Chapter 691 Deployment

The huge hall was packed with people.

Not only the third-rank and above high-ranking officials in Jiangning, but also governors from various places have returned to Jiangning.

It can be said that such a grand scene of gathering of talents only appeared when Zhao An, a small official, ascended the throne.

In the past few years, everyone has been far apart, and everyone has their own big things to be busy with. It is really rare to get together like this.

Even the former Ciwei Si Junchao, who has resigned and retired to seclusion and is now an old man at home, was invited to the scene today.

In the middle of the hall is a huge sand table. The entire mountains and landforms in the south of the Yangtze River are shaped extremely finely on the sand table. The mountains, rivers, city outlines, and roads are all lifelike.

Many of the officials sitting around the sand table saw such an exquisite sand table for the first time. While they were all amazed, some even touched it.

With this thing, you can indeed have a more intuitive understanding of the territory under your control.

In the past, when I read books, I only read about the dangers of mountains and rivers and the strength of rivers, but many people couldn't explain the reasons for each danger and the strength of rivers. But today, standing next to the sand table, I suddenly realized it.

That’s so!

No wonder there are troops stationed here,

No wonder this place looks like a good place to cross the river, but in fact it is a desperate place that traps soldiers and strategists.

Why is a place called a thoroughfare?

Why is a certain place listed as a battleground by military strategists?

Xiao Cheng looked at Zhao An, a junior official who was looking up to him.

Zhao An leaned forward slightly and nodded: "Chief Assistant, let's get started!"

Xiao Cheng coughed lightly, and the whispering sound immediately disappeared without a trace in the room. After a sound of tables and chairs moving and clothes rubbing against each other, everyone in the room turned their attention to Xiao Cheng.

on the body.

"Everyone, I think everyone knows the reason why we are all gathered together today." Xiao Cheng said: "This short period of peace since the fall of Tokyo and the establishment of the New Song Dynasty is finally coming to an end. Information from all aspects

It shows that the Liao Kingdom has made large-scale preparations for the southern expedition. In just half a year, various strategic materials such as grain, pig iron, salt, hemp rope, cotton cloth, and tung oil in the North have increased by 30%, and the increase continues.

Of course, our south is also on the rise, because the Liao people are sparing no effort to purchase through various channels. They are storing these strategic materials in large quantities. Why store these? Of course it is not to put them in warehouses to corrupt."

Xiao Cheng's eyes swept over everyone one by one, and his tone gradually became cold and stern: "So I think that at this time, no one will clamor for coexistence and peace with the Liao people, right? There is no way out through appeasement, only resistance.

It's fundamental. If you want to compromise with the enemy, the enemy will just plow you into a hole."

Some people in the room lowered their heads unconsciously.

"From today onwards, anyone who talks about peace is a traitor to the country! He will be punished." Zhao An, a junior official at the top, suddenly interrupted.

Hearing Zhao An's stern words, everyone in the room looked solemn.

This sets the tone.

Xiao Cheng said slowly: "In the past, there has always been debate about peace or war. There are those who are afraid that the Liao Kingdom is too powerful and cannot be defeated, and there are also those who are happy that this corner of the south of the Yangtze River is still a paradise, and there is no danger of it falling into the flames of war. No matter what the attitude is.

, but generally speaking, it is what the country and the people want, but from the beginning of this day, anyone who makes peace is surrendering to the enemy, and this is actually a traitor to the country!"

"I will obey the orders of the official and chief minister!" All the officials in the room stood up in unison, "Anyone who makes peace is a traitor to the country!"

Everyone looked solemn, even Si Junchao, Liu Mingyi and others also had firm expressions at this moment.

I want to get along with your brother, but you are coveting this little bit of my family property. If I don't take it away, I feel uncomfortable, so I can't help but fight with you.

"Please sit down!" Xiao Cheng looked pleased. Today's meeting itself is a meeting of unified thinking and unity and cooperation. In the next few years, Xin Song will definitely face many difficulties. Only if everyone unites together

, it is possible to overcome this difficulty.

