Han Chao asked: "What about the follow-up, can the thieves take advantage of the victory to attack Tongguan?" ”

Wen Daxing shook his head: "The intelligence has learned that there are still 40,000 soldiers in the remnants of the officers and troops who retreated to Tongguan, but they are already frightened birds and do not have much combat power. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info Fortunately, there are 3,000 soldiers of the Jingbian Army in Tongguan, and Tongguan is safe and worry-free. And...... It may be that the previous Tongguan war made them feel uneasy, so they did not go west to Shaanxi, but surrounded Kaifeng again. ”

An unbearable look appeared on his face, and he took out a newspaper: "This is the latest information I have gotten, much faster than the imperial court Jingshi, a thief...... The thieves broke the river and flooded the city, and the people of Kaifeng drowned countless people. ”

"What?"

Everyone in the hall was taken aback, and Qin Yi said in a trembling voice: "You mean...... Said that the thieves broke the river and Kaifeng was flooded? ”

Wen Daxing affirmed: "Yes, I don't know how to be flooded. It is rumored that Kaifeng was besieged again, and the officials in the city wanted to dig a dike to divert water and irrigate the thieves in order to exterminate the thieves. ”

"I also heard that the thieves had been attacking Kaifeng for a long time, and they had hatred in their hearts, and they had a plan to irrigate the city for a long time. It happened that the rainstorm in recent months was repeated, and the Yellow River rose, just as the river broke to irrigate the city, and Bianliang fell. ”

"I don't know what happened, but it's a fact that Kaifeng was flooded."

Everyone was stunned, Zhong Susu bit her lower lip tightly, as if she was about to bite blood, she hated and said: "That's hundreds of thousands of people, thieves can also do it, it's really a beast!" ”

Praise painting Qin Yi sighed: "Since the thief rebellion, the killing is invincible, and the most fierce one is the flooding of Bianliang!" Those who want to do great things should be based on winning people, and Li Chuang has done so, but Huang Chao and Red Eyebrows are in vain. If you want to achieve something big with such a vicious thing, can you get it? ”

Wen Fangliang gritted his teeth and said, "After all, the thief's ear!" ”

Han Chao sighed: "Fortunately, in recent years, the general entrusted the Sanjin Commercial Bank to collect women and children, and the women and girls in Kaifeng City sent away, which is a great luck in misfortune." ”

Gao Shiyin said in a deep voice: "Can you know the movements of the thieves now?" ”

Wen Daxing said: "The intelligence learned that when the thieves re-encircled Kaifeng, a large number of soldiers and horses were forced to Guide and Xuzhou, and the intention was unknown. After the thieves broke the river to open the sealed city, most of them also pulled out their camps and marched eastward, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. ”

Everyone was shocked again, Han Chao looked at the sand table, and said categorically: "This is a thief who imitates the strategy of encircling and opening the seal, and under the cities of Guide and Xuzhou, he has a plan to encircle and help." ”

He pointed to the location of Xuzhou and said hatefully: "Xuzhou is important in the north and south, and it has been a critical place since the past." If Xuzhou is broken, the north and the south are cut off, and the Cao Yun is especially cut off, presumably the imperial court will not sit idly by. It seems that the rescued soldiers and horses are going to be destroyed here in a steady stream! ”

Gao Shiyin exclaimed: "It seems that the thief's ultimate intention is to attack Shandong, and then force Jingshi?" ”

Wen Fangliang looked at Wen Daxing and said in a deep voice: "Does the Intelligence Department have a strategy to find out the ultimate intentions of the thieves?" ”

Wen Daxing glanced at Wang Dou, and Wang Dou nodded.

Wen Daxing unfolded a document and said in a deep voice: "This is one of the top secrets of our intelligence department. In March of this year, our intelligence department found out that the thieves were discussing with the thieves in the Xiangyang Palace, and the thieves in the palace, Niu Jinxing, Gu Junen, and Song Xiance were discussing the direction of the dispute. ”

He said: "The thief Prime Minister Niu Jinxing said: Please attack Beizhi and Shandong, and then go straight to Beijing!" ”

Everyone in the hall was shocked.

