1031 False Surrender and Killing the Head (1/2)

Chapter 1031 – False Surrender and Killing the Head

Ouyang Shuo understood that if they did not make any change, water, grain, the city wall, and troops, any one of these four could cause them to collapse to an irrecoverable level.

”We need to take the initiative to strike.”

Guo Ziyi decisively stood out, ”Half of the player forces are cavalry, so to use them to defend is already wasting their talents and is not a smart decision.”

Lianpo was a general who preferred to defend. When he heard Guo Ziyi's words, he frowned, ”The enemy troops are many times ours. If we attack, what use will it be? We will only quicken our deaths. Why not just defend?”

”If we strike out aimlessly, obviously it would be useless. But what if we aim for their leader?”

”Aim for their leader?” Lianpo nearly replied in a sarcastic tone.

Killing intent appeared in Guo Ziyi's eyes, looking really sharp, ”With the city situation, we have no way out and will only be locked in by the enemy. When the city is broken into, we will be under their mercy. On the contrary, if we use our elite forces to kill their generals like Bayan, it could make their troops unsettled and allow us to win the battle.”

”More easily said than done.”

Lianpo obviously did not agree, ”The enemy troops heavily defend their main general. Not to mention killing their head, but even getting close is difficult. Not only might we not achieve that, but if the enemy uses the chance to get into the city, it would be catastrophic. Defending is the smarter choice.”

As for how to defend, Lianpo had some thoughts. During the Battle of Changping, against the Qin country soldiers, Lianpo managing to defend for so long had become the glory of his life.

This also showed that he was really skilled at defending. With the Battle of Lin'an as an example, the west gate he was defending was the most solid apart from the north city wall.

In his eyes, they were losing to the north city gates due to the difference in soldier strength and not his skill compared to Guo Ziyi.

The two generals continued to debate. They both had their own theories.

When Ouyang Shuo saw that, he suddenly looked at Zhang Shijie, ”If I remember correctly, General Zhang has a relationship with Zhang Hongfan's father, Zhang Rou?”

When Zhang Shijie heard these words, he thought that Ouyang Shuo was suspecting that he was colluding with the enemy, and his face sank, ”What is the Xia King getting at? I did work under Zhang Rou when I was young but that was really long ago.”

Ouyang Shuo smiled, ”General has misunderstood me. I did not doubt you. I only have something to ask.”

In the Battle of Yashan in history, Zhang Hongfan tried to use Wen Tianxiang to persuade Zhang Shijie to surrender but failed. Hence, why would Ouyang Shuo suspect Zhang Shijie's loyalty to South Song?

Zhang Shijie's expression loosened. He noticed that he had overreacted, so he said, ”Whatever instructions you have, just say it. If I can do it, I will!”

Ever since he was given the title of Xia King, Ouyang Shuo had a lot of power in the Grand Council.

Ouyang Shuo nodded his head and said, ”Although General Guo's operation is difficult, it's our only way. What we need to do is to make the impossible possible.”

The other people nodded and agreed with this analysis.

”Just as General Lianpo has said, the enemy main general, be it Bayan or Zhang Hongfan, are all within the military formation and are hard to get closed to. If we have a way to draw them out, we would make it two times more effective.”

Using the chance, Ouyang Shuo calmed down the atmosphere between Lianpo and Guo Ziyi. He did not want the two of them to become enemies before the battle even began.

For this matter, Ouyang Shuo handled it really well.

When Lianpo heard that, his expression relaxed. Although he was a general under Di Chen, after fighting against Great Xia for so long and not winning even once made him terrified of the Xia King.

Maybe in his heart, he felt respect toward Ouyang Shuo.

Zhang Shijie was also astonished. He roughly had his thoughts, but he was still uncertain, ”What the Xia King means is?”

Ouyang Shuo smiled, ”It is simple, please write a letter to Zhang Hongfan to say that you are willing to bring the Song Army to surrender and ask them to come over to discuss.”

Ouyang Shuo was actually planning to make a false surrender.

”Will they believe us?” Zhang Shijie asked.

”That would depend on what the general writes in the letter.”

Different methods would naturally give rise to different effects. Hence, writing a letter that Zhang Hongfan would believe in would definitely be hard for Zhang Shijie.

Luckily, at this moment, Lu Xiufu took the initiative to speak to Zhang Shijie, ”If Shijie does not mind, after the letter is finished, I can help add in some stuff.”

Obviously, Lu Xiufu agreed with the plan.

”That's great!” Zhang Shijie nodded and agreed. Naturally, he would be happy if this plan succeeded.

Falsely surrendering to Zhang Hongfan was only the first part of the plan. To make the entire plan flawless, one needed deep considerations and careful planning.

Details would decide success or failure.

Once the direction was set, it would be easy to handle the details. With all of them discussing and Jia Xu supplying ideas, they finally set up a specific plan.

”Now it's time to see how Zhang Hongfan reacts.”

Ouyang Shuo looked out at the barracks. His eyes squinted as he smiled, showing off some coldness.

...

That night, Zhang Hongfan received the surrender letter from Zhang Shijie.

In the letter, Zhang Shijie said this, ”Since the player army has entered the city, they have taken over and bullied the young and helpless king, making their own decisions in the city. If this goes on, the country would not be our country. Your troops are attacking and would break through. In the recent days, we are helplessly determined to go all out.”

”If you promise to leave the royal family bloodline and ensure that all the people leave, we will be willing to come out of the city to surrender. As for the specifics, general, please come to the front of the formation to discuss in detail.”

When Zhang Hongfan saw that, he was both astonished and delighted.