The Ouchi lieutenant who came to deliver the decree, and the guest envoy of the Privy Council (from Wupin), did not return immediately. They had to wait for Li Luo's transfer of troops and return to Dadu with Li Luo's order.

How is this troop transfer charter determined? Li Luo was really difficult to decide for a while, so he had to ask the lieutenant official and the guest provincial envoy to rest in the post house for a while, and then hand over the note.

"General, the military affairs are urgent, and it is necessary to send troops within a month, please quickly take out a copy of Chen Song, and the next official can return to Beijing to resume his life." The guest envoy of the Privy Council urged.

Li Luo said very politely: "The military envoy and the nobles should not be impatient, and the marshal will issue a charter tomorrow." Then he instructed the provincial officials to entertain him.

After arranging for most of the people to come, Li Luo retreated into the study room of the official mansion and thought about the transfer of troops.

Kublai Khan was very militarily enlightened, not only willing to delegate power to his generals, but also rarely interfered with the generals' command of battles.

Li Luo, the newly introduced general of the expedition to the south, was authorized by Kublai Khan to choose his own generals.

In a word, I don't care how you configure this 200,000 army, it doesn't matter which generals you choose, and it doesn't matter how you fight, but you must win for me, otherwise, hum.

But Kublai Khan also set a bottom line, stipulating in the holy decree that the Mongol cavalry should not exceed 20,000, and the Tanma Red army should not exceed 50,000.

Obviously, Kublai Khan still cared a lot about the Mongol soldiers. The number of Mongol soldiers is small, it is very expensive, and one less dies.

The Mongol cavalry of the Yuan court originally only numbered about 200,000. After the battle of the Japanese army, the Mongol iron cavalry of the Yuan court lost 20,000 or 30,000. This time, another 20,000 were buried. Not counting Naiyan and other departments, the Mongol cavalry directly controlled by the Yuan court is now at most 200,000, and it will only be less and not more.

But if you count the Mongol cavalry of the entire Mongol Empire, there are at least three or four hundred thousand.

In addition to the Mongol cavalry, the most trusted by the Yuan court was the Tanma Red Army.

Like the Mongol army, the Tanma Red Army was almost all cavalry, and it was a strong army second only to the Mongol army in combat power. However, the Tanma Red Army itself is also divided into levels, and the degree of trust is not the same.

Among them, the most trusted is the color eyes returning to the Ma Red Army. According to the latest intelligence from the Special Investigation, it is estimated that there are nearly two hundred thousand. Almost all of them are white-nosed and deep-eyed.

Li Luo knew that most of the Red Army came from Central Asia and West Asia and believed in a certain religion. A small percentage comes from Europa. There are also a handful of Egypt from North Africa, and India from South Asia.

The letter is only second to the Semu Tanma Red Army, that is, the various departments of the Tanma Red Army, mainly Tubo, Wanggu, Shuidada, etc. There are seventy or eighty thousand people.

The Tanma Red Army with the worst letter severity was the Dangxiang (Tang Wuer), Khitan, and Jurchen tribes in the northwest (the Khitan Jurchens in the northwest were not Han Chinese), and the Dali army in the southwest. This part of the Tanma Red Army numbered 1560,000 people.

The sum of the different Tanma Red Army is as high as more than 400,000.

Then there are more than 300,000 northern Han puppet armies, and more than 300,000 southern Han puppet armies (newly attached army).

The Mongol Army, the Tanma Red Army, and the Han Army were regular Yuan army sequences. It adds up to more than a million.

In addition to the regular Yuan army, it is to throw private soldiers. That is, the private soldiers of the Mongol nobles who threw themselves into the territory. The main purpose of throwing private soldiers is to protect the master's manor ranch, protect the safety of the master's family, and suppress slaves. But once the imperial court is short of troops, it must obey the requisition.

There are all nationalities that have thrown private soldiers, and the number is unknown. The intelligence of the Special Investigation Bureau estimates that it adds up to between 100,000 and 200,000. Because it is a noble private soldier, it is very elite. Although he is not good at group operations, he has a strong combat ability in the squad.

