Xiao Shilian and Yang Su were already waiting in the main hall, and the two seemed to be arguing about something.
As for the main hall that was originally used by the Western Liang Shang Dynasty, a large map was hung on one side of the wall. Several officials from the Situ Mansion were nervously marking it, and the huge sand table was already in place.
The Han army has developed the habit of making sand tables and deductions. Whenever they go to a place, they will rely on scouts and white robes to collect local intelligence, and the craftsmen in the army will immediately make sand tables, so that the generals can become more familiar with their surroundings.
Even if the conditions are simple and there is no sand table, everyone will deduce it on the map to at least make themselves aware of the current situation.
"The situation in the northwest is so chaotic that it is necessary for us to recruit troops from Xiangyang and go north to Hanzhong." Yang Su frowned slightly and pointed at the sand table. This sand table is the terrain from Xiangyang to Hanzhong and then to the northwest. Of course, many of them are rough.
Just a summary.
"But if Yang Jian goes south to Xiangyang, can Xiangyang be defended?!" Xiao Shilian said in a deep voice, "And Xiangyang to the west may face the threat posed by Yuchi Jiong from Luoyang. Although Yu Wenxian's army went north, Yuchi Jiong did not
Still motionless!"
"When did you, Xiao Boqing, become so safe?" Li Xingchen's voice suddenly sounded.
This made both Xiao Shilian and Yang Su startled, and they hurriedly raised their hands and saluted: "Your Majesty!"
And Li Xingchen looked at the troop deployment on the sand table: "Is there any news from the northwest?"
"Just six days ago, Cao Zhong and Yu Yi teamed up to eliminate a Tutun and two thousand soldiers of the Turks." Yang Su said hurriedly, "This is the battle report just sent after your Majesty went to inspect."
"Tutun?" Li Xingchen was stunned for a moment, "You did a good job. But there are only two thousand cavalry in each Tutun?"
Yang Su nodded solemnly: "Yes, this is the problem. This shows that this Tutun at least has many subordinates behind to protect the people, but we don't know exactly what they are. Cao Zhong and the others have already
We have sent people to investigate, and if we can capture a Tutun tribesman, then we will indeed have won a complete victory."
"I'm afraid it's not that easy." Li Xingchen said lightly, "If we can let Tutun be the vanguard, the Turks will definitely be behind us."
Suddenly Li Xun and others took a breath of cold air. As former Northern Zhou generals, they had also experienced the period when the Northern Zhou Dynasty was groveling towards the Turks. They also knew that the strength of the Turks was actually not as weak as imagined, mainly because they were nomadic.
As a nation, the Turks are scattered across the vast grasslands and deserts, making it difficult to form a unified fighting force.
But this time it was obvious that the Turkic tribes went south collectively to plunder, so compared to the usual way of plundering southward in groups of tribes in twos and threes, the scale was larger and more difficult to deal with. And if the Turkic Khan was also there, then with the current military strength of the Han in the northwest
, even if Yu Yi from the Northern Zhou Dynasty is added, it may be difficult to support it.
If this is the case, it seems really necessary to increase troops to the northwest.
Li Xingchen said in a deep voice: "Our own judgment is this, what does Cao Zhong say?"
After hesitating for a moment, Yang Su replied helplessly: "General Zhengxi said that there is no need to increase troops for the time being. The situation in the northwest is certainly tense, but as long as the ministries strictly guard the city, the Turks will not benefit at all. It is winter now, and there is no need to worry about the Turks.
Harvest the bread of the wilderness.”
"There are not many cities in the northwest, and most of them are not large. If there are too many troops and horses, they will not have much effect." Li Xingchen nodded. Cao Zhong was best at defense and was also steady. Since he can make such a judgment,
, which shows that he himself knows it well.
After a pause, Li Xingchen looked at Xiao Shilian: "What do you think of Boqing?"
Xiao Shilian said attentively: "Your Majesty, although the situation in the northwest is tense, it is only this winter after all. When spring comes, the Turks will naturally return north if they cannot support themselves. Moreover, their main source of food is the border fortress north of Hetao and Jinyang. The northwest is barren.
Even if they did rush in, it would be difficult to plunder enough food to sustain them through the winter. Therefore, I thought that this time the Turks came westward in great force, not so much with the intention of plundering, but rather to avoid the limelight temporarily.
This is also consistent with the Turkic people’s hit-and-run style.”
Li Xingchen was a little surprised. He had to say that this was indeed something he had never thought of before.
The situation in the northwest is not much better than on the grassland. Now they are completely dependent on the continuous blood transfusions from Bashu. This is why the aristocratic families in the northwest are still loyal to the Han Dynasty, because once there is no support from the Han Dynasty, they will be under the wave of Turks.
Like duckweed without roots.
But now at least they have the army of the Han Dynasty. The Battle of Lingwu has told the Turks that it is not that easy to take over the northwest. They have to pay a lot of money to get a small amount of food. This is obviously not worth the gain for the Turks.
"So things in the northwest are actually just winter matters," Li Xingchen sighed, "We can't relax our arrangements for the Central Plains just because of the northwest."
Yang Su nodded slightly, and regardless of whether to increase troops to the northwest, the Central Plains is the main target of the Han Dynasty: "The White Robe has now established a complete information collection and exploration network in the north, and we will continue to send elite scouts to cooperate.
But from now on, the army cannot act rashly, but it does not rule out that we can make some small efforts."
"Oh?" Li Xingchen looked over with a half-smile but not a smile. This guy Yang Su has also become a lot more cunning. This rhetoric obviously feels like avoiding the important and taking the easy.
Xiao Shilian, Li Xun and others were also energetic at this time. They should not have a chance in the Battle of the Northwest for the time being, but they did not mind participating in this matter, which was obviously going to cause trouble for the Northern Zhou Dynasty, at least to get some credit for themselves.
The Battle of Lingnan ended in an anticlimactic manner, the collapse of Nanchen, the vulnerability of Baiyue, and the quick surrender of the various Lingnan tribes made Xiao Shilian and the others hold their breath. The Battle of Yanguan was fought very hard at the beginning, and then
There is no longer a decent war, who doesn't want to vent?
"Now we go from the northwest to Huainan. This front seems to be a straight line, which is good for defense and offense, but in fact there are many flaws. For example, here," Yang Su had obviously been planning for a long time, "Suizhou on the east side of Xiangyang is in our
However, Yiyang, Huzhou (east of today's Deng County), Jingzhou (today's Deng County) and other places on the north side of Suizhou were still in the hands of the Zhou people.
The township (now northwest of Jun County) is also owned by the Zhou people."
After a pause, Yang Su said in a deep voice: "Without these places, we would directly face the enemy's attack from Nanyang and Luoyang in the direction of Xiangyang, not to mention that from Guanzhong, we can go straight to Xiangyang along the Dan River, so these places are the best.