A few days later, Su Dingfang brought the remaining troops back to the Hebei Army camp, which aroused the sympathy of the soldiers in the army and had opinions about Su Dingfang, the young general.

After all, he failed to attack and was not steady enough, which lured the main army to attack, fell into an ambush by the enemy, and suffered a crushing defeat.

Some military officers made rumors and spread rumors behind their backs, pointing the finger at him for the defeat, deliberately smearing him.

There are different factions among them, such as Dou Xinglie, who is Dou Jiande's adopted son. Logically speaking, in the future, Dou Jiande will become the crown prince and the heir to the throne, but Dou Hongxin loves Su Dingfang. If the two are combined, Su Dingfang will become Dou Jiande's son-in-law in the future, which means that power is overcomplicated.

Because Su Dingfang is young and has a handsome talent, once he gets married to Dou Hongxin and is changed to the Dou surname, Su Dingfang and his children may inherit all the power of Dou Jiande.

This is Dou Xinglie's little thought. He is not strong enough and does not want to make progress. He never thought of relying on his own ability to make a fortune. However, he always wanted to inherit the power of his adoptive father and holds a grudge against anyone who can stop him from obtaining supreme power. He is jealous and stingy, and is worried about gains and losses.

Other generals were unwilling to see the rookie generals overwhelmed them, so they also contributed to the fire in the army, causing the soldiers to have been talking about it these days, thinking that Su Dingfang had only a false reputation and was not qualified to be the general of Asia.

"Dingfang!" Dou Hongxian almost cried when he learned that he had returned to the camp alive and rushed over to meet him.

"Red Line, don't worry, I'm back."

In front of everyone, Dou Hongshi was shy and restrained, and did not pounce directly on his arms. Standing in front of him, he found that he was in a mess, with his left arm bandaged, but he was not seriously injured, so he felt relieved.

"Dingfang, what happened? Why did this sneak attack fail?"

"Oh, don't mention it. We were already very smooth. When we were about to arrive at the Sui Army camp, we were ambushed by Luo Cheng, who led his troops. He seemed to have expected that we would come to attack and use his own tricks. He staged a scene behind the Sui Army camp. General Zhang on the river bank mistakenly thought that we had succeeded in the sneak attack, so he fell into the trap!"

After hearing this, Dou Hongxian was secretly surprised. Luo Cheng really appeared, which was definitely not good news for the Hebei Army.

However, when she learned that this failure was understandable, she breathed a sigh of relief. She was also worried that she had misjudged the person. It was just like those who were gossiping behind her back, and it was just a false reputation and was not useful in the embroidered pillow.

"It's good that you can return safely. Let's go and see my father immediately and tell the truth so that everyone can solve their doubts. Otherwise, you will be the one who takes the blame." Dou Hongxin's mood improved, he grabbed his hand and went directly to the main business's handsome account.

Entering the big tent, Su Dingfang truthfully told Dou Jiande about the attack, which dispelled Dou Jiande's doubts and nodded slightly, thinking that he was still useful. Anyone would suffer a great loss in this matter. After all, he was determined and was unintentional. Luo Cheng personally led his troops to ambush him. He could break through the siege and was considered capable.

Dou Jiande held a gathering again and asked Su Dingfang to explain it in detail in front of the generals. Many strategists and generals realized that they had missed him, but there were still people with hostility.

"Dear generals, can you have other ways to deal with the Sui army on the north bank?" Dou Jiande asked.

No one answered, and everyone was silent. Even tiger generals like Wang Fubao had no choice but to defend the Sui army, not to mention that there was Luo Cheng behind him who was dispatching and commanding and planning.

Song Zhengben said at this moment: "General Dou, I think we should make a long-term plan and not fight in this fierce attack. Luo Cheng suddenly appeared, which means that he had already pacified the Gao clan in western Liaoning in a short period of time, and led his troops south. It is estimated that the Sui army on the other side may not be less than 80,000 or 90,000 people. In addition, the new recruits are constantly recruiting from the four counties, which is similar to our troops. If we still feel that the army is superior, we can attack with force. After our army is exhausted and the number of people is reduced sharply, it is likely that Luo Cheng will lead the army to counterattack and fight against the Hebei army. Therefore, we should change our strategy."

