In the city of Guangling. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the study room where Yang Xingmi once was, the high-level leaders of Huainan gathered again to discuss the plan to meet the enemy.

Now Wang Maozhang's troops stationed in Xuanzhou have rushed to Guangling to converge, and the preparations for the 60,000-strong army have also been prepared, and they can go out at any time.

The only thing that needs to be determined now is which way to attack the enemy first.

This time, the Liang army divided its troops into three routes to the south, and the three cities that were attacked, Chi Haozhou, Shouzhou and Gwangju, were all defended by the Zuo Wuxiang army led by Li Chengsi, and in terms of specific troop arrangements, there were 5,000 people stationed in Haozhou and Gwangju in peacetime, and 10,000 people in Shouzhou.

Of course, this does not include the state soldiers in the three cities.

After the elimination of Qian Biao, several states close to the two Zhejiang, such as Suzhou and Huzhou, naturally did not need to have as many defensive forces as before, so most of the state soldiers in these places were transferred to the north to strengthen the Huai River defense line.

Now there are more than 20,000 state soldiers in Shouzhou City alone, plus the first division of the Zuo Wuxiang Army led by Li Chengsi himself, the total strength of the defenders has reached more than 30,000.

On the Gwangju side, there are also a lot of defenders in the city, and there are only 30,000 Yang Shihou troops who attacked Gwangju, so it is not a big problem to hold on and wait for reinforcements.

As for Haozhou, now that Li Tao, the assassin of Haozhou, has just taken over the position of assassin, the local people's hearts may not be stable, and there are many enemy troops in the direction of Haozhou, so there is the greatest possibility of problems here.

Therefore, after finding out the movements of the Liang army, Yang Wu ordered Zhang Xun on the eastern front to lead the Youwu army to move to Haozhou to contain Kang Huaizhen's army.

Judging from the current situation, it is clear that Gwangju in the west is the least important. Neither the Liang army nor the Huainan army invested much army there, and the local defenders were relatively sufficient, so there was no need to rush to reinforcements.

However, in the two directions of Shouzhou in the middle and Haozhou in the east, it is difficult to decide which one to attack first.

If you directly lead an army of 60,000 to the east, join Zhang Xun and add 10,000 defenders in Haozhou City, you can form a strength advantage of 90,000 against the enemy's 50,000.

However, the disadvantages of this solution are also obvious.

First of all, Zhu Quanzhong's main force in the middle road has not been contained, and if the Huainan army cannot defeat Kang Huaizhen's troops on the east road in a short time, then after Zhu Quanzhong leads the army to reinforcements, the Huainan army in the east will have a disadvantage of 90,000 men against the enemy army that may be as high as 150,000 (Zhu Quanzhong left 20,000 people to contain the Shouzhou defenders). ）

And the possibility of this situation is still very high, because Kang Huaizhen is not a third-rate general who does not understand military affairs, but a famous general in the Liang army, with outstanding military achievements, courage and strategy.

When he found that his forces were at an absolute disadvantage, he would definitely choose to hold on to the reinforcements and not engage the Huainan army.

And with his ability and the strength of the Liang army, if he didn't take the initiative to fight the Huainan army, it was unlikely that he would defeat Kang Huaizhen's army before Zhu Quanzhong's army arrived.

In addition, if Kang Huaizhen held on to Haozhou and contained the main force of the Huainan Army, while Zhu Quanzhong concentrated his forces to attack Shouzhou, if it was a long time, it is difficult to say whether Shouzhou would be breached.

Therefore, the choice of concentrating forces to attack the East Road Kang Huaizhen Department first does not seem so safe.

And if you choose to attack Zhu Quanzhong's main force in the middle first, then you must leave Zhang Xun's 20,000 people in Haozhou to contain Kang Huaizhen, so that in the middle lane, 90,000 people will fight against the 120,000 Liang army, and the strength will not be advantageous, and it will be difficult to defeat the Liang army.

Of course, there is also an advantage to this choice, which is to be safe.

As long as Guangling's 60,000 troops arrived in Shouzhou, Zhu Quanzhong basically had no hope of taking Shouzhou, and his plan to go south this time could only end in failure.

However, this was not the result that Yang Wu wanted, because in this way, the Liang army would withdraw when it saw that it was unprofitable, which only repelled the Liang army, not defeated the Liang army, and it was not the victory that Yang Wu wanted like the victory of Qingkou.

"Your Highness, can you send 30,000 people to Haozhou to deal with Kang Huaizhen, and the remaining 30,000 people go to Shouzhou for reinforcements, so that our army can not only contain Zhu Quanzhong's main force, but also deal with Kang Huaizhen with 60,000 to 50,000 superior forces on the Eastern Front!" Yin Wengui proposed.

Yang Wu couldn't help but shake his head when he heard this, this Yin Wengui doesn't understand military affairs after all, and it seems that a civilian official like him is indeed not suitable to participate in this kind of military meeting in the future.

In fact, even if Yan Keqiu, the privy deputy envoy, is already a civilian official who understands military affairs in Huainan today, but what he understands is only a general policy, and he doesn't understand the specific situation.

Therefore, the position of privy envoy can only be held by military generals.