And as long as we get through the hardest first two years, everything will get better.

"First of all, I will give you a brief explanation of the strength comparison between the enemy and ourselves, so that everyone can have a better understanding!" Xiao Cheng said with a smile: "Compared to the Liao Kingdom, we are indeed somewhat inferior in terms of strength.

, but it’s definitely not as bad as imagined.”

"Let's talk about the national income first! Last year, the effect of the New Deal began to show, but the overall annual income of the imperial court has reached 110 million taels. This year, it is expected to increase by 20 to 30%! And the annual income of the Liao Kingdom

, from the available data, it can be seen that it is 90 million taels. Just in terms of income, we are higher than them. Moreover, in the foreseeable future, our annual income will increase year by year, and the annual growth will be maintained

Around four to five points.”

The atmosphere in the room became lively.

In a confrontation between countries, the first priority is naturally to have money. Without money, other things will not be discussed.

Of course, just having money is not enough.

Over the years, the Song Dynasty has always been much richer than the Liao Kingdom, but in terms of military affairs, it has always been beaten by the Liao Kingdom and rarely feels proud.

To be honest, the gap between the annual income of the Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty has narrowed sharply compared to before.

After Empress Dowager Chengtian came to power, the progress of the Liao Kingdom in terms of people's livelihood was obvious to all.

"Second, let me talk about the comparison of military strength!" Xiao Cheng continued: "This is also the issue that everyone is most worried about. Now that the Liao Kingdom has undergone reforms, the army is mainly composed of the Pishi Army, the Shan Army, and the Gongfen Army.

It consists of three parts. The former Touxia Army, Han Army, and Tribal Army are gradually being cancelled. Now, the total strength of these three parts of the army they can mobilize is around 500,000. However, because of the vast territory of Liao State, a large number of various forces are needed.

To suppress the resistance forces, it is estimated that the total number of troops they can mobilize for the Southern Expedition should be around 200,000."

"Two hundred thousand is similar to the Pishi Army, is it an elite like the Shan Army?" Someone asked in a low voice.

"Yes!" Xiao Cheng did not hesitate: "The Liao army coming this time will be more powerful than the Liao army that attacked Tokyo, and it will also be more coordinated and unified in command." If the puppet Zhao is added,

The total strength of the traitorous troops of the puppet Qi and the Liao Kingdom will remain at about 300,000 people."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became depressing.

"You don't have to underestimate yourself." Xiao Cheng said with a smile: "We are not bad now. In the central area, we have 30,000 elite soldiers. In Shangqiu, with the Baiyu Army as the core, we have 20,000 soldiers and horses, and in the Jianghuai River Basin

, we have concentrated an army of 50,000. This is just the land division. We also have 20,000 boat divisions on the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River. On the sea, we also have a powerful fleet of nearly 10,000 people on standby at any time. More importantly, in the war

In the early stage of the outbreak, we will be on the defensive side. We can rely on the dangers of mountains, rivers and swamps. We have built so many impregnable cities. How can it be easy for the Liao people to break through our defenses?"

"But our military strength is still only half of that of the Liao people!" Si Junchao sighed: "Chief Assistant, I am not saying that the elite line is wrong, but that the Liao people are murderers. We should expand our army!"

"If we only focus on defense, the current army is completely sufficient!" Xiao Cheng said: "At the same time, martial arts schools in various places have been established since last year. These people are ready-made reserve soldiers. Together, these people should exceed 10,000 people in the country.

.As long as the defense line can be firmly held, I do not recommend a large-scale expansion of the army, because we believe that this war will last for a long time, and after withstanding the initial madness of the Liao people, the next confrontation will

It is the most cruel, and it requires more national power, so we need more people to ensure that our economy can continuously deliver strength to the front line."

"The Liao people want to deal us the heaviest blow in a short period of time with the overwhelming power of Mount Tai. What we have to do is to do our best to delay this war, first with defense, then with a stalemate, and finally with a counterattack.

As for the specific military deployment, let me follow Lu Shangshu to explain to you the specific ideas of the imperial court."

