Just one day before the oath of the army to go to war, the civil and military officials of the Annan Economic Strategy Division and the Annan Battalion were making the most final confirmation of the battle plan around a huge sand table.

The real battle plan is naturally to be as detailed as possible, and all aspects must be considered completely, and it is by no means as Zhang Dian said yesterday in the military discussion with the barbarian cave masters, "The strategy is very simple." ’

Chen Zhen, who was in charge of the commentary, was a little nervous, although he had already passed Han Gang's ear and face, and had a full understanding of Ji Lu's plan, and did not want him to make an in-depth explanation of Ji Lu's plan, just a brief and simple retelling and summary, and every civil and military official who participated in the meeting had a hand-copied pamphlet in his hand - that was the battle plan for this time - but his hand still couldn't help but tremble.

A slender wooden pole was held in Chen Zhen's trembling hand, pointing to the signs on the sand table, "Yongzhou Southern Military Village, Guwan, Taiping, and Yongping have been rebuilt. At present, there are four commanders of the Jingnan Army sitting along the way. The convoy transporting grain will be traced from Yongzhou to Taipingzhai, and then transferred by the horse team to Yongpingzhai on the border. Yongping Village has 80,000 stones of grain and 20,000 bundles of grass, and 30,000 stones and 8,900 bundles of grass in Taiping Village. Guwanzhai is a transshipment point, with only 1,000 grain and 3,000 grass, but it is enough to provide two months' food for the 400 military horses pulling the ropes of the boats by the Zuojiang River. In addition, Yongping Village has eight teams with a total of 698 service horses, and another 500 spare military horses can be put in at any time to transport grain and straw along the way after the official army enters Jiaozhi. In addition, salt, sauce, vegetables, wine, cloth, medicinal herbs and other materials were transported along with the military rations, so I will not go into detail here. ”

"Every day." When Chen Zhen's narration came to an end, "What do you think there is anything else to add about the transfer of grain and straw?" ”

Yan Da's eyes lifted from the booklet of the battle plan, shook his head, and replied briefly: "No." ”

Zhang Dian glanced at Li Xian beside Yan Da again, and did not speak to him. He was not qualified to be asked about the strategy by the commander of the First Army, and Zhang Dian would not give him a chance to speak. Raising his chin, he motioned for Chen Zhen to continue with the next one.

Chen Zhen swallowed a mouthful of saliva, moistened his throat, and pointed to the sand table with a wooden pole, "From the south of the border, the first step is Menzhou in Jiaozhi." According to last night's last detailed report, the coach stationed in Menzhou has changed, but the new coach has not yet arrived. This is the news sent back three days ago, and I think that the new coach should have arrived in Menzhou now. Relying on the planning of Zhang and Han Ershuai, from Yongping Village to the plain of the lower reaches of the Fuliang River, from north to south, it takes nearly 200 miles of mountain roads, and now only one checkpoint in Menzhou can resist. In addition, in a mountain forest thousands of miles from east to west, all the prefectures and counties have been destroyed, and there are no tribes that can support Menzhou. As long as you capture Menju, you will be able to attack the plain on the north bank of the Fura River in one fell swoop. ”

"Fengchen?" Zhang Dian asked Yan Da again, "Do you have any questions or opinions about the first battle against Menzhou?" ”

"Nope." Yan Da shook his head again: "If you defeat Menzhou, you will be able to confront the Jiaozhi people across the river." ”

Zhang Dian glanced at Han Gang, and Han Gang said knowingly: "Just yesterday, the cave masters of Silang Prefecture have also set off, and all the cave masters in Yongzhou City have returned to Bentong. According to the plan, they will march to the hinterland of Cochin as quickly as possible - in order to grab more loot than others, the barbarian cave masters will not delay. However, the official army should also move south as soon as possible to suppress the main force of the Jiaozhi army, so as to prevent the barbarian army from being broken by each other. ”

Zhang Dian looked at Yan Da again, only to see that his deputy in the Annan camp continued to shake his head, "There are commanders and deputy commanders who plan the war, and the last generals only need to act according to orders." ”

Yanda's attitude can be said to be submissive, and it is also reasonable to say that it is a bit slanderous. However, Zhang Dian and Han Gang didn't care, even if Yan Da was not convinced, as long as he didn't clearly express his opposition, it would be enough.

Yanda himself is a famous general who shocks the world, serving as the deputy head of the soldiers and horses of the southern expedition battalion, and is a member of the horizontal squad belonging to the middle and high-level of the army, just because he is a military general, under the suppression of the commander Zhang Dian and the deputy marshal Han Gang, he only has the right to make suggestions and no decision-making power for the strategy and strategy of the southern expedition.

For this treatment, Yanda has also been mentally prepared. Zhang Han and both of them are now famous civil servants who are well versed in military affairs, and they want to snatch a decision-making power from them. If he just followed the fight, if Zhang Dian and Han Gang's strategy was a little worse, then he wouldn't mind taking the opportunity to take back some of the decision-making power.

