Xu Huai did not have a good impression of Zheng Huaizhong, Zhao Fan or even Zheng Huaizhong's son Zheng Cong, but this did not prevent him from advocating that the strategy to be implemented immediately in Xiangyang should focus on Luoyang.
Regarding this point, Hu Kai and others also had the same prediction in Xiangyang.
After King Jing ascended the throne in Xiangyang, how could the Chihu people sit back and watch Xiangyang once again become the central place that gathered half of the country?
However, if the Chihu people want to use troops against Xiangyang, Luoyang is the flank that must be cut off first; the priority is far above Shouchun and Xuzhou.
This was actually the core issue that King Jing needed to think deeply about and weigh when he ascended the throne in Xiangyang.
In the past, when various armies presented military strategies, they would exchange letters. Now it was rare that Xu Huai, Liu Xian, Zhao Fan, and Zheng Cong, who represented Heluo, were all in Xiangyang. King Jing immediately laid out the map of the map on a long table and discussed the plan.
What loopholes in the offensive and defensive strategy still need to be filled?
In the view of King Jing Zhao Tuan, this matter was more important than his accession to the throne in Xiangyang.
The Imperial Camp Division, which is about to be restructured from the Duxing Camp Division, is the leading organization for all armies. The formulation of offensive and defensive strategies, as well as the deployment and mobilization of troops and horses, are the responsibilities of the Privy Council.
As the commander of the Tianxiong Army, Xu Huai was subordinate to the Imperial Envoys Department, but as the general manager of the Chushan camp, he had full authority to preside over the Chushan defense. Liu Xian, who was the strategic envoy of Jinghu North Road, and Zheng Huaizhong came here on behalf of
Zheng Cong and Zhao Fan are certainly qualified to participate in the Privy Council's decision-making on offensive and defensive military strategies, and they even have more say than Wang Fan, Zhu Yougui and others.
The soon-to-be-formed Zhongshu Menxia Province will serve as the center of the court, and its authority will mainly focus on political affairs.
If the legal system were strictly followed, except for Zhou He, who was the right prime minister and envoy to the imperial camp, and Gu Fan, who was also the minister of war, the other ministers in Zhongshu's province had no right to participate in specific military policy discussions.
Of course, when King Jing ascended the throne in Xiangyang, everything was exhausted and was in need of improvement, so many things would not be strictly restricted.
Luoyang is located in the world, bordering the Yellow River to the north, Songshan Mountain to the east, and the majestic Qinling Mountains and Funiuling Mountains to the west, southwest and south. The Yellow River flowing through the north of Luoyang is also bounded by Zhongtiao Mountain, Wangwu Mountain and
Surrounded by steep mountains such as Mang Mountain, and with the Yiluo Valley Basin as its deep hinterland, the terrain has a great advantage of being easy to defend but difficult to defend.
If the Chihu people want to attack Luoyang, there are four main ways. One is to leave Tongguan in the west and enter Luoyang via Hangu Pass; the other is to cross the Yellow River from Pinglu via Maojin to the south and enter Luoyang; the other is to leave Hulao in the east and enter Luoyang from Songshan.
From the northern foot, it enters Luo via Yanshi, Gong County; first, it enters Luo from the valley between Songshan Mountain and Funiu Mountain, which is located in the upper reaches of Ru River.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huang Yi's uprising broke out and the capital Luoyang was shaken. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty appointed He Jin as his general and set up eight passes in Luoyang to defend the capital. They were called the eight pass cities in history, mainly in these four directions.
Tongguan and Hangu Pass are located between Luoyang and Shaanxi. Shaanxi is not lost, and Tonghan is not worried. They are located in the southeast of Luoyang. Most of the Songshan and Funiu Valleys where Guangcheng Pass was once located belong to Ruzhou, and are related to the left and right sides.
Wuyang, where the Xiaosheng Army was stationed, and Shangcai were the horns of each other, were not afraid that the Red Husbands would directly send a large number of soldiers to attack in a short period of time.
If the Chihu people want to capture Luoyang next, they can only send troops in two directions: one is to storm Pinglu, cross the Yellow River from Maojin to the south and enter Luoyang; the other is to storm Hulao Pass and attack Gong all the way from the northern foot of Songshan Mountain.
