The annexation of the Jin Kingdom to the Yan Kingdom is a major event in the world.

At the beginning of the world, by the end of the Tang Dynasty, the power of the feudal towns in various places was basically stable, each of them had a relatively stable territory, and various internal systems gradually took shape, and many forces began to change from home to country.

Although there is still some gap between the three major powers of Jin, Wu and Liang, it is indeed not worse than Shu and Qi, and it is even slightly stronger; If it is compared with those small forces in the south, it is much more powerful.

In the past, whether it was Qian Hao, Wang Shenzhi, Jiangxi Zhongjia, Ma Yin, who were eliminated by Huainan, or Wang Shifan and Zhao Kuangning who were eliminated by Zhu Wen, they were all third-rate small forces, and their influence in the world was relatively limited.

But this time, the Yan State was annexed by the Jin State, and the impact was much greater.

The first to feel the pressure was naturally Liang Guo, the old opponent of the Jin Kingdom.

The Liang army on the Xuzhou side, after Yang Wu personally led the troops to Suzhou, the two armies continued to fight; At first, the Wu army had the upper hand, but when the Liang reinforcements arrived, the advantage of the Wu army was not so great.

On the side of the Liang army, Niu Cunjie, Liu Yan, Xie Yanzhang, He Gui, Wang Yanzhang, etc., a series of generals, each of whom was experienced in a hundred battles and was known as a famous general, especially the excellent cavalry commander Xie Yanzhang led the cavalry to help, which greatly improved the combat ability of the Liang army.

Therefore, since the arrival of Liang reinforcements, the Wu army temporarily stopped the offensive, and the two armies turned to a stalemate stage.

Don't look at the fact that the two armies did not start a major war at this time, but the current situation between the two armies is even more dangerous than before; Because behind the temporary calm, there must be a greater conflict.

Now the two armies are holding each other because neither side is sure of victory, but for the time being, no one dares to retreat easily, otherwise they may be taken advantage of by the enemy.

And this kind of confrontation between the two armies cannot last long, once one of the two armies seizes the opportunity, it may lead to a big war, and this big war is a decisive battle, which will determine the outcome of the entire war.

Of course, for this kind of situation, some people of insight can certainly see the danger in it, but for some laymen, this kind of stalemate situation is a bit anxious.

For example, Zhu Youzhen, the emperor of Liang, is now extremely dissatisfied with the stalemate situation in Xuzhou.

In the Chongzheng Courtyard, Zhu Youzhen sat on the main seat, Zhao Yan, Zhang Hanjie, Li Zhen, Jing Xiang and other civil and military ministers stood solemnly, but below was a tall black-faced warrior wearing armor, who was loudly reporting the situation ahead.

“…… Since December last year, in the past 40 days or so, the enemy and our armies have fought 15 major battles, and not a single day of small battles has been lost, killing nearly 10,000 enemy troops, and seizing countless enemy troops' heavy grain, grass, weapons, and armor, but our army itself has also suffered heavy casualties; since the beginning of the war, it has lost more than 6,700 officers and men, and more than 200 generals, officers, and officers......

The black-armored military general read out loudly the battle table brought from the front of Xuzhou, while Jing Xiang and others on the side raised some questions from time to time.

It turned out that after the Liang army went south, although the situation was reversed and the two armies entered a stalemate stage, with the news of the fall of the Yan State, Zhu Youzhen was worried about the Jin army going south, and he worked hard all day for this.

Therefore, in order to avoid the crisis of fighting on two fronts, he planned to send people to urge Niu Cunjie to quickly fight a decisive battle with the Wu army.

But fortunately, although Zhu Youzhen does not know the art of war, Jing Xiang, Li Zhen and others are still sober-minded.

They proposed to Zhu Youzhen that although the Jin army had destroyed the Yan State, if they wanted to attack south, they would have to rest for a long time; Moreover, the northern front is now guarded by Yang Shihou himself, and the danger is not great.

On the contrary, on the Xuzhou side, although the Liang army had a large number of troops and strong strength after receiving reinforcements, the strength of the Wu army was also very strong, and Yang Wu, the king of Wu, was good at using troops, so the Liang army actually did not have an advantage.

In this case, Liang Jun chose not to fight for the time being, first tried to stabilize the situation, and waited for the fighters, which was the most suitable choice; If Zhu Youzhen sent someone to urge the Liang army to force the battle, he might fall into the trap of the enemy army and eventually lead to defeat.

Jing Xiang also deliberately used the example of the Battle of Changping to persuade Zhu Youzhen that the Zhao army and the Qin army held each other for three years in the Battle of Changping, although they failed to defeat the Qin army, but also ensured the stability of the front; And after King Zhao changed his commander and replaced Lian Po with Zhao Kuo to lead the troops, the Zhao army, which was forced to send troops, soon showed flaws and was surrounded and annihilated by the Qin army.

Li Zhen pointed out that Wu had just experienced a major drought last year, and it was definitely not comparable to the Liang army in terms of grain reserves, so as long as it continued to hold on, when the Wu army was short of food and grass, the Wu army could naturally only retreat and go back; When the time comes, the Liang army will take the opportunity to chase and kill, and a big victory will be in hand.

