Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 385 War Preparations
Getting along with his family is just a way for Huan Xi to relax in his free time. Of course, he has not forgotten his responsibilities.

He is the king of Duke Liang. He is responsible for hundreds of millions of people in Guanxi, so how can he not do his job all day long?

When Huan Xi came to the Chancellor's Desk, Wang Meng was still immersed in official duties. Seeing this, Huan Xi knocked on the door with his fingers. Wang Meng heard the sound, raised his head, and met Huan Xi's eyes.

"Sir, how are the armors prepared now?"

Huan Xi asked with a smile.

He said it lightly and only asked about the result. Little did he know that during these days, Wang Meng was so overwhelmed by the heavy workload that he could hardly breathe.

Of course, power is addictive and can make people forget about fatigue.

Instead of feeling hard work, Wang Meng actually enjoyed it.

"Reporting to Mr. Liang, the armory workshop under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry has been working hard in recent days. One hundred thousand new bows and crossbows, five million arrows, fifty thousand pairs of light armor, and two hundred thousand swords, guns and other long and short weapons. "

Huan Xi opened an armor workshop on the bank of the Weishui River, using water power, wind power, and fire power to create various weapons using the steel filling method.

Since Huan Xi fought almost every year and consumed a large amount of armor, especially after last year's battles on the northern and southern fronts, there was not much left in Chang'an's arsenal.

Regardless of the fact that the workshop has made such a large number of new armors, in fact, this is barely enough for a big war.

In order to maintain confidentiality, he placed all the craftsmen's families on the northern slope of Longshouyuan, where the city of Chang'an in the Sui and Tang Dynasties was located.

At this time, Huan Xi did not know that Murong Jun would lead the expedition in person. He thought that the leader of the Yan army was still Murong Ke. Therefore, Huan Xi naturally had to be fully prepared. If he wanted to fight a wealthy battle in Hedong County, he must not Put yourself in a tight spot.

Huan Xi designated the entire northern slope of Longshou Plain as a restricted area, strictly prohibiting the entry and exit of irrelevant people, because he was worried that the process of pouring steel would be spread.

Therefore, no matter who the leader of the Yan army was, Huan Xi could not be satisfied with the fact that the armor produced was barely sufficient.

The more fully prepared the two sides are for war, the more difficult it will be to determine the winner, and it is easy to fall into a long tug-of-war.

Wang Meng knew that Huan Xi was not being alarmist. Now, both Yan and Yu were making intensive preparations for war. In this battle, especially the Yu State, they would definitely use all their strength to recapture Hedong County.

I saw Huan Xi striding through the door, sitting opposite Wang Meng, shaking his head and saying:

The emperor's personal conquest can also inspire the morale of the soldiers.

"It's not enough. The war in Hedong County will not be victorious in a short time. Just carrying these armors may not be enough to cope with the next war."

Of course, even if he knew that Murong Jun was personally leading the army, Huan Xi would only be more cautious. After all, with Murong Jun's trust in Murong Ke, it was impossible to abandon him in such a critical war.

As for those light armors, they were prepared for the Huns and Xianbei people who responded to the call.

At that time, you will come back and forth, and it will be the same, which will consume a lot of arrows and melee weapons.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Li Ling was ordered to lead five thousand soldiers to fight in the fortress. They carried 500,000 arrows, but in just one day, all the arrows were used up by the Huns.

During the Battle of Shayuan, the Eastern Wei general Xue Guyan fought and retreated for Gao Huan, cutting off fifteen swords in one day. In view of this, how could Huan Xi not prepare more armor? He gave Wang Meng a series of specific numbers:

"In this battle, I want to take away 150,000 crossbows, 450,000 strings, 15 million arrows, 500,000 long and short weapons of all kinds, and another 100,000 pairs of light armor."

Huan Xi will gather 100,000 soldiers in Hedong, which is actually not too many on average.

This was only an early preparation. If the war lasted for a long time, Huan Xi would still have to count on Wang Meng to continue delivering armor to him from the rear.

Fighting is actually a waste of money.

In fact, unless it is a peasant army that has just put down its hoes, it is impossible for an army to go to the battlefield with only one weapon.

War, in the final analysis, is a competition in the national strength of both sides. Unless the talent gap between generals is too great, the side with more generals, better preparations, and more timely logistical support will often win.

The party with weak national strength will be forced to withdraw its troops due to various reasons, or it will be eager to fight, giving the other party a chance to win.

For example, in the Battle of Changping, the State of Zhao could not afford this kind of war of attrition, so it had to change its generals on the battlefield and chose to let the adventurous Zhao Kuo go into battle.

Wang Meng knew that the task was difficult, but he still accepted it without hesitation.

Huan Xi then asked about the situation of the transportation of grain and grass. It is said that the three armies had not moved, and grain and grass went first. Wang Meng had already been transporting grain and grass to Hedong County after Huan Xi gave up the plan to send troops from Hetao.

Wang Meng continued to report:
"Qinzhou and Liangzhou have successively shipped 300,000 stones of corn. At the same time, Chu's support has been accepted, and all of it has been sent to Hedong and stored in Gaowang City."

Huan Xi nodded slightly, he was quite satisfied with Wang Meng's arrangement.

After Huan Xi captured Hedong County, Gaowang City was no longer the front line against foreign enemies, but it guarded the transportation hub. If Huan Xi wanted to march from Puban to Hedong, he would have to pass through Gaowang City. Therefore, Wang Meng chose to hoard his supplies in Gaowang City. forage.

Of course, Shen Jin still has a large number of troops in Gaowang City to protect the food and grass in the city.

Gao Huan blindly believed in the danger of Tongguan and chose to stockpile grain in Hongnong without deploying heavy troops.

Unexpectedly, Tongguan's defense against Kansai was not the same as its defense against Kanto. Yuwentai, who was starving and red-eyed, was captured in one day. In the end, all the food stored in Hongnong was lost to Yuwen, who was suffering from famine. Tai took it and gave Yuwentai life-saving food.

The batch of grain that Huan Wen rushed to aid Huan Xi will be used to relieve the victims. There was a famine in Hedong County due to last year's war, and the hungry people were crying for food. Especially now that it is the farming season, the farmers need to exert strength in the fields, so naturally they cannot drink. For gruel, you have to eat dry rice.

Moreover, you have to add one more meal every day, otherwise there will be no strength.

Fortunately, Huanxi promoted the Quyuan plow and transferred a group of cattle to Hedong County. Since the farming method changed from two cattle and three men to one cattle and one man, there were fewer people who needed to work in the fields and they had to eat three meals a day. Naturally, there will be fewer people with full stomachs.

The batch of grain supported by Huan Wen was enough to feed the victims of the disaster in Hedong County.

Of course, the prerequisite is that the next war will not cause too much damage to Hedong County's production.

It's not like Huan Xi has never thought about keeping the enemy outside the country, but to be on the safe side, he still hopes to place the battlefield in Wenxi County. When the time comes, he will have no choice but to suffer for the people of Wenxi.

(End of this chapter)