0p0 Chapter 311 Lei Mengsha in Conflict
Chapter 311 Lei Mengsha in Conflict
Yunzhou Prefecture, the central military camp.
Entering the tent, there is a huge sand table made of mud.
The sand table is about ten feet long and more than four feet wide. It proportionally models the mountains and rivers of the northern and southwestern half of the country, as well as the deployment of the military forces of Baili Luochen and Lu Tingen.
There were three people standing in front of the sand table, each with a different expression on their face.
Lu Tingen was wearing armor, his brows were twisted into the shape of a "川" character, and his face was full of fatigue.
He must have suffered enough from the Black Armor Army, the most powerful unit of the Pofeng Army, in the past two months.
Xiao Ruofeng has changed his previous appearance of a jade-like young man. He now wears a dark suit in the morning and evening, and has replaced the golden crown that holds his hair with a hairpin in the shape of a small iron sword.
However, this attire did add a sense of solemnity to him. At first glance, he didn't look like a prince at all, but rather a young general.
He held a small blue flag, thought for a long time, and finally shook his fingers lightly - with a "whoosh" sound, he inserted the small flag at a certain checkpoint.
"Fulong Pass?"
Lei Mengsha held his chin with one hand and looked at the place where the blue flag was planted with a frown.
Fulong Pass is located at the junction of Yunzhou, Changning and Yibin. Although it is a dangerous pass, from the sand table, it looks more like a horn penetrating into the territory of Yunzhou.
"Yes, it's Fulong Pass!"
Xiao Ruofeng seemed full of confidence.
"Your Highness, I would like to ask you a question..."
Lu Tingen bowed.
"General Lu, please speak."
"Fulong Pass is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and Baili Luochen is heavily guarding it. If we want to capture it, we must mobilize five times more troops! But Fulong Pass is a long, narrow, and steep pass. If a large army attacks the city, it will be impossible to deploy. What should we do?"
Xiao Ruofeng smiled calmly, and with a single wave of his hand, another small flag was suddenly sucked into his palm:
"General, please look!"
As Xiao Ruofeng spoke, he used the wooden handle of the small flag to draw an arc on Fulong Pass:
"Fulong Pass is the salient point of Changning. Even if Baili Luochen stationed 20,000 troops there, it would be impossible to fill the rear area with troops. If that happened, the two cities of Yibin and Changning would inevitably face the situation of dividing their forces!"
"By then, the two cities will be empty, which will give us the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and break in! Therefore, if I were Baili Luochen, I would definitely send the most elite troops of the Pofeng Army to guard Fulong Pass alone, and the rest of the troops would also strictly guard Changning and Yibin."
"This way, even if Fulong Pass can't hold out, we can still quickly send reinforcements from the two cities to help."
Lu Tingen's eyes suddenly gleamed:
"Your Highness, are you planning a surprise attack on Changning and Yibin? This would cut off the Fulong Pass's defenses and force the pass to surrender without a fight?"
Xiao Ruofeng nodded slightly, then firmly inserted the small flag at the location of Changning City.
"Seventh Brother, it still has to be you!"
"Once we capture Changning and Yibin, even if the 20,000 troops stationed in Fulong Pass are all Black Armored Army, they will be trapped in Guanzhong and helpless! At that time, we only need to wait for their food and fodder to run out, and then we can capture this pass without fighting!"
"After we succeed in taking Fulong Pass, we can use this as a base to counterattack Shuzhong and Qianzhou. Hahahahahahaha... Young Master, you have such a brilliant plan. It's still us, Old Seven!"
Lei Mengsha stroked his chin and couldn't help but praise.
Xiao Ruofeng's face was calm. He raised his hand and clasped his fist towards Lu Tingen and said:
"General Lu is the frontier governor appointed by my father. I am only passing through Yunzhou. Seeing that Yunzhou, Qianzhou, and Shuzhong are in imminent danger, I have come to tell you the plan I have in mind!"
"A general in a foreign country is not immune to his sovereign's orders, let alone a prince like me."
"So, whatever you ask for is up to you, General! If you can use my two brothers in the army, General Lu, please don't be shy. Even if Xiao Ruofeng sheds his blood on the battlefield for me, I will gladly do it!"
Seeing Xiao Ruofeng like this, Lei Mengsha was also somewhat moved by him. After all, galloping into the battlefield, killing the enemy and serving the country was his lifelong pursuit.
But ever since he and Xiao Ruofeng left Tianqi City and traveled to various prefectures in the northwest and Shuzhong, he had seen the suffering of the common people and the rampant corruption in the officialdom, and his beliefs had been somewhat shaken.
Indeed, this Beili seemed a little different in his eyes.
Lei Mengsha is a straightforward person who doesn't keep secrets. Although he is a bit unpleasant because of his chatterbox and love of drinking, there is no doubt that among the Eight Young Masters of Beili, he is definitely a man of integrity!
But this journey has indeed brought about a huge change in his worldview...
"Is Beili still worth my desperate protection now?"
"Who am I protecting: the suffering people of the world, or the rats and pests in high positions who exploit the people?"
Lei Mengsha fell into deep thought for a moment.
But Lu Tingen was completely ignited by Xiao Ruofeng's words, which made his blood boil and his heart churn even though he was over forty years old.
His armor rang out, and he prostrated himself on the ground, saying excitedly:
"God bless Dali for having such a talent as Your Highness! How dare a vulgar soldier like Lu Tingen give orders to Your Highness!"
"Your Highness' words have awakened me. I will certainly follow the strategy you just mentioned."
Xiao Ruofeng helped Lu Tingen up and nodded:
"General, there's no need to do this. You'll need to take more care of commanding the army from the center!"
Lu Tingen's eyes were burning:
"I have received the Emperor's grace for generations, and have also been granted an imperial title by His Majesty. Your Highness doesn't need to say more, I will do my utmost to resist the Baili thieves!"
……
After leaving the central military tent, Xiao Ruofeng and Lei Mengsha went to Yunzhou City to drink together.
Along the way, Lei Mengsha was surprisingly quiet, which made Xiao Ruofeng curious:
"Second Brother, why are you so quiet today? It's not like you!"
Lei Mengsha frowned the whole time. When he heard Xiao Ruofeng's question, he said indifferently:
"Seventh Brother, our enemy is the Marquis of Zhenxi. Do you remember what you said to me back then?"
Xiao Ruofeng frowned: "What?"
Lei Mengsha: "You were only sixteen that year. When we first arrived at the northern border army camp, you looked at the thousands of soldiers and vowed—"
"A true man should wield a three-foot sword and accomplish unparalleled feats; a soldier should be like the Marquis of Zhenxi, leading an army of 100,000 and bringing them to an unstoppable victory!"
Xiao Ruofeng was stunned when he heard this. He was silent for a long time before he slowly spoke:
"Indeed, that's what I said. But things are different now!"
"Baili Luochen rebelled, plundering taxes and silver from the four southwestern prefectures, killing officials, and then conquering the four coastal prefectures and invading Yunzhou and Qianzhou!"
"Is he now the Marquis of Zhenxi, as conferred by the Emperor? He is now the enemy of Dali!"
Lei Mengsha suddenly turned his head, his eyes like hooks:
"Seventh Brother, then why do you think he rebelled?"
"You've given up the wealth and splendor that comes with hereditary success, and the honors you've earned through military service, to choose to rebel when you're nearly 70 years old?"
"I just can't figure it out!"
……