In early March, Chen Qing led an army of 100,000 to Bianliang. This was his fourth visit to Bianliang in two years, and this time he would launch an eastern expedition to completely capture the Shandong Road.
This was also a plan made before the first Eastern Expedition. It was the second step of the two-step strategy. He had already achieved the first step and captured the Henan Road area west of the New Yellow River, including Bianliang and Luoyang.
After two years of preparation, the time is finally ripe to implement the second step of the strategy.
Thousands of acres of military camps have been set up in the west of Bianliang City. One hundred thousand troops had arrived twenty days ago. This time Chen Qing commanded another one hundred thousand troops to arrive, bringing the number of troops in the military camp to two hundred thousand. The scale was very large.
huge.
Zhang Xiao, Yang Zaixing, Liu Cui, Gao Ding and other civil servants and generals came to Chen Qing's tent one after another.
Chen Qing led everyone to the sand table and said to everyone: "I just arrived today, so I won't talk about the specific battle, but just talk about the outlook! Everyone can see that Wanyan Wushu and Wanyan Wushu are not the same when we captured Henan Road before.
He didn't use all his strength. In the end, he conserved his strength and evacuated, which showed that he didn't want to compete with us too much for Henan Road. It was also because Henan Road was squeezed by the Jin soldiers to the point where even Wanyan Wushu was regarded as useless and no longer wanted.
But Shandong Road is different. Shandong Road was not deeply oppressed by the Jin soldiers. Although it is still being exploited, it is said that the Jin soldiers ate all the sheep on Shandong Road in three months of meat consumption. Thanks to the timely delivery of Jin soldiers,
The two million sheep brought in have saved the cattle, mules and donkeys on Shandong Road, but even so, the people of Shandong are still overwhelmed by the heavy taxes and are eager for our rescue."
Zhang Xiao also said: "I feel that the timing of the first Eastern Expedition and this Eastern Expedition are different. We need to consider more places, especially the external world. The imperial court's northern expedition and the nomads' southern invasion are all disadvantages that distract our energy."
factors, has His Highness considered it?"
Chen Qingdan smiled and said: "I am not worried about the nomadic cavalry. We have made a lot of preparations and believe that they will return in defeat. As for the imperial court's northern expedition, I am actually not optimistic about it. It does not mean that the soldiers will not die, but the imperial court's
There are problems with the strategy. The first thing is the strategic positioning. What is the purpose of the imperial court's Northern Expedition? Did they prepare enough money and food, and did they have enough troops to defeat the Jin soldiers? I guess the emperor was just hot-headed and annihilated 6,000 Jurchen cavalry in the Huaihe River.
I feel like I can defeat Jin Bing.
Secondly, there are also problems with their Northern Expedition strategy. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you survive a hundred battles. When I saw them aggressively attacking Qushan County in Haizhou, I knew they would definitely lose."
"How does Your Highness know?" Yang Zaixing asked curiously.
Chen Qing sighed softly, "Li Cheng personally led 50,000 elite troops to garrison Qushan County. There were hundreds of thousands of dans of grain and 8,000 barrels of kerosene in the city. The city was tall and strong. A hundred thousand troops besieged the fortress guarded by 50,000 people.
City, they couldn't see that Li Cheng was consuming their troops? When the Song army was exhausted with nearly half of their casualties, Li Cheng led an army of 50,000 to fight out. How could the Song army resist?
I guess Liu Qi is not that stupid, it should be the emperor who ordered them to capture Haizhou at all costs."
"Does Your Highness think Wanyan Lou's family will send troops to support Shandong Road this time?" Gao Ding asked from the side.
Chen Qing nodded, "This is actually what Commander Zhang just said about the timing of the Eastern Expedition. Our first Eastern Expedition was to attack the Henan Road, and the Jin State's strategic focus was on the grasslands to deal with the Mongols. The Jin State had no time to take care of the Central Plains.
Things are different now. The Jin Kingdom has pacified the grassland, and its eyes will naturally focus on Hebei Road and Shandong Road. Therefore, it has become the national policy of the Jin Kingdom to protect Hebei Road and Shandong Road. Therefore, they will definitely have countermeasures, mainly
Increase troops to Shandong Road, so attacking Shandong Road this time will be a tough battle and a fierce battle. I will send 300,000 troops to fight this battle to ensure victory."
