet up with everyone again in the evening and hold a banquet in the Chinese military tent to celebrate his achievements.

Zuo You then followed and said, "Your Majesty has something to say, can you take a step to speak?"

Guo Shao probably guessed what Zuo You was going to say, looked around, and saw that there were people everywhere in the camp of the Chinese Army, and the tent was just a layer of tarpaulin. Two columns of soldiers were patrolling the surrounding area with long weapons. He said calmly: "At this moment, I am interested in observing the momentum of the river. How about Mr. Zuo accompanying me to the riverside?"

Zuo You cupped his fists and said, "I would like to follow the lord."

The two took a carriage and left the barracks under the escort of a team of personal soldiers and horsemen. On a road by the river, Guo Shao said to Tan Shitou, "Take the groom and the soldiers for a walk."

Qin Shitou politely greeted the others and left the carriage. Not long after, the carriage was parked alone on the side of the road, except for two people, there was only one horse left.

Guo Shao opened the bamboo curtain and looked at the water surface of the Yangtze River from the carriage.

Zuo You said: "The situation in the Southern Tang Dynasty is a foregone conclusion. It may be a few months before returning to Beijing, but the important matter involves a lot, and the lord should have made a decision early. At this time, the lord is out with a large army, and it is a good time to return to Beijing with great victories and great achievements!"

Guo Shao didn't speak immediately.

Zuo You hurriedly said again: "The generals dare not mention such an important matter lightly, but they have long been looking forward to it in their hearts. My lord, if you delay for too long, it will be disadvantageous."

Of course Guo Shao understands, and it’s not that he doesn’t want to, he thought about it for a long time last night... He even felt that there is no emperor in modern society, and it’s not that people have become noble, it’s really the result of the environment not allowing it, and many times of fighting and game compromise; people who don’t want to, most of them can’t reach that position, and they can’t even look at it. But now that I have the opportunity, why should I give up power and allow others to check and balance and threaten me? The throne means many things, and almost no one can resist such temptations and desires.

However, since ancient times, there are not too many people who want to be emperors in the world, but there are very few people who can really sit on it and sit firmly. Guo Shao had to be extra cautious.

His behavior at this time was very different from usual, and he asked Zuo You cautiously: "Mr. Zuo thinks that our time is really ripe?"

Zuo You nodded without hesitation: "Everything is ready, only Dongfeng owes it."