"Filial piety is tired of saddle horses, so that I can rest for a few days. At present, there is no urgent military business in the camp, and it is not enough to rest for a few days. Li Li sat on the head of the Fa Zheng and said with a smile.

"Ugh!" Fa Zheng was stunned when he heard this, looked up at Li Li sideways, and said gratefully: "Thank you for the care of the lord, how can his subordinates dare to be so loved by the lord." However, the purpose of the subordinates here is to share the worries of the lord and do their best for our army, so the lord has an order, and the subordinates must do their best to complete it. Please give the Lord's order! ”

Li Li nodded lightly and said with a smile: "Rest well, that's the order I gave you." Could it be that filial piety wants to disobey the order? Hehehe! ”

"The subordinates don't dare." Fa Zheng looked slightly stunned, and after respectfully confessing his guilt, Chi asked: "Now that our army is out on an expedition and is fighting with the barbarian army, how can there be no military affairs to deal with?" My subordinates are now adults, and I am a little thinner, but I am actually stronger than before. In the past two years, his subordinates have followed the major general to learn martial arts, and they have achieved a small success, which is enough to deal with ten or eight soldiers. Therefore, the lord does not have to worry about the body of his subordinates, although the command is that the subordinates must live up to the trust of the lord! ”

"Well, filial piety and loyalty are commendable." Li Li smiled, then raised his finger and pointed to the top two volumes of bamboo slips on the handsome case, and said softly: "Since filial piety is tireless, let's take a look at the two battle reports sent recently, and then we will talk." ”

After finishing speaking, Li Li sat under the tent with a calm expression and drank tea by himself, and there was no anger on his face.

Seeing that the lord Li Li was reluctant to say more, Fa Zhengjing walked to the handsome case and gently picked up the bamboo slip to look at it. The two bamboo slips are recorded in great detail, and the two battles that have taken place in the front recently are recorded in detail, and the causes and consequences are clear at a glance, and the casualties and losses are accurate to the person, without a trace of ambiguity. This is the most detailed battle report Fazheng has seen so far. The clarity and conciseness of the words show that the people who recorded the war were quite talented, and by no means general.

After carefully reading the battle report, Fa Zheng carefully rolled up the bamboo slips, put them back in place, and then gently retreated to Li Li's head and sat down, frowning slightly, closing his eyes and pondering.

For a while, there was silence in the tent, and Fa Zheng closed his eyes and pondered. Li Li drank tea gently, his eyes did not squint, and he was content.

After a while, Fa Zheng slowly opened his eyes and said softly: "Judging from the battle report." The battle situation in front of our army was not smooth, and we were defeated in two battles at Beishan Pass and Crow Ridge. Relatively. The barbarian army won two battles and two victories. After intercepting part of our army's grain and grass baggage, it has come out of the shadow of the defeat in the battle of Chiyang City, and the morale of the army has recovered and its morale has been unprecedentedly high. Under the advantages of the other, our army took advantage of the victory to pursue the situation and suffered a setback, and the morale was also frustrated. The combat strength has declined, and the middle and low-level generals are even more indignant, and they have a lot of complaints about General Zhou Yu. However, there are some doubts revealed in it, which are quite intriguing. ”

"Oh?" Li Li was slightly surprised and turned his head to look at Fa Zheng. He said in a low voice: "There are only two of us here, filial piety does not have to be taboo, you might as well speak up." ”

Fa Zheng nodded happily, pondered and said: "I don't know much about Zhou Yu, the commander of the army appointed by the lord this time, but I have heard of it. It is said that General Zhou Yu was born in the Lujiang Zhou clan, and his ancestors were all loyal ministers of our dynasty. General Zhou had the name of a prodigy in his early years, he was gifted and intelligent, proficient in the six arts, well-read, able to write and be good at martial arts, proficient in the art of war, and both civil and military. I don't know if it's true that my subordinates are blunt? ”

Li Li smiled slightly, and said: "It seems that Xiaozhi has long been concerned about Gongjin, and what he said is exactly the same, it is true." ”

"That being the case, it is quite strange that General Zhou Yu has led the army to defeat again and again, and there must be a hidden secret." Fa Zheng continued.

