Xiahou Baichuan had been observing the enemy's defenses by the Qinhe River for several days in a row. At the beginning, the defenses of the high-level troops on the other side were nothing more than that, which was quite satisfactory. The next day, I thought of something and went to look again, and found that the defense was really tricky. When I went back on the third day, I found that Zheng Ziyu's defense was flawless.
On the fourth day, Fang Jie went to the river in person.
"The subordinate is guilty."
Seeing Fang Jie approaching, Xiahou Baichuan knelt down on one knee and saluted: "My lord strictly ordered that we cross the river quickly, but my subordinates did not fight for several days, and I failed my lord's great trust."
"reason."
When Fang Jie walked to the river, a Xiaoqi school immediately moved a chair and put it behind Fang Jie. Fang Xie threw off his cloak and sat down on the chair, waiting for Xia Hou Baichuan's answer.
"There is no flaw."
Xiahou Baichuan recounted his observations over the past few days, and stood aside with a bowed body, daring not to say anything else. Before entering the army, Fang Xie had ordered the battle of crossing the river to be fast. Now the rain will come down at some point in this season. Once the rain is heavy and the water rises, it will definitely be much more difficult to cross the river than it is now.
"No flaws?"
Fang Jie repeated it again, and then went to clairvoyance to look at the other side.
"In this kind of war, there is no trickery. The opponent's arrangement has no flaws, so they can only attack from the front. The enemy defends and attacks, and there is no support from warships. Once the battle starts, it will inevitably be tragic. The subordinates are worried that the casualties will be too great..."
"How long do you need?"
Fang asked.
"Two days."
Xiahou Baichuan raised his head and said: "My lord, please give me another two days. If I can't think of a way to cross the river within two days, I am willing to do it by military law."
"Okay, I'll give you three more days."
Fang Jie stood up and threw his clairvoyance to his guards: "Hundreds of thousands of troops are watching behind you, how much food, grass and luggage will be consumed in one more day. You have led the troops for many years and you know it well. Even from Liyin If you transport grain from warehouses, only seven or eight catties of grain will be left in the army. If you transport grain from the south and south of the Yangtze River, only half of the grain will be left. I know that you have a heavy burden as a vanguard general, but since you can Pick it up and walk steadily."
"Here!"
Xiahou Baichuan nodded heavily: "This subordinate will definitely come up with a strategy to defeat the enemy within three days!"
Fang Jie hummed, turned and left without saying anything.
After returning to the big camp, Fang Xie put his cloak aside when he entered the big tent, his face was a little ugly. It happened that Dugu Wenxiu came in to ask him for instructions, and when he saw Fang Jie's expression changed, he immediately realized that it must be the matter of the Vanguard Army.
"My lord, what's the problem with General Xiahou?"
Dugu Wenxiu asked.
"He was worried that there would be too many casualties, so he dared not go to war for a long time."
Fang Jie sighed: "But what Zheng Ziyu wants is that he dare not go to war like this! I just came back from the edge of the Qinhe River, and the river is at least a few meters wider than the previous few days. If there is no accident, the upper reaches are already lower." It's raining. If we delay for a few more days, Zheng Ziyu doesn't even need to deploy defenses on the shore."
Dugu Wenxiu said: "Actually, Xiahou is also thinking about the lord... The Qinhe River is more than one mile away. At this distance, the power of the artillery can at most push back the enemies on the bank. But the enemy's ballista and catapults can easily intercept them as far as they go. Half of the troops in the river, the soldiers crossed the river halfway, and Zheng Ziyu took advantage of the situation... Unless Zheng Ziyu's ballista and catapults cannot be used when the vanguard crosses the river, the casualties will indeed not be too small."
"So that Zheng Ziyu's ballista cannot be used?"
Fang Jie's eyes suddenly lit up: "Come here, go and call the wine and sex money."
…
…
Xiang Qingniu walked into Fang Jie's tent with a piece of cooked meat in his mouth, glanced at Fang Jie who was sitting behind the table reading a book, and threw the half roast chicken in his hand, Fang Jie reached out to catch it, and then slammed it Xiang Qingniu rolled his eyes.
"What is this for? You asked another fat man to borrow all those quacks from me. Are you trying to find bad luck for Zheng Ziyu on the other side? I heard that Zheng Ziyu is resourceful, and I'm afraid he would have let us spend the night. River sneak attack, if the manpower in my hand is too damaged, what will you give me back?"
"A chicken ass can't stop your mouth?"
Fang Jie sat up straight and tore off a chicken wing: "The upstream has already swelled. If we can't cross the river in a few days, it will be difficult to think about it when it rains heavily."
"Do you want me to step on the other side?"
Xiang Qingniu rubbed the greasy hands on the Daoist's clothes, but didn't care at all.
"If you can trample Zheng Ziyu's tens of thousands of troops to death in the past, I would be happy. Gao Kaitai has been in Gyeonggi Province for several years. There are so many big men in Chang'an City, which one has few masters? Wang Yiqu died or Yang Jian He was killed by accident, but Gao Kaitai has been living a good life, how many decent practitioners are there?"
"If you have anything to fear, then fight."
Xiang Qingniu said while picking his teeth.
"Actually, this is an unwritten rule. Things on the battlefield should be resolved on the battlefield as much as possible. Since ancient times, great practitioners have rarely intervened in wars. Of course, it is not impossible. Back then Luo Yao walked into Pangba alone. In the big camp, almost all the generals in Pang Ba's army were slaughtered, and they didn't follow the rules at all."
"Are you going to slaughter it too?"
Xiang Qingniu said with a smile.