Wen Daxing continued: "The policy of Yang Yongyu, the servant of the thief government, is to stay in the capital and cut off the luck!" ”

The people in the hall pondered.

Wen Daxing finally said: "The thief is engaged in Gu Junen's strategy, he said: No, no, no!" The first to stay in Beijing, the situation is indecent, it is difficult to help the big things, and its strategy is slow. Also, if you don't win, you will have no place to return, and your strategy will be urgent. Why don't you take Guanzhong first, be the state of Marshal Sangzi, build a country, and then ignore the three sides, capture Shanxi, and then go to Beijing, more than enough to advance and retreat, and then it is a complete strategy! ”

"The opinion of the Ministry of Intelligence, Yang Yongyu's strategy was rejected, Gu Junen's strategy is not feasible, now there is only Niu Jinxing's strategy, and the thief's final strategy must be to attack Shandong and go straight to Beijing!"

Wang Dou said lightly: "Minister Wen, is this the final judgment of the Ministry of Intelligence?" ”

Wen Daxing affirmed: "Yes, General! ”

His tone was categorical and confident.

……

Wang Dou waved his hand, and everyone sat back in their seats, their eyes shining faintly and solemnly. They knew that the next step was for everyone to discuss the final strategy of the Jingbian Army and the Protectorate, and every word they said was very important.

Zhong Susu touched his face and muttered: "Support is not feasible, the court is difficult to return, there are too many constraints, first King Cao was defeated, and Sun Chuanting was defeated, wasting food money." If it is rescued for thousands of miles, it will be difficult to continue the food route, and the risk is too great, and it is not feasible......"

Everyone understands the meaning of her words, everyone looks at each other, many people want to stand up and speak, but they don't feel it is easy to speak, or Wen Fangliang said categorically: "Now that you know the thief's strategy, it's easy to do, just wait for them in the capital, hundreds of miles away, and there is no problem with the grain road." ”

Li Guangheng raised his head abruptly and said, "Are you just sitting back and watching?" The thieves attacked Xuzhou, and I don't know how many rescuers will be destroyed. The thieves attacked the northeast of the mountain, and I don't know how many people will suffer, is my Jingbian army watching like this? ”

Wen Fangliang said sharply: "General Hulie, we have to consider the people and the imperial court horses, but we also have to consider our brothers in the Jingbian Army!" First there was the defeat of King Cao, and then the fall of Sun Chuanting, don't you know the danger of this thousand-mile grain road? How can we squander this little bit of possessions at will? ”

Li Guangheng didn't speak with a cold face, and Wen Fangliang continued: "Besides, it is uncertain whether the imperial court will summon us to send troops, the general has worked hard and made great achievements, and his loyalty and righteousness are visible to the entire Ming Dynasty!" But who refrigerated him, and who was suspicious of him? Do we want to send troops without an edict and continue to stick to other people's cold butts with hot faces, and finally get greater suspicion and refrigeration? ”

He sneered again and again, with a piercing chill in his words, Li Guangheng's face was pale, and the green tendons on his forehead flared up.

He stood up violently, and finally sat down in a decadent manner, holding his head silently.

Zanhua Qin Yi slowly stood up at this time, he solemnly saluted Wang Dou, and said to everyone in the hall: "The biggest habit of a thief is that he is easy to run. If you save Xuzhou, Shandong, the lower officials are not only worried about the grain road, but also worried about them escaping. Xia Guan never doubted the combat strength of our Jingbian army, but was only worried that when the thieves saw that the situation was not good, they would leave millions of hungry people, and then flee with tens of thousands of old battalions, all the way to Henan, and even Huguang, so when would the thieves be cleared? ”

