After crossing the Huaihe River, surrounded by more than a hundred guards, Deng Gui rode his horse to the Lujing gathering camp.
After years of ravages of war, the population along the Huaihe River area is still only ten or two. There are ruins everywhere, and the once fertile land is barren; occasionally one or two dead bodies can be seen among the withered yellow weeds covered by light snow.
, only a layer of skin covering the skull's face still retains the despair before death.
Deng Gui, who is over fifty years old and has experienced too many changes in the world, can be said to have a heart as strong as iron. But when he saw this scene, he couldn't help but feel a sigh of relief in his heart.
When they arrived at the camp, Zhou Jing and Jiang Ping were already waiting for them in front of the camp gate.
"The envoy has something important to say, why bother Zhou Canjun to make this trip?" Deng Gui got off his horse, handed the reins to the guards behind him, and asked in a low voice.
After the establishment of Sikong Mansion, Xu Huai deliberately did not further improve the official system of Sikong Mansion.
Xu Huai did this to avoid an uproar between the government and the public, saying that he established the Sikong Mansion just to exercise power in order to facilitate the command of the world's soldiers and horses to expel the barbarians and recover them.
Just the Central Plains.
Therefore, in addition to Shi Zhen, Han Gui, Chen Zixiao, Xu Wuqi, Wang Ju, Liu Shiwang and others, they officially served as chief historian, chief secretary, Liufu Sima, marching Sima, Liufu military advisor and marching military advisor.
Apart from this, other people, such as Zhou Jing, Zhang Xiongshan, Han Gui, Zheng Tu, etc., still served in Sikong Mansion with titles such as consulting the army, joining the army, and making history.
Although Xu Huai transferred Chen Zixiao to take charge of the Military Intelligence and Staff Department by offering wine as a marching military advisor, Zhou Jing was still one of the dozen or so people in Sikong Mansion.
Therefore, when Deng Gui learned that Zhou Jing had personally rushed from Huaichuan to the Lujing camp in the east of Xiacaicheng City, he also crossed the Huaihe River without stopping to meet him.
After the great victory at the mouth of the Peishui River, the defense line guarding the Huaihe River was readjusted, and all the original Huaidong troops were transferred to the Xuanwu Army.
Deng Gui regarded himself as a direct descendant of Beijing and Xiangxiang. This time he established the Sikong Prefecture and specifically asked for the official title of Zhonglang under the name of the Sikong Prefecture. However, it was very difficult for the Xuanwu Army to be completely transformed into a direct descendant of the Sikong Prefecture.
Easy.
On the one hand, Xu Huai is currently using the already established system of middle and high-level military command schools in Beijing and Xiangzhou to conduct rotation training for hundreds of middle- and high-level generals and military officials of the Xuanwu Army, and to strengthen the connections between the generals and generals of the Xuanwu Army and the generals of other military towns in Sikong Prefecture.
, focusing on strengthening the training and selection of grassroots military officers. On the other hand, through the Military Intelligence Staff Department, it dispatches staff military officers to the four-level establishment of Xuanwu Army: capital, town, camp, and battalion to assist the chief generals at all levels of the Xuanwu Army in charge of operations and reconnaissance.
, military affairs, logistics and other affairs.
In doing so, in addition to strengthening the connection between the Xuanwu Army and the Sikong Mansion, it also tried its best to connect the resources of the Sikong Mansion as much as possible in a short period of time and strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Xuanwu Army.
The Sikong Prefecture dispatches staff military officers to the army in the name of the Military Intelligence Staff Department, which is similar in form to the Privy Council dispatching military supervisors and other officials to the army.
However, the officials dispatched by the Privy Council to supervise the army are mainly military officials. Under the current tradition of using civility to control military affairs and using civility to govern military affairs, these officials basically have to directly control the command of the army when they enter the army.
Sikong Mansion dispatched staff troops
They are mainly elite military attaches selected from the army who have rich combat experience and have performed well in rotation training in military command schools at all levels; in the military establishment at all levels, the military staff is mainly responsible for assisting in specific operations, reconnaissance and logistics.
and other affairs will not infringe upon the general's command authority.
The main function of the military staff is to make the personal staff of the former generals at all levels public, professional and systematic - this is also the main intention of Xu Huai in establishing the Military Intelligence Staff Department.
Jiang Ping currently stays with Deng Gui as a staff military officer and serves as the deputy general of the Xuanwu Army.
"We also invite Marquis Deng to come into the tent and discuss it secretly," Zhou Jing said.
Deng Gui nodded and strode towards the commander's tent. After entering the commander's tent, he took Xu Huai's secret letter from Zhou Jing.
More than half a month ago, the Xuanwu Army, together with the Jingsheng Army and the Xuanfeng Army in Youzhen, launched the Huaihe River crossing operation. Currently, they have initially established a position to the west of Xiacaicheng, built Lujingji and other camps, and are continuously transporting siege equipment from the south bank.
and a lot of combat supplies came over.
However, there is still a certain gap between the combat effectiveness of Xuanwu Army and Jingsheng Army and Xuanfeng Army in Youzhen. Currently, it is only from the east and north.
The siege of Xia Caicheng was completed, but formal siege operations had not yet begun.
In order to avoid the risk of fighting on two fronts and at the same time need the Xuanwu Army to contain part of the main force of the Pingyanzong Palace north of Shouchun, Xu Huai decided that the Xuanwu Army should immediately give up the storming of Caicheng and instead use the Lujing concentration camp on the north bank as the basis.
, a new city was urgently built north of the Huaihe River and west of Xiacaicheng.
