Chapter 773
Don't worry, we won't abandon our brother-in-law.
War is inevitable, and the final battle is also unavoidable.
There's nothing that can be done; this is destiny. Chen Jiu Si cannot defy destiny, at least not yet.
Chen Jie stayed with Su Yunjin and Chen Li for a while before being interrupted by Chen Chun rushing over.
Chen Jie looked at Su Yunjin with some guilt and said, "I might have to take care of some things first. I originally wanted to spend more time with you."
Upon hearing this, Su Yunjin looked at Chen Jie and said, "Let's focus on the important matters first. We can talk about the rest later."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie said, "Well, then you should take Li'er to rest first."
With that, Chen Jie hurriedly left. Once outside, Chen Jie looked at Chen Chun and asked, "What's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry to see me?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Chun replied, "It's from Jiujiang."
"Jiujiang, my brother-in-law?"
Chen Jie looked at Chen Chun, who nodded: "The military report was delivered to the military headquarters this morning. First, Marshal Ni glanced at it, and unexpectedly, Madam Zhao happened to be at the military headquarters today and saw the intelligence. Then, Dean Chahan saw it."
"My father-in-law knows too?"
Chen Jie rubbed his temples, looking troubled, and then said, "I just asked the military to do an internal investigation, how did that alarm these two?"
Chen Jie was somewhat helpless. Wang Baobao's intelligence report was delivered to Chen Jie at 5:00 AM today. The content was very simple, mainly consisting of one point: Wang Baobao wanted to attack Hongdu.
Indeed, as one of the most renowned generals in the land, Wang Baobao's strategic vision is beyond doubt. He saw at a glance that Hongdu was about to become the focus of contention between Chen Jiu Si and Zhu Chong Ba.
Currently, Hongdu City has less than 20,000 people, and its commander is an unknown young man named Zhu Wenzheng.
Wang Baobao believed this was a golden opportunity. If he didn't take Hongdu now, when would he? And if Hongdu was in his hands, no matter what happened in the future, as long as Chen Jiusi attacked Zhu Chongba from the west, he would have to leave Hongdu, and then he, as the number one contributor, would be guaranteed to succeed.
His military achievements are the key to Zhao Ya's future as empress, which is what Wang Baobao is pursuing. Now it is obvious that the Great Qian Dynasty cannot be saved. Since the country cannot be saved, let's try our best to save our family.
He only had two relatives in his life: the Prince of Ruyang and his younger sister Zhao Ya. So, for the sake of his sister, he had to make a great contribution to Chen Jie. After much thought, Wang Baobao decided that Hongdu was the target of this great contribution.
Taking Hongdu would be his greatest political asset. With this achievement, he would definitely be able to speak up for his sister when she needed his help in the future.
That's why Wang Baobao was so eager to attack Hongdu. In Wang Baobao's strategic plan, he could see that Chen Jie and Zhu Chongba had to fight for control of Hongdu. And that's why if he made the first move, he would definitely be able to seize the initiative.
However, there is a small problem here. If he makes the first move, he will surely alert the enemy. Therefore, he must find a way to get reinforcements. That is why he wrote a letter to Chen Jie.
The content was simple: he was willing to conquer Hongdu for the King of Han, but hoped that the King of Han would send troops to support him, in order to prevent the Zhu traitor from sending troops to support him and causing the effort to fail.
Chen Jie saw the above content, especially Wang Baobao's analysis of the garrison in Hongdu: "Although Hongdu is a high city, it only has a little over 20,000 soldiers, and the garrison commander, Zhu Wenzheng, is a young general whom we've never heard of before. This is a golden opportunity that cannot be missed."
Chen Jie hesitated after seeing the above content because of Wang Baobao's evaluation of Zhu Wenzheng.
Those who are not well-versed in history would probably not believe that Zhu Chongba, his nephew, was actually a military genius. In the historical Battle of Hongdu, Chen Youliang's 600,000-strong army attacked Hongdu, but Zhu Wenzheng managed to hold them off for 85 days. What terrifying military talent that is!
It can be said that he became a legend in one battle.
Therefore, it would be difficult for Chen Jie to take Hongdu in the shortest time. Wang Baobao misjudged the situation and thought that Zhu Wenzheng was a young and incompetent general, which was a big mistake.
That's why Chen Jie thought of putting the matter aside and, incidentally, handing over Wang Baobao's petition to the military headquarters so they could see how to handle it.
This was Chen Jie's idea, but unexpectedly, Ya Ya found out about it halfway through, and it even alarmed Ruyang Wang, Dean Chahan, who was teaching diligently at the Huangzhou Military Academy.
