Chapter 337: Invisible game, extreme intimidation (for the alliance leader
Chapter 337 Invisible Game, Extreme Intimidation (Additional update for the alliance leader, Uncle Shu)
Is Zhiyao a very suspicious person? There is no doubt that she is.
His situation will appear in every high-ranking person, and it is a trait that a high-ranking person must have. Otherwise, no matter how good his background is, unless he has not encountered any calculations in his life, he will die by himself, and his followers will follow him.
It will be buried, and the result will be widespread turmoil.
If there is nothing you can do about it, there will be people who will take advantage of it to the extreme. If your status is too high, you will not be short of people who want to take something from you.
Once you have reached a certain height, it is not your responsibility to bear the consequences of anything that happens. If you do not remain cautious at all times, you are not only being irresponsible to yourself, but you are actually taking the lives of countless people and not taking them seriously.
"The Wei family has gathered 70,000 troops in 'Hulao'. If we go east, we can attack the defensive area, and if we go north, we can invade the city of 'Ye'. If the Wei family attacks me, where do you think we will attack?"
Zhiyao summoned Sun Wu and Sima Ranju to "Linzi".
Before, Sun Wu and Sima Ranju were reading relevant information and waited until Zhi Yao finished reading before discussing.
There was no fourth person present, and the guards outside were strictly ordered not to allow anyone to come closer than ten meters.
Sun Wu did not answer the question right away, but said more generally: "The eldest son is cautious and has no intention of annexing Qi in a short time. He is really wise!"
indeed.
From the perspective of hindsight, Zhiyao's strategy of once again attacking Qi seemed to be too cautious at first. He clearly relied on the Zhi family's force to use sweeping methods, but he still attracted and misled the Qi princes, and very obviously let go.
Guo Tian seemed not to be decisive enough, but a series of subsequent chain reactions proved that Zhiyao's caution played a key role.
Of course, the actions of the Wei family, the Han family, the Chu state, the Wu state, and other families or countries were not aimed at the Zhi family. Another way of saying it would be that Zhi Yao had too many concerns and missed the opportunity to annex the Qi state at once.
Good opportunity.
Sima Ranju said: "The eldest son stationed 30,000 troops in 'Handan' and 10,000 troops in 'Ye'. Is this to deal with this change?"
Since six years ago, Zhiyao has intentionally regarded "Handan" as the new core of the Zhi family, placing the base for training new troops there, and later built the city of "Ye".
Zhiyao knew that Sima Ranju had more stories to tell.
Sure enough, Sima Ranju said: "Perhaps it is because of my family's behavior that it makes the Wei family uneasy?"
This statement is true.
The Zhi family is afraid that the Wei family will suddenly take action. Isn't it possible that the Wei family is afraid of the Zhi family's action?
Previously, Zhishi revealed to the outside world that the main purpose of stationing troops in "Handan" and "Ye" was to support Wei and Qi at any time.
The problem is that the Zhi family has gathered a large number of troops there and wants to do something to the Wei family. If they leave the Shangdang and go straight south, they can immediately cut off the return route of the Wei family's southern expedition troops, and at the same time snatch the Wei family from the Fan family.
The cities that came were swept away.
Really, this is not what happened when the Wei clan returned to more than ten years ago. Not only did they ruin the Wei clan's 50,000 to 60,000-strong army, but also the efforts and materials they successively invested in the southern border of Jin.
Just ask, is Wei really not afraid of what Zhi will do?
There is no doubt that the Wei family must have related concerns. They had stationed troops in "Hulao" before, but the number of troops currently stationed has increased sharply.
Zhiyao now has many options, including inviting the Wei family to participate in Qi's military deployment, issuing a new recruitment order, or continuing to follow the established pace.
"Qi's army is a little short of resources. The troops stationed in Handan and Ye cannot be mobilized. The troops stationed in Zhongshan also need to be prepared for Zhao's surprise attack."
"I want to recruit more soldiers. Let's see what the Wei and Han families do."
"Where do you two think the newly recruited soldiers should be assembled?"
It had been a long time since Zhiyao had experienced this kind of experience when she wanted to do something but was restrained.
Now, the Zhi family has assembled about 90,000 troops, of which 40,000 are in "Handan" and "Ye" alone. Nearly 40,000 are scattered throughout Qi State, and the remaining more than 10,000 are stationed in "Xianyu".
That's 90,000 troops, stationed in different areas, and almost half of them are performing combat missions. And this is just the number of troops used by one family, which is more than the total population of many countries.
Looking at the Wei family again, there were three or four years when the number of troops per year was no less than 30,000, and sometimes it could reach 60,000 to 70,000.
So, why is Jin so awesome? Because it is really awesome!
If the Jin Dynasty's ministerial families could unite, no country could withstand the power it would unleash alone.
It was precisely because the Jin Dynasty's ministerial families fought so frequently and seriously that they had such an army.
Of course, they have to thank their ancestors for shaping Jin into a country of military fruitfulness. With enough atmosphere and foundation, their descendants can easily pull out an army of that size.
