All buildings in the city are houses with rammed earth walls; for fire prevention purposes, thatch roofing is prohibited on buildings in the city, and to save money and food, the roofs are mostly covered with wooden boards and plastered with yellow mud. The few trees in the city have withered branches and leaves, making them look gray.
Throw a piece.
In addition to the elite state soldiers and the right army, the people in the city are mainly well-trained rural soldiers and civilians. The rest of the population has been evacuated as far as possible to the hinterland. Seeing the soldiers and civilians in the city in good order and full of energy, there is not much big news in their eyes.
Although Zhu Hang looked worried and frightened despite the enemy's pressure, he still felt greatly relieved.
Huaishang and Ruzhou are currently the most important protrusions of half of Dayue. Their status is similar to that of Heluo before. In addition to containing the enemies in the west of Beijing and Heluo, they also play an extremely important role in shielding the flanks of the Huainan battlefield.
At this time, Xu Huai, who was the best general in Dai Viet and had twice led a lone army to attack the enemy's heartland, was sitting in command. Even if the red soldiers and horses on the east route crossed the Huai River, they dared to ignore the threat on the coveted side of the Huai River and march straight in.
Are those along the Yangtze River preparing to cross the river?
This is the same as the reason why Chi Hu invaded the south and captured Yunshuo first.
The home base of the Chihu people was to the west of the Daxianbei Mountains. Even if their main force successfully captured the Khitan's homeland to the east of the Daxianbei Mountains, the newly acquired land was not stable, and the Chihu people did not dare to abandon Yunshuo and capture Yan first.
thistle.
On the way from the school field to the Yatang, Zhu Hang also talked about the attitude of everyone in the court towards Huai Shang.
"Prime Minister Zhou, Prime Minister Gao and others originally thought that Chushan could divide its troops from Xinyang and Luoshan to march eastward to aid Shouchun. There were even many people in the court who thought that if they spent so much money to defend Huaishang, Ruzhou would already
No need..."
"Tsk..." Xu Huai just smiled.
He did not want to destroy the good relationship of trust with Emperor Jianji, so he would not rushly send spies to the palace, or deliberately make friends with others and bribe any palace eunuch to inform Chushan.
However, with Zheng Tu and Jin Longquan moving to Jianye with the court, and Lifengtang also opening a shop in Jianye and expanding the new tea business to Jianghuai, Xu Huai was still very aware of the general trends in the court.
When Zheng Huaizhong wanted to abandon Heluo and retreat south, he was able to win so much support in Xiangyang. Not everyone was bribed by the Zheng family, or not everyone was worried that Zheng Huaizhong would not be able to support himself in Heluo, or had different aspirations.
The most fundamental reason is that there are many people who are afraid of strength and war deep down in their hearts.
At the beginning, Heluo was the protruding part of the Qinling-Huaihe defense line, and its troops were connected with Shaanxi, Hehuai, and Hedong. The Red Guards could not capture Heluo, and they would have trouble sleeping and eating if they occupied Shaanxi, Hehuai, and Hedong.
Too many ministers in the court saw that the Chihu people were bound to win Heluo, and they also saw that the Chihu people attacked Heluo from three directions regardless of casualties. The war continued for years. They were worried about investing so much.
Heluo was not lost in the end, resulting in heavy casualties. At the same time, they hoped that the Chihu people would be satisfied after gaining Heluo, thus slowing down the attack on Huai River and Qinling Mountains.
It was for this reason that they followed Zheng Huaizhong's proposal to abandon Heluo and withdraw southward.
Nowadays, the attitude of a considerable number of officials in the court toward Huaishang is exactly the same as before.
They thought that Jingxiang was surrounded by dangerous mountains and rivers and could be defended with a small number of elite soldiers and horses, so they thought of abandoning Huaishang to the north of Jingxiang and transferring the Chushan army to Huainan to defend the Huaihe River coast.
They thought that in this way, the Chihu people would not be able to defeat the Huaihe River, and the Chihu people would stop fighting after the Huaihe River and Heluo River without the sharp thorn on the Huaihe River threatening their occupied territory.
North Korea and China can even save a large amount of military expenditures.
Although such an idea was so childish and ridiculous in the eyes of Xu Huai and everyone in Chushan, it was not unique in the court, and even officials frequently wrote letters mentioning it.
