Chapter 369 The Sword Saint Returns

The Sword Saint went home,

Taking Hu Bamei with him,

And also the reluctance and heavy thoughts that belonged to Xue San.

Gatherings are precious because they are short, and the real norm is still parting ways for life;

Next, the Demon Lords and their master, Zheng Boye, will separate to do their own things.

The Blind Man and Jin Shuke led an army to the rear;

From the earliest merchant escort commandant, with no people, no money, no equipment, no horses, to the subsequent selection of convict soldiers at Cuiliu Fort, and after going to Jin, only accepting Jin surrendered soldiers, countless times watching the elite soldiers of the Zhenbei Army and the Jingnan Army with envy;

This time, it was finally their turn to feast.

Xue San led the craftsman team and set off to support the brother troops' siege.

Yesterday, Zheng Boye invited Gongsun Zhi and Gong Wang to the fort for a meal.

Because next, there would be a long period of no war on the eastern front;

Therefore, Zheng Boye would take Gongsun Zhi's son, Gongsun Zuan, to the Jingnan King's tent, to receive instruction from the Jingnan King, and would also take Gongsun Zuan to receive his own instruction.

In addition, Gong Wang's son, Gong Lin, was also transferred by Zheng Fan to serve as a military advisor.

During the banquet, Zheng Boye had Liang Cheng sit beside him.

With everyone's sons by their sides, plus his own clear hint, Gongsun Zhi and Gong Wang should understand who should be in charge of the three armies on the eastern front next.

After doing all this, Zheng Boye packed his things and went straight to the central army king's tent the next morning with some attendants and guards.

…

Everything seemed unchanged from before.

The king's tent was located in the very center of the military camp, separated by independent fences, with a strong sense of independence.

Zheng Boye's tent was in this small circle, not far from the king's tent.

It could be seen that Gongsun Zuan and Gong Lin were a little excited and a little nervous, after all, they were about to face the Jingnan King, a god-like existence in the Great Yan army.

In comparison, Zheng Boye was much calmer.

"You, go wash these vegetables, you, go clean these bones, and start a fire to stew them."

After instructing Gong Lin and Gongsun Zuan, Zheng Boye straightened his clothes and walked towards the king's tent.

After nodding to the Jingnan King's personal guards at the door, without reporting, Zheng Boye directly lifted the curtain and walked in.

Inside the king's tent, the Jingnan King was sitting there reading military reports.

"Your Highness."

"Come here."

Zheng Boye walked closer.

Tian Wujing didn't look up, but pointed to the pile of reports on the side of his desk and said,

"Approve them."

Uh…

Zheng Boye nodded, picked up the reports, and sat down in the lower seat.

Zheng Boye didn't expect to enter the work state as soon as he arrived, but he had no room to intervene.

After opening the reports, he found that they were sent from Yingdu, and were basically related to logistics.

These types of reports were relatively easy to handle.

Although Si Niang was responsible for the daily work in Xuehai Pass, Zheng Boye had been in that position for so long, and his vision had long been broadened, so it was not difficult to do these approvals.

Reports that were just routine business with nothing but clichés were approved by Zheng Boye and placed aside separately.

For some that sought extensions without giving specific reasons, Zheng Boye wrote "Handle it quickly," without writing the second half of the sentence, but the person reading the report should be able to guess that it meant "Those who delay will be dealt with according to military law."

This type of report was also placed separately.

There were also some that did give specific reasons, and Zheng Boye, based on his own experience and knowledge, judged that it was not that the officials in the rear were deliberately delaying, but that there were indeed real difficulties.

For example, the heavy rain in Wangjiang washed away two pontoon bridges, causing a delay in a military supply shipment; this situation could not be overcome by manpower and attitude in a short time.

Fortunately, there were not many reports of this kind, only a few.

After folding the three types and stacking them together, Zheng Boye picked them up again, walked to the Jingnan Marquis's desk, and separated the three types again.

The Jingnan King raised his head, looked at Zheng Boye, and said:

"Finished approving?"

"Yes, Your Highness. This stack needs your further review, and I have made comments on this stack."

There was no need to mention the other stack of clichés and nonsense.

The Jingnan King flipped through a few books, nodded, and said:

"Do you know what this King wants to say?"

Zheng Boye nodded and said, "It's a pity that those skilled at writing in red don't work in the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs."

