Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 194, Rushing to Attack Xu Tu
However, Fang Yong has been busy with the war these days. He is preparing to launch a large-scale battle to wipe out Huleleyong's troops on the grassland, and at the same time encircle and attack the reinforcements to teach a painful lesson to Kah Khan who occupies the capital.

In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to have precise control over the battle situation. The situation on the battlefield is not static, but new situations emerge every day. Fang Yong needs to judge various information and complete his layout from them.

Among Fang Yong's men,

Wu Yuanshan is good at judging situations and formulating strategies.

Zhai Xun was good at commanding large military groups to conduct actual combat.

With the help of these two people, Fang Yong's work became much easier.

However, the two sometimes quarreled due to disagreements.

"Yuyan Town is the only way for the Huleileyong Corps to retreat. Why don't you send troops to block it?"

Wu Yuan pointed to an area on the map.

Zhai Xun said:

"If we block this place, the Huleleyong tribe will have no chance of survival. A desperate fight between trapped beasts will not help us at all!"

Wu Yuan asked: "How are you going to deal with this?"

Zhai Xun pointed to an area further north on the map, Fangshan, and said, "I intend to drive Huleileyong to flee here and then destroy him!"

Wu Yuan frowned and said, "This will extend the battle line too long and carry too much risk. It is far better to eliminate them directly in Yu Yan!"

Zhai Xun said:

"I think that in this battle, military strategy should be the most important, and defeating the enemy is secondary."

"If our army defeats the enemy at Fangshan, we can take advantage of the situation to occupy Fangshan and guard the capital, and we can take the initiative regardless of success or failure. If we defend Yuyan and defeat the enemy, there will be no strategic location to defend after the victory. Although we win, we will lose the initiative, and the situation of attack and defense will change, which is disadvantageous to our army.

Fang Yong was thinking about the conversation between the two.

Simply put, Zhai Xun planned to deliberately give Huleileyong's troops a way out, and use the siege and pursuit to advance the front line towards the capital, thereby reducing the space for the grassland troops to move around.

The people of the grassland are good at cavalry warfare, but if there is not enough space to move, the cavalry will not be able to perform, and then it will be a decisive battle of siege.

If this is done, it will indeed be more advantageous for Fang Yong!

If they choose to defeat the enemy at Yuyan, although they can more safely annihilate the Huleileyong tribe, it will be difficult to advance the front line, and the grassland troops will still have a lot of room for maneuver, and they can continue to deal with Fang Yong on the plains like they are doing now.

It's like a game of chess. After you capture one of your opponent's pieces, your opponent will have room to move around. It's better to temporarily give up capturing the piece and instead block your opponent's other escape routes, and ultimately defeat the enemy with one blow!
However, Wu Yuan did not agree with this.

He and Zhai Xun had different perspectives. Zhai Xun focused on military strategies and tactics, while Wu Yuan was more inclined to consider things from an essential perspective.

Wu Yuandao:
"General, the chance of victory in this battle lies in food, armaments, and logistics. The grassland barbarians have come from afar, so they must be short of food. Their foreign blood is hard to win people's hearts. General, you have water transportation for food, and your logistics are far superior to those of the barbarians. You only need to advance slowly and steadily, and victory is a foregone conclusion. Why do you have to act like this and rush for quick success?"

Upon hearing this, Zhai Xun refuted Wu Yuan from another angle.

Wu Yuan refuted Zhai Xun again.

Fang Yong listened to the two people's argument and felt as if he was not fighting in the capital, but in the ancient battlefield of Guandu. Seven hundred thousand against seventy thousand, the advantage was in my hands...

Of course, if we look at it seriously, there is actually no problem with the strategies of both Wu Yuan and Zhai Xun. Any strategy of any one of them is enough to allow Fang Yong to gain a considerable advantage in this battle.

As long as he is not so rebellious as to adopt the strategies of both of them at the same time, there is absolutely no possibility of failure.

After careful consideration, Fang Yong finally decided that stability should be the priority and adopted Wu Yuan's strategy.

