When that sword flew from thousands of miles away to Liu Xia Town, before Mister White Lotus had revealed the secret of heaven.
Liuzhou was already on the verge of war.
Three Liuzhou officials, two civil and one military, walked on top of the city wall. Their position was closer to the side of the parapet wall, which was slightly shorter than the outer walls. Outside the city, small groups of Beimang cavalry constantly roared past. There were at least 30 to 200 of them. Occasionally, they would ride and shoot, but they did not cause any damage to the soldiers defending the city. In fact, it was like they were here to enjoy the scenery, filled with a strong sense of provocation.
The only old man among the three of them was wearing the official uniform of a third-rank official, embroidered with peacock patches. Just now, a few sharp arrows flew over the old man's head. The old man smiled and said, "Evil guests are at the door. You like to throw shoes at people's door so much. If I get the chance …"
At this point, the old man paused. He turned his head and smiled at the young man wearing the military robe. "General Kou, will I have such a chance?"
The self-proclaimed Dragon King of the West, Cai Junchen, had been sent by the King of Beiliang to Lingzhou's Hwangnam County to be the governor of the county. He and his wife, Yu Rourou, lived happily together. The Dragon King's residence in Qingcang City had been changed to the residence of the Governor of Liuzhou.
This old man was the highest-ranking civil official in Liuzhou, the Governor Yang Guangdou. The civil official beside him was the Gangnam-do scholar Chen Xiliang, who had taken root in Liuzhou and was unwilling to leave.
When Qingcang City realized that Liu Gui's army intended to attack the city, the Governor's residence had an intense argument that lasted through the night. As for whether to defend or to retreat, it evolved into two sharply opposing camps. The older officials of Liuzhou all advocated that as long as the green hills were there, there would be no need to worry about firewood. They might as well give up on Qingcang City and head to Linyao Military Town under the escort of the Long Xiang Army. As long as they were still alive, there would not be any problems with the military and political operations of Liuzhou. As for the younger generation of officials, regardless of whether they were from a general family or scholars from the Central Plains, they all strongly requested to defend Qingcang City to the death, fighting for the Long Xiang Army to have the best opportunity to battle Dingliu Province. Originally, as long as the two of them reached an agreement, this quarrel would not become more and more intense. However, the problem was that the experienced and prudent Provincial Governor Yang Guangdou unexpectedly supported defending the city to the end. On the other hand, Chen Xiliang, whose prestige among the refugees of Liuzhou was even greater than that of the young vassal king, was the complete opposite. He suggested moving the Provincial Governor's residence to Linyao. As a result, the two sides were in a deadlock.
Then, the newly appointed Liu Province General entered Azure City at this moment.
Kou Jianghuai stretched out his hand and gently pressed it against the rough female wall. He did not make any big statements, nor did he pat his chest and promise anything to the old Provincial Governor.
The ancient military town under his feet was used by the Great Feng Dynasty to control the vast Western Regions. As the number one military town in Liuzhou, which was closest to Liangzhou, this little city wall was just a decoration. Even though it had been urgently reinforced after being incorporated into Beiliang's territory, it still made Kou Jianghuai, who was used to seeing the majestic cities of the Central Plains, find it laughable. This young Liuzhou general who had rushed here with several hundred cavalry was temporarily carrying out his duties in a residence near the Provincial Governor's residence. However, in the vast Liuzhou that was comparable to the entire old Beiliang Road, there were only a handful of places that Kou Jianghuai could mobilize. For example, the current most intimidating military force in Liuzhou, the thirty thousand Long Xiang Army, was directly under the jurisdiction of the Protectorate General. The main general, Xu Longxiang, and his two deputies, Li Mofan and Wang Lingbao, were not people that he could order around. If Kou Jianghuai dared to interfere with the specific promotions and promotions of the Long Xiang Army, the Liuzhou general's position as General of Liuzhou could probably be counted on one hand. From start to finish, Kou Jianghuai did not recognize a single one of the generals and soldiers of Linyao and Fengxiang. Right now, he only had the four thousand Qingcang Army soldiers in Azure City and the ten thousand or so refugees that Chen Xiliang had gathered at his disposal. Even though they were not bad in individual combat and barely passable in defending a city, when placed on a large scale battlefield, Kou Jianghuai did not know what else they could do other than give military merit to Liu Gui.
Therefore, as a general of Liuzhou who was determined to achieve great things in the Western Regions, he was even worse off than a housewife who could not cook without rice. Right now, he did not even have a decent stove.
