Song Dynasty

Chapter 208 Zhang Xuanfu

As soon as he sat down, Wang Shen's eyes fell on the picture on the table inadvertently, and he couldn't help being slightly taken aback.

Zhang Jun asked with a smile, "Daosi, what can you tell?"

Wang Shen: "Is this the map of Guanzhong?"

In ancient times when there were no scientific surveying and mapping methods, to be honest, the maps of the ancients were not accurate.There are no contours or anything, not even the right proportions.Most of the time, you can only draw a general trend of mountains and rivers. If you fight on a map like Li De did during the Red Army's Long March, no amount of troops will be enough to compensate you.

Zhang Jun raised his head with surprise on his face: "How do you know?"

Nonsense, in later generations, as long as you have been to junior high school, you will know how to read a map.Wang Shen pointed to the big "ji" character on the map, "This is naturally the Yellow River, and the two rivers next to it are the Wei River and the Jing River. There are still a few rivers whose names I can't name. The city must be Chang'an, Chang'an is surrounded by eight waters, Guanzhong is in shape, how can you not tell it. As a general, you should know astronomy and geography, care about everything, and pay attention to everything."

The astonishment on Zhang Jun's face was even greater. He had only glanced at the map of Guanzhong from the Privy Council before he received the decree and set off to appease Shaanxi. Today, thinking about the war in Shaanxi, he couldn't help drawing a few strokes on the paper.

In fact, things like maps were a great thing in ancient times.Such as the extremely detailed modern maps of later generations have extremely high military value.It is not the leader of the army and the senior officials of the economic and strategy side. Ordinary people have never been out of the county where they are in their lives. Naturally, they have no idea what the world is like.

According to the resume reported by the Ministry of War, Wang Shen was originally from Tang County, Liao Kingdom, and he probably had never been to Shaanxi, so why did he immediately see that he was drawing a map of Shaanxi?
Zhang Jun's heart moved, did Wang Shen also care about the war over there?

Yes, Guanzhong is so important to the Great Song Empire. Once there is a loss, not only Bashu, a place of wealth, will be directly threatened by the Jurchens, but even Jingchu's future life will be difficult.Once Shaanxi is captured, Jurchen will inevitably lead troops to attack if she wants to destroy the Great Song Dynasty.Then go down the river and reach the south of the Yangtze River in a few months.

In history, Sima Yan of the Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu, Li and Tang unified the world, and Taizu mixed into the same universe. Not all of them took this path.

Wang Shen is now stationed in Huang and Qi. Once Jurchen goes south again in the future, the Sizhou army will meet the enemy's first wave of offensive.

Zhang Jun nodded: "Daosi, you are a caring person. What do you think about the Shaanxi war?"

Hearing his question, Wang Shen's heart skipped a beat.In the future, Shaanxi is about to engage in an unprecedented large-scale battle. The Jin Army will dispatch half of the main force of the West Route Army and almost all the main force of the East Route Army on the Eastern Front, with a mobile strike force of more than [-].This is almost the entire force of Jurchen's search of mountains and seas last year. In the end, Liang Wushu also led [-] elite troops from Luoyang to help Shaanxi.

And in Shaanxi, the Song Army was based on the Western Army who had not left the customs to conquer Liao and rescue Kaifeng, and with the addition of local regiment training, the total number of all soldiers and horses reached an astonishing 16.This is already the last property of the Western Army and the last strength of the Southern Song Dynasty in the Northwest.

However, the final result was not good.

The Jurchen can be said to be the most powerful army at the peak of the cold weapon war. In the past two years, as the Jurchen entered the Central Plains, the army also degenerated at an astonishing speed, and fell to the end. Only the puppet Qi army can be used as the main force.

However, the Jurchens at this time still maintained a strong fighting capacity.

After a great battle, the rest of the Western Army was annihilated, and Zhang Jun retreated to Qinzhou, which became Tianshui City, Gansu, and the Great Earthquake in Shaanxi in later generations.After this battle, the Jin army took advantage of the large amount of food and military resources it had seized, and under the guidance of the surrendered generals of the Southern Song Dynasty, took advantage of the victory to attack the interior of Shaanxi on a large scale.By March of the following year, most of the Shaanxi Road was captured. The Song army only defended Jie, Cheng, Min, Tao, Feng and other prefectures, as well as the key passes of Shukou such as Fengxiang Mansion's Monk Yuan and Longzhou's Fangshan Yuan. Confront the Jin army.

