In the autumn of Yue Lengqiu, Yue Zhi and his party headed eastward along the frozen Guanshui River, spent the night in Guanyun County, and then headed north to Shanghai from the seawall in the east of Guanyun County.
The seawall road was built on the seawall in Huaibei. The snow has stopped and the weather has cleared. Standing on the seawall, which is higher than the plains on both sides, you can see the green bodàng more than ten miles away. There are sails and masts floating on the sea, but you can't talk about it.
The upper sail stands like a forest.
In order to facilitate the discussion of military affairs, Yue Lengqiu and Yue Zhi rode in a carriage together, opened the curtains of the carriage and looked at the situation on both sides of the seawall.
Some people say that Lin Fu used the Northern Expedition to cover up the usurpation, and some people say that Lin Fu used the Northern Expedition to cover up the Northern Expedition. It is hard to distinguish the true from the false, but the closer to Haizhou City, the more Yue Lengqiu can feel it.
To the chilling atmosphere.
In addition to the closer to Haizhou, the stricter the checkpoints along the road, after the winter in Haizhoutun District, unlike in previous years, people would concentrate on building embankments and paving roads at this time. After leaving Guanyun County, Yue Lengqiu went north along Chi Road.
On both sides of the Chi Road, you can see the troops stationed and trained.
Soldiers are more valuable than their numbers.
Speaking of the Northern Expedition, Lin Fu gathered 200,000 elites from his direct line on the eastern front to attack the city and plunder the territory, which should be enough.
However, if the Northern Expedition is successful, a large area of the homeland will be recovered, including city defense and local rectification, clearing out defeated troops, and extending logistics supply lines, which will require a large number of generals to be dispersed; at this time, if the elite troops are not to be dispersed, a large number of generals will be needed.
Replenishing reserve troops - Lin Fuyu's Northern Expedition must first expand the military equipment on a large scale, and it is this part of the military equipment that will be expanded.
In addition to soldiers, the Huaidong Army established a complete system of work camps and military camps in the early days. In the past two or three years, in the Lianghuai region, the reserve soldiers stored in the Huaidong work camps and military camps system will never be
It is less than 200,000. Even if the remaining troops are recruited into the army in order not to supplement the current military cultivation and the basic defense potential of the Huaihe River area, it should be able to increase Huaidong's northern army on the eastern front by another 100,000 troops.
Moreover, Lin Fu's order to recruit these troops into the camp would be extremely fast.
After passing Nanyuntai Mountain, Haizhou City is revealed from the horizon and unfolds before our eyes.
Compared with the small coastal town that Yue Lengqiu inspected when he was the governor of Jianghuai, Haizhou at this time was much more majestic.
Although Haizhou has little contact with Guanyun and other cities in the south, and Haitang Chidao is not very busy after winter, Chidao from Haizhou to the west, directly into Yizhou, and the port in the east of Haizhou City
, displayed in front of Yue Lengqiu and others, it was a crowd that was rare in the world.
It is rumored that the number of residents in Haizhou City has increased to 100,000 in just two years, which seems to be no exaggeration at all.
"What would Duke Chong have done if he learned about the emperor's death during the Northern Expedition?" Yue Zhi saw the majestic Haizhou City with his own eyes, and could believe that Lin Fu's determination for the Northern Expedition was still there. If it wasn't for the Northern Expedition, why would he do it?
Is it necessary to build such a large-scale logistics support base? But Emperor Yongxing could die at any time. Would Lin Fu really risk missing the best opportunity to usurp the throne and become emperor by embarking on the Northern Expedition? Yue Zhi couldn't help but ask his uncle Yue Leng
Autumn.
"If Duke Chong Guo is sure that the Northern Expedition will lead to a great victory, it will not have much impact whether he gives in or not," Yue Lengqiu said. The great victory in Jingxiang will give Lin Fu the ability to completely evacuate the imperial family. If Lin Fu recovers the Central Plains in the Northern Expedition,
Even if Emperor Yongxing does not die, abdication is his only choice. Yue Lengqiu raised his forehead and looked at the fortress on Houyuntai Mountain, as if muttering to himself, "It is puzzling right now. From Haizhou
Going north, how to use troops?"
Yue Zhi was also puzzled by this question.
Using Haizhou as a base, the Jinghai Navy can harass the coasts of Shandong and Liaodong. This is okay - but if it is only used as the logistic support base and garrison of the Jinghai Navy, why does Haizhou need the scale it is today? The former coastal town is enough.
