Qin Official

Almost at the same moment when Wang Ben decided on the Pingnan strategy, in Ying County, in the famous small courtyard of Marquis Wu Zhong, when Heifu let everyone speak freely and put forward future plans, the staff, captains, and commanders almost burst into loud noises. pot!

Xu Fu, who had just arrived at Jiangling with his men from the south, immediately said: "Now, except for Dongting County, which has not yet surrendered, all the princes have taken Jingzhou. Xu Fu thought that we should take advantage of our army's building ships to take the sea route from Panyu, and let the Weiyang Captain Set off from the waterway, march to Kuaiji, and seize Jiangdong!"

Chen Ying, the commander of another department, was not to be outdone: "I heard that there have been many rebellions in Huainan recently. I should take this opportunity to march into Chu. Chen Ying is not talented and is willing to take Donghai County for the king!"

"Donghai County is Chen Sima's hometown. Sima naturally wanted to go back, but Wu Chen thought that he should march west from Yiling first, retrieve the fish, and then attack Bashu to welcome back the king's wife and gentleman."

After taking Dangyang County, the captain who came back to report made an even more exaggerated suggestion: "You are all wrong. You should immediately go north to capture Yan County, then attack Nanyang, advance to Wuguan, and then go all the way to Guanzhong and Xianyang." !”

Even Zhou Chang, a native of Sishui County who was brought by Xiao He in the early years and had a stutter, finally said: "Chang, Chang agrees with Chen Ying Sima's words. After taking Jiujiang, he is willing to cross the Huaihe River to capture Sishui County for the king..."

Among the people who advocated aggressive offensive and territorial expansion, a rational voice sounded:

"My subordinates believe that with the current situation, the Southern Expeditionary Army should defend rather than attack..."

Everyone looked back and saw Xiao He, who was well-dressed and had just been appointed as the "South Commander" by Hei Fu.

Xu Fu first questioned: "Guard? Sheriff Xiao, it is time to take advantage of the victory at Jiangling. The monarch is powerful in the south and expands the results of the war. How can he just stick to it?"

The captains and Sima looked disapproving, thinking that Xiao He was too conservative for a scribe, but Hei Fu asked Xiao He to continue.

Xiao He bowed to Hei Fu and said, "Although the prince, as the commander-in-chief of the Southern Expedition Army, once commanded 150,000 soldiers, and after the incident, he claimed several times that the 100,000-strong Southern Expedition Army had arrived. But in fact, the prince and All the captains also know that even if all the 20,000 men in Anlu are counted, the number of soldiers north of the river currently available to the monarch does not exceed 70,000..."

This is true. Although the southern expedition troops were large, they were almost all concentrated in Lingnan before the incident, so they moved north one after another, which took a lot of time.

Among the 35,000 people who followed Heifu to win the Battle of Jiangling, except for Han Xinshang who led 10,000 people to guard Jiangling and take care of more than 10,000 prisoners, the rest were scattered to Yiling, Dangyang, Jingling, Anlu and other places. , to realize Heifu's plan of "taking over all Nanjun".

On the other side of Hengshan County, Dongmen Bao and Anpu had 15,000 men and had just captured Zhu City.

Recently, Zhou Chang, Chen Ying, Xu Fu and others took 20,000 people to the north...

"The Yue people in Lingnan have noticed that the southern expeditionary army is moving northward. Some tribal chiefs are ready to move and tens of thousands of people must be left behind to guard them. Therefore, no more than 30,000 people can go north before the autumn harvest."

A total of 100,000 troops, this is the limit of the troops in Heifu's hands before winter. His political commitment will not be known until autumn.

Xiao He said: "Even if there are 100,000 troops, if it is true as the captains said just now, they will defend Jingzhou, advance towards Nanyang, threaten Guanzhong, capture Bashu, occupy Jiangdong, and also capture Jiujiang, Donghai, and Jiangdong. Surabaya, if we really want to implement it one by one, don’t talk about 100,000, even 200,000 will not be enough!”

"Now that the country is divided into north and south, the generals fighting in the south and north are far inferior to Guanzhong in terms of household registration and soldiers. Blindly expanding the area at this time will only disperse the troops, and the newly occupied counties cannot recruit local people to join the army in time. Once the court When a large army comes to attack, it is easy to be defeated individually."

He clenched his scattered fingers into fists and looked at the crowd: "It is better to unite the old troops than to separate them! The main force must stay and be prepared to defend the imperial army. At most, you can choose two places to send out partial troops, and no more than ten thousand people can be sent!" "

"What Governor Xiao said makes sense."

Heifu finally understood why Xiao He was called a "gong man" in history, while others were just "gong dogs".

When hunting, it is the hunting dogs who chase the beasts, but it is the hunters who find the traces of the beasts and point out where the beasts are. Merely catching wild beasts is indeed a feat of bravery, but discovering the traces of wild beasts and pointing out the hunting target also has merits of planning...

