"Your Highness." In Liyang City, Song Le, the military envoy of Heyang, and Chen Cheng, the deputy military envoy of Xuanwu Army, came to visit.
"This year's summer tax has been collected in advance, do the people have any complaints?" Shao Shude asked casually as he ordered his soldiers to serve tea to the two of them.
"Three years of tax exemption, the people have breathed a sigh of relief, and they still have some savings." Chen Cheng said: "In today's world, the two million people in the seven states of Bian and Song Dynasties do not expect to live a good life. Your Highness is already quite good."
So generous."
Yes, people have low demands.
Heavy taxes, heavy labor, and dangerous military service, which were considered tyranny in peacetime, have become commonplace at this time. The people's expectations for life have been lowered again and again, so that they can survive without leaving their wives and children.
In their hearts, they are already experts in governing the world.
It's a pity that such a simple request is still a luxury hope in troubled times. Until the fierce man Zhu Quanzhong descended from heaven and wiped out the demons and monsters in Henan, for the first time, the people were given hope of survival.
After Shao Shude occupied Henan, he resolutely implemented a strategy of recuperation in order to recover from the unimaginable consequences of the seven-year tug-of-war. The three-year tax holiday brought the increasingly numb Henan people back from the brink of collapse.
The people of Henan are sensible. They have been tax-free for three years, and you can't expect more. They all understand that this year's summer harvest will be taxed in advance to support the Xia army's war in Hebei, and they have nothing to say and dare not say anything.
"It's a pity that the three-plantation system has not been fully rolled out in Guanxi, and there is no spare time to give back to the people of the Xuanwu Army." Shao Shude sighed and said: "Send an order to Yang Yue, the Daibei grassland is already running out of oil and water, take more care of the Khitan, if
If you can bring back as many cattle and sheep as you can, I will ask someone to exchange them for money, grain, tea and silk."
Of course, the livestock were not given to the Xuanwu people for free. In fact, they could not afford to give them away, so they had to rent them or pay them in installments.
In addition, the Niuzhuang jointly established by the various tribes in northern Guan is now slowly expanding its business to Guanzhong. Shao Shude can ask them to allocate part of the cattle and sheep quota to trade with the Xuanwu Army states.
This is a matter of mutual benefit. On the one hand, the grassland chiefs sold a large number of livestock to the Central Plains in exchange for a large amount of urgently needed materials. On the other hand, the people of the Central Plains also exchanged things like silk for cattle and sheep that can improve agricultural productivity.
A win-win situation for Erba Jing.
Niuzhuang underwent an expansion the year before last. More than a dozen tribal nobles, including the Yeli family, the Wuzang family, the Weicai family, the Wang family, and the Hun family, entered this business organization. Each family's position was established based on strength, influence, and other factors.
The number of shares.
For the grassland people, livestock is a symbol of wealth, but after a certain level, it is meaningless. They might as well exchange it for goods from the Central Plains to improve their quality of life. In the past, there was no mutual trust between the grasslands and the Central Plains, and trade could not be carried out.
It was extremely troublesome, but now the obstacles have been removed, greatly facilitating trade.
After years of development, Niuzhuang's business scope has also expanded day by day. In addition to the sales of cattle, sheep, horses and camels, they have also added medicinal materials from the grassland, high-grade leather, domesticated calves and even the Western Region products they represent, and their products are becoming more and more popular.
The style of a large commercial syndicate.
Shao Shude is willing to see them making money, which is better than fighting and killing. Profit is the thing that touches people's soul the most. If the Central Plains does not do business with them in the future, I wonder if these Tibetans will be anxious to send their troops south.
Maintain "free trade"?
"Your Highness is really generous and kind." Chen Cheng said in awe and compliment.
Song Le glanced at Chen Cheng. Although he also admired Shao Shude's character of caring about people's livelihood at all times, he really couldn't bear to say this.
"Okay, let's drink tea first." Li Yixian had already brought the brewed tea, and each person poured a bowl. Shao Shude asked everyone to sit down, and after a pause, he said: "I've come to see you this time. First, touch the tea."