.
Although Yue Lengqiu, Yue Zhi, Deng Yu, Tao Chun and others were unable to lead the Northern Expedition, they had repeatedly deduced possible strategies for the Northern Expedition.
The best strategy that Yue Lengqiu and others could think of for Huaidong was to divide the troops into two groups to conduct the Shandong Campaign:
Send troops all the way from Xuzhou, go north along the Bianshui River and Sishui River, seize western Shandong and eastern Henan, with the frontline pointing directly at the banks of the Yellow River; send troops all the way from Yizhou, go along the Yishan Mountain and the Méng Valley Road, attack and seize Chexian Pass
Linqu, Qingzhou. Divide the troops and attack together. As long as the Huaidong Army can capture Tai'an, Qingzhou, Linzi and other places, it will have an advantage in the Shandong battle. Next, the troops can sweep Jiaozhou, Dengzhou, Laizhou to the east, and threaten Jiaozhou, Dengzhou, and Laizhou to the north.
Jinan, Pingyuan and even the three prefectures of Yannan, go west up the river and attack Daliang and Hezhong prefectures.
Since the road from Yishan to Méng Valley all the way to Pochexianguan in the south of Linqu City is dangerous, the two Huaidong armies still need to focus on the direction of Biansi.
According to the opinions of Yue Lengqiu and others, Lin Fuyu's Northern Expedition should vigorously develop Xuzhou, rather than the small town of Haizhou, which is five or six hundred miles away from Xuzhou.
Another issue is the large-scale confrontation between cavalry and infantry.
During the Battle of Jingxiang, the main cavalry force of Yanhu's Western Front Corps was mainly concentrated to the west of the Han River and played almost no role. At that time, Yanhu's cavalry department on the east bank of the Han River was dominated by Meng Anchan's command, which was only
There were 20,000 people, but they could not actually play any role. Because they secretly stabbed Huaidong's ambush in Chaishan, the eastern defense line collapsed in the blink of an eye.
Meng Anchan's cavalry was eventually surrounded and annihilated. In fact, after gaining an absolute strategic advantage, the Huaidong Army's sniper troops took advantage of the complex terrain at the northern foot of Dahong Mountain to intercept and encircle Meng Anchan's cavalry;
In addition, the Huaidong Army also invested no less than five thousand elite cavalry, which also played a vital role.
The great victory of Jingxiang can only be said that the Huaidong Army was surprisingly successful strategically, achieving the strategic goal of defeating the enemy deeply and winning by surprise. It does not mean that the Huaidong Army, which was mainly infantry, could effectively suppress the Yanhu Army on the frontal battlefield.
Cavalry Regiment.
Lin Fuyu's Northern Expedition will not cause particularly serious problems in conquering Shandong.
Especially in central Shandong, the Tai and Yi mountains are criss-crossed and the terrain is complex, which imposes considerable restrictions on the operations of the Yanhu Cavalry Corps. However, after the Huaidong Army can capture the hilly central part of Shandong, it will then launch its troops to the north.
, is the Yanji Plain; spreading to the west is the Hehuai Plain.
At this time, the Huaidong Army will face the problem of a battle with the main cavalry regiment of Yanhu. Obviously, it will not act too hastily.
In other words, even if Lin Fu decided to make the Northern Expedition, he would have to take Shandong first in stages. It was impossible to drive Yanhu away and regain the Central Plains in one go.
Since the Central Plains could not be recovered in one go, and there was no guarantee of victory in Shandong, Yue Lengqiu believed from the bottom of his heart that Lin Fu would not take the risk of attacking Shandong at this time, but should wait patiently for Emperor Yongxing to die of illness, and then abdicate and proclaim himself emperor.
After establishing a new dynasty with a solid foundation, it is not too late to start planning for the Northern Expedition.
Yue Lengqiu has won and lost battles over the years, and his achievements are far less brilliant than Lin Fu's. However, there are many practical constraints to defeating the battle. When it comes to military understanding, Yue Lengqiu will not think that he is inferior to Lin Fu.
How many……
This is also the case in previous intelligence. Although it has been repeatedly emphasized that Lin Fu regards Haizhou as the main logistics base for the Northern Expedition, Yue Lengqiu has never seen it with his own eyes. He always subconsciously believes that operating Haizhou is Lin Fu's deception, and that Lin Fu consciously wants to force him to do so.
