Kou Ji glanced at Zhu Neng and said, "You and I have no grievances, but there are deep friendships. How could I harm you?"
When Zhu Neng heard this, he stared, like a fierce Zhang Fei, approaching Kou Ji, yelling: "Then why are you talking nonsense with the officials and let me be a pioneer?"
Kou Ji looked at Zhu Neng in amazement, "Isn't it good for you to be a pioneer?"
Zhu Neng blew his beard and stared: "Just now in the big account, there was one who counted one. You can ask them to see who is willing to be a pioneer, and none of them is willing.
They all know that Xingqing Mansion is a hard bone, whoever opens his mouth first, who breaks his teeth first, so no one grabs it.
Such a hard work, you actually helped me hold my head.
Are you hurting me? "
Kou Ji glanced at Zhu Neng and said, "If you want to take on the big responsibility, how can you just fight the wind fight? Only by fighting a tough fight once in a while can you show your ability and let the officials see your talents."
Zhu Neng hummed: "There are so many people in the tent, are there anyone who is more talented than Zhu Neng, why don't you show their talents?"
Kou Ji curled his lips and said: "Those who have no ability among them are naturally unwilling to go out to show off. Those who have the ability don't go out to show off because it's useless to show off."
Zhu Neng was taken aback, staring suspiciously at Kou Ji, "What do you mean by this?"
Kou Ji said indifferently: "Those who have no ability, take the initiative to invite Ying to serve as the vanguard general, that is, they are looking for death. Those who have the ability to take the initiative to ask Ying to serve as the vanguard general will not benefit much."
"There are benefits?!"
Zhu Neng raised his brows, grabbed Kou Ji, and hurriedly said, "Tell me carefully, what are the benefits?"
Kou Ji looked at Zhu Neng, and said, "Is the position of the Deputy Secret Envoy considered an advantage?"
Zhu Neng widened his eyes in astonishment, and said in astonishment: "You mean... the privy envoy?"
Kou Ji increased his tone and repeated: "It's the deputy privy envoy!"
Zhu Neng licked the corner of his mouth and whispered: "We don't dare to think about it."
Kou Ji rolled his eyes and cursed in a low voice: "Brilliant..."
Zhu Neng smiled, did not reply, and urged Kou Ji to say, "Quickly tell me what kind of doorway is there."
Kou Ji said frankly: "The position of Deputy Secret Envoy has been vacant for a long time. There used to be no suitable candidates, but now it is different. My Song Dynasty successively conquered Yanyun and Xixia, and many generals emerged.
Once Xixia is conquered, many lords will emerge from behind.
With so many generals emerging, they naturally need someone to guide them.
The position of deputy clerk could no longer be vacant.
The official family had previously dealt with the Gao family and suppressed other generals, which shows that the official family does not want to see the people in the generals continue to make waves on the court and the opposition.
Therefore, when selecting the deputy clerk, the official will definitely not choose from the generals.
Officials are likely to be selected among you newly promoted lords.
Let you become another force in the court to check and balance the generals.
Those who are eligible to serve as deputy secret envoys were all in the Chinese army's account just now.
Among them, Guo Yi and Liu Qi have insufficient status and can be excluded.
Wang Kai's qualifications are too low and can also be ruled out.
Liu Heng was born as an eagle dog, and was not suitable for the post of deputy clerk.
The rest is you and Chong Shiheng.
Chong Shiheng has been in Qingjian City for a long time, and he has made great achievements in Wenzhi and martial arts.
If the official calls him to return to the court, if he agrees, the official will definitely let him serve as the deputy clerk.
Although you have a lot of martial arts, you don't have much culture.
If you want to overcome Zhong Shiheng, you should show your loyalty and talent to the officials. "
Zhu Neng thought about it: "Are you asking me to show my talents to officials?"
Kou Ji slowly shook his head and said, "No... it's loyal!"
Zhu Neng was taken aback.
Kou Ji whispered: "Zhong Shiheng sits in Qingjian City and hasn't moved for more than ten years. Today's Qingjian City is like my prefecture during the Great Song and Liguo period. One officer of Zhong Shiheng turned Qingjian City into a town. Fan means.
Even if he is just for self-protection, officials will look at him with a scrutiny attitude.