These days I've heard that the quality of students at the military academy is improving rapidly. The Prince of Ruyang, a former undefeated general, explained his decades-long military career from scratch to the students in great detail, which greatly improved their military literacy.
Throughout the military academy, Prince Ruyang's prestige grew ever higher.
Chen Jie rubbed his temples, and then followed Chen Chun to the military conference hall, where they saw that there were quite a few people sitting inside.
Ni Wenjun, Zhang Dingbian, Prince Ruyang, Zhao Ya who was pregnant and about to give birth, and Chen Xiaohu, Shi Gengming, Jin Yanzi and others who had just returned from the battlefield.
Since it was a military conference, Hu Weiyong, Zhou Chu, Wu Hong, and others did not attend, as they were not affiliated with the military authorities.
At this moment, Chen Jie entered, and most people in the room stood up and said, "King of Han."
The Prince of Ruyang nodded to Chen Jie. Firstly, he was Chen Jie's father-in-law, and secondly, Chen Jie was also a prince. Before Chen Jie became emperor, they were considered equals.
Zhao Ya then stood up and said, "Husband!"
Chen Jie quickly went over to help Zhao Ya and said, "Ya Ya, you're about to give birth, why are you still attending this military conference?"
Zhao Ya said, "Husband, this matter concerns my third brother, and I cannot remain indifferent. Even lying in the house, I am still worried about him. It would be better to listen to everyone's opinions here so that I can have a better understanding and avoid anxiety."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie said, "Yes, that makes sense. Alright, everyone, speak freely. Say whatever you want to say."
As he spoke, Chen Jie sat down in the main seat.
Upon hearing this, Ni Wenjun was the first to speak: "I think Wang Baobao's strategic intention is very correct. We must take Hongdu, this vital passage. His attack on Hongdu will be of great benefit to us. I think we should support him."
As soon as Ni Wenjun spoke, everyone looked at Chen Jie, who said expressionlessly, "Hmm, does anyone else have any ideas?"
At this moment, Chen Xiaohu said, "Commander Ni is right. Hongdu is the key to our eastward advance and we must take it. However, Wang Baobao only has 50,000 miscellaneous troops. Is it possible for him to capture Hongdu?"
Upon hearing this, the others fell into deep thought.
At this moment, the Prince of Ruyang spoke up: "Let me explain. Although Kökö Töregen only has 50,000 miscellaneous soldiers under his command, his disciples are disciples of the White Deer Army. Each White Deer Army soldier is in charge of four miscellaneous soldiers. With the old leading the new, they can form a decent army."
"While their combat strength may not be top-tier, it is certainly not weak!"
After saying this, the Prince of Ruyang looked at Chen Jiedao and said, "I think there's no problem with Kökö Tölö attacking Hongdu. What do you think, Prince of Han?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie said, "What my father-in-law said is absolutely right. My brother-in-law has inherited his military talent, and I have no doubt about that at all."
"But I have three questions." "First, do you know anything about the garrison commander of Hongdu?"
"Secondly, if Hongdu is attacked, how many troops will come to its aid?"
"Third, if Hongdu is besieged but not attacked, how long can the supplies stored in the city last?"
"Once these three issues are resolved, I feel things will become much simpler."
After Chen finished explaining the three questions, the group of people frowned slightly, clearly indicating that they might not have investigated the matter thoroughly enough.
At this moment, Zhang Dingbian slowly spoke up: "Let me answer!"
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Zhang Dingbian, who said, "I will answer the questions from back to front. The first one is the strategic materials stored in Hongdu."
"Zhu Chongba is not Zhang Shicheng. His talent and strategy far surpass Zhang Shicheng's. The supplies stored in Hongdu City were started when Zhu Chongba and Zhang Shicheng started fighting. I saw their strategic offensive at that time. When Zhu Chongba sent troops, he directly occupied Hongdu. His strategic vision was very sharp, and he was very accurate in seizing key points."
“I have investigated the ships that have been coming and going here one after another. I have made a rough estimate that the supplies stored here should be enough for the military and civilians of Hongdu City for a year, including food, medicine and daily necessities.”
"Therefore, it is impossible to wear down Hongdu's troops."
Zhang Dingbian directly rejected one possibility.
Zhang Dingbian then asked, "The second question is, if Hongdu is attacked, how many troops will come to its aid?"
Zhang Dingbian said, "It's almost certain that if Hongdu is attacked, Zhu Chongba will definitely send all his troops to rescue Hongdu, and this number may evolve into a large-scale army of hundreds of thousands."
"Most noteworthy of these is that Xu Da had 60,000 elite troops in Nankang."
