Chapter 535: Why not divide the north and the south?
I don’t know since when has it become the norm for various countries not to disband their armies in winter? Under this normality, countries with strong national strength will feel uncomfortable due to production cuts, and countries with average national strength may not be able to sustain it for even two years.
It's actually not bad here in the original country. After the reform, if you pay regular taxes and pay more, you can get a title after accumulating a certain amount, and you can harvest more food every year than before.
Chu State, Song State and other surviving countries did not have the original policy of exchanging grain for titles, so they could only increase their share of grain harvest.
One party voluntarily handed over more food, while the other party was forced to increase the amount. You can imagine what will happen in terms of people's hearts.
Countries also knew that it was a way of quenching thirst by drinking poison, but their attempts to imitate the original country's policies were met with total opposition from the aristocracy, so they had no choice but to take another set of measures.
Although increasing the amount of handover will also harm the interests of the nobles, it is better than becoming the norm. That's what the nobles think anyway.
Furthermore, the nobles need to pay more taxes, which will at best squeeze the subjects under their rule even more. The nobles' own inventory is still guaranteed.
They have forgotten that it is better to have a hard life than to be dissatisfied. However, some people only care about their immediate interests and do not think about the long-term future.
The territory of the Song Dynasty north of "Shangqiu" has been lost, and the area that can still maintain production is south of the Suishui River. However, a large number of young and strong men and women are already serving the war, and production will definitely be greatly affected.
"So, there are still 170,000 enemy troops south of the Suishui River?" Zhiyao arrived at the outskirts of Shangqiu and summoned the early command team.
Zhikai replied: "There are 170,000 enemy troops, of which the Chu army accounts for 80,000, and the rest is the Song army."
This group of Chu and Song coalition forces has been staying on the south bank of the Suishui River. No matter how tempted the original army was, they would not step across the Suishui River.
Zhi Xuwu said: "The coalition forces must be controlled by Chu State, otherwise how could they stop on the south bank of Suishui River."
The current situation is that the senior officials of the Song Dynasty are trapped in the city of "Shangqiu". Once "Shangqiu" falls, it means that the senior officials of the Song Dynasty will be blamed. Under this situation, how eager are the people of the Song Dynasty to lift the siege of "Shangqiu"
One can imagine.
However, the people of the Song Dynasty also knew very well that they alone could not rescue "Shangqiu" at all, and needed full support from the Chu army.
The two sides have been wrestling with each other. The nobles of the Song Dynasty eagerly hope that the Chu army can go together to relieve "Shangqiu". The Chu Kingdom believes that the current "Shangqiu" is the same as the "Xinzheng" that was once besieged, and does not have enough troops to rush to rescue the siege.
, not only cannot we rescue the siege, but it may also lead to the annihilation of the entire army.
To be honest, the Chu people had too great a shadow over the "Battle of Xinzheng". Their main force was wiped out in that way, and even Ling Yin was killed in the battle, and the monarch also died of illness later.
Because of the huge shadow and the fact that only a few years had passed, the Chu State was really scared. Even though they knew that the successive demise of Song and Yue would make Chu alone unable to survive, they still did not dare to easily send troops to "Shangqiu" for rescue.
Zhiyao asked: "What do you think, Prince?"
If it were any other father and son, Zhikai would not dare to speak out whatever he had in mind.
Attacking "Shangqiu" immediately would appear to be a wise attempt to gain credit, without the strategic vision a prince should have.
But the current situation is a bit complicated, so Zhikai said: "The city gate of 'Shangqiu' is not blocked. If a large number of trebuchets are used to concentrate the ejection, the city gate may be broken open."
This means that since the Chu and Song coalition forces did not come to rescue "Shangqiu", they should capture "Shangqiu" as soon as possible and then go to Suishui to fight the Chu and Song coalition forces.
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Zhiyao nodded curtly and said: "In this case, the prince will lead the army to attack Shangqiu, and I will lead the army to Suishui."
Being so straightforward made Zhikai look very embarrassed, and whispered: "Father, Kaiwei has no intention of competing for merit, but..."
"No need to say more." Zhiyao said cheerfully: "As a prince, how can you not be enterprising."
Zhiyao allows Zhikai to express herself, provided it is within a controllable range.
At present, "Shangqiu" has become a mature fruit that anyone can pick without difficulty.
Zhikai is in charge of this battle, and Zhiyao, as a king, will not reach out to pick the fruit if the battle is like this.
After nearly a year of siege, "Shangqiu" is indeed in crumbling condition. Many city defense facilities have been damaged. The daily launch of trebuchets has cleared out many sections of the city wall, and even some sections of the city wall have been severely cracked.
