"But for the sake of protecting the captives, how dare Ning Ci hold back Marquis Jingsheng?"
Seeing that Cheng Lunying was not putting forward more stringent conditions, Ning Ci agreed without hesitation.
No matter what, no one can afford the consequences of the Rucai defense line being torn apart by the Japanese soldiers.
Chushan couldn't bear it, Nanyang Mansion couldn't bear it, Jinghu North Road and Xiangyang Mansion couldn't bear it, and the imperial court couldn't bear it either.
As for Cheng Lunying's complete defection to Chushan this time, this matter can only be settled in the future.
"The prince is indeed a loyal man to the country!" Cheng Lunying said with a faint smile.
In the past, as a member of the Nanyang Scholars, he worked conscientiously and wanted to achieve something, but he was always restricted by Ning Ci and Zhou Yunze, and had to follow the rules, which was difficult to overcome.
Even though he had never thought before that one day he would be completely tied up with Chu Shan, this time he even made such a choice because he had no other choice. But at this moment, he no longer needs to restrain his sharp edge in front of Ning Ci, but he still has something to talk about.
Refreshing and exhilarating.
"I hope Cheng Langjun can take care of himself!" Ning Ci responded with a sinister tone full of resentment.
Since Cheng Lunying had asked Ning Ci to compromise, Shi Zhen had no need to show up at the Nanyang government office again and left Biyang that day.
Everything that happened in the Nanyang Mansion and the Military and Horse Supervisory Office in the past two days, except for asking people to write a few confidential letters and send them to Biyang City, did not cause any more waves in Nanyang Mansion.
The mountainous areas of Fangcheng, Xiangcheng and other counties were divided into Ye County, Lushan and Wutong counties. Even if Nanyang Prefecture did not obstruct it, it still needed to apply for an order from the court and obtain formal permission before it could be implemented. However, after Ning Ci compromised,
A lot of practical work can be done in advance.
Three days later, the first batch of 3,000 Nanyang Prefecture troops to reinforce the defense of Ruzhou, all composed of rural soldiers from Fangcheng and Xiangcheng Shanzhai, with Liu Wugong and Kong Zhou as generals, set off for Ruzhou under the personal control of Cheng Lunying.
The journey of reinforcements.
In addition to the Xiang armies of the Tang and Deng states that were merged earlier, the Nanyang Prefecture Army was mostly composed of rural soldiers recruited from various counties such as minzhuang, archers, regiment training and other various types of troops. In order to make things easier and easier to control, the Nanyang Prefecture Army was
It is to try not to break up the original rural army structure as much as possible, and there is no ability to break up the original rural soldier structure, as well as the middle and lower military generals and generals such as generals, soldiers, and festival-level officials. They are basically filled by the original rural leaders.
This also provides convenience for the separate deployment of village soldiers from Fangcheng and Xiangcheng counties.
Cheng Lunying also met Xu Huai again in Zhiliang County, Ruzhou after a long time, who had shown himself to be reckless and foolish.
More than half of the first month of the fourth year of Jianji's reign has passed, and the wind blowing on my face is no longer biting. I am riding my horse through the valley, crossing the river bed of Ma River. Although the water is still far from abundant, it is gurgling among the rocks and gravel.
flow.
Occasionally, you can see a few broken blades and broken arrows on the creek beach. It can be seen that in the past few years, fierce battles have been fought all over the low mountains and shallow hills on both sides of the Duma River. However, at this time, because no one could do anything,
No one could regain his composure a little.
Cheng Lunying could also see that the enemy troops had built a series of Wubao camps to the west of Dumaxi River, with fence walls and long trenches in the middle.
"Cao Shixiong did not dare to bring all the soldiers and horses up to fight me to the death. However, relying on his superior strength, he built large-scale fortresses in Pishan and west of Dumaxi River, intending to use his superior strength to contain our army and defeat us.
The army was defeated. At the same time, Yue Hailou did not withdraw his troops to the north of Yingshui River after the year. He not only reoccupied the remaining city of Linying, but also built a large number of fortresses along the Centipede River and both sides of the old Yingshui River."
Xu Huai personally introduced the situation Chushan was currently facing on the western front to Cheng Lunying and Kong Zhou and Liu Wugong, who were responsible for commanding the Nanyang reinforcements.
"Heluo and the west of Beijing may have about 80,000 to 100,000 troops on two lines of defense, forcing Chushan to deploy 50,000 to 60,000 defenders on the entire western front, centered on Xiangcheng, Zhaoling, and Pishan.