County, Yanshi, Mengjin, entered Luoyang.
During the first invasion of the Red Husbands to the south, Zheng Huaizhong served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the troops and horses of the various camps in Shaanxi. Qinfeng Road's strategic and pacification envoy led the troops and horses of the Qinfeng Road headquarters, and the reinforcements from the other four routes in Shaanxi marched eastward under the leadership of Miao Yanxiong, the commander-in-chief of the troops and horses.
King Qin.
When the Chihu people withdrew their troops from their first invasion to the south and returned to the north, a part of the Western Army's reinforcement division withdrew to the west of Tongguan. Under the command of Gao Junyang, the pacification envoy of Yanfu Road, they planned to cross the Yellow River from Hejin and other places, along Fen
The water went north to assist Taiyuan; the main troops, led by Zheng Huaizhong, crossed the river via Mengzhou and went north to recover Zezhou and other places.
At that time, Miao Yanxiong only led a small number of troops into Bianliang, served as deputy privy envoy, and took over the guard of the capital.
Bianliang fell, and Miao Yanxiong also became a prisoner.
What makes Miao Yanxiong better than Wang Qiyong and Li Jizhi is that he still has integrity. Xu Huai has not heard the news of his surrender so far. This time he should be escorted north together with Emperor Tianxuan and the clan's children, right?
When the Chihu people invaded the south again, Zheng Huaizhong led his troops to retreat southward from Zezhou, Jiangzhou, and south of Puzhou. The main force of his troops suffered no losses.
After King Jing went south to Xiangyang, Zheng Huaizhong took over the defense of Heluo and recruited Jian Rui to expand the left and right Shenwu Army to more than 60,000 people. At this time, there were still 20,000 Luoyang Prefecture troops in Luoyang, who were also under Zheng Huaizhong's jurisdiction.
The main force of the captive soldiers entered Puzhou, and Zheng Huaizhong was in Luoyang and did not dare to leave lightly. Zheng Cong and Zhao Fan, Zheng Huaizhong's sons and commanders of the Zuo Shenwu Army, came to Xiangyang this time to persuade them to advance. They occupied Heluo soldiers and horses in dangerous areas to defend Pinglu.
Hulao, Gongxian, and Yanshi are quite confident in resisting the enemy except Luoyang.
At present, Gao Junyang and Gu Jiqian have as many as 80,000 or 90,000 troops deployed on the west bank of the Yellow River. Zheng Cong and Zhao Fan do not need to worry about any threats from Tongguan and Hangu Pass on the west flank.
They were mainly worried that the Xiaosheng Army on the left and right would shrink the defense line from Wuyang south of Ru River to the Shangcai line, which would put Xiangcheng, which they were responsible for defending on the north bank of Ru River, under great military pressure.
Zheng Huaizhong brought his sons Zheng Cong and Zhao Fan to Xiangyang, naturally not just to persuade them to join the army, but also in the hope that defending Luoyang would gain stronger support from Xiangyang.
"...the heroic and victorious armies on the left and right, and the Tianxiong army on the defensive should take care of both sides of the Ru River, rather than just caring about their own safety and shrinking to the side of the mountains."
Zheng Cong was young and vigorous. He stood at the corner of the long desk and spoke in a somewhat aggressive tone. He did not hide his edge. The place where his finger touched the map was the line of Qingyi Ridge that Chushan was responsible for guarding.
Although Zheng Cong also brought out the defense of Xiao Shengjun in his words, he mainly accused Xu Huai of being too conservative in his defense deployment in Chushan.
"If the victorious troops on the left and right and the Tianxiong army cannot take care of the north bank of Ru River, Zheng and Xu's soldiers will be able to attack Xiangcheng of Ruzhou unscrupulously. However, Heluo's troops and horses are limited. If they have to divide their troops to strengthen the defense of Xiangcheng, even if
How can Lu, Hulao and other places be taken into consideration at the same time? Your Highness please weigh in with Prime Minister Hu..."
Xu Huai tapped his fingers lightly on the long case and resisted giving Zheng Cong a roll of his eyes.
