Li Gang was both angry and amused when he saw his playful smile. "Zhang Shixun, I'm talking to you about serious matters. Be serious."
"That's... okay."
Seeing his serious face, Zhang Shixun had to restrain his smile.
"Let's continue... After we wiped out the Jin bandits in Ma'erdang, what was the reaction of the Jin bandit camp?"
"Of course they wouldn't give up on me. They quickly sent out a force of over a thousand men, charging towards Ma'erdang. Leading them was a fierce warrior named Ha Tielong. He was eight feet tall, with a waist that was ten times wider than his waist. He wielded a mace weighing eighty-six pounds, and possessed a courage unmatched by ten thousand men..."
Zhang Shixun's descriptions were extremely exaggerated, both verbally and with his hands.
Li Gang was stunned after hearing this.
"...I was leading a group of bandits from the Taihang Mountains. In your words, they were just bandits who cut off the roads. A head-on confrontation with the ferocious Jin soldiers wouldn't work. That would be like an egg hitting a stone."
"So...what tactics did you adopt against this group of gold thieves?"
"In the early stages of the Jin bandits' advance, I adopted the strategy of retreating when the enemy advanced, harassing when the enemy camped, attacking when the enemy tired, and pursuing when the enemy retreated."
Zhang Shixun explained the sixteen-character formula of guerrilla warfare to Li Gang word by word.
I hope this old man will remember it, maybe it will be useful.
Li Gang will soon be driven out of Beijing by a group of surrenderists and go to other places to collect reinforcements to support Taiyuan.
"When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy camps, we harass..."
Li Gang repeated it silently and asked, "You defeated this group of bandits with this tactic."
"As I said earlier, this was an initial tactic. The main purpose was to lure the enemy deeper into our territory. During this time, I sent out small groups of troops to constantly harass them, hitting and running, making the Jin soldiers exhausted, especially when they stopped to eat and sleep."
"It's hard to believe that we can win the war with this rogue tactic."
"Rogue tactics?" Zhang Shixun was at a loss for words. "Mr. Li, on the battlefield, any tactic that can defeat the enemy is a good tactic. You don't deny that, do you?"
Li Gang didn't comment, but asked, "Go on, tell me how you finally defeated these thousand or so Jin soldiers?"
"The Jin army camp was at least a hundred miles away from Magedang, and the road was mostly mountainous and difficult to navigate. Along the way, the Jin soldiers were constantly ambushed by small groups I sent out. Sometimes, a few arrows were shot from the trees and bushes, and sometimes, rocks rolled down from the mountains. This infuriated Ha Tielong so much that he flew into a rage and sent the Jin soldiers after the attackers."
"Haha! If it were me, I would also be annoyed by this kind of harassment."
"Excuse me?" Zhang Shixun smiled. "Mr. Li, you're putting it too lightly... Do you know? We only relied on this small force to launch a surprise attack and killed more than a hundred people from Ha Tielong."
"Ah! So many?"
"That's absolutely true." Zhang Shixun looked at him and continued, "The purpose of a surprise attack isn't to annihilate the enemy in numbers, but to tire them out, confuse them, greatly deplete their physical strength, and undermine their morale, laying the foundation for the decisive battle later."
Although Li Gang understood the logic behind it, he still didn't agree with it. He waved his hand and said, "Tell me how you finally eliminated the Jin bandit reinforcements."
Zhang Shixun sighed inwardly. After all, Li Gang was still a scholar, and his understanding of war was still based on books.
No one knows how he commanded the Jin soldiers when they besieged the city.
Since he didn't want to hear the whole process, Zhang Shixun had to skip it and just briefly recounted the capture of Ha Tielong and the ambush and counterattack by the National Protection Army.
After listening to it, Li Gang stroked his beard and praised: "Well done!"
Zhang Shixun said calmly, "It's just average, not great."
"Total number of the two gangs of Jin thieves is almost 2,000." When Li Gang said this, his expression darkened and he sighed deeply.
Zhang Shixun asked, "Why is Li Xianggong sighing?"
Li Gang sighed again and said sadly, "It's embarrassing to say that when the Jin army laid siege to the city, the defending officers and soldiers killed no more Jin soldiers than you did."
Zhang Shixun remained silent.
He knew in his heart that no matter who commanded the defense of the city, there would be no better results.
The reason is very simple. There are too many surrenderists in the court, which hinders it everywhere. In addition, the command is not unified, making it difficult to exert the due strength.
Finally, Li Gang asked, "Shixun, you have achieved such great success, why don't you report it to the court?"
Zhang Shixun rolled his eyes. "If I report this to the court, do you think those treacherous officials will celebrate my success?"
Li Gang was silent.
In the Song Dynasty, recruiting soldiers privately, regardless of the purpose, was considered treason.
"Mr. Li, how did you hear about this?"
"Since the Jin army's massive invasion, the Song army has fled in panic, suffering defeats everywhere. Even when the Jin army finally retreated, it was at the cost of the Song paying compensation to various places."
At this point, Li Gang said angrily: "Over 200,000 gold taels, over 4 million taels of silver, and the cession of the three routes of Dayuan, Zhongshan, and Hejian. This is the price the Song Dynasty paid."
Zhang Shixun said, "Ceding territory and paying compensation, losing sovereignty and humiliating the country, this defense of the capital will leave a shameful record in the history books. However, Li Xianggong is one of the few positive characters, and he will definitely leave a strong mark in the history books."
Li Gang waved his hand and said, "What I did should be judged by future generations. It is not your turn."
Zhang Shixun smiled and glanced at the stage.
Dalang and Erlang of the Feng family were performing a flying knife performance, while Yao Dagangzi, with a jar on his head, squatted beside them like an idiot, looking very funny.
Zhang Shixun glanced around but did not see Ding Dusai and Li Shishi.
"Mr. Li, I can't chat with you anymore. I have to worry about the performance."
Li Gang grabbed him and said, "Don't go yet. I have another question for you."
Zhang Shixun turned around helplessly, "Oh! Ask it yourself."
"Where do land mines and thunder bombs come from?"
"yes……"
Zhang Shixun rolled his eyes and was about to find an explanation to put the old man off, but Li Gang said, "Don't tell me these things fell from the sky."
"Mr. Li, this is a serious matter. I cannot tell you for the time being."
Since he couldn't find a suitable excuse, Zhang Shixun simply refused.
Even if I don’t tell you, what can you do to me?
Seeing that he was unwilling to talk, Li Gang had to give up. There was still a long time to go, and he would go back and appeal to his emotions and reason with him, and he would definitely get the secret out of him.
With the powerful landmines and thunder bombs, the combat effectiveness of the Song army will definitely be improved.
Zhang Shixun finally saw Li Shishi and Ding Dusai, who came backstage from the stage.
He took the opportunity to get rid of Li Gang's entanglement and went over to ask, "Madam Li, Madam Ding, where have you been? I can't find you anywhere."
Ding Dusai smiled and said, "My sister and I will go downstairs to check the donation box."
"How about it?"
"I didn't expect everyone to donate so enthusiastically. The donation boxes we brought are now full."
Zhang Shixun said repeatedly, "That's good, that's good."
Li Shishi said, "I have the money, but I'm afraid I won't be able to buy much food."
Zhang Shixun turned around and looked at Li Gang, "Mr. Li, can you think of a solution?"
Li Gang nodded and said, "I'll try my best."
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