Late Tang

(Ask for a monthly pass!)

"The land of Qi will be weak and perish if it defends itself, and it will be enough to strengthen itself and gather things by attacking people!" Jing Xiang directly talked about the mountains and rivers in eastern Henan.Jing Xiang is very familiar with the terrain of China's mountains and rivers, and he speaks in an orderly manner.

"The entire territory of the Tang Dynasty can be roughly divided into nine blocks according to the terrain of mountains and rivers, with four sides and four corners and one center. From the perspective of military geography, the geographical pattern of the world is like an irregular Go board. In this irregular Go board Above, Guanzhong, Hebei, Southeast, and Shuzhong are its four corners, Hedong, Qingqi, Jingxiang, and Hanzhong are its four sides, and the Central Plains is its central hinterland. Although Huaxia has a vast territory, it is Mainly the nine regions mentioned above."

According to Jingxiang, Qingqi's terrain is not as closed as other corners, and it may be attacked on three sides, so it is not easy to hold on.Moreover, the low mountains and hills in Qingzhou are only a few hundred miles away. The biggest weakness is the lack of strategic depth. Once a few dangerous places are breached, the whole territory may be penetrated.

"When the world was in turmoil, Qing Qi easily became a separate land. For example, Tian Dan at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Tian Rong at the time of Chu and Han, Zhang Bu and Dong Xian after Wang Mang, Liu Dai at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Yi, Duan Kan, Shi Shi at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty Mu Rongde in the period of the Six Kingdoms and Li Daogu in our dynasty both separated Qingqi. But the above-mentioned people separated Qingqi and failed to do anything. Once the situation around Qingqi is settled, these separatist forces will soon disappear. .”

Li Jing and everyone present couldn't help but nodded, Jing Xiang's words made a lot of sense.Since ancient times in the south, Guanzhong is the easiest place to get things done, followed by Hebei, then Hedong, then Bashu, and the most difficult ones are Southeast and Qingqi.The land of Qingqi, the only one in the past who can finally achieve great things in this place, after all the calculations, there is only one Cao Cao.Moreover, Caozhou was originally in Yanzhou, and it is still west of Ziqing Town, which should belong to the territory of the Taining Army.

Qingqi can only be regarded as the eastern part of Shandong, and the status of Shandong as a whole can only be shown on the background of the great plain to the east of the Taihang Mountain, Funiu Mountain, and Dabie Mountain.The low mountains and hills in Shandong are surrounded by plains, which is not conducive to defense, but it is conducive to attacking people in all directions.Using this as a base to spread out vertically and horizontally is enough to make a difference.

Historically, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao used Yanzhou as his base, and finally rose among the heroes, wiped out the princes, and unified the north.

Moreover, Shandong is on the water transportation line between the north and the south, and its topography is not enough to rely on on the eastern plains, so it has a pivotal status between the north and the south.The southern gate of Hebei must rely on Shandong, and the upper reaches of Huaisi in the southeast must also rely on Shandong as a barrier. When the north and the south are confronting each other, Shandong is the focus of competition.

Whether it is the south or the north, if Shandong can be occupied, a favorable situation will be achieved.For the south and the square, if you get Shandong, you can aspire to the Central Plains if you go in, and you can go to Youyan in the north, and you can cover the Huaisi with your wings and consolidate the Jianghuai.As far as the north is concerned, advance can force Jianghuai to the south, and retreat can cover Hebei.

"Mr. Respect, Ziqing Town is not enough?" Li Zhen asked in a deep voice.

Although Jingxiang knew that Li Zhen was the number one counselor in the town [***], he nodded at this time and said: "That's right, decades ago, Li Shishi's family ruled Ziqing for 60 years, and the Hu people from other places came from the west of Liaoning. In the end, he took control of more than ten prefectures in the three towns of Ziqing, Taining, and Tianping. After 60 years of separatism, he was the most powerful feudal clan in the world at that time, even surpassing the three towns in Hebei. But you can also see that the three towns in Hebei are now It is also weakened, but the three towns in Hebei are still there, but Ziqing Town is no longer what it used to be, and the Li family in Goguryeo has long since perished. Why? The land of Qilu is not a place to defend."

"Not only Ziqing Town, but the entire land of Qilu lacks depth and has no danger to defend. Moreover, Ziqing is located between the north and the south, and monitors the water transportation of the canal, the Yellow River, and the Jihe River, and occupies Dengzhou, one of the four major seaports. Hong Kong, Dengzhou, which has one of the two major sea routes, enters Silla Bohai Road. This place is closely watched by the imperial court. They would rather see Hebei completely separated than see Ziqing Town break away from the imperial court's control. "

Jing Xiang was a little excited, "Besides, there are Wang Jingwu and others in Ziqing Town right now, and it's not easy to control them. Forcible control will only cause unnecessary trouble. It's better to temporarily withdraw the focus from Ziqing Town. In this way, the whole world will be in danger. I know that the commander-in-chief is not only loyal to the imperial court and His Majesty, but also has no intention of becoming a strong and self-reliant vassal. Now that the imperial court is gaining momentum, we can concentrate on running Liaodong."

