Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

This time, Li Hongyun did not respond immediately.

Because he knew that a very important historical IF line was now laid before him.

The man who appeared to be a strategist was named Ling Jing, and his words were indeed recorded in the historical texts.

At that time, when Dou Jiande's army arrived at Hulaoguan Pass, they saw that the pass was treacherous and easy to defend but hard to attack, difficult to take in haste. This was when Ling Jing offered such a strategy.

The strategy, simply put, was to give up attacking Hulaoguan Pass and instead take one of the eight Taihang paths, Zhi Pass, to launch an attack on River East.

Then, use River East as a springboard to attack Guanzhong, and even press on toward Chang'an.

This tactic had quite the style of encircling Wei to save Zhao.

In later generations, many lamented this, believing that Dou Jiande lost the opportunity to vie for supremacy because he did not heed Ling Jing's strategy.

But upon closer examination, one would find that this method... actually had many problems.

If Li Hongyun had not been familiar with related content, he might have agreed with Ling Jing at this moment and resolutely implemented this method.

In history, Dou Jiande did indeed plan to proceed this way, but two envoys from Wang Shichong were also in the army at the time. They wailed day and night at Dou Jiande's tent and bribed his generals to ask for battle unanimously, creating an illusion for Dou Jiande that "our army's morale is high." That's why he did not adopt Ling Jing's strategy.

Now, Li Hongyun, having cleared away layers of fog with the analysis of later generations, was finally seeing more clearly than Dou Jiande had back then.

He looked at Ling Jing and asked, "This plan is excellent, but I have three doubts, please enlighten me, sir."

Ling Jing hurriedly said, "Of course."

Li Hongyun continued, "First, to cross Taihang and enter Shangdang, one must go through Zhi Pass. And Zhi Pass is named so because it is extremely narrow, only wide enough to allow a single chariot through at a time.

"Meaning, the terrain of Zhi Pass is even more treacherous than Hulaoguan.

"If our army can't take down Hulaoguan, what makes us think we can take down Zhi Pass?

"Second, the Liang Army has already taken Inside River from Taihang ahead of us, with He Yang and Huaizhou State included. This alone shows that Lord Qin had foreseen this move, so the Liang troops guarding River East must be on high alert, possibly not without preparation.

"My one hundred thousand troops, once on the move, cannot possibly hide their tracks. Thus, the Liang army could also send timely reinforcements to River East.

"So again, the question is, if our army cannot take down Hulaoguan, what makes us think we can take down Zhi Pass?

"Third, this route bypasses Taihang Mountain and is much longer than the Xiao Han Ancient Road, and we also have to go through Zhi Pass. How can we assure the logistics and supply for the large army? Even if we succeed, by the time we reach Shangdang, Luoyang might have already been taken.

"If Wang Shichong is killed, the Liang army would take all territories surrounding Luoyang. If at that time they cut off our supply route from the east or dispatch troops to Hebei, how should we respond?"

Ling Jing was stunned for a moment, "This..."

He hesitated for a bit, then said, "I believe that the only truly troublesome Liang army is Lord Qin alone. Zhi Pass may be more dangerous, but after all, it is not Lord Qin himself defending it.

"As for Wang Shichong... Luoyang is a strong city; if it can hold out for an additional month, there should be no problem."

Li Hongyun looked at Ling Jing, and Ling Jing was also looking at Li Hongyun.

Clearly, Ling Jing's strategy hid some information that could not be openly discussed in front of everyone, but Ling Jing believed that Dou Jiande would understand.

Li Hongyun turned to General Liu Heita among the generals: "General Liu, what do you think?"

Liu Heita was somewhat surprised, seemingly not expecting Dou Jiande to ask for his opinion.

After all, his status in the Xia army was not high at that time.

However, given the opportunity, he naturally would not let it go.

"I think the plan is feasible. However, it might not be appropriate for one hundred thousand troops to take Zhi Pass.

"Perhaps we should divide our forces."

As soon as he finished speaking, several generals immediately voiced their objections.

"Divide our forces? This is a major taboo in military strategy!

"Our one hundred thousand troops, once gathered, should engage the Liang army in battle to decide the victory. How can we divide our forces?"

Li Hongyun fell into thought.

At first listen, Liu Heita's proposal to divide the forces didn't seem feasible.

Our one hundred thousand troops were already like cutting vegetables for Lord Qin; splitting them up would only lead to an even more disastrous defeat, wouldn't it?

But, after comprehensive consideration, perhaps dividing the forces was the best option.

After all, Liu Heita was not someone ignorant of warfare, and his suggestion was sure to have its reasoning.

Speaking of Liu Heita, he was quite a legendary figure.

In his youth, he was a hoodlum, idling about without engaging in honest work, and Dou Jiande had often helped him. Thus, over time, the two built a deep friendship.

Later, when the world was in chaos, Liu Heita and Dou Jiande were displaced and each depended on different powers. When Dou Jiande raised an army, Liu Heita was under Wang Shichong. Believing Wang Shichong lacked prospects, he took his followers and defected to Dou Jiande.

In subsequent battles, Liu Heita demonstrated commendable military prowess, earning Dou Jiande's high regard.

But this regard obviously hadn't yet reached the level of treating him as his right-hand man.

After all, Liu Heita hadn't had many opportunities to command troops independently at that time. Although he had military talents, they were not fully displayed.

And at the battle of Hulaoguan, Dou Jiande was routed in one fell swoop, captured and then beheaded in a public square.

The beheading of Dou Jiande was surely one of the most foolish decisions made by Emperor Gaozu of Liang. Indeed, Dou Jiande needed to be killed, but not so promptly and certainly not so brazenly in such a public disturbance.