Chapter 1074 The longer it takes, the more advantageous it is for us.
Something's not right?
Shen Tu Tai looked at him with some confusion: "Your Highness, do you feel something is amiss?"
Yuwen Ye said, "It seems that Shi Yuxin is not on the other side."
Upon hearing Shi Yuxin's name, Shen Tu Tai's eyes flickered slightly. In fact, when he went down to assist in the battle, he also had some expectations in his heart, wanting to see if the female hero who was famous throughout Hebei was really as heroic as the legends said. Who knew that it was not her who came to help Shi Yutao, but Hua Ziying instead.
But he only said, "Didn't Xiao Yuansui only bring an advance force of forty or fifty thousand men this time? I suppose Shi Yuxin is behind him."
Yuwen Ye shook his head: "If that's really the case, then they shouldn't have dismantled the Yellow River pontoon bridge."
Mentioning this, Shen Tu Tai also recalled that yesterday when they went to the north bank to herd horses, they saw that the pontoon bridges for crossing the river had been dismantled. Yuwen Ye seemed very surprised at the time. In fact, he couldn't help but have some suspicions. After all, pontoon bridges over the Yellow River are not so easy to build. Since there were still teams that hadn't arrived, Xiao Yuan Sui had no reason to have the pontoon bridges dismantled.
unless--
Shen Tu Tai said, "Perhaps they are worried that we will go to the north bank, secretly cross the river, and take a detour to ambush them?"
Yuwen Ye glanced at him and said, "It's not impossible, but I still feel that there's something fishy about them dismantling the Yellow River pontoon bridge like that."
"..."
"Besides, they've been crossing the river for so many days now, why haven't we seen the troops following behind?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Tu Tai also sensed something amiss. He thought for a moment and said, "Does Your Highness mean that Shi Yuxin and the remaining tens of thousands of troops might not come to Hulao Pass?"
Yuwen Ye turned to face him and asked, "If she doesn't come, where will she go?"
His question clearly indicated that he was already doubting Shi Yuxin's ability to cross the river. Shen Tu Tai thought along these lines and said, "Could it be that she also wants to lead her troops to circle around to our rear to attack Hulao Pass? That way, she and Xiao Yuansui will attack us from both sides?"
Yuwen Ye's brows furrowed slightly.
He said, "It's not impossible, but Hulao Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack. We only managed to take Hulao Pass smoothly after we used a strategy to first capture Shan Shiyu. If she insists on attacking, it won't be so easy."
Shen Tu Tai said, "If she doesn't come to Hulao Pass, where is she going to take that army of tens of thousands of people?"
At this point, his voice suddenly stopped, as if he had thought of something. He looked up at Yuwen Ye, only to see a glint of light flash in the other man's cold and calm eyes. The two of them said at the same time, "Luoyang!"
As soon as those two words were uttered, a gust of wind suddenly blew by, and a chill ran through my bones.
Currently, Yuwen Cheng is leading his troops, along with Mu Xian and Cheng Qiao's forces, to attack Luoyang. If Shi Yuxin were to capture Cijian, which is now largely undefended, and then lead tens of thousands of troops to Luoyang, she could almost immediately relieve Liang Shide's siege. If Liang Shide were to seize this opportunity to break out of Luoyang, he could join forces with her to attack Yuwen Cheng from both sides.
Moreover, as the elder brother of the Prince of Qi, Yuwen Ye could not simply sit idly by and watch his brother fall into danger. He had to withdraw his troops to rescue him. In this way, once Xiao Yuansui made his move, he could take Hulao Pass.
Then they lost almost half of their gains in the Eastern Capital.
Previously, they used the strategy of besieging a point to lure Xiao Yuansui into sending troops. Now, Shi Yuxin is using the strategy of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao, forcing them to choose between Luoyang and Hulao Pass.
Of course, all of this is on the premise that Shi Yuxin actually goes to attack Yuwen Cheng.
Thinking of this, Yuwen Ye said, "Immediately send troops to Luoyang to check on their movements!"
"yes!"
Shen Tu Tai dared not delay and immediately went down to give the orders.
Soon, the cavalry scouts left Hulao Pass and sped towards Luoyang.
As the horses' hooves disappeared into the fiery glow of the setting sun, Shi Yutao had already returned to the camp. He didn't go to see Xiao Yuansui, but instead stormed back to his tent, ordering someone to treat the wounds on the webs of his hands. The army doctor carefully applied medicine, wrapped the wounds with bandages, and meticulously instructed him not to get the wounds wet for the next two days before leaving with his medicine box.
Just as they reached the tent entrance, they saw Xiao Yuansui leading Hua Ziying inside.
The army doctor saluted and immediately withdrew, while Xiao Yuansui slowly strolled into the tent. Looking at Shi Yutao's ashen face, he said in a deep voice, "Looks like you haven't had enough?"
Shi Yutao glanced at him, then saw Hua Ziying behind him, and knew that he had gone to "complain." So he said coldly, "I just realized that there is no need to determine the winner in battle."
Xiao Yuansui slowly walked up to him and sat down: "Under Shen Tu Tai, there is no victory or defeat, only life and death."
"..."
These words, neither too soft nor too harsh, were incredibly cutting. Shi Yutao gritted his teeth and thought for a long time but couldn't say a word, only letting out a cold snort. Xiao Yuansui saw his defiance and, having spent so much time with him, had long since noticed his untamed nature, so he said, "Don't forget what your sister said before she left."
Upon hearing this, Shi Yutao's brows furrowed into a knot.
Seeing that he didn't respond, Xiao Yuansui shook his head and said, "What we need to do now is to hold off the people from Hulao Pass, so they won't have time to worry about anything else and won't cause any further trouble."
Hua Ziying also took the opportunity to nod and said, "Yes, judging from their situation, I'm afraid they really are running out of supplies. As long as we don't care about winning or losing these few days and keep harassing them, making them overwhelmed and unable to attend to both ends, their morale will be thrown into chaos, and we will have a chance to defeat them."
Shi Yutao asked, "How do you know they're running out of supplies?"
Xiao Yuansui and Hua Ziying exchanged a glance, and the latter said, "Yesterday we saw that the people of Hulao Pass drove their warhorses to graze on the north bank, and we suspected that they were short of food and fodder, so they crossed the river to challenge us today. In today's battle, Yuwen Ye did not send any cavalry to charge. If they continue to graze on the north bank after today, it can be basically concluded that Hulao Pass is short of food and fodder."
"..."
"In this situation, delaying is the best course of action."
"..."
"Besides, as you know, the longer it takes, the more advantageous it is for us."
Shi Yutao looked at them for a while, then suddenly lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and said, "I need to rest."
Xiao Yuansui glanced at him but didn't say anything more. He simply waved to Hua Ziying, and the two of them left his tent together.
Once they left, the tent fell silent. But the quieter it became, the more Shi Yutao felt a surge of anger rising in his chest, almost bursting him. He carefully recalled the battle at Hulao Pass that day, and the more he thought about it, the more indignant he felt. He had clearly been the one who had the upper hand over that nobody named Xue Lin, while Shen Tu Tai had broken the rules and come to help him. It was his own carelessness and underestimation of his opponent that had almost led to his defeat.
Yes, I did not lose.
Thinking of this, he suddenly sat up: "Yuwen Ye went to the north bank to herd horses...?"
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