Chapter 754: Scapegoat! (Part )

Feeling Lin Huaiwu's gaze, Xun Ke did not shirk his responsibility like the others, but stood up and said:
“I think the enemy’s sense of smell is very good. They seem to have realized that our army will launch an offensive soon, so I think Wang Muzhi has given up the idea of ​​fighting a political battle…”

As soon as the term "political battle" was uttered, the eyes of all the Fengwu Army generals present were immediately focused on Xun Ke.

Under the gaze of the crowd, Xun Ke preached calmly:

"According to the previous scouts' investigation, we can confirm that the enemy has deployed 10,000 imperial guards in Lingyuan County, 5,000 imperial guards in Pingyun County, and 10,000 imperial guards in the two counties of Pingrong and Wankang in the south!"

"Wang Muzhi now has a total of more than 80,000 soldiers and horses, of which 35,000 are the imperial guards and Liang cavalry left to him by Shangguan Hongyuan. These are also the most powerful troops in Wang Muzhi's hands!"

"As for the remaining 50,000 people, they are local militiamen from Yunbing. Their personal bravery and weapons and equipment are not comparable to those of the Imperial Guards. According to Wang Muzhi's previous combat deployment, he deployed his elite troops in the four county towns, showing a posture of defending these four county towns to the death!"

"But I don't think this is Wang Muzhi's real idea. Wang Muzhi is a veteran on the battlefield. He can't fail to see that these four counties are too far away from their logistics center Jinyang, and too close to our army, and our army has a great advantage in cavalry and artillery!"

“So as long as our army uses cavalry to cut off the supply line of this county, and then concentrates superior artillery to slowly gnaw at it, it won’t be difficult to capture these four counties…”

"Therefore, under our army's counterattack, the imperial guards deployed in these four counties will have only one fate: they will be annihilated by our army!"

"Wang Muzhi must be aware of this, but the reason why he still does this is probably because of the Luoan court's intention!"

"These five counties outside Jinzhong are Shangguan Hongyuan's last fig leaf for this eastern expedition. If they are taken back by our army in such a short time, it means that this fig leaf has also been pulled down by our army, which will be a big blow to Shangguan Hongyuan's prestige. So I guess Wang Muzhi's previous arrangement should be instructed by Shangguan Hongyuan!"

"And now Wang Muzhi has taken the initiative to give up three counties to gather troops. It is very likely that under his persuasion, Shangguan Hongyuan has given up his previous ideas and become more pragmatic and handed more power to Wang Muzhi. This is not good news for our army!"

"I think that after Wang Muzhi gave up Wankang, Pingrong, and Lingyuan, he would definitely not choose to retreat to Dagu County and Pingyun County. Compared with the other three counties, Dagu County and Pingyun are closer to Jinyang, and it is more convenient for them to supply. In addition, the terrain there is also very easy to defend and difficult to attack!"

"That's the battlefield that Wang Muzhi has chosen to fight our army. He will fight to the death there with our army!"

After listening to Xun Ke’s analysis, everyone nodded, thinking that what Xun Ke said made a lot of sense...
At the same time, Lin Huaiwu said:
"General Xun, if that's the case, do you have any good strategy to defeat the enemy?"

Facing Lin Huaiwu's question, Xun Ke hesitated for a moment and shook his head:

"There is no particularly good strategy to defeat the enemy at the moment!"

Lin Huaiwu noticed Xun Ke's hesitation and asked the generals for their opinions. As the incident happened suddenly, the generals had not come up with a good solution. After discussing for a long time, they only agreed to send people to take over these counties.

Lin Huaiwu knew that there was no time to rush, so he ordered the lieutenant general beside him to come up with a new battle plan as soon as possible.

After the meeting, Lin Huaiwu kept Xun Ke alone. Seeing that Lin Huaiwu kept him, Xun Ke knew what Lin Huaiwu wanted to ask him, so he did not hide anything and directly said to Lin Huaiwu:

"The reason why Wang Muzhi dared to do this is probably because he saw that we were going to recapture all five counties outside Jinzhong this time. Therefore, the best way for our army now is not to rush. First occupy these three counties and manage them well, and then take Dagu County and Pingyun County in the next step!"

