"Father, what do you think about the Northwest Army's capture of Jiujiang?"

In An Guogong's study, Xie Yukun was discussing the matter with his father.

"Tell me what you think." An Guogong picked up the cup and took a sip of tea slowly.

"My son thinks that Ning Zhiyuan may know that Jiangnan and Jiangdong and other important grain-producing areas have been heavily deployed by us, and he feels that it is difficult to attack.

So he didn't dare to covet these places anymore, so he had to retreat to the second best thing and attack the coastal towns in the east. ”

"I can only half agree with your idea.

Indeed, we have already deployed heavy troops in the grain-producing areas such as Jiangnan and Jiangdong, and we have also put on a posture of never giving in.

If it were an ordinary general, he would definitely not be desperate to attack those places.

But Ning Zhiyuan is not an ordinary person, several generations of his Ning family have been fighting with the fierce Hu people outside the Guanwai for many years, what kind of vicious battles have not been seen?

As long as he wants to fight, he will still come. ”

"What do you mean, father?"

"I still haven't figured out what his real intention is to take Jiujiang.

The coastal areas of Northeast China have many mountains and few plains, and have historically produced limited grain. Even if he takes them all, unless he completely ignores the lives of local civilians, it should not be enough to supply the rations of all the soldiers in the northwest.

Since the Ning family is under the banner of being a loyal minister and an orphan, they will definitely not dare to do such a thing that is against the world.

I deduced that there were only two possibilities for him to take Jiujiang, one was to find other grain routes, and the other was that it was possible that this was a plan to attack the west. ”

After all, Xie Yukun is the one who has led the army to fight, and he quickly reacted, "If it is a plan to attack the east and the west, then his attack on the northeast is likely to be just a feint, and the real target is still Jiangnan?" ”

"That's the biggest possibility. He attacked the northeast not only for a feint, but also to obtain various military supplies from the coastal towns in the northeast as supplies. It's not much, but at least it can solve the urgent need.

When all of us thought that he would target the northeast and even send troops over to support, the Ning family would most likely suddenly turn their guns and attack Jiangnan and catch us all off guard. ”

"Ning Thief played a good game and almost fell for his annihilation.

Then what should we do to my father, should we just abandon the Northeast and leave it alone? ”

"Now is not the time to send troops to deal with the Ning thief.

The new emperor has just ascended the throne, and he is not in the right position, and it is difficult to convince the public. In addition, some time ago, Ning Thief issued a wide range of articles, wanting to unite other local forces to jointly crusade against us.

Although there was no response from the health centers in various places, there were many people watching and all kinds of thoughts.

And all of our henchmen and soldiers transferred from the southwest are guarding the Jiangnan area, and they can't move around easily.

If the soldiers of other guards are transferred to support the northeast at this time, the general who leads the troops may be instigated by the Ning thief and become a help in the rebellion against us.

This is still second, and the autumn harvest will be in a few months.

I am worried that the Northwest Army will take advantage of the autumn harvest to loot Jiangnan and other places.

Therefore, at this time, not only can we not rashly transfer troops, but we must concentrate all our forces to defend the capital, Jiangnan and other important places, and we must not let the Ning thief succeed. ”

"That's what my father said. The most important thing now is to guard the Jiangnan and other grain-producing areas.

As long as these places are in our hands, sooner or later the northwest will face the dilemma of running out of cooking. ”

An Guogong stared at the vast expanse of territory in the northwest on the map and did not say a word.

As for how to deal with the northwest, An Guogong and his confidants have already discussed a more feasible plan.

First of all, it is not easy to send troops to attack the northwest.

It's not that I'm afraid that I can't beat it, but I'm afraid that there will be changes in the northwest.

As we all know, the northwest is the first front line against the Hu people outside the Guanwai.

If the capital has to send troops to attack, in case the Ning family sees that the situation is not good, they simply come to burn the jade and stones, and directly open the border gate to the Hu people, then the world will be in chaos.

If this happens, it will not be as simple as crusading against the traitors, and it is likely to turn into a protracted Hu-Han war that is related to the fortunes of the country.

The Hu cavalry came and went like the wind, fierce and ferocious, and it was difficult for the Han army, which had a very small number of war horses, to confront it head-on.

The Northwest Army, which has been fighting with the Hu people for many years, is an outlier, and it is one of the few Han armies that can fight the Hu people.

The reason is not only because the military and civilians in the Northwest themselves are relatively strong, but also because the Northwest Army has robbed a lot of war horses from the Hu people through years of war and bred these war horses, so that there are enough war horses and a large number of cavalry to fight against them.

However, the average Han Chinese soldier in the interior could not defeat the Hu cavalry, so the best way to deal with the Hu people has always been to use the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack cities to force them back.

In order to prevent the northwest from really making such a crazy move as letting Hu people enter the customs, the staff members stressed one after another that the northwest should not be forced too much, otherwise great changes would easily occur.

An Guogong also agreed with this, so he never sent troops to attack the northwest.

Since you can't just send troops to attack, how can you deal with the northwest?

The method proposed by the aides was to besiege but not attack and promote civil strife.

Everyone knows that although the northwest is vast, the climate is arid and the land is barren, and local output alone cannot support so many soldiers and horses.

Therefore, instead of sending troops to attack, it is better to send heavy troops to guard the areas bordering the northwest, especially the various grain-producing areas, so that the northwest does not get a single grain from these areas.

The people in the northwest are fierce, and if there is a long-term shortage of food, it will definitely cause civil unrest.

When the civil unrest in the northwest broke out and the Ning family was exhausted, it was the best time for the imperial court to send troops to quell the rebellion with thunder.

The Northwest is like a fierce tiger, if you want to rely on more people to kill it, you will often end up losing both.

But if you find a way to lock up the tiger and keep it from getting any food. After a long time, the tiger will naturally starve to death, so that it can be dealt with bloodlessly.

An Guogong felt that this plan was wonderful, so he immediately followed the plan. Not only did it send heavy troops to guard various grain-producing areas, but it also sent a large number of annihilators into the northwest to incite and instigate rebellion.

However, the northwest soon implemented the armor protection system in the territory, so that these spies were either caught, or they could only hide in sparsely populated areas, and there was no place for them at all.

But no matter what, as long as the tiger in the northwest is locked in a cage and its food and grass are cut off, sooner or later it will "starve to death" to death. An Guogong is still very sure of this.

Just when the capital was shaken by the dispatch of troops to Jiujiang in the northwest, a group of men and horses protected by 500 elite soldiers were setting off from the northwest non-stop and rushing to the newly occupied Jiujiang Mansion.

The core of this group of people is Chi Fei and Ah Zhi.

They were accompanied by the craftsmen who studied the flintlock pistol.

The reason why Chi Fei had to take so many people to set off, and even Ah Zhi had to bring them, was because his father-in-law, Ning Zhiyuan, had already promoted him to the rank of Jiujiang Salt Affairs Officer, in charge of all salt affairs in Jiujiang.

He went to Jiujiang this time and needed to stay there for a longer period of time. That's why he dragged his family and brought everyone with him.