Don't dare to slack off - now just hope that Huainan can have a slightly satisfactory result..."
At present, Chushan has deployed 20,000 elite soldiers and 30,000 state soldiers on the western front. If the eastern front is included, Chushan will mobilize a total of 80,000 troops to garrison many forts and walled cities.
Emperor Jianji came to Xiangyang to ascend the throne. As one of the very few ministers who knew a little about military affairs at that time, Cheng Lunying took charge of the daily military affairs of the Nanyang Prefecture Army.
Three or four years later, although Cheng Lunying did not have the opportunity to command thousands of troops on the battlefield, he almost understood the intricate daily military affairs——
He certainly knew how arduous and unimaginable it was for Chushan to maintain 80,000 standing troops and civilians when it only had jurisdiction over half a million soldiers and civilians. He asked in shock: "The imperial court only imports 3 million guan of money and food every year. How can Chushan maintain 80,000 standing troops?"
How can the food and fodder of the mountains be maintained?”
Chushan used to maintain 30,000 elite soldiers and 10,000 state soldiers. Cheng Lunying felt that the court only provided an additional 3 million guan of money and food supplies every year, which was quite stretched.
At this time, Chushan needs to maintain twice as many standing troops and horses, which not only means that the land reclamation and farming activities are greatly affected, but also the extra doubled troops and horses will not only consume millions more dans of food, uniforms, and armor every year.
, Ordnance, garrisoning, and military salary expenses will all increase significantly.
The enemy may not launch a large-scale attack in a short period of time, but the enemy and we are almost building a defense line close to each other. Daily frictions and small-scale battles are destined to be much more frequent than before.
This also means that daily casualties will surge, and it also means that the cost of medical treatment and pensions for soldiers will be much higher than before.
"It's very difficult for everyone in the imperial court now, but we can't say that because of the difficulty, we will just pick the next one and stop doing things. In extraordinary times, extraordinary means should be used, and Cheng Lang should be asked to understand some things,"
Xu Huai said lightly,
"I know that there are many voices from the government and the public criticizing us now, and they hate that Chushan has broken many rules, but we must clarify the fundamental purpose of the many rules set by the late emperor. Isn't it for the long-term peace of the world, and that Vietnam will not be invaded and insulted?
For the people to live and work in peace and contentment, is it just for the sake of establishing rules? At this time, the mountains and rivers are in ruins, the soldiers are trampling and killing, and half of the country is in danger. When the old rules cannot reverse this situation, we must reorganize which rules need to be maintained and which rules need to be timely
Make changes. Isn’t everything we have done, and countless generals have come forward to fight for it, to expel the barbarians, regain the Central Plains, and put the world back on the right track of long-term peace and stability? On this fundamental premise, what other stereotypes are there?
What can't be broken or changed? We can no longer invert the roots and ends. If we still stick to the old rules at this time, aren't we sacrificing the roots and seeking the ends?"
"..." Cheng Lunying looked stern and bowed to Xu Huaichang, "I have been serving as an official in these years. I have followed the trend and done nothing. My mind is also tired and tired. I don't know where to go. Today, after Xu Hou gave me some advice, my eyes suddenly opened up..."
Everything must not stick to the old rules. Everything must focus on the most urgent and important things at present, seize the main contradictions, and formulate and implement the most appropriate new policies and new policies according to the times and circumstances and changes. In Xu Huai
It seems like a natural thing.
These theories had a strong impact on Cheng Lunying's heart.
In the past, it would have been difficult for Cheng Lunying to break away from his rigid ideas, and he would probably have dismissed Xu Huai's remarks.
Since the fall of Bianliang, half of Vietnam has been shattered, half of it is in danger, and 30 to 40 million people in the Central Plains have been displaced or brutally massacred.
Cheng Lunying has seen all this miserable situation before his eyes, and has been having sleepless nights, restless about the bleak future, but unable to think of anything to do.
When Cheng Lunying heard Xu Huai's remarks at this time, he was really "Wow" and it tore a huge crack in his years of confusion. He saw the fundamental reason for Chushan's rise over the years and saw clearly that the future was not
There is absolutely no hope.
Chushan was forced to maintain a huge force of 50,000 to 60,000 troops on the western front, with Xiangcheng, Zhaoling and Pishan as the core, and was unable to launch a large-scale counterattack in a short period of time.