Just let him stand aside and nod his head, Zhang Dian and Han Gang actually promoted a number of battalions to join the army to deal with many affairs in the army. There are subordinate officials and generals who originally belonged to the Economic Strategy Division and the camp, as well as the staff of Zhang Dian, Han Gang and even Yan Da himself. They joined the army as a marching battalion, participated in the drafting of large and small affairs in the army, and even detailed the marching route and grain arrangement, which were presided over by Han Gang himself and handed over to Zhang Dian to make a decision.

Summoning lieutenant generals and subordinates to jointly plan strategies and tactics, and acting like this, in fact, Yan Da heard about it a few years ago.

The first Hengshan strategy failed, in order to smoothly go south from Luowu City, the generals trapped in Luowu City summoned dozens of young and promising generals from their command to pick up the gaps and participate in the detailed affairs of the army, and it was Han Gang who proposed this system.

Although after the Hengshan Raid, the system of joining the army soon disappeared, and it was only a nod in the Hehuang War. Using one's own cronies and staff and acting accountable to oneself is a habit that generals have cultivated for many years. Although Han Gang's approach is beneficial to the military, he inevitably feels very depressed about the generals themselves, and once they intervene in the staff they can't control, such as risking the army's salary, making the sergeants act for their own personal purposes, and a series of illegal actions, it is impossible to deceive them.

No general likes such a person hanging around, it is enough for his own staff to do these things, and his own secrets are in danger of being exposed at any time, and there is also the possibility of being easily set aside. is like the Annan camp, because there are a number of camps to join the army, all the affairs are in the hands of Zhang Dian and Han Gang.

Han Gang looked down at the sand table, but his heart was thinking about Yan Da's thoughts.

He included Yan Da's staff as a camp to join the army—that is, the actual staff department—and it was originally a chance for Yan Da to express his own ideas, and with the participation of this famous general, the plan for the southern attack on Jiaozhi could be more complete. As for how much power he has, Zhang Dian will not give it away, and Han Gang will not give it away.

The premise of the staff system itself is to deprive the generals of control over the army under their command.

Although there is no need to worry about generals such as the story of the five generations, and the soldiers under their command will raise the rebel flag at will, the imperial court has always transferred the generals from time to time to prevent them from familiarizing themselves with the army under them. The reason for this is that the generals have a lot of control. In the army, from equipment to financial planning, the leading generals have the final say, and the inspection system of the imperial court is like a sparse sieve, which can only occasionally sift a few unlucky eggs......

The actual strength of the army accounted for only a fraction of the soldiers' register, and the extra food and salary became the private belongings of the generals; The soldiers who were supposed to go into battle to kill the enemy became the pawns of the generals, sweeping the courtyard, doing work and farming; The generals in the border area, and the caravans under their names are mainly based on the soldiers under their command.

- This pile, one by one, are all evil deeds that happened in reality, seeing what they did, isn't it enough to give the generals enough power? That's why it is necessary to move frequently, so that at least the generals who are in charge of military affairs can have some scruples.

The frequent transfer of generals in the world has caused the generals to not know the soldiers and the soldiers to know the generals, which is indeed a reality; However, if we want to say how much bad impact it has had on the combat effectiveness of the army and make the officers and troops unbearable for a war, then we cannot generalize, and the real situation is far more complicated than the sentence or two of criticism written on the recital, and it is never a one-sided good or bad.

Although Han Gang is young, he has led the army for many years, and he knows the situation and disadvantages in the army at a glance. Things in the world have never been so simple. The reason why it is difficult to change any system, rule and practice that has been formed is that behind these systems, rules and practices, there are two words written - interests. Therefore, the staff system, he did not begin to re-promote it until he went south as a deputy envoy for economic strategy.

Fortunately, this is a camp, a temporary organization set up for the purpose of war, and the establishment of a staff system in the camp will not cause a backlash from the generals. Coach Zhang Dian is dedicated to making contributions, and Yan Da and Li Xin are also young generals with lofty intentions; In addition, several parts of the official army are either elites with little difference in strength and military status, or new armies that have just been formed and have not yet had time to be corrupted; The main interest of all is to pacify the cochinese, not to grind their teeth and suck blood on the soldiers, and it will be very simple to carry out such a camp.

This is also for the reason why when the army was withdrawn from Luowu City, it could be so easy, and when death was on the verge of death, where did he take care of the old rules of the old times. At a different time and place, Han Gang's proposal would not be patted on the shoulder by a veteran Ha Lu and said that it was terrifying, and then it would be thrown aside; It was a trick behind the scenes, and it ended up unclear.

Although Yanda is helpless about this, she can only accept it. After joining the army with the camp and thinking about all aspects of affairs, the burden on his body was much easier, but he only had the command of the army under his command, and everything else was decided by the Annan Economic Strategy Division.

'Let's see how much you can do by joining the army?' Yan Da thought that even if the power in his hands was actually taken away, as long as the operational command was still in his hands, he could barely be satisfied.

No matter how much Zhang and Han calculated in their plans, they had to let themselves defeat the enemy army when they reached the end, and with this idea, Yan Da could also feel a little comfortable. He didn't want to come to Guangxi to pick up credit for nothing.