Zhou Zhizhong's troops were stationed in Xianghe, less than thirty miles away from the Taihu camp of Chen Zhihu's headquarters. After lunch, he rode a horse to the outpost of Xijitun and then took his troops to Ji.
On the way, they met Prince Mu Ye Jiluorong and his party who were rushing from Ninghe Camp to Jizhou to discuss matters, so they met up with Ye Jiluorong and his party and headed for Jizhou.
Zhou Zhizhong was originally a military attaché in the Admiralty of Liangzhe Province. In the ninth year of Chongguan, he followed his deputy Zhao Jinlong to the north and surrendered to King Qin, and was incorporated into the new auxiliary army. After Zhao Jinlong died in the battle of Datong, he accumulated military exploits and became the commander-in-chief of the new auxiliary army.
He became one of the eight generals of the new annexed army, with more than 10,000 soldiers and horses under his command. He is now also a high-ranking official in Donghu and is highly valued. But as far as Zhou Zhizhong himself is concerned, it is like covering thin ice. In Ye Jiluorong and other Donghu
In front of important ministers, he did not dare to slack off at all.
Ye Jiluorong was quite satisfied with Zhou Zhizhong and invited him to ride with him along the way.
There was a great deal of controversy within the royal tent over the use of the newly attached Han troops. In the end, the Khan overcame all objections and gave the newly attached Han troops a relatively independent status, rather than being incorporated into the old army as guards or auxiliary soldiers.
The generals who surrendered were also given high priority and trust.
In just three or four years, the newly attached Han army grew from scratch to sixty or seventy thousand soldiers and horses before the war. After the Southern Expedition, there was also Jizhen and nearly one hundred thousand surrendered troops from Datong to supplement it.
Its combat power has greatly surpassed that of the other tribes in Yanxi, and it has become the most important combat power of Donghu besides the old army. Following the example of the old army, six newly attached Han armies were organized, and the six commander-in-chiefs were assigned powers and established the rank of generals.
There are now eight commanders of the Han army, four of whom are in the east of Hebei. In addition to Zhou Zhizhong occupying Xianghe and guarding the Taihu camp under Chen Zhihu in the west, one is in Jizhou, and there are two newly attached Han troops to accompany them.
Ye Jiluo Rongtun stationed in Ninghe camp.
Ninghe is located to the north of Jinhai. In order to guard against the Tianjin Navy and the Southern Dynasty King Qin's army that may land from Jinhai at any time, Donghu stationed 10,000 elite cavalry and more than 25,000 more at the Ninghe camp in the north of Jinhai.
Newly attached to the Han army.
In May in Jidong, the fields are barren and the grass is overgrown. The closer you get to Jizhou, the denser the herds of wild cattle and horses are. The fertile fields in Jidong in the past have now become pastures for the Donghu people to graze.
After a winter of conquest, the men were exhausted and the horses were thin.
After conquering Jizhou, in addition to continuing to clear out the peripheral strongholds in the eastern, southern, and western Hebei regions, Yejier, the king of the Eastern Hu Khan, was not in a hurry to attack Yanjing and Jinhai, or even push the army to the city walls of Yanjing and Jinhai.
The encirclement was carried out, and a nearly one-month rest began with Jizhou as the center.
The hundreds of miles of area with Jizhou City as the center, fields, hills, lakes, river bends, and forest farms, have gradually become the pastures of the Donghu people since early April.
After a month of rest and recuperation, the nearly 50,000 cavalrymen in the eastern Hebei region regained their fighting strength, as if the rusty swords had been sharpened and returned to their original sharpness.
Riding on horseback, looking at the herds of cattle, sheep and horses filling the fields, Zhou Zhizhong thought to himself: This time the military meeting is convened, is it necessary to decide to attack Yanjing and Jinhai?
Do we want to attack Yanjing or Jinhai first? Maybe in order to attack Yanjing and Jinhai, we need to send some troops from the western front.
Zhou Zhizhong was thinking wildly in his mind, and soon arrived at the foot of Jizhou City. From a distance, he saw a forest of flags greeting the ceremonial guard. Countless horsemen came over with golden arrows. They knelt in front of the cavalry and said: "King Khan has come out of the city to greet Mo."
Prince Erdomu, General Zhou and other meritorious soldiers..."
"King Khan is serious, and his brother still talks about such false etiquette..." Ye Ji Luorong laughed loudly. Although he said it casually, Ye Ji'er's power was getting stronger, and he did not dare to neglect it. He dismounted and led the horse away.
