I am a nobleman in Spring and Autumn

Chapter 75

As winter approached again, new changes took place in the battles far away in Weiguo.

In the past, the Jin army led by Zhao Yang had been fighting the enemy around "Puyang". Later, the Jin army may have been exhausted or insufficient in strength and retreated to the territory of Cao State.

This "Puyang" has another name called "Diqiu", which is the capital of the Wei State.

Cao Guo was originally one of the most loyal younger brothers of the Jin State. Unfortunately, the Jin State was obsessed with internal strife and did not take care of its allies. As a result, another loyal ally of the Jin State, Xiao Zhu, was once destroyed. After Cao State’s heart was hurt, Cao State was no longer loyal. To fulfill the obligations of allies.

This time the army retreated to the territory of Cao State, and Cao State's monarchs and ministers pretended to be deaf and dumb. They were even warned by Qi State, Zheng State, and Song State not to allow the sale of grain and grass to the Jin army.

In view of the fact that Jin State is keen on internal strife, and Zhao Yang is at a disadvantage, Cao Guojun and his ministers did not want to cause trouble, and obeyed the joint restrictions of Qi State, Zheng State, and Song State.

It was clear that Song State was at war with Wei State before, and it was not long before Song State stood on the side of the anti-Jin alliance again. The intuitive impression given to the world is that Jin State is really dead.

"Zuo Fei, the Chinese army, retreated and returned to the country, only to stay in Cao country for the winter, and next year he will besiege 'Diqiu' again." Zhibi has mixed feelings about the failure of this invasion of Weiguo.

The state of Jin is now the ruler of the Yuan Rong, and the Chinese army is the master of the outside.

Once Zhao Yang wins every battle with the outside world, his prestige will definitely increase steadily.The prestige of Zhong Junzuo is high, and Yuan Rong's prestige will definitely decrease. As Yuan Rong's intellectual authority, it will definitely be weakened.

Zhiyao said: "The commander of the Chinese army must be asking for more troops?"

That's a certain thing.

Zhao Yang didn't even allow the soldiers who paid the tax quota to return to the country. At the same time, he asked the nobles to transfer troops from their own fiefdoms, and hinted that they don't care about the quality of the soldiers, and "envy" who are not trained enough, and even slaves can be used as part of the tax quota. List.

What does that mean?

The state of Jin has very strict requirements for the nobles to lead soldiers and accept taxes, clearly pointing out how many "scholars" and "disciples" must be brought with them for what kind of title, and the number of "envy" who are both soldiers and farmers should not exceed how many, and even Requires the armor rate of each family's troops.It is precisely because of this strict requirement that the combat effectiveness of the Jin army is guaranteed.

The fact is the same. An army is composed entirely of professional soldiers, and its combat effectiveness must be higher than that of a mob.

This time, Zhao Yang relaxed the quality of soldiers received by each family. It is foreseeable that the combat effectiveness of the Jin army will definitely decline, which means that other methods must be found to stimulate the combat enthusiasm of the combatants.

Zhixuan said, "The commander of the Chinese army wants to do something extraordinary."

Want to break the mold, huh?Zhao Yang knew very well that the quality of the soldiers would drop drastically, so he must think of a way.

Zhiyao knew what Zhao Yang wanted to do.

The last time Zhiyao led the army to fight, he wanted to do what Zhao Yang would do, but unfortunately he didn't find the opportunity.

"The Zhao family is different from his family, and it is customary to do extraordinary things." Zhiyao said.

A new round of troop deployment by Jin has already begun.

Before the arrival of the spring season in the new year, each family that has been ordered needs to make a list of troops to be dispatched first. Many families feel flustered about the uncertain future. With Zhao Yang's permission, more "envy" or subjects and slaves can be taken to serve in an open and honest manner.

"My family will also need to increase the number of troops next year, how does Yao think the source of troops should be arranged?" Zhixuan asked.

Originally, Zhishen took three "divisions" to the expedition, and they obeyed Zhao Yang's command.

The Jin army besieged "Puyang" for as long as half a year. During this period, the princes also fought in other directions, just like the remnants of Fan's and Zhongxing's battles.

After the three "divisions" of the Zhi family went through repeated battles, only two "divisions" remained.

The rest of the families were even worse. The Zhao family lost two more "teachers", the Wei family lost three "brigades", the Han family lost one "teacher", and the rest of the families also suffered heavy losses.

They lost about [-] combat power, and the result was the elimination of about [-] enemy troops.

Note that losses and eliminations in war are not necessarily aimed at killing, as are captives and maiming.

Therefore, in the war that took place in "Puyang", the two sides lost a total of about 11 combat power, but the number of people killed in the battle was about [-]. A large part became prisoners, and the other part became wounded or disabled. .

"My family can probably mobilize two more 'army' soldiers if I grit my teeth now; the Zhao family should have about one 'army' soldier; the Wei family definitely has more than one 'army' and two 'divisions'; Weak, at most two 'divisions' of troops can be drawn." Zhiyao's mind is on trained soldiers, not the kind that are recruited without teaching.