However, Emperor Jianji, Hu Kai, Zhu Hang and others tried their best to suppress these voices in the court.
"Although Prime Minister Zhou and Prime Minister Zhou wanted Xu Hou to divide his troops from Xinyang and Luoshan and march eastward, your majesty still rejected all opinions and believed that Xu Hou's defense of Huaishang would be the greatest containment of the enemy," Zhu Hang said, "Although
Money and food in the DPRK are extremely tight, and His Majesty is still thinking of adding more money and food to Chushan next year..."
"How much more?" Xu Huai asked directly.
Zhu Hang walked in a hurry, and Xu Huai, Wang Fan, Xu Wuqi, Shi Zhen and others also walked with him. However, it was Xu Xin'an and Han Gui who accompanied Zhu Zhi, Zheng Shou, Wang Kong and others behind.
They thought Zhu Hang's words might be polite words sent by His Majesty.
At this moment, hearing Xu Huai directly bargaining and asking for an exit, Zhu Zhi couldn't help but smile and said: "Marquis Xu and Your Majesty are really rude!"
Han Gui frowned. When he saw Shi Zhen and Xu Wuqi's expressions became solemn at the same time, he thought that his guess must be correct. Now there is a shortage in everything in the court. Even if His Majesty is thinking about Huaishang, there are Zhou He and Gao Chunnian.
How could it be possible for Gu Fan and others to easily give more money and food to Chushan when they were trying to stop him?
At this moment, Zhu Hang was slightly startled, then shook his head slightly and said:
"It is extremely difficult to spend money in court. The last time His Majesty held discussions in the Chui Gong Hall, the sleeves of his robe unintentionally hung on the armrest and opened a big hole. He did not bother to change his robe, but asked Concubine Zheng to use needle and thread to mend it - however,
His Majesty said that he wants to strengthen support for Huaishang. I think that no matter how low it is, it is appropriate to allocate an additional one million pounds of money and grain every year. No matter how low it is, we can't spend it."
"The Chushan army only has 30,000 elite troops, but it has to defend Huaishang and Ruzhou alone, resisting Heluo, Yuehailou, and Cao Shixiong in the west of Beijing. There are hundreds of thousands of enemies. How can it be easy?" Xu Huai sighed slightly.
Zhu Zhi, Zheng Shou, Wang Kong and others accompanied Zhu Hang and Wang Fan to Luoshan, but they did not know beforehand that Zhu Hang had such an intention to labor the army. Only now did they come to their senses.
He came and asked in shock: "What, Your Majesty wants to draw Zuo Xiaosheng's army away from Ruzhou?"
Xu Xin'an couldn't help but shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Just now I heard Mr. Zhu Hang say this, and I was confused. Is there really any good thing in the world that is free?"
"Xu Xiang went out to control Jingnan, but the lake bandits were extremely ferocious and stubborn. They had no regard for family and country. They refused to accept recruitment. They burned, killed and looted in the prefectures and counties around Dongting Lake. They also colluded and instigated refugees from all over the country to start rebellions..." Zhu Hang
He smiled bitterly.
Of course, it was impossible for the DPRK to wait until the Chihu East Road army crossed the Huainan River before starting to organize reinforcements.
In fact, after the imperial capital moved south, under the auspices of the Privy Council and the Imperial Camp Division, the Left Xuanwu Army and the Right Xiaosheng Army, headed by Deng Gui, Zhang Xin and Liu Yan, were further expanded and strengthened to 80,000 people.
Among them, the Left Xuanwu Army and the Right Xiaosheng Army were directly stationed in Yangzhou and Luzhou on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and could reinforce Shouchun and Chuzhou as quickly as possible.
In addition, the DPRK also organized and trained a 20,000-strong Jianye navy army based on the Jianye Fu soldiers; Luzhou and Yangzhou were upgraded to prefectures, under the direct jurisdiction of the central government, and the Privy Council sent generals to train Luzhou Fu soldiers.
, the total number of Yangzhou soldiers was 30,000.
The situation faced by Huaishang and Ruzhou this winter can be said to be very serious. However, the 20,000 troops and horses assembled by the Jingxiang North Road Dudu Deployment Department did not reinforce Huaishang and Ruzhou. Instead, they were all stationed in Qi.
Chun and other cities, and at the same time assembled a large number of boats in Qichun and other cities to stand by.
