Emperor Taizong's Growth Plan

Chapter 368

Xia Guo, Jinling City.

The guards of Jinling City who were in charge of guarding the city gate were all listless and perfunctorily maintaining the order at the gate of Jinling City.People and caravans passed by, and they just asked a few words casually, and then let them go impatiently.

A few months ago, and even extending forward for two or three hundred years, the place Xia Jun most wanted to go to the bottom of Jinling City was this city gate!
Although guarding the city gate is very hard work, but as long as you don't have a big heart, it can actually be regarded as a good job for the children of ordinary people who have no background!

When meeting some ordinary caravans and ordinary people entering and leaving the city, they can take advantage of the opportunity to question them from time to time.One time is not too much, one or two pennies for ordinary people, hundreds of pennies for caravans, is the default rule.

To some extent, this job is more rewarding than hard work.So before, these city guards were quite "diligent" and rarely slacked off as they are now.

The change in this is naturally whether they have changed their minds, or else they would not have the current attitude.

What's more, it is still forced by the current situation in the Xia Kingdom!
At the beginning, when the new emperor was still the crown prince, he held the imperial decree of the old Xia emperor and led embroidered envoys to search Jinling City. He demoted or dismissed all the courtiers who were fighting for the party, and even ransacked their homes and beheaded many people.

All of a sudden, there was a turmoil in the court and the situation was turbulent. I don't know how many high-ranking officials and nobles who used to be majestic and powerful in the past fell.Even the chief officials who were above the guards were implicated.

These little people who work in the officialdom have always been the most sensitive!In today's season, it is natural to be restrained, for fear of being involved because of a little benefit, and causing a big disaster.

It is also because of this that the attitude of the soldiers guarding the city has become so lazy and perfunctory.

But just as a group of soldiers of the Xia army were waiting for "off duty" one by one, they suddenly heard a horse's hoof coming from a distance.

"Da da da……"

There are several Xia soldiers carrying red flags, on which are written "Eight Hundred Miles Urgent", which is extremely conspicuous.

These soldiers of the Xia army were covered in dust and dust, and they even foamed at the mouth when they sat down on their horses. Obviously, they galloped here without sparing any horsepower along the way.

Seeing that the city gate was in front of him, he immediately shouted loudly:
"An urgent report from the Southwest Recruitment Division! The military situation is like fire, and those who block it will be dealt with by the military law!"

"An urgent report from the Southwest Recruitment Division! Get out of the way quickly..."

Hearing someone shouting, Xia Jun, who was guarding the city gate, froze for a while, then reacted abruptly, and quickly cleared the people at the city gate, clearing the way

The army's messengers galloped past on horses, rampaging along the bustling streets of Jinling City, causing pedestrians and traders to exclaim and curse.

But just before arriving at the palace, these messengers couldn't wait to rein in their horses, so they rolled over and fell to the ground, knelt down in front of the palace gate, and then held the Southwest Army newspaper in both hands, facing the forbidden gate in front of the palace gate. The guard shouted anxiously:
"The Southwest recruits the Si Yamen to expedite the military report! The cloud army in Dejiang County has changed, and troops have been raised to attack the city of Yi County under the jurisdiction of Anshun County. Report it quickly, Your Majesty please make a decision!"

The imperial guards guarding the palace gate shrank their pupils when they heard that the Yun army was attacking again, and they all showed extremely shocked expressions.

The head lieutenant of the Imperial Guard hurriedly said:
"Quickly open the palace gate!"

"Yes!"

Soon, the Southwest Military News was placed before the court case of Xia Guoxin Huang Yu Zhaoling.And a group of civil and military officials who received the news also rushed to Jinshen Palace very quickly.

Looking at Yu Zhaoling, who had a dignified face and a trace of suspicion in his eyes, the veteran minister Mei Chong couldn't help asking:
"Your Majesty! How is the situation in the Southwest Army?"

Yu Zhaoling raised his head slowly, so the eunuch beside him handed the military report to the ministers, and said in a deep voice:

"Wu Zixu's Department in Dejiang County made a sudden move eight days ago. He led only a few hundred Guanning cavalry and captured Yi County in Anshun County. The defenders of Yi County were defeated and fled within less than half a day!"

Hundreds of cavalry went to attack the city, but within half a day they captured Yi County, where more than a thousand soldiers were stationed.The battle was so absurd, if Yu Zhaoling heard about it a few years ago, he would be shocked and angry, wishing to punish all the generals immediately.

But as soon as Yu Zhaoling saw that the Yun army had wiped out 10,000+ Guanning iron cavalry of the southwest frontier army in one fell swoop, he subconsciously felt that the blame for this battle should not be on the Yixian defenders...

At this time, all the ministers of civil and military affairs in the palace had different expressions when they heard the news.