Ling Jing frowned and said to the side: "I also agree with the advice of Song Changshi. We cannot consume military strength anymore. If the Gao clan in western Liaoning is destroyed, if we lose allies, it will not be enough to destroy the Luo family army in the north. If we continue to fight like this, we will greatly damage our vitality and miss the great opportunity to fight for dominance in the world."

The soldiers nodded one after another, and did not want to continue fighting with the Sui army. Moreover, the war god Luo Cheng appeared again, and they were all unsure.

Seeing that everyone was already timid before the battle, Dou Jiande knew that he could no longer fight with Luo Cheng's army. He sighed and asked, "Do we want to stop the Northern Expedition, turn back the same path, and end up failing?"

Song Zhengben shook his head and said, "Of course not. There is a plan to turn passive into active."

When Dou Jiande heard this, he looked expectant and asked, "What are the plans of Chief Song? Tell me quickly."

Song Zhengben coughed dryly under the eager eyes of everyone, moistened his throat and said, "This plan is called expelling wolves and tigers!"

Everyone was stunned and confused. In terms of military tactics, there was a plan to drive tigers and swallow wolves. They used one side to check and balance or solve the other side to protect themselves. Xun Yu's strategy during the Three Kingdoms period provoked the struggle between Liu Bei and Yuan Shao, resulting in the empty state of Xuzhou. In this way, when Lu Bu saw Xuzhou vacant, he would take advantage of the situation to seize Xuzhou and drive Lu Bu to swallow Liu Bei.

"Hehe, Changshi Song, have you remembered it wrong? That's called the trick of driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf?" Someone made fun of it and everyone smiled.

Dou Jiande knew that Song Zhengben had read scriptures and history books, so he would definitely not make any mistakes. He waved his hand to stop everyone's ridicule and asked Song Zhengben to continue talking.

Song Zheng's face was teasing, and he didn't care about these big guys and said, "This is what I think of from that strategy, innovating, because I thought temporarily that if Luo Cheng is compared to a wolf, then General Dou is the tiger and the king of all beasts. My strategy is that we will stop attacking the Daqing River defense line and not continue to fight with the Sui army. Instead, we will strengthen the river embankment and learn from the Sui army on the other side to establish river defense lines, layer by layer, no longer fight in the north, and focus on managing the river.

During the period, Xindu, Shanggu and other six or seven counties around him made their momentum more and more powerful, and sent people to Jiangdu and Luoyang to spread news that at that time, King Yang You of Yue and the foolish lord Yang Guang would definitely be impatient and would issue a transfer order to let Luo Cheng take the initiative to fight to pacify us. At that time, we will be transferred to the Sui army on the other side, and they will attack us. Our army is waiting for the effort to occupy the riverbank defense line and can also kill the Sui army on the north bank. This strategy will drive away wolves and tigers!"

After hearing this, everyone was surprised and felt the insidiousness of the counselor. It can be said that the situation was reversed in an instant.

No one laughed at him for not knowing the four words "Turn the tiger and swallow the wolf". Obviously, this is a brand new strategy, which was revised on the old strategy of the Three Kingdoms, and comparing Luo Cheng to a wolf and Dou Jiande to a tiger, which is very consistent with everyone's psychology. If it is transferred, it will be reversed. Most people feel embarrassed about the rudeness just now.

Cao Zhanya, who was the first to make fun of the plot, stood up and bowed to Song Zhengben with a sincere expression, expressing his apology and ignorance, which gave Song Zhengben enough face.

After careful consideration, Dou Jiande smiled: "This plan is very good. It can not only reduce the loss of our army, but also wait for work to wait for Luo Cheng to lead the Sui army to attack, so that they can often cross the river and fight."

Song Zhengben continued: "There is another advantage of this plan, which is that it can completely blockade the four border counties and isolate the Luo family army and cannot be connected with the Central Plains. They are located in the border area, with a large area, sparse population, a small cultural heritage, lack of talents and heroes, and wealthy nobles. As long as they can trap them, Luo Cheng's power development will be weak and slowed down, and the threat will naturally be small."

Dou Jiande's eyes lit up and agreed to the suggestion. At the same time, he decided that the Hebei Army would station in Hejian County and make every effort to develop the vast land north of the Yellow River to stabilize its territory and strength, and not to fight against Luo Cheng for the time being.
Chapter completed!