Song Dynasty

Chapter 235 The Sea and the Sky (Part [-])

Wang Shen suddenly turned his head and looked at Qin Sizhao solemnly.

Qin Sizhao felt a strong pressure from his adoptive father for the first time. After all, he was a child, and his back immediately sweated: "Daddy... son, son..."

Wang Shen: "Tell me your opinion."

Qin Sizhao stuttered a little: "Son, son...Military affairs...Er, son, don't dare to talk nonsense."

"It doesn't matter." Wang Shen said, "You are not young anymore, and you are the Marquis of the rear army. I sent you to serve in the army on the first day, just to make you a man of indomitable spirit. Our family is done. people."

"It's Daddy." Qin Sizhao felt at ease: "The matter in Xiangyang is very important, and it must be in our own hands to make people feel at ease. Otherwise, it will be a thorn in our backs, and we will have restless sleep and food."

"Xiangyang must be taken, why?" Wang Shen continued to ask.

Qin Sizhao: "My son doesn't understand this truth either. However, my son has read and learned everything after reading books for more than a year. He especially likes "Han Shu", "Hou Han Shu" and "Wei Shu". Wei Jin The Three Kingdoms struggle for supremacy, and this generation is the battleground of Sun, Liu, and Cao. There is Cao Mengde who conquered Jingzhou in the south; Xiang. After the loss of Jingchu, Liu Xuande sent troops from all over the country to the east, and finally they were defeated in Baidi City. It can be seen how important this land of Jingchu is."

"In the writings and history books of the predecessors, when Jianghan is mentioned, the two most common place names are Xiangyang and Jingzhou. It can be seen that in order to conquer Jingchu, these two cities must be taken. Otherwise, it will be a tree without roots. No source of water, no matter how many soldiers and horses, no matter how much food and fodder, it will not be able to occupy it."

"Now, Jingzhou is still in the hands of my Song Dynasty, so naturally I can't fight it. But Xiangyang has already fallen into the hands of Jinren, and there are Jurchens stationed there. Therefore, it might as well take Xiangyang. As long as Xiangyang is in hand, we can firmly Firmly control Jianghan."

"Firmly control Jianghan, tell me, how do you control it?" Wang Shen was relieved to see Qin Sizhao citing scriptures and talking eloquently. This Sizhao has made a lot of progress. assistant.

Qin Sizhao was a little ashamed: "Father, my son just inferred from the books he had read before, but he couldn't tell why."

"Haha, you are good at reading without seeking deep understanding. You know who you are but don't know why!" Wang Shen laughed, seeing Qin Sizhao's embarrassed face, and comforted him: "You don't have to blame yourself. After being in contact with practice, many things have to be seen in person and presided over by oneself to understand the joints. The so-called book learning is superficial, and the responsibility for this is not yours."

Seeing Qin Sizhao's bright eyes thirsting for knowledge, Wang Shen tried his best to speak in a language he could understand, "You must have seen the wealth of Jinghu in the past few days. There are inexhaustible resources to control this area." Manpower and material resources. Moreover, Jianghan is located in the middle of the great river, and it can control Bashu in the west. Traveling eastward and downstream, you can easily reach Jiangnan. Going north, you can reach Henan Province in Xijing in ten months. It is the heart of China and a must for military strategists place of contention."

"As long as Jianghan is obtained, the upper reaches and lower reaches of the great river, and the enemies in Henan will all be restless."

"The reason is very simple - water transportation, water transportation on the big river."

"Si Zhao, let me ask you, how much grain and fodder can a cart transport at most?"

Hearing his father's question, Qin Sizhao replied: "If you go back to your father, a cart can transport up to two thousand catties of grain."

Wang Shen: "Then let me ask you again, how many pack horses are needed for a cart?"

Qin Sizhao: "If it's a healthy horse, it can pull two to three thousand catties. However, if there is such a strong horse, I guess Lao Guo has gone to try to train it into a war horse, so why would he be willing to use it for a cart? A cart weighing two thousand catties , generally requires two horses."

He wanted to show off in front of his father, and continued: "If you use human power to pull it, there must be more than four people."

Wang Shen: "If there is no one, what if we simply use mules or donkeys to carry it?"

Qin Sizhao: "A big mule can carry more than 200 catties, while a donkey is lighter, with 180 catties on its head."

"You are really careful, not bad." Wang Shen: "Then let me ask you, how many catties can a ship carry?"

Qin Sizhao: "Depending on the size of the ship and the depth of the water, the cargo that can be transported is also different. If it is a big official ship, it will cost two to three thousand catties!"

"Yes, it costs tens of thousands of catties. If a soldier eats two catties of rice every day, one boat of grain is enough to feed 1 people for a day. Moreover, the army's livestock and manpower are limited, so how can it be compared with ships? Is it convenient?"

"In every battle, tens of thousands of people gather, and the daily consumption is counted in the sand of the Ganges River. The so-called soldiers and horses are not moved, food and grass go first. Fighting is food and grass, and fighting is logistics. A large-scale battle with more than [-] people requires labor and expedition. To set up a granary, you need to send troops to guard. The logistics supply line along the way also needs to send troops to maintain and guard. Calculated in this way, the number of civilians and auxiliary soldiers dispatched is two to three times that of the main combat troops. If there is a river that can sail directly to the battlefield , if you can control the waterway, there is more than [-]% chance of winning without a battle." Wang Shen looked at Qin Sizhao with a smile: "Sizhao, I know you have always wanted to go to the front-line combat troops. It’s a bit reconciled, now you understand what I mean by sending you there?”