There were also servant armies that listened to the tune, such as the Goryeo Army. As well as Tusi soldiers such as Tu Bing (Du Man), Tu Bing, Li Bing, Dong Bing, Yao Bing, Ghost Soldier (Ghost Man), Mo Bing (Mosuo), Luo Luo Bing, Miao Bing and so on. Needless to say, Goryeo had a standing army of more than 100,000. The number of Tusi soldiers in each department is unknown, but it must add up to a lot.

And that's not all. There is also a stateless army composed of scoundrels and people of all ethnic groups, called "Tarakhan soldiers". The number of Arakhan soldiers is unknown, but they are brave and ruthless, and they do not take military salaries and rewards, but only rob the enemy's people as a reward.

In this way, the regular Yuan army plus other soldiers and horses, the Yuan court can mobilize at least 1.5 million, and at most nearly 2 million.

The Yuan court has so many soldiers and horses to adjust, so how should his 200,000 southern expeditionary army be configured?

The Mongol army is easy to handle. 10,000 were transferred to the Mongolian cavalry under Zhedu, and 10,000 were transferred to the Mongolian cavalry under the command of Pingzhang Ali Hague in Huguang Province.

50,000 Tanma Red Army... Hmph, another 10,000 troops will be transferred under the command of Wan Zhedu, and another 30,000 troops will be transferred under the command of Ali Hague. The last 10,000, 10,000 Khitan cavalry from Yongchang, Yunnan!

As a result, half of the 40,000 Mongol cavalry under the command of Wan Zhedu, the marshal of the barbarian capital stationed in Jiangxi, were transferred. Half of the 80,000 Mongol cavalry under the command of Pingzhang Ali Hague in Huguang Province were also transferred.

It is equivalent to saying that one-third of the Mongolian cavalry south of the Yangtze River was transferred to the battlefield of Annam. Then the military strength of the Yuan army south of the Yangtze River will be greatly weakened, which will be more conducive to his army.

The reason why the 10,000 Khitan cavalry in Yongchang, Yunnan Province was transferred was that Li Luo took a fancy to this cavalry who was dissatisfied with the Yuan Court and wanted to swallow it himself.

And what about 130,000 more?

There must be tens of thousands of jungle and mountain combat troops. Well, then requisition 30,000 Tusi troops in the southwest. There must also be 20,000 sailors.

However, after the battle of the Japanese army, there was a shortage of warships of the Yuan army's naval division, and less than 20,000 of them could go to sea to fight, which is why the Yuan court was reluctant to mobilize the naval division when instigating the southern expedition.

There are less than 20,000 sailors, of which 10,000 are still the soldiers and horses of Luo Yu, the Fujian sailor Wanhu, which is indirectly controlled by Li Luo, and has long been half of the Tang army.

If you don't count the Fujian sailors, there are only seven or eight thousand sailors that the Yuan court can really dispatch. Constrained by the dry cycle of shipbuilding, the Yuan court could not replenish enough warships within a year.

According to intelligence, there are more than 10,000 Vietnamese sailors, and their strength should not be underestimated. Without 20,000 sailors, it would be difficult to ensure the safety of logistics and transportation by sea.

The lesson of the instigation must be learned, and if we hope to solve the grain and grass on the spot because of the grain, then this third expedition will still be a great defeat. At the very least, there must be three months of grain and grass reserves.

Annam has a population of six or seven million, the people are tough and warlike, and the forbidden army plus the mobilized township army exceeds 500,000. To conquer Annam, soldiers and horses must not be missing.

But when there are many soldiers and horses, grain and grass logistics is a huge problem, and even rises to a core problem.

200,000 troops, how much grain and grass needs to be consumed in a month? Thinking about Li Luo, his heart was furious.

Relying on the rugged mountain roads in the southwest and relying on mules and horses to transport grain along Lang Son, can you meet the needs of 200,000 troops? .

Therefore, sea freight is the only reliable method. Then the sailors must be dispatched.

"Forget it, just transfer Luo Yu's 10,000 sailors, and let them practice actual combat." Li Luo was a little distressed and decided to dispatch the Fujian Naval Division, which was already half of the Tang Army.