The 20,000 soldiers and horses from Jingbei will go down the river to reinforce Luzhou or Yangzhou as soon as possible when needed.
Even if the imperial court could mobilize hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses as quickly as possible, Emperor Jianji, Hu Kai, Zhou He, Gao Chunnian, Gu Fan and others did not dare to take the wealth they had managed to save directly to the battlefield.
Go give it a try.
On the one hand, the captive soldiers are too sharp. Even though the Vietnamese soldiers and horses have been tempered by bloody battles over the years and their combat effectiveness has been greatly improved, there is still a big gap.
On the other hand, after moving the capital, they continued to expand their troops on a large scale and strengthen defenses along the river. They had to continue to increase grain taxes, which further increased the burden on the people of Jianghuai, Jingxiang and other places.
Now, instead of quelling the Dongting Lake bandits, they are becoming more and more violent. Civil unrest in Jiangnan, Zhejiang and other places are also rising one after another. There is no sign of peace yet.
In the early days of the DPRK, the government hoped that the Huai Prince's army would seize Shouchun, Chuzhou and other fortified cities for defense, and use the strong city defenses as much as possible to consume and tire out the enemy troops. However, Xu Huai copied the stone cannon designs from the Western Regions to Jianye and used them in a secret letter.
The words are so serious and there is no need to delay.
To change course, before Shouchun and other cities could no longer hold up, fight the main force of the Chihu East Route Army between Luzhou and Shouzhou. Not to mention Zhou He, Gao Chunnian, Gu Fan and others, Hu Kai all advocated the need
Urgent | Deploy more elite soldiers and horses to Shouzhou to participate in the war.
However, the territory of Vietnam is thousands of miles wide, and how many soldiers are there that can fight?
The troops of Gu Jiqian and Gao Junyang were far away at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains. Even if they could escape, they could take the Qinling Gorge Road to Hanzhong and then raise boats. Then they could move eastward along the Han River. How could they catch up with the Battle of Shouchun?
The most important one that can be mobilized at present is Zheng Huaizhong, commanded by Zheng Cong and his son, and 40,000 elite Shenwu troops stationed in Nanyang. But the question is how can the imperial court call Zheng Huaizhong, and Zheng Cong and his son send all 40,000 elite troops from Nanyang?
After bargaining, whether it is to draw some elites from Huaishang and Ruzhou, and then draw some elites from Nanyang, if we can gather an additional 30,000 capable soldiers, we can greatly increase the chance of winning the battle of Lushou.
However, the Chushan Army currently faces the enemy in the west of Beijing, and the pressure is relatively small and can be dealt with. But after Zuo Xiaosheng's army withdraws from Ruzhou, the Chushan Army will face Yue Hailou alone, with Cao Shixiong and Cao Shixiong.
Lu Dajun - the pressure is doubled, it is not an adjective, but a bloody and naked reality.
There is another key issue. Yang Lin, as the commander-in-chief of Zuo Xiaosheng's army, was still in Ruyang leading a lone army into a bitter battle surrounded by superior Heluo enemy forces.
In no hurry to transfer Zuo Xiaosheng's army, Xu Huai delayed it for ten days and a half. When the situation in Xiangcheng and Xinyang became slightly more stable, he would organize an elite force to march westward and meet up with the main force of Zuo Xiaosheng's army in Liang County.
, looking for opportunities to break the siege of Ruyang.
If Yang Qiye is ordered to lead his troops south from Liang County now, even if Xu Huai can mobilize thousands of elite troops to take over the defense of Liang County, Jiaxian and other cities, he will not be able to break the siege of Ruyang. He can only hope that Yang Lin will attack Ruyang.
The hope of being able to break out of the enemy's siege on one's own may be slim.
Apart from anything else, would Yang Qiye accept such an arrangement from the court regardless of the safety of his father Yang Lin?
Xu Huai shook his head and said:
"Even if I am willing to block Heluo, the enemy in the west of Beijing, Yang Lin has defended Caizhou in these years. Zheng Huaizhong couldn't handle it, and led Zuo Xiaosheng's army to defend Gong County and Yanshi. Last year, he went south to participate in the Battle of Ruying.
We haven’t even taken a breath yet. This year we blocked the enemy forces in Heluo in Ruzhou again, resulting in heavy casualties - the imperial court cannot bully honest people like this!"