"Fu Youde of Hukou had an army of 100,000."
"As for the other troops that need to be assembled, they probably can't be mobilized in a short time, so the most important thing is probably this 160,000-strong army."
"Of course, if the war lasts for three months or even half a year, Zhu Chongba's other troops will arrive one after another, and by then there will probably be hundreds of thousands of troops."
Chen Jie nodded slightly upon hearing this, indicating that Zhang Dingbian had indeed conducted military reconnaissance.
He truly deserves to be called a renowned general; his perspective is far-sighted.
Zhang Dingbian continued, "As for the first question, the garrison commander of Hongdu, all I found out was that the garrison commander of Hongdu was named Zhu Wenzheng. His identity was the son of Zhu Chongsi, the elder brother of Zhu Chongba. Back then, when the Zhu family suffered a disaster, some starved to death and others fled. Zhu Chongsi starved to death, and Zhu Wenzheng, who was then called Zhu Gou'er, fled with his mother."
"Later, when Zhu Chongba rose to power in Haozhou, he sought refuge with this uncle. Zhu Chongba had no son at the time, so he treated him like his own son. When he got a little older, he was sent to the army to gain experience."
"The performance was mediocre, without any remarkable achievements."
"My assessment is that he is by no means mediocre, but his specific military talent cannot be explained in a few words. We need real combat cases to make a specific judgment."
Zhang Dingbian had done his homework very well. It could be said that when Chen Jie thought of taking Hongdu, Zhang Dingbian probably had already seen it and even made strategic plans for it.
Chen Jie was very satisfied with Zhang Dingbian's performance, which showed that the strategic commander-in-chief had not been idle.
As for Chen Jie's evaluation of Zhu Wenzheng, he was quite objective. He was not a time traveler and could not possibly know that this guy later used 20,000 soldiers to hold off Chen Youliang's 600,000-strong army for a full 85 days, an astonishing feat.
If Zhang Dingbian knew this record, he would probably even say, "He is truly a supreme general."
After Zhang Dingbian finished speaking, everyone in the room looked at him with admiration. The Prince of Ruyang's eyes were also full of appreciation. If you were to ask who among the people in the entire Han Prince's Mansion had military talent surpassing that of Kuo Kuo, it would probably be Zhang Dingbian.
Prince Ruyang admired heroes and was very fond of Zhang Dingbian.
At this moment, Jin Yanzi said, "If the commander of Hongdu were a young man, even if he were not mediocre, he might not be able to hold out against Wang Baobao's attack."
"He is the defender of the city, but he has fewer troops, only 20,000, while Wang Baobao has 50,000. This almost negates the advantage of terrain. The rest depends on their respective military command capabilities."
“Wang Baobao is capable. If the world’s famous generals were ranked, he would definitely be in the top ten. So I think as long as we hold off the reinforcements, he has a good chance of taking Hongdu.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, but then Chen Jie suddenly spoke up: "Your analysis is correct, but what if the garrison commander of Hongdu is a figure no less capable than Dingbian and Xu Da?"
"Ok?"
Upon hearing this, everyone in the room was stunned. Was there anyone in the world whose military capabilities were no less than those of Zhang Dingbian and Xu Da? Everyone looked at the Prince of Ruyang, thinking that perhaps only the Prince of Ruyang could rival them.
"No way, is there really such a genius in the world?"
Chen Xiaohu looked at Chen Jie and said, "This Zhu Wenzheng is only twenty years old this year, right?"
Chen Jiedao said, "You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't measure the sea with a bucket. Age is not a hard standard for judging a person's ability."
"So, what if he were a genius?"
Zhang Dingbian took a deep breath and said, "If that's the case, then we're in trouble. If we attack Hongdu, but our main force can't take it down, and we try to block it from the outside, it will turn into a war of attrition. By then, Zhu Chongba will have gathered his troops, but we haven't finished building all our warships. In the end, we'll probably both suffer heavy losses."
"This is completely different from our strategic plan! This won't do!"
Chen Jie said, "So we can't gamble. This garrison commander of Hongdu is not a genius. We must devise a suitable plan."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Zhang Dingbian said, "Your Majesty, do you mean to shift our strategic focus?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie looked at Zhang Dingbian. No wonder he was a famous general; he understood immediately. Chen Jie was delighted; he was just too good.
Chen Jie looked at Zhang Dingbian and said, "Dingbian is right, we do need to shift our strategic focus."
"What do you think of my strategic plan?"
Chen Jie had been pondering for a day and now had his own strategic plan. He spoke, "Our strategic goal this time is not to take Hongdu, but to annihilate Fu Youde's 100,000-strong army!" (End of Chapter)