The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 81 Armistice
It has to be said that in this direct collision, both Gou Xi and Liu Tai had a deeper understanding of their opponents.

For Gou Xi, his original idea of ​​building enough siege weapons and then forcibly pushing back Laiwu City completely disappeared after he actually led his troops to fight with Liu Tai's army.

At this moment, Shao Xu and Xu Gong did not dare to hide anything, so they immediately reported their experiences to Gou Xi.

After hearing the words of Shao Xu and Xu Gong, Gou Xi had a clearer understanding of Liu Tai's soldiers.

The personal battle with Liu Tai allowed Gou Xi to feel that Liu Tai's battlefield command ability was not very good.

But Liu Tai's soldiers are indeed very brave, which means that although Liu Tai is not good at commanding, his ability in training troops is better than his own!
Yes, compared to other generals, Gou Xi's military management ability is most important in running the army. Training troops according to laws is somewhat incompatible in a world dominated by aristocratic families, but the soldiers trained in this way are as good as arms to Gou Xi. Use your fingers.

What's more important is that Gou Xi was only capable of running an army and could not reach the level of commander of a large army.

But the experience of the Eight Kings Rebellion has honed Gou Xi's skills in all aspects, especially the courage brought by his victorious battles, which allows his soldiers to display [-]% of their abilities.

Because he can be regarded as a commander who started out as a soldier, the soldiers he trained can be regarded as the elite of this era if they are used by others.

After all, the army was in turmoil only after more than two levels of soldiers were killed. This is not an elite!
This was the result of Shao Xu's leadership of his soldiers. If Gou Xi had led it himself, the lifeline that would collapse the army would definitely fall further.

Apart from anything else, these soldiers have followed Gou Xi all the way to win. As long as they have not lost, it is not impossible that even half of the soldiers who died in the battle may still have soldiers who are willing to fight.

Of course, if Gou Xi loses and his golden body is broken, then with Gou Xi's way of commanding the army through strict military discipline, if he wants to recruit and train such an army, he will be feared and worshiped, but he will also be determined. It is difficult to build a victorious army.

To put it simply, Gou Xi's way of leading troops cannot be said to be bad. At least his own command ability and the way he leads troops are really very strong when combined with each other.

Even if Liu Tai knew the true strength of his Tiger Army, with the same number of soldiers, if he wanted to defeat Gou Xi head-on, he would only be able to defeat Gou Xi with a number of four or six. Liu Tai would be four and Gou Xi would be six, because Gou Xi had the experience to defeat him. His battlefield command ability is stronger than that of Liu Tai.

However, Liu Tai was able to charge the entire army in a desperate situation, and Gou Xi was easily counterattacked due to lack of preparation.

But Liu Tai's way of uniting the army is based on thoughts and beliefs. Even if he is defeated, as long as the belief in his heart remains, and those soldiers are recruited back and reorganized a little, as long as the equipment is still there, they can regain their eighth or ninth level strength in the blink of an eye.

But as long as Gou Xi loses once, I'm afraid no one will support him like Sima Yue did, allowing him to build an army that fully matches him according to his own needs.

At this moment, Gou Xi couldn't help but frown when she heard the problems Wei Xu and Xu Gong encountered while attacking Zhou Ping's military camp.

Gou Xi judged that Liu Tai was a trained general like himself, and saw with his own eyes the abilities of Liu Tai's soldiers. Although he repelled the opponent, he lost close to [-] soldiers this time.

He was stationed in the camp, and Liu Tai took the initiative to attack!

This made Gou Xi decisively give up his original tactics and start thinking about the next step.

And Gou Xi is very afraid of Liu Tai, isn't Liu Tai afraid?
Although the execution of his plan was a little chaotic due to Zhou Ping's reverse reasoning, as far as the situation was concerned, it was at least better than his original plan.

But under such circumstances, he was unable to break through the military camp guarded by Gou Xi. This showed his shortcomings in frontal siege ability, and most importantly, it also showed that Gou Xi really lived up to his reputation.

Especially his command and dispatch ability on the frontal battlefield, Liu Tai had to admit that if he had Gou Xi's command ability, he might be able to capture this military camp.

But if you don't have it, you don't have it. The shortcoming of not being good at siege will eventually be exposed. If you want to overcome it, you need to summarize a set of siege tactics of your own.

