For the Mongol army going south, the military preparations I made were all based on the history I knew. The key battle between the Song Dynasty and Mongolia was the Xiangyang Battle that started in the late autumn of 1267. This war that determined the fate of the Southern Song Dynasty has not There were still two years to go, and I didn't know that other wars were going on during this period.
Whether it is the new army dominated by musketeers or the existing navy, the reorganization of the Forbidden Army cannot be accomplished overnight. War is not that simple. You can be invincible just by relying on muskets that are ahead of the times. This situation can only happen. In the novel, war is about comprehensive strength, military strength, material resources, financial resources, and even human perseverance. All these forces are indispensable.
I opened the emergency report. It was written by Fan Sheng, the commander of Huainan West Road. The general meaning was that on the night of the second day of August, the Mongolian Ashu led an army to suddenly attack Anhua Town on the frontier of Luzhou. General Gao Gaoxing led 3,000 troops out of the city to meet the attack. Defended Anhua, but Gao Gao and deputy general Meng Xing were killed at the same time. Details will be reported later.
"Xiaoqi," I said after reading it.
"The little one is here,"
"Showing the Privy Council,"
"Yes, Your Majesty,"
"Master Chen,"
"The old minister is here,"
"Inform the Privy Council, the Ministry of War, and the Government Administration Council to go to the Privy Council to hold a meeting to discuss withdrawing from the court."
Along the way, Jia Sidao felt a little uneasy and secretly wondered if it was because of Hao Jing.
I sat on the carriage heading to the Privy Council and gradually calmed down.
The war between Mongolian Kublai Khan and Ali Buge for the throne has just ended. There should not be too much power to launch a large-scale southern invasion war. Their domestic financial and material resources do not allow it. With Kublai Khan's talent and strategy, naturally there will be no I don’t know that Mongolia’s national strength at this time is incapable of launching a full-scale southern invasion war.
So why did Kublai Khan come to Luzhou this time?
In the Privy Council meeting hall, Xia Gui and others, who had arrived earlier, hung the military map of the Luzhou area on the front wall. Although it did not have the three-dimensional effect of the later sand table, it could still be seen clearly.
I had only seen military maps in movies before, but this was the first time I had seen them in real life.
This military map clearly marks the mountains, plains, rivers, towns, villages, etc. in the Luzhou area, but it does not have the arrow symbols drawn with different colored pens on later maps.
"Everyone, sit down," I said, sitting on the main seat, "Xia Aiqing, first tell me about the garrison situation in Luzhou Prefecture."
Xia Gui stood up and said: "Your Majesty, there are 30,000 border troops and 15,000 Xiang troops on Huainan West Road. At present, the restructuring of the Xiang troops has been basically completed. Excluding the soldiers who do not meet the requirements, there are nearly 6,000 Xiang troops. The army was incorporated into the Zhenbian Army, so there are 36,000 people in total, mainly distributed in Luzhou and Anqing. In addition, there are about 3,000 people from the Navy along the Yangtze River in Anqing. Luzhou Prefecture is the seat of the Huainan West Road Administration and is stationed there. There are 20,000 border troops, led by Commander Fan Sheng, Commander Zhang Lin, and Miao Zaicheng."
Xia Gui walked to the map and continued: "Your Majesty, please see, our dynasty originally shared the Huaihe River with the Jin Kingdom. After Mongolia annexed the Jin Kingdom, our dynasty's defense line basically retreated to the Luzhou area. Although Shouchun on the south bank of the Huaihe River was It is still under the control of our dynasty, but the surrounding areas have been plundered by Mongolia. The Anhua town mentioned in the battle report is about thirty miles directly north of Luzhou Prefecture. It is an important town on the outskirts of Luzhou, and is closely related to the neighboring Anfei Town together constitutes the main line of defense on the periphery of Luzhou,"
"Is there any news about Shouchun?"
"Back to Your Majesty, not yet,"
"If both towns are lost, Luzhou will be in danger," Lu Xiufu said, looking at the map carefully.
"Exactly, Master Lu makes sense," Xia Guidao said.
"How many soldiers and horses does Mongolian Ashu have?"
