There are many goshawks inhabiting the western foothills of Longshan and Qinling Mountains. The carrier pigeons that Feng Yi and Lu Ze brought with the army to Chengzhou could easily fall prey to goshawks and other raptors. This time, the carrier pigeons failed to spread the news in time.
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The news that Li Zhigao led the Liangzhou army westward to Chengzhou and won the first battle was reported to Luoyang by messenger all the way over the mountains and ridges. By that time, it was already after the Shangyuan Festival in the third year of Taihe.
It was still chilly in Luoyang City in early spring. After the new year, new cast iron lampposts were erected in the garden of Shangyang Garden. At night, the palace maids opened the lampshades, added new gas stones and water, and lit the lamps.
, emits much brighter light than traditional lamps and candles.
Gas stone was a new product that was unintentionally generated when the Institute of Technology conducted a retort test using quicklime and coke. It formed flammable gas when exposed to water. Fortunately, the quantity of gas stone produced during the experiment was very small and did not cause any uncontrollable accidents.
The Institute of Engineers submitted the relevant information because they were thinking about the possible military use of the gas stone.
After Han Qian saw the materials from the Institute of Engineering, he realized that compared with its military value, the gas stone, which can stably generate flammable gas when added with water, is actually a very cheap outdoor lighting material that is much brighter than ordinary lamp oil when ignited.
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Due to safety considerations, gas stones cannot be used for indoor lighting, and the requirements for moisture-proof storage are also extremely strict. However, Han Qian ordered the Institute of Engineering to trial-produce a batch of gas stone lamps and install them in the garden of Shangyang Garden as soon as possible.
It is more conducive to the subsequent promotion of this new thing.
The gas stone lamp in the corner emits bright light, which shines into the hall of Lingyun Pavilion through the green glass window. Han Qian is sitting behind the long desk under the window, browsing Li Zhigao and Feng Yi's delivery from Chengzhou.
After returning the memorial, he smiled proudly and said to Wang Jun:
"Let's see, I decisively led the Liangzhou Army to march westward, and I didn't miss anything important, right?"
"You decisively decided to send the Liangzhou Army to the west. That is what you should do as the leader of the Liang Kingdom. Chen Jingzhou, Han Yuanqi and others had concerns before, and it was their duty as ministers to think carefully for you. What can you do now?
Proud?" Wang Jun smiled.
The memorials sent back by Li Zhigao and Feng Yi recorded the details of the first battle of the Liangzhou Army's westward expedition to Longyou. This made everyone in Luoyang feel lucky. Chen Jingzhou and Han Yuanqi, who had originally advocated rejecting Li Zhigao's westward march, had also just arrived.
Come to Shangyangyuan and ask Han Qian to reflect.
Judging from the current situation, if Han Qian accepts their suggestion, he will ignore Li Zhigao's request to lead his troops to the west in early October. Instead, after receiving the news that Hou Mo and other Qiang tribe leaders accepted the incorporation of the Mongols, he will ask Li Zhigao to
Organizing troops for the Western Expedition from Liangzhou, even if we do not mention the resistance of the Liangzhou army, it is said that it will be delayed for at least three or four months.
At that time, Hou Mo might have initially integrated the Qiang forces into the state, and even built a strong fortress to garrison troops at Niuwei Gorge, the west entrance of the Niujiyi Ancient Road.
At that time, it will be even more difficult for the Liangzhou Army to advance westward. It may even be impossible to break through the blockade of Niuwei Gorge and advance westward after paying heavy casualties. However, at this time, it will actually pose a threat to Chengzhou and others.
The military threat in southwestern Longxi will inevitably promote the internal integration of the Qiang tribes in this area and move more firmly towards the Mongols.
Everything affects the whole body. In that case, the situation on the entire Western Front will definitely be unfavorable to Daliang.
Of course, Han Qian did not blame Han Yuanqi, Chen Jingzhou and the others at all. Just as Wang Jun said, Han Yuanqi and Chen Jingzhou's original suggestions were also fulfilling their responsibilities, and the final decision-making power rests with him.
Of course, Han Qian and Chen Jingzhou were somewhat complacent when they were in Han Yuanqi. In fact, it was Li Zhigao who led his troops into Chengzhou in time, won the first battle, and severely damaged Wang Xiaoxian's troops in Qinzhou. The direct and potential impact on the entire battle situation cannot be tolerated. A little peek.