Of course, how to make up lessons in the future is a matter for the future. Now I am afraid that I and Gou Xi will be in a situation where whoever takes the initiative to attack will suffer.

Originally, both sides were unclear about the combat power of both sides, and both felt that they had an advantage on the offensive end. But now, after several rounds of fighting, it would be strange if the two sides still do not know each other's situation.

Both sides are rational people, and both sides have considerable military attainments.

Don't look at the fact that Liu Tai keeps saying that he is just lucky and that he is the one among the best. It is just that as a modern man, he does not believe that he actually has military talents. When a fight really breaks out, Liu Tai will never fall behind.

Therefore, both sides know that the best way to deal with each other at this time is to defend rather than attack.

But in this case, time and food will become the judges of both sides. Until one of the two sides retreats due to lack of food, then there will be another confrontation between the two sides.

Of course, because Zhao An, who Liu Tai sent behind Gou Xi in advance, will become an important bargaining chip in this confrontation, that is whether Gou Xi can deal with Zhao An, and whether Zhao An can continue to harass Gou Xi.

Both Gou Xi and Liu Tai know this very well. Sometimes there is not much conspiracy in military competitions. They are all about using one's own greatest advantages to attack the opponent's weakest weaknesses in one conspiracy after another.

This was originally a script written by both warring parties, but at this moment God himself changed the script!
Just when Liu Tai was inspecting the city as usual, a large yellow cloud came flying from the north.

Wherever it passed, the originally lush vegetation was eaten away almost at a speed visible to the naked eye.

And they gnaw crazily on all food visible to the naked eye almost without stopping.

"Locusts... locusts?!" Liu Tai couldn't help feeling his hands and feet were cold when he saw this scene.

Some soldiers even dropped their spears, knelt on the ground and begged, "Please forgive me, Grandpa Chongchu, please forgive me, please forgive me..."

Liu Tai didn't know that it was at this time in history that giant locusts in the six states of You, Bing, Si, Ji, Qin, and Yong had eaten away all the grass, trees, cattle and horse hair.

A locust plague that affected the entire north broke out this year, causing an unexpectedly large impact.

Taishan County and Qingzhou are both considered remote areas south of Jizhou, so a small part of these locusts eat up Jizhou and then move south, affecting the area bordering Jizhou and Sizhou.

Therefore, both Liu Tai's Taishan County and Gou Xi's Qingzhou were affected by this locust plague.

Liu Tai looked at these locusts, but knew that he could not continue fighting. If he did not solve the locust plague, even if he defeated Gou Xi, the entire Taishan County would be eaten clean by these locusts during this period.

"Xi Zhubo, you go back to see Mr. Chu first and ask him to organize the people to fight the locusts!" Liu Tai said to Xi Zhubo.

"My subordinate understands!" This was the first thing Liu Tai asked him to do when Master Xi heard it, but he quickly saluted.

Liu Tai also knew that the effect of fighting locusts after the locusts formed a large scale would be very limited.

But no matter how limited it is, I can't let locusts eat the food I have worked so hard to grow.The outbreak of locust plague was completely unexpected by Liu Tai, so at this time Liu Tai came to Gou Chun, who had always been eating and drinking, and constantly taking care of him. Moreover, he had not been seen for a while, and it seemed that he was still mellow. few.

"General Liu finally took the time to see me?!" Gou Chun put down a chicken drumstick and sighed,

"If I hadn't been taken care of by good wine and good food every day, I would have thought General Liu had forgotten me!"

"The general is joking. If it weren't for General Gou's pressure, I would also like to have a drink with the general!" Liu Tai said.

"Say it, but the city is about to be destroyed, and you need me to be my brother's lobbyist.

If you choose to surrender, then I am willing to be the lobbyist for the sake of the reception these days! "

Gou Chun said to Liu Tai sincerely,
"However, if you want to threaten my brother with my life, my brother is so arrogant that he is afraid to shoot me to death with a bow and then fight to the death with you, General Liu!"

In the past month, Gou Chun had no freedom and no contact with military affairs, but Liu Tai would basically satisfy all other requirements as long as they were raised.

After getting along for a while, Gou Chun also realized that Liu Tai would not execute him, so he was a prisoner, and he was quite calm at the moment.

"General, you are very brave!" Liu Tai smiled and said, "However, after all, it was not someone who asked him to take him in, but a truce. The truce will be until next year. I think your brother may need this step more than me. I’ll just give it to him!”

