Chapter 69: The Top, Middle and Bottom Strategies

  Thank you for the reward from Stinky Egg Guardian God Shoes!

  The ministers in the tent all turned to look at Chen Kefu, who was sitting in the last seat. At this time, Chen Kefu had just come from the battlefield and was still wearing his armor, which made him stand out among the purple robes in the tent.

  Chen Kefu stood up from the cushion and bowed to Yang Guang, saying, "Your Majesty, although I have not seen the rebel Yang Xuan and his mastermind Li Mi, I have heard of their names and know that they are not comparable to the rebels in Shandong, Henan, Jiangnan and other places. Although these two rebels cannot be compared with your majesty's great officials, they are also talented individuals. If we underestimate them, we may suffer losses."

  At this time, Yang Yichen and Yuwen Shu had not left yet. As soon as they heard this, Yuwen Shu smiled and said, "What can that rebel Yang do even if he is fierce? Think about it, when I followed the previous emperor to conquer the world, he hadn't been born yet. When I followed Your Majesty to conquer the world, that rebel Yang was probably still drinking milk. For such a arrogant and incompetent young master, having me alone is enough, let alone Your Majesty also letting General Yang follow along. Don't worry too much, Breaking Army, those rebels are nothing but easy to capture."

  Yang Yizhen also burst out laughing, "Isn't Broken Army also thinking of going to quell the rebellion together? However, your recent performance has been quite eye-catching. Let us old swords go instead, and prove that we haven't rusted yet. You should stay by His Majesty's side and guard his safety."

  All the ministers burst out laughing, thinking that Chen Kefu also wanted to follow and take advantage of this opportunity to achieve a merit.

  Yang Guang smiled, "Chen Pojun, you don't have to go. Your 10,000 men only have 5,000 light cavalry, and half of them are heavy cavalry. This time, the rebellion needs speed. Besides, the soldiers of the Broken Army have been fighting many battles and are all tired. Let them rest for now. Goguryeo will still be destroyed, and there will be plenty of opportunities to make achievements then."

  Chen Kefu smiled, "Your Majesty and the gentlemen have misunderstood my intention. Although I haven't read many books, since joining the army camp, I've also read a lot of military books and battle strategies. I know some tactics and formations. Now that Yang's rebellion has started in Hebei, cutting off our grain supplies, all of you think it can be easily captured, but you're ignoring one very important thing."

  Seeing Chen Kefu speaking so seriously, Yang Guang also became serious, "Neglecting what you said, if it's good, I'll heavily reward you."

  "Your Majesty, considering that Yang has rebelled with his troops, if you were to put yourself in his shoes for a moment, what do you think would be Yang's next move?" Chen Kefu asked.

  "Think out of the box?"

  "Oh, it's just considering their current situation from Yang's perspective and guessing the direction of their next move."

  Zuo Wuwei General Pei Renji said nonchalantly, "No need to guess, they're obviously recruiting soldiers and buying horses to attack cities and plunder the land."

  Chen Kefu smiled and said, "General Pei is right, they will certainly recruit soldiers and horses to attack cities and plunder the land. But after recruiting soldiers and horses, where will they go to attack cities and plunder? Now that Yang has just rebelled with only 10,000 people, he will not wait for our army to besiege him in Luoyang. So they must go to attack cities, but which ones?"

  "The Eastern Capital Luoyang, Yang Guozhong is most likely to attack Luoyang. Luoyang is the capital city, as long as it falls, the whole world will be shaken." said Old Na Yan Su Wei.

  His words clearly represented the views of many ministers. At present, the Central Plains are empty, and the great army and generals in the court have followed the emperor to conquer the east. It can be said that there is not much defensive power in the Central Plains, and even the capital city Luoyang has few soldiers and horses. If Yang Guifei really attacked Luoyang, this would undoubtedly be a good choice. As long as Luoyang was breached, the families of various ministers, the Sui imperial family, and others would all fall into Yang's hands, which would undoubtedly be a great harm to the Sui dynasty.

  Chen Kefu nodded and then shook his head, "The old man only got one point right. Now that I have a million-strong army with Emperor Yang of Sui personally leading the campaign against Goguryeo in Liaodong, if I were Yang Xuangan or Li Mi, there would be three strategies to choose from, and any one of these strategies would be extremely dangerous for Great Sui."

  Yang Guang's face was also stern, standing in front of the desk, his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes staring at Chen Kefu, "If you are Yang Chao, what three strategies do you have? Speak quickly!"

  "Your Majesty, if I were Yang Xuangan or Li Mi, facing the current situation, there would be three options. The best strategy would be for the Emperor to personally lead an expedition against Goguryeo, which is far away in Liaodong City, even from Beiping Prefecture it's a thousand miles away. To the south is the great sea, and to the north are the powerful Turks, Khitans, and Xianbei tribes. In between, there is only one path, making the situation extremely difficult and dangerous. If we were to launch a surprise attack, occupy Beiping Prefecture, hold on to strategic locations, and block their throat, our return route would be cut off. The Goguryeo people would definitely pursue us from behind, and within a month, all our supplies and food would be exhausted. In the worst-case scenario, if Yang and Li were to collude with the Hu people again, we would face a three-pronged attack, and our army would surely collapse, and even I might be captured without a fight!"

