Chapter 954 Strategic Deception!

Just when Ye Mingsheng's thoughts were gradually leaning towards reason, suddenly a messenger came quickly outside the study, and Ye Cheng immediately took the battle report from him...
After just a glance at the battle report, Ye Cheng's expression changed slightly, and he became hesitant about giving the battle report to Ye Mingsheng.

Seeing the change in Ye Cheng's expression, Ye Mingsheng realized what had happened. His heart sank and he immediately gave Ye Cheng an order in a deep voice:
"Read!"

Ye Cheng hesitated for a moment, but still obeyed Ye Mingsheng's order and whispered:
"Scouts in the front reported that the Tiger Division under Esiduoan's command has broken through Shishan County and thirteen nearby towns and is currently carrying out a massacre in these places!"

Although he had been mentally prepared, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but get furious after hearing Ye Cheng's words. In the past seven or eight days, the Tiger Division under Esidoan's command traveled around Jinyang and Jinzhong, slaughtering the people in these places crazily. Wherever they went, no one was left alive, and everything was left as red earth!
Although Ye Mingsheng had already instructed the surrounding provincial governments to implement the strategy of clearing the countryside in advance, and the defenders of each city were fully prepared.

However, the combat effectiveness of the Cuman Tiger Division was indeed very strong. Coupled with the Serban heavy artillery they carried, ordinary county towns could not withstand their attacks.

Therefore, including Shishan County mentioned in the report, this is the third county that has been massacred by Aisiduoan. At present, at least tens of thousands of people have been brutally killed...

To be honest, although Ye Mingsheng realized that Esidoan's sudden abandonment of the attack on Otani County must be a trick, he never expected that Esidoan would be so cruel!

Although he knew that Esidogan's move was just a provocation to stimulate him to lead his troops out of the city to fight him, but seeing how he was harming the people of the Great Zhou, Ye Mingsheng was filled with hatred and impulse!
Seeing Ye Mingsheng's expression, Liu Zhi was also very worried, fearing that Ye Mingsheng had fallen into Esiduoan's trap. After hesitating for a while, she seemed to have thought of something and asked Ye Cheng:

"Is there any news about General Guo?"

After receiving the news that Asdogan led his troops to launch a surprise attack, Ye Mingsheng did not choose to lead his troops to retreat to Dagu County blindly. Instead, he let Guo Zhiping take over the troops in Jinyang with his order while defending Dagu County.

Guo Zhiping then led the Jinyang troops to threaten Asdogan from the flank, in order to contain the Cuman troops and reduce the pressure on Ogu County.

This tactic also played a good effect when Dagu County was first besieged. Guo Zhiping personally led a cavalry battalion of more than 3,000 people stationed in Jinyang and continuously harassed the Cuman army.

Although this did not achieve much success and did not cause too much damage to the Cumans, it did tie up a lot of the Cumans’ energy, preventing them from putting all their strength into the attack on Dagu County...

Later, Asdogan gave up attacking Dagu County, and the harassment by Guo Zhiping's troops played a key role in this!

Therefore, Liu Zhi now hopes that Guo Zhiping can play a role in saving the people of Da Zhou who were devastated by the Cumans. However, to Liu Zhi's disappointment, Ye Cheng whispered to him:

"Since Asdogan gave up attacking Dagu County, General Guo has not achieved any significant results. He has also been hunted by the Cumans many times, and suffered many casualties. Currently, General Guo's troops have been restricted to the vicinity of Jinyang!"

Upon hearing the news, Liu Zhi was stunned at first, then he sighed inwardly. Although the news was unexpected, it seemed reasonable!
The reason why Guo Zhiping and his cavalry were able to achieve victory before was entirely based on the fact that Asdogan made breaking through Dagu County his primary goal, which gave Guo Zhiping an opportunity to take advantage of. Now that Asdogan has given up attacking Dagu County, he can concentrate all his efforts on dealing with Guo Zhiping's troops!

Guo Zhiping's troops had only more than 3,000 people, but the enemy had tens of thousands of troops, and they were the famous Cuman Tiger Division. These people might not be good at siege warfare, but as they were born into the grassland ethnic group, they were best at field battles!