The ruling and opposition parties will also doubt his loyalty.
Although you are not as good as Chong Shiheng in terms of culture and governance, you are more loyal than Chong Shiheng, so if you choose between you and Chong Shiheng, the officials will definitely choose you.
It is one thing for the ministers of civil and military affairs in the court to be competent, but it is another thing to be loyal.
Sometimes loyalty is more important than ability. "
After Kou Ji's analysis, Zhu Neng also understood the truth. He nodded and said, "It's really so... the talents of people who can appear in front of the officials have mostly passed the test.
Officials don't need to care much about talents.
Officials are more concerned about who is more loyal and who is more obedient. "
Kou Ji nodded slowly.
Zhu Neng also worked as a servant in the imperial city, witnessed many things in the palace, and knew what the officials needed most.
He hadn't dared to think about the Deputy Secret Envoy before, so he didn't think about it.
Now Kou Ji analyzed it carefully for him, and he naturally saw the doorway clearly.
Zhu Neng said with emotion: "I didn't expect that someone from Zhu would also come and go. Deputy Secret Envoy, I didn't dare to think about it before."
Kou Ji sighed with emotion: "I never thought you could serve as a deputy clerk. After all, you came out of my grandfather. It is impossible for you to enter the center until our grandfather and grandson are completely lost.
But I didn't expect it to be changeable.
In this battle against Xixia, you are actually the one who contributed the most.
If you have merit, the officials will naturally reward it.
It's just that you are already the Duke of the country, and if you enter the title, it is already the limit.
Don't think about it when you wait for the father-in-law.
Nowadays, in the ruling and opposition parties, only my grandfather is a first-class man. It is impossible for an official to promote you to a first-class man to be on par with my grandfather.
Unless you are about to become an idler.
So most of your credit can only be compensated by official positions.
The officials do not want to let the people at the gate enter the center, so your hope of entering the center is greatly increased. "
Zhu Neng heard Kou Ji's words and said, "Xingqing Mansion hasn't won it yet, so it's not always the one who has done the most."
Kou Ji rolled his eyes and said, "The official family is the head coach of the besieging Xingqing Mansion this time. No matter who captured Xingqing Mansion, the greatest credit must be given to the official family.
Do you guys have the courage to grab the credit from the officials? "
Zhu Neng was taken aback, and the corners of his mouth twitched: "The official is taking credit with us?"
Kou Ji glanced at Zhu Neng and said, "Doesn't the officials take credit for it? The officials also need to help their ancestors look good."
"But this is too..."
"What's the matter? Li Deming's head, what use is it for you to come? You took Li Deming's head, and the officials made an exception to ban you as a first-class father. You will be immediately recalled to Bianjing City. can not do this.
Zhong Shiheng is not willing to take the initiative to ask Ying to be the vanguard general. Do you think he is a Xixia who is afraid of Xingqing Mansion
Although there are many Xixia people in Xingqing Mansion, we have more soldiers and horses outside Xingqing Mansion.
To be unceremonious, there may not be more people in Xingqing Mansion than our soldiers.
We occupies an absolute advantage in military strength, and sooner or later we will win the Xingqing Mansion.
Even if Zhong Shiheng served as the vanguard general, took the lead in attacking Xingqing Mansion, and suffered one or two defeats, he would always bite Xingqing Mansion down.
If he takes the lead in taking down Xingqing Mansion and the official mentions his title first, he will definitely be summoned to return to the court.
Part of the reason why he refused to serve as the vanguard general was that he could not afford the family business in Qingjian City.
Even the saints can’t easily abandon the family business accumulated over the past ten years, let alone a kind of Shiheng.
Another part of the reason is that he is unwilling to go back to Bianjing to be an idler. "
After listening to Kou Ji's words, Zhu Neng said in a daze, "According to you, Xingqing Mansion can't fight yet?"
Kou Ji said calmly: "How can we not fight with so many soldiers and horses to Xingqing Mansion?"
Zhu Neng smiled bitterly: "But whoever wins the first victory will become an idler."
Kou Ji stared.
Zhu Neng seemed to have thought of something, and hurriedly said: "It is unnecessary to give the greatest credit to the officials."
Kou Ji nodded slowly.
