Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1553 The Chief of Staff’s Concerns!

Yijing Staff

Zhao Han, the chief of staff, stood in front of a huge sand table, lost in thought. At this time, Shen Cheng, a staff officer from the General Staff, came to his side and said:
"Sir! The Cumans and the Robes have started fighting!"

Zhao Han, who was deep in thought, stopped thinking after hearing this and took the letter from Shen Cheng. The letter only stated that the Robe and the Kipchak were fighting near Damao Mountain in Elunqin, and both sides suffered casualties. There was no valuable information, so Zhao Han glanced at it and returned it to Shen Cheng, saying:
"C.C. to the Attendant Department!"

"Yes!"

After Shen Cheng left, Zhao Han continued to observe the sand table in front of him. This sand table was made based on the information from the Coordination Office and was a sand table of the Erlunqin grassland.

Although he had almost memorized every coordinate on the sand table, Zhao Han did not dare to slack off or be careless at this moment, and he kept making various judgments in his mind.

Although the Cumans were not a strange enemy, Daqian had fought against the Cuman Khanate several times and won the final victory. Even the former Cuman Khan, Asdogan, died tragically at the hands of Daqian's army, but Zhao Han was still worried!
What Zhao Han is worried about is the changes in the situation between the enemy and us, as well as the complexity of the situation on the grassland!
First of all, as Zhao Han said in the Tiande Pavilion meeting some time ago, in the past battles between Daqian and the Golden Horde, the Golden Horde was the one that took the initiative to attack, and the Daqian army was fighting at home, so there was no need to look for the main force of the Golden Horde...

But this time, the Daqian army was the one that took the initiative to attack. The Daqian army was fighting away from home, while the people of the Golden Horde were fighting at home!

In history, when the Central Plains dynasties fought on the grasslands, the biggest difficulty was not how to defeat the enemy, but to find the enemy's trace!

Without going into details about the distant past, let’s just talk about the previous Zhou Dynasty. During the heyday of its military power, it also wanted to emulate the powerful Han Dynasty in fighting the Huns. It wanted to send troops to the grassland to defeat or annihilate the Cumans in one fell swoop and completely cut off this source of evil. For this reason, the troops were divided into three groups the first time. As a result, two groups of troops did not even see the shadow of the Cumans on the vast grassland.

The only group of troops that encountered the Cumans were outnumbered and unable to hold out alone. They suffered heavy casualties and were barely able to retreat, only to be nearly wiped out.

The second time that the Great Zhou Dynasty marched out of the grassland, it learned from the lessons of the previous time and increased the scale of its troops, sending them out in five directions, thinking that they would not return until the Cumans were defeated. However, the Cumans hid themselves completely, and after a month or two, when the Great Zhou Dynasty's troops and logistics could not keep up and had to retreat, this group of people came out and chased them all the way to Yunbing!

In this battle, the Great Zhou army suffered nearly 100,000 casualties, and the Great Zhou's national fortune turned from prosperity to decline. From then on, the Great Zhou army only dared to enter the grassland for a hundred or two hundred miles to fight, and did not dare to go deep into the grassland on a large scale. The offensive and defensive situation with the Cumans was also different from then on. Most of the time, they could only rely on cities for defense and counterattacks.
Before joining the Fengwu Army, Zhao Han was also from the Imperial Guards of the Great Zhou. He had fought against the Cuman army for several years. Zhao Han himself had even killed two Cumans in battle. It was because of this experience that Zhao Han understood what the key issue of this battle was!
Regarding Zhao Han’s concerns, the Daqian Staff Headquarters actually felt that Chief of Staff Zhao Han was worrying too much. After all, this was not the first time that the Daqian army had gone deep into the grasslands to fight...
Before, Xun Ke faced such a situation when he led tens of thousands of Daqian troops to help Ibugel to eliminate Jamukha. Jamukha also hid and wanted to delay Xun Ke's troops to death, but in the end he still failed and was killed by the Daqian army!

Therefore, with such a successful experience, quite a number of people in the General Staff believed that there would be no problem in taking down the Cumans this time!
But Zhao Han has his own ideas about this!

