bookrandom Chapter 1259: War Strategy
Chapter 1259: War Strategy
Chapter 1259: War Strategy
After summer, the Huluchuan Valley is full of water and grass.
Many foreign tribes took the opportunity to herd horses and sheep.
In the morning light, the mountains, rivers and valleys present a tranquil scene.
Just at this moment, hundreds of armored cavalry came galloping from a distance, scaring the foreign people so much that they all scattered far away.
The word "Shen" was written in large letters on the flag of the commander of this armored cavalry.
After the armored cavalry arrived, they were on guard everywhere. An official in a purple robe rode a maroon Hexi horse slowly towards them.
This purple-robed official was none other than the Acting Privy Councilor Shen Kuo.
After Shen Kuo was promoted to the position of Three-Route Executive Privy Councilor, he moved the executive office from Qingzhou and Huanzhou to Jingzhou.
The headquarters of the Jingyuan Road was moved to the Zhenrong Military City, and the commander-in-chief of the army, Liu Changzuo, was stationed there. The deputy commander-in-chief Peng Sun led his troops to the Huaide Army line, and the general Guo Cheng was stationed in Pingxia City as the city governor.
Although the executive court was in Jingzhou, Shen Kuo himself often visited the front line of the Huai De army.
Seeing the tribesmen scattering, Shen Kuo said, "The tribesmen are still very afraid of me! How do you treat them normally? And this section of the river valley is very good, why don't you settle and cultivate it?"
A general on the side said, "Let the military aides know that these are all the foreigners from this area. Originally, the area from Pingxia City to the north to the Hulu River is a place for farming. It's not that the land is not beautiful, and we don't want it. It's all because the Western bandits hide here day and night, waiting for opportunities to plunder. In the past, farmers here have died many times, so our border troops also slaughtered them in revenge."
"Under such vengeance, the barbarians are all afraid."
Shen Kuo said: "This is because you guys are not doing your job well."
"Xi'an Prefecture and Xihe Road have been constantly luring the Yanbian tribes, giving them fields, horses, and cotton seeds."
"If we can build a fort here to protect the crops, recruit local people to make a living, and wait until the fields are ripe in autumn and summer, we can buy food and grass for the garrison."
When the general was feeling uneasy, Zhang Gen stepped forward and said, "Sir, as far as I know, there are many Han people in Huluchuan. Can you try to recruit Han people from the tribes here? Not only will you give us ten times the money and reward, but if we can get one Han person to join us, we will give him ten followers."
Shen Kuo praised: "This is a wonderful method!"
To put it simply, Zhang Gen's strategy was to recruit Han Chinese as Tanguts to lead the foreign troops.
This would not only make the Tanguts suspicious of these Tangut-saturated Han people, but also allow them to be used for their own purposes.
Not only give money, but also give him an official position... Shen Kuo thought about it carefully, looked at Zhang Gen lovingly and said, "Good plan, good plan!"
Zhang Gen was overjoyed when he heard this.
Shen Kuo's office had already gotten used to this scene.
Shen Kuo is now a member of Zhang's party, and Zhang Gen is his future grandson-in-law.
Therefore, Zhang Gen was like a fish in water in Shen Kuo's staff. As long as his suggestions were slightly brilliant, Shen Kuo would praise them and adopt them if possible.
Zhang Gen had a smooth journey, and his staff members didn't know whether it was because of his ability or his connections, or maybe both.
However, Shen Kuo's move was absolutely unscrupulous indulgence.
Shen Kuo said to the generals, "Did you hear that? Then do as I ordered."
The generals nodded.
……
Shen Kuo and his party returned to Sheng Qiang Village to rest.
Not many days.
All the generals along Jingyuan Road and Huanqing Road have arrived, and the prefect of Xi'an Prefecture has also arrived.
The current prefect of Xi'an Prefecture is Zhe Keshi, a famous general of the Western Army.
Previously, Xi'an Prefecture was under the jurisdiction of Qinfeng Road. In order to make a unified plan, Shen Kuo had been asking the court to place Xi'an Prefecture under the jurisdiction of Jingyuan Road.
Qin Fenglu refused.
After a long argument, Zhang Yue finally supported Shen Kuo and transferred the troops from Xi'an Prefecture to Jingyuan Road for deployment.
Shen Kuo immediately recommended his confidant Zhe Keshi as the governor of Xi'an Army.