"There's nothing to do in this remote and bitterly cold place in eastern Liaodong. It's a remote place!" Someone objected, and it was Guo Cheng'an who was born in southern Liaodong.

"No!" Jing Xiang shook his head, "There is a saying that the belly of silver horn grass in Phnom Penh, the whole world is fighting together, Ziqing Town is a place surrounded by enemies on three sides, under the attack of the north and the south. Moreover, Ziqing Town is a flat river, and once it is fought, there will be no enemies in front of you." Wealth will be destroyed immediately by the flames of war. But Liaodong is different, Liaodong is a stable rear. If we manage Liaodong well, we will be invincible, we can enter and exit Ziqing, and we can retreat to Liaodong.”

Zhang Chengye's face darkened as he sat on the side listening, the more this Jingxiang talked, the more outrageous he became.What is this talking about, this is simply provoking the commander-in-chief to seek rebellion.What can be attacked when advancing, what can be defended when retreating, what is based on Liaodong as the land of foundation, this is really outrageous.

Li Jing saw the expression on Zhang Chengye's face, and immediately suspended the meeting.But after everyone left, he immediately recruited Li Zhen, Guo Cheng'an, Wang Pu, Jing Xiang, Gai Yu, Liu Xun, and Guo Shunli to serve as his secretary and secretary.

Jing Xiang was reprimanded by Zhang Chengye, the supervising army, and he was still a little apprehensive. After all, the commander-in-chief also has the reputation of being loyal to the emperor, so what he said earlier was indeed a bit exaggerated.But after receiving the call from Li Jing's guards and entering the secretary, he immediately understood in his heart that Marshal Li was also a person with great ambitions.

"What did we say just now, let's continue." Li Jing said with a smile.

Next, Jing Xiang spoke more boldly.

His idea is very simple, that is, to manage Liaodong with all his strength to stabilize the rear, but he can't give up Ziqing Town just because of this, but Ziqing Town doesn't have to pay too much attention for the time being.It is the best policy to recover Liaodong and Liaoxi first.After all, in the current situation, even if Li Jing has the reputation of being victorious in all battles, he must not attack other feudal towns rashly.Not to mention attacking other feudal towns, even Ziqing Town, it is best not to touch him.

Keeping Wang Jingwu and others in Ziqing Town can avoid expanding the conflict on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can also show his heart to the court, the emperor, and the people of the world, and prove that Li Jing is not the kind of person who is greedy for power.Let the court's eyes not have to stare at Li Jing all the time, to prevent the tree from showing up in the forest, the wind will destroy it.To buy time, full development without interference.At the same time, Li Jing had the official position of Anton Grand Protector, no matter how hard he fought with the Goguryeo and Khitan people, no one would care about them.The territory they laid down will never be coveted by anyone.

At this stage, if you want to develop in Ziqing Town, you will inevitably attract great resistance.But take a step back and go to Liaodong to develop, so you can develop with peace of mind.Besides, Liaodong is not really that bitter and cold.At least, southern Liaoning is much stronger than many places in the Central Plains.

What's more important is that according to Jingxiang's plan, Ziqing Town is not a place where he can become a hegemony, and Liaodong is certainly not.To become a hegemony, the key is to seize the land of Youyan in Hebei.After taking Liaodong and Liaoxi, from north to south, from outside the pass, after capturing Youyan, then occupying the land of Qilu will be quite stable.

Given Li Jing's current situation, he really had to consider a long-term strategic plan.In Li Jing's view, although Zhu Wen in history finally destroyed Tang Jianliang based on the place of the Four Wars like Bianliang, but because he occupied the Central Plains, the place of the Four Wars, he has been unable to destroy the heroes of Hebei and Hedong. That's why Zhu Wen's back beam died so quickly.And when he was alive, the southern regions were only superficially obedient.

Zhu and Wen were at a disadvantage in terms of overall strategic layout, and it was precisely because of this that although Jin Wang Li Keyong only occupied a small piece of land in Hedong and was often defeated, he could never be destroyed. In the end, he destroyed the Houliang and built the Later Tang , The key lies in the strategic geographical advantage occupied by the Shatuo people. The land in the east of the river can really be attacked by advancing and defending when retreating.But the Central Plains couldn't do it, and a partial division in the Later Tang Dynasty wiped out the Back Liang.

This plan is more in line with Li Jing's thoughts. At this stage, he just wants to keep a low profile.