The most important thing is the people's hearts. No reinforcements have come to rescue. The morale of the Song army guarding "Shangqiu" cannot be raised even if they want to. They may be able to continue to persist, but they have lost the ability to counterattack. If they continue to persist, they will only maintain their strength.
In a trapped situation, nothing can be changed superfluously.
When there was no one else around, Zhiyao asked Zhikai, "How do you want to attack?"
Zhikai replied: "My child wants to keep things as they are."
Then we should continue to use the projectile vehicle to fire stone projectiles every day and continue to smash them down again and again? Isn't it going to launch an actual siege of "Shangqiu" soon?
Zhiyao nodded with satisfaction and said, "The prince has grown up."
Even if many of the city defense facilities in "Shangqiu" are ineffective, as long as the defenders still maintain resistance, a strong attack will still cost the attackers a huge price.
Now that "Shangqiu" has become a ripe fruit, if the Chu-Song coalition forces on the Suishui side are destroyed or repelled, the morale of the defenders of "Shangqiu" will inevitably drop further.
Once the Chu-Song coalition forces in Suishui no longer exist, the top leaders of the Song state will know that continued resistance is useless and will most likely choose to surrender.
Therefore, the next offensive and defensive battle of "Shangqiu" is no longer the key to determining this battle, but the upcoming battle in Suishui. Zhiyao knows this, and Zhikai should also understand this.
The season is still in winter, so the possibility of large-scale battles is extremely low, while small-scale battles are happening all the time.
Zhiyao did not stay around "Shangqiu" for too long. He left two legions and continued to besiege "Shangqiu" led by Zhikai, and started to go south with the remaining legions.
During this period, God played a trick with sleet, and the troops led by Zhiyao had to stay in camp.
It took more than half a month to resume the march. Within half a month, the original military camp was filled with the smell of ginger.
Ginger can remove colds, and there is no harm in drinking some from time to time in winter. It even has the effect of treating wind and cold.
On a sunny day, Zhiyao led his army to the north bank of Suishui River.
"The combined armies of Chu and Song are camped together. No wonder there are no reinforcements to rescue Shangqiu." Zhiyao came to a high place and looked at the enemy camp from a distance.
Why do you say that? It means that the Chu State really controlled the 70,000 to 80,000 Song troops. Otherwise, even if they are allies, the armies usually have their own camps and will not be stationed together.
The Song State is now very dependent on the Chu State. They have no high-status people on the south bank of the Suishui River. It is not difficult for the Chu State to seize control of the Song Army.
The day after he was stationed in Zhiyao, a boat appeared on the Suishui River.
This boat carried an envoy from Chu State, his name was Qu Huai.
"Greetings to the original king on my behalf." Qu Huai was somewhat of an old acquaintance of Zhiyao.
But Zhiyao said with a confused look on his face: "The king of Chu, Yan, was killed, so where did the king of Chu come from?"
The original king of Chu recognized Xiong Yan, but did not recognize Xiong Ning as the new king of Chu.
Qu Huai did not want to dwell on this issue, so he saluted again and said: "My king has something to say, please listen to the original king."
Without the gesture of saluting, it was very much like announcing an ultimatum.
Qu Huai took a deep breath, softened his tone, and said: "A long time ago, the original king made an agreement with the late king, and wanted to divide the world equally and rule from the north to the south. Now the great Chu can annex the entire territory of Yue State, leaving the north of the Yangtze River in the original state.
.It is intended to cede the north of Suishui River to the original country, and the south of Suishui River to be the land of Chu. The two countries have stopped fighting, and they will make peace year by year and share peace."
Zhiyao showed a dumbfounded smile.
The former ministers in the tent smiled at first, and then laughed "haha".
How many years ago was that in the old almanac?
At that time, the Zhi family had just turned their family into a country. Wu, Qi, and Qin were still alive. Gou Jian, the king of Yue, was still working hard to seek revenge. Zhi Yao's proposal to divide the world equally with Chu was just a delaying strategy.
The situation is now very clear. The Yuan Kingdom is at its peak. Wouldn't it be a fool not to take advantage of the situation to complete the great cause of "one world"?
Furthermore, although Chu State has eliminated most of the civil strife, the internal situation is very bad. The emperor does not believe Xiong Ning at all. Because the threat from the original state is too great, it has not caused greater civil strife for the time being. What do they have?
He is qualified to share the world equally with the original country.
Qu Huai burst out laughing "haha" and also laughed "haha".
According to the routine, should someone ask Qu Huai why he was laughing?
However, when the monarchs and ministers of the original country saw Qu Huai laughing, they laughed even louder.
"Chu has more than 500,000 powerful soldiers, and its territory is thousands of miles wide. How can the Yuan Kingdom destroy Chu?" Qu Huai asked this sentence almost roaring.
Can the Chu State gather 500,000 troops? If they unite internally, maybe they can actually do it.
