Chapter 2416: It’s easier to kneel down than to stand up
In the First Battle of Guanzhong, the Qin Dynasty dispatched more than 20 troops, divided into five groups to attack the Tang Dynasty. Although they were not able to achieve full success due to various factors, they still achieved extremely remarkable results.
In this battle, Great Qin not only captured Wuguan, Tongguan, Xiaoguan, and Aiguan, these four fortresses that were easy to defend but difficult to attack, completely exposing Guanzhong to the iron heel of Great Qin.
Without the obstruction of Xiongguan Fortress, the vast plains of Guanzhong were like a naked beauty in the eyes of the Qin army, who could be ravaged whenever they wanted.
In addition, the Qin army also occupied half of Guanzhong and wiped out 100,000 elite troops of the Tang army, which greatly weakened the Tang state's war potential and made it impossible for the Tang state to recover to this day.
Of course, the most important thing is to force the Tang State to cede territory and pay compensation, become a vassal and pay tribute, and since then it has become a vassal state of Qin.
This is the most fatal thing. After all, confidence is also extremely important in the confrontation between countries.
Only when you have enough confidence can you persevere with confidence and certainty, and your resistance will naturally be stronger.
But once the confidence is insufficient and there is no guarantee of victory, the ability to resist will become weak, and you will even be unable to resist.
In the past, the Tang army was based on its own strength and the equal status of both sides, so it had the confidence to challenge the Qin army, the overlord of the princes, with the weak against the strong.
But now, the Tang State is not only defeated by Da Qin, but is also a vassal state of Da Qin. Its backbone has been broken, so how can it still be confident?
In addition, during the past year and a half, the Qin Dynasty also implemented a policy of dividing and co-opting the Tang State from all aspects, which greatly undermined the Tang State's internal will to resist.
Therefore, if the second Guanzhong War were launched, the resistance of the Tang army would definitely not be as strong as before.
This is the main reason why Ying Hao is confident that the Guanzhong War will end within a month or two.
"Taifu Jia, you are in charge of intelligence, tell me, what is the combat strength of the Tang Army in Guanzhong now?" Ying Hao asked.
Jia Xu immediately stood up and reported: "Your Majesty, nearly half of the Tang army in Guanzhong are new recruits who have never seen blood.
Over the past year, although Li Shimin has increased military investment and increased the training time, reaching six training sessions a week, the overall effect is not obvious."
With the advent of the Warring States Period, in order to increase the combat effectiveness of the army, the princes not only increased research on equipment and ordnance, but also spent a lot of effort on training soldiers. After all, training is the lowest-cost method.
Before the beginning of the Troubled Times, the Han army trained three times a week and rested basically every other day.
But when the troubled times began, in order to survive and develop, the princes would not let the soldiers be so relaxed. They would train to death as long as they could not die.
The training time of soldiers continues to increase, from three trainings to four trainings, and it is not until the fifth training that they stabilize. If it is longer, the soldiers will be overtired, which will be detrimental to their physical and mental health.
Da Qin currently trains five times a week, but Li Tang has raised the training to six days a week, which shows how eager Li Shimin is to improve the military's combat effectiveness in order to deal with the threat of Da Qin.
As for the training methods? Countries vary, but without exception, soldiers are asked to practice external skills to strengthen their physical fitness.
Why not let soldiers practice internal skills?
Naturally, internal strength relies heavily on resources in the early stage. If all soldiers are required to practice internal strength, it will really be a bottomless pit.
Among the countries, even the richest one, Great Qin, could only barely afford it, let alone other countries.
On the other hand, external skills rely less on resources in the early stages. Once you practice to a high level, you only need to improve your food and keep up with your nutrition. You don’t have to worry about destroying yourself through practice.
In the later stages of internal strength training, you no longer rely on external objects, and you rely less on resources in the later stages. You mainly rely on your own understanding.
On the contrary, for external skills, the more advanced you practice, the greater your reliance on resources.
Yue Yun, Huang Tianhua, Jin Tai, Jiao Moqiang, these God of War level external martial arts masters, spend at least a thousand taels of silver just on medicinal baths and medicinal meals every month.
Of course, 99% of soldiers will definitely not reach this level. If they really have that qualification, they will definitely be promoted to general due to their military exploits. Naturally, there is no need to worry about resources.
As for the physical training methods promoted by the military, they are naturally different in different countries. They are all simple and easy-to-learn external skills with a low threshold, so I will not discuss them one by one.
Li Shimin increased military expenditures and training time, but the effect was not good. This was naturally not because Tang was not good at training troops, but because his backbone was broken by the Qin army.
The morale of the military has been lost, and it will naturally be difficult to increase combat effectiveness by relying solely on training.
It is easy for a country to kneel down, but it is not so easy to stand up again.
