Once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of ropes for ten years.
The Jurchens really didn’t want to fight on the other side of the river, nor did they want to fall into a trap.
"How many troops are there on the other side?" Wuzhu walked around the hall a few times and suddenly spoke.
"As for manpower, it is naturally boundless." Balisu spread his hands in response. "I don't need to tell you, the Fourth Prince should have seen and heard it... From Tongzhou to Danzhou, civilians and auxiliary soldiers are constantly coming, visible to the naked eye across the river, and the flags are densely packed, with everything you can think of."
Wushu sighed even more: "Where are the soldiers?"
"We can only count the combat troops." Balisu continued to speak seriously. "Han Shizhong's left army has always been there, Wu Jie's rear army has always been there, and Li Yanxian has never moved. It's nothing more than how many troops did the Zhao Song government bring in this time... They themselves said it was 50,000, saying it was Yue Fei's front army, Wang De's central army, and Qu Duan's cavalry. These three families can naturally draw 50,000 troops together, but it's not accurate. We can only say that according to the Xixia people's letter, these three people and their main subordinates have all shown up in Pingxia City, forcing the Xixia people to ask us for help, and the Zhao Song government is in Fangzhou, so there should be some direct command reserves there... It can be seen that even if it is a bit bluffing, it shouldn't be too far off."
Wushu nodded repeatedly, and finally gave a number directly: "Including Li Yanxian, 150,000?"
Balisu thought about it for a while, and Salihe beside him also thought about it for a while, but neither of them said anything.
"The Song people are well prepared." Wuzhu did not dwell on this question, which was destined to have no specific answer but everyone had some idea in mind. Instead, he continued to follow this inference and raised a conclusion and a new question. "We can't cross the river, at least we can't cross the river from Yan'an to provide assistance... Instead, we have to let Huo Nu prepare early and go from Suidejun and Linzhou in the north if necessary... Is Linzhou Zhekeqiu safe?"
"I don't know." Balisu shook his head repeatedly. "The entire northern Shaanxi on the other side of the river, Yan'an Prefecture, Suide Army, Jinning Army, Linzhou, Fengzhou, Fuzhou, were all conquered by Lou Shi and his women, and then the Xijing garrison was left to deal with it. But before Yaoshan, the Khitans in Xijing happened to rebel, and the new Xijing garrison was simply the newly appointed Sixth Prince..."
"Let's not talk about this." Wuzhu was helpless, but frowned even more. "I still feel something is wrong. How can the Song people be alright when we have so many problems? Do they really have enough food and grass reserves to delay, set up bait, and fight in northern Shaanxi? The cost of keeping the army in the garrison is one thing, the cost of moving it is another, and once the battle starts, it will be another... Why is he so calm when we are not prepared?"
Balisu was thoughtful: "King Wei is saying that the Han people are just bluffing, and their real intention is to intimidate us and take the five counties in northern Shaanxi for no reason? Maybe their logistics can't support a large-scale war for two or three months? Their military reserves are also unable to launch a large-scale battle of 100,000 people in Yan'an?"
Wushu was silent for a moment, then shook his head with difficulty: "No gamble!"
Balisu sneered and finally stopped hiding: "King Wei, you are the one who said all the good and bad things. What should I do? It's all your words!"
Wuzhu replied slowly: "It has been a long time since we were in Nanyang. General Han has died on the other side of the river. I just want to avoid any mistakes... Balisu, you have been in the Western Army for a long time. Tell me, if I want to save Xixia, keep my daughter alive, don't want to risk crossing the river, and want to delay the Song army, what should I do? Is there a proper solution?"
"Simple." Balisu regained his composure and spoke frankly when he heard the other party talking about the Nanyang story. "This is exactly the reason why I came to see the King of Wei... I want to ask the King of Wei to order the army to go to Hezhong Prefecture! Lay floating bridges at Pujin and Longmenjin to suppress Tongzhou; cross Zhongtiao Mountain to attack Pinglu to suppress Shanzhou, and force the Song army to withdraw troops from northern Shaanxi to confront me there! If so, I dare not say that everything can be solved, but it will be enough to ease the overall situation!"
Wuzhu suddenly realized that this was the so-called "encircling Wei to save Zhao", or the strategy of pretending to besiege Wei and suppressing Wei to save Zhao. It can only be said that for thousands of years, Pujin and Tongguan have always been the key to Guanzhong, which is indeed reasonable.
With this thought in mind, the King of Wei of the Great Jin Dynasty, as always, made a decision without hesitation: "Just listen to what the commander-in-chief said, I will go to Puzhou again in person!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