Take a look at the Qi State. Their population is not large and their economy is larger than that of the Jin State. From a long time ago to the present, they have mobilized more than 100,000 troops only a handful of times, but each time they suffered a huge defeat.
end.
In the past, there were only two countries that could easily mobilize more than 100,000 troops. One was of course Jin and the other was Chu.
At first, the Chu State was not adaptable to such a large-scale war. It suffered a lot of losses and made repeated adjustments before slowly adapting to it. It defeated the Jin army several times and gained hegemony for a time.
Even though the Kingdom of Wu was so prosperous before, there were several examples of using 100,000 troops. After Wu Zixu died, Sun Wu also left the Kingdom of Wu. In fact, no one could effectively bring out the role of the 100,000 troops.
To put it bluntly, the ability is limited, and the command cannot mobilize the troops and use them in appropriate positions to play their role.
If the ability is insufficient, less than half of the 100,000 troops may actually play a role, and the remaining half will be spectators. This kind of thing is not funny, on the contrary, it is common because of the commander's lack of ability.
Zhiyao also discovered the limits of his ability to lead troops. When he exceeded 80,000 troops, he felt overwhelmed and confused. He knew that it would still take some time to improve.
Under the condition that there are enough qualified grassroots officers, if there is no such group of grassroots officers and the situation remains the same, Zhiyao's command of 30,000 to 40,000 people will be in a hurry.
What does it look like in the old days? It just uses "shi" as the backbone and a certain number of "disciples" to lead the recruited "Xians".
Therefore, the Wei family seems to be very powerful in a sense. They do not have the large-scale training of junior officers like the Zhi family, and they can still fight with large corps.
Zhishi recruited again and divided them into two areas for assembly.
There was one "Huangfu" in the central part of the Jin Kingdom, and he assembled two "divisions" of troops.
Three "divisions" of troops were assembled in "Puyang".
While they were gathering, Zhishi was paying close attention to see if Wei and Han made any new moves.
For example, the Wei family and the Han family also issued a new round of recruitment orders, or where the assembled armies were moving.
Again, Zhishi thinks that Wei or Han's actions pose a threat to herself, and Wei or Han will also see Zhishi's actions and think that they are a threat to themselves.
Only the Zhi family is allowed to make big moves, and the Wei family or Han family are not allowed to feel nervous. How can this make sense?
Regardless of whether the Wei family or the Han family had any intention of doing something against the Zhi family, they discovered that after the Zhi family launched a new round of recruitment, the total number of troops assembled by the Zhi family actually exceeded 130,000!
That was an army of 130,000, which was much larger than the total population under the rule of most princes!
However, there was the previous example of Zhishi gathering an army of over 500,000 people. This time he gathered 130,000 troops. It seems that the movement is not too big?
That's not the same!
The last time the Zhishi gathered an army of about 500,000 people, they were scattered throughout the Zhishi fiefdom. It was unknown how many of them could be mobilized to fight, so the meaning of scaring people was even stronger.
The 130,000 troops assembled this time, judging from their assembly location and the corresponding material preparations, it is obvious that they can be mobilized for field battles.
"The Wei army is heading south, seemingly approaching Xinzheng."
"The Han army also marched westward, leaving Shaoliang to invade the territory of Bai Zhai."
So, the Wei family and the Han family understood what the Zhi family meant by once again gathering troops, and responded with actions?
It can also be understood that the Wei family and the Han family understood that the Zhi family had taken precautions and thought that they were not sure, so they gave up the original collusion and implemented another plan.
No matter which one it is, it purely proves the importance of having sufficient strength.
In other words, if the Zhi family is unable to assemble another army in addition to the 90,000 troops that have been assembled, the Wei family and the Han family will not have much concern at all.
Sun Wu said: "The Wei family still has 20,000 troops stationed in Hulao, and the Han family has stationed two divisions in Han, both for defense against me."
If the Wei family and the Han family really didn't guard against the Zhi family, then Zhi Yao would feel something was wrong.
In any case, Zhiyao once again gathered an army to make the Wei and Han families move.
Now the Zhi family, the Wei family and the Han family should have enough tacit understanding, know what it means to be wary of each other and to be on guard, and will be more careful about what they want to do. Should they be able to continue to maintain a false calm in the short term?
Zhiyao said: "Let's see whether the Chu army is heading west or north."
This time, the Song State did not form an alliance with the Chu State, but only allowed the Chu army to use the passage.
That was determined by the special national conditions of the Song Dynasty. They could only form an alliance with the legitimate overlord of the world to avoid being on the wrong team and being completely liquidated later.
Zhiyao, who had solved a certain crisis, had a new consciousness in her heart.
Perhaps Zhiyao misunderstood that the behavior of Wei and Han this time was simply a misunderstanding, but it proved the mutual constraints in that relationship.
Under that current situation, whether it was the Zhi family, the Wei family, or the Han family, they had to guard against each other's actions, and they really couldn't use their full strength to expand outwards.
"I feel uncomfortable, and they will feel even more uncomfortable."
"My family is ahead of them in every aspect. It's them who should be anxious."
"According to this trend, unless they collude with external forces, how can they be sure to take action?"
Zhiyao feels that time is still in her favor, but some other things seem to need to be changed!