In the main hall of the State of Qin, Emperor Qin Yingduo was staring at a huge map. This map was the largest territory that the State of Qin had ever controlled.
But now, his territory has shrunk, and the area close to the Tang Empire has almost been dyed red.
Entering Shu, Wangdu... have now become critical front lines. Millions of troops are scattered across a vast territory, and a large amount of supplies and military expenditures must be spent every day to maintain them.
Shu is rich and Yingduo is not willing to give it up, but now to maintain control of Shu, a large number of troops are needed.
Every strategic point requires thousands of soldiers. If the numbers are spread like this, there will be no trace of hundreds of thousands of people, and this is only a small number.
He needed to cover Zhang Xuan who was fighting in the Chu region, and also to prevent the Tang army from entering the Shu region, so he had to maintain an army of hundreds of thousands when entering the Shu city.
At the same time, in order to prevent the Tang army from landing, nearly a million troops were dispersed in the coastal areas of Shu. None of these troops could move, and they were all wasted.
If these troops just can't participate in the war, forget it... But in fact, the supplies these troops need to consume every day have become an astonishing pressure.
Food needs to be supplied, military uniforms and bedding need to be arranged, these troops need barracks and quarters, all of which need to be recruited, and may cause various conflicts with local people.
What then? Then the Tang army did not come! Millions of Qin soldiers ate their horses and chewed them every day, spending countless money and food. This had become a burden that Qin could not bear.
For the first time, Ying Duo realized how difficult it was to run a huge country: every place needed talents to operate, which greatly dispersed Qin's national power and talent reserves.
The power clenched into a fist cannot win, and the scattered power is wasted. Even if the scattered power is concentrated, there is no hope of winning. This has caused Ying Duo to suffer from severe insomnia.
"Your Majesty... the news you just sent, the old capital, has been lost." Ying Ke's voice sounded a little thin in the spacious hall. He lowered his voice because the news he reported was indeed not particularly good.
In fact, three days ago, the Tang Empire had announced that it had occupied the old capital. However, there were still some resisting Qin troops persisting in the city, so the Qin State did not recognize this matter.
But now, all the organized resistance forces have been annihilated, there is no sound of gunfire inside the old capital, and the people have begun to return to their homes.
Under such circumstances, Qin had to admit that it had indeed lost its old capital. They rebuilt a defense line on the west side of the old capital, and Liu Zhian was still holding on to his riddled defense line.
"If you lose it, just throw it away... As long as Wangdu's defense line can be held," Ying Duo still did not take his eyes away. He was still staring at the map, his face looking a little gloomy.
The old capital was occupied by the Tang army, and the civil servants and generals present were already mentally prepared. They knew that it was not easy for Liu Zhian to hold on in the old capital for so long, and the result was completely beyond expectations.
Although it was partly due to the mines, Liu Zhian's deadly battle did play a certain role. Liu Zhian was able to establish the defense line in Wangdu in front of him, and it was Liu Zhian's credit.
But now no one can clearly explain this contribution. After all, Liu Zhian himself is now on the must-kill list of the Tang Empire.
Everyone is afraid of getting involved with Liu Zhian because everyone is afraid of being liquidated by the Tang State in the future. The Qin State has high hopes for the Wangdu Defense Line. Their carefully prepared defense line can at least block the Tang Army in this winter that is coming to an end.
"Where is General Liu now?" Ying Duo motioned to a general to point out the location of Liu Zhian's cluster for him. The other man quickly reached out and pointed in some wilderness areas.
Liu Zhian's cluster had actually been shattered. Some troops were surrounded in their positions, while other troops had retreated to the front of the Wangdu defense line.
They were still continuing to fight, but in the cold wilderness, these troops no longer had much combat effectiveness. The Tang army was surrounding and killing them, but the Qin army in the direction of Wangdu did not dare to step out of the fortifications to support their friendly forces.
There was no way, the Qin army had lost the courage to fight in the field. The defensive formation that Chen Li drew up at the Wangdu defense line was: "Resist constantly, defend the line to the death, never retreat, and reduce counterattacks."
This plan proved to be effective in the middle and late stages of the Battle of Old Capital, and could slow down the attack speed of the Tang army to the greatest extent. Therefore, the Qin defense forces in the direction of Wangdu basically did not make any preparations for counterattack.
On the other hand, the Qin army and their servants suffered too much in the Battle of the Old Capital, especially the millions of Chinese troops that were mobilized. These troops had no combat effectiveness at all, and would surrender and rebel at critical moments. There was no way they could
use.
The Qin State had no better way to reuse them before. Now that the Qin Army has somewhat calmed down, it naturally disdains to continue to associate with these servants.
Therefore, these defeated Dahua troops were not allowed to enter the Wangdu defense line, and were eventually blocked in place, becoming rogue bandits and prisoners of the Tang army.
According to the records of the Tang Army, they captured a total of more than 700,000 troops claiming to be the Dahua Army near the old capital. This number does not include the portion that was wiped out by the Tang Army.
In short, the battle of the old capital was completely over. The Tang army achieved a comprehensive victory. The Qin army had to retreat to Wangdu and regroup on the Wangdu defense line.
Yesterday, a rebellion broke out in Shu. This rebellion did not last long and was annihilated by the Qin army in just one day.
However, the identity of the participants in this rebellion made the Qin state panic: the surrendered officials of Shu colluded with the local Shu surrender generals and prepared to mobilize troops to kill the local Qin garrison and "welcome the king's division".
After receiving the news, the Qin State calmly surrounded the barracks of the Shu State Security Army, and then the other party cooperated and surrendered.
The rebel generals committed suicide, and local old Shu officials also committed suicide at home out of fear of crime. Everything seemed to be going well, but the Qin State took this unsuccessful rebellion as a signal.
A signal that the Shu region was beginning to become unstable and was ready to fall to the Tang Empire at any time! After acquiescing to this signal, the Qin State began to seriously think about how they should deal with this matter.
This is also the reason why the Qin State has been holding meetings frequently recently to discuss countermeasures. Ying Duo hopes to buy enough time on the battlefield so that he has the capital to compete diplomatically with the Tang Empire.
