Dingjiangshan

"Since ancient times, food and payment have been the top priority. Last year, there was a severe drought in Lingbei and floods in the southwest, and the treasury allocated a lot of food and payment." Ning Huaijin said in a low voice: "Besides, it is a tasteless thing to attack Anqing—— Each has foreigners, and the defenders of the four regions cannot be used, but the soldiers of each state capital cannot be taken away. If they allocate part of each, the number will not be very dominant. If troops are transferred from nearby defenders, It is inevitable that Taixing will mobilize the crowd."

"The Anqing Mansion is near the mouth of the Yangtze River, and the opposite is Jiujiang. These two places are fiefdoms. If there is a real fight, the other side of Jiujiang must keep the garrison in order to protect itself, and prevent Ning Zheng from crossing the river—presumably. I will not allocate soldiers to His Majesty." Jiang Xiaohan said: "Anqing is not far from the capital, only separated by a piece of the hinterland of the Central Plains. There are not many prefectural troops in various places, and Pingjiang Mansion and Jiangning Mansion are right next to Anqing Mansion, so we have to For self-protection, each of them will allocate 20 yuan...and then transfer [-] yuan from Jiangbei, which will be the best."

"This is not enough." Ning Huaijin shook her head, and said truthfully: "Although there are laws in this dynasty, the princes of the fiefdom can only keep 30% more defenders than ordinary state capitals, and there are only [-] troops on the surface. Up and down, but in all dynasties, which princes have not secretly raised some private soldiers for ostentation—after all, as long as they have money in hand and can afford it, the Emperor Gao is far away that day, and they can raise as many as they want."

"What's more, according to what the prince said, the king of Changle's Tunning grain to make money must have made a plan to rebel." Jiang Xiaohan tapped his palm with a folding fan, thought for a moment, and said: "I still have the impression of the imperial decree that was distributed back then. The area around Anqing was allotted to the King of Changle, with a total of thirteen large and small cities. It borders Jiangzhou on the west, Jiangning Mansion on the east, and is separated from Jiujiang by only one river."

"I have seen the population and household registration number of the Changle King's fiefdom before, and it is about 3000 million people. But with Ning Zheng's mind, the real population will only be a lot more than the reported number. I think about it, at least 500 people [-] million." Jiang Xiaohan looked at Ning Huaijin, and said pointedly: "Among them, how many young and strong men are there?"

Ning Huaijin understood what he meant - if this battle broke out, Ning Yan must manage the overall situation, there must be tension and relaxation.But Ning Zheng was fighting with his back to the wall. He held the fief in his hand. If there was not enough troops, it was not impossible to recruit troops on the spot.

Although the young and middle-aged recruits are not as brave as the private soldiers, but there are too many people, it is also a troublesome thing.

"No." Xie Jue, who had been silent since just now, suddenly said: "If you want to fight, you can't put your head on Pingjiang and Jiangning.

Xie Jue paused, then said in a deep voice: "Even if the situation is not good, His Majesty has to be prepared that the two governments will not be able to provide reinforcements."

Ning Huaijin and Jiang Xiaohan were both civil servants, Xie Jue was the only one in this room full of real swords and guns who had been on the battlefield.Although Xie Jue was not as familiar with the situation and political affairs of the various fiefs as the two of them were, but during the time he spoke just now, he had already roughly pushed aside the sand table in his mind.

Xie Jue looked at Ning Huaijin, and asked: "I have laws in the court, and the fief is under the jurisdiction of the prince. If it belongs to the king, even the emperor can't interfere with the fief at will, right?"

Ning Huaijin nodded and said, "That's right—but Ruan Yin poisoned His Majesty, and Ning Zheng collected food and pay privately, which is enough for His Majesty to send troops."

"It's not Ning Zheng's business, it's the Ninth Prince." Xie Jue shook his head and said, "Mingyuan also said just now that Jiujiang wants to protect himself wisely. Although King Yong'an is not in Jiujiang, Jiujiang is still his territory. If he This regulation refuses His Majesty's excuse, so the reinforcements from Pingjiang and Jiangning can still come over."

Ning Huaijin was taken aback suddenly.

They are civil servants who are used to sitting in the cabinet to collect documents from all over the world. They have a deep understanding of common affairs such as grain production and population, but they are not as sensitive to terrain as Xie Jue.

It wasn't until Xie Jue mentioned this matter that Ning Huaijin suddenly realized that he had overlooked this earlier.

It is true that the terrain in the south of the Yangtze River is flat, but Anqing is located between Pingjiang and the capital, and it is half a mouthful from Jiujiang Mansion. Go around the southeast coastal area in the south.

Not to mention the long journey, it was too much trouble, and the loss of food and grass in the middle was a trivial matter. I was afraid that the soldiers would not be acclimatized, and other troubles would arise.

"If the two prefectures in Jiangnan can't do it, then there are only a few prefectures in Jiangzhou." Ning Huaijin said.

"If you want to transfer troops from Yuanjiang, you have to make preparations early." Jiang Xiaohan said: "Yuanjiang's road is far and rugged, and the climate is different from Jiangnan. It will take at least a month for the troops to come here. If we wait until Ning Zheng makes the move, I'm afraid it will be too late. "

When Ning Huaijin originally thought of this matter, he had planned the Jiangnan two prefectures in his heart, but he didn't want Xie Jue's words to disrupt all his predictions and turn it into an imminent matter.

Discussion is one thing, and if it is true to order troops to be dispatched, it is another. Ning Huaijin habitually wants to hesitate for a while, but she still keeps her mind.

——We can't procrastinate, Ning Huaijin thought hard, if he wanted to strike first, now is the best time, otherwise if Ning Yan recovers from the poison later, it will be difficult to find such an excuse.

