Chapter 237 Exhaustion
Wu Jie's judgment was absolutely correct. Wanyan Huonu, who was active in Danzhou behind the battlefield, did receive the military order from her father Lou Shi at the first opportunity. She immediately led her troops westward and reunited with Wanyan Salihe before Wu Lin and Li Yongqi arrived in Fangzhou.
It can be said that Wu Jie's previous strategy of striking the enemy at the tail and forcing the head so that the head and the tail could not take care of each other was discovered by Lou Shi from the very beginning and was easily resolved.
Zhao Jiu was not too disappointed about this, and neither was Wu Jie... Because as the battlefield became smaller and smaller, the decisive battle point was basically anchored, so there was not much room to maneuver around the core battlefield of Yaoshan-Wulongshan.
Outside the main battlefield, to the north is Fangzhou and the Jin army's camp at the mouth of the Beiluo River, to the southwest is the Song army's logistics camp in Jingyao Town, to the northeast is Longmen Ferry, and to the southeast is Puzhou Ferry, which is heavily guarded by Han Shizhong's main force.
With just these few points, in such a small area, and with such a few tricks, if Wu Jie could think of them, there was no reason why Lou Shi couldn't think of them.
On the other hand, there is no reason why the Song army could not think of what the Jin army could do.
Just like that, three days later, when the agreed date arrived, the Jin army didn't move at all, and correspondingly, the Song army didn't foolishly go out of the camp to form a battle line... Instead, Wu Jie specially sent an envoy to Lou Shi again, accusing the other party of breaking the contract and sending a set of women's clothes.
In response, Lou Shi calmly accepted it and announced that he would send the clothes to the outside of the pass so that Duke Hun De Zhao Ji would not have to suffer from the cold this winter.
When the news came back, Wu Jie was completely humiliated, but he publicly listed the crimes of the Jin army generals in slaughtering civilians and killing innocent people according to the sequence of the Jin Dynasty's Western Army, and then publicly offered a reward in the name of Yuwen Xu Zhong... From the capital marshal Nianhan to the youngest Wanhu Salihe of the Jin Dynasty's Western Army, more than a dozen people had uncertain rewards and specific words.
For example, a reward of 1,000 pieces of silk and 10,000 taels of silver was offered to Wanyan Loushi himself; and Wanyan Xiyin (Gushen) was obviously in a position as high as Loushi in the Western Army, and his official position was even higher than Loushi, but because he seldom killed people, the reward for him was only 1,000 pieces of silk; and as for Yelu Yudu, a Khitan general who had long been idle and deprived of his military power, it was publicly announced that he was the imprisoned Song internal supporter, and whoever rescued him would be rewarded with 3,000 pieces of silk and 3,000 taels of silver; and Yelu Mawu, who was leading the main force of the Khitan in the opposite camp, was not even mentioned.
Wanyan Loushi still chose a light-hearted approach this time. He offered a reward of a donkey to Wu Jie.
For a while, the two sides kept exchanging words, but they both knew that these meaningless tricks were basically tests. But because this test was unequal... At this time, the Song army took the initiative to advance to the foot of Yaoshan Mountain, and their attitude of seeking a battle was obvious, while the Jin army's defensive mentality was temporarily chaotic... Therefore, it seemed that Wu Jie was at a disadvantage in everything.
In fact, over the past few days, countless people came to Zhao Jiu to complain about Wu Jie and point out all the ridiculous things about him, but they were all suppressed by Zhao Jiu.
How to say it?
In Zhao Jiu's opinion, this kind of advantage and disadvantage in verbal attacks is really meaningless at this moment. It all depends on the final outcome of the battle. If the Jin army wins, Wu Jie's attitude will be a clownish act, but if the Song army wins, it means that Wu Jie has successfully paralyzed the opponent.
Moreover, Zhao Jiu, who stepped away and observed the situation in the past few days from a higher perspective, vaguely felt that Wu Jie was not without more practical thoughts. Because his and Lou Shi's real attention was not on these verbal skills, both sides were making estimates and endurance in other more practical, simple and direct areas.
Of course, Zhao Jiu was just seeing things in a fog. If you asked him to think about it, let alone the conditions for a decisive battle, he couldn't even figure out Wanyan Loushi's intentions, and couldn't figure out whether the famous general of the Jin army wanted to fight or avoid it?
If they wanted to fight, why didn't they hold their ground from so early on?
If he was avoiding a fight, what was he waiting for? Was he really waiting for the Hedong army to make a decisive breakthrough? Was he waiting for the outcome there to affect Guanzhong?
To be fair, this is not Lou Shi's character. This kind of person will not leave the outcome of the battle to others. Both the Song army, which has been beaten many times by Lou Shi, and the Jin Kingdom's Western Army are certain of this.
Zhao Jiu was also certain of it.
So, what are both he and Wu Jie waiting for?
"General, can I lead a cavalry unit to go around the other side of Yaoshan Mountain and attack Jingyao?"
While the Song army leaders were complaining all day, the Jin army leaders also had their own activities. For example, Lou Shi liked to go hunting on Jinsu Mountain, where he could observe the situation around the entire Song army camp. On this day, looking at the huge but increasingly perfect camp system of the Song army, the deputy governor Wanyan Balisu, who came with Lou Shi again, frowned and made tactical suggestions to Lou Shi. "Jingyao Camp is the logistics center of the Song army. Once it is broken, the front army will be in chaos!"
Under the shade of a nearby tree, Lou Shi, who was riding on a horse, kept looking in the direction of the Song army camp. The water around there, which had been white before, gradually returned to its state before the rainstorm. Now there was only a little white light... and when he heard Bali Su speak, Lou Shi did not even turn around, but just shook his head.
"Why?" Balisu asked seriously.
After hearing this, Lou Shi finally turned around, but still said nothing.
Balisu finally felt helpless, but he sneered and laughed at himself: "Indeed, Jingyao is surrounded by four cities, and the terrain is no different from this side. It looks like a sweet melon, but it is actually more like a trap... If we go to attack Jingyao, how many soldiers should we bring? If we bring too few, how can we guarantee that we can hit it in one shot? If we bring too many, how can we guarantee that Wu Jie will not abandon the main camp and counterattack, and block the other troops in a place like Jingyao with cities on all sides? And if we take a longer route, what if the Song army hears the news and simply rushes directly to the main camp? In the final analysis, we don’t have enough troops..."
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