Accompanied by Xu Wuqi, Han Gui, Xu Xin'an and others, Xu Huai stood on the bank of the Shihe River, which was swollen after the flood season, and looked eastward.
In the summer of the fifth year of Shaolong's reign, the wilderness on the east bank of the Xihe River in Xinyang was full of wild trees and bushes, and the grass grew and warblers were flying, making it look like a wife on grass.
The Shihe River originates from the southern ridge of Tongbai Mountain and flows into the Huaihe River in a depression called Luozi Bay in the northeast of Xinyang County and the northwest corner of Luoshan County.
As the largest tributary on the south bank of the upper reaches of the Huaihe River, the Shihe River was the hometown of the Shen Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period, which is also the origin of the place name of Shenzhou. In the former dynasty, Xinyang County was generally located in the upper and middle reaches of the Huaihe River valley and the left bank area of the lower reaches, and Luoshan County was on the right bank.
Luoshan County was originally located on the east bank of the lower reaches of the Shihe River, about twenty miles away from the Shihe River to the west and the Huaihe River to the north. Liu Xian led the Jingbei Army to a great defeat at the north bank of the Huaihe River. At that time, Chushan was weak and could not take into account the vast area.
The defense line, and considering the extremely important geographical location of Jiuli, Wusheng and Pingjing Passes southeast of the Shihe River, a new city was built near Qingshandian in the north of Jiuliguan.
Of course, the imperial court recruited 30,000 Dongjinghu bandits Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and other troops into the German Army to garrison Guangzhou. At that time, it was thought that Luoshan County would be included in the German Army garrison.
However, Luoshan County not only borders Xinyang in the east, but also interacts with Jiuli, Pingjing and Wusheng in the south to Jingxiang. Its strategic position cannot be ignored.
Huai argued hard to keep Luoshan County under the control of Shenzhou Xingying and did not assign it to the German garrison area.
Today, Luoshan New City and Old City have become the two major fortresses on the right bank of the Shihe River.
Xu Huai has always trusted Sun Yanzhou and Hu Dangzhou, so on the right bank (east bank) of the Shihe River, apart from building many villages and forts based on the old and new cities of Luoshan to strengthen the protection of the Shihe River, he did not go eastward.
How many people will be moved to the shore to restore farming here.
Luoshan, located on the shore of the Huaihe River, was once a famous land of fish and rice, but now it is a deserted place, filled with long and spreading trees and shrubs, and many dilapidated houses hidden among them, still looking dilapidated.
"Not only is the General Office of the Military and Horse Capital in the west of Beijing very diligent in training its navy in Yingzhou and other places, but the Pingyanzong Palace has signs of further expansion of its navy in Bozhou, Xuzhou and other places. It seems that there will be no peace in Huainan this autumn and winter.
!" Xu Xin'an stood on the embankment and said with a frown.
The first Battle of Huainan took place in the year after the capital was moved to Jianye. King Tu Ge assembled hundreds of thousands of troops on Chihu East Road to cross Huainan. However, due to the weak strength of the navy, he was unable to control Hongzepu and other waters from beginning to end, and attacked Huainan.
Effective cutting was carried out in the east and west of Huainan. At the same time, due to the resolute resistance of the Huainan military and civilians and the defense of key nodes such as Shouchun, the soldiers and horses of Chihudong Road finally returned without success.
More than four years have passed since the Battle of Huainan. During this period, the Prince of Pingyanzong, except for exterminating Dayue's strongholds north of the Huaihe River one by one, and taking advantage of the short freezing period of the Huaihe River to send cavalry south to burn, kill and plunder, there has been no organized attack on Huainan.
A military invasion aimed at gaining a foothold on the south bank of the Huaihe River.
However, Prince Ping Yanzong has always been committed to building warships and training naval forces in Bozhou, Xuzhou and other places, and even established a navy in Laizhou for the purpose of naval warfare.
In early February, after the confrontation in the middle of the past two years failed to achieve the expected results, the Zhennan Zong Palace was forced to reduce the troops and horses in the confrontation north of Rucai. However, the Chihu people did not give up breaking through from other directions because of this setback.