Whether it was Li Zhen's persuasion or Jing Xiang's warning, Zhu Youzhen finally reluctantly let go of urging Niu Cunjie to go to war, but Zhu Youzhen still ordered the front line to send people back to report the battle situation, which led to today's discussion.

“…… When the battle was at its most intense, General Niu and others had to personally go into battle to kill, and General Wang Yanzhang led the cavalry to personally assault the enemy formation many times, and the horses were changed several times. Now, after many battles, the Wu army has been defeated many times and suffered heavy losses, so it can only retreat according to the city and hold on to our army. The black-faced military general was still reading.

Of course, Jing Xiang knew in his heart that the water in this battle report must be very large, and his own casualties must have been reduced, while the casualties of the enemy army were exaggerated a lot, which was also an extremely normal thing.

But even so, Jing Xiang was still frightened by the battle ahead.

In just over 40 days of fighting, it lost more than 7,000 soldiers, which is still a reduced figure, so how big is the actual loss of the Liang army?

As for the losses of the Wu army, although the battle report said that more than 10,000 enemy troops were killed, Jing Xiang felt that it was good to be able to kill and wound more than 5,000 enemy troops.

In any case, now that the battle situation has stabilized, this is also an opportunity for Liang Jun to recuperate, at least to take a breath temporarily; However, where to go next, Jing Xiang has no bottom in his heart.

Not long after, the military general finished reading out the battle report and saluted Zhu Youzhen: "Your Majesty, the situation ahead is like this now, dare to ask Your Majesty what instructions you have?" ”

Zhu Youzhen's face was expressionless, and he frowned and asked: "According to the battle report, we killed and injured the enemy army much more than our army's own losses, so the battle situation ahead should be favorable to our side?" ”

The military general bowed his head and groaned, and then replied cautiously: "Your Majesty, the enemy's losses are indeed more than ours, but the overall strength of the enemy's army is also more than ours, so the current battle situation ahead can barely be said to be flat. ”

"Barely flat?" Zhu Youzhen was a little dissatisfied in her heart.

But after the persuasion of Jing Xiang, Li Zhen and others before, coupled with his understanding of the battle ahead after hearing the battle report just now, he also knew that it was not a good choice to forcibly urge Niu Cunjie to start a war with the enemy army now.

Perhaps if you continue to hold on to the enemy for a while, the enemy will show its flaws.

Of course, the premise of continuing to hold each other is that there must be enough grain in the treasury, otherwise the grain reserves will not be enough, and when the time comes, there will be a shortage of food at the front, and the army will definitely be defeated.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen turned his head to look at Li Zhendao, the envoy of the Chongzheng Yuan: "Is there enough grain in the treasury at present?" How long can it supply the war ahead? ”

Li Zhen hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, the current stock of grain in the treasury is still sufficient, enough to supply the needs of the whole army for a year; In addition, although Wu suffered a severe drought last year, the harvest in various parts of the Central Plains was not affected, and it is expected that when the grain and grass collected from various places arrived in May, the grain reserves in the treasury should be more sufficient. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded, and then asked the officials of the Ministry of War, the general as a supervisor and other officials about the manufacturing and storage of ordnance, and finally reassured.

There was a gap in national strength between the Jin State and the Liang State and the Wu State, and this national strength was reflected in these aspects.

For the Wu and Liang states, which had a large population, and had relatively developed agriculture and perfect local governance, they both had sufficient reserves of grain, grass and ordnance in their treasury, and they could collect more grain, grass and ordnance when necessary; Coupled with a large population, even if there is an occasional defeat, it can quickly recover and rebuild a strong army in a short time.

For example, the Liang State, since Zhu Wen led the army to cross the Huai River and the Huainan Army was defeated, the Liang Army has fought countless defeats in the past nine years, but it can recover quickly after each defeat, which is the embodiment of the national strength of the Liang State.

However, the national strength of the Jin State is far inferior to that of the Liang State, although the gap in this regard has been slightly reduced after seizing the territory of the Yan State, but the two sides still have not reached a balance.

Of course, national strength is only national strength after all, and whether it can be turned into victory in the actual war is another question.

Although the national strength of the Jin State was far inferior to that of the Liang State, the Jin State was able to continuously win battles; Although the Liang State was strong, it was repeatedly defeated on the battlefield.

This was the same situation as the later Northern Song army against the Western Xia.

Although Zhu Youzhen still didn't understand the difference between national strength and military strength, after listening to the reports of all parties, he still understood a truth, that is, the battle situation in front of Xuzhou was temporarily stalemate, which was beneficial to Liang State.

So he finally made a decision: "Since all the reserves in the treasury are still sufficient, let's hold on to the enemy army for a while." The order was sent to Niu Cunjie and other generals in front, and he said that I was waiting for the good news of their victory. ”

"Your Ministers obey!" All the ministers received the order in unison.

Zhu Youzhen listened to the report for a long time, was a little tired, and wanted to go back to rest, at this moment, Jing Xiang suddenly stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has something important to play." ”

"Huh? If you have anything important to do, tell me quickly. Zhu Youzhen hurriedly cheered up and asked.

Although his ability is relatively mediocre, and he favors Zhao Yan and Zhang Hanjie, which makes the government a little chaotic, but on the whole, he is still a diligent person and does not covet pleasure like those faint kings.

Jing Xiang said unhurriedly: "Your Majesty, please move the capital back to Luoyang!" ”