Qin Sizhao bowed deeply: "Father, my son understands."

Wang Shen helped him up, and said with a smile: "Turning back to why we must take down Xiangyang to control Jianghan, the reason is very simple - Hanshui - Jianghan Jianghan, Jiang refers to the big river, the Yangtze River. Han refers to Hanshui. Only relying on the river, but not controlling the Han River, no one can stand firm in the Jianghan."

He talked eloquently: "The Han River originates from the mountainous area in western Henan, and it travels all the way south, passing through Fuzhou, passing the Hanyang Army, and converging with the Dajiang River at Hanyang. If the enemy of Xiangyang has the ambition to conspire against Jianghan, they can sail down the river in just a few days. It can penetrate into the core of our Jianghan. The water flow is gentle along the way, and there is no danger to defend the flat plain, so our army can only be in a passive situation."

"The entire Jianghan Plain is generally divided into three major areas: Jingzhou, Ezhou, and Xiangyang. The three major areas are connected together. It is only a temporary phenomenon for each of the three forces to occupy one area. Sooner or later, they will be merged into one."

"Xiangyang is the largest city in Jianghan, with perfect city defense. The terrain is different from Ezhou and Jingzhou, which are unobstructed. It is surrounded by mountainous areas, and there are rolling hills in the middle. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Occupying Xiangyang, you can firmly control it from a condescending height The entire Jianghan. And to the north, you can go out of the Nanyang Basin, and then use troops against Henan. This is why the Jurchen took Xiangyang into their hands even though their forces were not enough to capture the entire Jianghan. There is no way to recover the country, and we can only put all our strength into the Jianghuai River, and we can't respond to each other, and we can't hit people with two fists."

When did Qin Sizhao come into contact with this kind of grand strategy, and his little body trembled slightly with excitement; "Daddy is right, it seems that Xiangyang is bound to fall. It seems that after the cool autumn, our army will march north."

"After the cool autumn..." Wang Shen looked fiercely at the northern sky: "I think so too, I am originally from the north. Since I came to the south, the rain from the south of the river has made me almost moldy. I really miss the sky high and the clouds clear in the north, and the freshness of autumn when the grass is withered and the eagle eyes are sick. However, before going to Xiangyang in the north, I have to deal with Cao Cheng and the others. Only when Xiangyang is taken, can someone be considered as having a piece of land. It really belongs to your own territory. At that time, the sea and the sky will really be open!"

"Wait, now we can only wait. The dog days are coming, and all military operations must be stopped. Yes, we will wait until after the cool autumn."

"Military envoy, military envoy, urgent military report!" Two riders galloped forward, and the leader held a letter with three chicken feathers in his hand.

After receiving the letter and only looking at it, Wang Shen frowned.

Qin Sizhao: "Daddy, what happened?"

Wang Shen: "The front line urgently reports that Zhang Yong's army has been wiped out. The other six bandits are terrified. They have withdrawn their camp and retreated to Suizhou, Xiangyang Prefecture."

Qin Sizhao smiled and said: "Daddy Huwei, Cao Cheng and others retreated without a fight. Most of Suizhou is mountainous and barren, but it can't support so many bandit troops. Plus there are Jurchens in Xiangyang Prefecture. Maybe we don't need to fight, they themselves It collapsed first, so congratulations."

"There is nothing to celebrate. Although Suizhou is small, it is not easy to use troops. Cao Cheng is a veteran in the battlefield. If you stick to it, the Jurchens may not be able to do anything to them." Wang Shen was suddenly a little worried: "In the future, our army will attack Xiangyang, maybe I haven't met Jurchen yet, so I'm going to fight Cao Cheng to the death first. And..."

Also, I was afraid that Cao Cheng and the others would not be able to withstand the military pressure of the Jurchen, so they surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin and became traitors.In this way, the problem becomes troublesome.

After all, Jurchen is an outsider. Although they are strong in combat, they are still few and cannot gain a foothold in the hinterland of China.But if there is an army of traitors who are familiar with the local people's conditions, the problem will be serious.

In fact, in real history, the battle between Song and Jin was really a bit like the War of Resistance Against Japan in later generations.As the veterans of the invading army continued to be reduced, in the end, the main force on the battlefield became the traitor army.

In fact, the damage caused by the traitor troops and the shaking of the people's will to resist were more serious than the invaders.

Next year, Liu Yu will establish the puppet Qi regime in Henan, and these rogue troops from the former Tokyo Remaining Division will also become Liu Yu's capable officers, the vanguard of the destruction of the Song Dynasty, and the most vicious enemy of the Han men.

This time, I have no disadvantages in my strategy of Jianghan. In addition to the heroes of Sizhou soldiers, the most important reason is that the resources of the thieves are insufficient.When they first came to Jianghan, because of the shortage of money and food, they only cared about robbing places to supplement military use.If there is enough money and food, the whole world will rush to attack Huangzhou, the base camp of the Sizhou Army, as soon as they reach the ground. The outcome of this battle is still unknown.

Once Cao Cheng and the others surrendered to Jurchen, with their backs backed by the Kingdom of Jin, it would be difficult to win Xiangyang in the future with this steady stream of supplies.

Wang Shen was worried, but he couldn't bring this up in front of others, nor could he discuss it with others.

(End of this chapter)