He said: "If the thieves attack the Jingshi, but they are in the middle of it, when the time is right, the place and the people, I can solve the bandits once and for all, and I don't worry that if the previous rout officers and soldiers are the same, they will always be led by the thieves!" ”

He muttered: "The Jingshi is strong, how can it last for a year and a half." Xia Guan wanted the emperor to be suspicious again, but the Beijing division was in danger, so it was time to summon the general King Qin, and he could send troops to solve such a scourge for the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the lower officials agreed with General Wen's strategy. ”

There were many disputes among the people in the hall, Wang Dou sat quietly, no one knew what he was thinking, and suddenly he waved his hand: "Eliminate the thieves in Jingshi!" ”

He said lightly: "I have already figured it out to do great good and not to limit small evil." ”

He said: "This is one of the top strategies of our capital protectorate in the near future, roads, grain and grass, baggage, logistics, soldiers, equipment, all departments need to be in an orderly manner and start preparing for this." ”

……

He made up his mind and laid out a strategy: "The General Staff Department needs to draw up detailed operational rules, the Intelligence Department needs to carefully collect intelligence, and the Military Affairs Department must train the army and equip the officers and men. The Ministry of Civil Affairs should prepare a large army to go out to collect grain and grass to provide relief to the hungry people, and the Ministry of Supervision should do a good job of supervision ......"

Everyone listened in amazement, they knew that with the determination of the strategy of the Metropolitan Protectorate, everything in the future would revolve around how to exterminate the thieves, and the mobilization machine of the Metropolitan Protectorate would also be quickly activated.

Zhang Guimeng stood up, and he assured Wang Dou: "Rest assured, the general, my Ministry of Civil Affairs will do its best to do a good job in all the supply matters of the army." ”

He introduced his achievements to Wang Dou as if offering treasures, the wasteland reclaimed by Juntun has reached 2 million mu, plus a large number of Mintun, Shangtun, and the fields that were originally in Xuanfu Town, he affirmed: "As long as the grain and rice are harvested next year, I will protect the grain collected by the government to help the entire northern land of the Ming Dynasty, and even the hungry people in Henan are no longer a problem!" ”

Wang Dou nodded with satisfaction, he had worked hard to manage, and it was finally time to harvest.

Han and the DPRK got up to report to the Ministry of Military Affairs, and the army had been fully equipped with flintlock pistols, and it was estimated that by the time of the lunar month, all of them could be replaced, and each gun was equipped with a sharp sword.

In terms of artillery, the three artillery factories are all in operation, and they can cast 20 light and heavy Hongyi guns every month, and now there are 330 large and small Hongyi guns and 100 heavy mortar guns in the army. In addition, there are 100 guns of the Great General Franc and 500 cannons of the Small and Medium Francs.

In terms of rockets, because Wang Dou instructed to increase production capacity a few months ago, there are 4,000 light rockets and 200 heavy rockets in the existing rocket inventory.

Wang Dou groaned: "For the time being, the artillery will be produced at this rate, and the rocket will increase investment, and by March and April next year, I will see at least 10,000 light rockets in stock, and 1,000 heavy rockets!" ”

Han Chao thought for a while and responded, "Yes, General!" ”

He also reported to Wang Douyu that after the autumn harvest, after the king of Shunyi, the horse official of the current capital protector Omubu vigorously controlled the horses, and the fat and strong war horses gained a lot, and there were more than 50,000 war horses in the horse farms of the grassland. In addition to the original war horses of the Jingbian Army, that is to say, all the officers and soldiers of the Jingbian Army can now have war horses.

Everyone in the hall was smiling, Wang Dou was also laughing, he was very happy, and said: "Okay, in the future, the military formation training of the soldiers and the tactics of the feather cavalry will be one of the key points." ”

The General Staff Department has very great powers, and it is the only department of the Jingbian Army that can order the mobilization and combat of the whole army. As a minister, Wen Fangliang naturally had to report to Wang Dou that if the Jingbian Army sent troops, it would be able to mobilize and mobilize the total number of troops.