"Heh."

The Jingnan King smiled, reached out, pushed these reports aside, and said:

"For a commander, it is too difficult to manage every detail, but this King's habit is to be aware of everything. Governing an army is like governing a country. It is certainly extremely pleasant to issue an order for thousands of troops and horses to charge forward with drums beating, but most of the time, you still have to sit down and be burdened by paperwork."

"Yes, this subordinate is educated."

"There will be another batch coming this afternoon, you can help this King review them in the same way."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"How is your injury?"

"It's mostly fine now."

"Although the real reliance of a martial artist is his own physical body, essence transforms into spirit, and the body and spirit are originally one. I don't ask you to excessively pursue self and closeness to the Dao like a qi refiner, but at least you must not hold yourself back, otherwise it will be detrimental to your future cultivation."

This was the conclusion he had drawn when he went to Dongshan Fort to see Zheng Boye, who had just woken up from a coma.

And that time, Zheng Boye was first possessed by the Demon Pill, and then took Xue San's medicine, and his spirit suffered a double overdraft.

"Yes, Your Highness, I remember it."

The Jingnan King nodded and asked, "Order someone outside to send food."

"Your Highness, I had someone prepare it at my place early, a small hot pot, you've had it before."

"You're still in the mood to prepare these?"

"No matter how busy I am, as long as conditions permit, I have to eat well."

"Let's go."

Gongsun Zuan was burning the fire, while Gong Lin was sitting there loafing around, not deliberately loafing, but there was really nothing to do. Zheng Boye had been in the king's tent for so long and hadn't come out, and they were actually just Zheng Boye's two personal attendants, and there was nothing else to do.

When they saw Zheng Boye and the Jingnan King walking over from a distance, Gong Lin immediately got up to chop vegetables.

Zheng Boye opened the pot and personally added the vegetables. He knew that the Jingnan King was very busy now, so he didn't have time to slowly cook vegetables and meat, so he simply made a hot pot of maocai (a Sichuan dish similar to hot pot but cooked all at once).

"Eat together." Zheng Boye said to Gongsun Zuan and Gong Wang.

The two nodded, took some with bowls, and then squatted in the corner far away. Being from military families, they naturally couldn't lack that kind of discernment.

Zheng Boye and the Jingnan King sat down on one side each and began their lunch.

"Li Fusheng's offensive at Xishan Fort has not been effective." The Jingnan King said.

"I think it's because he failed to take it in the first wave, and now it has entered a stalemate and attrition." Zheng Boye said.

Tian Wujing nodded, "However, with your previous experience as a lesson, he specifically went to investigate, and the private soldiers in Xishan Fort are from the Dugu family of Chu, not the imperial guards.

Although, there is also a general named Dugu Nian in the imperial guards, who is also from the Dugu family, but they are not together."

"In that case, it's only a matter of time."

"Sweep it slowly, there's no rush anyway."

"This is probably the slowest battle I've ever seen you fight, Your Highness. Actually, Your Highness should prefer fighting this kind of battle, right?"

Tian Wujing didn't answer.

"Your Highness, I heard that the river workers in Wangjiang are still repairing?"

"They are repairing."

"What are they for?" Zheng Boye asked directly, "Is it related to the campaign against Chu?"

Originally, Zheng Boye was very surprised by the Wangjiang river project. They were at war here, but there, they were still repairing the river.

After Xue San came back, he also said something about the river project.

You should know, Third Brother is an expert in this field, he saw the problem, then there must be a problem.

Zheng Boye hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "I heard that you once ordered the construction of my Great Yan's navy when you defeated the main force of the Wildlings and besieged Yupancheng."

The previous Great Yan did not need a navy at all, but with the expansion war, facing new terrain and new battlefield environments, the navy was a must.

The Wangjiang river project easily made Zheng Boye associate it with the newly built navy of Great Yan.

Tian Wujing didn't seem to intend to deliberately hide it,

He put down his chopsticks,

Looked at Zheng Fan,

Said:

"Even I don't know if it will work out, human power is still somewhat insignificant in the face of celestial phenomena."

"Your Highness, this is your plan... one of them?"

"Yes."

Tian Wujing picked up his chopsticks and drew a line on the ground, and pointed at it, saying:

"This is Wangjiang."

Zheng Boye nodded.