This battle is known as the Battle of Fuping in history.

In retrospect, the Song Army's food and grass at that time were not insufficient, and the remaining Western Army's combat effectiveness was not insignificant.The reason why he lost so badly has a lot to do with Lao Zhang's eagerness for success.Before he had figured out the military situation in Shaanxi, he hastily assembled heavy troops and launched a counterattack hastily.

It is said that at the end of the battle, Zhang Jun couldn't even figure out how many soldiers and horses he had, how much food he had, and the combat effectiveness of each army.

It's not that Zhang Xianggong is incompetent, in fact, he is already a rare talent in the early Southern Song Dynasty.In fact, the situation in Shaanxi is too important, the situation has deteriorated to the point of no return, and there is no time for him to calmly arrange and familiarize himself with the situation.

Moreover, there is another important reason, the Western Army's morale is not stable, and the soldiers don't really buy into Lao Zhang's account.Zhang Deyuan was half out of anger, half out of wanting to win people's support and establish his own prestige by fighting, so he lost his mind.

Zhang Jun lives high in the temple and is used to building from a high place, but he doesn't know how to lead troops.The so-called, the ruler is short, and the inch is long. Everyone has areas that they are not familiar with, and they cannot be forced.

……

What Zhang Jun was thinking about these days was the war in Shaanxi, he suddenly became interested, and said with a smile: "Wang Shen, since you are paying attention to Guanzhong again, let me tell you what you think."

Wang Shen's heart was moved: To be honest, later Zhao Gou made peace with the Jurchens, and his refusal to go to the Northern Expedition also had something to do with the fall of Shaanxi.What's more, he has doubts about the combat effectiveness of the new army of Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Liu Guangshi, Zhang Jun, etc., at least in his opinion, it is still not as good as the elite of the Western Army.

As a modern person, Wang Shen naturally knew.

At the moment, he did not refuse, he picked up the pen and followed the historical records, while drawing on the paper, he analyzed the balance of power between the enemy and us, as well as the possibility of the next step.

After talking about this for a long time, my mouth was dry.

After a long time, Wang Shencai finally said: "To sum up the above, no matter in terms of the strength of the troops, the morale of the troops, or the preparation of materials, now is not the time for a decisive battle with the Jurchen Tartars. Counter-offensive after two years."

"The situation in Guanzhong is complicated. Now most of it has fallen to the enemy, and there are party members in the north who are ready to make a move. I can't figure out a clue for a while. If you don't do it, you should act as Xu's plan in Guanzhong and calm down."

In fact, the disastrous defeat in the Fuping War has a lot to do with Zhang Jun's eagerness for success after he went to Shaanxi, and his hasty gathering of troops and the enemy's decisive battle.At that time, Zhang Deyuan had only been in Shaanxi for two months, and he knew nothing about the army.The rest of the Western Army of the Sixth Route in Shaanxi and the local regiments used to have their own defense areas, but now they are suddenly organized together. The soldiers do not know the generals, and the generals do not know the soldiers.

The cold weapon war reached its peak in the Song and Jin Dynasties. The mutual cooperation of various arms, the control of the battlefield, and the competition for time and space have reached the extreme. It can be said that a complete set of tight and scientific strategies and tactics has been formed.And war has become extremely professional. A general needs to go through a long period of training in the army and on the battlefield to be considered qualified.Zhang Jun is a real talent, but his talents are in the court, in reconciling Yin and Yang, connecting left and right, and communicating with each other.In the final analysis, he is the prime minister, and the profession of commanding an army general is not suitable for him.

As far as the end of the Northern Song Dynasty and the early Southern Song Dynasty were concerned, only Tong Guan, Lao Zhong, and Yue Fei could command a national war of more than [-] people.