If they are pulled into the battlefield without training, and even slaves are counted, it is difficult to calculate how many people each noble family can pull out.

Zhiyao made some calculations, and said to Zhixuan, "Master, next year you go to war."

A little surprised Zhibi waited for Zhiyao's explanation.

"Although the enemy army has won, it is at the end of their strength. My family can dispatch an 'army' to go south, and do our best in one battle!" Zhiyao said.

Zhibi subconsciously touched the position of his lungs, and understood that Zhiyao's suggestion was to pull out trained soldiers, and fell into hesitation for a while.

"My family has not had a war for many years, and everyone is slack in their hearts. This is a disaster." Zhiyao sincerely feels that the private army of Lao Zhi's family can no longer continue to be at ease. The situation is too difficult to pull out to fight. It is very risky, and it is obvious that they will win Must be brought to see the blood.

just right?Everyone made up the number of people, but the old Zhi's family pulled out an army of professional soldiers, which made Zhixuan feel that he was at a disadvantage.

Zhiyao spoke slowly: "The meritorious service of overcoming Puyang cannot be obtained by the Chinese army. The Lord goes out without a strong army, and he is stealing merit. Bringing a strong army is to save the crisis, and it can also make our family Soldiers nourish their blood and awaken their will to fight."

Once the mentality of seeking comfort is developed, the family will perish sooner or later.The same is true at the national level.

Seeing that Zhixuan was still hesitating, Zhiyao said in a heavy tone: "If you forget the battle, you will be in danger!"

Zhixuan's body shook, and he seemed to have a repeater, saying: "If you forget the battle, you will be in danger? It's really a small talk!"

what!
Didn't the idiom "Small words and great righteousness" only appear in the Western Han Dynasty?

Zhiyao's saying "If you forget the battle, you will be in danger" comes from "Sima Fa".

However, the author of "Sima Fa" is controversial. One is said to be written by Jiang Taigong (Jiang Ziya), and another is said to be written by Sima Rangju.

The reality is such a situation, Lao Zhi’s family should keep a low profile, but it’s not good to be too low-key, Zhi Li, who is in poor health, needs to work hard to bring the family’s strong army to complete the explosive killing of Weiguo, lest Zhao Yang After the victory, the momentum is stronger.

Zhixuan understood Zhiyao's meaning, and said with a smile: "If this is the ancestor report and your lord, next year Yao will follow me on the expedition."

what?
That is, the three generations of Laozhi's family have all set off to fight, which means that the heads of the other high-ranking families need to leave the state of Jin, lest they take the opportunity to do things.

If this is done, the state of Jin will make great moves next year!

After accepting Zhiyao's proposal, Zhibi began to make various preparations, including sending recruitment orders to various fiefdoms, and at the same time, he needed to arrange defensive deployments in several places for next year.

Because of the state of Zheng's raids on the state of Jin, the families of the state of Jin and the state of Zheng need to arrange troops to resist the possible invasion of Zheng's army.

At present, the Zhi family is not the one that borders the most on the border of Zheng State. The reason is that the fiefdoms in the south originally belonging to the Fan family are under the armed control of various families, and the Wei family controls the largest number of cities.

Based on the fact that whoever controls an area has the responsibility of guarding the land, the Wei family needs to arrange a garrison on the long border with Zheng Guo, and there are fewer Wei family troops that can be selected to participate in the invasion of the country.

Fortunately, most of the border areas between Zhishi and Zheng State are mountainous areas, and several main roads are blocked, and some mobile combat troops can be arranged to effectively resist the invasion by using the terrain.If it were a plain terrain, Zhishi and Zheng Guo would have to invest a lot of troops to fight back and forth.

Last year, Zhiyao led an army to invade Zheng State and cleared the northwestern area of ​​Zheng State.After doing this, what Zheng Guo needs in that direction is to restore the people's livelihood, and become Zhi's troops to harass him from time to time; at present, the place where Zhi's and Zheng's troops frequently fight is near "Shua ②", and the two sides have repeatedly staged you In the chasing game of coming and going, the intensity of the war can only be said to be average.

So, Zheng Guo is currently Wei's trouble, maybe it's because of this that Wei chose to stay close to Zhi, who has preserved the most strength, and not continue to take the Zhao's warship that has some holes and leaks?
"I will also go to the expedition next year, and then I can appreciate Yao's heroism!" Wei Jugang knew from his elders that he had obtained the qualification to go to the expedition, so he sent someone to inform Zhiyao first, and then came to visit him the next day.

This time, the old Zhi family is going to send out an army to invade Weiguo. The head of the family, Zhixuan, and the eldest son Zhishen will all be in the state of expedition, and even the third generation, Zhiyao, will also go there.

In order not to give other families the opportunity to do things, Zhixuan proposed to the monarch that the juniors of other families should also see the world, which was strongly agreed by the monarch.