On the other hand, Han Qian also knows that the truly resourceful and thoughtful people in this world are not to be underestimated. The reason why he can stand above others is not because of how brilliant his personal intelligence is, but more because of his ability to take advantage of the dream world. It is far cheaper than many advanced experiences and knowledge systems in the world.
In terms of personal talents alone, people like Feng Liao, Gu Qian, and Guo Rong are by no means inferior to him. At this time, Chen Jitang, who decided to stay in Liyang and presided over Liyang Academy and focused on promoting the development of the new academic system, was even more distant. above him.
Wang Wenqian lived in Lianyuan and spent more than half a year thoroughly reading hundreds of new academic monographs sent to Lianyuan by Wang Jun.
Hundreds of new academic monographs sent to Lianyuan can be made public within the scope of colleges and universities. Otherwise, they are classified as top secret. Wang Wenqian cannot access the newer and more confidential research results of the Institute of Technology, and this is also to avoid suspicion. , I can only write a letter to communicate with Wang Jun about some of his experiences in studying new things.
Only then did Han Qian realize that there were indeed people with extremely high IQs in the world. Seeing Wang Jun laughing at him at this time, he said, "I also plan to write a letter to Chen Jitang and ask him to include your father in some new scientific research that Liyang Academy is currently responsible for. So that your father can find something he is really interested in doing for the rest of his life - since you laugh at me like this, I won't write this letter..."
"Your Majesty, how do you want me to beg you to change your mind?" Wang Jun tilted his head and looked at Han Qian with his wonderful eyes and asked.
"It's rare that you ask me for help. I have to think about it carefully after reading these memorials." Han Qian said.
After the establishment of the Council of Government, memorials to prefectures, counties and various departments were decided by Zuo Nei Shi Fu, and the new system of review by the Council of Government was initially put into operation. In principle, Han Qian would no longer reject matters decided by the Council of Government, but important memorials and letters were He still had to look at them one by one.
In the past two days, the main discussions and deliberations in Zuo Neishi Mansion and the Council of Government centered on the victory of the Liangzhou Army in the first battle of the Western Expedition and the continued support of the Western Expedition Army in Longyou.
Needless to say, the victory in the first battle of the Western Expedition had a profound impact on the war situation on the Western Front. The most direct benefit was that in addition to obtaining high-quality war horses from the Songfan area through the Shu Kingdom, they could also obtain high-quality horse sources from Longyou in the future.
What the Zuo Neishi Mansion now needs to consider is how to organize high value-added, controllable transportation cost commercial goods, using Xichuan and Mianyang as transfer points, and transport them to southwestern Longnan through the Danjiang River, Hanshui River and Niujiyi Ancient Road. The war horses were traded and transported back to the hinterland, while enough profits were reserved for the Western Expeditionary Army to obtain sufficient food supplies from the local area.
At present, the industrial product production system that has been initially formed is concentrated in Xuzhou, Donghu, Huaiyang, Yongyang and other places. Currently, the most developed area is the construction of many crafts workshops in the southern area of Luoyang to mine coal and iron minerals.
It is difficult to minimize transportation costs for industrial products produced in these areas and transported to Longyou area.
In addition to the scale of transporting commercial goods from Xuzhou to Dengjun Prefecture via waterway, which was restricted by the peace negotiation agreement, whether the trade was transported from Huaixi or Heluo to Xichuan and transferred to Xichuan by water, there was a considerable distance of land transportation.
Even though the construction of post roads and the promotion of heavy-duty horse-drawn carriages have solved part of the problem of insufficient transportation capacity, the cost of land transportation is still several times that of mainstream shipping.
Feng Liao, Gu Qian and others all advocated building crafts workshops in Xichuan, Wancheng and other places to mine coal, iron and other coal mines.
Xichuan and Wancheng were the capitals of Dengzhou and Dengzhou at this time. The city had a history of thousands of years. In particular, Wancheng was located in the center of Dengzhou (Nanyang Basin). It was prosperous in the previous dynasty and had more than 200,000 households in the city alone.
Dengzhou, known as Nanyang Grain, had at most one million registered households.
The prosperity of the Nanyang Basin was completely destroyed by hundreds of continuous wars, large and small, for decades because it was located at the strategic point between the north and the south in the late period of the previous dynasty.
After the founding of the Liang-Chu Kingdom, Nanyang became the focus of the long-term tug-of-war between the two countries on the western front.