Although Xun Ke spoke cryptically, Lin Huaiwu also understood his subtext. Wang Muzhi's move was because he recognized that Ye Mingsheng had given them an order that this counterattack must take back all five outer counties, so he gave up three counties that were difficult to defend to his side, and then he concentrated his forces together and chose a battlefield with advantageous terrain to fight a decisive battle with the Fengwu Army...
However, Lin Huaiwu remained silent about Xun Ke's idea. The Fengwu Army was in financial distress during this period, but Ye Mingsheng had to repair their west wall even if it meant tearing down the east wall. He invested a lot of manpower and material resources to reorganize and rebuild the Second Army and the Third Division, so that they could counterattack Yun and recapture the five county towns!

As subordinates, they should share the worries of the Marshal, instead of asking the Marshal to lower the counterattack targets when they encounter difficulties. If they do so, the Marshal will definitely be very disappointed in them!

Thinking of this, Lin Huaiwu's heart sank. He was not a fool. Yuan Song and Guo Zhiping had left their respective commanders' positions one after another. He certainly understood the intentions of these two people. Logically, he should have followed their example, but Lin Huaiwu could not let go of the power in his hands.

In addition, Lin Huaiwu also believed that Yuan Song and Guo Zhiping's appointment to the General Staff was a rare opportunity for him!

In the Fengwu Army, although he, Yuan Song and Guo Zhiping were all commanders commanding an army of tens of thousands of people, compared with Yuan and Guo, Lin Huaiwu's presence in the Fengwu Army was not that great. This also made Lin Huaiwu feel that he was somewhat unappreciated and he lacked an opportunity to demonstrate his abilities!

And now Ye Mingsheng has transferred He Jingyun to Hebei and Henan, and appointed him as the commander-in-chief of the Yunbing counterattack, responsible for all matters related to the Yunbing counterattack. This is undoubtedly the opportunity he has always dreamed of. Now, isn't it laughable that he is backing down when faced with difficulties?
Seeing Lin Huaiwu’s silence, Xun Ke also understood Lin Huaiwu’s thoughts, and couldn’t help but sighed slightly in his heart······················
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Liaoyang, outside Dongning City

Escorted by more than twenty servants, Ye Sanwu took a carriage to a manor under his name. At this time, Manager Zhao, who was in charge of the manor affairs, was standing respectfully at the gate of the manor with all the tenants in the manor, waiting for the arrival of Master Ye Sanwu.

With the help of the servants, Ye Sanwu, who was grimacing and feeling uncomfortable all over, slowly got off the carriage. Although the road outside Dongning City had been repaired by the Governor's Office and the carriage had been treated with anti-vibration measures, the bumpy conditions on the road had been improved.

But a dirt road is a dirt road after all, and a horse-drawn carriage is a horse-drawn carriage after all. The bumpy road for an hour has made the elderly and frail Ye Sanwu's bones almost fall apart.

Seeing Ye Sanwu getting off the carriage, Manager Zhao immediately led all the tenants to bow and say:
"Hello, sir!"

Seeing dozens of people in front of him bowing to greet him, this undoubtedly greatly satisfied Ye Sanwu's vanity, and he nodded with a reserved look. After riding on Ye Mingsheng's east wind and becoming successful, although Ye Mingsheng repeatedly ordered that everyone in the clan should not annex the land, Ye Sanwu, who was born as a small landlord, had an extraordinary obsession with land.

In order to satisfy his own selfish desires, he secretly set up a scheme to lend money to farmers at high interest rates. When these farmers could not pay back the money, he asked them to mortgage their land to him, and then made these farmers his tenants...

It is already September, the harvest season, so Ye Sanwu also came to the manor to see how the harvest is and whether the tenants are working hard.

Looking at these cautious tenants in front of him, Ye Sanwu's eyes were immediately attracted by a young woman. This young woman looked to be in her twenties. She was standing timidly next to her husband, secretly staring at Ye Sanwu with some fear.

Although this young woman was not very pretty, her timid look and bulging breasts immediately made Ye Sanwu distracted. He was originally worried that the night at the manor would be a bit boring, but now it seems that he will have a wonderful night tonight.

"What's your name?" Ye Sanwu asked with a smile?

