Fu Shanhe

Chapter 320 Xiang Zhuang’s Sword Dance
Nanchang, Palace of King Chu.

"Yongzhou was lost so quickly, what are Min Wuliu and Song Zetao doing for a living?"

Looking at the battle report, Wei Jiarui couldn't help but roar.

Losing the war isn't a big deal, but losing so quickly is a problem.

The interval between receiving the letter for help and hearing the tragic news of Yongzhou's fall was less than two days.

In his opinion, there are only two possibilities for this situation to happen.

Either the enemy is too powerful, or the defenders are too incompetent.

Under normal circumstances, it would be no problem for 10,000 soldiers to defend a strategic location like Yongzhou for several months.

If the defender is capable and the city has sufficient supplies, it may be possible to hold out for several years.

Even if the city falls in the end, the price paid by the attackers will far exceed the casualties of the defenders.

"My Lord, calm down!"

"Now that Yongzhou has fallen, the enemy's next target will definitely be Hengyang.

The top priority is to order the Hengyang defenders to strengthen their vigilance and not give the enemy any opportunity to take advantage.

If possible, it would be best to draw some troops from nearby provinces and send them to reinforce Hengyang.

As for the matter of accountability, it would be better to discuss it after we find General Min and Prefect Song."

Prime Minister Chang Junyi began to persuade.

The government troops attacked too quickly, and Yongzhou was like a piece of paper that broke with a single poke.

If we fail to take timely action and lose Hengyang Prefecture, allowing the government troops to push the front line to Changsha, the situation in Huguang will deteriorate completely.

To control the southeast by controlling Huguang and Jiangxi, and to conquer the world by controlling the southeast, this is the strategic concept proposed by Chang Junyi.

Without Huguang, the pillar of the country, the country had to rely on Jiangxi for support, and at most it could only establish its own independent territory.

Since ancient times, there have been countless princes who have ruled Jiangxi, but none of them has used this as a foundation to seize the world.

In fact, even if it occupied Huguang and Jiangxi at the same time, Da Chu was still strategically dangerous.

It is a place full of wars and there is no stable rear area.

It is very easy to get out, and it is just as easy for the enemy to attack.

In times of chaos, there is a saying in strategy that "gold horns, silver edges and grass belly" is used to describe the struggle for dragons.

Affected by the southward shift of the economic center, Huguang and Jiangxi have now become barren.

Wei Jiarui advocated moving westward in those days, actually just to occupy a "corner".

Unfortunately, fate played a trick on them. The White Lotus Sect started an uprising in a border area but failed to stabilize its base.

It was only after they migrated all the way to Huguang and Jiangnan that they truly grew and developed.

It seems to be a military issue, but in fact it is an economic and demographic issue.

The dense population and prosperous economy of Huguang and Jiangnan provided the rebel army with the human, material and financial resources for its development and growth.

These are resources that Guangdong and Guangxi cannot compare with.

In fact, the Guangdong and Guangxi regions were not truly developed until the Dayu Dynasty, or to be more precise, Guangdong was the main region developed.

The biggest measure for the development of Guangxi was the immigrants and agricultural production technology brought in under the Weisuo system.

There is no specific data on the real population, but the officially registered population of Guangdong and Guangxi combined is less than half of that of Jiangxi.

“Ministry of War, come up with a reinforcement plan as soon as possible to ensure that Hengyang is not lost.

Notify government offices at all levels to speed up preparations, order all units to march to Ganzhou, and strive to launch an attack on the puppet dynasty before the end of the month! "

Wei Jiarui nodded and said.

The larger the number of troops, the more difficult it is to mobilize them.

In order to conquer Guangdong and Guangxi, the State of Chu planned to send out 500,000 troops and conscripted 800,000 civilians for this purpose.

It has been several months since the preparation, and we are still in the process of transporting strategic materials.

This is also because there are two major water systems, the Ganjiang River and the Xiangjiang River, in the territory, which reduces the land transportation distance and saves a lot of manpower.

After taking a look at the map on the wall, Wei Jiarui became increasingly unsure about this military operation.

When the strategy was first formulated, the plan was to launch a major battle in Shaozhou Prefecture and attract the main force of the government army for a decisive battle.

Now the situation has changed. The government troops took the initiative in Huguang and quickly captured Yongzhou.

No one can say whether the original plan will succeed.

But the strategic plan cannot be changed with just a single order.

The army can be mobilized quickly, but the logistics and food supplies cannot be moved to the front line all at once.

In essence, the government army's fighting style is a targeted measure taken according to their strategic deployment.

If the main battlefield had been placed in Yongzhou before, then the direction of the government troops' attack would have changed from Huguang to Jiangxi.

There was no way. Li Mu, with only tens of thousands of soldiers, dared to fight against their army of hundreds of thousands.

The logistical needs of both sides are completely on a different level.

The advantage in military strength requires sacrificing logistical flexibility.

Generally speaking, the fewer troops deployed, the easier it is to adjust tactics.

If the number of troops mobilized reaches 500,000, then all the necessary materials must be prepared in advance and transported to the designated location.

After the outbreak of war, any large-scale military adjustment will be a test of logistics.

Many times, even though the coach knows that there are problems with the strategic deployment, he can only bite the bullet and carry out the original plan due to logistical constraints.

"Report!"

"Urgent news from the front line, government troops suddenly landed in Songjiang Prefecture..."