Zhu Neng clicked his mouth and said, "It's a chore to attack Xingqing Mansion. The vanguard may have to lose a lot, and maybe they will return without success."
Kou Ji glanced at Zhu Neng and said, "We still have a lot of grenades, artillery shells, and crossbow guns. You can dispatch some catapults and prepare some stone bombs and fire bombs. Then throw them all in at once. Maybe it will have a miraculous effect.
Zhu Neng stared at Kou Ji blankly, "Pioneers, can we still fight like this?"
Kou Ji opened his hands and said: "Just learned..."
Zhu Neng stunned: "Who did you learn from?"
Kou Ji said frankly: "Liao Emperor Yelu Longxu..."
In fact, it doesn't count.
Kou Ji has heard a lot of similar combat methods in later generations.
It's just that Kou Ji can't take out the example of later generations, so he can only push it to the Liao Emperor.
This is how the Emperor Liao did it at Tongtaiguan anyway.
When Zhu Neng went to check, he could also check the immigration.
Zhu Neng looked surprised and said, "Liao Emperor Yelu Longxu taught you to fight?"
"Ok!"
Kou Ji nodded slowly.
Zhu Neng pursed his mouth, and said without coming: "Is it a dream?"
Kou Ji gave Zhu Neng a sideways glance.
Zhu Neng groaned: "Tell me, we now have more than 700,000 soldiers and horses besieging Xingqing Mansion, and there are still a lot of civilians, and there are almost a million people in total.
It should be feasible to make one hundred thousand catapults, right
One hundred thousand catapults, plus artillery and grenades, do you think Li Deming can hold it? "
Kou Ji was stunned when he heard Zhu Neng's words.
Really stunned.
If one hundred thousand catapults fired at Xingqing Mansion, they would probably be able to cover all enemies within range.
Can the Xixia soldiers and horses in the city resist
Kou Ji stared at Zhu Neng and asked, "How did you think of it?"
Zhu Neng laughed in a low voice: "Before in Shazhou, I tried a volley of 10,000 tigers, so now you mentioned bombarding Xingqing Mansion with a catapult. I think I can try more."
Kou Ji never thought about the violent bombardment of Xingqing Mansion with one hundred thousand catapults.
Kou Ji has never heard of someone using a catapult as the main weapon to deal with the enemy, let alone using a catapult to determine the outcome of the battle.
It's not that the catapult is very difficult to build.
In fact, weapons such as catapults and siege chisels are not difficult to manufacture.
When the army is dispatched, it never brings these things, only some auxiliary soldiers that can help the carpenter.
Ordnance such as catapults and siege chisels were all made by cutting down trees near the battlefield after they arrived on the battlefield.
This is done by the army on the march to reduce the burden of the burden.
But it also proves that catapults and siege chisels are not particularly high-tech and difficult to make weapons.
Kou Ji looked at Zhu Neng and said, "The catapult is easy to build, but I have never heard of it, or have seen warfare with the catapult as the main weapon..."
Zhu Neng seemed to see Kou Ji's doubts and explained: "The threat of catapults on the battlefield is very huge. The reason why it has not been widely used is because it is very manpower.
A large catapult requires eight people to push, four people to pull the rope, and two people to load stones to complete it.
After careful calculation, a large catapult requires 14 troops.
Ten thousand is 140,000.
More importantly, once the catapult formation is formed, more soldiers and horses are needed to protect the surrounding area to ensure that the established catapult formation will not be destroyed by the enemy.
Ordinary battles are battles between 30,000 and 20,000 soldiers and horses, and there is no need for a catapult formation.
In a battle involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, a catapult formation can be used, but you also know that in a battle involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, soldiers and horses are rarely hoarded in one place.
After most of the troops were dispatched, they were divided into three groups.
Therefore, even if the catapult array is used, the largest number is only a few thousand, and rarely exceeds 10,000.
The most important thing is that once the catapult formation is formed, posing a big threat to the enemy, the enemy will send soldiers and horses of the dead to rush into the formation and burn the catapult.
Catapults are easy to build and easy to destroy.
Therefore, the catapult formations are rarely seen on the battlefield.
Because you have worked so hard to make the slings, people may be burned in a fire. "
After listening to Zhu Neng's analysis, Kou Ji took over the words: "Moreover, it takes time to build a catapult formation. Often hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses fight, and the daily consumption of money is a large amount.