Zhiyao raised his head and pressed the button to signal the ministers to be quiet, and then said: "It is absolutely impossible to divide the world equally. If Chu wants to enjoy peace, and the whole country surrenders to me, I can grant peace to the people of Chu."
It seems domineering, but the rest reveals the possibility that there is room for negotiation.
Qu Huai heard this, stared at Zhiyao, and said: "If the country does not exist, there will be no Chu people. I think the original king knows how fierce the Chu people are."
This is not a lie.
The people over there in the Chu State are very romantic, but they are also extremely ferocious. If Guo Zuo wants to destroy the Chu State, any country must be mentally prepared to pay a heavy price.
Because of the character of the people of Chu, destroying Guo Zuo of Chu is actually just the beginning. Next, we have to face the constant resistance of Chu people from all over the country. The cost of governance is huge, and the harvest may not be able to support the consumption.
Could it be that because of this, Zhiyao would give up destroying Chu?
Zhiyao was very determined to destroy Chu State, and had already thought about how to treat the local people after destroying Chu State.
The First Emperor's approach was to recruit troops from the Chu region and send the remaining defeated troops from the six countries to Lingnan. Unfortunately, too many fish slipped through the net, especially the Xiang family who was hiding in Kuaiji. In the final analysis, he was not ruthless enough.
Zhiyao's approach would be to migrate all the nobles from the Chu Kingdom, including those with high status in various villages, and would not let them go, and would continue to hunt down those who were missed.
In addition to the cruel methods mentioned above, Zhiyao would first allocate the fields in the old land of Chu State, allocate the best farmland to his own meritorious soldiers, and then reward the leftovers to the common people of Chu State.
When the Chu State existed, the monarchs and ministers could do whatever they wanted, and ordinary people only had to suffer. The original state would allocate land to those ordinary people. They might still miss the Chu State, and their willingness to fight for the Chu State would disappear.
The simple reason is that they love Chu State, but the monarchs and ministers who rule Chu State do not love them.
If the Chu State is restored again, will the land assigned to them by the original state still belong to them?
Of course, although the Yuan Kingdom now has the ability to destroy the Chu Kingdom, it should still pay attention to the steps and give some false hope to the Chu Kingdom's monarchs and ministers. Maybe it is something that should be done?
Qu Huai saw the hesitation on Zhiyao's face, but he didn't know that Zhiyao was hesitating on purpose, so he took advantage of the situation and said: "I thought the original king knew about our king's military strategy south of the river? The original army was to capture the land of Dachu, but our country still has
But living south of the river will be a nightmare for the original country."
It is a threat, but also a form of submission.
Zhiyao shook his head and said: "Song State needs to return to its own people, and Chu State also needs to give up the land of 'Wu'."
Sima Ranju expressed his objection at the right time and said: "Your Majesty, it is easy to destroy the Song Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty is destroyed, our army's morale will be high and we can attack Chu. By then, our army's morale will be high and we will be able to march in. How can we make a small profit?
And forget..."
Zhi Xuwu shouted: "Shut up!"
Speak what you say, don't make personal attacks.
Next came the time for debate between Sima Ranju's faction and Zhi Xuwu's faction. The two sides argued over whether to take advantage of the situation and attack Chu.
Qu Huai secretly observed Zhiyao's expression and found that there was anger and hesitation on Zhiyao's face. He thought: "It is normal for the country to have factions, but it is strange if there are no factions. Sima Ranju and others are outsiders when it comes to it, and they are in urgent need of it."
More military achievements have gained a firm foothold in the original country. On the contrary, Zhixuwu and other Zhi family members or the old people of Jin have been fighting for decades, so it is natural for them to have some time to breathe."
"Shut up, everyone!" Zhiyao looked angry.
Everyone immediately shut their mouths and unanimously apologized to Zhiyao.
Zhiyao ignored his ministers, looked at Qu Huai and said, "Your Majesty, please step back first."
Qu Huai had too many things on his mind, so he retreated and walked outside the tent where he heard a fierce quarrel inside.
There is a real situation. The original country has indeed started wars for more than ten consecutive years, and there are many wars involving more than 100,000 troops.
Judging from the speed at which the original country annexed the country, and looking at the amount of various materials consumed, it seems that it has reached a limit?
This is because the countries do not know the production of the original country, and are not aware of the military output of "Ye", and use their own cognition to guess the situation of the original country.
Of course, Qu Huai would not easily believe that the Yuan Kingdom would miss the opportunity to destroy the Chu State just because he had witnessed a quarrel between the two factions of the Yuan Kingdom. However, after having such knowledge, reward was inevitable.
In the future, the Chu State will try its best to delay the conquest of the original country, and the game between the two sides will become more complicated.