Yanhu invested all its limited resources in the area east of Qingzhou. The actual purpose was to reduce Yanhu's investment in western Shandong and Xuzhou's frontal defense line.
However, standing in front of Haizhou City with a population of over 100,000, Yue Lengqiu's previous judgment was shaken again.
Just for the sake of being an eyesore, the cost of running Haizhou City like this may not be too high - but how to send troops from Haizhou to fight north?
To the north of Yizhou, from the valley road between Yishan and Mengshan to Pochexian Pass, the road is very dangerous and cannot accommodate hundreds of thousands of Huaidong Army's elite infantry to squeeze in; and from Haizhou go directly to the northeast
, all the way to Jimo, at the southern foot of Kunyu Mountain are mostly coastal tidal flats with no roads. The Huaidong Army obviously would not have the patience to build a seawall road between Haizhou and Jimo during the Northern Expedition.
Sea route?
Lin Fu captured Dengzhou and opened the gate to the Bohai Bay without relying on the absolute superiority of the Jinghai Division two years ago. He got a rare two-year recuperation time in Yanhu. How confident was the Jinghai Division that he could capture Yanhu by force?
A four-year-long sea-locking defense line was built?
Yanhu's naval force in Dengzhou also numbered 30,000 men. Although it was not enough to compete with the Jinghai Navy on the vast sea, it still had a certain combat effectiveness relying on the solid sea-locking defense line.
At this moment, Yue Lengqiu also became suspicious: Should Lin Fu proclaim himself emperor first, or should he expedition to the north first?
Just when Yue Lengqiu and Yue Zhi's uncle and nephew were wondering, in the east, from the sea outside Houyuntai Mountain, there was a faint sound of thunder - Yue Lengqiu was startled, why did it suddenly happen in this winter?
Thunder is coming?
"This is going to change!" Yue Zhou, who was in charge of guarding along the road, rode over, looked at the place where the thunder sounded suspiciously, and said in disbelief.
Yue Lengqiu naturally didn't believe in the theory of ghosts and gods changing the sky. Thunder was rare in winter, but it was not absolutely non-existent.
At this time, a group of horse soldiers galloped out from Haizhou City, led by Wu Qi, deputy chief of staff of the Northern Command Headquarters, and Zhang Gou, deputy commander and military staff officer of Fengli Army - Yue Lengqiu and Wu Qi and Zhang Gou both
It’s no surprise that during this period of time, Lin Fu had to discuss something important with Yue Lengqiu, and Wu Qi was the one doing most of the work.
Seeing that the two of them came out of the city to greet them on behalf of Lin Fu, Yue Lengqiu got out of the car and waited respectfully: "General Wu, General Zhang will go out of the city to welcome..."
"The Privy Councilor wanted to come in person to greet him, but the Fire Crossbow was scheduled to be tested on the island today, so it was difficult to reschedule it. The Privy Councilor and Mr. Gao went to the East-West Connecting Island and ordered Wu Qi to wait for Governor Yue and General Yue to come over, and then invite the two of them to go.
The east and west meet across the island..." Wu Qi said.
"Fuhuo Crossbow?" Yue Lengqiu was stunned for a while when he heard the name of a new type of weapon that had never been known before, and then asked, "There was a faint sound of thunder just now. Is it a test firing of Fuhuo Crossbow?"
"Exactly," Wu Qi said, "Originally there wouldn't be such a big noise, but this time we have to test-fire a target six miles away, so the noise is extra loud..."
Yue Lengqiu's face was full of surprise, and he and Yue Zhi looked at each other - what weapon can shoot a target six miles away?
Yue Lengqiu also heard a little bit about the Zhundong Army's development of fumarol.
Brimstone was passed down to alchemy in the previous dynasty. It is not a secret that Song Shixian, who was one of the great scholars of Chongxueguan, was reprimanded for practicing alchemy, so that he never made any progress in his official career - I heard Wu Qi say about Huaidong
The new weapon being tested was called Fuhuo Crossbow. Yue Lengqiu immediately thought of Fuhuo Brisulfan - how could Fuhuo Brisulfan, banned by two dynasties, be so powerful?
Yue Lengqiu looked to the east. They were still eleven or twelve miles away from the harbor. The harbor was still eleven or twelve miles away from the East-West Island. The sound of the Fuhuo Crossbow test firing could be heard twenty-two or three miles away.