Zhao Han believed that the last time Xun Ke and Zhamu cooperated in a battle, although they also fought deep into the grasslands and had some similarities with the subsequent battles of the Daqian army, there were actually great differences in some key details~!

First of all, the Fengwu Army had an absolute advantage in firearms at that time. Although Jamuka also had firearms, they were all second-hand firearms that were eliminated by the Fengwu Army. In the absence of repair and maintenance, these second-hand firearms did not play much of a role in the war!
But this time the Cumans had the support of the Roman Empire. According to the intelligence and firearms obtained by the Coordination Office, the firearms provided by the Roman Empire to the Cumans were also very advanced. In terms of the performance of muskets and artillery, they were in no way inferior to the muskets and heavy artillery equipped by the Daqian army!
According to the intelligence obtained from the Ministry of Rites of the Coordination Office, the Cumans currently have at least two to three thousand Roman Empire Yevgeni II muskets and are equipped with at least thirty heavy artillery. This is also an important reason why the Cuman army was able to recover its combat effectiveness in a short period of time and suppress the Roman Empire...

Although the Daqian army had no advantage in the performance of muskets and artillery, it still had some advantages in quantity. In addition, the Daqian army was also equipped with a large number of improved versions of the tiger squat cannon. Although these improved versions of the tiger squat cannon were far less powerful than heavy artillery, they were easy to carry. After disassembling the tiger squat cannon, a few soldiers could carry the parts and leave, unlike heavy artillery which required very high transportation conditions.

In addition, the power of these tiger squat cannons is higher than that of muskets, and they can achieve certain effects in terms of fire support during combat!

Taking all these factors into consideration, Zhao Han believes that although Daqian still has certain advantages in firearms, these advantages are not as great as when facing Jamukha!
Zhao Han’s concern for the Luobi people is not much less than his concern for the Cumans!
At that time, Xun Ke led his troops deep into the grassland to kill Jamukha. Although there were some opposing voices within Robe, overall Ibugel still managed to stabilize the internal situation and prevented any major chaos from occurring within Robe. This also laid a very solid foundation for killing Jamukha!

But now according to the intelligence from the Coordination Office, because Ibugel's physical condition is becoming increasingly serious, the struggle among the Robe people over the issue of the Khan's successor is also tending to become white-hot!

At present, the eldest prince Dariyachi is deeply supported by the conservative forces within Luobi, who hope that the Luobi people will break away from Daqian.

This brings the greatest uncertainty to the Daqian army's operations on the Erlunqin grassland!
After all, it is already very difficult to fight against the Cumans in an away game like the Elunqin Steppe. If something unexpected happens to the Luobi people at this time and they stab the Daqian army from the back, the damage can be said to be fatal. If that happens, the Daqian army is likely to be wiped out...

Regarding Zhao Han’s idea, some people in the General Staff felt that Chief of Staff’s idea was a bit exaggerated!
In the past few years, Daqian has continuously infiltrated Luobi in the fields of culture, economy, and military. This has provided a fertile ground for the survival of the pro-Dagan faction in Luobi, and has also led to the emergence of more and more pro-Dagan factions within Luobi!
In such a background, Daqian and Luobi have more and more cooperation in the fields of economy, culture, military and so on. Therefore, many people believe that even if Darachi, who is supported by conservative forces, comes to power, he would not dare to rebel against Daqian in a big way and risk the world's condemnation!
If he really wants to do this, he must be crazy!
Zhao Han also thought that such an idea had a certain degree of power, but as someone who had also dealt with the Luobi people for a long time, he believed that the Luobi and the Central Plains Dynasty had a blood feud that lasted for hundreds of years. Over the past hundreds of years, more than a dozen generations of people on both sides had been killing each other. Today you kill me, and tomorrow I kill you. This hatred should never be underestimated!
The conservative forces within Luobi are still very powerful and stubborn. They are committed to getting rid of Daqian's control. In order to achieve this goal, they are likely to make some extreme or even crazy moves...

Zhao Han believes that this battle deep into the grassland will be extremely difficult, and may even be the toughest battle since the rise of the Fengwu Army!
Therefore, in order to win this battle and completely eliminate the security risks in the northern part of Daqian, they must make comprehensive plans!