Once we get to Heyang, we can see the bottom of Xuanwu Second Town. The other thing is to find out where the troops are now."
"Your Highness must have already achieved success, right?" Song Le asked.
"Yes." Shao Shude did not hide anything and said directly: "I originally wanted to attack Weibo first, but after thinking about it carefully, Weibo's 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers and horses, after recruiting the Tutuan countrymen, the number increased to more than 100,000.
If we persist in defending, it will be very troublesome. In this case, it is better to attack Cizhou first, eliminate Li Keyong's forces east of the Taihang Mountains, seize Xingmingci, and then attack Weibo with a great victory."
"Your Highness's strategy makes sense." Song Le said: "In the towns of Hebei, they are just household dogs. Don't look at Wei Bo's gang of warriors who have been clamoring to recapture the two states of Xiangwei. In fact, it only lasts for a few months.
Before, Xie Yanhui from Weizhou came to Mengzhou, and I had a long talk with him. Xie Sima had something to say, and Wei Bo's Yamen soldiers were actually very conflicted. On the one hand, they were very dissatisfied with the loss of Xiangwei's two states, and were always thinking about recapturing it. On the other hand, they were afraid of me.
The army is so powerful that we don’t dare to provoke alone. We have to find someone to embolden us before we dare to act together.”
"Xie Yanhui's words are very accurate. He is fierce in appearance but soft in heart. He is talking about the martial artist Wei Bo." Shao Shude said with a smile.
"It's good that Your Highness understands their nature." Song Le said: "When our army attacks Cizhou, Wei Bo will not necessarily come to join in the fun. When our army attacks Wei Bo, Li Keyong will definitely come to join in the fun. In this case, it is better to concentrate our forces and defeat one first.
The enemy in the direction.”
The key to the art of war is to use the masses to defeat the few, and use the strong to bully the weak. Song Le obviously agreed to attack Li Keyong first.
"Actually, if we attack Cizhou first, Wei Bo may not cause trouble for us." Chen Cheng said from the side: "At a time of life and death, we cannot rely on common sense. We still have to have countermeasures."
According to modern parlance, Shao Shude's method of using troops is to pile up redundancy and have a high fault tolerance. It will not cause a chain reaction and collapse of the whole line just because one place collapses. For important nodes, according to common sense, five thousand soldiers may be enough.
, Shao Shude often piles up 10,000 people to double the fault tolerance.
Chen Cheng felt that his lord should be prepared in two ways.
"The right wing of the Yi Cong Army has not crossed the river and has already reached Puzhou." Shao Shude said: "With these 10,000 men alone, we may not be able to break the situation, but it is enough to divert the attention of the thieves. On the other hand, the Tianping Army
The state armies of various states can also come in handy."
"Your Majesty, your troops are safe." Chen Cheng cupped his hands and sighed, "I am speechless."
"There is no problem with your Highness's plan." Song Le also said.
Shao Shude was determined. Both experienced counselors thought that Wei Bo could be released first, so this strategy should be fine.
In a war, there are strategic decisions first, then tactical choices, and the rest is execution.
The current situation is very favorable. News came from the direction of Suzhou on the southern line. After the plum blossoms, Li Tangbin had mobilized the armies of Pengri and Pengsheng to merge with more than 10,000 Bo, and Sutu Tuanxiangfu launched a siege on Donghe City.
The Longhu and Gongchen armies rotate at any time, and the Longxiang army serves as a reserve force.
These miscellaneous armies have just been transferred to more than 5,000 backbones, and their combat effectiveness has been greatly reduced. They have just appointed new officers, and they just want to get used to it through siege warfare, and by the way, they can remove a few nails left by Yang Xingmi in Huaibei.
The southern route is not a big problem, just attack slowly.
A war is about to begin on the northern front, and this is Shao Shude's second attempt to extend his "black hand" into Hebei.
****
On June 29, the first year of Tianyou's reign, the sun was scorching and the heat was extremely hot.
On both sides of the Fu River, small-scale cavalry confrontations gradually disappeared, and the entire front fell into a strange calm.
