Chapter 1309 - 321: The Generals Set the Stage, Lord Zheng Rides_2

Chapter 1309: Chapter 321: The Generals Set the Stage, Lord Zheng Rides_2

It was also an order from Tian Wujing,

that the always cautious Lord Zheng would have to make a trip to the Chu State.

With Lord Zheng like this, naturally the other military leaders of various factions were even more compliant.

When the army is sent out, unless it is a single-component army group, which is very unlikely, and even if it is, there are always factions with their own turfs once the forest is big enough; an army without factions would be genuinely peculiar.

And when multiple military forces are gathered together, the choice of commander becomes even more important.

At this time, Tian Wujing was sitting in the commander’s seat, pointing ahead.

A few guards stepped forward and uncovered a large piece of oilcloth placed on the ground in the central area, revealing a sand table inside, but it was not on a table; it was directly on the ground.

A sand table is nothing new, it’s something that has existed since ancient times.

But Tian Wujing’s sand table truly surprised Lord Zheng, its precise grasp of the terrain made him want to measure the scales with a ruler.

On the sand table, Town South Pass is located in the center-south position.

On both sides of Town South Pass are two vast mountain ranges.

Behind it, or rather in southern Chu State, there is a military base, and further back, it’s the county city of Shanggu County in Chu State.

In front of it, or rather within the Jin land, on the east and west sides of Town South Pass, there is a large village on each side; to the north, there are two military forts.

The military forts are not like the Beacon Forts built by the Qian State on the three sides, but are purely military strongholds devoid of any civilian aspects.

These two military forts have flags on them, one called East Mountain Fort and the other West Mountain Fort. Behind them, in the center, there is a military village marked with a red flag, called Yangshan Village.

Whatever names the Chu people call them doesn’t matter; it’s only important that it’s easy to distinguish them ourselves.

The two fortresses protrude forward like two hands open to the outside; under this arc, there’s also a series of smaller military forts.

It’s startling to see, even Lord Zheng did not expect that the Chu State’s General Nian Yao would be a true master in civil engineering!

In such a short time, he actually managed to build so many forts and villages!

Moreover, there seems to be a feeling of collective force between these military forts and villages.

If it hadn’t been for Prince Jingnan sending troops early in the year, given some more years, General Nian might dare to build a Great Wall with Town South Pass as its core!

All the generals were silently observing the sand table, and those originally sitting in the back couldn’t care less about etiquette, moving forward to get a clearer view.

In fact, Prince Jingnan had long dispatched terrain maps to all departments, but most people can only grasp the rough idea of military maps, certainly not as clear and direct as the sand table in front of them.

After a long time, when all the generals had seen enough, Tian Wujing finally spoke:

"Zheng Fan, tell me, how should this battle be fought."

Everyone turned their attention to Lord Pingye.

The generals recognized Lord Pingye’s achievements, and moreover, Lord Pingye had previously distributed the City Attack Method outside the King’s Tent, indicating that he was indeed an expert in siege warfare.

Sitting in the first row, the probability of being questioned by the teacher was indeed the greatest.

Fortunately, Lord Zheng had already rehearsed.

Outsiders viewed Prince Jingnan as mysterious and terrifying, but as someone close to him, Lord Zheng had figured out the routine, daring to count the whiskers but not daring to prod the tiger directly.

Lord Zheng stood up and said:

"Prince, I believe we should first clip the wings of the Chu people surrounding Town South Pass, gradually squeezing the Chu people’s supports outside of Town South Pass; our army is not good at siege warfare, so we can use this opportunity to train our siege capabilities.

Afterward, wait for the opportunity."

Li Fusheng chimed in:

"Opportunity, what opportunity?"

Lord Zheng stepped forward, pointed at Town South Pass, and said:

"When the Chu people are only left with the mighty Town South Pass, the pass will no longer be able to withstand our Yan cavalry. At that point, we can reserve a portion of our main forces to keep an eye on the Chu people at Town South Pass, while sending several secondary forces bypassing Town South Pass, directly into Shanggu County of the Chu people to apply pressure on the Chu court, causing the court to exert pressure on Town South Pass."

Liang Cheng had explained to Lord Zheng that in the past, Later Jin did just that against the Ming, first breaking down the fort system outside the Ming’s gates, compressing the Ming’s border defense space outward.

Then, every couple of years, they would invade in some area, take on some fortress and attack the towns inside, and occasionally take a stroll beneath the Ming capital, forcing the main forces of the Ming to come out for field battles; relying on the Eight Banners’ strength at the time, they would defeat the Ming forces that dared to engage in field battles, eventually hollowing out the Ming’s northern defense system.

War, in fact, is inseparable from politics.

Lord Zheng was quite satisfied with his answer,

after all, it was Liang Cheng’s reference answer.

It’s not impressive, but in the end, it all comes down to siege warfare; your main forces can’t fly over, how can it be impressive?

But definitely steady and prudent.

After hearing this, the generals nodded one after another, advancing cautiously, slowly wearing down; everyone actually had a question mark over their army’s siege capabilities, and there was a buffer period to train the soldiers.

Although with this training method, surely there would be significant casualties, but how should I put it, the sieging side still has a relatively large psychological advantage.