Even after the Jingxiang War, the Chu army advanced the defense line to Fangcheng in the northern part of the Nanyang Basin and moved a large number of soldiers to fill the defense line. Farming and production recovered to some extent. However, Lu Qingxia failed to launch a palace coup and coerced the Queen Mother Wang Chan'er and Xiang.
Wang Yanglin fled to Xiangcheng and briefly separated Xiangbei. Deng and Jun prefectures finally restored some farming and Dingkou, but suffered heavy losses again.
At present, the total population of Dengjun and Dengzhou is only 200,000. Even Junzhou, which is sandwiched between Funiu Mountain and Qinling Mountains with undulating mountains, has a higher population than Dengzhou, which is known as the grain valley of Nanyang and has a large amount of fertile land that can be cultivated.
A little more.
If you want to develop industry and mining in Wancheng and Xichuan, you must have a corresponding farming population as the basis.
At present, the total population of the twelve counties in Dengjun and Dengjun prefectures is less than 200,000, and they are even extremely scattered. On this basis, there is no need to think about how large-scale industrial and mining industries can be developed.
After the peace talks between Liang and Chu, Daliang promised to reduce the garrison in Deng and Jun states. However, no one can ignore the strategic value of Deng and Jun states. From this point of view alone, the Daliang center needs to go to Dengzhou and Dengzhou.
Large-scale migratory population enriches prefectures and counties.
Previously, they were busy stabilizing the situation on the Heluo front line and failed to take into account the development of Deng and Jun states. This time they discussed the need to transport high value-added goods to Longyou via Liangzhou and advocated large-scale development in Wancheng and Xichuan.
In the industry and mining industry, in addition to relocating engineers and families from Xuzhou and Donghu to these two places, the problem of large-scale transfer of farming population to the two places cannot be avoided.
The key is that the states and counties currently under the jurisdiction of Daliang are far from fully populated. There is a large amount of fertile land that can be cultivated in various places, and there is an urgent need to move in people, not move out people.
In order to resolve this contradiction, Feng Liao, Gu Qian, Guo Rong and others suggested that Zhao Wuji and Li Xiuwei garrison the defense line on the west bank of the Ying River in Xuzhou, Chenzhou and other places. The focus of subsequent operations should be to do everything possible to go to the areas along the Guishui and Surabaya rivers.
Infiltrating, or luring, or forcing, bring back the households in these areas and move them to Deng and Jun states. This can also achieve the purpose of continuously weakening the Dongliang Army.
Although Han Qian did not want to do more things that disturbed the people, the military government could not tolerate too much kindness from women.
Of course, even if it is to facilitate the smooth recovery of these places in the future, the foundation of public opinion must not be lost, and bloody methods must be avoided as much as possible to create hatred.
The Military Intelligence Staff Office proposed two possible plans and submitted them.
The first one is through the gallbladder copper smelting method that Xuzhou mastered in his early years. The Institute of Technology currently has some research on the use of substitution methods for copper plating and silver plating. It can cast iron coins on a large scale and plate them with copper, pretending to be normal.
Copper coins flowed into the cities currently controlled by the Dongliang Army, such as Woyang, Bozhou, Bianliang, and Xingyang.
To put it bluntly, a large amount of counterfeit money with a cost of only one-fifth or sixth of normal copper money was used to disrupt the prices of food and other commodities in the border cities controlled by the Dongliang Army, thus inhibiting the recuperation and recuperation of these areas and forcing the people at the bottom to go to Huaihe River.
Fleeing to the west and Yingxi area.
The second is to build a diversion weir in a specific bay area of Yingshui River, so that a part of the Yu River water that is completely immersed in the Shaying River can be diverted through the depressed area on the east bank of Yingshui River to the Wohe River on the east side.
Before regaining Xingyang, Wuzhi and other cities and blocking the breach of the Yu River embankment, this will not only effectively reduce the flood disasters in the middle and lower reaches of the Shaying River, Shouzhou and Haozhou, but also deepen the vortex controlled by the Dongliang Army during the summer and autumn flood seasons.
Floods on both sides of the river have suppressed the pace of leisure and business in these areas, forcing the people at the bottom to flee to Huaixi or Yingxi areas.
At this time, Zhao Wuji and Li Xiu provided appropriate guidance in Xuchen and other places, and the effect of attracting population inflow from the areas controlled by the Dongliang Army became more obvious.