At the same time, because the Lujing Jiji Camp on the north bank of Shouchun is relatively close to Ruyin, only 150 miles away, Zhou Jing also carried a secret letter from Xu Huai on his trip, asking Yang Qiye's troops to give up crossing from Haozhou to Zhongli and other places.
Huai went north to harass and contain the soldiers and horses of Prince Ping Yanzong's Mansion. Instead, he mobilized the main force of the Xiaosheng Army from Haozhou and assembled it at the Lujing Camp to be ready to go north to participate in the battle at any time.
The purpose of rushing to build the new city of Lujing was to suppress the elite soldiers and horses of Prince Ping Yanzong's palace stationed in Xiacai on the one hand, and on the other hand to provide a firm springboard for the Xuanwu Army and the Xiaosheng Army to quickly move north (to the northwest) to participate in the battle.
They were worried that their retreat would be cut off by the enemy troops in Xia Cai.
Of course, Zhou Jing personally set out from Huaichuan and handed the secret letter to Deng Gui, and Yang Qiye and Yang Qiye only handed it over. The more important task of his trip was to carry Xu Huai's secret letter to Chuzhou to meet Han Shiliang.
"What the prime minister planned was really unexpected!" Zhou Jing dictated the overall plan for the raid on Ruyin, which was of course much more detailed than what was written in the secret letter. Deng Gui couldn't digest the news for a while. Although he was shocked, he was inevitably a little agitated.
He said hesitantly, "The raid on Ruyin is very likely to disturb the overall situation in Hehuai. By then, the main forces of Zhennan Palace and Pingyan Palace, a total of three to four hundred thousand soldiers and horses, will be attracted to Yingzhou to participate in the battle...
…”
"This battle mainly depends on whether Ruyin City can be successfully captured by surprise attack," Zhou Jing said with emotion. "If Ruyin City can be successfully captured, we can assemble more than 300,000 troops in Yingzhou faster than the Chihu people.
Horse, go attack Quanhe or Jiaopi, and open up the land passage between Ruyin and Huaichuan! Of course, if Ruyin City cannot be successfully captured,
, the troops and horses assembled later are mainly to ensure that the advance troops and horses can be withdrawn from Ruyin City..."
If Zhennan Zong Palace and Pingyan Zong Palace are given enough time to mobilize, the two palaces can mobilize at least 400,000 soldiers and horses to enter Yingzhou to participate in the war. They can even second tens of thousands of reinforcements from Guanshan territory under the jurisdiction of Jingpan Zong Palace.
Enter.
It was obviously impossible for Xu Huai to give the captives enough time to carry out military mobilization.
After the complete capture of Huaichuan City, the siege of Huaichuan City was still not lifted, and the blockade was even further strengthened. Combat supplies were still continuously transported to the outskirts of Huaichuan, in order to prevent the enemy from attacking Sun Yanzhou who was stationed in Ruyin and other cities.
In addition to sorting out and purging the troops under Hu Danzhou's command, the main reason was that after they launched full-scale mobilization, the enemy would have to wait seven or eight days or even longer to realize this.
In this way, they will be able to gather 300,000 troops and horses to the north of Huaichuan in half a month. However, in the south of the town, Prince Ping Yanzong's palace may not have time to gather 200,000 infantry and horsemen in Yingzhou within half a month.
.
Of course, even if the Sikong Mansion gathers superior forces in advance, it must first successfully capture Ruyin before it has the opportunity to truly form a situation near Ruyin where the masses can defeat the few.
A battle situation in which the strong bullies the weak.
Otherwise, the size of the enemy's troops assembled in a short period of time is smaller, but with Ruyin, Jiaopi, Quanhe and other strong cities to defend, Sikong Mansion will not have any opportunities to take advantage of it.
The three cities of Ruyin, Jiaopi and Quanhe stand on both sides of the Ying River. Yingzhou is the most critical to govern Ruyin. Quanhe, Jiaopi and other cities are just small towns rebuilt on the basis of Wuzhai.
"Whether Han Shiliang will send troops from Chuzhou to the north to contain the enemies of Xuzhou is still difficult to judge," Zhou Jing added, "but the envoy decided to write a letter and asked me to go to Chuzhou to meet Han Shiliang, hoping that
Han Shiliang can make the right choice!"
If necessary, Ping Yan Zong's Palace will abandon all the cities south of Xu, Su, and concentrate all the elite troops to march westward to support the Yingzhou battle. However, if Han Shiliang leads his troops from Chuzhou to Huaibei in advance, Ping Yan Zong's Palace will
To attract some of the elite soldiers and horses, it will be difficult for these soldiers and horses to turn around and head west, and they have to worry about whether their butts will be stabbed.
Zhou Jing discussed with Deng Gui, Jiang Ping and others for a long time, ate some food in a hurry, boarded a boat with his guards and went down the river, went to Haozhou to govern Zhongli, and secretly met with Yang Qiye and other generals who commanded the Xiaosheng Army in Zhongli.
Early the next morning, we continued sailing eastward towards Chuzhou City, where Han Shiliang was responsible for garrisoning.
After the escape from Beijing incident, Ge Boyi, Ge Yu and others led their troops to southern Zhejiang (eastern Zhejiang). Han Shiliang also led his troops to station in Huaidong as the Huaidong system's pacification envoy.
Han Shiliang was nominally the military and political officer of Huainan East Road, but he did not send elite troops to take over Yangtai and other places. Instead, he reduced his elite troops to Chuzhou City. However, Han Shiliang did not make peace with the Chihu people.
He even ordered the Prince of Pingyanzong to be sent to the secret envoy of Chuzhou several times to behead him and hang his body on the gate of Chuzhou city.
Even so, most people in Sikong Mansion have little confidence in whether Han Shiliang will send troops from Chuzhou to cross the Huaihe River...