Li Li looked at Fa Zheng with a smile on his face and chuckled: "Secret? Filial piety and straightforwardness, what is the strange, and what is the secret? ”

Fa Zheng nodded lightly, and said slowly while thinking: "In the first battle of Beishan Pass, General Zhou dispatched 20,000 war cavalry and 10,000 infantry troops to fight against Yufuluo's barbarian army. It was a battle, the barbarian army occupied the geographical advantage of the pass, condescending to wait for work, resulting in our army attacking for half a day without results, killing and wounding more than 3,000 soldiers, this is the first battle of our army to attack the Xiongnu steppe, ended in defeat. That night, General Zhang Liao led his troops to attack the pass, and in one fell swoop, he took the Beishan Pass, but he did not kill many barbarian troops, but only recaptured the materials abandoned during the day, and that's it.

In the midst of this battle, there is one thing that is quite puzzling. That is, our army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, but less than 1,000 people were actually killed in battle, and the remaining more than 2,000 were all wounded soldiers, and the injuries were not serious. ”

Speaking of this, Fa Zheng's voice paused for a moment, and he paid attention to the look on Li Li's face. After seeing that Li Li had no intention of speaking, Fa Zheng continued: "The second battle is the Battle of Crow Ridge, and the barbarian army also preemptively occupies the favorable terrain and gets stuck on the road of our army's march, forcing our army to attack. Under the first battle, our army was defeated again, and attacked the mountain ridge for two days in a row, and finally although it captured the crow ridge, it did not destroy many barbarian troops, and our army suffered more than 5,000 casualties in the battle. The most strange thing is that in this battle, like the first battle, only 2,000 soldiers were actually killed in this battle, and the other 3,000 or so soldiers were wounded, and the injuries were not serious, so they could continue to fight.

In this way, our army was defeated twice in a row, with nearly 10,000 casualties on the surface, but in fact the number of casualties was far from so much, only 3,000 soldiers were killed, and most of them were infantry troops, and the war cavalry was almost unscathed. However, the barbarian army won two battles, but more than 5,000 people were killed and wounded, and more than 2,000 prisoners of war were captured by our army. Since then, our army has nominally lost two battles, but in fact it has been a draw with the barbarian army, and there has been no substantial defeat. The only difference is that the morale of our army has been frustrated, and the generals in the army have complained a lot and are quite dissatisfied with General Zhou Yu. This situation is extremely unfavorable to our army, and with a major war imminent, the generals are dissatisfied with the commanders, which will inevitably affect the morale of the troops, shake the morale of the troops, and be unfavorable to the war. Please also ask the Lord to make a decision quickly, and if it is late, it will change! ”

"Change?" Li Li groaned, immediately shook his head slightly, and said in a deep voice: "The instability of the army's heart is objective, but it has not changed yet. Over the years, our army has hardly encountered setbacks, and its combat strength is strong and invincible, and over time it has cultivated that the officers and men are good at fighting against the wind, and there are many complaints at the slightest setback, and they even doubt the ability of the commander-in-chief to lead the troops. This kind of wind must be stopped, this wind must not last, otherwise there will be endless troubles. Most of the generals who jointly requested the removal of the main general this time were from the county government soldiers, and the generals who did not have the main battle camp questioned the ability of the main general Zhou Yu to command the troops; Otherwise, the future of our army is worrisome, and it is bound to be strictly rectified again. so as not to collapse in the future. ”

After speaking, Li Li took out a stack of letters from his sleeve, handed it to Fa Zheng casually, and said softly: "Look at this, this is the third battle report delivered this morning, yesterday at noon, our army clashed with the barbarian army again, this time it was a face-to-face battle with the war horses. ”

"Ahh Defeated again! As soon as he opened the letter, Fa Zheng immediately exclaimed, and after quickly reading the letter, he was stunned. There was a look of disbelief on his face.

Li Li bowed his head slightly, and said in a low voice: "That's right, this is the third defeat report." Within half a month, Zhou Yu's army was defeated three times in three battles, and each time there were heavy casualties. Morale has fallen to the bottom, and the morale of the army is in turmoil. The battle of the Green Wolf Valley that broke out at noon yesterday. Jin Yiwei, the Tiger Battalion and more than 10,000 county soldiers all went into battle. Go head-to-head with the barbarians. The battle lasted until night, and after the war, our army lost more than 4,000 dead and more than 6,000 wounded, and lost tens of thousands of troops again. At this point, there were only more than 40,000 people left in the 60,000 army of our army when they set out, and the number of troops was reduced by nearly 30%. The strength is greatly damaged, and the morale is low. Therefore, the current war situation is becoming more and more unfavorable to our army, and the generals in the army are very dissatisfied. The officers and men gradually lost their belief in victory, the morale of the army was really shaken, and the situation was worrying. ”