Yue Fei Yue Ye was born step by step from a small general, who is equivalent to a company commander in modern society. Nothing about the army and local affairs can be hidden from him; Knowing how many battles, step by step from a servant who doesn't know anything, to use endless resources to hone into a qualified commander; The Chong Family Army, the first-class field group in the Northern Song Dynasty.

As for Zhang Jun, a civil servant, he didn't know anything about war, and coupled with the shortage of food and grass in Shaanxi, it would be hell if he could win this battle.

In fact, Wang Shen's opinion was based on the advice of Qu Duan, a general of the Western Army, to Zhang Jun in real history.When Zhang Deyuan first arrived in Shaanxi, Qu Duan also felt that he was eager to fight Jurchen decisively. It was impossible to calm down the situation in Shaanxi.It's better to hold on to a few military points in Guanzhong, and wait until the troops are organized and trained and the Xuanfu Division has accumulated enough money and food before making plans.

It's a pity that Zhang Jun was very high-spirited at that time, and Qu Duan had a lot of authority in character, and he had a deep conflict with a coach like him. Of course, Zhang Xianggong couldn't listen to his words, and this is why he later The fiasco of the Battle of Fuping.

Wang Shen continued: "Master Zhang, there is a sentence that I don't know whether the general should say it or not."

Zhang Jun was shocked when he heard this, this Wang Shenyuan was in Jingchu, but he had a clear understanding of the situation in Guanzhong, and he didn't know how he got so much information, just from this point of view, this person is really a great general.He took a deep breath immediately, calming down the agitation in his heart: "Let's talk."

Wang Shen: "Those who make good use of soldiers will no longer be in service, and their food will not last for three years. They will be used for the country. Because the food is from the enemy, the army will have enough food. If the country is poorer than the teacher, it will lose far away, and if it loses far away, the people will be poor; Teachers are expensive to sell, and if they are expensive to sell, the people will run out of money, and if the money is exhausted, they will be anxious to serve in the hills. If the money is exhausted, the Central Plains will be empty at home, and the people's expenses will be seven out of ten; Bows, halberds, shields, spears and sculls, mounds and oxen carts, six out of ten. Therefore, a wise general will feed on the enemy. If he eats the enemy for one minute, it will last for twenty minutes;

He actually recited "Sun Tzu's Art of War" in front of Zhang Shujun, and then said: "When a large army fights, it is impossible to gather all the military supplies in one place. In many cases, it needs to be transported long distances from the rear. One stone of grain is transported from the rear to the front line." Ten to seven or eight, the frontline soldiers only got one or two. As far as the general knows, the Western Army used up their savings for many years when they went to the Liao Kingdom in the north and went out to Kaifeng Qinwang. Now there is not much money in Guanzhong. Xianggong is now Going to Shaanxi, if you rush to a decisive battle with the enemy, I'm afraid it won't work."

"There is a saying in our hometown: the emperor does not send hungry soldiers."

"In the so-called war, what is desperately fighting is national strength, what is fighting is consumption, and what is fighting is the balance of power. Therefore, before making complete preparations, one should not launch an army lightly. Otherwise, it is a gamble, betting on the fate of the army and the country."

……

"Zhang Xianggong, Wang Shen is just a warrior, and he doesn't know much about other things, but he still knows a little about fighting. My Song army lacks horses, and [-]% to [-]% of the troops are infantry. It's battle after battle."

Wang Shen went on to say: "In every battle, we must set up a stronghold, form a thick formation, and advance slowly. In order to resist the Jurchen and Khitan's iron cavalry charging into the formation, the soldiers are equipped with thick iron armor and carry powerful god-arm bows in their hands. , the spears and halberds are all excellent. Every battle, the rewards are also very generous. Therefore, the requirements for logistical support are also extremely high. Without a supply line through the field and a large amount of material reserves, there is no way to fight this battle.”

"Because of the restrictions on war horses and the tactics we have practiced for a long time, my Song army went into battle, but they defended more than they attacked. This time, why use our own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths?"

……

Hearing Wang Shen's eloquent talk, Zhang Jun put his hand holding the tea bowl in the air and fell into deep thought.

(End of this chapter)