Just as Zhao Han was looking at the sand table and thinking, he heard footsteps behind him. Zhao Han subconsciously looked back and saw that the person coming was his deputy, Daqian Deputy Chief of Staff Ma Zhongjun.

Just when Zhao Han wanted to say a few words to Ma Zhongjun, he heard Ma Zhongjun's voice. "Sir! I have some ideas I want to report to you!"

Zhao Han was a little surprised when he heard this, but seeing Ma Zhongjun's serious look, he nodded.

Half a cup of tea later, Zhao Han and Ma Zhongjun sat down in Zhao Han's classroom as host and guest. Zhao Jie, the full-time clerk beside Zhao Han, also poured a cup of tea for each of them.

After taking a sip of tea, Ma Zhongjun also spoke directly to the point:

"Sir, I agree with your idea. This battle in the Erleng Steppe will be very difficult. Not only do we have to deal with the Cumans, we also have to guard against the Robes!"

"If we are not careful, we will be attacked from both sides. This is too dangerous, so I think we must reduce the risk we face!"

Hearing Ma Zhongjun say this, Zhao Han raised his eyebrows and asked with some interest:
"Zhongjun, how do you plan to reduce the risk?"

Facing Zhao Han's question, Ma Zhongjun's expression flashed a hint of cruelty, and he immediately started to speak:
"He who strikes first is the strongest, and he who strikes last will suffer..."

Although Ma Zhongjun did not say what he was thinking directly, but feeling the murderous intent in his words, Zhao Han knew what he wanted to do!
Zhao Han couldn't help but frown when he realized what Ma Zhongjun wanted to do. In fact, he had the same idea as Ma Zhongjun. After all, His Majesty once said that sometimes if you want to solve a problem, solving the person who raised the problem may be a simpler and more convenient way!
This theory also applies to the current relationship between Daqian and Luo Bi. It is too difficult to resolve the blood feud between Daqian and Luo Bi. Even with unparalleled wisdom, it is difficult to solve this problem!
And perhaps dealing with those stubborn conservatives might be a more viable option!

But the problem is that those conservatives are not cattle and sheep on the grassland, they are also fierce warriors. When you want to deal with them, they will definitely resist!

They will not surrender and wait for you to kill them!
And don't forget that the Cumans are still watching covetously. These are all problems, and the actual operation will be even more complicated. It is for this reason that Zhao Han finally gave up this idea!

Seeing that Zhao Han didn't say anything, Ma Zhongjun simply made things clear:
“Sir, judging from Dariachi’s actions, he undoubtedly wants to get rid of the control of the court. So once he becomes the Great Khan of Luobi, all the investment that Daqian has made in Luobi over the past period of time will be wasted…”

"As soldiers of Daqian, we need to defend Daqian! Make sure the interests of Daqian are not violated!"

Hearing Ma Zhongjun's high-sounding words, Zhao Han couldn't help but say:
"Zhongjun, your idea makes sense! But we should consider the difficulties in reality!"

"Your Majesty said that we should distinguish between major and minor issues in our work and life!"

"The main problem we have to face now is the Kipchak people. As for the problem of the Robe people, we can take our time to solve it!"

Ma Zhongjun couldn’t help but refute after hearing this:
"Sir, I don't think the main problem we face in Daqian is the Cumans!"

"Oh? So what do you think is the main problem?"

"I think the main issue is the security of Daqian's northern border. We should consider it as a whole!"

"So Zhongjun, what are you going to do? Are you going to fight against Robe and the Kipchak together?"

"Lord Zhao! Why don't we do this? As long as our actions are clean and efficient, we can catch Dariyachi off guard, and then support Daiqin to take the throne and make Daiqin the agent of Daqian. This will help us win this war!"

When saying these words, Ma Zhongjun's eyes were very firm and his voice was decisive. It was obvious that he was very determined in his ideas!

Seeing this, Zhao Han shook his head in disappointment. He felt that Ma Zhongjun's idea was too idealistic. The risk of going to war with two opponents thousands of miles away was too high!

When Ma Zhongjun saw Zhao Han shaking his head, he also understood what Zhao Han was thinking, and immediately continued:

"Sir Zhao, I know this is very risky, but the greater the risk, the higher the reward. I think this risk is worth taking..."