China was like this in the late Qing Dynasty. Its backbone was completely broken by the foreign powers, and it knelt in humiliation for more than a hundred years. Even though countless martyrs fought against all odds, it was not until modern times that they finally stood up.
The situation faced by the Tang army now is not much better than that of China in the late Qing Dynasty.
Da Qin, the most powerful force in the world, is blocking his doorstep and can attack at any time, and the Tang Kingdom is still in danger.
Who wouldn’t be desperate after this?
The Tang army in Guanzhong knew that they could not defeat the Qin State, and they could die at any time. It would be very difficult for them not to rebel, and to ensure high combat power would be too much.
Li Shimin thought that after becoming a minister, he could use his skills to save the morale of the army and restore the Tang army's combat effectiveness, but in the end he overestimated himself and underestimated Ying Hao.
Li Shimin can use strategies to save the morale of the army, but the prerequisite is that Ying Hao does not interfere, but Ying Hao is not a fool, how could he not react at all?
No matter what moves Li Shimin used, Ying Hao only used one move, which was to divide and disintegrate, making all Li Shimin's efforts go to waste.
"According to the information sent back by the spies who lurked into the Tang army at Heibingtai, the Tang army in Guanzhong generally changed their minds towards our army after hearing about it, and the overall attitude was pessimistic about whether the Tang state could defend Guanzhong."
Although Jia Xu did not explicitly state the strength of the Tang army, the meaning behind his words was already obvious.
The Tang army in Guanzhong is much weaker than it was a year and a half ago.
Not only the Tang army in Guanzhong, but also the Tang army in Hanzhong and Longxi had a severe decline in combat effectiveness.
Who told Li Shimin to remove too many elites to make up for the vacancy in Guanzhong's troops? The decline in combat effectiveness is inevitable.
The Tang army's combat effectiveness declined, but on the other hand, the Qin army's combat effectiveness not only did not decline, but further improved through disarmament and the campaign against Japanese invaders.
How could the Tang army stop the Qin army under such circumstances?
"Okay, this time we must win Guanzhong and unify Sili." Ying Hao said with confidence.
As for whether Shu, Chu and other states would stop Da Qin from occupying Guanzhong out of fear, or even directly send troops to start a war?
After discussing with other advisers, Ying Hao thought it was unlikely.
The target of Da Qin's troops this time was only one and a half counties in Guanzhong, not the entire Guanxi.
Da Qin has already occupied one and a half counties in Guanzhong. After capturing another one and a half counties including Chang'an, there will be no qualitative leap.
Will Great Qin go to war all-out just because of a county and a half? This is obviously not a cost-effective thing, and even if the war does start, there is no guarantee of victory.
Therefore, after the Qin Dynasty fully occupied Guanzhong, it would stop as long as it felt good and did not overly stimulate other countries, so the war would not expand further.
"Li Jing, the governor of Yongzhou, is solely responsible for the matter of sending troops to Guanzhong this time. I have only one request: to occupy Guanzhong as quickly as possible." Ying Hao ordered in a deep voice.
"According to the decree."
Ying Hao's decree soon spread to Guanzhong.
After Li Jing received the imperial edict, he immediately secretly summoned all the civil and military officials in Guanzhong and held a high-level meeting in Lantian to discuss how to start the war.
In the Lantian meeting hall, Li Jing, the governor of Yongzhou, is sitting on the throne. The civil and military officials below are clearly separated, standing on the left and right respectively. The head of the military officers is the deputy governor Wang Jian, and the head of the civil officials is Wu Qi, the governor of Yongzhou.
Wang Jian is survived by: Tongguan Commander-in-Chief Sima Cuo, Xiaoguan Commander-in-Chief Meng Yi, Wuguan Commander-in-Chief Hu Luguang, and Yaoguan Commander-in-Chief Fu Cunshen.
In addition to these four generals, there are also Gongsun Xuanyuan, Yuwen Chengdu, Jia Fu, Pei Yuanqing, Huang Tianhua, Qin Ming, Yue Yun, Xue Dingshan, Zhang Xiu and other famous generals.
The founding princes like Gongsun Xuanyuan, Yuwen Chengdu, and Jia Fu were all above Wang Jian in terms of official position and title. Logically speaking, they should not be ranked behind Wang Jian.
But Wang Jian still has the position of Deputy Governor of Yongzhou. He is second only to Wu Qi in the military circles of Yongzhou, and Great Qin has always considered positions regardless of seniority, so everyone consciously stood behind Wang Jian, the Deputy Governor.
Unlike Wang Jian, Wu Qi, who was the governor of Yongzhou, was a veritable leader among the civil servants in Yongzhou. At the same time, due to the special circumstances of Yongzhou, the boundaries between civil servants and military generals were relatively blurred.
Although Wu Qi, the governor of the state, was a civil official, he was also in charge of the military, so he and Li Jing were actually on equal status.