Han Qian summoned Wang Che and Yin Peng, who were waiting in the outer hall, and said to them: "The second plan is sealed. As for the first one about casting copper-plated iron coins, you go to Feng Liao and ask the Qian Bureau to execute it secretly.
First, cast one million copper-plated iron coins and deliver them to Xuzhou to test the effect."
"The effect of casting copper-plated iron coins needs time to verify, but building a diversion weir at Yingshui River can have immediate results," Wang Zhe said. "Your Majesty is worried that it will hurt the people too much and increase the number of deaths. Before summer, we can
First build a diversion weir in Yanling to divert a small amount of Yu River floodwater into Guishui..."
This method was his initiative and it took a lot of thought to perfect. Naturally, he wanted to persist more.
"The speed of recovering Xingyang is not as slow as you think," Han Qian said. "I plan to send troops to attack Xingyang City on two fronts before this autumn and winter. After regaining Xingyang City, concrete blocks can be piled up from the west side of the levee breach.
By closing the breach bit by bit, or forcing the breach of the levee to move eastward, it will naturally have the effect of diverting floodwaters to the south of Wuzhi and Bianliang. There is no need to waste manpower and material resources to build diversion weirs in Xuzhou and Chenzhou...
"
"Use troops against Xingyang before autumn and winter?" Wang Che asked hesitantly.
Although Xingyang is isolated at the northeastern foothills of Songshan Mountain by the Yu River and the flooded Jialu River, except for Liang Shixiong who personally leads 20,000 elite troops to garrison Xingyang, Mengzhou guarded by Zhao Mengzhou is across the river from Xingyang, and Zhu Rang designated it as the Dongliang Military State
Bianliang City, the capital city, is across the flooded Jialu River and less than 200 miles away from Xingyang. There are also fortresses such as Wuzhi garrisoned by elites in the middle.
At present, Xingyang is the enemy's only foothold on the east flank of Heluo, and it is also a large and dangerous city. Wang Che thought that Han Qian would have to wait for two or three years to at least wait for the enemy to attack the Heluo area.
After it was completely relieved, they tried to send troops to capture Xingyang again.
"Only after we have captured Xingyang and ensured that the eastern flank of Heluo is completely safe can we send troops to regain Guanzhong," Han Qian said. "I originally thought of waiting for two years to wait until the situation in Heluo stabilized, but Li Zhigao led the Western Expeditionary Army in
If the battle at Longyou goes well, we might not be able to use troops against Xingyang this year - you can write a secret letter to Wuji on my behalf and ask him to start preparations first..."
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After the Shangyuan Festival, the Yingshui River is still three feet frozen, and there is no sign of the river ice melting yet.
Zhao Wuji was wearing a dark gray cloak and was sitting astride a horse. His thin face was as cold and perseverant as a knife or an axe. He listened to the horse's hooves lightly tapping the hard river ice, as if a hammer was gently tapping the rock.
He frowned his long eyebrows and looked at the wasteland-like land on the other side.
In order to stabilize the situation in Heluo, in addition to the deaths of more than 30,000 generals at the mouth of the Yiluo River and Mangshan, Hulao Pass and other places on both sides, the Songnan and Shuanglonggou plank roads were also widened regardless of cost, breaking through Heluo, Shangzhou and the hinterland.
Land transportation is a bottleneck and consumes a lot of national power.
Even if there is spare capacity, we will go all out to build and develop the industry and mining industry in southern Luoyang.
Whether it was the infiltration operations against Lishan and Wangwushan after the autumn, or the recent western expedition led by Li Zhigao of the Liangzhou Army, the scale of the troops used was limited. To Lishan, Wangwushan sent slightly more troops, mainly across the Yu River.
Supplies are convenient and there is not much extra consumption, and the Western Expedition Army led by Li Zhigao actually only has 6,000 soldiers and horses. The initial goal is only to surrender, and to integrate the forces of the three states in southwest Longnan, most of the problems still need to be solved on the spot.
Food and grass supply issues.
This also determines that the newly established Xuzhou Camping Army after the Liang-Chu Peace Conference, even though it was composed of elite infantry and cavalry troops such as Li Xiu, Feng Zhang, He Liufeng, Cao Ba, and Zhao Ci, did not have sufficient logistical supplies to support it.
After the autumn, they were gradually transferred to Xuzhou, Chenzhou and other city fortresses. They needed to familiarize themselves with the place and build camps, so there was no way to conduct large-scale operations in the area east of Yingshui River.