Facts have proved that this move was particularly necessary under the leadership of Zhang Yue and Shen Kuo, who were advancing from point to area and from area to surface.
A huge map made of several pieces of sheepskin was spread out vertically.
This was the situation of the confrontation between Song and Xia on Jingyuan Road.
At the top is Lingzhou of Western Xia.
And below, from left to right, are Xi'an Prefecture (Qinfeng Road), Huaide Army (Jingyuan Road), and Huanzhou (Huanqing Road) of the Song Dynasty lined up in a row.
The map shows all the mountains, rivers and castles in detail.
The Song army's military maps were good enough to clearly mark the prefectures and counties, but Shen Kuo's maps were different. Not only were they detailed down to the edges of cities and fortresses, but he also invented a groundbreaking scale map similar to that of modern maps.
The situation between Song and Xia is clearly marked on the map.
Shen Kuo can be said to be a genius in the originality of these details.
In short, when this blueprint was taken out, the generals almost dropped their jaws in shock.
Shen Kuo thought it was very normal.
Zhe Keshi said, "After our army advanced along the Tiandu Mountain, the Western bandits also used forts to block the road and used their forts to counter our forts. However, in order to advance, the Western bandits seized the land of the barbarians for farming and grazing, causing many barbarians to surrender to our dynasty."
"Recently, the western bandits have attacked and killed many soldiers at the border. I have also recruited foreigners to guide, scout, ambush, capture, and serve as agents, and also to harass the western bandits along the border."
Since the Tangut leader Li Bingchang became the son-in-law of the Liao Kingdom last winter, the Song army gave up the plan to win over the Western Xia through peace talks.
The Song army advanced again from three directions: Xi'an Prefecture, Huaide Prefecture, and Huanzhou.
In addition to Tiandu Mountain, the Huaide Army also went westward to station troops in Shentang Fort and Baibao City, and newly set up border troops.
Especially Baibao City. After the Dangxiang rebelled against the Song Dynasty in the Qingli period, Fan Zhongyan and other border officials believed that in order to curb the Dangxiang, they must take Hengshan. If they could get Jintang and Baibao cities, Hengshan would be theirs.
Now the Song army has successfully built up the two cities of Jintang and Baibao.
After listening to the reports from the three generals, Shen Kuo nodded calmly.
Then he said to the generals: "Although you are advancing, don't forget that the north from Huluchuan is the key point. Building a city along this line to directly capture Lingzhou is the strategic plan of the court."
Xu Xi, an aide to the emperor, said: "Recently, the censors have impeached our three border officials. I heard that the other border officials are competing to build and make achievements day and night, but I haven't heard that the Westerners are competing with the whole country. I guess we are not their priority."
"If you can't control their fate, then what's the point of wasting money and killing people?"
The generals were in an uproar after hearing this.
Xu Xi said: "Recently, Lu Huiqing has repeatedly invaded and built in Hedong and succeeded, and he even asked the court for leave to serve as the governor. For just a small victory, he recommended nearly a thousand people at once."
"But the court impeached us for recklessly building. This is really hateful."
When the generals heard this, their faces were filled with indignation, and they probably cursed Lu Huiqing in their hearts as a treacherous villain.
Shen Kuo said: "This court, following the order of Prime Minister Zhang, has built fortifications along Huluchuan, using defense instead of attack, to lure the Dangxiang to attack us before autumn. But our army has built nine fortresses since winter, but none of them have been successful."
"The Tanguts either harass us with small groups of troops or build cities to counter the cities, but they are unwilling to send out a large army. What can we do?"
Zhang Gen knew that Zhang Yue had ordered Shen Kuo to continue his strategy of advancing and building to lure the Dangxiang to send out a large army to attack the Song Dynasty as they had done in the past.
However, no matter how the Song army advanced in the three directions of Huanqing Road, Xi'an Prefecture, and Jingyuan Road.
The Dangxiang army refused to come out, but only used forts against forts to resist the advance of the Song army, and then used light troops to attack and kill the Song army's farmers or border garrisons. They would never send out hundreds of thousands of troops to attack cities and fight in the field as they had done in the past.
The Song army built their forts right under the noses of the Dangxiang, but the enemy's strategic strength was so strong that they remained motionless.
This time it was Shen Kuo and the others' turn to be anxious.