Ning Yanning must have made up his mind to get rid of Ruan Yin even though he was in danger.

Ning Huaijin gritted her teeth and said, "Then—"

"There is no need to transfer troops from Yuanjiang—"

Ning Yan woke up at some point. He was exhausted and had been listening for a while, but only managed to speak.

As soon as he made a sound, the remaining three people stopped talking for a while and turned to ask about his situation.

Before Ning Yan's fever subsided, he was supported by Ning Huaijin to sit up, and he drank half a cup of hot tea with his hand to moisten his throat.During this period, he clenched the hand he was holding tightly without any trace, and blinked at him covertly under Ning Huaijin's suspicious eyes.

Ning Huaijin: "..."

It seems that it is not so uncomfortable, Prince Gong thought numbly.

Ning Huaijin subconsciously wanted to withdraw her hand, but Ning Yan seemed to have known that he would do this, she exerted a little force, and held him down first, not letting him move.

"Your Majesty." Jiang Xiaohan said at the right time, "But what are your plans?"

Ning Yan swallowed the tea in his mouth, and unconsciously stroked Ning Huaijin's tiger's mouth with his thumb - he used to do this action when he was thinking, but he didn't realize it was Ning Huaijin's hand for a while.

"There's no need to transfer troops from Yuanjiang." Ning Yan repeated firmly, saying, "It's better to be short than to be indiscriminate, and to transfer 50 Xie's troops directly from the border town station."

"Your Majesty." Xie Jue was a little embarrassed: "It's nothing to transfer troops, but it's autumn. Late autumn and winter are the time when foreigners invade the border towns. If the guards of the border towns are not here at this time, I'm afraid--"

"I know." Ning Yan said: "After the defenders of the border towns come back, I will order the Northwest United Defense Force to reorganize the defense line, break up and lengthen their defense line along the border, and let the Northwest United Defense Force temporarily guard the border with Xie's army. "

Xie Jue was slightly taken aback.

He had thought about this method just now, but he just thought about it and couldn't say it out.For so many years, Xie's army has been guarding the border town alone, with millions of soldiers in hand, it is already powerful.What's more, the commander-in-chief of the Northwest United Defense Force turned out to be an old acquaintance of the Xie family. If they open their mouths to guard the border together, there will inevitably be exchanges between the cooperation.

The Northwest Alliance Defense is behind the capital, its status is so important, Xie Jue saw the Xie family suffered from the king's suspicion, so he really remembered to fight, and dared not reach out to touch this kind of scale.

But Xie Jue didn't expect that Ning Yan would actually say this - and judging by his appearance, it seemed that it was not a temporary idea, but a long-awaited thought.

"Why, can't you?" Seeing that Xie Jue didn't answer, Ning Yan frowned slightly, and recalled it for a while, as if he had confirmed something in his mind, and then said: "I remember that the commander of the Northwest United Defense Force was I still have some friendship with Old General Xie, so I think it will not be difficult for you. When you were not in the border town, you asked Guan Zhong to temporarily take charge of military affairs... He has been with you for ten years, so he must have some insight."

After Ning Yan said this long list, he was a little tired, so he stopped and took a breath twice.Seeing this, Ning Huaijin slobbered him again.

The tea is twisted with scented tea, with some nectar added, it is sweet but not greasy, and it just moistens the throat.Ning Yan drank another half cup before shaking his head, indicating that he didn't want it anymore.

"What's more, it's always easy to bring it with your own family." Ning Yan smiled and said, "If you change the crooked melon and cracked date next to it, I'm afraid Zhaoming won't like it."

Xie Jue heard the implication of Ning Yan's words, which was the meaning of asking him to lead the troops himself.In this way, how did the 50 people be brought here, and how can they be brought back after the war? In Xie Jue's hands, they were still from his own family.

Regardless of whether Ning Yan was reassuring him or not, Xie Jue had to admit that he was indeed moved for a moment.

After all, Ning Yan didn't have to do this at all. It was a matter of course for the king to rebel and to transfer troops from various places.After this battle has been fought for a year or two, and the people inside have been replaced halfway, then the military power in the Xie family's hands will be justifiably dispersed and distributed to the various state capitals, or simply put together in Ning Yan's own hands. inside.

But Ning Yan didn't do that, he left Xie Jue in the capital well, and while he was preparing to "entrust him with a heavy responsibility", he wasn't even ready to give him a hard time.

Xie Jue was silent for a moment, then stood up.He was wearing light armor and couldn't do the big ceremony, so he knelt down on one knee by the side of the couch with some difficulty.

Ning Yan himself was also taken aback, he didn't expect him to come out so suddenly, he quickly leaned over from the couch to help him.

"What is Zhaoming doing?" Ning Yan said, "Get up quickly."

"... I would like to obey Your Majesty's order." Xie Jue said, "Please make an order from Your Majesty."

Jiang Xiaohan sat aside and glanced at Xie Jue with relief.

Ning Huaijin heard Ning Yan's meaning, and knew that he had thought about it secretly for countless times, and it was probably already optimistic that Xie Jue would lead the army.

But who knew that the words had reached this point, Ning Yan actually shook his head.

"We can't mobilize troops for the time being." Ning Yan said seriously: "Zhaoming only needs to secretly send a letter back to tell the border towns to make preparations—as for the decree to use troops, it's not yet time."

"Your Majesty." Xie Jue said, "The frontier city is far away, and it will take 20 days to march quickly to take over from Liangzhou. If we wait until Ning Zheng raises his troops to rebel and then transfer troops, I'm afraid it will be too late."

Ning Huaijin also wanted to persuade, but Ning Yan shook his head, turned to look at Ning Huaijin, and suddenly said something irrelevant.

"Uncle Emperor." Ning Yan said: "I just had a dream... I remembered something in my dream."