"The sailor who transported the grain let the fleet of the big traitor Zhu Qing and Zhang Xuan do it, and by the way, he hacked these two traitors, let them die in battle, and swallowed their ship." Li Luo also wrote the names of Zhu Qing and Zhang Xuan.

In fact, the Maritime Wanhu Mansion is not a combat sailor, but only a transport fleet responsible for transporting grain from the south to the north. But for the sake of logistics, Li Luo still deployed the soldiers and horses of the Wanhu Mansion.

The last 80,000 people can only be the Han army. Of the 80,000 Han troops, Li Luo requisitioned and transferred the Han army heavy army group in Jiangsu, Zhejiang Province and Huguang Province.

Jiangsu and Zhejiang were the places where the Han army was stationed the most, up to more than 100,000 people.

The Yuan army has only occupied Jiangsu and Zhejiang for seven years, so is the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Han army nostalgic for the Great Song Dynasty and anti-Yuan?

Definitely.

Not only did the Han army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Zhejiang not have anti-Yuan thoughts, on the contrary, they were also very reactionary and stubborn, and their loyalty to the Yuan court was not bad.

Why?

Because, the Han army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was controlled by the landlords and wealthy families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and most of the generals in the army were the children of the landlords and wealthy families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and even the soldiers were mostly from the peasant households under their control.

It can be said that the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Han armies are no longer the new annexed army of the Song army that surrendered at the beginning, but they only retain the name of the new annexed army.

Although the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Han armies are regular Yuan troops, their essence is: the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hao clans train their arms.

Similar to Zeng Guofan's Hunan army. Therefore, the treatment of the officers and men of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Han armies is also guaranteed, and the military spirit is relatively stable.

Over the years, Kublai Khan was extremely gentle and tolerant to the landlords and gentry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, not only letting them have official positions, but even ruling Jiangsu and Zhejiang through them, and entrusting them all the power at the grassroots level in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Let them contract to pay taxes, levy forced labor, and be responsible for law and order. They were allowed to annex land and oppress the people.

Objectively speaking, the first culprit that caused the people in Jiangnan was not the Mongolian aristocracy, but the landlords and gentry.

This is the insidious point of Kublai Khan, who ruled Han with Han. "I have a powerful family in the south of the Yangtze River, suppress rebellions and thieves, and control the people's ......"

The rule of the Yuan court in Jiangnan not only did not infringe on the interests of the landlords and gentry, but was strengthened. Kublai Khan protected his privileges and "made his decrees lenient and his taxes simple", which made the landlords and gentry let themselves go one by one.

As a result, "a family is located in a township, and the small people are subdued, called the wild emperor, and the tomb is called Wang Ying." ”

In just a few years, a situation of "enslaving thousands of families" has been formed.

Of course, the landlords and gentry of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were grateful to Kublai Khan, calling him "the holy son of heaven who opened the rule of civilization and established the foundation of peace". In order to assist the rule of the Meng Yuan, they contributed money, food and manpower to help the Yuan court establish the Han army and suppress the resistance of the people, which was very effective.

In the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there were Han troops in the north who were anti-Yuan, the White Lotus Sect revolted, and the peasant uprisings in the south rose one after another, but the strange thing is that there were very few uprisings in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the uprisings were quickly suppressed, which was the credit of the Jiangnan landlords and the Jiangnan Han army.

The general of the Han Army in Jiangnan was named a public candidate because of his efforts to suppress the peasant uprising in the south.

It wasn't until the end of the Yuan Dynasty that they saw that the Yuan Dynasty was really not good, and the Jiangnan gentry took a fancy to the "generous" Zhang Shicheng, supported Zhang Shicheng, and resisted the "harsh" Zhu Yuanzhang. I hope that Zhang Shicheng will sit in the world and continue their good life.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, many of them went out of the Ming Dynasty, but secretly still used the name of the Yuan Dynasty to the Zheng year, proclaimed themselves the relics of the Great Yuan, and remembered the heart of the former Yuan, which was really contemplative.

After Li Luo learned about the current situation of the Han army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang through the Special Investigation Bureau, he was really disappointed, and he no longer had any illusions about the training of the Han army in Jiangnan, a landlord regiment.