Zhang Yue's order to the three-way Privy Council was to inflict a severe blow to the Dangxiang Army before autumn, and to use a great victory as a bargaining chip in negotiations between the imperial court and the Liao Kingdom.
But perhaps the Dangxiang had learned their lesson, for even though the Song army continued to build forts forward, they refused to come out.
Even after the Song army successfully built such an important place as Baibao, it remained motionless.
A general said: "Perhaps we have made a wrong judgment. Although the Hulu River Valley Road can lead directly to Lingzhou, it is not as important as Hengshan to the western bandits."
"Since our army has repeatedly advanced to build the site, but the Tanguts have ignored it, why not build a site on Hengshan instead?"
Xu Xi said: "The three armies have already been deployed to Lingzhou, and we are all heading to Huluchuan. There is no time to reconstruct the road to Hengshan."
"What's more, the court has just requested 500,000 dan of grain, 800,000 bundles of horse fodder, 500,000 strings of cash, and a fortress of 800 steps and 1,000 steps each! Now they have arrived at Pingxia City!"
Shen Kuo said, "This is the money that Prime Minister Zhang ordered the Privy Council to allocate. As you all have seen, now the court in Jingyuan and Huanqing can respond to any request."
"If you want money, give money. If you want people, give people."
"The Prime Minister's way of handling affairs is different from others. The Prime Minister sent me Shen Kuo to show the general principles of the classics, and all the responsibilities are on us, the generals. He told us to act when we see benefits, and not to force us to do what we cannot do, so we succeeded and did not fail."
Zhang Gen laughed secretly after hearing this. As an official, he always flattered the person behind him in front of his subordinates.
It's a win-win situation.
Always say good things about people in front of them and never say bad things about them behind their backs. This is the secret to rising quickly as an official.
After hearing Shen Kuo repeatedly mention Prime Minister Zhang, the generals were extremely respectful. After all, who in the entire northwest doesn't know about the powerful backer? There's no need for you, Shen Kuo, to mention him every day and express your loyalty at every meeting.
It would be fine if you showed your loyalty, but your method was so crude.
Shen Kuo asked the court for food and money, and Zhang Yue agreed very straightforwardly, and also gave Shen Kuo the power to manage the affairs of the court.
Shen Kuo said: "If our prediction is correct, the western bandits will invade soon, and all troops need to make some plans! All generals, listen up!"
"There are narrow roads along the border that can be used to block the enemy's whereabouts. Soldiers and officers from all directions must be assigned to specific areas and tasked with ambushing and intercepting them!"
"The soldiers, generals, officers and envoys will be assigned to the dangerous and narrow places. Each of them must intercept the bandits and prevent them from getting too deep into the nearby villages to rob people and their families!"
"As for places where people and households have many manors and properties, and where bandits have never invaded, in addition to assigning soldiers and officers to guard and ambush, if it is expected that the western bandits will not leak the information and arrive, the troops and horses of all routes can retreat first. You can tell the people and households to temporarily move their property and other things to places where bandits cannot go. Don't make a hasty move in advance and cause people to be suspicious."
"If there are enemy troops invading along the way, in addition to the selected soldiers and officers to guard and ambush at the key and dangerous places, the rest of the troops should be divided into groups and stationed at key and convenient places. They must be cautious and not fight recklessly. If there is an opportunity to take advantage of, they can be dispatched. The chief officer will assess the strength of the enemy and go forward to attack and defend separately or together. If you dare to linger and wait, thus missing the opportunity, you will be punished according to military law!"
"The enemy is coming in large numbers, so we must attack them randomly, and when they are tired and returning, we can pursue them. Or we can ambush them on their way back and wait for them to attack us. We can take advantage of the opportunity to respond and deal with the incident temporarily!"
After listening to Shen Kuo's words, the generals decided to adopt the strategies of the three armies and the victory at Taoshui and Lanzhou.
Lure the enemy deep into our territory and lead the Dangxiang troops into the fortified city. Part of the troops will defend the city, while the rest will be deployed outside.
If the enemy is outnumbered and we are numerous, we will fight; otherwise, we will retreat. In short, we are not allowed to fight in vain.
Finally, when the enemy fails to capture the city, all the troops outside will gather on the enemy's way back and ambush them!
The plan was good, but it was unclear whether the Dangxiang would follow Shen Kuo's wishes and gather a large army to march south to attack the fortified city built by the Song army in the Huluchuan River Valley.