The civil servants were nervous and dignified, while among the military generals, some generals who were familiar with Anshun County in the southwest were frowning at this time, showing doubts.

One of the generals couldn't help but walked out of the queue, bowed to Yu Zhaoling, and asked:

"May I ask Your Majesty, is it really Yi County that was captured by the Yun army?"

Yu Zhaoling nodded first, then frowned again, and said in a puzzled tone:

"Yes, Yi County...it's very strange. Why did the Yun army not attack many important towns on the southwestern defense line, but instead go to attack this place?"

Yu Zhaoling was born in the army, and he had been in charge of the Southwest Frontier Army for several years, so he was naturally familiar with the terrain of the Southwest!
In the eyes of General Xia, Yi County is a small county at the junction of the three counties. It is neither a big city guarding an important place nor a large army stationed in it. Why did it attract the cloud army to attack for no reason?

Having said that, Yu Zhaoling immediately raised his head and said in a deep voice:

"Come here, take the map of the Southwest!"

A few young ladies at the side listened to the news and left quickly. After a short while, they brought the Southwest map from the secret cabinet in the palace.

The map with fine specifications and quite a large area was slowly spread out in the hall.In an instant, important places, dangerous places, and important cities in several counties in the southwest were revealed to everyone.

Yu Zhaoling stood up, quickly walked down the steps, then pointed to a small dot on the map, and said solemnly:
"This place is Yi County!"

With such a detailed map, the ministers have a clearer understanding of Yi County.Even the civil servants who don't understand the military formation can now understand why His Majesty and all the generals have doubts on their faces!
Yi County is said to be the junction of the three counties, but in fact it is mixed with several important towns stationed by large troops nearby.Even if the Yun Army invades aggressively, whether Yi County is captured or not is meaningless to the Yun Army's strategy!
At this time, a middle-aged civil servant with a refined temperament looked at the ministers in a daze and asked in puzzlement:

"Looking at the map, there is a river road in Yi County. If the Yun army goes down the waterway, it can bypass heavy troops everywhere, and even go straight to Jiangcheng Mansion. Isn't such a place important?"

In fact, this middle-aged civil servant may not be the only person in the palace who doesn't understand.After all, many officials in the DPRK and China had never touched a map before.

But only this middle-aged civil servant dared to boldly raise his own questions when his colleagues suddenly realized and looked like "so it was".

Yu Zhaoling glanced at the civil servant, and said in a deep voice:
"Zhong Zizhuo, you were working in the Southwest Transit Department before, you should know!"

Zhong Zizhuo, who was originally hiding behind the courtiers in a daze, suddenly heard Yu Zhaoling calling his name, was startled, stood up quickly, and said:

"On the map, the waterways of Yixian County are marked in red ink, which means that the waterways are blocked. The waterways of Yixian County are full of reefs, making it difficult for large ships to pass. In Yixian County, there are two ferry crossings at Wangjiang Ferry and Nanjinguan, each hundreds of miles from east to west. Civilian. The ordnance and supplies transported to Jiangyang County before will be disembarked at Nanjinguan, escorted by the civilian to Wangjiangdu, and then re-boarded to Jiangyang County."

Hearing this explanation, some of the courtiers who were originally incomprehensible finally figured out the reason!
At the same time, another question emerged in everyone's mind.

So why did the Yun army take down here?
Yu Zhaoling frowned, pondered for a while, and then said:

"Let's not care about other things! The war between my Great Xia and the Yun Kingdom has never subsided. Now that the Yun army has changed, fortunately, the southwest defense line has just been established and is still stable. The most urgent thing is to ask Zhuqing to prepare food and supplies as soon as possible, and train soldiers. Be prepared to compete with the Yun army for a long time!"

Now Xia Guo also has the method of luck, and even before the old emperor Xia died, he had already summoned a group of talents to study how to use the power of luck in a deep level!

The biggest gap between Xia Kingdom and Yun Kingdom before now no longer exists.

Even though the Yun army is now in full swing, with Xia's profound background, vast land, and huge population, Yu Zhaoling can completely stop worrying about the momentary victory and defeat, and trade space for time, losing first and then winning!

When the ministers heard the words, they immediately bowed down and said:
"Follow Your Majesty's orders!"

And just when the ministers were about to leave, they suddenly saw a figure rushing into the Jinshen Palace.

Feng Chu, the current emperor's recognized confidant, the former minister of the latent residence, and Yipin embroidered clothes envoy, was long overdue at this time.

"Chen, see Your Majesty!" Feng Chu bowed hurriedly.

Then, without even bothering to explain why he was late, he hurriedly said:

"Your Majesty, Gong Yingzong, the Fourth Grade Embroidered Clothes Envoy of the Southwest Subordinate, urgently report to His Majesty Shangcheng!"