Intention to go south.
The area under the jurisdiction of Prince Ping Yanzong's palace has recently been mobilized frequently, and the navy has been more diligent in training. As the commander of the Shenzhou camp, Xu Xin'an, in addition to keeping an eye on the enemy troops in Yingzhou who are affiliated with the General Administration of Military and Horse Capital in the west of Beijing, also needs to
Keep abreast of the movements of Pingyanzong's palace in Bosu, Xusong and other states further east.
He judged that the Chihu people were very likely to launch a new round of offensive from the east this autumn and winter.
This does not mean that the middle road and the west road will be calm, but the red Hu people's offensive focus will be on the east road.
"If the Ordnance Supervisor can urgently build a batch of turtle-shell ships this year, he can give priority to equipping the Shenzhou Navy." Zhou Jing suggested.
When Zhou Jing said this, he also inferred that after the flood season, the offensive launched by the Red Husbands from the east road would not be small, and the Shenzhou camp would be under great military pressure by then.
In recent years, Beijing and Xiangzhou have not been able to free up many resources to vigorously develop naval forces. Except for Jingzhou, which has a navy of 2,000 under the supervision of the Military and Horse Department, Shenzhou has a navy stationed in Chushan and Xinyang each has a navy.
strength, but the total number of troops is only 3,000.
Simply based on the strength of the troops and the number of warships, the naval forces trained by Jing and Xiang in Shenzhou were not even as powerful as the newly formed naval forces in Huangchuan, Guangshan and other places under the command of Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and others who returned to the German army.
In the past two years, Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and others seemed to have done nothing, but they did not completely stop flirting with Yue Hailou and others.
.
However, the Chihu people showed no signs of making a breakthrough in the middle road from beginning to end. The German generals and the families of Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and others were all settled in Jianye, Jingnan and other places, so they did not act rashly.
If the Red Husbands march south directly from the East Road this autumn and winter, will Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and others still be loyal to Dai Viet and fight to the death to resist the enemy?
Not to mention Xu Xin'an and other generals who were directly under pressure, the Military Intelligence Department had no optimistic judgment at all based on the collection of various intelligence and clues.
In addition to the fact that the Red Husbands were heading south from the East Road and could not completely ignore the threat of Shenzhou's camp, the possibility that the returned German troops would surrender to the enemy also became a hidden danger that everyone must consider at this time.
Xu Huai frowned, but did not directly respond to Zhou Jing's suggestion.
"Even if a few turtle-shell boats can be trial-produced this year, I'm afraid they won't be of much use on the Huaihe River!" Han Gui said thoughtfully.
At present, the Ordnance Supervisor has just come up with a plan to transform the existing stern ship into a turtle-shell warship. However, the plan is far from mature. How to connect the hot-rolled iron plate with the hot forging process will take time to explore. Hot-rolled
The initial production capacity of iron plates is also extremely limited——
According to the preliminary plan put forward by the Ordnance Supervision, up to six or seven experimental medium-sized turtle-shell warships will be renovated this year. Even if these experimental turtle-shell warships are allocated to Shenzhou to strengthen the navy, it will not be able to change the situation on the Huaihe River.
A situation in which the enemy is strong and we are weak.
Han Gui believed that Shenzhou's side would mainly consider water interception and defense this fall and winter, and should not expect them to be able to take the initiative in a short period of time.
To attack, or even to take the initiative on the Huaihe River, it was necessary to build warships on a large scale and train the navy.
At present, the two-year stalemate war between Beijing and Xiangzhou has just ended. The remaining money and food urgently need to be invested in construction and production, hoping to get better rest and recuperation. At the moment, they cannot squeeze out millions of money and food to develop the naval army.
However, in order to focus on interception and defense, to block the enemy's naval force outside the jurisdiction of Shenzhou, in addition to the naval force, a variety of auxiliary measures can also be taken.
After all, the upper reaches of the Huai River and its tributaries are far less powerful and vast than imagined.
