1529: Five Hundred Thousand Qin and Ming Combined Army
On the surface, the Ming army in Jizhou seems to have great glory. It took away the land of the three counties of Jizhou as soon as the peace came out, and it was able to fight against Zhao and Han with its own strength. However, in fact, the life of the Canming army in Jizhou was not easy.
.
Qin Hao naturally knew this. It was only when he actually took charge of the Ming army that he realized how difficult it was for Zhang Liang and Emperor Ming to maintain Can Ming in such a situation.
On the surface, the Ming Dynasty occupied the three counties of Julu, Qinghe, and Changshan in Jizhou, but in fact they only occupied part of them. None of the counties was completely occupied. The county offices and the richest cities were still in Han Xin and Yuan Shao.
under the control of.
Canming also occupies 11 counties in these three counties, with a total population of 650,000. Including the nearly 600,000 people hidden in Taihang, the total population is nearly 1.3 million. However,
Supporting nearly 150,000 troops, the military-civilian ratio even exceeded ten to one.
You must know that an army of 150,000 is not a small number, it is already equivalent to a quarter of the Qin Army, but the resources that Can Ming possesses are less than one-fortieth of the Qin Army.
It can be seen from this that the military burden of the Jizhou Ming Army is definitely the heaviest among all forces.
In addition, although Qin Hao provided high-yielding grain seeds to Can Ming early on, the land available for cultivation in the Taihang Mountains was limited after all.
The Taihang Mountains are boundless, and the Can Ming Dynasty has not been fully cultivated yet, but most of them are mountainous areas that cannot be cultivated. There is actually very little land for the Ming army to plant, so naturally there is not much food grown.
If it weren't for Qin Hao's high-yielding grain crops, it would have been impossible for Can Ming to raise both troops and people without going out to plunder.
Therefore, the Ming army's food and grass burden has always been heavy. It was not until two years ago that it sent troops to Jizhou and captured the land of eighteen counties.
The ceaseless conquest.
The Ming army, which has not yet left the Taihang Mountains, can barely maintain an army of 100,000 due to limited food and grass. If it breaks out of the Taihang Mountains, it is very likely that Korea and Zhao will invade at the same time. An army of 100,000 is naturally not enough to deal with it.
of.
Therefore, after occupying three counties and eighteen counties, the Ming army expanded its army many times in order to defend the captured territory.
Later, in the process of resisting South Korea and Zhao, although the Ming army suffered a lot of casualties, the entire army still maintained its strength at 150,000 people.
Let's put it this way, although the Ming army gained land when they fought out of Taihang, which greatly reduced the pressure on food and grass, the expansion of the army and the war also increased the consumption of food and grass.
Therefore, although the food pressure of the Ming army is better than before leaving Taihang, it is only a little. It is okay to defend the existing territory, but it does not have the strength to expand its territory and cannot withstand large-scale battles.
consumption.
The Ming army did not have enough food and grass, but Qin Hao did. He ordered the army to survive for two years, in order to wait for the Qin and Ming dynasties to merge, and then use hundreds of thousands of Qin and Ming forces to sweep across Hebei with the force of the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.
Originally, if Qin Hao wanted to unify Hebei, he had to first pry open the door to Jizhou, and then gain a firm foothold before he could completely let go.
However, Huguan, as the gateway, is now in the hands of the Ming army, and the eighteen counties in western Hebei are also completely in the hands of the Ming army, which can serve as the most solid bridgehead for the Qin army.
Therefore, as long as the Qin army sends troops to Jizhou, there is no need to consider other issues at all. The only things that need to be considered are grain, grass and transportation.
"Originally, I planned to use 400,000 troops to conquer Hebei, but now it seems that since there are 150,000 soldiers who have surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, then..."
After Qin Hao thought for a while, he smiled and said: "We only need 350,000 troops, plus 150,000 Ming troops, a total of 500,000 troops, which is more than enough to sweep across Jizhou."
Qin Hao also had his own considerations. Although the Qin army had a large army of 600,000, it was surrounded by enemies on all sides and had many places to defend.
During Qin Hao's campaign in Hebei, if only a few princes invaded, 200,000 defenders would be able to deal with it. However, if the princes from all directions invaded at the same time, 200,000 defenders would not be enough.
.
But at this critical moment, with an extra 50,000 troops coming to defend, the situation would be completely different.
Hearing what Qin Hao said, Zhang Liang said: "The food and grass needed by an army of 500,000 is not a small amount."
"This king has been prepared for this. As early as half a year ago, I ordered the transportation of the grain and grass king Jinyang warehouse in Ningxia warehouse, Yinchuan warehouse and Yinshan warehouse. Now Jinyang warehouse has 15 million shi of grain stored in it, which is enough.
To support an army of 500,000 for two years of campaign."
The grain production in Hetao accounts for three-quarters of the Qin army, so for the Battle of Hebei, Qin Hao does not need to adjust grain from other places at all. He only needs to transport the grain and grass from Hetao to Jinyang, and then transport it from Jinyang to Jizhou.
enough.
Hearing this, Zhang Liang couldn't help but sigh.
Recalling that when the Yellow Turbans marched into Luoyang, they wiped out most of the aristocratic families in the Central Plains and suffered countless infamy, they only collected 20 million stones of food and grass.
After Qin Hao made public his high grain yield, just over three years had passed. Hetao and Bingzhou alone were able to easily mobilize 15 million grains and grains. The one before and the other was like two eras.
"In this case, there should be no problem with food and grass, but the king still needs to return to Jinyang as soon as possible to spread the news that all 150,000 Ming troops have been surrendered. After all, no matter how blocked and concealed, the news from Taihang
It’s destined not to be hidden for long.”
"This king knows."
Qin Hao nodded and said, of course he also knows this, and there is not much time left for him to operate, so he must return to Jinyang as soon as possible to make arrangements, and then the Qin and Ming armies will join forces to launch a sudden attack, and try their best to prevent the next attack.
Seize the upper hand in battle.
"Next, I will take the princess, Guo Jia and others back to Jinyang. During my absence, this place will be left to you, Zhang Liang."
"Liang Ding lives up to the king's trust."
On the same day, Qin Hao took Ren Hongchang, Guo Jiafuxi and others back to Jinyang under the escort of Dugu Qiubei, leaving only Qin Yijue, Ah Qing and a few others.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang's factory guards were disabled in the First World War, there were still a few spies hidden among the Ming army, so Qin Yijue and A Qing were left responsible for completely eliminating them.
On the way back, Qin Hao said to Emperor Ming: "Hong'er, what identity will you show up as in the future? Is it Zhang Sheng? Or Dongfang Sheng? Or return to your real name, Ren Hongchang?"
Emperor Ming thought thoughtfully and then said forcefully: "Although Zhang Sheng, Dongfang Sheng, or the empress are all me, I want to return to my original self, so I will still use the name Ren Hongchang from now on."
As soon as Ren Hongchang finished speaking, Qin Hao had not said anything, but Fuxi on the side said excitedly: "Great, sister, you finally figured it out. For my brother, you should have restored your original name long ago."
"Brother, when will you return to your original surname? You are the only male in our Ren family." Ren Hongchang said with a smile.
"Um, this..."
Fuxi couldn't help but look troubled, but he quickly said: "When my brother has a child, he will be named Ren."
Qin Hao and Ren Hongchang looked at each other and laughed in unison.