The World of Yellow Sky

After everyone sat down, an embroidered envoy brought a huge Kanyu map into the hall and hung it in a place where everyone could see it clearly.

Liu Chong, who was the Taiwei, also stood up at this time, walked to the near side of Kanyutu, and started the military discussion.

"The Ming army is powerful. If it confronts head-on, the probability of our army winning is less than [-]%..."

"Thus, the purpose of this battle is not really to fight the Ming army."

"The Battle of Pengcheng was just a bait to lure the Ming army to come to the decisive battle. If Xu An knew about His Majesty's personal conquest, he would never let this opportunity go, and he would definitely lead the army to march to Pengcheng."

"And what we have to wait for is the outbreak of the Battle of Pengcheng."

"Although the morale of the Ming army is like a rainbow, and there are many elite soldiers and strong generals, but because of Xu An's policy of elite soldiers, this time they brought 97 soldiers, but the Qingxu land captured by him has a total of nine counties and [-] towns. The population is in the millions."

"Most of these cities are newly acquired. If the Ming army wants to control them all, they must continue to divide their troops. To maintain law and order, each city needs to leave a certain number of soldiers."

Wang Yun narrowed his eyes slightly. Fighting is not a child's play. It is quite difficult to quickly restore the pre-war order after the siege of the city. Even if he voluntarily surrenders, he cannot completely rest assured that the original defenders will guard the city. Otherwise, if there is a change, these The city will change its banner again in an instant.

Xu An's use of troops is indeed top-notch, whether it is to attack Bingzhou, Liangzhou, Sili, Yizhou and other places, they are all in the bag with a thunderbolt.

However, due to the size and nature of Taiping Road itself, it took quite a long time to digest these vast sites.

After all, Taipingdao really used knives to cut flesh and food from those local powerful families, [-]% of the family wealth, [-]% of the fields, and all the mines, forest farms, and all the privileges. How can this not make them feel sad? accept.

The aristocratic families in Qingzhou and Xuzhou and the cities were willing to surrender, but not many really wanted to join the Taiping Dao. All of them chose to surrender because of the overwhelming power of the Ming army.

This time, Xu An changed from usual and captured Qingzhou and Xuzhou one after another. The purpose was to capture Huai River, and he didn't want to give the Han court a chance to move south.

Therefore, if Xu An does not divide his troops and let go, the defense at the rear must be empty at this time, and if Xu An divides his troops to defend, then the frontline troops must be insufficient.

No matter what the situation is, Hanting can take the next step

"The purpose of this battle is to recover the cities along the Huai River."

"After our army was stationed in Pengcheng, it mainly focused on defense. Once the Ming army took the bait and fought our army, the Huaishui Navy immediately moved eastward and tried its best to regain control of the lower reaches of the Huaishui River."

Wang Yun's heart moved slightly. At this time, the most correct action was indeed to immediately mobilize the navy and army in the rest of the Huai River to find opportunities to regain control of the Huai River.

The tributaries of the Jianghuai Plain are densely covered, which is conducive to the patrol and mutual support of the navy. Using the densely covered waterways can slow down the attack of the Ming army, supplemented by harassment by guerrillas, and firmly defend the city.

The warships of the Ming Dynasty Navy entering the Huaihe River are extremely limited, because most of its seagoing ships are sharp-bottomed warships, which are easy to run aground, and it is still winter.

The Huai River is different from the Yellow River in that its flow rate is greater than that of the Yellow River, and there is no freezing period, but even so in winter, the water level of the Huai River will still drop a lot.

There are still few warships of the Ming army that can enter the Huai River from the sea, and the warships of the Ming army were originally designed to fight at sea, and all the shapes are blessing boats and soft sail boats.

The combat effectiveness of these warships is naturally not as good as the Huaishui navy deployed by the Han army on the Huai River. On rivers and lakes, in an era without artillery and firearms, the combat effectiveness of inland warships such as Louchuan is still stronger than that of Fuchuan.

"The Jingxiang navy was also ordered to head east. They will sail to the Huaishui River via the Dajiang River, all the way to the surrounding area of ​​Shouchun, and build a line of defense here."

The core towns of the Huaihe defense line are Shouxian and Hefei.

Historically, Soochow intended to take Hefei, which was controlled by the Han and Wei dynasties, pushed the defense line to the front line of the Huaihe River, and launched five large-scale offensive campaigns.

However, because the Southern Song Dynasty defended Hefei, Meng Yuan, who was extremely powerful at the time, was unable to cross the Huai River and defeat the Southern Song Dynasty. It was not until the fall of another important town, Xiangyang, that Meng Yuan was able to defeat and stick to the Southern Song Dynasty.

Although the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River have different water systems, they are actually connected by waterways.

This is the most important reason why it is said that guarding the river must guard the Huai River.

