"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu says, "Anyone who raises an army of one hundred thousand, marches out thousands of miles, pays for the people, pays tribute to the public, spends thousands of gold a day, causes commotion both inside and outside, is lazy on the road, and cannot do anything, will have a family of 700,000."
In other words, if an army of 100,000 people goes out to fight, 700,000 households will have to stop their original agricultural production and specialize in supplying military supplies.
Li Fen is indeed one of the warlords with such strength in today's world.
Li Xia, who covers an area of thousands of miles and has Sichuan and Shaanxi, does not have this strength because Li Xia's foundation is too weak.
With the pitiful savings of Sichuan and Shaanxi, once the people are asked to "not do anything", they will first starve to death, so how can they talk about "specialized" military supplies?
Why did Li Xia capture Guanlong, but Kublai Khan still had enough money and food for the northern expedition to Alibu Ge? It lies in the word "savings".
It was twenty-five years from the time the Mongolian army invaded Shu to Li Xia's recovery of Hanzhong.
In twenty-five years, 90% of the population was killed and all food and property were taken away. National strength cannot be restored by taking back the land in three to five years.
This is the difference in savings.
Even the Song Dynasty did not have the strength to supply an army of 100,000 for an expedition. After holding on for twenty or thirty years, the "state treasury" was completely depleted.
On the contrary, it is this Li Fen who has passed thirty-one years since his father Li Quan died and inherited the title of Governor of Yidu Province.
Shandong is a vast and densely populated place. For the past thirty-one years, Li Fen has stored grain and grass and intercepted salt courses. Every time Meng Ge called for soldiers and horses, he always made excuses.
Such accumulation gave Li Fen seemingly strong paper strength.
This was also the reason why he asked Shi Tianze and Li Xia to raise troops to respond to him and make him king.
…
Shi Tianze admitted that Li Fen had strength, but unfortunately, he did not have the ability to match his strength.
Shandong is a vast and densely populated area, but there is no danger to defend it.
Once Li Fen raised his troops, he could only attack Yanjing and rely on the Yanshan defense line to block the main force of the Mongolian army from moving south. Any other result could only be regarded as a failure.
If this is not possible, it is better to flee south as soon as possible and rely on the Song Dynasty's Jianghuai defense line to save your life.
What's the point of defending Jinan? No matter how long we defend, we will lose.
For some things, the outcome is already determined when you first make a choice...
Occasionally, Shi Tianze would think of the agreement between himself and Li Fen, and felt that Li Fen was too arrogant and too simple.
It was in this state of mind that he put on his armor and prepared to go to war.
Kaifeng will only send more than 10,000 troops, and the rest of the troops will be assembled one after another after arriving in Jinan.
After taking the oath, Shi Tianze was about to get off the general platform when his eldest son Shi Ge quickly caught up with him.
"Father, Xiazhou has detected troops coming from the west."
Shi Tianze remained calm and walked a few more steps to avoid the generals around him before asking: "Li Xia is sending troops so soon?"
He was really surprised by Li Xia's quick movements.
In the current situation, Li Fencai had openly rebelled for more than a month, the Mongolian army was still recruiting troops, and Zhao and Song Dynasties had not made any move... Who would have thought that Li Xia would be the first to send troops.
Compared with Li Fen's indecisiveness, Li Xia always takes the lead.
But that’s okay.
The reason why Wang Xun was allowed to go to Hanzhong to talk a lot was to lure out Li Xia's main force and defeat him in one fell swoop.
Henan and Shanxi have already made strategic arrangements.
Dong Wenbing presided over the defense of Luoyang, fortified the walls and cleared the country; Shi Quan guarded the Tangzhou and Dengzhou areas, blockaded and surrounded them; Ahema had personally gone to Hezhong Prefecture and ordered Liu Zheng and Yang Dayuan to train the navy in the upper reaches of the Yellow River.
Once Li Xia leads the main force out of Tongguan, Dong Wenbing will refuse to Luoyang, and Shi Quan will go north to surround or send troops to Wuguan Road. Shanxi troops will quickly cross the Yellow River, surround Tongguan, block their return, and annihilate their main force in the western Henan Passage.