At the end of this line, Tian Wujing drew three lines with his chopsticks, saying: "Here is the Mengshan Mountains, which is where you went when you entered Chu last time."

Zheng Boye nodded again.

"Wangjiang enters Chu from the west side of Mengshan, and finally flows into the Great Ze of Chu. From here to here, it is the Chu people's canal. The Chu people use this river to control a large area from west of the Great Ze to Qishan.

Back then, the Chu people's navy also went north along this river and entered Wangjiang, cutting off the river and defeating Wujiang's eastern expeditionary army.

You entered Chu last time, going east of the Mengshan Mountains."

Zheng Boye immediately said: "It is possible to travel by boat there, and there are some tributaries from Wangjiang, but the waterway is very short and difficult to navigate. Only small cargo ships of those smuggling merchants can travel there, and after entering from here, you still have to face the winding mountain roads of Mengshan, where there are many terrains where one man can hold the pass."

Our army cannot enter Chu from here at all.

And if you go west of Mengshan, although there is enough river surface to travel, the Chu people's navy is densely deployed there, and they can easily block the river.

If you forcibly attack from here, it is no different from directly sending troops out of the South Gate Pass and borrowing the road to Liang to attack Chu."

At this time,

Tian Wujing's chopsticks pierced into "Wangjiang" and slanted east towards east of Mengshan.

"This……"

Zheng Boye immediately realized.

He really hadn't thought before that they would, would, actually use this method!

He had thought of using water to attack and flood, after all, there were many such war examples in the past, but it was almost impossible to divert water to flood the location of Zhennan Pass.

However, Tian Wujing's pointer completely solved the original doubts.

For a time, Zheng Boye was really a little surprised when he looked up at Tian Wujing again.

Tian Wujing ignored Zheng Boye's change in expression and focused on his own narrative:

"During the summer floods, not only the Wangjiang river surface, but also the water level of its tributaries is actually higher than usual in the year. West of Mengshan, the river channel is wide, but my Great Yan navy is not an opponent of the Chu people's navy at all. Taking this route is a dead end.

And once Wangjiang is successfully diverted temporarily, branching into the tributaries, then large ships can sail on the river east of Mengshan in a short time.

My Great Yan navy can take advantage of this opportunity to enter Chu from the diverted tributaries east of the Mengshan Mountains before the Chu people's navy can react at all."

Hearing this, Zheng Boye immediately said: "This should not be the navy entering Chu."

Tian Wujing nodded slightly, "The navy is newly built, and although some large ships have been built, they are all for show. Even with some surviving navies received from the Situ family, they cannot form any combat power in such a short time.

Therefore, I never planned to use the navy to carry out any surprise attacks. The purpose of the navy entering Chu is to help me carry an army into Chu.

After this army successfully enters Chu, it will quickly advance eastward while the Chu people are completely unprepared."

Saying that,

Tian Wujing pointed out a point with his chopsticks,

"Here is Zhennan Pass."

Afterwards,

Tian Wujing pointed out another point after "Zhennan Pass", and then drew a circle according to this point.

Zheng Boye preemptively answered: "Here is Shanggu Commandery, and this point is the Shanggu Commandery city."

Shanggu Commandery, Zheng Boye passed by there when he brought the princess back, and at that time he was disguised as a merchant selling grain to the border.

Therefore, when he got here, Zheng Boye also picked up his chopsticks and pointed out a point in the southwest corner of the "Shanggu Commandery" circle.

"Your Highness, there should be a city here, called Jingcheng. To the south of Jingcheng is the Wei River in Chu. The Mi River outside the Chu people's Yingdu is actually a tributary of the Wei River."

The Mi River is actually very narrow, and cannot be considered a river, but because of the legend of the capital being built here, it can be called "River", with a kind of appointed meaning.

Tian Wujing didn't speak, but looked at Zheng Fan, as if waiting for Zheng Fan to continue speaking.

Zheng Boye was not the reckless young man he was before, and most importantly, he had passed by here. After thinking for a moment, he immediately continued:

"Jingcheng is located at the danger of the Wei River, and is the throat of Shanggu Commandery to the outside world. If that elite force entering Chu from the east of Mengshan marches quickly here and occupies Jingcheng, it will be equivalent to cutting off the connection between the entire Chu Shanggu Commandery and the Chu mainland!"

Tian Wujing nodded in satisfaction.