Zhai Xun didn't say anything when he saw this. Since Fang Yong had already made the decision, his task was to execute it well. However, the plan made in the morning was met with an unexpected incident in the afternoon.

An urgent message suddenly came from behind, which made Wu Yuan so angry that he broke his crutches.

"How dare Shu Zian bully me!"

Gan Ba sent an urgent message from the rear.

Six days ago, Xu Shaobao secretly started an uprising in Hangzhou and was very successful. He proclaimed himself King of Yue, forged a letter from Fang Yong, tricked the prefects of Jiaxing and Huzhou into coming out of the city to discuss matters, and then imprisoned them, threatening the two to help capture the two cities of Huzhou and Jiaxing.

The Huzhou defenders were not prepared for their own prefect and were accidentally defeated by Xu Shaobao.

Ji Quan, the defender of Jiaxing, was meticulous and saw through Xu Shaobao's conspiracy and defended the city.

At present, Gan Ba has quickly led his troops to garrison in Taihu Lake and formed a defense line with Ji Quan in Jiaxing to stabilize the situation in the rear.

There was a fire in the rear, which was undoubtedly bad news for Fang Yong.

Xu Shaobao actually dared to use the money and food he gave him to attack him. Fang Yongzhen wished he could lead his troops back immediately and grind Xu Shaobao to ashes!
Of course, this is angry talk.

The battle here has reached this point, he can't just return empty-handed.

However, due to Xu Shaobao's interference, Fang Yong had to temporarily change his plan and choose to adopt Zhai Xun's faster strategy.

How can you allow others to snore on a couch lying on its side?
He couldn't just sit back and watch Xu Shaobao develop in Zhejiang, so he had to defeat Cao Yuan as soon as possible and then go back to kill that bastard Xu Shaobao!

Wu Yuan had nothing to say about this.

He was the one who contacted Xu Shaobao, but now he has become an eyesore. He is primarily responsible for this matter, and it's all his fault for not being able to judge people!

Because of Xu Shaobao's matter, Fang Yong's mood became very bad for the whole day.

Xiangyun noticed that Fang Yong was in a bad mood and took the initiative to comfort him, but since she didn't know what Fang Yong was upset about, her words of comfort were clumsy.

Fang Yong couldn't help but laugh as he watched Xiangyun trying clumsily to comfort himself.

"Okay, just talk to me!"

Fang Yong smiled and picked up Xiangyun, then lay down on the bed, holding little Xiangyun in his arms, casually talking about some interesting things. Without the fighting and calculations on the battlefield, it was quite relaxing and happy.

Xiangyun was not used to such an intimate posture at first, but as Fang Yong told some interesting stories, Xiangyun couldn't help but be drawn into it. When it came to some very interesting parts, Xiangyun giggled without any image, and her white and clean little belly jumped along with the laughter.

After Fang Yong finished speaking, Xiangyun also became interested and started telling Fang Yong her own interesting stories, mostly about her childhood playing with her sisters in the Jia Mansion, and sometimes Baoyu was mixed in. Xiangyun didn't realize that there was anything wrong with this and told Fang Yong without any ulterior motives.

Fang Yong was not so petty. Although Baoyu and Xiangyun were childhood sweethearts, the most intimate contact they had was just holding Xiangyun's hand. He had touched them all...

As the two chatted, Xiangyun seemed to remember something and suddenly said:
"Oh, I remembered something I forgot to mention. Sister Tanchun's brother Huan'er is not doing well in the Jia Mansion!"

After hearing this, Fang Yong also remembered that Tanchun had a younger brother, Jia Huan.

In the original novel, Jia Huan seemed to have a low status, and even the maids and servants dared to bully him.

Fang Yong didn't know Jia Huan's specific character, but no matter what, Jia Huan was Tanchun's younger brother, and thus his brother-in-law. Even if he didn't give him great wealth and glory, at least he shouldn't be bullied by others, right?

If that happens, wouldn't you just be losing face?
So Fang Yong ordered someone to call Jia Huan over.

(End of this chapter)