, walked towards the honor guard cavalry that came out of the city to greet Yezier.
Zhou Zhizhong and other new generals of the annexed army were frightened and grateful, so they followed Ye Jiluorong over, performed the courtesy of a monarch and his ministers, and then mounted their horses and rode towards the city together.
"Did you call the third child back for discussion this time?" Ye Ji Luorong and Ye Ji'er rode their horses side by side. There were attendants on the left and right to help them hold the horses so that they could distract themselves and focus on the conversation. Everyone was waiting.
Baishan, who followed Yejier out of the city to greet him, could hear the conversation in front of him.
"Duodi needs to guard against the Liang family and the Changhuai army in the south. If we don't keep a close eye on them, we won't be able to leave for the time being," Ye Ji'er said.
"Transfer Mo Jimo and other troops to the south and hand over the war in Yannan, Western Hebei and Xuanfu to Yan Zhizan and other troops," Ye Ji Luorong said, "The third brother can come over and join us to fight against Yanjing.
Already..."
"..." Yejier shook his head and said, "I called you back this time just to discuss this matter. Which one do you think should be fought first, Jinhai or Yanjing?"
"I personally went to see the Jinhai side. It's no better than Yangxin." Ye Jiluorong lowered his voice. The battle of Yangxin was a disastrous defeat that is still fresh in people's memory in recent years. Ye Jiduo Dy also said:
One leg is lame.
“I have studied Jinhai’s city defenses,” Yezier said. “Although the outer city moats in Jinhai are relatively simple, the seven walled cities on both sides of the Wushui River are all made of bricks and are integrated with the outer city moats.
, stationed in the elite, they can rely on each other as horns, and it is difficult to fight... I suspect that Lin Fu had considered today's situation when he built the Jinhai grain road with Jinhai as the end point. The reason why he did not directly build at Jinhai
A majestic city should also be limited to the system of the Southern Dynasties, so the defense focus of Jinhai was distributed to seven fortresses. The distance between each two fortresses was only two miles, which was just within the strike range of bed crossbows and stone crossbows.
Within it, we cannot concentrate our forces and attack them separately - with such a city defense system, although the Jinhai garrison is only 20,000, but if you give us 40,000 to 50,000, the possibility of defeating it is very low."
"This guy is probably our biggest obstacle..." Ye Jiluorong said.
"It's not very possible, it's simply like that," Yejier said. "In March, you all thought that he would lead the Huaidong Army to cross the sea to aid the Tianjin Sea, but at the end of the day, he was shot, and the She family fell into a passive position -
- This plan alone allowed him to surpass Li Zhuo. Even if we can successfully conquer half of the Southern Dynasty, Huaidong is still a roadblock, and we have to deal with it carefully..."
"From this point of view, Jinhai must be defeated!" Ye Jiluorong said.
"It's about fighting," Yezier said, "The key is how to fight!"
There were more than a hundred cities they attacked, but there were not many fortified cities that could be said to be fiercely attacked and defended. The main city of Datong Town also made an emergency landing after a long siege. In this battle to conquer the south, it was really conquered at all costs.
Only Yejier personally led the elite to capture Linyu Pass City.
Of course, the capture of Linyu Pass City was of great significance. It not only opened up the passage between Jidong and Liaoyang, but also forced the defenders of Jizhou to surrender without a fight, smoothly and quickly capturing the fourteen counties of Jidong with a radius of nearly a thousand miles.] Text - Casualties
A bit more severe is acceptable.
Jinhai is backed by the Bohai Sea, and sufficient supplies can be transported by sea. The defenders are determined and will not surrender easily. Capturing Jinhai will completely cut off Yanjing's retreat, but as the commander-in-chief, Ye Jier
The possible costs of capturing Jinhai must be considered.
"It's not easy to fight!" Ye Jiluorong sighed softly and said, "There are only 20,000 Jinhai defenders, but they cannot block the sea route, and it is impossible to predict whether there will be reinforcements in the future..."
"Now the Liang family does not dare to advance north from Pingyuan Prefecture, and Yanjing's capital camp and King Qin's army on the west route do not dare to break through. The Cao family still has a wait-and-see attitude in Qin County, mainly because we have assembled troops in the east of Hebei and in the south of Yan.
We have more than 140,000 cavalry. In terms of military strength, we have an absolute advantage against any side," Ye Zier said. "Once we lose too much under Jinhai City, it will not only shake the morale of the entire army, but also the Liang family,
Yanjing's Jingying Army, Xilu Qinwang Army, and even the Cao family in Guanzhong may be ready to make a move - South Vietnam's weakness is mainly due to internal conflicts and intrigues. In terms of size, population, and total number of troops, the Southern Dynasties
Their strength is several times greater than ours."