A few months have not passed yet, and the grandson seems to have forgotten who led the troops to attack Taiyuan. Could it be that the Zheng family sent 500 cavalry and really thought they could share the credit for the attack on Taiyuan?
Zheng Cong still wanted to hear Xu Huai's defense and was ready to rebut with words, but he didn't want Xu Huai to just click his fingers and remain silent for a long time.
King Jing, Hu Kai, and Liu Xian were just encircling the cities on both sides of the Ru River, thinking about the defense of this area, and were not in a hurry to judge.
Zhao Fan cleared his throat and said to Xu Huaifeng: "The soldiers are heading to Puzhou. Zhengzhou has already gathered momentum. Zheng Cong grew up in the army at a young age. At this time, he was worried about the safety of Luoyang. He was outspoken and hoped to see Xu Shuai.
Forgive me..."
"Mr. Zhao's words are wrong. When discussing military strategy, everyone should express his or her own opinions. Shouldn't we hide it?" Xu Huai glanced at Zheng Cong and said, "I think the Young Marquis still has a lot to say.
You might as well talk about it together so that His Highness can refer to it for details!"
Zheng Cong ignored Zhao Fan's dissuading eyes and pointed the finger directly at Chu Shan, saying:
"...The Tianxiong Army is building a defense line close to Tongbai Mountain and the Huaihe River. The surrounding cities such as Queshan, Zhenyang, and Xincai have not even the slightest intention of strengthening the city defense. They even evacuated all the people in these places to the south in advance.
, how could it be possible to contain some of the Japanese soldiers from the east for Heluo? Now the Tianxiong Army not only significantly reduced the defense line to the south, but also asked the Youxiaosheng Army to guard Shangcai in the north, and Liu Shijun led the main force of the Xuanwei Army to garrison.
Huaichuan is equivalent to having You Xiaosheng's army in Shangcai, and Xuanwei's army in Huaichuan to protect the left and right wings of Chushan - if Tianxiong's army can be more active, You Xiaosheng's army does not need to worry too much about the right wing.
Naturally, we will have the strength to take care of Xiangcheng on the left wing, so we don’t have to divide our troops from the northern front to worry about the gains and losses of Xiangcheng!"
Xu Huai looked at Zheng Cong and asked directly: "If Tianxiong's army is unable to take care of the north bank of Ru River, how many troops and horses will be taken from Luoyang to defend Xiangcheng? Three thousand, five thousand, or thirty thousand or fifty thousand? Of course, Zheng Tongzhi
If you are really worried that Xiangcheng cannot withstand too much military pressure, there is nothing wrong with leaving it to our Tianxiong Army to defend it. The Luoyang soldiers and horses can concentrate on guarding Pinglu and Hulao..."
Xu Huai was too lazy to listen to Zheng Cong's nonsense and directly stated that he could take over Xiangcheng's defense.
Hu Kai looked at Zheng Cong and Zhao Fan expectantly, wanting to know what they thought of Xu Huai's suggestion.
King Jing Zhao Tuan glanced at Zheng Cong, but said to Hu Kai: "Heluo is worried that Xiangcheng is isolated in the north of Ru River. It is indeed reasonable. Can the left and right Xiao Shengjun make some adjustments in the defensive deployment?
"
"Youxiaoshengjun may be able to send more elite troops to Ye County!" Hu Kai said.
Ye County is located in the northwest of Wuyang and the northeastern foothills of Funiu Mountain. It faces Xiangcheng across the Ru River. The additional troops in Ye County can strengthen the support to Xiangcheng to a certain extent. At the same time, Ye County is also the border between Wan (Nanyang) and Luo.
, an important node of Wan (Nanyang) Zhengyi Road.
At this juncture, it was impossible to embarrass Zheng Cong and Zhao Fan who came on behalf of Zheng Huaizhong. Hu Kai could only symbolically express that he would strengthen his support for Xiangcheng.
Zhao Fan secretly tugged on Zheng Cong's sleeve and said that he would accept it if he agreed. After all, they couldn't really hand over the southeastern gate of Luoyang to Xu Huai to guard...
