The landform of Xiling is known for its mountainous nature.

The Changling Mountains in the north are undulating, and the Qilian Mountains in the south are also a natural barrier, but in the Xiling Corridor, in addition to these two mountain ranges, there are countless small hills dotted among them, which was once called the land of a hundred mountains.

At this time, General Kuroba was standing on the mountain dam, looking at a mountain in the northwest corner.

These days, the general has been surveying the terrain of Fan County with more than a dozen night crows under his command.

Of the thirty night crows under the general's command, only twenty-four actually entered the customs with him.

Han Yunong and Meng Zimo were deployed in Xiling early, and when they entered the customs, they left a few more people in Woye Town.

The situation in Xiling is not stable, the general from the accompanying night crows, left a few people in Zhen County to assist Han Yunong, and left a few people in Fengganfu City, Zhonglang General Su Changyu has just finished reorganizing the three horsemen in Xiling, and he wants to leave a few people to assist Su Changyu, so the night crows who follow the general are now only twelve, and Mencius is also among them.

"General, that's Genmatsuyama." Meng Zimo opened the map he had been carrying and pointed to the right place: "The terrain on the mountain is also very steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is also an excellent stronghold. ”

General Hei Yu took the map from Mencius Mo's hand.

This map is a military map of Xiling, and there is a detailed outline of the mountains and rivers in Xiling.

"If you want to make this mountain a defensive stronghold, you need at least fifteen hundred people." The general looked at the map carefully for a moment, then handed it to Mencius, exhaled a breath like mist, and walked a few steps forward, rubbing the snow on the ground and crunching.

Meng Zimo also followed and said: "General, if Yuansong Mountain is also used as a defensive base, then the troops required along the way will be at least 20,000 people. To the west of Heiyang City, seven strongholds have been set, and after Heiyang City to the east, this is already the fourth. ”

The general said: "In the event of a war with the Vedas, we will inevitably be in a weak position, and our only chance is to use our strengths against their weaknesses. He raised his hand and pointed to the distance and said, "Xiling is mountainous, this is exactly what God has given you." If Xiling is a flat river, it is the favorite terrain of the Vedic people, and we are simply powerless to fight against it. From Kunlun Pass to the pass, there are many mountains along the way, which is where we make use of it. The Vedic cavalry were good at plain warfare, but they were not good at mountain warfare, and without their horses, their strength would be greatly weakened. ”

"We have a stronghold on the important hill on the way, will the Vedas ignore it?" Meng Zimo worried: "If they drive straight into the country and don't care about the strongholds along the way, then wouldn't these strongholds be in vain?" ”

"The Vedas are not so stupid." The general said lightly: "If these strongholds are not uprooted, they will be like a man, and the defenders of the strongholds can not only completely cut off their logistical baggage, but also launch a surprise attack on them at any time once they have the opportunity." He raised his hand and stroked his beard and said: "Back then, the Woodlands suddenly moved eastward, which also blamed us for being too confident at that time, and we only felt that with the might of the Tang Dynasty, the Woodlands had no courage to invade Xiling, so they were not prepared for defense at that time." After the Vedas came in, in a hurry, we gathered all the soldiers and horses to defend Heiyang City, and the Vedas soon besieged Heiyang City, wrapping us in dumplings, and there were no reinforcements on the periphery, and the Vedas could kill and plunder almost everywhere they wanted. ”

Meng Zimo was one of the night crows under the command of the general, although more than ten years have passed since that battle, but Meng Zimo is vivid.

"If we have enough time to prepare, we will definitely use these bases." The general said: "Each hill we have selected is not only in a very important location, but also easy to defend and difficult to attack, deploying a thousand troops, but it can play the role of four or five thousand people. As long as strong fortifications were built and garrisons were placed in these strongholds, the Vedas would have paid a heavy price for each of the hills, even if they were able to capture them. ”

Mencius said: "The Vedas are not good at mountain warfare, and as long as they attack these strongholds, they will inevitably pay a price. The husband and the fighters will be exhausted in one blow, and then decay, and then exhausted, and when they uproot all the hills, their morale will also fall to the bottom. ”

The general bowed slightly, and said: "The selected strongholds, they can also use fireworks as a signal for each other, and know the enemy situation at any time." And even if the stronghold is captured, it is not impossible to go, as long as you try to break through, you can go to the nearest stronghold, so that you can increase the strength of the next stronghold. ”

"General, this is a serial strategy." Mencius Mo admired, but then worried: "General, in addition to building fortifications, you also need a large number of archers to deploy strongholds. ”

"So the recruits we recruit are naturally mainly archers." The general said: "Xiling is mountainous, so the Orion is the majority, after the beginning of the year, the recruitment of new soldiers, starting with the Orion, there are household registrations in various places, according to the household registration to recruit Orion, the entire Xiling, at least can recruit nearly 10,000 people." As for the lack of archers, they can only intensify their training. Zimo, do you know why I'm telling you this? ”