For example, the waters of Luozi Bay where the Shihe River flows into the Huaihe River mouth. In recent years, banks have been building embankments and fortresses on the left and right banks. During the flood season, the water surface is only 200 feet wide. After the flood season, the water surface will be shortened to 30 feet wide.
- As long as the camp at the mouth of the river is not lost, it is not difficult to block the enemy naval warships in the upper reaches of the Huai River and outside the Shi River.
Han Gui believed that the current focus of the Shenzhou camp was not only to tighten externally and tighten internally, strengthen defense rectification, and improve the training of garrison troops from every five days to every two days, but also focus on strengthening the penetration of the returning German troops.
Everyone has little confidence in Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and their like, but they also don’t think that all the generals of the German army are willing to be the lackeys of the Hulu. At this time, Han Gui suggested to strengthen the penetration of the German army, in order to prepare for the possible future.
Be prepared for variables that arise.
"Tell me, under what circumstances would Sun Hu and his like surrender to the enemy?" Xu Huai frowned and asked everyone around him.
"Sun Hu's family and his 30,000 soldiers who returned to Germany are all in Jianye or Jingnan. Even if Sun Hu had long wanted to surrender to the enemy, under normal circumstances it would be difficult to coerce his generals and the soldiers to follow him," Xu Xin'an said,
"But the Hulu want to dismember the troops and horses of the Huainan tribes. It is impossible for them to attack Shouchun without solving the threat of the Huangchuan garrison on the flank. In my opinion, if the Hulu soldiers launch an offensive from the east this autumn and winter, they will most likely rely on
With an absolute advantage in military strength, they first besieged and attacked Huangchuan. Faced with the threat of the city falling and people dying, Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and their like would naturally not be able to take care of their small family. Other generals and soldiers would also be easily coerced by them!
However, in this case, apart from accepting the fact that the German troops surrendered to the enemy, we are unable to do much in a short period of time.
Zhou Jing said: "Even if the infiltration of the Returned German Army is strengthened at this time, there is no guarantee that Sun Hu and his like will not be purged of the Returned German Army after they surrender to the enemy."
Zhou Jing and Xu Xin'an both advocated that Shenzhou should strengthen its vigilance against the Guide Army, but for the time being it is not appropriate to take too many actions within the Guide Army as it would be of little significance and might even lead to unnecessary losses.
Han Gui did not argue with Xu Xin'an and Zhou Jing, but looked at Xu Huai to see how decisive he was.
Strengthening the penetration of the returning German troops at this time may of course reveal more clues, which will cause Sun Yanzhou and Hu Dangzhou to purge and purge their troops when they decide to surrender to the enemy.
This is likely to cause heavy losses to their infiltration personnel, but large-scale purges and purges will also greatly weaken the strength of the Returned German Army, making Sun Yanzhou and Hu Dangzhou panic after surrendering to the enemy, thereby weakening the Returned Army after surrendering to the enemy.
The threat posed to Shenzhou.
In the final analysis, Jingxiang still has to try its best to use its small skills to gain more time to accumulate strength.
Xu Huai pondered for a long time and said to Zhou Jing: "The Military Intelligence Department must strengthen the isolation of infiltration personnel. Some personnel must lurk deeper and do not act rashly. There are also some personnel who may be exposed. They must evacuate Huangchuan in a timely manner and do not do unnecessary things.
Sacrifice - of course, I will write to the court again, hoping that the court will be alert enough to transfer the returned German troops out of Gwangju in time!"
The imperial court recruited the Andong Jing Bandit Army to form the Returned Army, but it was still too rigid in the use of the Returned Army. It thought that by leaving the families of the generals and soldiers in the interior, the Returned Army could be driven to the forefront of the enemy to be consumed -
- But they don't want to do this. On the one hand, it will make Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and others want to preserve their strength. At the same time, it will also make the middle and lower-level generals who returned to the German army have no intention of allegiance to the imperial court.
Of course, Ge Boyi and others, under the pressure of Jingxiang, were so eager to recruit Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and others that they did not even think about dismantling the Dongjing Allied Forces and dividing them among the generals.