It's just that Li Jing has accumulated power for a long time and is also the coach appointed by His Majesty, so Wu Qi took the initiative to submit to Li Jing.
The lineup after Wu Qi was equally luxurious, including: military advisor offering wine to Baili Xi, farewell Di Renjie, chief secretary Wang Xizhi, chief envoy Qin Guan, Fufeng prefect Liu Yong on the right, Jun Cheng Yang Ku, Feng Ling prefect on the left Bismarck, Jun Cheng Ban Chao...
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Among the civil servants, the one with the lowest qualifications is Ban Chao, the top scholar in the new civil service, and he is also the youngest among the civil servants.
In addition, Baili Xi, the Military Advisor Jijiu, was originally the governor of Hedong, but because of his outstanding political performance in the past year and the great rule of Hedong, he was promoted by Ying Hao to the Military Advisor Jijiu in Yongzhou, assisting the governor in managing military affairs.
Da Qin only has one and a half counties in Yongzhou, but this small place has gathered so many capable ministers and generals. The strength of the lineup is not inferior to that of those complete big states, or even better.
This shows how much Great Qin attaches great importance to Guanzhong. Even a blind person can see the ambition of Great Qin towards Guanzhong.
This was also the main reason why Li Shimin was so eager to improve the army, but unfortunately it was destroyed by Ying Hao.
When Li Jing saw that everyone had arrived, he said, "Everyone, Your Majesty has a decree to order us to recover Guanzhong in advance."
As soon as this statement came out, the generals present immediately exploded. Jia Fu even said excitedly: "Great, I didn't agree with the withdrawal of the troops at the beginning, but now we can finally take Guanzhong."
The reason why the Qin Dynasty stopped fighting with the Tang State and made peace with the Tang State despite having all the advantages was naturally due to multiple considerations.
But the generals in the army didn't care about this. They only knew that they were about to capture Chang'an, but the imperial court delayed their retreat and affected their achievements, so they were naturally dissatisfied.
However, at the subsequent founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, all the generals in Guanxi were awarded high honors, which resolved this dissatisfaction. However, the complete occupation of Guanzhong was still the obsession of the generals in Yongzhou.
The Qin Dynasty only had one and a half counties in Guanzhong, but it gathered so many capable ministers and generals. This resulted in the duplication of functions of many people and the decline in power.
The chief governor is treated as a captain, and the general is treated as a captain.
The governor was treated as a governor, and the governor was treated as a county magistrate.
It's fine for a short period of time, but if things continue like this, who can bear it?
Therefore, what the civil and military officials in Yongzhou hope most is to conquer Guanzhong, so that they can truly return to their posts and enjoy the rights that should belong to them.
Not long ago, all the civil and military officials in Yongzhou were preparing to submit a collective letter to the emperor, asking the emperor to send troops to attack the Tang Dynasty, but Li Jing forcibly suppressed it.
Li Jing is not stupid, he naturally knows that Da Qin only has one and a half counties in Yongzhou, but it is crowded with senior officials from a big state, which is obviously abnormal.
Your Majesty must have the idea of sending troops in advance, but he has not made it public yet.
If I let these people make trouble, Your Majesty will definitely think that he is letting it go.
If His Majesty is dissatisfied and the responsibility of conquering Yongzhou is handed over to someone else, wouldn't Li Jing's slave for more than a year become a wedding dress for someone else?
Li Jing has not been idle this year. In addition to training troops, he also sent troops to the border from time to time, provoking the Tang army like a show of force, but refused to go to war with the Tang army. It was like a dull knife slicing flesh, wearing away the Tang army's strength bit by bit.
Heart Qi, unraveling the will of Tang Jun.
The morale of the Tang army in Guanzhong has never been improved, mainly because of Li Jing.
In addition, Li Jing was also good at using alienation tactics to constantly alienate the generals of Li and Tang Dynasties, which made the Tang soldiers panic. Under internal and external difficulties, it would be strange if their combat effectiveness could be improved.
The decision to start a war made everyone extremely excited, and they discussed it for a long time before they calmed down.
At this moment, Wu Qi, the governor, stood up and said: "Even if the Tang army in Guanzhong is low in morale and weak in combat strength, it still has 120,000 troops.
It would be a bit difficult to rely solely on the strength of our army in Yongzhou, so I would like to ask the Governor how many troops the imperial court will send to support us?"
As soon as this statement came out, all the generals also reacted.
Yes, the Yongzhou Army only has 70,000 troops. We can't let them use 70,000 troops to attack Li Tang's 120,000 defenders, right? Even if they can win, the casualties will be huge.
Li Jing smiled calmly and said: "The imperial court will not only send one hundred thousand elites this time, but also generals such as Li Cunxiao, Sun Lingming, Jiang Song, Gao Chong, Zhao Yun, etc. to participate in this battle."