In order to strengthen the defensive strength of Chushan and make up for the shortage of grain and fodder, the next step will be to focus on integrating the two wings of the Ruzhou Basin, including Fangcheng, Xiangcheng and other counties, which will soon be placed under the jurisdiction of Chushan.
Wufeng Mountain to the north of Biyang and northeast of Fangcheng is smaller in scale, but it spans Funiu Mountain in Ye County, Fangcheng, Xiangcheng, Lushan, Liang County, Song County, and Ruyang counties. As the eastern part of the Qinling Mountains, it
The section stretches for more than three hundred miles from east to west, and is also a hundred miles deep from north to south. The mountains are majestic and the area is so vast that it is not under Tongbai Mountain.
Funiu Mountain originally had hundreds of thousands of mountain people living and reproducing in it, which was not considered a prosperous population. However, when the Red Guard Cavalry invaded the lower areas, Heluo and Hehuai, a large number of people fled into the mountains to avoid the war. Chushan estimated that the entire Funiu Mountain was at this time
There are almost 300,000 people.
However, before last winter, the actual number of households registered in the Ruzhou Yamen Office, including Ruyang and Songxian counties, was less than 180,000, and most of them lived in the Ruzhou Basin area along the North Shuishui River.
Yang Lin recruited rural soldiers and village warriors and expanded the Ruzhou Prefecture Army to more than 10,000 people to participate in the defense of local cities and towns. They mainly came from the Ruzhou Basin area, while the Funiu Mountain area, which covers an area several times wider and has a larger population, only
More than 2,000 people from small households with mixed surnames were recruited into the state army.
The big surnamed clans in the mountains sent young men from small surnamed households into the state army. On the one hand, they needed to cope with the recruitment of the state government to a certain extent. On the other hand, they also excluded and oppressed the children of small surnamed miscellaneous households, and tried their best to protect their own children from going to the battlefield.
suffered casualties.
These two thousand young men, who came from small families in Funiu Mountain, had indeed suffered heavy casualties in many fierce battles before. However, at this time, they provided great convenience for Chushan to implement the township system in Funiu Mountain.
At present, although the township system has not been officially implemented in Funiu Mountain, Xu Huai transferred military officials from various places and based on these state soldiers from small surnames and miscellaneous households, he organized twenty-six patrol military soldiers.
As soon as the one-month intensive training is completed, the inspection soldiers from the twenty-six capitals will go to the Funiu Mountains, set up inspection divisions at selected locations, and take over the affairs of Lijiawu Village, which was previously controlled by the Da surname clan.
Considering that the state government is not very familiar with the situation in Funiu Mountain, and the large clans in the mountain are more closed, conservative, and stubborn, and have stronger control over Wuzhai villages, the mountain inspection department will not promote the new land system on a large scale for the time being.
.
The core work of mountain inspection divisions in the early stage, in addition to strengthening the collection of grain, tax, and service taxes, will also strengthen the recruitment of children from the lower class families who live in distress on the basis of the children of small surnames, and strive to win the army of each inspection division
In the village, the military personnel expanded from the capital team of 70 to 80 people to the rural camp with 300 to 500 people.
Among the 2,000 Nanyang Prefecture troops who were reinforcing Ruzhou this time, Xu Huai also planned to transfer the children of miscellaneous households with small surnames who were usually excluded and bullied in the countryside to train in separate formations.
When the imperial decree is officially issued to Ruzhou, the corresponding work can be immediately carried out in the mountainous areas of Fangcheng and Xiangcheng - of course this matter requires the full cooperation of Cheng Lunying, Kong Zhou, Liu Wugong and others to be carried out smoothly.
If all goes well, before winter begins this year, Chushan will be able to truly incorporate most of the Funiu Mountain area into the camp control sequence and add tens of thousands of soldiers.
Of course, the Ruzhou Basin to the east of Pishan is now under the absolute control of Chushan. Xu Huai will naturally not show mercy when implementing the new township system and land system. At present, Liangxian, Lushan, Jiaxian and other places have already
The Twelve Township Divisions were newly established.
From then on, private occupation of the barren beach slope valleys that were originally occupied by wealthy gentry households was strictly prohibited. Township departments organized the people to build weirs, embankments, and canals for development.
The newly cultivated fields and the abandoned fields and houses of the gentry households who fled south were all distributed to the state soldiers with military exploits and the families of the generals who died in the war - the excess part would be recruited from the refugees who fled into the mountains, and the hungry people would come out to farm.
