Late Tang

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"The Liaoxi Corridor is very important for us to control the west and east of Liaoning. Therefore, we not only need to build this main road as soon as possible, but at the same time, we have to build military towns and cities on this 650-mile main road to guard this passage. I plan to From the west to the east of the Liaoxi Corridor, five cities, Suizhong, Ningyuan, Jinxi, Songshan, and Jinzhou, will be built to guard the passage. In addition, there is no way to give up, and control must be further strengthened. From Shanhaiguan to Liucheng, it is planned to add The four cities of Qinglong, Jianchang, Bailang, and Qingshan."

In the hall, Li Jing pointed at a map of Yingzhou New Town with a bamboo whip in his hand and said loudly.

Although Yingzhou seems small, it is an extremely important part of Li Jing's entire Northeast strategy.It borders Youzhou in the west, Xi, Khitan, Shiwei, and Bohai Sea in the north, and Goguryeo and Liaodong Peninsula in the east.

This is an extremely critical step in Li Jing's overall strategy in Li Jing's strategic plan, from Ziqing to Liaodong, from Liaodong to Liaoxi, and then from Liaoxi to Youzhou.

There were originally eight large and small cities in the west of Liaoning. Now Li Jing wanted to expand the endless road and at the same time drive back the corridor in the west of Liaoning.On these two arterial roads, nine new towns will be built.This is surprising to all the generals present.

Although the west of Liaoning is not small, there is only one Yingzhou.

The original eight cities, and the new nine cities, will have seventeen cities.

Now the population of Yingzhou is only over 6.

Li Jing pointed to Liaoxi Road, "Everyone, please see that the Liaodong Peninsula we now occupy is almost all hilly areas. And Liaoxi is almost the same. Except for the plains near the Liaohe River, most places in Liaoxi are hills. Liaodong is hilly." The lower reaches of the Liaohe River are sandwiched between the mountains and the hills of Western Liaoning, and you can see that the entire Liaohe River Basin is an extremely flat alluvial plain. The soil here is fertile, and it will become a granary when it is developed to grow grain."

"Moreover, along the Liao River, the upper reaches of the Xiliao River and Dongliao River are also fertile plains. The West Liaohe River is the section where the Xiren's Tuhe River and the Khitan's Huangshui River meet, while the Dongliaohe River Plain, It is the Fuyu Mansion of Bohai State. Everyone, we now occupy the Liaodong Peninsula and Liaoxi, occupying these two hills. In military terms, controlling these two places means that we can control the entire lower reaches of the Liaohe River at any time. Our Stabilize the Liaodong Peninsula and Liaoxi, and then we can control the middle and upper reaches of the Liaohe River by destroying Goguryeo. When we have strength in the future, we can also send troops to the West Liaohe and East Liaohe Plains, and even further control the Tuhe Plain controlled by the Xi people and the Khitan people And Huangshui Plain."

Pointing at the map, Li Jing was very excited.

Li Jing has a big ambition, which is to completely occupy the Northeast Plain.

Fight west to the Daxing'anling line, advance to the Mongolian Plateau, and take the Sanjiang Plain to the north.The entire three major plains in the Northeast are all included in the bag.

The northeast looks bitter and cold, but compared with the northern grasslands, it has an excellent advantage, that is, the plains here are extremely wide, according to the memory of later generations.The arable land area of ​​the three major plains in Northeast China is equivalent to one-sixth of the arable land area of ​​China as a whole.This is a huge granary, unlike the grassland, where the rainfall is low, so it is impossible to cultivate food in a large area, only grazing.

As for the vast area in the Northeast, apart from being colder, it can be transformed into farming and settlement, building cities and reclaiming land for immigrants.

The subsequent rise of Liao, Jin, and Qing was all related to the occupation and development of the Northeast Plain.

Of course, Li Jing also knows that it is not easy to occupy the entire Northeast Plain, and it is even more difficult to develop the Northeast Plain.

However, if it is just a step-by-step approach, it is still very feasible to seize the Liaohe Plain first, and then develop the Liaohe Plain, or even develop the Lower Liaohe Plain first.

At present, the tribes in the Northeast include the Bohai, Khitan, Shiwei, Xi, Goguryeo and other tribes, but except for the Khitan, the others are not strong, and are even in a weak stage.Li Jing believes that as long as he manages with all his strength, he is still confident in dealing with these tribes.Especially now that the turmoil in the Central Plains is about to begin, Li Jing can recruit a large number of people to develop in the Northeast.

Blocking the Greater Khingan Mountains in the west, the Lesser Khingan Mountains in the north, and the Changbai Mountains in the east, it can be said that this area is actually very closed and easier to stabilize.

After taking control of western Liaoning, both the Khitan and Xi people had been driven back to the upper reaches of the Liao River. Now, the only enemy left to compete with the Zhen army for the middle and lower reaches of the Liao River was Goguryeo.

Li Zhen didn't quite agree with Li Jing's insistence on going around in the poor waters of Liaodong.In his view, Datang has become more and more corrupt now, gradually losing control over the world.At this time, Li Jing has already possessed a huge amount of capital, so he should actively prepare to develop into the Central Plains in order to seek the world.How can you put all your energy outside this barrier?

He raised his hand, and Li Jing nodded to him.

