Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 893
Xiao Yuandong really picked up the jujube stronghold.

In addition to this battle report that was sent back to Hu Ting's camp, there was another detailed report describing the process of Xiao Yuandong's capture of the jujube.

After the Huainan army surrounded Huting, Xiao Yuandong led his troops eastward to get close to Suanzao, and encountered several groups of Suanzao enemy troops numbering between two and three hundred. Xiao Yuandong's troops were all cavalry, and their numbers occupied an absolute advantage. Naturally fearless in the open terrain, these enemy troops were easily wiped out, and from this they learned that the direction of Suanzao was unknown and the Huainan Army's northward movement was unknown.

But then they noticed that Suanzao had sent a large number of scouts. When such a situation happened, Suanzao must have been vigilant, especially after capturing several enemy scouts, they found out about Hu Ting's urgent request for help.Originally, Xiao Yuandong's task was to block the communication between the two places, but now the Suanzao enemy army knew about this in advance, and it is very likely that they will rush to help next.

As for the strength of the enemy forces in the direction of Suanzao, to be honest, the Huainan Army does not yet have an accurate understanding. After all, Suanzao is where the crossings in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River are concentrated. , so even if there is a judgment on the strength of the Suanzao enemy army, it must not be used as a criterion to deal with it.

After learning that the news had been leaked, it was meaningless for Xiao Yuandong's cavalry to intercept them again. However, he didn't know whether he was quick-witted or simply stupid and bold. Instead of retreating, he made a decision to ambush the Suanzao reinforcements on the way .The next thing was logical, he led his troops to bypass the main passage between the two places, approached Suanzao from the flank, then wandered all the way to Suanzao, and then took over an empty camp.

Faced with this result, not to mention that Hu Run and other generals were greatly surprised, even Shen Zhezi couldn't believe it for a while. Would it be fraudulent to subconsciously react to this matter in his mind?However, even if this speculation was denied immediately, judging from the information sent back by Xiao Yuandong, the enemy clearly had not grasped the specific movements of the Huainan Army.

The Huainan Army assembled in March, and by May the main force had completely entered Chenliu. The enemy hadn't been able to grasp the specific whereabouts of the Huainan Army. This seems incredible, but in military terms, this is nothing more than a normal thing .For example, when the strong Han army went out to attack the Xiongnu, it often happened that they could not find a large target tribe. Of course, this was also related to the sparse population.

Tens of thousands of troops, a great company with a battalion of more than ten miles, if it is fully spread out, it is impossible to judge where the main force is. The methods of confusing the enemy such as increasing stoves and reducing stoves, setting up empty camps, etc. are tactics that have been mastered since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods.Unless Shi Kan's army had a solid base among the people on the south bank of the Yellow River, or dealt with a local household like Chen Guang who had a clear resident position, it would not be easy to accurately grasp the movements of the Huainan army based solely on the ranger scouts.

In fact, not only the enemy's lack of intelligence on the Huainan Army, but the Huainan Army's deployment of the Shikan Army on the south bank of the Yellow River is also unclear. The only conclusive knowledge is the two strongholds of Huting and Suanzao. Are there any other places?There must be, either the scale is too small, or it has not been discovered yet.Therefore, the Huainan Army's offensive also had spare capacity. Shen Zhezi led more than ten thousand troops to the north, and Guandu had more than seven thousand troops as reinforcements, and Lu Yong's army continued to march north along this marching route.

The Huainan army came to the Yellow River, naturally for the purpose of laying down a Yellow River ferry. Hu Ting was an option, but the main purpose was Suanzao. No matter from which aspect, Suanzao is a better choice than Huting.

Now Xiao Yuandong can easily pick up such an important resource as jujube, which is indeed a surprise for the Huainan army.But the sour jujube people retreated on their own initiative. Shen Zhezi still can't figure out why. He ordered the troops to retreat before the front line. He originally planned to leave Huting's river island as a bait to lure the enemy troops to rescue the encirclement point and fight for reinforcements. , but seeing a breakthrough in the battlefield in an instant, he simply changed his mind and took this place directly.

In this way, the Huainan army's situation on the south bank of the Yellow River can be described as superior. First, the enemy of Heluo was blocked by Guo Song to the west of Chenggao Hulao City. After the Huainan Army won, it was already possible to initially use the Yellow River as a line of defense.

But the problem is that this situation is too easy. Except for Hu Ting, there is almost no decent battle in other directions, which is completely caused by accident.The consequence of this is that the Huainan Army is insufficiently prepared.

Yes, the Huainan Army is very under-prepared. Although it has an advantage right now, it doesn't have enough strength to make use of this advantage in the next step.

In fact, the Huainan army's northward march this time was a series of accidents. First of all, the war in Chenliu was not progressing smoothly. The original plan was to completely eliminate Chen Guang in June, open up contact with Xuzhou, and then continue to march northward. The battle with Shi Kan's army will begin in mid-August at the latest.

There was an accident in the battle of Chenliu, so Shen Zhezi decided to advance to Xingyang in advance, and then Guo Song showed his power, blocking the channel for Taobao to interfere in the Henan war in advance.Then Shen Zhezi took advantage of this advantage and also went north from Guandu ahead of schedule, taking down Hu Ting in a flash. Then Xiao Yuandong had an accident and took down Suanzao at a faster speed, which can be said to be one month in advance. achieved this advantage.

The consequence of this to the Huainan Army was that there was a disconnect between the forward and the successor army.The most basic point is that the logistics line is suddenly stretched, and the supply cannot catch up.This is a very fatal point. Even if the information in the future is so developed and there are many financing channels, there are still many seemingly huge companies that collapsed because of the rupture of the capital chain.As for the era of cold weapons, there are countless wars lost due to logistical supply problems.

