Mother, I have returned to the throne.

Chapter 428: Capture General Wei alive!

Song Yuan was very clear about it.

The reason why he was able to win the recognition of so many people, in addition to his previous glorious military achievements, was more because of the opportunity to recapture the three border cities.

Many of the soldiers who are still left in the border areas have experienced the war five years ago.

For them, losing the land of Qin from their own hands is definitely a pain that goes deep into their bones!

They only wanted to make up for their previous mistakes, and now, only in Song Yuan could they see hope of regaining the three border cities!

Now that time is running out, if Song Yuan stops moving forward because he is afraid of sacrifice, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction among many soldiers.

If he really made this choice, it would be equivalent to repeating the old path of General Wei and trampling on his own prestige in the army.

Given the previous experience, how could Song Yuan make such a mistake?

However, there are still some things that need to be prepared before setting off.

"According to my judgment, it shouldn't be too difficult to recapture Sanbian City this time. The most important thing is how to defend Sanbian City!"

In front of Huo Jianchuan and Dugu Xin, Song Yuan did not hide anything and directly said what was in his mind.

"The barbarians suffered such a great loss at our hands before. At this critical moment, they should give up the other two cities. However, before leaving, they will definitely cause serious damage there!"

"It may be easy for us to occupy the cities, but the difficulty lies in how to avoid unnecessary casualties due to these three cities!"

Song Yuan had already thought about retaking the three border cities. When the two frowned, he had already mentioned a number.

"So this time, I plan to send at least 60,000 to 70,000 troops. Only in this way can we guarantee that nothing will go wrong even after the spring!"

"Your Highness, aren't these many people a little too few?" Murong Lie shared the same opinion as Song Yuan, and in his eyes, the number of people Song Yuan sent was still a little too conservative.

At this point, everyone could see the barbarians' plan. The reason they gave up the three border cities was clearly to relocate the battlefield.

Without having to cross the Peacock River, they could more easily inflict casualties on the Qin side.

Therefore, after the spring comes, the barbarians will have a chance to recuperate and will definitely launch an attack on the three border cities as soon as possible!

In this situation, the defensive forces of the other two cities have been destroyed one after another. If there are no more people, how can we maintain ownership of the city?

"It's already quite a lot!"

Facing Murong Lie's worry, Song Yuan shook his head and then said what he was thinking.

"In my opinion, apart from the city closest to the Peacock River, the other two cities may not need to be garrisoned immediately!"

"Station 20,000 troops in the most important city to repair various city defense equipment and ensure that it is not disturbed!"

"As for the remaining 40,000 to 50,000 people, we will temporarily place them 50 to 60 miles away from the city. This way, we can keep a close watch on them while ensuring their supplies, and we won't be easily taken advantage of by those people!"

According to Song Yuan, the supply line can be greatly shortened, and these 40,000 to 50,000 people can also be brought within the protection range of the city.

In this way, we can proceed steadily and wait until the city closest to the Peacock River is basically completed, and then conquer the other two cities one by one.

Even if the barbarians send people to harass us, casualties can be avoided to a certain extent.

But according to the current plan, there is still a difficult problem waiting for them!

That means sufficient food and grass!

Most of the grain and grass that the imperial court had previously transported to the border were looted by the barbarians because of the betrayal of General Wei.

The remaining food and fodder is seriously insufficient for a long-distance march!

Before actually sending troops, at least this problem must be solved.

According to Song Yuan's idea, it would be best if he could trick the imperial court into giving him at least a few more months of supplies!

However, Song Yuan knew very well that once his purpose was exposed, it would be good enough if that cheap old man did not turn against him. How could he possibly provide food and grass support?

As the saying goes, one should not do what is not his responsibility. Even if Song Yuan had thought about this before, he could not make unified arrangements.

Although we have taken precautions in advance, it still feels a bit tricky until now!

For Song Yuan, food and grass are definitely of paramount importance. After all, he has now taken over the position of General Wei, and the number of people he has to support is more than tens of thousands.

If their stomachs are not filled, sooner or later, a disaster will surely occur!

After all, people cannot live on faith forever. If they don’t have enough to eat, riots will happen sooner or later.

……

After several people discussed it, they finally agreed that things should be prioritized and that recovering the three border cities was an obligation.

As for the matter of food and fodder, we can only talk about it later.

In order to gain time, early the next morning, Song Yuan directly handed over the important task of guarding Zhenbei Pass to Dugu Xin.

He, along with Murong Lie, brought along several generals originally stationed at Zhenbei Pass, and took away the 20,000 elite soldiers originally stationed there, and headed towards the Peacock River as soon as possible!

Because they passed through Sunan on the way, everyone only carried a small amount of food and supplies just to increase their speed.

Moreover, just in case, Song Yuan secretly instructed Dugu Xin to bring the Situ family to Zhenbei Guanzhong!

In order to prevent the old lady from thinking too much, Song Yuan secretly gave Dugu Xin a letter, instructing him to pass it to the old lady and she would naturally not resist.

Just as Song Yuan was leading his troops on the march, good news suddenly came.

General Wei was captured alive and is now being escorted to Zhenbei City!

Moreover, with General Wei surrendering, those people in Tianshan City have been recruited by Situ Jing!

As for the large area of ​​land to the left, it was all conquered by Wei Da. So far, Song Yuan has basically completed the control of several border cities!

Completely dominated!

Facing the congratulations from the people around him, Song Yuan's face showed a bit of sadness.

Only he knows that the greater the responsibility, the greater the danger!

Now, the biggest reason why he was able to win over everyone was because General Wei had trapped himself in a cocoon, and the recovery of the three border cities was imminent, so many people chose to compromise.

He still needed to do one more thing, which was to completely regain the morale of the entire Zhenbei Army. Otherwise, this seemingly bright prospect could collapse at any time!

In order to prevent any accidents, Song Yuan rode even faster, and finally, ten days later, he successfully crossed Zhenbei City and arrived at the military camp by the Peacock River.

Under Song Yuan's order, General Wei is now imprisoned here, but when Song Yuan arrived here, he did not visit him immediately.

Instead, they asked about the casualties caused by the previous war.