  Chen Kefu's first rebel army may have spoken out, and suddenly made many ministers a little frightened. If it is true as Chen Kefu said, when the time comes to be trapped in Liaodong, the million-strong army will not even have one grain of food, and really be surrounded on three sides, without fighting, they can starve them to death. At that time, let alone these ministers being captured without a fight, even Emperor Yang Guang may not escape.

  Yuwen Shuo shook his head and said, "This plan is indeed vicious, but even if that Yang rebel is as you said, going north to Pingzhou Prefecture, I am about to lead 100,000 elite cavalry to Pingzhou. They are just newly recruited rebellious soldiers, how can they have so many horses? Before they arrive at Pingzhou and capture Pingzhou Prefecture, we will already be in Pingzhou. They come from afar, isn't it perfect for me to use the advantage of being well-rested to annihilate them all at once?"

  "Sir, this Yang rebel's uprising was reported to the capital after it happened, and then a fast horse was sent to report it. The capital is extremely far from here. Even if the fastest horse was used, it would still take a lot of time to get here. Moreover, how can we know when the capital received the news after the rebel army's uprising? If the capital knew about the news when the rebel army had already set out for Beiping Prefecture, who could guarantee who arrived first and who arrived later? The key point is that even if the rebel army didn't have enough horses, they only need to select a fine cavalry unit to head north, take down Beiping Prefecture, and then even if the main force of the rebel army hasn't arrived, with the city of Beiping in hand, Sir Yuwen would be powerless against them. Moreover, sir, don't forget that there is a Grand Canal in the Central Plains that directly connects to Gaoyang County. Transporting troops by water route is much faster than by land."

  Yang Yicheng also had a gloomy face and said somewhat unhappily, "Chen Pojun, what you're saying is all just possibilities. How can you be sure that we won't arrive first?"

  "General, the rebels can afford to take this gamble, but we cannot. We have not only your esteemed selves here, but also His Majesty. As his subjects, how could we possibly gamble with the safety of our monarch?"

  Chen Kefu's over-the-top flattering words immediately shut Yang Yichen up, but Yang Guang looked at Chen Kefu with great pleasure, apparently delighted by his shameless display of loyalty.

  Yang Guang said, "If those two rebels Yang and Li are really as you said, then it's indeed a troublesome matter. However, I think Yang Xuangan is a man with great ambitions but limited abilities, who would rather sacrifice himself for a big cause than take care of his own life. He would forget about his own safety when he sees a small gain. Although this plan has the opportunity to put us in great danger, it's not a choice that Yang Xuangan would make because it's too risky. If we were to occupy Beiping Prefecture first, or if he were to arrive there but fail to capture it, then Beiping would become his burial ground. Yang Xuangan is not the kind of person who would dare to take such a risk without any way out. Tell me more about their other two choices."

  Chen Kefu had been paying attention to Yang Guang's expression, although Yang Guang said that Yang Xuangan would definitely not choose this strategy of rushing to Beiping, but Chen Kefu saw that Yang Guang's face at this time was even worse than before. He understood that Yang Guang was a little afraid, no mistake, even if it was Yang Guang who had led the army many times and had personally conquered several times after ascending to the throne, he did not dare to gamble with his own life now.

  He was an emperor, precious and incomparable, how could he be willing to risk his life with Yang Xuangan? In the past, when he led troops, they were all about using the majority to attack the minority, using the strong to attack the weak. He had never encountered such a perilous situation as this before.

  "Your Majesty, if Yang Xuangan does not dare to implement the first plan, then it is good news for us. The other two plans will cause some trouble for Great Sui, but they are not a big deal. Now, there are still two roads in front of Yang Xuangan. Guanzhong is a land with dangerous passes and narrow paths on all sides, it is the heavenly capital, although General Wei Wensheng is stationed here, the troops are not strong. If Yang and Li do not choose to attack Beiping, they can lead their army westward, passing through cities without attacking, and directly take Chang'an City. Then, gather local heroes, comfort local people, rely on the danger of guarding Chang'an City, even if Your Majesty leads a large army back from Liaodong, it will be difficult to calm them down immediately, at that time they can rely on Guanzhong to plan slowly."

  Yang Guang nodded, "The Guanzhong region has always been a place of contention for military strategists. Now that the Guanzhong is also empty, if Yang Jian really launches a surprise attack on Chang'an, he might actually succeed. If he occupies the Guanzhong, this chaos may drag on and it won't be easy to quell the rebellion in a short time. I'm afraid the situation inside the pass will deteriorate. This is indeed a hidden danger, and it should be considered as a middle strategy. Although it's not as good as the best strategy, there's no great risk involved. Most people would probably choose this option."

  However, Yang Guang said that if Yang Xuangan went to Chang'an, it might be a rebellion in the heart, but he was secretly eager for them to go to Chang'an. As long as his own life would not be threatened, even if they fought a few years in Guanzhong and then collapsed, he didn't care too much. In any case, it's better than being trapped here by others.