When Yu Zhaoling heard the words, he immediately stepped forward and took the secret letter from Feng Chu.

Feng Chu then said:

"Gong Yingzong reported that the purpose of Yunjun's capture of Yixian County was to dredge the waterways of Yixian County. At that time, the Yunjun army could go down the river and directly capture Jiangcheng Mansion, and then threaten the capital, cross the Yangtze River, and block our university. Xia Nanbei's connection!"

As soon as these words came out, the hall fell silent again.On the faces of all the officials, some were panicked, some showed mocking expressions, with different expressions.

The middle-aged civil servant who had just raised a question boldly, now said eagerly:

"Not good! As long as Yi County clears the waterway, the situation in the southwest will be dangerous!"

Yu Zhaoling shook his head and said:
"If it's so easy, why would the court want to spend manpower and material resources to set up ferry crossings in the east and west of Yi County, and support the servants?"

Among the generals, someone couldn't help showing a mocking look, and laughed softly:

"It seems that Wu Zixu from Yunguo may have just looked at the map and slapped his head, thinking that he got along with some great tricks!"

"That's right, it turned out that he was just a man on paper!"

"I think the defeat in Rongzhou is all due to the sharp and unparalleled Guanning iron cavalry of the Yunjun. With the help of the fortune of the country, the frontier army was caught off guard, which made this son get such a powerful reputation!"

When Yu Zhaoling heard these words at this time, he was awakened instead, and he mentioned it again with a solemn expression on his face that had already let go.

He and Wu Zixu met once in Zhongqing City, and even heard Wu Zixu's strategy of exhausting first and then attacking, which was offered by Wu Zixu to Xiao Cheng.

Looking at Wu Zixu's resolute use of troops in the Battle of Rongzhou, we can see that he is definitely not just talking about soldiers on paper!
The reason why he took Yixian County was definitely due to his own calculations!
At this time, Feng Chu saw the appearance of the military general in the court, his expression sank, and he said:
"Your Majesty, there may be no way to do it before, but the world is different now! Not to mention anything else, let's just say that Li Weining, the king of the Li Kingdom, led the Li Dynasty Navy from the back of the Shenglong Mansion. , the Red River, which is more dangerous than Yixian's waterway, rushed all the way into the territory of Yunguo..."

The mocking laughter stopped abruptly.

Yes, with the great changes in the world, the world is already different!Things that were difficult to do before, may not be the case now!
In the entire Jinshen Palace, all the officials suddenly realized the urgency of the situation, and a tense atmosphere immediately permeated the palace.

You know, if Yunguo really sends a navy to go down the river, it could threaten the important towns on both sides of the Yangtze River, and even direct soldiers to Jinling City, causing turmoil in the country!
Yu Zhaoling frowned, with a serious expression, and said decisively:
"In this way, Yi County must not be lost! Tune the northern elite under the Marquis of Deyang to go to Anshun County and take back Yi County..."

Speaking of this, Yu Zhaoling immediately thought of Guan Ning's elite cavalry again, his words froze, and he said with a hint of helplessness:
"Even if we can't take it back, we must do our best to harass and contain it. If the Yun army tries to clear the waterway, immediately send Qingqi away to drive away the civilians!"

As for the troops stationed on the southwestern defense line, only the northern elite under the command of Deyang Hou Zimmer, with the blessing of national fortune, can fight against Guan Ning's iron cavalry.

But because of Yunguo's plan, thousands of northern cavalry were destroyed in order to ambush Di Qing. There were only [-] cavalry and [-] infantry that were dispatched in a hurry.

On the other side of Yunguo, only Xiaguo knows about the elite Yunjun army. In addition to Guanning Iron Cavalry, there are Youzhou Tuqi under Di Qing's command, more than ten thousand Miao soldiers in the hands of Yang Dayan, and Shenglong Mansion. Chen Dao's elite soldiers...

So in desperation, Yu Zhaoling could only resist the urge to take back Yixian at all costs.

"From today onwards, the DPRK and China will make every effort to prepare food, grass and supplies and deliver them to Jiangcheng Mansion. If there is any delay or obstruction, they will be punished as the crime of slowing down the army!"

"The generals of the court and the central government are responsible for deducing the formation map and discussing the tactics and strategies to resist the cloud army."

"Another order is issued to recruit and allocate [-] local soldiers and horses to go to the northern border to change defenses. The northern border elites will go to the southwest as soon as possible to assist in defense!"

Several orders were issued in succession, and all the ministers cleaned up their clothes, and immediately shouted in unison:

"Come on, follow your orders!"

　Recently, the company has adjusted its system. In order to ensure that engineers stay in the company all the time, the technical department will adopt a working system of two days and one day off.

　　Working overtime in the future shouldn't be so serious, so I'll see if I can do more next month...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)