Li Shenfu said with a smile, "The way to use troops is to concentrate forces against the enemy as much as possible. If the 60,000 troops are divided into two roads on an equal footing according to Secretary Yin's suggestion, it will be unpopular on the east and west fronts, and the 30,000 people who reinforce Shouzhou may not be able to contain Zhu Quanzhong's main force, and the 60,000 troops on the eastern front will not have an absolute advantage over Kang Huaizhen's 50,000 people, and even if one is not good, it is possible that both lines will fail at the same time. ”

Yin Wengui only knew that he had a bad idea when he heard it, he looked at Gao Miao, who was silent, and suddenly understood, and began to learn that he would not speak again.

Zhu Jin said: "Your Highness, the last general feels that Zhu Quanzhong is now in his heyday, and he eliminated Zhao Kuangning within a month last year, which is certainly related to Zhao Kuangning's weak strength, but it is also enough to show that the strength of the Liang army is strong." This time, the Liang army went south even more violently, with a large number of troops; And although I, Huainan, have eliminated Qian Biao, but in terms of strength, I am afraid that I will not be able to fight hard with Zhu Quanzhong. ”

"In addition, the main policy of Huainan today is to unify the south first, and then gather the forces of the entire south to carry out the northern expedition. Therefore, the last general thinks that it is better to be safe at this time. ”

"You mean that our army should go directly to the middle and thwart the enemy's plan to capture Shouzhou first?" Yang Wu was a little surprised.

He has always been a little wary of Zhu Jin, the reason is because Zhu Jin was also a powerful feudal town back then, and he was not even worse than Zhu Quanzhong in his heyday.

In addition, Zhu Jin and Zhu Quanzhong have a deep hatred, and they have taken revenge as their responsibility for many years, so whenever Huainan and Zhu Quanzhong fight each other, he will put forward some more radical opinions.

This is because he thinks more about whether he can take revenge on himself than about Huainan's success or failure. If you use those safe methods, it will not be easy to lead to defeat, but it will also be difficult to achieve victory.

However, listening to his opinion this time, he was completely thinking about Huainan, which could not be surprised by Yang Wu.

He looked up at Zhu Jin and saw that his face was calm, and he didn't seem to notice that Yang Wu was watching him at all.

Yang Wu didn't care, anyway, this is at least a good change, Zhu Jin's ability is still very good, if he can really play for Huainan, it is a big help for Yang Wu.

"Exactly, the last general felt that the 60,000-strong army went directly to Shouju for reinforcements, so that although our army was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, whether it was Haozhou, Shouzhou or Gwangju in the west, it would be difficult for the enemy to defeat us or even capture these three cities. In that case, it won't be long before Zhu Quanzhong can only withdraw his troops and go back, and our army should be able to gain a little if he takes the opportunity to pursue again. ”

Yang Wu nodded, indicating that he had understood what he meant.

It is indeed the safest way to go directly to Shouzhou, it is impossible for Zhu Quanzhong's army to stay in the south for too long, as long as he holds on until he withdraws his army and then launches a pursuit, he can also win a victory.

However, because the enemy army withdrew on its own initiative, as long as Zhu Quanzhong's soldiers and horses were normal, there was basically no problem for the Liang army to retreat to the north bank of the Huai River safely.

"Your Highness, your subordinates also agree with General Zhu's opinion. Zhu Quanzhong is now powerful in the world, so all the feudal towns in the world dare not stand up against him, if Zhu Quanzhong goes south this time and is frustrated, even if it is just a small setback, the people of the world will understand that Zhu Quanzhong is not really unable to resist. When the time comes, the feudal towns will definitely jump out against him again, and our army will be able to rest assured and continue the plan to attack the south. Yan Keqiu also agreed with Zhu Jin's prudent plan.

For example, everyone today is afraid of Zhu Quanzhong and does not dare to stand up against him, so Huainan needs to give a signal to the people of the world to tell them that Zhu Quanzhong is not invincible.

This signal doesn't need much of a victory, it just needs to be a victory, even a narrow one.

If the more radical plan of the Eastern Front is adopted, once it leads to failure, not only is the Huaihe defense line likely to be broken, but it will further boost Zhu Quanzhong's prestige and make the world's feudal towns even more afraid of him.

So at this time, it's better to use a safe way.

Seeing that the two privy envoys advocated a prudent approach, Yang Wu couldn't help but be a little unwilling.

In this era, the influence of the Central Plains is still far above the south, even if Yang Wu won a lot of battles in the south and completely eliminated Qian Biao, the king of Yue, everyone will only think that it is because Qian Biao is too useless, not because Yang Wu is strong.

This is not only about Yang Wu's personal reputation, but more importantly, Yang Wu has now taken over Huainan for a year, and he wants to start further reforms within Huainan, and the reform will touch the interests of many people.

In the past, he still had Yang Xingmi to support him, and with Yang Xingmi's huge prestige support, there was no problem.

But now that Yang Xingmi is about to grow old, without his support behind him, Yang Wu can only rely on himself.

And what could be more powerful than defeating Zhu Quanzhong in a head-to-head battle to establish his own prestige?

He couldn't help but look at Li Shenfu, who hadn't yet expressed his opinion, and wanted to hear the opinion of this famous general, and Zhu Jin and the others also looked at Li Shenfu together.

Li Shenfu took a sip of tea unhurriedly, and after putting down the teacup, he said: "Your Highness, in the old man's opinion, in fact, it is not a big deal for our army to go to the Eastern Front to meet Kang Huaizhen for a while, maybe we can win a big victory?"