Marrying Salted Fish

87

Gu Fuzhou glanced at Shi Pei. He was known for loving his soldiers like his own sons. Although he had fought for many years, he would still feel sad for every casualty of his soldiers. For Shi Pei, reducing the casualties of our army was the top priority. He would rather not win so beautifully than not protect his soldiers. This was a noble character, and Gu Fuzhou admired him very much.

Wu Youyuan retorted: "It is difficult to attack a city. But if it is difficult to attack a city today, will it be easier to attack a city later? Since it is only a matter of time, why not fight and resolve it quickly?"

Gu Fuzhou pressed his brow and said, "Youyuan, hot blood is a good thing, but your blood is too hot. If a mosquito drinks your blood, its mouth will be burned."

After staying in the northwest for a year, Gu Fuzhou was too lazy to maintain his aloof personality and just acted as he pleased. After being shocked, Wu Youyuan and others gradually accepted General Gu's new personality. They heard from the veterans in the northwest that General Gu was poisoned and his temperament changed drastically after he was saved from the King of Hell. General Gu was simply outrageous at that time, but now he is still good, at least he doesn't sleep in all day long. Fortunately, no matter what kind of personality the general has, he will not lead them to defeat.

Wu Youyuan was still able to listen to Gu Fuzhou's words. He said, "But please enlighten me, General."

"Have you forgotten how General Zhao lost Yongliang last winter?"

"I haven't forgotten." Wu Youyuan said quickly, "Last year, General Zhao was trapped in Yongliang. Heavy snow blocked the roads and food supplies could not be delivered. When he ran out of ammunition and food, General Zhao opened the city gates and fought a desperate battle, but he was defeated and died by the elite troops of Western Xia."

Gu Fuzhou said: "Don't you understand yet?"

Wu Youyuan's talent was all in the art of war. When Gu Fuzhou said this, he understood it immediately. His eyes lit up and he said, "General, do you want to do the same as last year and deplete their food supplies so that they will have no choice but to open the gates and ask for a fight?"

Gu Fuzhou nodded and said, "Without Guangyang, Langgu, Zhuoxian and other counties, Yongliang's food supply has been blocked, and it is still an isolated city no matter how big it is. We have a continuous supply of food and grass, while the Xixia army in the city can only eat up all the food. As long as we can form a trend of attrition, our casualties can be reduced by at least half when we attack the city again."

Shi Pei agreed with what Gu Fuzhou said: "It's a good idea to give someone a taste of their own medicine. Xixia brought all the food and grass from Guangyang and other counties to Yongliang. Together with the food and grass originally stored in Yongliang City, they can only sustain them for 50 days at most. Now a month has passed. If we wait another half a month, the enemy will either starve to death or open the city to meet the enemy like General Zhao did, and the morale of the army will be in chaos. By then, our army will have been recuperating for two months. Are we still afraid that we can't take Yongliang!"

Wu Youyuan pondered for a while and also thought that attrition was the best strategy, but he still had doubts: "Western Xia needs food and grass, and we also need food and grass. The key to attrition is whether we can outlast Western Xia."

Gu Fuzhou turned to Shen Huaishi and asked, "How many days can our food and grass last?"

Shen Huaishi said, "Less than ten days. But Doctor Lin said in the letter that a large amount of grain and grass from Jiangnan had already been sent north by water at the beginning of the month, and will be transported by land to Guizhou. I think it won't take long to deliver it to the camp."