If I had to explain it, it actually makes sense. Because it’s summer, the weather is hot, and neither humans nor horses can stand wandering around outside all day long.
In addition, there were several heavy rains recently, and the flash floods surged. The surface of the Fushui River has not only become wider, but also deeper. Several places where horses can be forded have been submerged and have become deep water areas, seriously hampering both sides. action.
Today, Li Keyong braved the scorching sun and inspected the river in person.
I am forty-five years old, and I don’t know whether it’s because I’m worried or something else, but gray hair is faintly appearing on my temples.
Gai Yu followed silently, frowning, no longer as calm and calm as before.
Several horses came running from a distance, breaking the calm by the river.
"Is there any news?" Li Keyong asked without looking back, sitting on the horse's back.
"Returning to your Majesty, our troops have made repeated investigations and found that on the post road between the guards, there is an endless stream of sergeants, chariots and horses, all day long." The visitor reported: "But the thieves were well guarded and had many horsemen, so they did not dare to take the initiative. Capture and torture.”
"If you send someone again, you must find out more about it." Li Keyong's voice increased.
"As ordered." The visitor hurriedly left.
The war is about to begin, and intelligence is the most important.
Where is the enemy, how many soldiers there are, in which direction they are marching, and what is the morale and morale of the troops? These are the most basic things and must be clearly understood.
After obtaining the above information, you can try to make some in-depth judgments, that is, what are the enemy's intentions, what is their logistics supply, and how long can they last?
At this time, you can even put yourself in the role of the enemy, use the information you have received to guess the enemy's intentions, and simulate the attack route. In this process, your own side simulates how to respond and even counterattack.
As the saying goes, everything will be done in advance, and failure in advance will lead to failure. Generally speaking, a famous general who has good wisdom and can calculate three steps at a time usually has a very powerful team of staff around him to help him simulate various possibilities in advance.
Of course, there are also people who rely on their own talents to fight, and one person can defeat the opponent's entire staff group. This is another matter.
"Your Majesty, it's actually very obvious." Gai Yu said: "The Xia thieves sent fewer cavalry across the river to provoke, but the number of scouts is increasing. Xiangzhou has also repeatedly increased its troops, and within ten days there have been at least 40,000 to 50,000 more troops.
They are very likely to attack Cizhou. Strangely, although Wei Bo has nearly 70,000 warriors, the Xia people probably did not take them seriously and did not attack them, but instead went north. Your Majesty, the general made a mistake in his judgment. This matter...
"
"I don't blame you." Li Keyong turned his head, smiled, and said, "It's not too late now. We have few soldiers, Wei Bo has many soldiers, and it is normal for Xia thieves to attack me. In fact, this time is not bad, Shao
The more soldiers and horses the thief mobilizes, the harder it will be to hide his whereabouts. Judging from Xiangzhou's troubles, the troops have not yet been fully assembled. The troops used this time are likely to be more than 100,000, and there is still time to prepare."
In later generations, when a war enters the execution stage, it will generally be pointed out that a certain side has completed the concentration of troops, and then the battle officially begins. In ancient times, it was similar. It was impossible for an army of hundreds of thousands to suddenly assemble personnel and materials for a battle.
The process is very long, and as long as you are not blind, you can see it clearly, and it is almost a clear sign - of course, if the enemy is not professional enough, there is nothing you can do.
Both warring parties will try their best to prevent the enemy from obtaining intelligence and create the so-called fog of war. At this time, Li Keyong was still guessing the Xia army's strength and main attack direction, and Shao Shude had actually been trying to figure out the Jin army's strength and deployment.
Get as much as you can before the war. After the war starts, you can also test the quality of the enemy in person through combat operations, and then further determine where the opponent's main force is. This is actually the so-called "fire reconnaissance."
"Send an envoy to Weizhou to inquire about the situation at Luo Shaowei." Li Keyong ordered.
"Okay, General Mo will send people right now." The urgency in Gai Yu's heart began to increase. He had a premonition that this was an overwhelming attack.