PDLP Chapter 165 Taking advantage of the situation
Chapter 165 Taking advantage of the situation
Qin Ming's arrival was like a huge rock suddenly dropped into a calm lake, and the waves quickly spread in Zhou Kai's tent. Zhou Kai was frowning at the moment, playing with a jade pendant that was already a little worn, but he was worried about the upcoming war and food problems.
"Report--" A clear voice broke the silence in the tent. A messenger rushed in and said breathlessly, "General Qin Ming is outside the camp!"
Zhou Kai heard this, and a hint of joy flashed in his eyes, as if he saw hope of solving the urgent problem. He knew that Qin Ming's army was well-trained and had extraordinary combat power. If they could join, it would undoubtedly greatly increase the chances of winning the siege.
"Great! Qin Ming's arrival is just right!" Zhou Kai slapped the table, stood up, and showed a rare look of joy on his face. "Now the food problem is solved, and the two thousand elite soldiers under his command are just right for me to use! When we attack the city, let them go first!"
However, before he finished speaking, a deputy general hurried in with a worried look on his face. He bowed and said in a deep voice, "General Zhou, I'm afraid things are not as smooth as you thought. When I saw General Qin coming in, he and the soldiers behind him looked exhausted and injured. There were only about a hundred people following him. I'm afraid their food and grass were robbed on the way."
Zhou Kai frowned when he heard this, and a trace of disbelief flashed in his eyes. He pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "This is impossible! Although Qin Ming is a bit rigid, his army is definitely the elite among the elite. He personally escorted the food, how could it be robbed?"
The deputy general sighed and said, "General, you don't know that the world is in chaos and thieves are rampant. Although General Qin is brave, he can't beat four hands with two fists. Moreover, most of our troops are just eating empty salaries and have no fighting power at all. If General Qin really lost his food and grass, we might be able to take this opportunity to let him fight for us. Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult for us to capture this county alone."
Zhou Kai was silent for a moment, and finally nodded and said, "You make sense. In this case, I will go to meet Qin Ming in person. If he really loses the food, I will use this as an excuse to make him work for us. No matter what, I must capture this county!"
Everyone present knew that if they failed to capture the city, they would be punished even if they returned to the capital.
Zhou Kai stood at the entrance of the central army tent and saw Qin Ming walking towards the central army tent. At this time, Qin Ming was no longer riding a horse. Qin Ming's clothes were scratched by branches or enemy weapons.
Qin Ming walked up to Zhou Kai and immediately knelt on the ground.
"General Zhou! I am incompetent! I didn't expect to be ambushed by the rebels! Not only did I lose my food, but I also lost my soldiers!" Qin Ming was really ashamed at this time. He had always thought highly of himself! He thought that other people were good-for-nothings. Especially people like Zhou Kai who became generals by relying on the influence of their fathers. So he had always been. Concentrated on training the 2000 men under his command? This time, he heard that Zhou Kai had lost his food and grass as soon as he arrived, and was attacked by the enemy, and he looked down on him even more.
He took the initiative to ask someone to bring 2000 troops to escort the food and grass, and even wanted to defeat the enemy in this battle, so that everyone can see who is the best fighter in the entire Northwest Lake! In this way, he can completely control this government army.
However, no matter how much he trained and how many military books he read, he had never been on the battlefield. He didn't expect to be ambushed the first time he escorted food and grass. And the terrain was the easiest to be ambushed. It was clearly recorded in the military books. But he was still careless.
"General Qin, get up quickly! Victory and defeat are common in the military! This rebel army is not an ordinary one! Otherwise, I would not have suffered such a big loss at their hands because of my carelessness! As long as we work together, we will definitely be able to defeat this rebel army! I hope General Qin can fully cooperate with me!" Zhou Kai was very satisfied with Qin Ming's current performance. After all, he suffered a defeat as soon as he arrived, and he knew that Qin Ming and others would definitely look down on him. Although the current situation is not good for his army, it is not a bad situation for him personally. At least it can let the civil servants of the Northwest Palace know that this rebel army is very powerful. It is normal for him to be attacked by the rebels because of his carelessness.