The navy of the Yangtze River can continuously transport supplies and soldiers to the vicinity of the Huai River through these rivers.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Southern Dynasties could use the Huaihe River and Surabaya and other systems to form convenient water transportation lines, transport grain, supplies, and fight for a long time.

Once crossing the Huai River, you will enter the hilly area from the gentle area. At the same time, the dense water network will also greatly restrict the cavalry in the north.

As long as a few important strongholds are guarded, a link can be formed. If the attacking army chooses to destroy the strongholds in the Lianghuai area one by one, it will inevitably fall into a war of attrition.

The dense water network and the harassment of the navy will make it miserable, and the long supply lines and unsafe waterways will greatly increase the logistical costs of the enemy.

However, if they bypass the strongholds along the Huai River and attack Yangzhou, they will inevitably fall into a situation where they are attacked from both sides.

"Your Majesty has already decided to retreat to Huainan and move the capital to Liyang?"

Liu Xie looked dark and lowered his voice.

"Qingxu has been lost, and Yanzhou is surrounded by three sides. Even if you don't give up, you will fall into the hands of the Ming army sooner or later. It will only cause more losses. It is better to give up voluntarily, and you can still save some troops."

"In Yan and Yu prefectures, I have arranged for embroidered envoys and officials to transfer the people to the south."

Yan and Yu prefectures are doomed to give up. The population of these people is wealth, and naturally they will not stay. Even those cities, Liu Xie is going to burn them all. Burn them all.

Leaving a mess for the Ming court can slow down the speed of the Ming army and buy more time.

"The best situation now is to retreat to the south..."

Han thieves are not at odds, and Wang Ye is not partial.

But sometimes even if you are unwilling in every possible way, there is no way not to bow your head. This is the reality.

Everyone in the hall was silent, and the best situation was to be able to retreat to the south smoothly, temporarily living in a corner, and keeping a small fire.

Truth be told, the outlook is bleak for all to see.

Sitting on Qingxu's fashion and failing, now that his strength is greatly weakened and he retreats to Huainan, how long can he last?

But what else can they do, they can only take one step at a time and do their best...

The military discussion is still going on.

In fact, there is one thing that Liu Xie didn't tell anyone.

Even with this seemingly high success rate strategy of attacking the West, Liu Xie didn't have much confidence in his heart for success, and he knew exactly where the gap lay.

If the attack on the Huai River fails in this battle, then everything will end, and there will be no chance of half a point.

As the emperor, he has to choose his own way of death.

King Zhou of Shang burned himself to death in Lutai, King Nan of Zhou knelt down on his knees to end his life, Qin Ziying surrendered and was killed by Xiang Yu.

He didn't want to die in the same way as the last emperors of these dynasties.

If he wanted to die, he chose to die on the battlefield like a man.

The monarch died in the country, the doctor died in the public, and the scholar died in the system.

Die for the country.

This.

This is the way the emperor dies.

Chapter 879

Zhang Wu three years (198 years), January 23.

The emperor of the Han Dynasty offered sacrifices to heaven and earth in Chendu, inspected the armies, vowed to march eastward, and personally led the troops into Pengcheng.

The whole country is passionate and heroic, and the generals of the three armed forces have high morale.

The heroes from the six states marched with the army, and the powerful troops from all directions marched forward.

By the time they arrived in Suiyang, Liang State, the team had expanded from more than [-] people to more than [-] people.

Most of the extra [-] people are rangers who want to join the army, and the braves sent by the powerful family after they are ordered.

Among these people, some Jianyong were transferred to the Forbidden Army, some were transferred to the Yuzhou Army and Jingzhou Army, and the rest were reorganized into an army, and the emperor sent generals to command them personally.

At this time, the Yanzhou Army had already arrived in Pengcheng.

Sun Jing sits in Pengcheng, and reinforcements from all over the country continue to enter Pengcheng.

The wind and frost are different from the nature of plants and trees, and the festival of chastity and goodness is seen in the chaos.

The 400 years of supporting scholars in the Han Dynasty are willing to go to the national crisis with the Han Dynasty. How can it be rare?

When life and death are in danger, the ministers of the guards are still relentless inside, and the loyal men forget themselves outside.

Not only were powerful families from all over the world gathered in Pengcheng, but also many rangers outside Pengcheng who wanted to join the army.

The Yanzhou army had only 5000 men, and the Pengcheng garrison had more than 7000 men. The total number of the two sides was about [-]. Counting the followers brought by Sun Jing, the force was only [-].

And counting the local armed forces and rangers who gathered here, Pengcheng's military strength unexpectedly swelled to 4.

And that number is increasing.

Liu Xie's reform loosened the shackles that were tied to the tyrants of the aristocratic family, allowed them to recruit soldiers for training, and even issued official positions according to the number and combat power.