.
Funiu Mountain covers the same area as Tongbai Mountain, but the terrain is more dangerous and the land resources that can be cultivated are more limited. It cannot accommodate 300,000 people. Most of the hungry people and refugees still need to be guided out of the mountain and resettled in order to be converted.
It is a labor resource that Chushan can control and utilize.
Within the Ruzhou Basin, all state soldiers and rural soldiers and civilians under the jurisdiction of townships who rent land from wealthy rural gentry households for farming shall be limited to less than 20% of the rent; the rest shall not exceed 30% of the rent.
The land surveying work in the Ruzhou Basin area will also be carried out at the same time. All households that have concealed their farmland misdeeds will be traced for the land tax that they have lacked in the past five years.
After the land survey is completed, the levy tax will be spread out among the acres and collected. The daily affairs of the state, county, and township bureaus and the construction of a large number of weirs and roads will no longer be levied by the levy in the past, but will be collected by money and grain.
Chushan also used these methods to strengthen the determination and fighting spirit of the generals and home guards, and at the same time, it could also significantly reduce the pension expenses for the disabled and dead generals. The large-scale implementation of the township system not only strengthened local control, but also
In order for disabled military officers to withdraw from the camp, new force and arrangements were made.
In addition to strengthening the control over the Funiu Mountains area in the southern part of the Ruzhou Basin, the next step is to strengthen the rule and control over the Jishan Mountains in the north.
Jishan is the southern chain of Songshan Mountain, sandwiched between Yishui, Yingshui, and Rushui (North Kuishui). It used to be under the jurisdiction of Ruzhou, Xu and Luoyang Prefecture.
Chushan previously contacted the resistance forces in Songshan and other places to harass the enemy, but the progress was not smooth. In addition to the complex composition of the resistance forces and their wandering minds, another main reason was that Chushan did not have direct direct control of Jishan and other places west of Xiangcheng.
jurisdiction.
The resistance forces between Jishan are swinging between Ruzhou and Chushan. At least the local Shanzhai Wubao in Jishan is nominally affiliated to Ruzhou Yexia - while Chushan has no actual control over Jishan and no control over the areas north of Jishan.
Shaoshi Mountain in the northwest and Wan'an Mountain in the northwest are even beyond reach.
Dahongzhai, where Han Changfu led more than a thousand black-shirted troops to retreat in the later period, is located in Jishan, about fifty miles away from Pishan.
Chushan had to supply supplies to Dahongzhai before, so the weapons, weapons, and food were transferred through Ruzhou, which was extremely inconvenient.
At this time, Xu Huaizheng organized troops to open up the mountain road from Pishan to Dahongzhai.
In the next step, whether it is the local indigenous villagers in Jishan, the stragglers who fled into the deep mountains and old forests, or the rebels organized and controlled by the village soldiers and village warriors who escaped from Xu Zhengheluo and the gentry and local tycoons, Chushan will forcibly recruit them.
Don't look at Heluo, the enemy in the west of Beijing is building a defense line close to Pishan, Xiangcheng, and Zhaoling at this time, hoping to use their overwhelmingly superior troops and horses to blockade Chushan and bring down Chushan.
However, Chushan has risen from the Tongbai Mountains in recent years. Whether it relies on fighting in the mountains or integrating copycat forces, Cao Shixiong, Yue Hailou and others cannot match it.
"Before winter, not only the southern slope of Jishan Mountain, but Chushan Mountain must also bring the entire Jishan Mountain under control, so that our elite soldiers and horses can use the dangerous Wu Village on the northern slope of Jishan Mountain as a base to pass through the newly opened mountain roads.
, attack Dengfeng, Yique, Dagu and other places. When the time comes, let’s see how Cao Shixiong and Yue Hailou can block Huaishang with their superior troops and horses..."
Xu Huaijiang explained this year's combat strategy to Cheng Lunying in detail.
In fact, Xu Huai was not afraid of Cao Shixiong. Yue Hailou relied on his superior troops and horses to block Chushan's western front.
He even planned to manage and control Jishan and take advantage of Jishan's unique strategic location to force the enemy forces in Heluo and west of Beijing to retreat again to Wan'an Mountain and the north of Yingshui, mainly Yique and Dagu Passes.
Restore the situation of confrontation between the enemy and ourselves in the middle to the situation before the fall of Ruyang...