Therefore, it does not seem surprising that Guo Zhiping’s attack was frustrated.
Just as the atmosphere in the room became more solemn because of the news that Guo Zhiping's troops had suffered a setback in their attack, General Ye Fu of the 14th Division suddenly stood up and said:
"Marshal, I think judging from the current situation, Esidoan is more anxious than us. Time is on our side. The reason why Esidoan is so crazy is that he wants to force our army to leave the city for a decisive battle!"

"The safest way for our army at the moment is to hold our ground and let Esiduoan punch cotton. However, if you really care about the safety of the people, our army may as well go out of the city and give it a try!"

Before Ye Fu finished speaking, Liu Zhi slammed the table and shouted angrily:
"Ye Fu, how can you persuade the Marshal to go out of the city to fight! Although our army has tens of thousands of soldiers in the city, the 13th and 14th divisions are newly formed troops and have never experienced any major battles. Do you think about the chances of winning against the enemy's Cuman Tiger Division in the plains?"

"Our army has finally come to this point. Although these people are suffering now, if our army is defeated, the country will be overturned, and there will be ten times or a hundred times more people displaced and bullied by the Cumans!"

Facing Liu Zhi's angry rebuke, Ye Fu smiled and said:

“General Liu, please listen to me. Although I said that our army can go out of the city to fight, I haven’t said where our army will go after leaving the city…”

Looking at Ye Fu, who was smiling and calm, Ye Mingsheng asked in a deep voice:

"Where do you want to choose the battlefield?"

In response to Ye Mingsheng's question, Ye Fu came to the sand table in the room, pointed to a coordinate on it and said:
"My Lord, this is the place I chose!"

Liu Zhi looked at the direction Ye Fu pointed and said with some surprise:

"You want to choose Wugang Mountain? It's only thirty miles away from Dagu County!"

Ye Fu nodded and said:

"Yes, it is Wugang Mountain. I have been to Wugang Mountain before when I was serving in the Second Army. Although Wugang Mountain is not a high mountain or a dangerous place, it is also a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. And the most important thing is that it is only thirty miles away from Dagu County!"

Listening to Ye Fu's words, Ye Mingsheng found what he said more and more interesting, and immediately continued to ask:
"Ye Fu, if you have any detailed plans, you might as well tell us everything!"

"Yes!"

With Ye Mingsheng's instruction, Ye Fu analyzed confidently:
“I think that due to the unfavorable overall battle situation, although Asdoan is in the active position in Yunbing’s organization, he is more anxious than us. What he hopes most now is that we give him a response, so our army might as well kick the ball back to his feet and let Asdoan see some hope of winning!” “So my idea is that the Marshal might as well send a detachment out of the city and station in Wugang Mountain to lure the enemy to attack. As long as the main force of the enemy is lured here, General Guo’s troops can continue to contain the enemy, and the enemy will be unable to offend other prefectures and counties…”

Hearing Ye Fu say this, Liu Zhi said with some confusion:
"Wugang Mountain is too close to Dagu County. Can Aisiduoan be fooled?"

Ye Fu smiled mysteriously and said:
"Under normal circumstances, Esiduoan would not be fooled. However, if he knew that the Marshal was in Wugang Mountain, I am sure he would come!"

After hearing this, Liu Zhi was stunned for a moment and then angrily shouted:
"Ye Fu, are you crazy? How can the Marshal's daughter, who is not allowed to stay in the palace, go to Wugang Mountain to take risks?"

Ye Fu continued:

"Of course the Marshal cannot go to Wugang Mountain, but I think the Marshal's personal guards can still appear in Wugang Mountain!"

Ye Mingsheng asked without hesitation:
"Ye Fu, you want to deceive Ai Siduoan? But why should I go to Wugang Mountain?"

Ye Fu said without hesitation:
"The reason is very simple. Since Aisiduoan wants to threaten you with the people, we can also go with the flow and say that you can't bear to see the people of the Great Zhou suffer and plan to have a decisive battle with the Cuman army at Wugang Mountain. So you follow the detachment to Wugang Mountain to observe the terrain for the decisive battle!"

At this point, Ye Fu added:

"Esdoan is suspicious by nature, so we can pretend to be low-key and keep it secret, and then pretend to accidentally leak the news for Esdoan to find out. In this way, Esdoan will be certain of it..."