.
This is only the eastern front, and there is also A Shu on the western front.
"Ahema..."
Shi Tianze only spoke three words when he heard Shi Ge say the next sentence.
"Li Xia led two thousand cavalry and bypassed Luoyang from the south. We still don't know his intention..."
"What did you say? Only two thousand? Cavalry?"
Yongning County.
Yongning was called "崤地" in ancient times. It was the official road between Luoyang and Chang'an, so its location was very important.
The Mongolian general guarding Yongning today is named "Hussaman".
Although Hu Saman only guarded this small Yongning County, his official position was not small. He was not only the manager of ten thousand households, but also the food town of one thousand households.
Because he is a descendant of Mu Huali.
Mu Huali's sons were very fertile, so he had many grandsons, great-grandsons, and great-great-grandsons who were awarded officials and titles. There were also many of his descendants in Luoyang, and Husaman was just an inconspicuous one among them.
The reason why he sealed it in Yongning County is that it is close to the prosperous metropolis of Luoyang, and there are gold mines in Yongning County, in the Xiong'er Mountains in the southwest of the county...
In the third year of the Zhongtong reign, on March 17, Hu Saman was very surprised when he heard that the Song Dynasty had sent troops to Luoyang.
"How dare a domesticated puppy attack a tiger?"
"When the descendants of Genghis Khan competed for the throne, a little dog named Li Xia took away the bone that fell aside in Guanzhong, and now wants to bite the fat meat in Henan."
The person who answered was the smartest Orulu officer under his command, named Boltu.
Bitu not only spoke Chinese, but also learned Uighur script from the shaman, and even knew some Chinese characters. He usually recorded the harvest of the gold mine for Hussaman.
At this time, a messenger came back from Luoyang, and Botu was responsible for reporting the war situation to Hussaman.
After hearing this, Hu Saman rolled his eyes and asked, "Then what? Can't those Han soldiers defeat this puppy?"
"According to what Dong Wenbing said, I wanted to lure the puppy into the cage." Bitu said: "But Dong Wenbing didn't expect that the puppy had two thousand cavalry, and he was afraid that his cage would be overturned."
"Then what? Do you need me to lead the warriors to attack?"
Bol Tu said: "Dong Wenbing is saying that he hopes we will close the city gate, block the Xiaodao Road, and block Li Xia to the west of Luoyang."
"Useless Han army. What we should do is defeat Li Xia, not block him!"
Hu Saman cursed, looking rather disdainful.
He only has a settlement of a thousand households, but he can recruit two thousand-man troops.
Of course, not all of them are Mongolian warriors, most of them are Hui and Han people. But tigers leading sheep can also turn sheep into tigers.
The descendants of Mu Huali looked down on the cowardly Song people, even if they were princes.
Not long after, there was a beeping sound.
A ray of smoke also rose from the top of Yongning City...
Li Xia's strategic purpose is simple.
He will try his best to harass Henan and contain Shi Tianze's troops.
Regardless of whether it was difficult or not, he only knew one thing, that is, it would be much easier to start a war with Kublai Khan while Li Fen was still there than to wait for Li Fen to be destroyed.
Now is the time for spring plowing, so we use cavalry to attack Tongguan and push the battlefield to the west of Tongguan.
He knew that there was an ambush by the Mongolian navy on the Yellow River, so he only brought two thousand cavalry and did not mobilize the Yellow River defense line and the defenders of Tongguan.
This made it difficult for the Mongolian generals in Shanxi to make a decision. Should they cross the Yellow River to attack key points?
The main force in Guanzhong is still there. It is obviously not a good time for the Mongolian army to cross the river and attack by force. Since Li Xia only has 2,000 men, it is enough to surround him with soldiers and horses from Heluo.
For Li Xia, all he had to do was let the Mongolian army know that Heluo's soldiers and horses alone could not surround his two thousand men.
As long as he wins two small victories, he can make a gesture of possibly capturing Kaifeng, forcing the Mongolian army in Shanxi to support him, or forcing Shi Tianze to dare not leave.