Listening to the words of the lord Li Li, Fa Zhengqiang calmed his mind and quickly calmed down. When Li Li's voice fell, he continued: "In this case, I don't know what the lord commands, my subordinates will do it immediately!" ”

Li Li shook his head slightly, and muttered: "I don't have any orders, I still wait and see what happens, and I don't need to be filial piety and continue to run." ”

"Ugh!" Fa Zheng was stunned when he heard this, turned his head to look at Li Li, and said worriedly: "The battle situation is so unfavorable to our army, at this time, only the lord can save the defeat, restore morale, and stabilize the morale of the army." I don't know why the lord 、、、 let it go? ”

Li Li shook his head disapprerovingly, stared sideways at Fa Zheng, and said softly: "Xiaozhi's mind is in turmoil, you can see the problem in the previous two battle reports, why can't you see what is going on in this letter?" ”

After being reminded by Li Li, Fa Zheng unfolded the letter again, carefully examined it word by word, and finally saw the suspicious points revealed in the letter.

"In the battle of the Green Wolf Valley, the barbarian army suffered more than 7,000 casualties, and more than 5,000 wounded soldiers were captured, and then retreated fifty miles." Fa Zheng read the penultimate sentence in the letter softly, and then a gleam flashed in his eyes, and his mind turned sharply and he was silent.

After a moment, it dawned on him, "I see! It seems that General Zhou Yu is indeed extraordinary, every battle has a deep meaning, the casualties in the first battle are greater than the first, but it also brings a lot of casualties to the barbarian army. Invisibly, our army is still steadily advancing, and although the barbarian army is victorious, it is retreating step by step, and it is not far from the court of the Southern Xiongnu. ”

"That's right." Li Li said: "The nest of the Southern Xiongnu is located on the grassland between Shuofang County and Wuyuan County, and now the barbarian army has retreated to the northwest corner of Shangjun County, and then retreats to the Xiongnu royal court. It is the base camp of the Southern Xiongnu, and there are tens of thousands of people in the clan, and the terrain is complex, easy to defend and difficult to attack! ”

Hearing this, Fa Zheng's voice changed, and he said urgently: "Since then, isn't our army in the mouth of a sheep and in a more dangerous situation? After three defeats, less than 40,000 soldiers and horses remained of our army's 60,000 soldiers, and its strength was greatly damaged. On the other hand, after three battles, there were at least 60,000 or 70,000 soldiers and horses in the Fuluo barbarian army, and the number of soldiers and horses was already twice that of our army. Please send reinforcements to the rescue as soon as possible, otherwise once all the Southern Hun cavalry is dispatched, General Zhou Yu and tens of thousands of soldiers of our army may be in danger of being wiped out! ”

Li Li shook his head lightly and said in a deep voice: "Gong Jin did not ask for reinforcements, so I will not give him additional troops." All I can do to him is send one more person to serve in the army. But with this one person going, it can be worth tens of thousands of soldiers! ”

"I don't know who has this magical power and deserves such attention from the lord?" Fa Zheng asked in surprise.

"Hehehe!" Li Li smiled heartily, looked at Fa Zheng with a smile in his eyes, and said with a smile: "I don't know if Xiaozhi has the courage to go to the front line to support Gong Jin?" ”

"Ahh Does the lord mean subordinates? Fa Zheng was suddenly stunned and slightly distracted, and then got up without hesitation and walked in front of Li Li, bowed down and said: "The lord has been sent, and his subordinates must go all out!" ”

"Good!" Li Li stood up and said loudly: "The general will now appoint you as a military advisor, and immediately go to the front of the army to serve and assist Gongjin in attacking the territory of the Southern Xiongnu." This time, I will send five hundred golden guards to escort you along the way, and when you arrive at the front barracks, you only need to tell Zhou Yu one sentence: He is in charge of the battle alone, and there is no need to ask for instructions, just make your own decisions; Anyone who dares to disobey the general's orders will be severely punished and allowed to act cheaply. Sue Zhou Yu, I can trust him, so that he doesn't have to worry about it, he can let go of his hands and feet, and the consequences will be borne by me Li Li! ”

"No, my subordinates obey!" Fa Zheng bowed in response, and when he looked up and got up, he found that the lord Li Li had already strode into the back tent.

So Fa Zheng no longer hesitated, and immediately turned to leave, and outside the tent, Li Zhi had already prepared five hundred golden lion guard war horses for him, and then he turned over and rode on his horse and led the five hundred iron horsemen all the way to the north.

―――――――――――――― (To be continued)(To be continued......