Meng Zimo exhaled and said, "The general wants me to be in charge of recruiting soldiers. ”

The general laughed heartily and said, "Although you haven't been with me for many years, you still know my thoughts. ”

"I'm here to recruit soldiers, and I will train in the long rain." Mencius said: "Who is responsible for the fortifications of these strongholds? ”

"I'm personally responsible." The general said, "Just do your own thing." ”

Mencius stopped talking, but the general glanced at it and asked, "What do you want to say?" ”

"General, there is naturally no problem with your deployment, in the final analysis, it is still a matter of money and food." Mencius Mo said: "To build any stronghold, build fortifications and deploy archers, the silver required is not a small amount, and once it is completed, it is necessary to store grain and a large number of bows and arrows in the stronghold, which also requires silver." I made a preliminary estimate that if we only calculate the currently selected stronghold, everything is properly arranged, it will cost at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in the early stage, and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every month thereafter, not counting the soldiers and horses defending the city. ”

The general bowed slightly, and did not say much.

"You said a few days ago that once the Wutuo people show signs of invading Xiling, they will first move the people of Fan County eastward." Meng Zimo said: "I checked before, there are 230,000 households in Fan County, and if you move east, you will have to prepare rations for hundreds of thousands of people, so in addition to the grain and grass needed by soldiers and horses, you must also reserve a large amount of food to cope with the refugee situation at that time." There was no worry between his eyebrows: "If there is no food to supply the refugees at that time, not only will a large number of people starve to death, but also many displaced people will be forced to rebel, and the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

The general said, "I understand that if we have enough money and food, we can still fight hard with the Vedas, otherwise we will be vulnerable at all." ”

"According to the previous plan, if you can rush all the wealth of the Yuwen family into military funds, and then recruit some from the wealthy family of the Xiling family, you can barely maintain it." Mencius Mo said: "If the imperial court can allocate grain and grass over and have enough food, we still have to fight this battle." His face became solemn: "But the assets of the Yuwen family, although they are nominally involved in Hu Cao, have all been transferred away by the squire. ”

"That's only part of the story." The general said: "Yao Duhu sent someone to report quickly, Pei Shiqing has already targeted the Zhen family, and the two forged secret letters are already in Pei Shiqing's hands, he wants to borrow Yao Duhu's hand to judge the Zhen family to defect to the enemy and treason, and the Zhen family will be confiscated by the Duhu Mansion, and all the assets obtained will also be transported to Kyoto." ”

Meng Zimo frowned and said: "General, the Wutuo people are eyeing the tiger, the invasion is imminent, we are here to prepare the army, it is difficult everywhere, the imperial court did not allocate money and grain, but sent Pei Shiqing to collect money in Xiling, according to this view, since the imperial court let Pei Shiqing transport money to the Guannei, I am afraid that it will not transfer another grain to Xiling." Shaking his head and smiling bitterly: "If that's the case, we really don't know how to deploy it next." ”

"What Pei Shiqing did may not be what the saint meant." The general looked solemn: "The sage is wise, knowing that Xiling is in difficulty, how could he do such a thing?" I have already made a note to the sage, explained the situation here, and asked the sage not only to leave the assets of the Yuwen family and the Zhen family, but also to transfer food. So far, if we don't ask the court for money, as long as we can send us some food, it will already be a great luck. ”

"Is it possible to get the Grand Commander to help advise the saint?" Meng Zimo hesitated for a moment, and finally said softly: "The sage has a lot of trust in the Great Commander, if the Great Commander can help us speak, maybe the Sage will really order to transfer some food to this side." ”

The general shook his head and said, "Don't involve him in this matter." My friendship with him is just that I have the same preferences, which is a personal relationship, and I have nothing to do with official business over the years. He commanded the dragon scales in the capital, he was the commander of the forbidden palace, I led the troops outside, each performing its own duties, if I got too close, I was involved in official business, and it was difficult to guarantee that no one would take the opportunity to make trouble. Fu Xu said lightly: "From the very beginning, I knew that after returning to Xiling, many things I faced were too complicated, and it was not as simple as leading troops to garrison the territory of the empire. Behind Pei Shiqing is Princess Musk Yue, for Baoxi Ling, this old man will inevitably have a dislike with them, and I will bear the matter, don't implicate the platform. ”

"If there is no help from the Grand Commander, I am afraid that the princess will not give up these assets easily." Mencius Mo said: "A break from the general may not be worth a few words from the princess in the ear of the saint. ”

The general said with a smile: "Although Pei Shiqing has gathered up his assets, he wants to transport them back to the Guannei, it depends on whether he has the ability." With his hands crossed his hips, he looked into the distance: "Since I am back, I will never allow Xiling to repeat the mistakes of the past, as long as I can keep Xiling, even if I am broken." Zimo, look at it, this land is so beautiful, if you spill blood here in order to guard this beautiful land, wouldn't it be the greatest pleasure in life? ”