But this does not mean that they will fight less this winter.
Before the flood season, the Mongolian Army and the Dongliang Army attacked Heluo to no avail, and were forced to withdraw after the Yuhe River flood season came. However, in terms of the course of the Heluo battle in the first half of the year and the final casualty ratio, it was the Mongolian Army and the Dongliang Army that had the advantage.
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Wusu Dashi and Xiao Yiqing saw that Liang and Chu had finally reached a peace agreement, which enabled Liang Jun to mobilize a large number of elites from the southern front and go north to strengthen the defense line. They decided to give up this winter and organize large-scale troops to attack Heluo again. The various tribes rested and consolidated the existing ones.
The defense line is the main one.
However, Zhu Rang and the Mongolian cavalry general Hetu, who stationed in the southern area of Bianliang as reinforcements to assist the Dongliang Army in defending the east bank of Yingshui River, did not take it seriously.
In addition to Sima Tan and Xu Mingzhen's troops on the southern line, after the Ying River was completely frozen in late November, Zhu Rang and Hetu organized a large number of troops to cross the middle reaches of the Ying River and attack Xuzhou and Chenzhou on the west bank of the Ying River.
Frequently launch large-scale attacks.
In addition to the more than 12,000 Mongolian cavalry led by Hetu, Zhu Rang also organized 20,000 cavalry, who took turns entering the west bank of Yingshui River to invade.
After late November, the streams and rivers were frozen, and the area east of Funiu Mountain and Song Mountain was flat and broad, which was also conducive to the cavalry's roundabout operations.
Li Xiu led the three newly formed cavalry brigades. The cavalry strength was only one-third of the invading enemy forces. However, they had to undertake the combat mission of intercepting the penetration of enemy cavalry outside the city fortress. They were under great pressure. Throughout the winter, Li Xiu led the three newly formed cavalry brigades.
The casualties were not small either.
Of course, when the enemy cavalry tried to gather a large number of troops and invade deeper west of the Ying River, and even tried to attack the city, or to besiege the infantry brigade array fighting out of the city fort, Liang was well-trained and had high morale.
The elite soldiers, as well as the spring-arm bed crossbow and other sophisticated war equipment that entered the field for mobile combat, caused them a lot of hardships.
It was already past the Shangyuan Festival, and in ten days and a half, the Hehuai River would thaw. After leaving more than 3,000 corpses, the Dongliang Army gradually withdrew to the east of the Yinghe River.
The casualties suffered by Xuzhou's marching army were not very large. The number of people killed in the counter-invasion campaign throughout the winter was about a thousand or more, but the number of burned houses, massacred and looted people in Chen and Xuzhou was as high as
More than 20,000 people.
Zhao Wuji and Li Xiu were not satisfied with this result, but they had no good way to prevent the enemy's overwhelmingly superior cavalry from breaking in and attacking.
In this open wilderness, even if infantrymen in heavy armor ride on military horses that are not known for their speed, it is difficult to catch up with the enemy's light cavalry who insist on guerrilla attacks; and in terms of the size of the cavalry, they are far smaller.
When crossing the Huaihe River, enemy troops cannot be easily entangled.
Wang Che advocated building a diversion weir in the middle and upper reaches of the Ying River (Shaying River) to divert the Yu River water to Guishui and even Si River, so as to form a deeper and wider buffer zone in the hinterland of the Hehuai River. He personally rushed to Xu
We conducted on-site survey of the terrain in Xuzhou and discussed it with Zhao Wuji, Li Xiu and other Xuzhou generals.
Zhao Wuji, Li Xiu and others supported this plan.
This will prevent the enemy from gaining a foothold on the east bank of Yingshui River. In the following autumn and winter, they will only be able to attack the west bank of Yingshui River from the farther east bank of Wushui River.
In fact, it will increase the distance traveled by the enemy's cavalry by one or two hundred miles, which will naturally be more conducive to Xuzhou's camp troops' defense on the west bank of Yingshui River.
However, the plan to build a diversion weir in the middle and upper reaches of the Shaying River was stuck with Han Qian and failed to pass. Han Qian also asked them to consider and prepare a battle plan to attack Xingyang from the southern front within this year.
Zhao Wuji frowned and stared at the last group of more than a hundred enemy cavalry disappearing into the distance, but he was thinking about how to prepare for the attack on Xingyang from the southern front.