"How are you, two military advisors, what do you think of this decree?" Li Xiang asked Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan with a troubled look on his face. This decree of Emperor Ling really posed a big problem for Li Xiang.
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was willing to bet on the success of the Yellow Turban War with the four states, but he, Li Xiang, was reluctant to bet on merging the states. If more troops were deployed, facing the threats from both sides of the Xiongnu and Wang Qingtian Hu, even if merging the states was not a problem, other
I don’t know how much the losses will be by then. Even the past four years of development will be completely wiped out, and we will return to before liberation overnight.
With the wisdom of Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan, how could they not know about Li Xiang's worries?
But Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan have seen clearly that the Yellow Turbans may seem powerful now, but they are all castles in the air. Without careerists like Li Xiang to add fuel to the flames and secretly protect the Yellow Turbans, I am afraid that the Han Dynasty would have been on the verge of peace.
The Yellow Turbans are not far away.
But even careerists like Li Xiang only hoped that the Yellow Turban forces could drain the strength of the Han Dynasty as much as possible. They had never thought that the Yellow Turban forces could truly overthrow the Han Dynasty.
Because the Yellow Turbans are not involved in production, all material needs need to be plundered. If the Han Dynasty chooses to avoid Qingye and stick to Yancheng, it may not be possible to drag the Yellow Turban army until they run out of ammunition and food and are unable to fight anymore. Unless Zhang Jiao is able to restore local production,
But that requires a large number of civil servant talents, which is precisely what the Yellow Turbans lack most.
But if we really rely on dragging words to win this war, I am afraid that the Central Plains region, the richest place in the Han Dynasty, will be directly destroyed.
According to this analysis, it is far from time to replace the Han Dynasty. What's more, the Han Dynasty lasted for more than 400 years, and the prestige of the Han Dynasty has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is not so easy to replace. Whether it is for Li Xiang or other Han Dynasty
For the careerists hidden in the region, it is still necessary to continue to obey the orders of the court for the time being.
The two of them thought about it for a while, and finally Wang Meng, who was the first to follow Li Xiang, spoke up first, "My lord, the great Han Dynasty may not be extinct yet. My lord still needs to continue to obey the orders of the court for the time being. This time, I am afraid that we will wait for the troops."
The matter must be resolved."
Although he already knew this would be the answer, Li Xiang still felt a little unwilling when he heard Wang Meng say it.
After all, he had already discussed with Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan that in this battle, he only wanted not to gain merit, but to have no faults.
No matter how great his contribution is, he cannot become the governor of a state. After all, his father is already the governor of Bingzhou. Oh, no, he should be the governor of the state now. If he is the governor again, it will be okay.
Li Xiang guessed that even if he made great achievements and was lucky, he would only be a county guard in Bingzhou or several surrounding states. If he was unlucky, he would be a county guard in a place far away from Bingzhou or be called into the army.
Jing works as a small or medium-sized sinecure.
Taking into account his age, I am afraid that the most likely possibility is to grant him the title of Marquis of a low-ranking person and serve as a false position.
However, this is still based on great achievements. In this process, it is inevitable that the Bingzhou Army will pay a certain amount of casualties.
But now if he follows the Ling Emperor's will and sends troops, Li Xiang feels even more unjust. After all, whether it is Jizhou or the Central Plains, there are battlefields of hundreds of thousands of people. Even if he intends to conserve his strength, I am afraid that the casualties of the army will not be small.
And by then, how could he preserve his strength if he wanted to? After all, after arriving in Jizhou, he would have to accept Lu Zhi's command in name only, so how could he decide some things?
Paying the price but not getting the return he wanted was the real reason why Li Xiang was unwilling to send troops.
While Li Xiang was deep in thought, Li Xiang suddenly heard Wei Kaokuan speak.
"Lord, this dispatch of troops is necessary, but how to dispatch troops and how many troops to dispatch still need to be carefully considered." Wei Xiaokuan said with a serious face.
Li Xiang thought about it carefully, and indeed, since sending troops has now become a certainty, it is inconvenient to deal with some issues.
All that remains is to consider, as Wei Kaokuan said, how to send out troops and how much troops to send out in order to minimize unnecessary losses.
Of course, for Li Xiang, the losses caused by helping the Han Dynasty fight against the Yellow Turbans without getting considerable returns were unnecessary losses.
Before Li Xiang could ask, Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan actually wanted to speak at the same time.
The two looked at each other, and Wang Meng immediately bowed his hands and stepped back, indicating that Wei Xiaokuan should speak first.
When Wei Xiaokuan saw this, although he was grateful to Wang Meng, he didn't say much. He just kept some things in his heart.
Then Wei Xiaokuan was heard saying in a slow voice, "My lord, although my army in Bingzhou is large now, General Meng Tian's 60,000-strong army is determined not to move lightly. In the past few years, the Southern Huns have had Wanyan Aguda, this heroic leader, and their strength has not only recovered.
Reaching the level before the Yanmen War, it has increased a lot. Although it is still controlled by Temujin's Mongolian clan, the two sides have been having constant friction over the years, but when it comes to the security of the northern border, we must be cautious.
Suppressing the 30,000-strong army in Bingzhou is not an easy feat. After all, there is still a remnant force like Tian Hu in Bingzhou. It was inconspicuous in the past, but now it is a bit troublesome. Although Tian Hu's remaining troops are not large, the 30,000 troops stationed in Bingzhou are quite impressive.
It was also extremely reluctant.
Therefore, my lord, now we can only mobilize part of the army that is preparing to attack Wang Qing."
Li Xiang thought secretly and realized that he could only draw troops from the 30,000 troops that were attacking Wang Qing.
However, in this way, Bingzhou can only passively defend. Facing Wang Qing's forces, they can only stick to the Eight Paths of Taihang without the ability to take the initiative to attack.
"I don't know the two strategists, but I don't know what is the most appropriate number of troops to send this time." Although Li Xiang already had the answer in his mind, he still wanted to confirm it with the two wise men Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan. It was related to the safety of Bingzhou, but Li Xiang
You have to be cautious.
"My Lord, if we want to send out troops this time, 30,000 is the most suitable number. If it is less, the princes of the court may not be happy, and if there are more, it may be too much pressure on Wang Qing's forces. After all, although Wang Qing's Yellow Turban Army has mediocre combat capabilities,
, but the number of people is always a problem. With the 250,000 Yellow Turban Army, if there are too many ants, the elephant will be killed, but it must be guarded against."
Just now Wang Meng took the initiative to give way to Wei Xiaokuan, but now Wei Xiaokuan gave the opportunity back to Wang Meng.
Wang Meng thought for a moment again and then said, "My lord, it is better to use cavalry this time. In this way, our army will lose less."
Hearing Wang Meng's words, Li Xiang's eyes lit up.
Indeed, it is absolutely not his turn to lead the cavalry in battles, siege battles and defensive battles.
And if it was a field battle, how much loss could the Yellow Turban army composed of mediocre and poorly equipped farmers bring him?