"Your Majesty, we haven't received accurate information yet. The Privy Council and the Ministry of War have sent a letter to find out more,"
This battle was really fought in a useless way. Without any warning in advance, the Mongolian army had already appeared at the front line of Luzhou. Moreover, our own side had lost two generals in a row, without even knowing the number of the other side. The intelligence agency was really incompetent, and Luzhou The defenders were even more incompetent, and they did not respond until the Mongolian army was right under their noses.
It seems that Ryuga's intelligence agency has to speed up its march northward.
"By the way, which war zone does this Huainan West Road belong to?" I asked suddenly. I always thought that Huainan West Road was under the jurisdiction of Li Tingzhi. How could Li Tingzhi have such negligence?
Xia Gui glanced at Jia Sidao and whispered: "Your Majesty, nominally it belongs to the Jianghuai War Zone, but currently Huainan West Road is basically directly controlled by the Privy Council and the Ministry of War."
"Why is that,"
"Your Majesty," Jia Sidao coughed twice and said, "This matter has been going on for a long time. I originally wanted to submit a memorial to Your Majesty on this matter, but I didn't expect that something unexpected happened. Your Majesty, since Emperor Gaozong's journey south, in order to resist the invasion of the Jin Kingdom in the north, Our DPRK divides the border along the Yangtze River into three war zones, namely the Sichuan War Zone, which is responsible for the defense of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the Jinghu War Zone, which is responsible for the defense of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Jianghuai War Zone, which is responsible for the defense of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Among these three war zones, the Sichuan War Zone and the Beijing The Lake Theater basically remains the same, only the changes in the Jianghuai Theater are the most complicated, mainly because the Jianghuai Theater is divided into Huaidong and Huaixi. The Jianghuai Theater sometimes divides and sometimes merges, and occasionally involves the establishment of divisions along the river, so sometimes it is divided into three, and sometimes it is divided into three. "Oneness,"
My known memory tells me that the defense lines in the late Southern Song Dynasty were Sichuan, Xiangfan, and Yangzhou. I didn’t know anything about the Huainan West Road. After I traveled through time and became Zhao Yu, I basically focused on internal affairs construction, except for the New Army. , I have always had little involvement in the military. Since Jia Sidao and his party members control the Forbidden Army, I adopted the strategy of establishing a new army while reorganizing it. The reorganization of the original army also started with the navy and the Xiang army. I planned to put the core imperial army at the end. Before my throne was stable, I didn’t want to rush to have a showdown with Jia Sidao. Moreover, there were still two years left in the Battle of Xiangfan. I thought there was enough time, but I didn’t expect that someone would suddenly appear in the middle. The Battle of Luzhou is coming.
In fact, the Battle of Luzhou did happen in history, but the scale of the war was not large, so there are basically no records. However, I think it was the butterfly effect caused by my arrival.
After all, I am a human being, not a "god-man" as Lu Xiufu said.
"Master, why is this situation happening?"
"Your Majesty, there are two main reasons for this. The first is that from the perspective of geographical location and administrative area, other war zones in our country are all established in one administrative area, and only the Jianghuai War Zone is named after the Huaihe and Yangtze Rivers, not the Yangtze River. According to an administrative region, Jiang and Huai are easily separated and each becomes an independent war zone. The distance between Jiang and Huai is very far, and the terrain is different, so the border defense layout is also different. Huaidong has a lot of water, so water villages are the mainstay. Huaixi is mountainous, so there are mainly cottages. For example, Anhua Town is a cottage. Secondly, from the perspective of coordinated operations, if they are divided and controlled, things will happen. The two sides are pursuing their own affairs regardless of the overall situation, and it is difficult to ensure that the two sides can rely on each other and rescue each other. Therefore, there has always been no conclusion on whether to separate or to unite."
The division and integration of theaters is related to the entire defense system and has a significant impact. Generally speaking, the main factor leading to the adjustment of theaters is the change in the military strength of both the enemy and ourselves. In different periods and under different circumstances, the adjustment of theaters will have different effects. , however, throughout the Southern Song Dynasty, the division and integration of the Jianghuai Theater was always vacillating. The frequency of changes was indeed puzzling, and the reason for the changes was not mainly due to changes in the situation, but more to human factors.
I paused for a moment to digest what Jia Sidao said, and then asked: "Master, what is the current situation in the Lianghuai War Zone?"