The nine-rank Zhongzheng system is used to reassure people, and the township military system is used to assign officials.

No one thought that after the emperor issued the edict, so many people would gather to respond.

Even Liu Xie himself did not expect how terrifying the waves caused by his edict would be.

Although there are many village braves and rangers gathered today, this number is far from the limit.

According to the report from the embroidered clothes envoy, there are still a large number of soldiers marching towards Pengcheng to help Pengcheng.

Roughly estimated, in a month or two, even 20 troops could be gathered in Pengcheng.

But the strength of this 20 army cannot be forced.

Seemingly powerful, in fact, after all, it is strong on the outside and capable on the inside.

Although the powerful family can train the courage of the country, they are let go of the constraints, but they are not allowed to own armor and crossbows. Their equipment is weak, insufficient training, and their morale seems to be high, but in fact it is useless. I am afraid that the Ming army will be able to defeat it with a single charge.

All of this has been proven in Qingzhou and Jizhou, and the crowd tactics are meaningless to the Daojun of Taipingdao.

In the Battle of Qingzhou, Xu An led troops to raid Yuquan Pavilion, defeated [-] elite troops led by Cao Cao in one fell swoop, and then swept across Qingzhou. More than [-] Qingzhou soldiers quickly collapsed under the attack of the Ming army and surrendered as an organization.

The reason why it took the Ming army a month to recover the entire Qingzhou was not because of the persistence of the cities in Qingzhou.

It is because of the need to station in each city to properly manage the surrendered Han army and the residents of the city.

Even a large number of troops will become a burden and a disadvantage when fighting against the Ming army.

Not everyone can be Han Xin, the more you can lead the army, the better.

The defeat of the army is like a mountain, and the defeats one after another on the battlefield are very likely to trigger a chain reaction.

More people are Zhao Kuo, even worse than Zhao Kuo. Leading many soldiers in the end just collapsed faster and more thoroughly.

Although it was Liu Xie who was personally conquered by the imperial driver this time, it was Sun Jing who actually commanded the three armies.

Huangfusong and Sun Jian died in battle, and Gai Xun died. After the war, the generals of the Han army withered.

Sun Jing was the only one who could have enough prestige to be the chief general in the huge Han court.

Sun Jing, an army of 20, has never commanded such a number, not even half of its hundreds of thousands.

At the time of the battle against Yan Baihu, Sun Jing led the army with the largest scale, reaching more than [-] people. Many of them were allies, and they were not actually commanded by him, but only in name. follow him into battle.

But even so, there is no reason for these soldiers to be disbanded.

There are disadvantages to having a large number of people, but there are also advantages.

The most intuitive benefit is that the morale of the Pengcheng defenders and Yanzhou reinforcements who were terrified by the strength of the Ming army was gradually restored after seeing more and more rural soldiers gathered outside Pengcheng. Gradually became high up, and there was a little confidence in my heart.

The advantage of having a large number of people is that it will increase the confidence of one's own soldiers.

Sun Jing mobilized all the brave men around Pengcheng, including the strong men in Pengcheng, and built a fortress outside the city.

Since the field battle is weak, then don't go to the field battle.

Commanding 7 to [-] people in battle is already the limit for Sun Jing now, and Sun Jing is going to leave the rest of the army composed of Xiangyong and Ranger to other people to command.

Sun Jing was going to divide the army outside the city into left and right armies to guard the flanks, and hand them over to the two.

Xi Zhicai is good at military strategy, if he is still there, he and Guo Jia should be the generals leading the partial army this time, but Xi Zhicai has died of illness long ago.

Fortunately, Yuan Shu sent Ji Ling to support this time, and asked Lu Qian to come with him.

Lu Qian was courageous and resourceful. He made outstanding contributions in the battle of Dongjun, and also made great achievements in the attack on Qingzhou. When Cao Cao was in Yanzhou, he appointed him as an officer.

The people who command the left and right armies have also been determined. After they gather in Pengcheng, the left and right armies will be led by Guo Jia and Lu Qian respectively.

The actions of the Han army naturally did not hide from Xu An's eyes.

Although the Eagle Wolf Guard had suffered quite a heavy blow before, as time went by, after the Eagle Wolf Guard learned the lesson, their anti-reconnaissance awareness has also increased. With the recovery of the intelligence offices in various places, they have also regained contact with the original Get in touch with Intelligence.

Today's Han court has slowly turned into the imperial court that is surrounded by wind again.

In Xiapi City, Xu An looked at the secret letter in his hand, and listened to the report from Yingwei Tiqi in the hall, his eyebrows raised slightly.

It has to be said that Xu An had envisioned many ways for the Han court to deal with it, but he never thought that Liu Xie would actually lead the imperial conquest.

Xu An's eyes were fixed slightly, and he looked at the secret letter in his hand word by word.