Just as they had digested the sad news of the fall of Yongzhou, an accident occurred in Songjiang Prefecture, which overwhelmed everyone.

This time, Wei Jiarui did not start scolding.

Chu State only intervened in Songjiang, mainly to negotiate terms with Wu State, and did not deploy heavy troops. "It seems that the court knew about our deal with Wu State in advance.

The government troops suddenly attacked Songjiang Prefecture, and the previous land exchange negotiations were likely to be difficult to complete.

How big of an impact will this change have on our Chu State? My dear ministers, please discuss it!"

Wei Jiarui said expressionlessly.

Although both Wu and Chu countries originated from the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus, it still did not change the fact that they became rivals in the battle for the world.

Except when they were fighting against Dayu, the two sides were allies, but their relationship was never good at other times.

Although the top leaders tried their best to suppress the conflicts, they still encountered many obstacles.

Extending the tentacles to Songjiang Prefecture was actually just to disgust the State of Wu and retaliate against the other party for extending its hands to Zhejiang.

It’s just that they acted too late and only took over two counties, so their influence was too small.

Instead, the State of Wu took advantage of their attack on Hangzhou to seize Jinhua Prefecture and several surrounding counties, almost turning Hangzhou into an enclave.

In fact, both countries are on each other's territory and have many enclaves.

On the one hand, it was caused by the fight for territory, and on the other hand, it was the sequelae of the separation.

When everyone was together in the Holy Kingdom of White Lotus, in order to better cooperate in combat.

It is common for generals from one's own faction to take orders from the other side.

After the split, some people changed their political stance, while others remained loyal to their old boss.

The territories occupied by these diehard members have become enclaves under the banner of their old superiors.

Both sides have loyal followers under the other side, and they hold each other hostage.

Because of the friendship of the past, and the fact that the top leaders of both sides did not want to kill each other and benefit Dayu, they naturally chose to resolve the issue through negotiation.

“Your Majesty, this is a conspiracy of the Pseudo-Dynasty.

The more the enemy tries to obstruct us, the more we must do it.

The enclave issue has become the biggest obstacle between Wu and Chu, and must be resolved as soon as possible.

As long as the Wu State is not stupid, it should know that changing land is urgent.

We only have that much territory in Songjiang Prefecture. If we lose it, it will be lost. The impact on Da Chu will be minimal.

When the Pseudo Dynasty attacked Songjiang Prefecture, the country that should have been most anxious was Wu.

Songjiang Prefecture is adjacent to Suzhou Prefecture and not far from Yingtian Prefecture.

The enemy still fought under the banner of retaking Nanjing, and their strategic goal was clear.

Now it depends on the strength of the Pseudo Dynasty's attack. If the Pseudo Dynasty deploys a large number of troops, Wu's plan to march north will probably be affected."

The Minister of Personnel Huang Shanyan was the first to express his position.

In order to advance the anti-Yu cause and expand their political influence, the Wu and Chu countries chose to recognize each other's legitimacy.

Such a political move undoubtedly played an important role in uniting the various rebel forces.

Having set this precedent, anyone who subsequently secedes and establishes an independent country can also be recognized.

Of course, this legitimacy mainly depends on one's own strength.

The two countries of Wu and Chu chose to compromise with each other because their strength was similar and they had a common enemy, Dayu. Internal strife and consumption would be tantamount to self-destruction.

The other rebel forces are relatively weak at the moment and are not qualified to come to the table.

“Your Majesty, what Master Huang said is correct.

Our main task in the short term is to fight against Yu, which requires the unity of all parties to accomplish.

The gains and losses of a city or a place are not worth mentioning at all in the face of the general trend of the world.

For the sake of the Chu-Wu alliance, why not let them take over a few cities!"

Minister of Revenue Xiao Yushan immediately supported it.

Only after the relationship between Wu and Chu was properly handled could they move south with confidence, and Wu would dare to march north with confidence.

The main forces of Guangdong and Guangxi were all on the Huguang front, and a small force broke into Songjiang Prefecture, which had more political significance than military significance.

……

As the fleet sailed downstream and looked at the city of Hengyang in the distance, Li Mu suddenly came up with the idea of ​​launching a surprise attack on Changsha.

It is not only about confidence in the combat effectiveness of his troops, but also about confidence in the officials of Dayu.

Like Yongzhou, the prefectures such as Hengyang and Changsha were also recovered by government troops for a period of time before the war to support the king.

In order to save costs, the bureaucrats in Yongzhou built a shoddy city defense.

There is no reason why the Dayu bureaucrats in other regions would suddenly change their style.

It has nothing to do with whether one is honest or not. When the imperial court ordered local officials to repair the city wall within a time limit, it was not just aimed at Yongzhou, but other prefectures also received the order.

The local area did not have much income from the newly recovered land, and the imperial court was unwilling to allocate funds.

It would be extremely difficult for local officials to complete their tasks without resorting to tricks.

The rebels were also a makeshift group.

It is easy to find problems, but difficult to solve them.

Li Mu didn't believe that the rebels had cleaned up the area in such a short time and had time to check the quality of the city wall.

While the battle of Hengyang was going on, a town of soldiers quietly left and headed straight for Changsha.

Whether the city can be captured depends mainly on the rebels’ troop deployment.

In recent days, the rebels have been deploying troops and the garrisons in various places have changed very quickly.

The speed at which the spies collected intelligence could not keep up with the changes in their troop deployments.

……

(End of this chapter)