Following Huang Degong's order, the soldiers outside the door quickly rushed into the house and took Gao Di out.
What awaits him will be the trial of the court and Chongzhen.
The house, which was not big to begin with, soon returned to silence.
Huang Degong stood up and said to everyone: "Everyone, there was a spy inside the Ping Liao army, which led to our army's defeat in the battle of Sarhu. Now the traitor has been eliminated, and the rear is also stable! Next, we will send troops to Hetuala again, kill the Jiannu and recover Liaodong!"
All the generals stood up at the same time and clasped their hands together: "Governor, please give the order!"
"No," Huang Degong waved his hand: "We should discuss the specific way to fight, instead of letting me decide alone."
Everyone looked at each other, sat down again and started discussing.
Li Xianzhong was the first to speak: "Actually, there is nothing to discuss. It is nothing more than dividing the troops to attack as before. One group will start from Fushun, one group will start from Qinghebao, and one group will go north from Kuandianbao."
Zeng Ying of the Southern Army immediately said: "We can't split our forces, and there's no need to split them. We can just push forward all the way!"
Li Xianzhong rolled his eyes at Zeng Ying and said, "The reason why the Southern Army was defeated before was because of the two traitors, Wu Sangui and Gao Di. Now that the traitors have been eliminated, what else do you have to worry about?"
Zeng Ying raised his head and retorted: "The previous defeat of the southern army was indeed due to internal thieves, but it was also due to terrain and combat power. The road to Kuandian Fort is not only long but also winding and rugged. If you want to march quickly, you can't carry a lot of baggage."
"Especially baggage such as chariots and artillery!"
"Without these things, not to mention the navy, which is not very good at land warfare, even other elite troops will not be able to compete head-on with the Jiannu."
Li Xianzhong said angrily: "Don't make excuses, you just want to say that the navy is useless, right?"
"You..." Zeng Ying was speechless for a moment.
"The navy is too weak!" Li Xianzhong did not intend to let it go, but continued with a tone of regret: "The Jiannu are right in front of us, and we can defeat them with just one move. It's ridiculous that you tell everyone that the navy can't fight a tough battle when we are about to send troops."
Zeng Ying was from Sichuan, nicknamed Master Zeng, and was once a general under Qin Liangyu.
After hearing what Li Xianzhong said, he became angry.
He stood up, slapped the table and said, "I didn't say that the navy can't fight a tough battle, I just said that the road to Kuandian Fort can't carry a large number of chariots and artillery, so it is difficult to win the battle."
"You two." Huang Degong stopped them in time: "The battle hasn't even started yet, why are you so angry?"
"I know you all want to wipe out the Jian Nu as soon as possible, but this matter cannot be rushed. The more anxious you are, the more likely you are to make mistakes."
Li Xianzhong snorted, closed his mouth and did not refute.
Zeng Ying turned around and faced Li Xianzhong with her back, without refutation.
Huang Degong continued, "But we can't slow down. After all, tens of thousands of troops will consume countless food and grass every day."
"Then how should we fight the next battle?" Liu Zhaoji asked.
Huang Degong pondered for a while and said in a deep voice: "Considering the terrain, we still have to divide our forces."
The generals thought about it and nodded in agreement.
If we send troops again, we will still face the same problems as last time.
The road east of Fushun is long and narrow.
No matter how many troops there are, they cannot be fully deployed on the front line.
Once the advance is blocked, all troops will be unable to move forward.
After the division of forces, these problems will be solved.
But new problems arise.
How many routes will the attack be divided into and who will lead each army.
If we attack in three directions like last time, and if the Northern Army is unable to make a breakthrough, the Central and Southern Armies will also make no progress.
With this question in mind, everyone looked at Huang Degong at the same time.
Huang Degong waited for a while, and when no one offered any advice, he slowly said, "Everyone, let me first talk about the military situation after Wu Sangui's rebellion."
"Please speak, Governor!" everyone said in unison.
Huang Degong cleared his throat and said, "Before Wu Sangui's rebellion, our army had about 60,000 troops in the Fushun area, of which Wu Sangui's Guanning Army accounted for nearly half, about 27,000 people!"
"During the rebellion, Wang Yongji's 3,000 troops were wiped out, and the rest of the troops suffered nearly 2,000 casualties!"
"The Guanning Army suffered heavy casualties, about 4,000, due to the trampling of each other during the rout."
"But... when Wu Sangui rebelled, more than 12,000 Guanning troops surrendered to the court. After the rebellion, more than 3,000 surrendered again."
"The total strength of the Northern Army was 60,000. The total number of soldiers killed and surrendered to the Jiannu was 17,000. When Gao Di was lured to capture him, he brought another 10,000 people with him."
"Right now, the total strength of the Northern Army is around 53,000."
After hearing this, everyone sighed.
Wu Sangui's rebellion caused the Ming army to lose 17,000 people.
This not only weakened the strength of the Ming army, but also severely hit the morale of the Ming army.
The most hateful thing is that Wu Sangui surrendered to the Jiannu with his elite troops.
As one side gained strength, the other side lost strength, creating another trouble for the Ming army.
After everyone digested all this information, Huang Degong took a deep breath and said, "Next, we need to discuss the plan to send troops."
The expressions of the people present immediately became serious.
Huang Degong took the lead and laughed: "Don't be nervous, everyone. There is no traitor this time, so you can speak freely."
Seeing that everyone was still a little nervous, Huang Degong took the lead and said, "What I mean is that we should divide the troops into three groups. Two of them are real, and one is fake."
"Isn't this the same as last time?" Li Xianzhong couldn't help but say, "Last time we sent out troops, we also divided them into three routes. As a result, the northern army was unable to make progress, the central army was blocked, and the southern army was defeated by the Jiannu."
"It's different," Huang Degong shook his head slowly. "Although the troops were divided into three groups last time, the three groups were just different in strength, not real or fake. The northern army accounted for about 50% of the total strength, the southern army accounted for about 30% of the total strength, and the central army accounted for about 20% of the total strength."
"What does the Governor mean?" Li Xianzhong continued to ask.
"This time we will divide our troops into three routes, with the Southern Army as the fake one and the Northern and Central Armies as the real ones! The Southern Army will advance first, making the Jiannu think that the Southern Army is our main force. When the Jiannu main force attacks the Southern Army, our Northern and Central Armies will advance together and catch the Jiannu off guard."
"If the northern army is blocked, the central army will advance quickly to contain the Jiannu forces and rescue the northern army."
"If the central army is blocked, the northern army will advance quickly to contain the Jiannu forces and rescue the central army."
After Huang Degong finished speaking, the generals had different reactions.
Some nodded in agreement, while others remained silent in thought.
There were two other people who shook their heads slightly, obviously not agreeing with Huang Degong's plan.
Those who shook their heads were Li Dingguo and Zheng Chenggong.
"Li Dingguo," Huang Degong asked, "tell me what you think."
Li Dingguo raised his head and said, "I think we should have one real route and two fake routes."
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