Many of Heifu's generals were dazzled by the victory and made the mistake of left-leaning radicalism. They only saw the prey ahead, but they ignored one thing:

Compared with the north, the south is just a younger brother!

The situation is still one where the enemy is strong and we are weak. The imperial court is very likely to recruit 200,000 to 300,000 troops to go south. How to deal with it is the top priority!

However, Captain Sima was still dissatisfied: "According to Governor Xiao's wishes, we will do nothing and wait in Jiangling?"

At this time, a person who had been silent since the beginning of the military meeting took over the question: "Of course not. If you are good at attacking, the enemy will not know where you are defending; if you are good at defending, the enemy will not know where you are attacking. Sometimes you need to use defense as offense. , sometimes, you can also attack and defend!"

But it was Han Xin who had repeatedly made extraordinary achievements and no one dared to underestimate him.

He came out of the queue and raised his hands to Heifu and said: "The Art of War says that if you attack, you must capture what you don't defend. That's why this monarch defeated Feng Wuze."

"If you defend and consolidate your position, you must attack it. This should be our way to defend against the enemy. Within ten months, the imperial court may send out large troops to attack. And if the enemy wants to go south to attack Nanjun, there are three places they must pass through. Everywhere is dangerous. If one can fight two, our army must seize it first..."

"It seems that Captain Han has been resting in Jiangling these days and has not been idle."

Heifu showed a clear smile. Speaking of which, he was the one who sent all the pictures and books hidden by Jiangling to Han Xin. He also boasted: "Han Duwei has become a high-ranking official, so he must learn from it!"

Han Xin resigned and had many duties in the army, but Hei Fu said: "Why do you want you to study and become a doctor? But you should dabble in mountains and rivers and know the geography. I am also from Guizhou, but I often read books, and I think it will be of great benefit."

Han Xin then calmed down and read the atlas for half a month, and it was indeed helpful for the march and the use of troops.

Heifu asked someone to spread out the map: "Which three places are they? Tell me one by one."

In the small courtyard, under the watchful eyes of everyone, Han Xin held a bamboo stick, lit it to the west of Jiangling and said: "One of them is Yiling (Yichang, Hubei). This place blocks the Three Gorges and the eastward route of Bashu. The emperor has sent Wu Chen Sima to take it. Needless to say."

"However, I think that just capturing Yiling is not safe enough. To the west of Yiling, Wu County (Wushan County, Chongqing) is also placed under Nanjun. We should continue to march and capture Jiangguan (Fengjie County, Chongqing)."

"Jiangguan was set up by the Chu State when the Ba Kingdom and the Chu State were attacking each other. It is located upstream of Yiling and is also the east gate of Bashu. When you enter Jiangguan, you have passed the danger of the Three Gorges and captured the mouth of Bashu. Even if the imperial court ordered Bashu to Building buildings and ships, if I want to repeat the story of Sima mistakenly attacking Chu, as long as Jiang Pass is in my hands, there is nothing to fear!"

Seeing Hei Fu keep nodding, Han Xin was greatly encouraged, and the stick pointed north:

"The second is Yan County (Xiangyang, Hubei Province). I recently observed the atlas in Jiangling and found that Yan County, like Nanyang, is actually the waist between the north and the south. For the south, the 500-mile trail from Yan County to Jiangling is the same as the lip and teeth. If there is no Yan County, then Jiangling will be under attack. Therefore, in the past, when Bai rose to pull out Yan, Chu could not defend the capital of Ying."

"The same goes for the north. This is a collision between water and land. It connects Wan and Luo in the north, and reaches Pingtu. If our army gets it, it can also attack Nanyang and threaten Wuguan!"

In Han Xin's imagination, Yan County, with its fertile fields and mulberry fields, connected by the Han River and blocked by mountains, would be the perfect battlefield to defend against enemies in the future!

"In the last battle of Yan, Lord Wu An was victorious, but this time, no matter who comes from the north, Han Xin will definitely rewrite the outcome of the war between the north and the south!"

With this in mind, he pointed his hand to the east of Yan County: "The third one is Ming'e (Xinyang City, Henan)."

"The three Ming'e fortresses, namely Datun, Zhiyuan and Ming'e, were built by the Chu State in the Spring and Autumn Period to isolate Huaihan. The Wu people could not break them, so they had to switch to Huairui. The Chu State also relied on these three fortresses to resist The Qin Kingdom lasted for decades. It was inconvenient for Qin to cross the fortress of Ming'e and attack Chu. I heard that it was not until Xiang Yan died in battle that Ming'e was finally defeated..."

Han Xin believed that although the main force of the imperial court would definitely attack through Wuguan and Nanyang, he did not rule out the possibility of sending a partial force from Guandong and attacking Anlu and Hengshan through Minghe.

"These are the three places that our army must capture within more than a month, not Jiujiang and Donghai, and it is impossible to go straight to Wuguan alone."