Some time ago, it was too high-profile. Such a young man has a long list of official positions, and they are all top-level official positions.He is now on the top of the volcano, but the soldiers and horses in his hands are neither many nor strong. Li Jing now needs to expand and strengthen the army with all his strength.Quite a number of officers in Zhen[***] have become a little overconfident and inflated. They really think that Zhen[***] is invincible, and even can be an enemy of the world.But Li Jing is very clear that the prestige of the emperor is still there, and the emperor can summon 20 to [-] soldiers and horses with a single edict.At that time, there were no allies, but all enemies.

"The same sentence under my job, take away all the young and strong people in Ziqing Town, and take away all the big households, and leave Ziqing Town with nothing to Wang Jingwu and the others. Wang Jingwu, Xue Chong, and Li Xi are not True allies, if we press hard, they will definitely unite against us. But if we just evacuate Ziqing Town and ignore them. I'm sure there will be an internal struggle among the last three. "

"Of course, we can take the people away, but the soldiers have to stay." Jing Xiang walked to the sand table and sighed at the sand table. "We don't have to manage Qingzhou, Zizhou and other important cities. What I mean is, we can control the soldiers and horses on the front line of Jishui. In this way, we can maintain a great deterrent effect on Ziqing Town. Once needed At that time, we can pass along the Jishui line and quickly occupy the entire Ziqing four prefectures."

"That's very good, and the stationing of soldiers and horses on the Jishui line means that we have controlled the two sections of water transportation of the Yellow River and Jishui, and at the same time protected our Yellow River and Jishui water transportation trade routes."

"In addition to Dengzhou in Ziqing Town, there are 26 counties in Zi, Qi, Qing, and Lai prefectures. The governors of the four prefectures are all from Tian Lingzi, so we don't have to pay attention to him, but we can take Shanchi and Licheng in Qizhou , Quanjie, Linyi, Zhangqiu, Linji, Zhua, Yucheng eight counties, Zizhou Zouping, Jiyang, Gaoyuan, Changshan four counties, and Qingzhou Bochang, Qiancheng, Linzi three counties, Send our soldiers and horses to all the fifteen counties along the Jishui River, and also station troops and horses in Niushan in Qingzhou, Changbai Mountain in Zizhou, and Huashan Mountain in Qizhou. We only guard these fifteen counties and three mountains, and the remaining eleven counties include Hand over Qingzhou and other cities to Wang Jingwu."

"Fifteen counties plus three mountains. Each county is stationed with 3000 soldiers and horses. Each of the three mountains is stationed with 5000 soldiers and horses, plus a ranger troop. We stationed [-] troops in Ziqing Town, and sent the town [***] to station them."

Li Jing laughed lightly, "Add one more county, and the coastal county of Laizhou also belongs to us. The sixteen counties and three mountains belong to us completely, and the remaining ten counties can be handed over to Wang Jingwu. The wells and rivers of our two sides do not violate the river water, and the land is allocated. Zhi. I believe that Wang Jingwu will be very happy when he hears the news."

Li Zhen thought for a while, "If the commander-in-chief really made such a proposal, I believe Wang Jingwu will definitely agree. As long as we don't beat them, he can't agree immediately."

This plan is really good, at least it makes everyone feel much more comfortable than throwing everything at Wang Wujing.This town [***] is closely guarding the counties along the Jishui line, and with the Ye County on the west coast of Dengzhou, it can control Ziqing Town without immediately conflicting with Wang Jingwu and others.And maybe in the eyes of others, Li Jing seems a little weak and easy to deceive, but this is exactly what Li Jing wants others to see and think.

"The big households and young adults in the other ten counties in Ziqing are forced to relocate a group. Let's do this. The ten counties will move 30 young men and women and their families into Liaodong. As for the sixteen counties under our control, we will move [-] people to them. Liaodong." After thinking about it, Li Jing decided to relocate.Ziqing Town will have to fight sooner or later. Instead of letting these people stay here, or let them provide Wang Jingwu with money, food, taxes and young men, it is better to simply move them to Liaodong.Anyway, according to the set strategy, they will not be in a hurry to control and occupy Ziqing Town for a few years, or even longer.

"With the removal of 40 people, I'm afraid that Ziqing Town will really decline."

"It will be affected, but don't worry too much. We can continue to recruit refugees. Believe me, there will be more and more refugees in the future." Li Jing sighed.

Li Tang didn't mean that he would be rejuvenated after a few victories. Although the Shatuo clan, Nanzhao, and grass bandits were all defeated, it didn't mean that Li Tang would be rejuvenated.The demise of the Tang Dynasty was only a historical inevitability, and it was the outbreak of many contradictions.Wang Xianzhi is dead, and Huang Chao is still there. Li Jing knows that this guy who is still running away is bound to make a comeback.

Besides Huang Chao, Li Jing's eyes were still fixed on Youzhou on the map.He knew very well in his heart that the entire Youzhou had become a powder keg, and any sparks would cause a violent explosion!

Let's explode, since the building of Datang can no longer support it, it is better to collapse it earlier, so that another one can be built again! (To be continued.)