The Jingbian Army was called the Zhongyong Battalion at this time, but there were five armies under its command, the Vermilion Bird Army, the Qinglong Army of the Left Guard, the White Tiger Army of the Right Guard, the Xuanwu Army of the Rear Guard, and Wang Dou's Chinese Army.

At present, each army has two or three battalions, ranging from first-class battalions to second-class battalions, and the first army has about 7,000 to 10,000 men. There were two battalions of baggage, one of the sentry battalions, one battalion of escorts, and two battalions of cavalry.

There is also a battalion of artillery battalions, plus the Zhongyi battalion and the new attached battalion, the total strength is almost 60,000.

But this does not take into account the tunding youth of the forts.

At present, the population of Duhufu and Xuanfu Town, in terms of the East Road, as of March of the 14th year of Chongzhen, even the full set of children, the total population of the whole road is more than 534,000. But now it has exploded to 700,000, and the population of Baoan Prefecture has exceeded 300,000, and now the population of the entire Xuanfu Town has also reached 1.2 million.

By the beginning of August, more than 500,000 people had moved into Anbei from the provinces, and the plague had increased the number of people eager to enter Anbei. Wealth, peace, stability, and security are the impressions of Anbei from all parties.

Not to mention anything else, after a plague, even the people of Shanxi died tens of thousands, but how many people in Anbei died? The newspapers shouted earth-shatteringly, from the Marquis of Yongning, most of the capital protectors from the beginning of the fight, but the final statistics showed that the death toll did not exceed 1,000.

Who doesn't yearn for such a place?

So far, the number of immigrants entering Anbei has exceeded 800,000, and many of them are still wealthy families, which is also one of the reasons for the rapid prosperity of Guihua City.

In this way, the population under Wang Dou's name reached 2 million, and if there were four or five households, there would be about 450,000 households.

Conservatively calculated on a per household basis, there are almost 400,000 to 500,000 young people under Wang Dou's command.

Because of the help of the mutual aid society and a large number of horse ploughing, more men can be drawn out to fight, and with the mobilization efficiency of the Metropolitan Protectorate, the ratio of one out of three can be reached.

In other words, 100,000 to 150,000 tunding can be mobilized to participate in the war, and it will not obviously affect agriculture and commerce.

In fact, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are more young and strong people in Anbei and Xuanfu, because most of the people who can flee are strong men, such as men like Lao Hu. It is conservatively estimated that there will be no less than 600,000 young people under Wang Dou's jurisdiction.

This is also the reason why the Metropolitan Protectorate is desperately collecting women and children, and there is a trend of more men and fewer women in the jurisdiction, and there is no balance between yin and yang, which is a big taboo.

After listening to Wen Fangliang's report, everyone in the hall was smiling, many years have passed, and it turns out that their own power has swelled to this point!

Gao Shiyin stood up suddenly, and he said loudly: "There is no need to mobilize so many people, 50,000 troops are enough, plus the Jingbian army, 100,000 people, enough to sweep the world!" ”

Everyone in the hall said yes, they were full of confidence in the combat strength of the Jingbian army, and there were millions of thieves, so what could it be?

Han Chao said suddenly: "No, the Tun army needs to be mobilized according to the scale of 100,000 to 150,000 people. ”

He reminded: "Don't forget the thieves in Liaodong, I heard that they have withdrawn their troops from the Japanese army, and when the thieves go north, they may also wave their troops into the customs and take advantage of the fire to loot." ”

He said: "It is very likely that our Jingbian army will fight against the thieves and Hulu at the same time, and face up to a million enemies!" ”

Everyone was startled, and looked at the direction of Liaodong where the map was hung on the wall.