Once they raise troops to regain Jiangnan, the Jiangnan Han army will become an obstacle rather than a help. It would be naïve to expect the Han army in Jiangnan, which was fed with grain by the landlords, to abandon the darkness and turn to the light because of the word "Han".

Jiangsu and Zhejiang were originally the richest land of fish and rice, and the landlords and gentry were all very rich, and it was nothing to help the Yuan court raise hundreds of thousands of Han troops. These Han soldiers can at least eat enough and have been raised for a few years, which is much stronger than the life of the common people, what reason is there to follow Li Luo's call to rebel?

Since most of them were enemies, Li Luo requisitioned 50,000 Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Han troops at once. In particular, the Han army under the command of Zhexi Xuanwei was transferred 20,000 at once.

In the end, Li Luo transferred 30,000 Han troops from Huguang and Ezhou.

The Huguang Han Army was also a heavy army group with the nature of regimental training, with a number of up to 100,000. Li Luo transferred 30,000 at once, weakening the strength of Huguangyuan's army.

In this way, the Yuan troops on the ground in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huguang were transferred by Li Luo to a total of more than 100,000, and they were all mobile troops. When Li Luo recovers Jiangsu and Zhejiang and marches to Jingxiang, there will be a lot less resistance.

Well, the matter of transferring troops has been completed, and then Li Luo said in the recital that in view of the lesson of the defeat of the instigated capital, it is necessary to prepare three months of grain and grass for the army.

After sorting it all out, it was already the middle of the night.

Li Luo stood up and rubbed his eyes, came to the courtyard and looked at the full moon in the sky, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but show an unpredictable smile.

They all thought that he was leading an army of 200,000 yuan to the south, but in fact, it was not at all!

At least, there are 100,000 soldiers and horses!

It's just that these 100,000 soldiers and horses are dark road troops.

The Tang army will quietly send 30,000 troops to attack the south of Annam in the name of the Zhancheng soldiers.

After several months of hard work by the agents of the Special Investigation Bureau, the king of Champa finally agreed to send troops and join forces with the Yuan army to attack the feud Annam.

Annan has attacked and encroached on the Champa country many times, and the city has long wanted to take revenge, but its strength is not good, so it has endured it so far. This time, with the Yuan army as the main attack, coupled with the instigation and promise of the spies, the king of Zhancheng finally agreed to send troops to avenge the revenge.

Li Luo got the news that as long as the Yuan army sent troops again, the Zhancheng State would send 50,000 troops to attack Annan.

According to Li Luo and Cui Xiuning's plan, when the Cham army fell into the battlefield of Annam, tens of thousands of Tang troops were dispatched to attack the empty defense of Zhancheng in the name of the overseas Song army.

In addition to the Champa soldiers, the spies also went to the country of Ailao to lobby another feud in Annan to send troops, but there has been no progress yet.

Li Luo doesn't have to worry about the preparation of the Dark Road Army, Cui Xiuning will arrange everything. Li Luo only needs to command the Yuan army to fight well.

If Annan is defeated, Li Luo will ask the Yuan army to be stationed in Annan and not let these Yuan troops go back. At least don't return home until he starts his army.

The two carefully designed light and dark chess moves, interlocking, if nothing is achieved in the end, it is luck.

…………

The next day, the lieutenant and the provincial envoy took Li Luo's piece away.

This has come and gone, and most of the replies have not been able to come down for half a month. Li Luo simply returned to Haidong and stayed with his wife and son for a few days.

"I don't care what the outcome is, it doesn't matter if I lose a lot, but you must come back alive."

Cui Xiuning touched her stomach, looking a little worried.

"You went to Japan the year before last, at least you still have your own descendants. But this time, all of them are Yuan troops, and there are only a few hundred guards who are really reliable, so I'm really a little worried. ”

Li Luo held her hand and patted it, "Don't worry about worrying, it's not good for your body and children." Don't worry, even if I lose, it's still okay to save my life. ”

"Even if I am really unlucky enough to be wiped out, I can't surrender temporarily, and I will save my life first."

When Cui Xiuning heard this, she immediately laughed, "This is what you said." If you are really going to lose, pretend to surrender, and don't be strong. ”

"The Special Investigation Bureau will mislead the Vietnamese army in terms of intelligence, and at the same time transmit the information of the Vietnamese army back. This time, we will know each other. ”

The two of them studied all the military strategies again, and then invited Wen Tianxiang and Yan Duo to take a closer look.