For a city that can be attacked by force, there is no need to spend time building a catapult formation? "
Zhu Neng nodded slowly.
Kou Ji thought about it: "I can't guarantee one hundred thousand planes, but if you build around twenty thousand planes, I can talk to the officials and ask him to order Zhong Shiheng and Liu Heng's soldiers and horses to cooperate with you."
Zhu Neng figured it out and said, "If you only attack Xingqing Mansion, 20,000 catapults, combined with artillery and grenades, will be enough."
"It's not too late, you take someone to get a catapult, I'll talk to the official."
"it is good… "
After the two had a plan, they left the tent.
Zhu Neng took people to build a catapult, while Kou Ji went to Zhao Zhen.
When Kou Ji walked to the entrance of Zhao Zhen's tent, he heard movement inside, and when he went in, he realized that Wang Kai and the three were saying goodbye to Zhao Zhen.
They are going to attack Huaizhou.
Although Huaizhou was on the edge of Xingqing Mansion, there was still some distance. The three wanted to attack Huaizhou before the war in Xingqing Mansion started.
Wang Kai and the three of them went to attack Huaizhou, which was a long-established strategy.
So when the three of them resigned, Zhao Zhen did not decline.
Zhao Zhen gave them a bowl of wine and sent them out of the tent.
The three men rushed to Huaizhou, braving the snow with a team of soldiers and horses.
After Zhao Zhen returned to the tent again, he asked Kou Ji to sit down.
After Kou Ji settled down, he told Zhao Zhen about Zhu Neng's plan to build a catapult.
Zhao Zhen is similar to Kou Ji, and doesn't know much about military affairs.
After Kou Ji told Zhao Zhen about Zhu Neng's plan to build a catapult, Zhao Zhen sent Chen Lin to secretly summon Gao Chugong.
Gao Chu Gong has been in hidden mode since Zhao Zhen arrived in Xiazhou, always hiding out of everyone's sight.
The main reason is that after Zhao Zhen arrived in Xiazhou, he brought many people.
There are many people with mixed eyes, and it is inevitable that some people who do not have long eyes and are ignorant are called Po Gao Chu Gong.
So Kou Ji let Gao Chu Gong hide, hiding behind and making suggestions.
Gao Chu Gong was summoned, and appeared in the army's big tent in a black robe.
After seeing Zhao Zhen, he gave a respectful salute. If it were not for etiquette constraints, he would almost make a five-body salute.
After Zhao Zhen asked him to get up, he kept on horseback.
Zhao Zhen and Kou Ji sounded very uncomfortable, and they couldn't even laugh or cry in their hearts.
If I knew today, why bother
At the beginning, Gao Chu Gong was in the court and looked down upon the heroes. No one would give any face to him. Even if Zhao Zhen asked him to go out on errands, he still had to agree to his terms.
What about now
Alive like a servant.
It turns out that the slut is hypocritical.
Give him some color, and he can open a dyeing workshop.
You beat him up, he is better than anyone else.
All kinds of flattery and flattering words from Gao Chujiao kept pouring out of his mouth. Hearing the headache, Zhao Zhen rubbed his eyebrows and interrupted him, "Okay, your loyalty, I have seen it. Your credit, I also Keep it in my heart. When you return to Bianjing, I will give you a generous gift to your children and grandchildren."
"Caomin, thank Guan Jia Longen..."
A respectful salute from the heights.
Zhao Zhen instructed Chen Lin to take a stool, put it behind Gong Gong, and said, "I have something to ask you. Sit down and talk."
Gao Chugong gave a salute again, "Thank you for the official seat. The official sympathizes with the old people. It's really..."
Kou Ji finally couldn't help it when Gao Chu Gong was about to start flattering again.
"Okay..."
Gao Chu Gong looked at Kou Ji with a serious face, as if he was going to ask Kou Ji why he was going to stop him from telling the truth, could it be that he felt that what he said was wrong.
Kou Ji saw Gao Chu's respectful gaze, and said, "It's too late... You don't want the official to hate you, so just shut up and ask what the official asks and what do you answer."
The high place snorted and expressed his dissatisfaction, but he did not reply. Instead, he obeyed Kou Ji's words, sat on the stool, and waited for Zhao Zhen to ask questions.