"Huh?!" Gou Chun looked a little confused when he heard Liu Tai's words. What is the situation outside?

Gou Xi, who also saw the locusts raging, didn't look good.

As the governor of Qingzhou, he has certain governance capabilities, especially as he is a leader, so he naturally knows what impact such a locust plague will have.

But at this time, I have to continue to endure it with Liu Tai.

In the final analysis, relatively speaking, it is still a matter of hard work on the expedition, and Zhao An is constantly harassing the grain road behind him.

If there is another locust attack this year, Gou Xi dare not think about how to survive the crisis next year.

But now that she and Liu Tai have become a rivalry, she can't retreat easily because Gou Xi knows Liu Tai's abilities.

If you retreat at this time, if you are attacked, it is likely to cause a chain reaction, which Gou Xi absolutely does not want to see.

At this time, Shao Xu entered the camp with a look of surprise on his face. After announcing the news, he said to Gou Xi, "Prince, look who's back!"

As he spoke, Gou Chun came to Gou Xi wearing a suit of armor. Thousands of words finally turned into one sentence, "Brother, I'm back!"

"Zi Hou? Just come back, just come back!" Gou Xi saw Gou Chun and excitedly stepped forward to grab Gou Chun and said,
"You fell into Liu Tai's hands, and I feel uneasy. Now that you have escaped successfully, it's great!"

"Brother, I didn't escape!" Gou Chun heard Gou Xi's words, shook his head and said, "It was Liu Tai who let me back in the hope that brother you could stop the war!"

"Are you going to go on a mission for Liu Tai?!" Gou Xi suddenly became alert at this moment and looked at Gou Chun in disbelief.

"Liu Tai has treated me kindly these days, but how could I abandon my brother and defect to him!" Gou Chun shook his head and said,
"It's just that Liu Tai treats me with courtesy, so naturally I can't break my promise to him.

He also once said that if his brother wanted to make peace, he would ask him to go back to Laiwu to explain the matter clearly.

Not only was he willing to let someone go, but he was also willing to let go of all the soldiers under my command.

Of course, if our army has Liu Tai's soldiers, we will also use this opportunity to exchange them! "

"He actually asked you to make peace?!" Gou Xi was a little surprised when she heard Gou Chun's words.

Because no matter how you look at it, the evolution of the situation is that he is becoming more and more dangerous, while Liu Tai is becoming more and more stable.

This had to make Gou Xi wonder whether Liu Tai was hiding some special trick against him.

After all, if the person opposite was Gou Xi, he would be thinking about how to destroy his opponent, but Liu Tai wanted to stop the war!
Of course, from Gou Xi's perspective as a general, this matter was not incomprehensible, that is, Liu Tai had no intention of fighting him to the death this time.

But as the war gradually evolved into a war of attrition, Liu Tai wanted to end this war of attrition and planned to wait until the strength of both sides had recovered before fighting again.

Thinking of this, Gou Xi understood in her heart that at least for herself, the steps Liu Tai handed over were exactly what she needed.

"Everyone has seen that it's not that I can't beat Liu Tai, it's that Liu Tai is afraid of his power and even let his brother go. It's because he's afraid of himself!"

It is really important to maintain your undefeated golden body, at least until you want to defeat Liu Tai head-on.

Gou Xi knew that he needed the belief that his soldiers would win, which was why Gou Xi did not retreat here, but was somewhat unable to get off the tiger.

But it doesn't matter now. Liu Tai took the initiative to come over and ask for peace, so he can go back to Qingzhou to deal with various chores.

After all, whether it was the loss of soldiers this time or the disaster caused by the locust plague in Qingzhou, it was enough to give Gou Xi a headache.

The most important thing is that now he has lost his troops and generals, and is unable to capture Laiwu for the time being, so he can only remain in a stalemate here.

Under such circumstances, Liu Tai took the initiative to return Gou Chun to cease the war and give himself face.

If he doesn't take this step and continue to fight, the one who suffers may not be Liu Tai who is guarding Taishan Princess. I'm afraid he will suffer even more!
"Zihou!" Gou Xi looked at Gou Chun and said, "Send over the prisoners of Liu Tai's army that our army has accumulated over the past few days.

Tell Liu Tai that we will cease fighting until next year as he wishes, and then give him a message. If he is defeated by me in the future, I will let him go! "

"Yes!" Gou Chun replied decisively.

(End of this chapter)