Liu Cui asked: "Your Highness, where is our first battle target?"
Chen Qing pointed at Haizhou with a wooden pole and said with a smile: "Our first battle is also Haizhou!"
...........
In the middle of the night, the soldiers woke Chen Qing up from his deep sleep and said, "Your Highness, General Li and General Pan are here!"
This is Chen Qing's order. If Li Qiong and Pan Gui arrive in the middle of the night, they must wake him up immediately. If they do not stay in the military camp for the night, they must rush back immediately after reporting to him.
At present, Li Qiong leads an army of 10,000 troops and is stationed in Bozhou, while Pan Gui leads an army of 10,000 troops and is stationed in Shouzhou. Pan Gui is the deputy general and is controlled by Li Qiong.
The lamp in the handsome tent was lit. It was not yet the third watch, and the two of them came here after a long journey.
The two of them knelt down on one knee and saluted, "Your Majesty, I see you for your humble duty!"
"Two generals, please rise. It's been a hard journey."
Both of them received the notice early this morning, ran all the way, changed several horses, and finally arrived at the Bianliang military camp in the middle of the night.
Chen Qing asked the two men to sit down and asked the soldiers to serve tea. Chen Qing asked: "How is the situation in the army?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, our brothers are all in full gear, waiting for the order to attack."
Chen Qing nodded, "This time we are not asking you to go out to fight the enemy, but to seize territory. I estimate that the imperial army will be defeated in a few days, and will be defeated all the way to the south of the Huaihe River. Li Cheng's army will not cross the Huaihe River."
, will immediately withdraw their troops and go north. In this way, Suzhou, Sizhou, and the Lianshui Army will temporarily have no troops to garrison. You must seize this opportunity to occupy the two states and one army and control the north bank of the Huaihe River. If the Song Army sends people to negotiate
, just say it’s my order and let them come to me!”
"I understand the humble position!"
Chen Qing pondered for a moment and then said: "But you can't be careless. It is not ruled out that Li Cheng left a small number of troops to garrison, so you need intelligence first. I have sent Commander Yu Shouzhong to lead 300 scouts to sneak into Fuli County and Xuyi County. You must do it as soon as possible.
Get in touch with them.”
The two looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
Chen Qing gave a few more instructions to the two of them, and they remembered them one by one before leaving. He left the Bianliang camp overnight and returned to Bozhou and Shouzhou. Their troops would gather in Shouzhou and wait for the opportunity to send troops.
After the two generals left, Chen Qing couldn't sleep. He simply stood in front of the sand table and meditated, carefully deducing his combat strategy and finding out all the missing points one by one.
...........
Donghai Island is also called Yuzhou, which is today's Lianyungang. During the Song Dynasty, it was an independent island and was not connected to the mainland. In fact, it included parts of today's Yancheng, Taizhou, Nantong, Jiangsu, etc. In the Song Dynasty, it was also a vast ocean.
It has not yet become land.
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At present, Donghai Island is separated from the mainland by a three-mile wide strait. The island is quite large, ten miles long from north to south and eight miles wide from east to west. It covers an area of about 30,000 acres. It can be built into an important strategic shipping transit place.
That morning, a huge fleet of two hundred large ships arrived at Donghai Island. The two hundred large ships not only brought 20,000 soldiers, but also a large amount of food, supplies and tents.
The 20,000 troops will still be commanded by Liu Qiong, headed by Tang Huai, who bowed to Liu Qiong and handed a letter to Liu Qiong, "This is an autographed letter from His Highness. Your Highness asked me to give it to Liu Dutong."
Liu Qiong took the letter and read it hastily, nodded, and handed it to the deputy general Tang Qian. He smiled and asked Tang Huaidao: "Have you ever been intercepted by the imperial navy when passing Zhenjiang Prefecture?"
Tang Huai smiled and shook his head, "We didn't even see the shadow of the imperial navy, let alone intercept it."
At this time, Tang Qian read the letter and handed it to Liu Qiong. Liu Qiong raised the letter and asked: "General Tang, has he not read this letter?"
Tang Huai shook his head, and Liu Qiong said calmly: "Your Highness asked us to pay attention to Qushan County. Once the Song army is defeated, it will be our opportunity to seize Qushan County."