Chapter 1178 Juncheng

"Not bad!"

Yun Zheng looked at Yu Shizhong with appreciation.

Yu Shizhong was very thoughtful.

Yu Shizhong had already started doing things that he hadn't even explained.

This is the style of a great general!

Yu Shizhong smiled, picked up the stick beside him, pointed at the map and said: "If we want to attack the Le Dynasty, we should only attack from Zhenhe! The Mongols and the Le Dynasty are separated by this mountain. It is almost impossible for our army to cross this mountain to attack..."

However, attacking the Le Dynasty from Zhenhe was not easy.

Zhenhe and Le dynasties were separated by a large river called Danshui.

In the upper reaches of the Dan River, the banks are steep, the river valley is narrow, the slopes are steep and the current is fast, which is not suitable for crossing the river at all.

In the middle reaches of the Dan River, the water flow gradually slows down and the riverbed becomes wider. To the lower reaches of the Dan River, the river valley gradually opens up and the water flow becomes gentler. However, the water surface is too large, and it is difficult to cross the river without a warship.

What they lack now are warships.

Yu Shizhong believed that the best way was to wait until the river froze in winter and then launch a large-scale attack.

However, this brings us to the issue of winter warfare.

By that time, their biggest enemy would not be the Le Dynasty's army, but the bitterly cold weather.

If we did not attack in winter, we would have to build a pontoon bridge at the middle reaches of the Dan River and cross the river slowly.

A pontoon bridge can only be built with small boats as the base, on which wooden planks can be laid to facilitate the army's crossing of the river and the transportation of baggage and food.

But it would take too long to use pontoon bridges to transport food, supplies and troops.

During this period, if the Le Dynasty's army discovered their intentions, they would likely suffer huge losses.

Ten miles across the Dan River is Juncheng, an important town in the western region of the Le Dynasty.

This is a city that has existed for hundreds of years. It was originally built to prevent the Zhenhe people from sneaking into the Le Dynasty to plunder. Later, it gradually developed into an important military town in the western part of the Le Dynasty.

Juncheng has a steep terrain and is easy to defend but difficult to attack, hence the name Juncheng.

No matter where the attack on the Le Dynasty is from, Juncheng will be the first hard bone to chew, and it may also be the hardest bone to chew.

Unless there are enough warships to attack directly from the sea, capture the important town of Xiongjin in the south of the Le Dynasty, and kill from the south to the capital of the Le Dynasty, Qiming City.

The Le Dynasty may seem small and its military strength is not very strong, but conquering it is not as easy as they thought.

The problems they are facing now are how to cross the Dan River and the problem of food and fodder.

It’s not easy to transport food and supplies over such a long distance, let alone other things.

After listening to Yu Shizhong's report, Yun Zheng couldn't help but frown.

If what Yu Shizhong said is true, it would indeed not be easy to conquer the Le Dynasty!

If we send too few troops, it will be a question whether we can win the battle or not.

There are too many troops, and food and military supplies are all problems.

We also need to think carefully about where to cross the Dan River.

"Have you discussed this with Jiayao?"

Yunzheng asked.

"We chatted briefly."

Yu Shizhong nodded and said, "Madam Jiayao prefers to wait until the Dan River freezes before attacking! She thinks that building a pontoon bridge is too easy to be destroyed by the enemy, and it takes too long for the army and military supplies to cross the river! As long as the Li Dynasty discovers our intention, we may not even be able to build a pontoon bridge."

Shen Luoyan looked at the map and asked, "Is there a passage between Zhenhe and the Li Dynasty?"

"Have!"

Yu Shizhong nodded, pointed to the upper reaches of the Dan River and said: "There are two main channels for communication between Zhenhe and the Li Dynasty..."

The first passage is located upstream of Danshui River, which is a very steep and winding trail.

This narrow trail was built along the steep cliffs on both sides of the Dan River. You can reach the other side of the Dan River by crossing a small stone bridge in the narrow part of the upstream.

The goat trails were built along the mountainside, and in most places only one packhorse could pass through. There was also a section of road where even packhorses could not pass, and people had to climb up the path. If they were not careful, they would fall into the abyss.

The second channel is by water.

There is nothing much to say about this waterway. It is just two docks where the water flow is slow, and the two communicate with each other through water shipping.

The reason why Jia Yao exiled Luntai to Zhenhe was because the Zhenhe people knew how to build ships.

However, Zhenhe's ships are basically small transport ships, and their so-called warships are only slightly larger than the flower boats of the Daqian Imperial City.

Shen Luoyan thought for a moment and asked, "Then why not just attack by water?"

"Of course we can." Yu Shizhong nodded, "But if we go by water, we will definitely need a large number of ships. Even if we start building ships in Zhenhe now, it will probably take a long time to prepare them..."

Moreover, once they began to build large numbers of ships to cross the river, the enemy would inevitably be prepared.

By then, the enemy will gather heavy troops on the other side of the river, and we will attack them halfway across the river, which will be enough to make them suffer a heavy loss.

Alternatively, the enemy could launch fireboats from upstream while they were transporting military supplies and soldiers, directly attacking them with fire, which would also cause heavy casualties for them.

Yun Zheng pondered for a while and asked, "How many troops are there in Juncheng?"

"I don't know."

Yu Shizhong shook his head, "I estimate that there are at least tens of thousands of people!"

Tens of thousands of troops?

That’s not too much!

Yun Zheng: "If we occupy the dock on the other side of the Dan River with a small group of elite troops, block the entire dock, and then gather three to five thousand elite troops to launch a covert sneak attack, it should be possible to capture Juncheng, right?"

As long as we occupy Juncheng and have a bridgehead, everything else will be easy.

It would be even better if we could get food and grass from Juncheng.

"There is definitely hope." Yu Shizhong nodded: "However, it is difficult for so many soldiers to avoid being discovered by the enemy."

With so many people, it would be difficult to escape detection by the enemy scouts just by crossing the river.

After all, Juncheng is only ten miles away from the banks of the Danshui River.

Yun Zheng thought for a moment and asked again: "Have you ever considered attacking with the help of the weather?"

Yu Shizhong: "Your Highness, you mean to cross the river with the help of fog or cover of night, right?"

"Correct!"

Yun Zheng nodded. "If these three to five thousand people only bring dry food, and there are a few cargo ships, and they run a few more times, they should be able to get the people there without anyone noticing, right?"

"Mrs. Jiayao also mentioned this method."

Yu Shizhong smiled, "However, we all think this method is too risky. Once discovered by the enemy, these thousands of people will starve to death without supplies!"

"Even if they don't starve to death, as long as they fail to capture Juncheng the first time and let the enemy be prepared, it will be difficult to capture Juncheng again."

"The key is that we don't know how many soldiers and horses Juncheng has at the moment..."

Yun Zheng’s idea is definitely feasible.

But this is a very risky approach.

It has the meaning that if you don't succeed, you will die.

"That's true."

Yun Zheng nodded slightly: "Let's do this for now! Anyway, we are not attacking the Li Dynasty now. Let's think about it later and decide on the attack plan!"

It would naturally be better if the Le Dynasty was willing to cooperate with them and allow them to station troops there.

Of course, even if we want to negotiate with the Le Dynasty, that will have to be done after we capture Juncheng.

They just went to talk to others foolishly. The Le Dynasty was on guard and it would be more difficult for them to defeat them.

Moreover, maybe the Li Dynasty has already begun to guard against them...