The sound of cannons rumbling and the smoke filled the gun.

On Hejianfu Road, Cangzhou Road and the northern part of the Zhaoyi Army territory, all the places were in a melee. Nearly 700,000 officers and soldiers from both sides were fighting the most fierce battle on both sides of the Yellow River. After receiving the news that Taiyuan Prefecture was captured by the Hedong Legion, the Republican Army Capital Jiyisi immediately issued an order to attack the Hebei East Road Army, the Hebei West Road Army and the Taihang Legion, which was the reserve team.

At this time, the Hebei East Road Corps, the Hebei West Road Corps and the Taihang Corps were greatly strengthened. All the bastions of Hebei along the border were organized into three corpses. The total number of infantry divisions and cavalry divisions under each corps reached 10.

In addition, the three legions have received a large number of siege artillery units and independent engineer units. The total strength of the three legions has exceeded 450,000!

At the same time, in order to provide logistical support to such a large number of troops, the Tianjin Prefecture, Yanshan Prefecture, Yizhou, Zhuozhou and other places in the Zhou State were fully mobilized, and at least 600,000 people, 200,000 mules, horses and carts, and thousands of ships were concentrated.

In other words, on the battlefield in Hebei alone, the Great Zhou Republic invested more than one million well-organized armed military and civilians!

Such mobilization and organizational capabilities are unimaginable in the Song Dynasty.

In the history of the Xuanhe Northern Expedition, there were only a few hundred thousand troops on the books, and the actual number was probably less than 100,000. However, due to the abuse of people's strength and excessive supervision and data collection, it triggered a series of civil unrest, called the Xuanhe Northern Riot.

For this war, the Great Zhou Republic mobilized more than 1.3 million manpower on land that excluded the new territory of Hedong, accounting for nearly 10% of the total population.

Such mobilization and organizational capabilities are close to the level of the seven heroes of modern countries or ancient Warring States Periods.

Of course, the ability to use people's power to this extent is not only the advantage of the organizational capabilities of the Civil Republic, but also the contribution of the black soil in the Liaohe River Basin.

As early as the era of the Liao Kingdom's rule, the Liaohe River Basin was vigorously reclaimed and tens of millions of acres of fertile land were reclaimed. During the republic of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the development of the Liaohe River Basin was once again accelerated due to large-scale land grants and investments from the Liaodong Agricultural Bank.

Han farmers who migrated from Yandi and Hebei to the Liaohe River Basin brought advanced agricultural technology. Tianjin's powerful handicrafts can provide high-quality and low-cost iron farm tools. The Knights' House in Zhou State and Dongliao can also provide enough large animals for the Liaohe River Basin for farming.

Moreover, by continuously occupying the land of the Jin Dynasty, the arable land area in the Liaodong Province was also increasing. Before the eighth year of the Republic of China, the arable land in the Liaodong Province alone reached 70 million mu!

This is 70 million mu of black soil! Even if half of the soil is sown by rotary planting, 35 million mu of wheat are planted, and the annual harvest is more than 100 million stones.

The Zhou Kingdom, which has a population of more than 10 million, cannot consume so much food at all. Even if it exports in large quantities, brewing wine and feeding animals, it cannot use so much.

So by the eighth year of the Republic of China, the Zhou Kingdom had accumulated an astonishing amount of food reserves!

Even if agricultural activities across the country are completely stopped for three years, there will be no famine.

Therefore, Zhou State was able to draw out millions of labor from agricultural production for combat.

On the other hand, although the population of the Song Dynasty was as high as 100 million, most of the land population was controlled by the landlords and scholars who had no combat effectiveness. The court could not even clear the land, let alone reasonably allocate the burden of war mobilization.

Fortunately, the invasion launched by Yelu Yanxi more than ten years ago made the scholar-official and landlords in Hebei know that it was powerful, so it became more cooperative. The great development of the Zhou State absorbed the excess population in Hebei, greatly alleviated the conflict between people and land in Hebei, and to a certain extent reduced the burden on the working people in Hebei, allowing them to provide logistical support for the huge Hebei New Army and Zhaoyi Army.

Of course, the strong combat power of the new army is also the reason for the taming of local areas in Hebei.

In the face of the 300,000 new army, any civil unrest is not worth mentioning!

However, this time the Great Zhou Republic dispatched 450,000 equipment and trained a new army with better morale. It also launched a magnificent attack when the new army of the Song Dynasty was detoured by the Zhou army's Hedong Legion and had to start a retreat.

In the Hebei Xuanfu Office, which had just moved to Shenzhou, there was a chaotic and low atmosphere. Those scholars who were full of energy in the past could no longer cope with the chaos of war, so they had to draw some professional officers from the army to assist Liu Ziyu, who replaced Zhang Jun in charge of the general army's computer room.

However, the Hebei Song Army has now fallen into an inverted decline, and it is no longer possible to reverse the good command and dispatch.

The people in the military computer room, whether they are serious professional officers or amateur soldiers and scholars, are helpless about the black arrows that symbolize the Eastern Thieves that extend on the map. The red arrows representing the Song army and the fortress defense system along the border are already in vain.

