Chapter 693 A Dream of Youth 225
But if the canal is breached, not only will Zhou's soldiers drown, but also the people of this area, resulting in countless deaths and injuries.
The head steward gasped, then immediately denied it, "Lord Xie, that's impossible! Have they gone mad?"
Xie Ning calmed down at this point and said in a deep voice, "Why is it impossible? Since ancient times, there have been few wars where water was used as an army."
In the twenty-second year of Qin's reign, Wang Ben attacked Wei, diverting the Yellow River to flood Daliang. Daliang fell, its king surrendered, and all its territory was seized. Zhu Liang breached the Yellow River three times… And I just rescued a civilian—no, I should say an official—who had escaped from Lingzhou.”
After repeating what the man had just said to the chief steward, Xie Ning's gaze fell on the tent entrance.
"Grand Steward, may I take a look at the map?"
The chief steward nodded slightly and invited Xie Ning inside. Inside, a strategist dressed as a scholar was sitting and nodded slightly to Xie Ning, saying, "Lord Xie."
He hadn't gone out, so he hadn't heard Xie Ning's conversation with the chief steward. Then he saw the chief steward pull Xie Ning to the map on the table and introduce it to Xie Ning one by one.
Just as I was wondering, I heard Xie Ning say something.
"Ning is certainly not as good as the Grand General in military affairs, but look, the Seven-Level Canal is like another moat from the southeast to the southwest of Lingzhou, forming a barrier together with the Yellow River on the west side."
Lingzhou occupies a high position and is protected by city walls and a moat, which can largely prevent flooding. Our army is encamped on the fan-shaped sandbars and edges outside the island, where canal breaches are even more severe than river breaches...
Upon hearing Xie Ning's words, the chief steward glanced at the screen again and broke out in a cold sweat.
The day before yesterday, he listened to Xie Ning's words and then deliberately ordered the messenger to deliver the military report to Li Yu a step later. He even made some changes to the report, just to make Li Yu lower his guard and slow down his arrival.
However, just as he was ordering Liu Yuanchang to attack the city, an envoy from Li Yu's side arrived, clearly indicating that Li Yu had men in his army.
If he hadn't stopped the envoy today, but instead accepted the military order to stop Liu Yuanchang's attack on the city, missing a golden opportunity, while they were still encircling and waiting for their commander to arrive, Xili would definitely have been able to regroup and prepare. At that time, it would have been difficult for them to attack again!
Adding to Xie Ning's proposed method of "using water as an army"... Li Yu brought his men, and together with his army, the total number reached 130,000.
The chief steward paced back and forth in the tent, feeling it was impossible, but his intuition told him that the Westerners were really daring!
The thought of 130,000 soldiers freezing and drowning filled the Grand Commander's heart. It wouldn't just be their two armies that suffered; the other three would also be hampered. And if the Western Army, having recovered, were to launch a counterattack...
The chief steward simply couldn't believe it.
The strategist standing nearby looked at Xie Ning with surprise after hearing his words, and then began to ponder them.
"Grand Steward, I think our journey has been too smooth."
"How so?"
"Although the Grand General and the Deputy Grand General and other generals were extremely brave and led the army in triumph, I found that Xili did not directly resist us, which is why we were able to reach Lingzhou so quickly."
Along the way, even as the Western Army was routed, they maintained a scorched-earth policy, leaving us no food or supplies.
This was true not only for their army, but for all the other armies as well.
Xie Ning listened from the side and nodded repeatedly. Once, she had been hungry all day. If they hadn't found some food in the cellar, they wouldn't have survived until the supplies arrived. On that occasion, the chief steward killed another escort officer.
Perhaps there were local rats stealing food along the way, but the strategist's words also make sense.
Deepening a strategically isolated operation and extending supply lines can easily lead to problems.
“Letting the enemy penetrate so deeply…” The strategist glanced at Xie Ning, “This is probably a plan they had in mind long ago.”
Even if the Seventh Canal is not opened, if the Western Li faction's light cavalry cuts off their supply lines, they will be trapped. At that time, when they are starving and freezing, how can the soldiers have the ability to fight again?
"We will be trapped without a fight when our supplies run out."
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