Kou Jianghuai walked near the outer wall and looked at a group of Beimang cavalry galloping away in the dust. He said softly, "The Provincial Governor wants to defend to the death because he feels that if he retreats, Liuzhou will go from being balanced to being in a disadvantageous position where he will have no initiative at all. A slight move in one part will affect the entire situation, causing a large hole to be torn in the connection between Liuzhou and Liangzhou. Beimang's Nanchao military town and Dong Zhuo's central line will be able to send an endless stream of troops here and thus affect the entire layout of Liangzhou. Mr. Chen wants to retreat because he is worried that the Long Xiang Army will fall into a trap and suffer great losses in the battle with Liu Gui's army outside Qingcang City. Once the Long Xiang Army loses the ability to pin down Beimang's western line army … "
Chen Xiliang rudely interrupted Kou Jianghuai. "Although I can't say that I am familiar with military affairs, I know that Liu Gui was able to endure until now because he definitely wants to fight a decisive battle. Qingcang City is the bait. I can even be sure that when Liu Gui's army attacks Qingcang City, they will not be too swift and violent at first. They will only bait and force the Long Xiang Army to increase their forces bit by bit until all thirty thousand of the Long Xiang Army is trapped in a quagmire. Moreover, I am not advocating for Qingcang City to be abandoned, but rather for the Provincial Governor's officials to retreat to Linyao military town. Qingcang City will still be defended to the end by me and those fourteen thousand soldiers. This way, the Long Xiang Army will be able to attack and retreat, and will not be trapped in a quagmire. "
The current Chen Xiliang's skin was tanned, and he no longer had the elegance of the weak scholar from Baoguo Temple. To put it simply, he used to be a handsome scholar who could have caught the eye of a vixen in an ancient temple. Now, even if there were vixens in the world, they would not be willing to pay attention to a scholar with calloused hands who toiled all day.
Yang Guangdou, who had been filled with anger for the past two days, coldly snorted. "Not just me, but almost the entire Liyang knows that in the King of Beiliang's heart, you, Chen Xiliang, are worth the entire Provincial Governor's Mansion!"
Chen Xiliang frowned. "Then tell the Long Xiang Army in charge of the escort that I, Chen Xiliang, will also retreat to Linyao military town."
Yang Guangdou laughed angrily. "Do you think that Li Mofan and Wang Lingbao, who can become generals, are idiots? They are all shrewd! It's fine if I, Yang Guangdou, die, but if you, Chen Xiliang, die in Qingcang City, under the nose of Li Mofan and Wang Lingbao, two dignified Deputy Generals of the Long Xiang Army, do you still want to climb up the ranks of the Beiliang Frontier Army?! "
Kou Jianghuai laughed as he interrupted the two's argument. "Those who are good at using troops should first consider defeat before considering victory. This is indeed a valuable advice in military books."
In truth, Yang Guangdou was very curious about this young West Chu survivor who had almost become a general. According to Kou Jianghuai's temperament during the series of battles in Guangling, he was not a general who calculated the gains and losses of one place. On the contrary, Kou Jianghuai, whose overall military strength was inferior, was best at large-scale long-distance raids. He always had the advantage in the battlefield, causing the Guangling Army that had been beaten into a sieve to be badly battered. Zhao Yi's elite troops were so frightened that they did not even have the courage to go out of the city to help. They were afraid that they would take the initiative to walk into a trap again. After Kou Jianghuai wiped out all of Zhao Yi's main forces on the Eastern Front, they completely lost contact with the various cities and passes. Yang Guangdou had originally thought that after Kou Jianghuai came to Qingcang City, he would support Chen Xiliang and the other civil officials and advisors in the provincial governor's mansion who were focused on stability. After thinking about it, Yang Guangdou was also worried that the young Kou Jianghuai was anxious to establish his prestige in Liuzhou and wanted to use the battle of Qingcang City to accumulate military merit for himself.
Yang Guangdou hesitated for a moment, then decided not to hide anything. He directly asked, "How confident is General Kou? Can you give this official a hint?"
Kou Jianghuai gazed at the Beimang camp in the distance. "If Qingcang City is just Qingcang City, and all the variables are only inside and outside Qingcang City, unaffected by outside interference, and the soldiers on both sides are just these people on the surface, then I only have a ten percent chance of making the situation in Liuzhou better."
Chen Xiliang smiled bitterly and said nothing.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