"Your Majesty, when we attacked western Liaoning earlier, the Khitan people persuaded Fan Xinglong of Jizhou to send troops to attack Pingzhou. Later, when they heard that our army had defeated the Khitan, they returned to Jizhou. But no matter what, he had already sent troops to attack us first. , Some people think that we should send troops to Youzhou immediately to destroy Fan Xinglong, and seize the opportunity to take Jizhou and Tanzhou controlled by Xinglong."

Many generals immediately seconded the proposal, and Fan Xinglong dared to break ground on Tai Sui's head, which made all the generals very angry.No one has dared to do this for a long time, Fan Xinglong is courting death.Now that they have the opportunity, of course they have to swallow Fan Xinglong's territory in one fell swoop.

Jing Xiang shook his head and objected: "A certain person thinks that we should not use troops in Youzhou for the time being, but should continue to consolidate western Liaoning and eastern Liaodong, and at the same time launch the final blow to Goguryeo to control the Liaohe Plain. As for Youzhou, right now Youzhou has Li Quanzhong, Liu Yue, and Fan Xinglong. If we send troops to Youzhou at this time, it will inevitably cause Liu Yue and others to unite to resist, and it may not be a good thing for us."

Li Jing agreed with Jing Xiang's views, and ran to grab Jizhou and Tanzhou instead of taking the great Liaohe Plain.Although the two prefectures of Ji and Tan seem to be in the territory of Youzhou, but in fact, this is the most barren land in the Yanshan area.For these two pieces of land, it is really not cost-effective to attract Youzhou to unite.Moreover, Li Jing now plans to fight outside the pass, expand his territory, and strengthen his power.

Make a fortune in a muffled voice, but don't plan to use troops in the Central Plains now, and expose your strength too early.

Li Jing's plan is to wait until this winter, and immediately launch a full-scale attack on Goguryeo, directly uprooting this enemy who has lost the two allies of Khitan and Bohai.

"Then ignore Fan Xinglong's previous attack?" Lin Wu asked.

"I heard that Fan Xinglong was already so frightened that he became demented." Wang Zhong said with a smile. The story of Fan Xinglong's stroke that was directly frightened had already spread all over the place.The generals of the town are very proud of this, and it is estimated that there is only one in the town who can directly scare the enemy into a stroke.

"Don't worry, I can guarantee that even if we don't send troops to attack Fan Xinglong, Fan Xinglong's head will be placed in front of us before long." Li Jing said indifferently.

During the Five Dynasties, what the generals liked to do most was to add yellow robes to those handsome officers and support them as emperors.Because for these generals, if things are successful, they will make meritorious deeds and be promoted to rank.If they fail, it will be their masters who are unlucky, and in order to appease the morale of the army, not only will these generals be fine, but they will often increase their ranks to reassure the morale of the army.

Things are so strange, and in the late Tang Dynasty, the most popular thing for the subordinates of the generals in the towns was to support the chief general as the commander-in-chief.Things are successful, their boss has become a handsome man, so they will naturally get promoted and get rich.If it fails, the boss is often unlucky, but these people are fine, and in order to appease the morale of the army, they are often promoted to official positions.

Youzhou is one of the most mutinous towns in the world, and Li Jing has full confidence.Now Fan Xinglong's generals are already looking for a way out, and the best way out is to go to Liu Yue or go to Li Jing directly.

Li Jing and Liu Yue were the stronger and the weaker. The best way for Fan Xinglong's subordinates to avoid being attacked by Li Jing was to kill Fan Xinglong and offer Li Jing accompaniment.

"Our goal for the next stage is very clear, which is to launch a full-scale attack on Goguryeo this autumn and winter. The whole campaign should preferably end within a year. Right now, Bohai has retreated to Haidong in fear, Xiren and Tatar are attached, and Khitan is defeated. Water. For Goguryeo, they have no help. For us, it will also be the best chance to seize control of the Liao River Basin."

"The opportunity is never to be missed! Next, all our energies need to be focused on preparing for the destruction of Goguryeo. The Xiaoqi Division will do its best to investigate the enemy's situation in Goguryeo, and the Staff Division will analyze the intelligence and formulate a battle plan. Li Qilang will be in charge of road construction. With the construction of the new city, the logistics department should be responsible for the transportation of grain, grass and ordnance. The relocation and immigration work should also be started immediately. In addition, business, workshops, and mines should also be strengthened. Everyone, this year and next will be two critical years for us. I have been busy preparing for these years, and I will finally see the results. If we win this battle, we will have the entire Liaodong and a stable rear.”

In April of the fifth year of Qianfu, Fan Le, envoy of the Xiongwu Army of Jizhou, Zhou Jin of the Jingsai Army, Geng Biao of the Mighty Army of Tanzhou, and Yanhai of the Zhenyuan Army, four generals Fan Xinglong headed to Pingzhou to report to Zhen Please drop.

Li Jing accepted the envoy of the Fourth Army of Erzhou to surrender, and in the same month, he sent two generals Li Juyi and Liu Xun to Erzhou to receive them.

Tan and Ji prefectures, five counties, four armies, one town, one city, three guards and two garrisons, a total of 2 horses belonged to Li Jing's command.

Li Jing's thirteen prefectures include Yingzhou, Jizhou, and Tanzhou, making a total of sixteen prefectures.

At the same time, the Xi clan and the Yinshan Tatar clan belonged to the Tang Dynasty and obeyed Li Jing's order! (To be continued.)