This is equivalent to disrupting the layout of the Mongolian army in Shanxi and Henan with a small number of troops.
Therefore, Li Xia's strategic purpose is not to capture cities and territories, but to "disrupt".
Disrupting the opponent's layout is equivalent to taking the initiative.
…
The current situation is that the Mongolian general stationed in Luoyang was also caught off guard by Li Xia. The original strategic arrangement failed to prevent the two thousand cavalry who suddenly came out, so he had to wait for him to penetrate deep alone before re-encircling him.
Li Xia did not have the strength to attack the city, so he only hoped to find the manor of a certain Mongolian noble as soon as possible and rob it.
He is learning the depth tactics of a small group of cavalry, and is not very skilled in using them yet...
On this day, I was walking along the Xiaoshan Road when I suddenly saw smoke rising in front of me.
This is the third county town that Li Xia has passed through. He originally thought that it would be a fortified wall and a clear field, and he would be rejected again. Unexpectedly, when he looked through the tube, he saw smoke and dust billowing in front of him.
Not long after, the detective horse reported back.
"The enemy soldiers are coming!"
There were two cavalry commanders accompanying Li Xia on this expedition. One was Hu Legen and the other was Li Zeyi. They were probably the two generals with the best riding skills under Li Xia.
Hearing the horns blasting in front of him, Hullegen was not at all panicked.
This kind of cavalry's deep-reaching fighting style was something he often did before... For example, when he was captured by Li Xia, he followed the captain's lone army deep into Qingfu.
He sat astride the horse, stepped on the stirrups with his feet and tried to stand up high. Finally, he saw the enemy's flag appearing in the dust and smoke, and then suddenly exclaimed.
"They are the descendants of Mu Huali! Changshengtian... Mu Huali..."
The surrounding Mongolians who had surrendered to Li Xia changed their colors one after another.
Muhuali was an outstanding figure with a different surname who was granted the title of king by Genghis Khan and was given the Nine White Banners. In the eyes of the Mongols, he was like a god of war.
At this time, although only his descendants appeared carrying his flag, it also brought them a great deterrent.
"It's wood..."
"when!"
With a sound, Li Xia rode up and hit Hu Legen's helmet with his long spear.
"Mu Huali has been dead for forty years. When talking about heroes in the world, we only look at the present day..."
Hu Saman didn't know how Dong Wenbing, Shi Tianze and other Han military nobles wanted to fight Li Xia.
He didn't understand Li Xia at all.
He only knew that the descendants of Mu Huali would not let the weak Song people bully them.
So he mounted his horse and led his two thousand troops to lead the cavalry coming from the west.
But Mu Huali has been dead for forty years, and Hu Saman, his great-grandson, has enjoyed blessings for more than thirty years.
Although he still remembered the glory and military exploits of his ancestors, he didn't realize that among the dozens or nearly a hundred family members, only a few could still fight...excluding him who was so fat.
When Hu Saman rushed to the battlefield carrying the battle flag bearing the names of his ancestors, he discovered that the "weak Song people" were all composed of Mongolian warriors who had already surrendered...
…
Two days later, the two heads and a flag were sent to Luoyang.
Also brought to Dong Wenbing was a letter from Li Xia.
There was no one to write or polish it, so it looked very sloppy.
"You have registered the people of the Central Plains according to their households and used them as Mongolian food towns. You regard the Mongolians as the main people and worship them. If you don't do this, you can drive the Mongolian soldiers to fight. Now you will destroy the Muhua, Lijiahe and Luo food towns."
Households, in the future if we abolish the 40,000 households in Dongping’s food town, there will be no household in the world that is a Mongolian food town... Since you are the slaves of the Mongolian people, you can come and stop them."
Dong Wenbing raised his head and looked at the heads of Hu Saman and Bu Tu, and was stunned for a while.
"Go and tell Shi Shuai that Li Xia wants to provoke us, but there is no need to cause chaos. There are only two thousand people. Shi Shuai can continue the eastward expedition to quell the rebellion..."