Wang Dou glanced at Han Chao approvingly and said, "Yes, there is indeed this possibility, not afraid of 10,000, just in case." Regardless of whether Dongnu enters the customs or not, we must be prepared for it. It is better to have more than less, and to mobilize the regular army according to the scale of 200,000 people. ”

……

After Wang Dou is determined, the follow-up details will be perfected by the Ministry of Military Affairs, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the General Staff and other departments, which will be a huge and complicated work, after all, sending 10,000 troops is completely different from 100,000 troops, and 100,000 troops is completely different from 200,000 people.

When a sergeant goes out to fight, of course, he has to consume food, people eat and chew, and the loss on the road will be a staggering number.

It is conservatively estimated that at this time, each sergeant consumes about one kilogram of food per day, which is about one liter at this time. In fact, people eat a lot of food at this time, even if they eat two catties of rice at a meal, there are many people.

Shen Kuo said in Mengxi that people have a solar eclipse of two liters, and there is also a saying that there are people in Wanli who have a solar eclipse of three liters.

One hundred liters is one stone, and 200,000 people consume 2,000 stone of food in a day, especially if there are horses.

At this time, the amount of food eaten by horses was almost ten to one, and in later generations it was reduced to about five to one. That is to say, people eat one liter, horses eat ten liters, of course, horses eat grass mixed grains, mainly hay, beans, etc.

In general, since the forage itself does not provide much energy, the horses must eat a large amount. If you want the horses to fight quickly, you need to provide concentrate, mainly grain and beans, plus the right amount of salt to supplement the horse's physical strength.

The current standard of horses in the Jingbian Army is half grain and half grass beans, that is to say, hay is not counted for the time being, and a horse eats five times as much rice and wheat as a person.

The 200,000 army, in addition to the war horses of the cavalry and cavalry, as well as the mules and horses that pulled the carts, it is estimated that there were 70,000 horses, and the food consumed in a day was 3,500 stones.

In this way, 200,000 horses consume 5,500 stone of grain in a day and 165,000 stone of rice in a month.

At this time, the loss of logistics and transportation is not small, and if the scale of the army is 100,000 people, and the distance between the large army and the logistics supply place is 10 days, then the total consumption of logistics will almost catch up with the consumption of combat troops. That's still a ten-day distance, and if the journey drags on longer, the logistics will be more expensive.

In other words, the amount of grain consumed by 200,000 horses in a day is more than 5,500 stones, and at this time, of course, it is incredible.

This is also the reason why this era is very particular about eating the enemy, "The Art of War" says: "Eat the enemy for one hour, when I am twenty bells." ”

The reason why the ancient dynasty was often at a disadvantage against the nomads was also here, and the Central Plains was full of urban population, and Hu Qi could eat the enemy. And the Central Plains invaded the grassland, and in addition to grass or grass, the grain and grass supplied to the army had to be transported from the Central Plains for thousands of miles.

If a bad grain channel is cut off, that is the end of the total annihilation.

Wang Dou's concerns about going to Shandong, Henan and other places are also here, the grain road is too long, and the transportation of grain and grass is too difficult. If only the Beijing division is recruited, in addition to the grain road is not long, the loss of all parties will be smaller, after all, he has built many military stations and grain stations in Xuanfu Town over the years.

Of course......

"Now the capital Hufu is building three post roads at the same time, and the remaining two can be slowed down, and the road from Guihua City to Xuanfu Town is the highest priority."

"Yes!"

……

The footsteps of Lu Lu went away, and the officials with excited expressions were about to leave the hall, Wang Dou stood in front of the hall, he carried his hands behind his back, staring at the snow outside, and a python robe lined him with great majesty, he stood quietly, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

Wen Daxing stood quietly behind Wang Dou, waiting for him to speak.

Wang Dou's eyes changed, sometimes his eyes shot a cold light, and sometimes they turned soft. He stared ahead, as if looking at the past scenes, as well as the people and things that appeared in front of him from time to time, and finally he sighed and said, "Jingshi's plan, start preparing!" ”

Wen Daxing said: "The general ......"

"Ready."

Wang Dou waved his hand, and he muttered, "I promised someone. ”

"Yes!" (To be continued.) )