However, he still added a sentence,

Said:

"Nian Yao is an extremely cautious person. According to the reports of the Secret Intelligence Division, the Chu army's food and grass this time were not placed in the military camp behind Zhennan Pass, nor in the Shanggu Commandery city, but... in Jingcheng."

"Nian Yao should be afraid that after my Yan army sweeps away most of the obstacles outside Zhennan Pass, it will not attack his Zhennan Pass head-on, but will send out multiple troops to bypass Zhennan Pass to the south, so he placed the grain road so far back.

His original intention should be to limit the war not only to the south of Zhennan Pass, not just to Zhennan Pass, but even to the Shanggu Commandery city and the entire Shanggu Commandery.

Actually, the Chu people's Shanggu Commandery has long been exhausted. It is not as serious as our Jin East where nine out of ten houses are empty, but the Chu people will not feel bad about using it as a battlefield.

And if our army can take Jingcheng by surprise before the Chu people are prepared, we can burn all the food and grass that the Chu people have mobilized and prepared for this war!

At that time, the Chu people's military morale will inevitably be greatly hit!"

Tian Wujing shook his head.

"Your Highness, am I wrong?"

"Along the Wangjiang line, countless civilians have been conscripted, Wangjiang has been forced to change its course, and the surrounding areas have been flooded. It is basically impossible for the newly built navy to come out again after entering Chu, and it will be destroyed along with it.

The elite force that was transported over at such a cost, is it just to burn food and grass to strike a blow at the Chu people's military morale?

Zheng Fan,

Your appetite,

Can be bigger."

"Bigger?"

Tian Wujing circled the entire Shanggu Commandery together with Zhennan Pass with his chopsticks,

Said:

"I want that elite force to hold Jingcheng, block the Chu reinforcements, and cut off the Chu grain road;

At that time, Zhennan Pass, the military camps and fortresses in the four fields of Zhennan Pass, the Shanggu Commandery city and the tens of thousands of Chu troops in other cities within it, will all be trapped in this big urn!

I,

Want to eat them all!

I want that Nian Yao, to let his main Chu imperial guards, let the main force of those noble private soldiers of Chu, all be buried here.

Having lost these elites all at once, Chu will definitely be badly hurt. Not to mention another Northern Expedition, from now on, with Zhennan Pass and Shanggu Commandery in the hands of my Great Yan, whenever we want to go south, it will be up to my Great Yan to decide. He Chu people can only passively endure it.

In this battle, I want to turn his Great Chu into Great Qian!"

Zheng Boye's breathing involuntarily became rapid. When Tian Wujing revealed his plan,

Zheng Boye was shocked by the size of this chessboard, and also shocked by Tian Wujing's appetite.

Therefore, Tian Wujing said that the peripheral siege battles could be slow and not in a hurry, because he wanted to give the Chu people enough time to mobilize, so that the Chu people could mobilize more troops, reinforcements, and food and weapons to rush to Shanggu Commandery;

He wants to solve it once and for all!

If this battle succeeds,

It will not be inferior to the ten-day battle thousands of miles ago, which destroyed the Helian family and the Wenren family in succession. Even after a thousand years, it will still become a battle that historians will talk about with relish.

Tian Wujing pointed at the location of Jingcheng that Zheng Boye had poked out earlier with his chopsticks,

Said:

"Tell me, who is suitable to lead this elite force?"

Here it comes,

Here it comes,

The familiar feeling,

The familiar way,

The familiar rhythm,

It's here again!

Zheng Boye looked up and looked at the Jingnan King.

This time,

Zheng Boye didn't shirk, and didn't deliberately recommend others, because he had been prepared for it.

He had already enjoyed the benefits, so it would be too pretentious and meaningless to shirk again.

Since he knew that it must be himself, then he should be generous, happy, and straightforward. There was no need to be coy every time.

Therefore, Zheng Boye was very sensible and direct this time.

"Your Highness, after this battle, I want Zhennan Pass."

"I'll give it to you."

"After this battle, I want Jin East."

"I'll give it to you."

"After this battle, I want to become a veritable Grand General of Cheng Country."

"It's only right and proper."

"And……"

"What else, say it."

"Please help me think of a title, Your Highness, what kind of Marquis is good?"

————

Thanks to the classmate Lh for becoming the 138th Alliance Leader of "The Descent of Magic"!

Good night.