"Your Majesty, in the first year of Duanping, the late emperor divided the war zone into three. In the tenth year of Chunyou, it was combined into the Lianghuai War Zone. In the fifth year of Jingding, the late emperor split it into two, the Huainan East Road War Zone, with Li Tingzhi as the The Yangzhou Zhizhi Envoy was responsible for the military affairs of the East Route. However, the Huainan West Road War Zone did not appoint the Zhizhi Envoy. It only allowed Zhang Lin and others to control the border army in Luzhou Town to take charge of the army and temporarily accept the command of the Privy Council and the Ministry of War. The veteran minister is still serving as Jianghuai Therefore, the current Jianghuai War Zone is neither divided nor combined."
Lizong of the Song Dynasty was indecisive, and during his term of office, there were many divisions and many mergers.
There are advantages and disadvantages to the division and merger in the war zone. For Song Lizong, who had a wavering temperament, division and merger were also suitable for his character.
Of course, there is another reason for this, and that is the relationship between Jia Sidao and Li Tingzhi. Back then, the two of them served under the commander-in-chief Meng Gong. After Meng Gong passed away, he recommended Jia Sidao to replace him, and Jia Sidao also thought highly of him. Li Tingzhi's talent later, Jia Sidao guarded Jinghu and appointed Li Tingzhi as the Councilor. Soon, due to Li Tingzhi's excellent performance and Jia Sidao's strong recommendation, Li Tingzhi was promoted by the court and ordered to move to Lianghuai. , until he served as the envoy to Yangzhou, but Jia Sidao gradually felt that Li Tingzhi was more loyal to the court and the Zhao Dynasty than to himself, so he did not let him serve as the envoy to Jianghuai to govern the two Huaihe Rivers.
I felt that it was indeed difficult to choose between the two. I shook my head and said, "Master, in your opinion, how should we deal with the Mongolian attack on Luzhou?"
"Your Majesty, I believe that the first step is to find out the situation in Luzhou. I estimate that there will be news coming from Luzhou Prefecture in the near future. The second step is to determine Kublai Khan's intentions. Whether he wants to invade the south in an all-out way or do it accidentally."
"What the Grand Master said is the key," Fan Wenhuan, Minister of War, agreed. "Only by understanding Mongolia's intentions can we treat them accordingly."
I nodded in agreement and said, "You two dear friends are right."
Lu Xiufu thought for a while and asked: "Your Majesty, our defense on the west route to Huainan is the weakest among all war zones. Do we need to send troops for rescue?"
I didn't answer directly, but asked instead: "Jun Shi, if you were A Shu, what would you do next?"
Lu Xiufu stood up and said: "Your Majesty, if you ignore the Mongols' intentions and speculate purely from a military perspective, I think there are the following two possibilities. Your Majesty, gentlemen, please look at the map. If I am Ashu, one is to capture An The second is to bypass Luzhou, pass through Lu'an, pass Huoshan, Tongcheng, and reach Anqing. In this way, the battle line becomes longer, and the Mongolian cavalry's fast speed and strong maneuverability can be used If the defenders in our city attack, they will most likely be annihilated in a field battle; if they hold on to the city, they can plunder all the surrounding crops."
"Well, Junshi, what do you think Mongolia's intention is?"
"Your Majesty, I think the Mongols' attack on Luzhou was just a casual act,"
"Oh, what does this mean?" I asked. As for Lu Xiufu, everyone knew that he was highly regarded by Li Tingzhi, and he was a calm man. His military insights were extraordinary, so he was certainly not a man who told lies.
"Your Majesty, gentlemen, Mongolia has just gone through the struggle for the throne. With its current national strength, it is unable to move south in one fell swoop. Moreover, the West Road to Huainan is mainly mountainous and is not suitable for large-scale cavalry battles. Even if the Mongolian cavalry is brave and good at fighting, A full-scale southern expedition would require at least a hundred thousand troops, plus heavy logistics, and the Huaixi area is not suitable. Based on the analysis of these two points, I think their purpose is not to have a large-scale war with our country. I guess , the Mongols only came to Luzhou for some unknown purpose,"
Lu Xiufu's words made everyone here breathe a sigh of relief and feel a little calmer in their hearts. As long as the Mongolian army does not focus on invading the south, it will only loot and then return.