In other words, it was a few years ago that both the older generation and the newer generation of the Qing family went to the battlefield?It's hard to say exactly when, but it's been a long time.

"This time all the juniors of the family are coming out. Don't be underestimated by your parents. You should strive to be the first." Zhiyao encouraged.

Whether it's a mule or a horse, you have to take it out for a walk, right?

It is estimated that many parents are also tired of a group of children messing around in "Xintian" every day. When they hear that the Zhi family will dispatch an "army" to go south, they feel that this wave must be stable, and they are very willing to let their juniors Go to the battlefield and see the world.

"Yao has already fought, and we have nothing, but this time, we will." Zhao Bolu came to Lao Zhi's house later.

I don't know if it was a coincidence or what, anyway, several second generations sent people to visit one after another, and they agreed to meet, which happened to be on the same day.

As the host, Zhiyao must inform the visitors, such as who will be there that day.If anyone doesn't want to meet so-and-so, they can make another appointment with Zhiyao in advance.

Therefore, Wei Ju came first, then Zhao Bolu came, and then Han Geng, Qi Wu, and other second generations who were qualified to go south with the army all came.

Originally, Han Geng was arranged to go to the west, but when he learned that Zhiyao, Zhao Bolu, and Wei Ju would go to the southeast, he strongly demanded to go to the southeast as well.

Inside the Han family, they probably didn't want Han Geng to be absent from the gathering of the second generations of the Zhi family, Zhao family, and Wei family. Some kind of operation made Han Geng go to the southeast together.

Zhixuan was wary of the rest of the high-ranking families, but he felt that there was no strong threat to the public family, which led to the monarch expressing his intention to conscript himself to dissuade them.

The monarch's personal conquest?This has not happened for a long time in the state of Jin. Zhixuan agreed that the king would be scolded to death by the nobles if he conscripted himself.

Why would you be scolded?It's not that the nobles are worried about the safety of the monarch, it's simply that the monarch can't get involved in the power to distribute the spoils.

As for military power?The army comes from various families, that is, the private army belonging to the family temporarily becomes the "National Defense Force".After the war ended, the army was disbanded, and it was the private armed forces of each family, not the army belonging to the state. How could the monarch go beyond the nobles to control it?

Next year, the Jin State will dispatch a large number of troops to invade the Wei State. Qi State and Zheng State will definitely increase their troops when they find out about the Jin State. It is impossible to say that the Song State Council will rejoin the anti-Jin alliance. The scale of the war at that time should not be small.

The Jin State used troops in the southeast?Although Qin State has settled down after being hit hard, Jin State still has to be quite vigilant towards Qin State.

The undeclared war between Qin State and Jin State was no longer once or twice, and even killed Li Shu wantonly when it invaded Jin State. At that time, the Wei family suffered the most killings. Later, Jin State taught Qin State that it was the Wei family. Maximum effort.

The Wei Clan's current center of gravity is in the south, and they have long forgotten the past. Furthermore, the Zhi Clan has the longest border between the Jin State and the Qin State, and the important task of guarding against the Qin State falls on the Zhi Clan.

Faced with this situation, Zhixuan made a request to the Han family that Han Buxin could stop using troops in the southeast, provided that the Han family sent at least one "division" of troops to the west, and did not need to enter the territory of the Zhi family. The area that Fan's snatched will do.

At the same time, either Han Buxin will go to sit in the town in person, or let the rest of the core members of the Han family exercise power on their behalf. In short, the task of guarding against Qin this time is shared by the Zhi family and the Han family.

The Han family was about to improve their relationship with the Zhi family. After Han Gu, one of the core members of the Han family, asked Han Buxin for instructions, he found Zhixuan and expressed his willingness to obey the order, and the matter was settled. It was just that Han Buxin went to the west, and the Zhi family went to the west. Zhi Xuwu sits in Xijiang.

A group of second generations enthusiastically announced what Nanzheng wanted to do, and some big-mouthed second generations even bragged about it.

Zhiyao listened with a smile, but complained in her heart: "It sounds like the family is willing to give military power. Elders who don't know your virtue, aren't you afraid that you will become a gift?"

At present, only Zhiyao, who is a junior but has military power, is alone, and the rest of the little guys are not qualified to lead soldiers by their elders.

Zhiyao's military power is both good and bad for the old Zhi family, but if Zhishen is more competitive, how can Zhiyao be used?
However, the Zhi family has never publicized Zhi Yao's ability to lead troops to the outside world, either the name falls on Zhi Shen, or Zhi Xu Wu.This is also a protective measure. The problem is that those who should know know that Zhiyao has already led the army in battle.

Throughout the winter, the state of Jin did not stop because of the cold weather. All the families made various preparations in the winter. After the spring season came, the capital "Xintian" issued an order. The well-assembled troops will be transferred to "Xintian", and then the monarch will go to Cao State for inspection.

They arrived in Cao State and joined Zhao Yang's troops, and the next step was to start a new round of invasion of Wei State!

(End of this chapter)