For the Song Dynasty, if they win this battle, they can take back the three towns in Hebei, and the strategic confrontation will advance to the Yanyun area.

The Jin Kingdom will also be severely weakened, Zonghan's faction will inevitably be purged, and the internal power of the Jin Kingdom will change.

As for the situation in Jingkang eight years later, I am afraid no one can predict it.

God knows which direction the Song Dynasty and the Jin Kingdom will go and which step they will take.

The scout rushed over quickly and presented the latest information to Yue Fei.

"Your Majesty has arrived at Fenglong Mountain." Yue Fei said, "He is currently setting up camp here."

He pointed to a place twenty miles northwest of Yuanshi County.

Next to Yue Fei's military map table, there is a clock, which was specially prepared by the Ministry of Industry for the military.

This is a batch made by the royal craftsmen of the Song Dynasty. It has excellent precision and is very complex inside.

It is said that some of them were mass-produced. Except for high-ranking commanders like Yue Fei who had this batch of clocks with excellent precision, other clocks had more or less problems.

At this time, the time indicated by the clock is nine o'clock in the morning.

However, the biggest advantage of this clock is not the time.

When it was invented and sent to the Military and Political Council, Zhang Shuye only said one sentence: "The direction of the army will be clearer in the future."

Yue Fei thought for a moment and said: "According to this new statement, Your Majesty should be at seven o'clock, about forty miles away from us."

There is Fenglong Mountain to the west and the endless Hebei Plain to the east.

To be precise, Yue Fei's location was the downtown area of ​​Shijiazhuang in later generations.

In this era, there were still fertile fields and villages.

"Zong Han's main force is here." Yue Fei pointed at the map and continued, "Twenty miles in the direction of half past four."

According to this statement, three parties theoretically form a triangle.

However, the reality is certainly not the case.

Including the logistics army and the part that was previously detached, Zong Han had nearly 90,000 troops.

Including logistics, Yue Fei has 40,000.

And what about Zhao Ning?

Including the logistics army, the total number is 60,000.

In fact, there is no difference in the overall military strength between the two sides.

If calculated based on the regular army, Yue Fei has 20,000 regular troops, while Zhao Ning has 30,000 capable troops.

Strictly speaking, Zhao Ning has 40,000 forbidden troops and can fight them all.

Zong Han's regular army numbered 40,000.

Why did Zong Han's logistics require 50,000 people to support 40,000 people, but the Song army had an easier time than this?

Because Zong Han came from Yanyun after all, the logistical requirements for him would be higher.

If Zhao Ning were to launch a northern expedition to Yanyun from Zhending, the 40,000 regular troops deployed by Zong Han might require 80,000 logistics troops to support them.

Why does Zhao Ning need more?

This has something to do with the military and political affairs of the two countries, as well as their governing concepts.

Xixia has soldiers all over the country, men, women, old and young, ready to be dispatched at any time.

Therefore, Xixia has always had very little income, but can recruit most of its troops at any time.

In the Kingdom of Jin, all people between the ages of 20 and 50 are enlisted in the military and are ready for recruitment at any time.

In addition, the grain-shooting army of the Jin Kingdom were young men between the ages of 17 and 30. The Jin Kingdom would give them some money to collect and transport grain.

When the regular army is insufficient, the grain-shooting army can make up for it at any time.

As for how much money the Sheliang Army has?

The average income per person is about one-tenth of the income of the logistics personnel of the Song Dynasty, which is very little.

Because the Jin Kingdom's governing philosophy is high-pressure, they are barbarians from the beginning and do not have any burden from the Celestial Empire. If you don't obey, you will be killed first until you obey.

The Song Dynasty was a serious dynasty, and it was unreasonable to be too harsh on the people.

Moreover, the Song Dynasty had a recruitment system, and not only the regular army had a salary, but also the logistics personnel had a salary.

Zhao Ning paid special attention to this and strictly ensured the operation of the military and political system.

A lot of heads were lost in the pension case back then.

Unlike the Jin army who forcibly requisitioned grain from various places, Zhao Ning's grain was bought from various places.

Therefore, for Zhao Ning, fighting the same war would cost more money than that of the Jin Kingdom.

Can Zhao Ning play like Jin Guo?

Can!

but!

The premise is that he uses big nobles and big bureaucrats to govern the country to check and balance and squeeze the people.

However, since the first year of Jingkang, Zhao Ning has taken a path of winning over the common people, dividing bureaucrats and nobles, and pointing the butcher knife at the nobles and bureaucrats.

This path can help him reform, but he must bear the hidden costs.

According to this strength, both sides can be said to be equally matched.

The actual total number of people invested by both parties is about 200,000.

The scale of this battle was second only to the Battle of Chang'an that year.

"Where are Zhang Jun's men?" Yue Fei suddenly asked.

"I heard the news came last night when I just arrived in Zhending City." Niu Gao said in a thin voice with a hint of irony, "It took more than half a month to walk from Zhaozhou to Zhending, a hundred miles away.

!Thanks to our Deputy Manager Zhang for your hard work!"

Niu Gao was originally a big-hearted man, but he imitated the sarcasm of the literati, which made people laugh.

When he said this, Yang Zaixing immediately stood up and said: "This person clearly refused on purpose! According to military law, he should be killed!"

Zhang Jiefu said: "Zhang Jun's backstage is very tough. It would be difficult to move him."

"There is going to be a war now." Yue Fei said, "Keep him in Zhending, seal off the golden thief's back road to the north one more level, pass on my commander's military order, and have Zhang Jun stationed in Zhending, waiting for Zong Han to escape north.

Time to contain!"

"yes!"

At noon, in early winter, the cold wind blew.

Zong Han walked out of the camp and began to review his army.

Jin Army scouts rushed over and reported the latest whereabouts of Zhao Guan's family.

After reading it, Zong Han was very happy: "The Zhao Guan family is here, twenty miles southwest."

"Marshal, we have been conducting reconnaissance for many days, and no Song army ambush has been found in Fenglong Mountain." Zhang Tonggu said, "However, according to this terrain, if the battlefield is moved ten miles further to the west, Fenglong Mountain will greatly hinder our cavalry's roundabout and long-term operations.

It seems that this is the main reason why Yue Fei attracted us here."

"Array up!" Zong Han disagreed. This area stretched for more than twenty miles, and there was enough space for the cavalry to move.

The horns of the Jin Army's camp rang out, stretching for miles.

The messengers carried flags and went everywhere to convey Zong Han's orders.

The Jin army soon began to gather and take action.

Heavy infantry, infantry, archers, crossbowmen, and artillery battalions looked like countless ants densely packed out of their anthills, converging into a black torrent.

By two o'clock in the afternoon, the Jin Army's 90,000-strong army was spread out across a formation of nearly five miles.

The news quickly spread to Zhao Ning.

The Song army also began to form formations, and the sound of trumpets was heard in the sky.

What Zhao Ning listed is the square and circle formation. The main characteristics of this military formation are defense, with a circle in the middle and square formations distributed around it.

In particular, the square formations of the front army and the rear army are very intricate and dense, and their defensive performance is very good.

However, the offensive power is slightly weaker.

This is okay, because Zhao Ning does not focus on the offensive in this battle.

After learning that the Zhao Guan family had formed a formation and that it was a square formation that was mainly for defense, Yue Fei probably knew the true intention of the Zhao Guan family.

Note: In this chapter, I explain some of the reasons why Zhao Ning’s war is so expensive. Nothing can be analyzed in isolation. I have always emphasized the systematic analysis method in the article, but some readers only believe what they think. They cannot listen.
Chapter completed!