Thinking carefully about Ye Fu's plan, Ye Mingsheng felt that the plan was very feasible. Once the main force of the enemy was attracted, it would indeed ensure that the common people would no longer suffer. However, it was quite dangerous for the detachment that was carrying out the mission!
Once Asdoan is sure that he is at Wugang Mountain, he will frantically attack Wugang Mountain in order to change the situation of the battle and try to capture the Fengwu Army commander alive!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but look deeply at Ye Fu who proposed this plan. Feeling Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Ye Fu asked without hesitation:

"Marshal, I came up with the plan! Let me execute it!"

Ye Mingsheng naturally would not refuse this, and immediately asked in a deep voice:

"How many people do you need?"

Ye Fu preached without hesitation:
"General, there are nearly 40,000 soldiers guarding Dagu County now. The city is very saturated with soldiers. I think 30,000 soldiers are enough to defend Dagu County, so I want to garrison Wugang Mountain with 10,000 soldiers!"

"Nine thousand of these ten thousand soldiers can come from my Fourteenth Division, but in order to lure Esiduoan, please assign me a thousand guards battalions!"

"With these 10,000 soldiers and the geographical advantage of Wugang Mountain, I am confident that we can hold out for at least half a month!"

Ye Mingsheng thought for a moment and ordered:

"I will draw 10,000 men from your 14th Division, and my personal guard battalion will allocate 1,500 men to you. I will also send troops to support you from Dagu County. If you find that the situation is not good in Wugang Mountain, you can break out at night and I will arrange for people to support you!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng say this, Ye Fu was also very moved and immediately knelt on one knee to Ye Mingsheng and said firmly:

“I will live up to the Marshal’s trust and will firmly nail down the enemy at Wugang Mountain…”

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Yongliang, Jincheng

Looking at Dulile's head hanging on the spear under the city, Bahat's face looked as ugly as pig liver.

Although he didn't like this illegitimate child very much, he was his own child after all. So when looking at Dulile's head, Bahat couldn't help but feel a little sad.

Just as Bahat was feeling sad, he saw several big men suddenly rushing out from the Fengwu Army camp below the city. These big men held loud speakers and shouted:

"You barbarians are so ungrateful of God's grace that you insist on invading our territory. Don't you know that your heads and bodies will be cut off?"

"My commander-in-chief is kind and righteous, and he doesn't want you to die in a foreign land, with your bodies eaten by wild wolves. As long as you leave the city and surrender, my commander-in-chief is willing to give you a chance to live!"

Listening to the Fengwu Army's call to surrender, Bahat's eyes could not help but flash with a chill, and he silently calculated the distance in his heart. At this time, the several big men of the Fengwu Army who were responsible for persuading the surrender saw that the Cumans on Jincheng did not make any movement, so they became bolder and gradually approached the direction of Jincheng...
Seeing this, Bahat waved his hand, and his subordinate beside him immediately understood and handed him a large bow. Bahat immediately bent the bow and put an arrow on it.

The next second, an arrow shot out from Bahat's hand and hit the chest of a big man who was trying to persuade him to surrender. Without any struggle, the big man fell down immediately!
Seeing this, the voices of persuading surrender suddenly stopped, and the Cuman soldiers on the gate tower of Jincheng cheered loudly. Bahat was also very satisfied with his arrow and laughed sarcastically:
"We Qipchaks are wolves that eat meat, and you Zhou people are sheep that eat grass. There are only sheep that surrender to wolves, not wolves that surrender to sheep. You want us Qipchaks to surrender, but you two-legged sheep of the Great Zhou are just dreaming!"

"Come here quickly, you two-legged sheep! My scimitar is ready to harvest your heads and make them my trophies!"

Following Bahat's words, the Cumans on the city wall became even more unscrupulous and kept provoking at the city gate, as if they had already won!
Seeing this, all the generals in the Fengwu Army were very angry and asked Yuan Song to attack the city and make Bahat pay for his outrageous words. In response, Yuan Song just smiled and shook his head and ordered the artillery to fire a few shots at Jincheng.

Now the Fengwu Army's heavy artillery has not arrived yet. Without the firepower suppression of heavy artillery, the casualties of a rash siege will be too great. It will be the time to settle all long-cherished grudges with these Cumans when all the heavy artillery are in place...

(End of this chapter)