When she heard Ye Sanwu asking her name, the young woman immediately became nervous and hugged her husband's arm tightly. At this time, her husband, who had not yet realized that something was wrong, mustered up the courage to say to Ye Sanwu:
"My lord, my wife's name is Wang Liu!"

Ye Sanwu nodded when he heard this, and then led his men into the manor. After entering the house, Ye Sanwu asked Manager Liu about this year's maintenance situation.

After a cup of tea, Ye Sanwu heard that the land using chemical fertilizers produced 20% more food. He was pleasantly surprised but also felt a pain in his heart. At the beginning of the year, the Fengwu Army promoted chemical fertilizers on a large scale, but he felt that this fertilizer was useless, so he only bought a little for use on the land, as a way of supporting the work of the Fengwu Army...

Ye Sanwu really didn't expect that this fertilizer would actually be effective. If he had known it earlier, he would have used this fertilizer on all the land. When he thought about the fact that he didn't use all the fertilizer and harvested so much less grain, Ye Sanwu felt heartbroken.

After instructing Manager Liu to use chemical fertilizers on all the land next year, Ye Sanwu seemed to have thought of something and asked Manager Liu:
“How much land have you collected in the past few months?”

When Ye Sanwu asked this, Manager Liu felt bitter and whispered:
"Master, I have acquired three hundred acres of new land!"

Upon hearing that there were only 300 mu of land, Ye Sanwu immediately became angry and pointed at Manager Liu's nose and cursed:
"You useless dog, you have only collected three hundred mu of land in a few months. What use do I have for you, Master?"

Upon hearing this, Manager Liu helplessly explained:

"Master, the Chief Secretary has tightened up the inspection of land annexation. Many people have been sent to prison because of this. So I am afraid of causing trouble for you, Master!"

Hearing what Manager Liu said, Ye Sanwu's anger subsided a lot, but he still said angrily:
"I am the elder of the Ye family. Even the Marshal has to acknowledge me as his uncle. When the Marshal becomes the emperor, I will be the prince, a relative of the emperor. What is there to be afraid of? Who dares to cause trouble for me?"

Seeing Ye Sanwu say this, Manager Liu immediately flattered him and told Ye Sanwu that he would work hard to acquire land in the future, and would definitely acquire a thousand mu of land by the end of the year. Only then did Ye Sanwu calm down...

"Did Ye Zhanpeng send someone to take his things away?" After calming down, Ye Sanwu asked Manager Liu again:

Ye Sanwu knew how hot Ye Zhanpeng's things were. If Ye Zhanpeng didn't have any leverage over him, he would never let Ye Zhanpeng leave the things with him.

Facing Ye Sanwu's question, Manager Liu shook his head and said:

"I've been waiting for them to come pick it up these days, but I haven't seen any sign of them!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Sanwu immediately frowned, not knowing what Ye Zhanpeng was up to. Although he wanted to throw away Ye Zhanpeng's things, when he thought that Ye Zhanpeng had the upper hand over him, Ye Sanwu had no choice but to give up.

Ye Sanwu, who had no place to vent his anger, said to Manager Liu in a somewhat irritable manner:

"Let Wang Liu come here. If she comes tonight, we can reduce their rent by 30% this year!"

"Yes!"

As soon as Manager Liu finished speaking, he heard a commotion outside the house. When Ye Sanwu was about to get angry with dissatisfaction, he saw several big men in black clothes rushing in.

Ye Sanwu was a little confused when he saw these people appear. Just when he thought these people were bandits and were about to beg for mercy, he found that these people were wearing the uniforms of the United Coordination Office.

Seeing that the other party was from the Coordination Office, Ye Sanwu immediately became arrogant again and shouted angrily:
"You broke into a private house in broad daylight. Are you guys at the Coordination Office lawless?"

"I am the elder of the Ye family and the Marshal's uncle. I want to report you to the Marshal!"

After Ye Sanwu finished speaking, he was very proud and waited for the other party to beg for mercy. In the past, as long as he brought up Ye Mingsheng, the other party would start to beg for mercy. He believed that this time would be no exception. However, what he didn't expect was that the strong man who led the opposite side said coldly:
"We know you are Ye Sanwu. We are ordered to come here to arrest you..."

(End of this chapter)