Even a powerful man like Qin Ming suffered a defeat, and a terrible defeat. He had more than 2000 men under his command, and only about 100 wounded soldiers with them.
"Let's go to the military tent to translate how to break through this city!" Zhou Kai helped Qin Ming and the other two into the central military tent. The other generals followed them in.
"General Qin! The troops under your command are very elite! This is why we all know this situation!" Lieutenant General Li suddenly asked at this time.
Qin Ming smiled bitterly, then shook his head and said, "To be honest! Although the soldiers under my command have been trained well, they have no actual combat experience! This time they were defeated because they did not carefully gather intelligence! The few scouts I sent out did not even notice the enemy's ambush!"
Qin Ming paused here and continued, "I usually read some military books and should have guessed that such a narrow area is the easiest to be ambushed! It's a pity that I still have no combat experience and the enemy used a huge rock to cut the whole team in the middle, so that the front and back could not support each other! In this way, the troops were reduced by half, and the whole team was in chaos!"
After hearing this, everyone was thinking about their own situation. They were probably not even as good as Qin Ming and they didn’t know if they could save their lives.
"I wonder what General Qin thinks of these rebels!" Zhou Kai asked at this time! He was attacked without knowing anything about the situation that night. So he didn't know how strong the rebels were this time.
"I feel that this rebel army is well-trained! I also organized the troops in a hurry! But they were soon dispersed by the rebels! And those rebels advanced and retreated in a measured way, obviously they were trained! They are not like refugees who just dropped their hoes! I'm afraid they are trained by people who are familiar with military affairs!" Qin Ming thought back to tonight. In fact, the main reason tonight was that he was caught off guard. But the fighting power of those rebels cannot be ignored. Even if he led 2000 people to fight against the other side, he might not be able to win.
"You're right! And this group of rebels are very good at sneak attacks and ambushes! If they were ordinary rebels, they would definitely not dare to attack our military camp! And they will take advantage of our lack of food to ambush you along the way!" Lieutenant General Li also agreed at this time!
"I really don't know who this so-called King Chuang is! Could he be one of the nobles from the previous dynasty?" Zhou Kai also frowned at this time.
"General, your situation is very dangerous now! The food in the barracks can't last much longer! The food sent from the surrounding areas last time was too little for this army of nearly 1!" Lieutenant General Li said at this time!
"There is no other way now. We can only continue to ask the capital for food!" Zhou Kai sighed. "Let's discuss how to capture this county as quickly as possible!"
"Yes, our army has suffered successive defeats! I'm afraid the morale of the army is already very low! If we can't capture this county town as soon as possible! I'm afraid that all that awaits us is death!" Qin Ming also nodded, indicating that he agreed with Zhou Kai's proposal.
"In that case, let's discuss it now." Zhou Kai said after thinking for a while.
After listening to their words, Lieutenant General Li rolled his eyes and suddenly said, "General! This rebel army left us here and didn't attack us! It's obvious that they just wanted to take our food supply and let us collapse without attacking."
"Yeah!" Zhou Kai nodded and said, "That's true! Food is the most important thing now!"
Qin Ming's face changed after hearing their words. He had just lost the food and fodder for these thousands of troops to continue their campaign.
"Well, I have an idea! We can pretend to be a grain transport team and lure them into a trap! As long as they dare to attack, we will wipe out all the attackers! In this way, there will not be many people in the county! It will be easier to attack the city then!" Lieutenant General Li quickly stated his plan.
"What a good trick to lure the snake out of its hole! Since they are planning to take our food, we will use fake food to lure them out!" Zhou Kai couldn't help but say happily after hearing this. The rebels have always been in the initiative. This time they also want to take the initiative.