Xiao He and Han Xin's strategic analysis was very appropriate, and everyone was convinced. Hei Fu was also secretly happy: "The three heroes won the second place. Although I know that the strength of the south is not as strong as the north, I feel at ease."

However, as a leader, you have to show your skills at this time and show that you actually know it, but you just deliberately don't say it and let your subordinates show it.

So Heifu coughed lightly and said: "Although what Captain Han said is reasonable, he is a foreigner after all and does not know enough about the local important points. Yan County and Ming'e must be defended, but there is another place between the two places. Gotta take it too!”

Han Xin was stunned: "Could it be Sui County (Suizhou, Hubei Province)?"

Hei Fu nodded: "Of course, if you come out of Ming'e, you can take care of Ying and Ru, and if you come out of Yan, you can control Wan and Ye. This is true. However, the key to Ming'e and Yan counties will be followed by Shisi. In the Spring and Autumn Period, in the east of Han Dynasty, The country became bigger with Sui. King Wu of Chu conquered the Central Plains and obeyed Sui first, but all the concubines of Hanyang were wiped out. In addition, the mountains and rivers in the country were surrounded by passes, which were almost as dangerous as the bird's way and the sheep's intestines. In fact, he used troops to conquer them. Therefore, our army must take it first!"

Han Xin was still thinking, but Xiao He behind him was already convinced: "The Lord indeed has a good plan in mind!"

"You really have a good plan in mind!" Everyone flattered him.

In this way, the rebels from Huainan are swarming in the east, controlling Yilingjiang Pass in the west, and advancing the front to Yan County, Suixian County, and Ming'e in the north. They are all places that are easy to defend and difficult to attack. These three places can take After the attack, passive defense became active defense.

After "taking Jingzhou as our home first", a new strategy has been developed, which is to "seize the key from the north to make it solid". When there is no harvest, there is insufficient food and fodder, and the southern expeditionary army has not been fully assembled, defend first and then attack.

But Heifu added: "However, in addition to the defense, we can indeed let Yuzhang County send troops eastward, take Danyang of Zhang County, and then let Weiyang and Wu Rui, who is guarding central Fujian, move in and out of Kuaiji County by land and water. Take Koto!"

Everyone agreed. When no one else could hear, Hei Fu muttered secretly:

"The children of Jiangdong are so talented. It would be great if those eight thousand children could submit to me..."

…

After the military meeting was over, Jun Zheng left and came back again, reporting to Heifu something that the military judges had noticed.

"When I came to Jiangling for the first time, I found that many of the soldiers stationed here during the Southern Expedition, especially the people from Jiangling, were content with being reunited with their relatives after the victory and returned home, so they were a little slack."

"And we also know from other counties that whether it is Dangyang, Yiling, Jingling, or even the hometown of the princes, Anlu County, which has just been recovered by Sima Licang, soldiers from various counties in the army heard that their hometowns have been destroyed. Under the control of the Southern Expeditionary Army, despite their joy, more or less, they all had the idea of ​​​​discarding their armor and returning to their fields..."

"Remove your armor and return to the fields?" Hei Fu frowned.

Qu Ji smiled and said: "After all, what they have always wanted to do is go home. Now that they have arrived at the door of the house, it is inevitable to slack off. What's more, the monarch promised to reduce the land rent, and everyone is looking forward to going home to farm."

Hei Fu nodded. Most of his soldiers were from small farmers. Even if the top brass shouted "Jing Nan" loudly, even the captains and commanders were gearing up and thinking under the chicken soup of "Does the prince, general Xiang Ning have the guts"? Do something big.

But for ordinary soldiers, who would have thought that they would join the army at fifteen and return home at eighty?

Going home, tending familiar fields, a five-acre house, trees with mulberry trees, a warm bed with a wife and children, clothes and silk for those who are fifty, and meat for those who are seventy, this is their dream from the moment they join the army...

But this little dream can be fatal!

When the higher-ups are making “leftist radical mistakes.” However, the soldiers at the grassroots level also made the "right-leaning hedonism error", thinking that if they captured Nanjun, they would be done, and they could let their horses go to Nanshan and let their soldiers be infested with lice!

Quji also realized this and advised:

"Your Majesty, we can't continue like this. If the soldiers are content to return home and don't want to go north to fight, we may be suppressed by Xianyang's army at any time. If we are defeated, the whole family will be dead. How can we survive? Are there any peaceful days?"

But Heifu had promised that not everyone who would take them home was Dayu, a saint who could pass through the house three times without entering.

After Heifu was silent for a while, he said: "Tell my words to the officers and soldiers of the three armies, and then gather everyone together. I will speak to them personally..."

Qu Ji said solemnly: "May I ask you, Lord, what message do you want to spread?"

Heifu smiled and said: "Jingnan has not succeeded yet, Paoze still has to work hard!"

…

ps: Well, I don’t have enough time. It seems that this volume will end tomorrow (February 18th), hahaha...