Zhao Zhen let out a sigh, looked at Kou Ji, and signaled Kou Ji to tell the story to the high place.
Zhao Zhen didn't want to talk to Gao Gonggong, because he was afraid that Gao Gonggong would climb up again and talk a lot about his scalp tingling.
It's not that there are people who flatter him.
But most of them paid attention to their faces, always flattering him at the right time.
He hadn't seen a faceless like Gao Chu Gong, a snap shot.
So he felt very uncomfortable when slapped him in a high place.
Under Zhao Zhen's gesture, Kou Ji briefly gave Zhu Neng's idea to Gao Chugong.
After listening to Gao Chu Gong, her face turned slightly straight, and said: "The construction of 100,000 catapults proposed by Gao Chu Gong is a bit unrealistic. Let alone the force required for 100,000 catapults, it has exceeded our ability. The scope of commitment.
Just the stone needed for 100,000 catapults cannot be gathered in three or five days.
It took more than ten days to build a catapult and search for stone materials.
In ten days, we have been able to attack Xingqing Mansion more than 20 times, and we have even taken down Xingqing Mansion. It is impossible to waste time on catapults.
Moreover, the catapult has a limited range.
Even if we built one hundred thousand catapults, at most the stones thrown out could only cover the city walls of Xingqing Mansion, as well as hundreds of feet away behind the city walls, and farther away, the catapults could not shoot them.
If the enemy hides a large army into the city, only a small number of soldiers and horses will be sent to defend the city with heavy shields, and the results of the catapult will be very limited. "
After hearing Gao Chu Gong's words, Zhao Zhen muttered, "Is there no benefit at all?"
Gao Chugong replied decisively: "Of course there are benefits. If we have enough catapults to throw stones into the city, the enemy will not be able to show up in a short time. Our soldiers and horses can easily climb up the city wall with this.
Although the catapult may cause damage to our soldiers and horses while suppressing the enemy.
But as long as we control the timing of slinging and climbing, the casualties will not be too great. "
Zhao Zhen pondered for a while, and said, "According to you, it is not advisable to build a catapult on a large scale?"
Gao Chugong shook his head and said: "That's not true. With our current strength, we can build a trebuchet of 10,000 to 20,000 to suppress a wall of Xingqing Mansion, and it will break through the wall faster."
Speaking of this, Gao Chuan Gongxu drew a square, saying: "Send soldiers and horses to attack the other three sides, forcing the soldiers on the other three sides to dare not move.
Then use a catapult on the remaining side to put pressure on the enemy.
If the enemy cannot withstand the pressure and dispatch other elite soldiers to help, then the defense of the other three walls will definitely be weakened.
When the time comes, the other three sides can take advantage of the trend.
If the enemy does not dispatch other elite soldiers to help, the direction the catapult is attacking is likely to be breached. "
Zhao Zhen and Kou Ji looked at each other.
Gao Chugong said that 10,000 to 20,000 catapults are helpful to the war, and the catapult that Kou Ji allowed Zhu Neng to make was also 20,000, which can be said to coincide.
Kou Ji didn't tell Gao Chu Gong what he said to Zhu Neng, so Gao Chu Gong didn't know about it.
Zhao Zhen didn't point it out either, but rather sighed: "Isn't it 100% sure to break Xingqing Mansion?"
Gao Chugong hesitated and said: "The generals in our hands are far stronger than Xixia. It will be a matter of time before Xingqing Mansion is broken. But it is impossible to win Xingqing Mansion in one fell swoop.
There are 300,000 Xixia soldiers and horses in the city. We have surrounded them for a day and a half. They have not yet reported a riot or rebellion. It is clear that the Xixia soldiers and horses in the city are determined to fight to the end.
They dare to fight for their lives, we want to take them naturally not so easy. "
Zhao Zhen sighed and said, "Is there no way to win Xingqing Mansion in one fell swoop?"
Gao Chugong hesitated for a moment and looked at Kou Ji.
Kou Ji felt Gao Chu Gong's gaze, and was slightly stunned.
Just listen to Gao Gong said: "If Kou Jinglue can take out ten times more firearms than Qu Yechuan's battle, he can win Xingqing Mansion in one fell swoop."