Chapter 1048: Wang Mang vs Su Lie

Wang Mang's recent life has been quite difficult, and he even regrets crossing again.

Under Liu Bowen's calculations, the Qin army did not directly start a war with the southern princes, but pointed the finger at the Liang army in Yewangcheng, which also made Wang Mang and the southern princes breathe a sigh of relief, but what happened after that was somewhat beyond Wang Mang's expectations.

Wang Mang also knew that his alliance was not strong, after all, no one knew the internal filthiness better than him, but he didn't expect this alliance to be so fragile.

The Qin army hasn't even fought yet, but he just sent a messenger, and with a few words, all the contradictions within the alliance have been brought out, and the alliance has even reached the point of falling apart.

Are you all pigs? With such an obvious divisive scheme, doesn't anyone see it?

If the Qin army's discordant methods are extremely clever, it will be forgotten, but the key is that the Qin army's discordant tactics are not clever, and the lobbying rhetoric is also extremely naïve, which is nothing more than 'my lord is the leader of the alliance and will never do anything to his allies', 'willing to govern Sizhou with the princes of the south' and so on.

But even such a naïve lie, there are still princes who are willing to believe it.

What about the brain?

What about IQ?

Wang Mang was also afraid that Qin Hao would use a divisive strategy, so he had already taken a preventive shot in advance, and he and the four princes of Bingnan told him not to believe any of the words of the Qin army's envoys, and he must remember one thing:

The four counties of Bingnan were sandwiched between the Qin and Jin armies, and the Qin army could only border with Bingzhou by occupying Sizhou and Bingnan, so there was no room for relaxation between the princes of Bingnan and the Qin army......

Wang Mang has said this truth more than once, but as soon as the princes of the south were fooled by others, they all fell on deaf ears.

What else can Wang Mang say about this?

mdzz，**！

Wang Mang was speechless to the extreme for these pig teammates, but after all, he took the initiative to find them, so even if he knew that this group of mud couldn't be helped up at all, he could only continue to forcibly help them with tears in his eyes.

Alas, my heart is so tired!

Wang Mang knew that the princes of Bingnan were not brainless, but Qin Hao's record was too terrifying, and they had little confidence in themselves, so they comforted themselves and believed Qin Hao's promise.

Wang Mang must build confidence in his allies, otherwise I am afraid that the coalition will be disbanded before the war starts, and the best way to build confidence is naturally to win the war.

The Qin army only had a total of 50,000 troops on the northern front, but the southern coalition army had a full 150,000 army, which was three times the strength of the Qin army, so why did you have to wait for the Qin army to take the initiative to attack?

Before, Wang Mang wanted to wait for the Qin army to take the initiative to attack, and then defend the city with superior forces to consume the Qin army's sharp energy and strength.

However, the Qin army did not fight the weak and southern coalition army, but instead gnawed the Liang army, which was obviously more difficult to gnaw, which also made many of Wang Mang's calculations useless, so he could only guard the city gate, recruit and train the army, and improve the overall quality of the army as much as possible.

Now the princes of the south have completed the expansion of the army, 110,000 and the south alliance, plus 40,000 mercenaries, a total of 150,000 troops.

All the supplies of 40,000 mercenaries will naturally come from the southern princes, and this is also a large expense.

If the princes of Henan pinch their noses and admit it during the war, but if they don't fight, they will raise an army of 40,000 for nothing, which is a little unacceptable.

Therefore, whether it is to build confidence for the princes of Bingnan, or to make these 40,000 mercenaries worthwhile, Wang Mang must take the initiative to attack the Qin army.

It took a lot of effort for Wang Mang to persuade the wavering princes to support him again, but before he sent the army, he found that there was not enough food and grass.

The foundation of the four southern counties is too thin, and it is natural that there will be a shortage of food, and it is strange that there is no shortage of food.

The consumption of grain and grass in wartime is not the same as peacetime, and the grain and grass that supported the 150,000 troops on the expedition, and the southern princes really smashed the pot and sold iron.

In desperation, Wang Mang could only go around borrowing grain, but now the only princes who can lend grain to Wang Mang are Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng in Jizhou.

Wang Mang has never been so aggrieved in his two lives, he said everything that should be said and what should not be said, so he borrowed 50,000 stone grain and grass from Chen Zhang, but this is still a drop in the bucket for the 150,000 army.

As a last resort, Wang Mang could only learn from Zhang Jiao and Dong Zhuo, and relied on slaughtering the family to raise food and grass, but his methods were much more clever and did not attract any infamy for himself.

Wang Mang relied on a self-written and self-directed drama to give nearly half of the family in Bingnan and Sizhou a charge of Tongqin, and then raided the family and exterminated the family in the name of his cheap brother Wang Shichong, so the family can't be blamed on Wang Mang's head.

I have to say that the family of this era is really unlucky, Zhang Jiao will destroy the family as soon as he lacks something, Xiang Yu will destroy the family, Dong Zhuo will also destroy the family, and Qin Hao and Wang Mang will also change their methods to eliminate the family.

In short, no matter what is missing, as long as the family is destroyed, then it will be all there.

In this way, Wang Mang relied on borrowing and raiding the family, and finally got more than a month's worth of military rations, and the frugality was barely enough to support two months.

As for two months from now?

Wang Mang estimated that the plan to rescue Li Shimin would definitely be over in two months, and if it was done, he could borrow it from Liangjun, but it didn't work...... That's just a matter of fate.

After Wang Mang got the grass grain, he immediately launched an offensive against the Qin army, but he had to think carefully about the choice of the opponent.

Of the 50,000 troops on the northern front of the Qin army, Su Dingfang led 30,000 to defend Hanoi, and Xue Rengui led 20,000 to defend Hedong.

For these two famous generals of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Mang is naturally like thunder, especially Xue Rengui, who is both civil and military, which is one of his favorite generals.

Although Su Dingfang is also an extremely powerful general, Wang Mang thinks that Xue Rengui is more powerful, and he is not sure to deal with an opponent like Xue Rengui, so it is naturally handed over to Chen Qingzhi to deal with.

Wang Mang's attack on Qin this time can be said to be pouring out, using 130,000 troops, leaving only 20,000 troops to defend Hanoi and Hedong.

Wang Mang personally led an army of 80,000 to attack Hanoi, and ordered Chen Qingzhi to lead 40,000 troops to be responsible for blocking Xue Rengui in Hedong, and after annihilating Su Dingfang, he was concentrating on dealing with Xue Rengui.

Wang Mang knew that Xue Rengui's force was extremely high, but Chen Qingzhi did not have many fierce generals under his command, so he also sent the giant to Chen Qingzhi to ensure that nothing went wrong.

With an army of 80,000 against 20,000 on his side, Wang Mang felt that there was no reason to lose, but Wang Mang was stunned by Su Dingfang when he started the war, and he still overestimated his command ability.