Hearing such discussions, Zhou Zhizhong, who was following behind on horseback, was most moved.
Before the Southern Expedition, the Yue Dynasty had a total of 240,000 to 50,000 soldiers and horses on the northern front, Ji Town, Datong and Xuanfu, plus the Beijing Camp Army. The Ji Town Army was the most elite, with a strength of 100,000. If it were not for Chong Guan
The emperor destroyed the Great Wall and changed his generals before the battle. He removed Li Zhuo and replaced him with Hao Zongcheng. Even if the Donghu people could capture Datong this time, they could not let the war develop to the extent of encircling Yanjing today.
Even though the Jizhen army was defeated at this time, the Datong defenders opened the city and surrendered, providing the newly attached Han army with about 100,000 rebel soldiers, and the number of troops that the Vietnamese Dynasty could use was not low.
In Guanzhong, the Cao family has long guarded Guyuan and other border towns. There are 30,000 elite troops in Guanxi. After taking control of Qin County, the number of troops has more than doubled. There are also more than 60,000 troops between Liangjia, Huaihe, and Qingzhou and Dengzhou towns.
The army also has 20,000 troops and horses. Tao Chun of the Changhuai Army has 20,000 troops. The Jingying Army in the inner siege of Yanjing also has 60,000 troops. The Western Army mainly consists of the Xuanzhen Army and Chen Zhihu’s troops.
King Luqin's army has 30,000 elite troops, Xuanfu still has more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to hold on and refuses to surrender, and Tianjin Navy has 20,000 defenders.
After careful calculation, the Southern Dynasty could mobilize 256,000 troops on the northern front, among which there were as many as 100,000 elites.
In comparison, the troops that the Donghu people can mobilize, with 60,000 Donghu elite cavalry as the core, are only about 200,000.
If all the forces in the Southern Dynasties could work together, the Donghu people would have only one way out of the pass.
It is a pity that whoever is more loyal to the court these days will suffer a more miserable fate, so that no one is willing to do their best to save Yanjing.
"I think Jinhai needs to be attacked first," Ye Jiluorong sorted out his thoughts over the past few days in his mind and said, "If we don't conquer Jinhai, we can't devote our troops to attack Yanjing.
If our country changes its mind or cannot hold on, and fully shrinks in the south, Jiangning will be able to mobilize a large number of reinforcements to take the sea route and transport them to Tianjin, and then we will be even more passive!"
"Yes!" Yejier nodded and said, "A sudden attack is rare, and it requires layer upon layer of advancement to disintegrate it... I would like to adjust the deployment, and I will let you take charge of the Xianghe Camp..."
"When I go to Xianghe, who will go to Ninghe to take charge of Jinhai?" Ye Ji Luorong asked, "The third child can't be spared! As for Bai Shan, he still lacks some experience." It doesn't matter that Ye Ji and Bai Shan are right behind him.
, Ye Ji Luorong bluntly stated that he was not qualified to be the coach of the road, especially organizing such an important battle as the attack on Jinhai. Non-veteran and veteran coaches were not qualified.
This kind of large-scale war, which involves gathering tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to organize an offensive and defensive campaign, naturally can only use a descendant of the Ye Ji family as the commander.
"Baishan will guard Jizhou, and I will go to Ninghe myself!" Ye Ji'er said.
"Then the matter of changing the country's name has been decided this time?" Ye Jiluorong asked.
"It's settled this time," Ye Ji'er said, "According to the previous agreement, the country's name will be changed to 'Dayan', and the name will be changed to 'Destiny', and the imperial edict will be issued to the world..."
Zhengshuo in the Central Plains was called Chen before the Yue Dynasty, and Yan before Chen.
The Yan Dynasty in the Central Plains only lasted for more than a hundred years before it was overthrown by the Chen Dynasty, and the remaining royal family fled to Mobei. It has been nearly six hundred years.
From the time when the Yeji tribe rose up between the white mountains and the black mountains, they claimed to be the descendants of the King of Yan to unite all the tribes. They successively conquered the Hus in the east of Yan and the north of the Yanshan Mountains, and then conquered the Hus in the west of Yan as their subordinate tribes. They took "Yan" as their country.
The title, with "Mate of Heaven" as the reign name, not only directly unites all the barbarians of Yandong and Yanxi, but also directly exposes the ambition to restore the former Yan Dynasty to the Zhengshuo of the Central Plains.