The Cangzhou Road was quite stable. Wang Bing was worthy of being a famous general who grew up with the new army. Although he was old, he was still quick to react. When the main force of the Zhou army's Hebei East Road Legion broke through between Qingchi Fortress and Yanshan Fortress and deviated to the rear of Nanpi Castle, he decisively issued an order to retreat across the board.

In order to retreat as soon as possible, he even ordered the destruction of heavy artillery and a large amount of food, grass and supplies that had finally been transported to the front line, and gave up many troops stationed in the fortresses on the front line. He only led the main force of less than 50,000 people and ran all the way lightly. Finally, before the Zhou army's detoured troops surrounded the Nanpi Fortress, he led his troops to cross the Yongji Canal, winning some time for the troops' smooth retreat.

However, in Hejianfu Road, the Song army suffered a catastrophe!

He was "trapped" in the Dacheng, Diaoyuzhai, and Qingzhou Triangle area and more than 100,000 Republicans suddenly launched an attack, forcibly breaking through the Song army's defense line, and then the entire army rushed to Hejian. As a last resort, Yao Gu had to gather his troops and follow the Republicans to advance. As a result, he encountered a head-on attack from the superior forces of the Republicans near Shucheng.

In this battle, Zhong Shidao and Yao Gu used the common car-fort tactics of the Song army to face the enemy. The Zhou army set up a large array tactic, first using artillery that had an overwhelming advantage to bombard fiercely, and then launched a square array assault. Using the latest type of coercion gun and spear, the Song army that had lost the cover of the car-fort was completely smashed.

After only one day's decisive battle, the 60,000 army led by Zhong Shidao and Yao Gu were shattered.

Zhong and the other generals, Yao barely escaped to Hejian Prefecture City under the protection of their children's personal soldiers, and their stakes were less than 3,000. They were not enough to guard Hejian Prefecture. Therefore, they could only protect Hebei Xuanfu Office, Hejian Road Management and Pacification Envoy Office and other offices retreated across the Hutuo River and fled to Shenzhou.

After this battle, a terrifying gap appeared on the Hebei defense line of Song State. The bastion defense line, which was highly anticipated, had no effect.

After conquering Hejian Prefecture, the Zhou army's West Route Army was almost free to move in the hinterland of Hebei.

You can not only attack Daming Mansion, the garrison of Hebei Caosi, or attack the flanks of Zhaoyi Army to the west, or cooperate to encircle and annihilate Wang Bing's troops to the south and Hebei East Road Corps.

Even these three solutions can be implemented simultaneously!

In the final analysis, on the battlefield in Hebei, the Republican Army used 450,000 people to fight 300,000! And there was also a 100,000 army detoured from Hedong. The advantage of military strength was quite obvious, so it could attack from multiple routes without worrying about being defeated by opponents one by one.

On the other hand, at least 100,000 people were now left in the fortress that had lost contact, and life and death were uncertain! More than 50,000 people were annihilated in the Battle of Shucheng.

There are only half of the new troops left now that there are still 300,000 new troops that can still be used!

However, the remaining half of the new army did not have a good life. Wang Bing's nearly 50,000 people were still trying to escape.

Although the Zhaoyi army's tens of thousands of people were shrinking in time, they have now given up Zhending Prefecture and Dingzhou and are moving towards the old nest of Xiangzhou. However, the Zhou army's detoured troops were obviously faster than them! They can definitely seize Xiangzhou City before Zhaoyi army!

In addition, the Taihang Army of Zhou's army also headed south from the Yizhou assembly ground, and more than 100,000 troops followed Zhao Yi's army and chased them, constantly eating the palace army thrown out by Zhao Yi's army.

For the Song army on the battlefield in Hebei, they are now in a desperate situation.

Lu Yihao sat in Jiyi's room, looking at Master Zhong with a blank expression. Master Zhong, Yao Gu also had a group of Jiyi gathered in front of the map and argued.

But there are only eight words in my heart: "If you have the will to kill a thief, you will not be able to turn the world back."

Because this battle in Hebei is not lost on the battlefield, but on national laws.

The Song Dynasty, with a population of 10 million, exhausted its national strength and even owed huge debts, so it barely maintained more than 300,000 new troops. The Zhou State, with more than 10 million people, was likely to have more than 600,000 new troops invested in the battlefield in Hebei!

The comparison of the mobilization and organizational capabilities of the two countries alone has already decided the outcome.

The Song Dynasty lost to the family rules of the ancestors!

If the family rules of the ancestors cannot be completely changed, the Song Dynasty will surely perish!

Just when Lu Yihao thought of the pain of the Song Dynasty's demise, tears were everywhere in his eyes, a young officer dressed in wart armor quickly walked into the mechanical room and reported loudly, "The last general, the Xuanfu Department, General Yue Fan, met Xuan Shuai, and the personal camp has been sorted out. He can protect the Xuanfu Department at any time!"

Because the first battalion of troops of Yue Fan was defeated and had low morale, they were used as reserves in the Battle of Shucheng. Therefore, they were lucky and were not annihilated by the Zhou army, but protected Erzhong and Yao Gu to escape.

After arriving at Hejian Mansion, Lu Yihao, who had no troops around him, was about to act as a personal soldier.

Today, we were ordered by Lu Yihao to organize the troops and prepare to protect the Xuanfu Department and other government agencies to continue to flee...
Chapter completed!