After listening to Li Luo's strategic arrangement, Wen Tianxiang thought about it and said: "The monarch thinks about Zhou Xiang and arranges it cleverly, and the famous generals of the ancient times are nothing more than that. The promises to the various departments of the Yuan army were also very pragmatic. ”

"There's only one. If the Vietnamese army never avoided the battle, and when the spring rain came, the miasma would spread, and the morale of the Yuan army would be low, and even the plague would be rampant. It's a big bad thing. ”

"The king's countermeasure is to set fire to the forest, and then find a hole to kill the enemy. But hundreds of miles of mountains and forests, and a damp land, how can they burn? If you use oil, how much oil do you need? ”

Li Luo frowned, this was also the situation he hated the most. "What should I do with Mr.'s words?"

Wen Tianxiang said: "Destroy the field!" ”

When Li Luo heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up. Neither he nor Cui Xiuning thought of this trick of destroying the field.

He originally thought that setting fire to the mountain would force out the Vietnamese troops and civilians hiding in the jungle, but now that he thinks about it, the effect does not seem to be very good.

Wen Tianxiang said: "When the king sent troops to Annan, it should be February, and I heard that Annan sows early and crops three times a year." The crops must have been planted in February. ”

"When the army arrives in Annam, they don't have to do anything but destroy their farmland. As a result, Annan's spring grain will be gone, and the summer grain will also be delayed, and within half a year, there will be a shortage of grain! ”

Li Luo nodded and said, "Mr. Wen's strategy of destroying the field is really a plan. If there is no food in the spring and summer in Annam, there will definitely be a famine. I'll wait half a year, and I'll win. But then ......"

Speaking of this, Li Luo was very hesitant.

Wen Tianxiang asked: "Does the monarch think that there is something wrong with this policy?" ”

Cui Xiuning smiled and replied for Li Luo: "Mr. Wen, we helped the Yuan army fight Annan for food and supplies. Destroying the farmland of Annam, the people of Annamite will certainly go to famine. But we can't get any food. It's no good to win! ”

Wen Tianxiang patted his forehead and said with a wry smile: "The minister is ignorant, he actually forgot about this." In this case, this policy does not make sense. ”

Yan Duo suddenly said: "To deal with such mountain people, you must kill them. If you don't go into the mountains to defeat their main force, even if it takes a few years, they will be consumed. Since you say what kind of rainforest Annan is, then there will be fields in the forest to grow food. ”

Yes, it is true that rice can be grown in remote paddy fields in the rainforest. Li Luo was speechless, this is a bit incomprehensible. In later generations, the soldiers of the ugly country had planes, tanks, flamethrowers, and they couldn't do anything with the Annan people, so what can they do now?

You can't spend a year or two with Annan, right? He came to rob Annan of money and food, not to fight a protracted war with Annan.

Several people discussed for almost a day, and finally brainstormed a way to force the Vietnamese army out of the mountains for a decisive battle.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

That's it. With this combination plan, the Vietnamese army could only go out of the mountains for a decisive battle.

"It's really a person's wisdom is short, and everyone's wisdom is long. Whoever thinks with the wisdom of all knows it! Li Luo smiled.

Next, Li Luo began to arrange related matters.

On the twenty-third day of the first month, Li Luo's recital said that he was finally brought back to Dadu.

After discussion, the monarchs and ministers of the Yuan court believed that Li Luo's troop transfer was still reasonable, so they passed Li Luo's request.

"Li Luo invited, yes. Let the Privy Council redeploy troops according to the statutes. "Kublai Khan gave a holy decree.

"Wow! Minions obey! ”

Soon, the Privy Council's orders for the transfer of troops were sent to the southern ministries one by one.

Most of these troops will assemble in Siming, and those who arrive later than mid-February will be dealt with by military law!

Meng Yuan's war machine was running at high speed again.

ps: Annan is not easy to fight, I thought about it for a long time, and checked the information before I came up with a solution. Ask for support, crab crab!

Qingyi literature