When Shen Zhezi decided to enter Xingyang in advance, he was under a lot of pressure on logistics, so he did not bring all the people from Xuchang to the north, but only led more than [-] people to reduce the logistics pressure.At the same time, the navy went north, which squeezed a part of the logistics capacity.

The second is that the troops are out of touch. Although the Huainan Army is numbered 6, it only has a strength of just over [-] on the south bank of the Yellow River.The follow-up Lu Yong and Mao Bao are still leading their own troops on the road. At least until mid-July, they can reach the planned [-] horses, and this is still without considering the logistical pressure.

Therefore, Shen Zhezi's vanguard can occupy the advantage of the south bank of the Yellow River one step ahead of time, and cannot be blindly optimistic. It is very likely that they will have to fight Hebei Shikan's counterattack alone.

This predicament is not caused by the fact that the Huainan Army is completely on paper and underestimates the variables, but by real objective constraints.Huainan's organizational and mobilization capabilities can be said to be the strongest in the world. In early March, mobilization was officially ordered. By April, 50 hu had been collected in Xuchang, with tens of thousands of people, and nearly [-] of them left the country. fight.

In the early years, Shen Zhezi was still impressed by the mobilization power of Jie Kingdom in its heyday, but compared with Huainan today, it is still at a disadvantage.At the very least, the Huainan Army marched northward. Although there were a few obstacles, they did not encounter any major battles along the way. Even if there were changes, it would probably be beneficial to Huainan.

And whether it is mobilizing food and grass or recruiting soldiers, these must be carried out in conjunction with the war phase.Like before, the country of Jie forced the general situation to overwhelm and destroy Jiangdong. It took nearly half a year, and it is true that it has assembled a huge army that is unparalleled in this world.But it also left Huainan with half a year to stabilize the Huaihe line, fully prepare for the war, and even complete the feat of attacking Qiaocheng, accumulating advantages little by little.

If logistics stability is required to fully meet the maximum mobilization efforts of this battle, the Huainan Army will be delayed by at least one month.This month is enough time for Shi Kan to mobilize enough forces to stabilize the Yellow River defense line. The intensity of the war that needs to be faced by then is not comparable to the current one.

The dilemma Shen Zhezi is facing now is that he has won the first battle and should pursue the victory, but the follow-up chips have not been fully exchanged.

In the current situation, Shen Zhezi was really hesitant. Even though he had ideas about what to do next, he couldn't make up his mind.It's not that he can't afford to lose, but that he doesn't know how to maximize his benefits.When it comes to war, in addition to a few basic elements that everyone can tell about, the greatest charm lies in variables, controlling variables and utilizing variables.If these two points can be done well, it is the real choice of a famous general.

Shen Zhezi is not a famous general. To be honest, although he built the important town of Huainan single-handedly, his military affairs are only on paper.Whether it was returning to the capital Qinwang before, or opening up Huainan and facing Shihu, more than half of the real decisive factors were not on the battlefield.This is the first time he has led a large army out of the country to fight, so he is not lacking in anxiety, and fully understands the direction of variables in war.

Even without talking about more major aspects, just the attack on Hezhou just now, because Mo Zhong did not follow the drum order to withdraw his troops, but chose to continue the strong attack, and the battle ended early.And Xiao Yuandong's effortless victory over Suanzao is a bigger variable, a variable that can affect the entire war.Whether to use this variable, and how to use it, will most likely determine the final outcome of this war.

"What do you guys think about this matter? Let's talk about it."

The charm of variables lies in their unpredictability and inevitability, and there is no single choice and answer.

This battle is different from the one in Huai Shang a few years ago. Shen Zhezi was sure that Shi Le would die, and he could choose to resist unswervingly. However, it turned out that his persistence was right, but the reason was wrong. Even if there is a slight difference, Shi Le may not die, and his persistence cannot be right or wrong.

This time is different. Most of his cognition and judgment of the enemy comes from guesswork. His judgment may be right or wrong. It is related to the lives of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people, and it is related to the future of the next few years or even ten years. The general trend is going, so I am under great pressure in my heart. Even if I have a relatively clear idea, I can't help but want to hear other people's opinions.

Hearing the governor's question, the generals were not lacking in silence. The situation in front of them is really weird and many people can't see it clearly. It would be fine for them to talk about it in normal times, but if they make mistakes and mislead them right now, then they will be guilty of the worst.

"We all follow the orders of the governor, but if we are sent, we will not retreat even if we die!"

Hu Run clasped his fists and said in the banquet, his tone was not lacking in passion.

Shen Zhezi glanced at him after hearing the words, feeling quite angry in his heart. He was asking for opinions, not listening to others to show loyalty.However, I don't blame Hu Run and the others for this. One is that Shen Zhezi has been in Huainan for the past few years, and he has formed a personality cult. situation.

After another moment of silence, Shen Zhezi suddenly noticed that there was a lot of commotion in Xie Ai's table, and he seemed to be opening his mouth to speak, so he said with a smile: "If the master has something to say, you might as well speak up."

Hearing what Shen Zhezi said, Xie Ai straightened his chest, and said seriously: "The subordinates feel that it is the right time for soldiers to enter Hebei!"

Shen Zhezi's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he leaned forward subconsciously, and then asked: "At present, our army is only tens of thousands by the Chenyu River, and our successors have not yet arrived, so we are still reluctant to strengthen ourselves. What's more, the king's division is extinct. For several years, Shi Kan has a crowd of tens of thousands, and he lives in a favorable location, with great disparity between strength and weakness. Entering and crossing the river lightly, the danger is unpredictable, why did the master make such a statement?"

　In the new month, first ask for a guaranteed monthly pass. . .

　　
　
(End of this chapter)