Lu Wenhuan, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, who was sitting on the other side, stood up and bowed to Xiao Guanjia and Xiao Cheng before reaching out and picking up a long pole from the edge of the sand table and said: "Everyone, someone was worried about us just now.

The number of troops is less. To be honest, there is not much at all. Soldiers are not more valuable than more, not to mention that this time we are defending by danger, so we don’t need too many soldiers and horses. In war, soldiers are not the most important thing.

The more soldiers you have, the better you will gain the upper hand. Sometimes, too many soldiers can do bad things."

Some people in the room understood it, but some people didn't take it seriously.

"For a long time, the imperial court and even the people have had many opinions on how to defend against the Liao attack. The most heated debate is actually whether to deploy defenses in the Jianghuai River or along the Yangtze River!" Lu Wenhuan said: "Here, Lu

I would like to thank the Chief Assistant for his persistence over the years. Our defense line is based on the Jianghuai River, which has led to peace in recent years. If we had deployed defenses along the Yangtze River, everyone, I am afraid that our defense line would have been long gone by now.

It’s full of holes.”

"If we abandon the Jianghuai River, we will share the danger of the Yangtze River with the enemy. The so-called natural danger of the Yangtze River will no longer exist! And by guarding the Jianghuai area, we can use the convenient water transportation on the Yangtze River to continuously transport materials and soldiers to the front theater.

We can arbitrarily deploy troops and horses to support a certain theater in distress. So next, we expect that the main attack direction of the Liao people will still be concentrated in the Jianghuai area. In response to this situation, our defense plan can be summarized as one core and two areas.

, an overall defense system of two belts and three lines.”

"What is the one-core, two-zone, two-belt, and three-line defense system? Lu Shangshu, please help us clarify our doubts!" ​​Luo Ganggong raised his hand and asked.

Lu Wenhuan nodded: "The so-called first core refers to the central towns that control and host the defense activities of the Two Huaihe Rivers with Jiankang, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Zhenzhou, etc. as the defense core areas after the formation of the Two Huaihe defense system. These towns are

The important transportation nodes in the south and north of the Yangtze River are the shackles that control the throat of the Yangtze River. I suggest setting up governor's offices in Zhenjiang and Jiankang to take charge of the military defense tasks in Huaixi and Huaidong respectively."

"The two defense zones refer to the spatial form of belt-shaped military defense deployment based on the natural water barriers of the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River. The Huaihe River must be the focus of attack and defense in the Song and Jin Dynasties, and the Yangtze River is the barrier of the imperial court, so the defense of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River cannot be lost. The Huaihe River Defense Zone

The main towns included are Guangzhou, Shouchun, Haozhou and Chuzhou; the Yangtze River Defense Belt includes Huangzhou, Qizhou, Anqing, Hezhou, Zhenzhou, Yangzhou and Tongzhou. Its defense line has a higher density of towns and is more difficult to defend.

.”

"The two districts refer to dividing the Lianghuai area into two defense units within the area of ​​Huainan East and West Road. Each defense unit is relatively independent and has a mutual offensive and defensive relationship."

Everyone gathered around the sand table and watched Lu Wenhuan pointing at the pole and describing the Ministry of War's overall defense plan.

Lu Wenhuan is a very good narrator. He can explain things in a simple and profound way. Even the novices in the room who are not familiar with military affairs can roughly understand everything at this moment.

"Chief Assistant, I also suggested that our entire defense line, including Jingxiang and Jianghuai, should be treated as a whole and should not be separated. If we can complete the unification based on orders, the two wars will be better.

If the regions can be united, the country’s security will be safe!”

After listening to Lu Wenhuan's last suggestion, the room was so quiet that a pin could drop.

This is no small matter.

At present, the imperial court's military strength is mainly concentrated in Jingxiang and Jianghuai. Just like appointing a military commander, it is equivalent to handing over the entire country's military strength to this person.

"In this case, only the chief assistant is qualified to be the commander-in-chief!" said Xie Hong, the governor of Liangjiang.
To be continued...