"I always feel that Gao Kaitai is waiting for me."
"Why?"
Xiang Qingniu asked: "Are you overestimating your opponent? In this Jianghu, there are really few people who can threaten you. The old Niubi is fine, but he is at ease on the western grassland. Zhang Yiyang can do it, but he pretends to be a closed-door practitioner in Wudang Mountain. Who else can? I don’t even think about it. Unless... "
He glanced at Fang Jie: "Unless, there are a few Dazizi in Gao Kaitai's army..."
Fang Jie frowned slightly, what Xiang Qingniu said might not be impossible. Zheng Ziyu's formation is like a defensive one. The defending side uses all they can use, and puts up the best formation and waits. The attacking side will have a headache, and the casualties of soldiers are too great for anyone to bear. At this time, practitioners are often needed to solve the problem.
Zheng Ziyu couldn't have imagined that there were many quacks in the Black Banner Army. Could it be that he really wasn't on guard
"Come on!"
Fang Jie immediately ordered: "Let Chen Xiaoru take people to chase after wine, sex and money, and bring them all back!"
Xiaoqi School outside the door knew that Fang Jie was really anxious from his tone, and quickly sent someone to inform Chen Xiaoru.
"Why, do you really think there will be a few Dazi in Zheng Ziyu's army?"
Xiang Qingniu looked at Fang Jie, a little disapprovingly: "The world is big if you say it is big, and it's not that big if you say it's small. There are only a handful of famous masters in the world, and there are definitely more dead than alive now. That kind of master who can threaten you, I reckon he has already sent over to assassinate you, instead of waiting... "
"Why did Gao Kaitai dare to come to our army to negotiate with only a few personal guards?"
Fang Jie asked suddenly.
Xiang Qingniu was taken aback: "You mean... he was accompanied by experts that day?"
Fang Jie nodded: "I was negligent. From the beginning, I didn't think Gao Kaitai had such a master by his side, so I didn't care about those guards."
"impossible."
Xiang Qingniu shook his head: "Even if you don't care, as long as such a master stands in front of you, you can feel it naturally. You didn't notice anything when those guards were so close to you, or they have something special The method hides the cultivation, or they are not worth mentioning at all."
"A special way?"
Fang Jie thought about it carefully, and in his memory, there seemed to be no sect that was good at this kind of practice.
"I suddenly thought of a..."
Xiang Qingniu subconsciously glanced at Fang Xie, his expression turned a little ugly.
…
…
Jiu Se Cai's body was a little unstable, if Chen Xiaoru hadn't helped him, he might have fallen down just now. There were at least four gashes on his chest, each deep. If it wasn't for his lightness kung fu being good enough, maybe he would have died long ago.
He didn't die, but out of the more than a hundred quacks he took to the north of Qinhe River, only four came back alive with him, and those four were also seriously injured. If it wasn't for Chen Xiaoru leading people to respond in time, maybe none of them would come back.
"Subordinates... are not doing well, please be punished by the lord."
Jiu Se Cai struggled to bow down, but every movement on his body was painful, and the blood was still dripping down his clothes, and soon the place where he was standing was stained red. Fang Jie got up immediately and asked someone to help Jiu Secai to find a place to lie down. He tore off Jiu Secai's clothes, and at a glance he saw that there were stab wounds on his chest.
Fang Jie cleaned the wound for Jiu Se Cai himself, then used medicine, and asked the military doctor to bring needles and thread to sew the wound.
"What am I going to punish you for?"
Fang Jie shook his head while sewing up the wound: "I thought of it too late to call you back. The fault is not yours but mine. What's more, I really can't think of a reason to treat a man with wounds all over his chest. Man punishes."
Jiu Se Cai was startled for a moment, but said nothing more.
"When the subordinates arrived, Jiu Se Cai dragged him behind to block the pursuers, that's why those four men came back..."
Chen Xiaoru said something beside him.
Fang Jie nodded, and seriously dealt with the wound of Jiu Se Cai Cai: "This matter was originally arranged by me without consideration. After you left, I suddenly realized that it was too late by the time I sent someone to call you back. You I have all these injuries in my heart."
Jiu Se Cai was suddenly a little scared.
The atmosphere he feared most reappeared.
What he was most afraid of was not the bloody and cold atmosphere in the abandoned brick kiln, but the warmth of entering the fourth prince's palace and eating at the back door with Lao Liu for the first time. For most of his life, he experienced the cold feeling, the warmth was too little and too little. So he was afraid, afraid that once this feeling appeared, it would disappear quickly.
"If you get stabbed once, I'll shave Zheng Ziyu's body a hundred times. If you get stabbed four times, I'll shave Zheng Ziyu."
Fang Jie treated Jiu Secai's wound well, stood up and washed his hands: "Chen Xiaoru, take someone to send Jiu Secai back to recuperate, and find a few thoughtful people to take care of him until he fully recovers, don't ask a woman, this guy is unreliable .”
Jiu Se Cai couldn't help laughing, hiding the warmth in the corners of his eyes.
"Those swordsmen are very unusual."
He said: "This subordinate is also an old man. I have seen many famous masters who use knives. But no one uses knives like those people. Their use of knives is extremely simple and extremely terrifying. The reason why my subordinates can come back alive is because I have encountered too many situations where I almost died before, and I have developed a reaction, and these four-knife subordinates can't even avoid it... "
"I see."
Fang Jie patted Jiu Se Cai on the shoulder: "Go back to recuperate, I will deal with those swordsmen."
He looked at Xiang Qingniu, and Xiang Qingniu nodded with a solemn expression.