Li Zicheng laughed triumphantly.
"General Li, how many Italian cannons do you think our Great Ming Dynasty possesses?"
After asking that question, Li Ruolian was speechless.
"Didn't you just tell me that Master Gao only bestowed upon him an Italian cannon?"
Li Zicheng nodded.
"That's certainly true, but even in our Great Ming Dynasty, only a handful of people know these things."
He turned around and pointed to the tens of thousands of Ming soldiers in the distance.
"Now, apart from you and me, a few members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the artillerymen, no one else in our army knows anything about this."
"The tens of thousands of people over there are even less aware of the truth."
"As long as you go and tell them that the imperial court has brought out more than a dozen Italian cannons this time, they will definitely believe it immediately."
"If even we ourselves believe in something, do you think the Jurchens would believe it?"
Li Ruolian immediately understood.
The ultimate level of deception is to deceive even your own people first.
If the Jurchens saw the dozen or so cannons lined up outside the city, they would surely assume that the Ming army had actually brought out so many Italian cannons.
Once Li Zicheng fires that real cannon, the Jurchens will surely believe it without a doubt.
They must feel fear.
But Li Ruolian still hesitated:
"Li Zicheng, this fake can never become real."
"What if the Jurchens' morale doesn't collapse as a result, but instead weathers the initial chaos?"
"Then when the other artillery fires, they will surely discover the truth."
"Then your little tricks are useless, aren't they?"
Li Zicheng sighed and shook his head, saying, "General Li, you are wrong."
"Even if these methods don't work, so what?"
"You led an army of 70,000 out of the pass this time, and now you are sending more than 10,000 people to set up camp on the west bank of the Liao River."
“There are still 60,000 troops outside Guangning City.”
"And the Jiannu within the city number less than ten thousand."
"You still have an Italian cannon here, as well as more than a dozen good cannons, and reinforcements are constantly arriving from the rear."
"Six thousand to ten thousand, you have the advantage!"
For some reason, Li Zicheng's expression was somewhat strange when he mentioned the advantages being with you.
However, Li Ruolian did not notice any of this.
He nodded excitedly: "Li Zicheng, you're right, I almost forgot about that!"
"Our Ming army had the upper hand in this battle. If your methods succeeded, that would be the best outcome!"
"Even if I fail, I will definitely take Guangning City!"
After sighing a few times, Li Ruolian turned to arrange the siege.
Before leaving, however, he asked curiously, "Li Zicheng, you just said that several members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the army also know about this matter. What's the story behind that?"
Li Zicheng smiled and said, "Those few Imperial Guards deliberately wanted to pass on this false information to the Jurchen leadership."
"After all, if the Jurchens in the city fall for it, we can continue to use this trick to deceive Shengjing again."
After hearing this, Li Ruolian didn't say anything more.
After he left, Li Zicheng's side didn't sit idle either.
He approached the real Italian cannon, looked towards the distant city of Guangning through the muzzle, and took a deep breath.
He thought to himself, "Sir, it would be best if the Jurchens fell into their trap."
Although Li Zicheng believed that victory was certain, the exact circumstances surrounding the fall of Guangning City were still different.
"Many people in the court look down on your students."
"The merits we made in the past, they either attributed to your ability or thought we were just lucky."
"But if my plan succeeds this time, they will never dare to underestimate us again!"
Li Zicheng gritted his teeth and personally adjusted the cannon muzzle.
He was just waiting for Li Ruolian to make the arrangements before he would personally launch his attack.
Meanwhile, people in Shengjing had already heard the news from Guangning.
"That Mangultai is really unreliable!"
Dai Shan slammed his hand on the table.
"I sent him to lead troops to defend the city, but he suffered a defeat shortly after entering the city!"
"This is absolutely outrageous!"
As he spoke, he became even angrier.
"Hmph, even if he holds the city and holds out until the Khan's reinforcements arrive, he is still guilty."
Upon hearing Daishan's anger, the other princes outwardly echoed his sentiments.
But in their hearts, they were all thinking, "This Mangultai is unreliable, and it's not like it's just been a day or two."
"If you really didn't trust him, why did you let him lead the troops in the first place?"
"This Dai Shan is getting more and more outrageous. The war isn't even over yet, and he's already thinking about settling scores after the war."
They were all somewhat dissatisfied, but dared not voice it.
Dai Shan, however, was unaware of these things.
He took the princes' agreement as genuine agreement with him.
Dai Shan smiled with satisfaction, sat back down, and then asked the others:
"Gentlemen, after the Ming army's minor victory, I'm afraid they will immediately launch a full-scale attack on Guangning. What do you think we should do?"
That's equally absurd.
The strategy of having Mangultai hold Guangning was planned long ago.
What does Daishan mean by saying this now?
The princes exchanged glances, all somewhat bewildered.
However, Daishan's good son had already stood up.
Yue Tuo said earnestly, "Father, although Guangning is a fortified city, judging from Mangultai's appearance, I'm afraid he won't be able to hold out for long."
"I also heard that the Ming army has not only mobilized tens of thousands of troops this time, but also deployed more than a dozen Shenwei General cannons, saying that they want to raze Guangning City to the ground."
"Therefore, in my opinion, we should ask the Great Khan to quickly lead his troops back and go to relieve Guangning."
"What? More than a dozen Divine Might General Cannons?" Many people exclaimed in surprise.
The Jurchens did not know the name of the Italian cannon, but they knew that the Ming army had a new and powerful cannon, and that they had used this cannon to kill Huang Taiji with a single shot.
They gave this Italian cannon a name of their own.
Now that they heard that the Ming army had brought out so many cannons, they were actually quite frightened.
"If one cannon is this powerful, then if the Ming army really brings out more than a dozen cannons, how many days can Guangning hold out?"
"This... the Ming army couldn't possibly have produced so many Divine Might General Cannons, could they?"
"What's impossible about that! Haven't you heard? That Master Gao from the Ming Dynasty was actually a celestial being descended to earth, specifically to protect the Ming Dynasty."
"Let alone a dozen or so general cannons, even if it were several thousand or tens of thousands, it's still uncertain..."
These people were talking more and more outrageous.
Dai Shan and Yue Tuo exchanged a glance, both secretly pleased.
They hesitated after receiving the false information from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
I'm wondering whether I should make this news public.
Dai Shan was initially reluctant, but Yue Tuo persuaded his father to stay.
"Father, how could the Ming army possibly have so many large cannons? If they really did, they would have taken advantage of Huangtai's death last time and wiped us out in one fell swoop!"
"So this must be fake news!"
“But we can use this information to lure Hauge here.”
"Since Huang Taiji died under the fire of Ming army cannons, Hauge might do the same..."
"Even if he is lucky enough to survive, he will still suffer heavy losses if he hastily leads his troops back and engages in another major battle with the Ming army."
“Once his two Yellow Banners suffer heavy losses, it will be much easier for you to do anything in the future, Father.”
Dai Shan was overjoyed upon hearing this, and immediately convened the meeting.
He glanced at the eldest princes present and said calmly, "It seems everyone thinks similarly to me."
"Then let's all join together in sending a joint message to urge the Khan to return to defend as soon as possible."
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