Rome is not something that can be built in a day, and an intelligence system cannot be built in months.

Now, Da Song's intelligence system is very cheating, and when the exact and reliable news came, Zhao Pu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In ancient times, it was always like to misrepresent numbers. For example, when Cao Cao went south to Jiangdong, he said that there were 800,000 soldiers and horses, but in fact there were no 800,000, at most 200,000; Later, he said that Liu Bei attacked Eastern Wu, saying that there were 500,000 Shu soldiers, but in fact there were not so many, at most 150,000. The so-called army of millions, with a lot of moisture.

In the Great Song Dynasty, it was known as 800,000 forbidden troops, and the total number of soldiers and horses in the Great Song Dynasty was 1.3 million. This figure is not an overstatement, only a small amount, and the actual number of troops may be far more than 1.3 million. It's just that among these 1.3 million, parallel goods are the majority, most of them are incomplete, their combat effectiveness is low, and they will herd sheep as soon as they fight.

And this time, the 500,000 soldiers and horses of the Jin Army went south, which also frightened Zhao Pu.

Just looking at the information on the intelligence, after Zhao Pu carefully analyzed it, he breathed a long sigh of relief, and somewhat understood what was going on with this 500,000 army.

In ancient times, fighting a war is to fight money, the biggest consumption is food, thousands of miles of transfer, there are 100 catties of grain when you set off, and after arriving at the destination, it is good to leave 10 catties of food. In this world, there are no trains, no cars, no large ships to transport, and the logistical pressure is extremely serious.

Maybe on the front line, there are only 50,000 troops fighting in the war, but there are 200,000 people pushing wheelbarrows or donkey carts in the back, and carrying grain.

The Jin army said that the 500,000 army went south, and there may really be 500,000, but there are only 150,000 elite soldiers, which belong to the combat troops and the troops fighting on the front line; And 350,000 second-line troops, third-line troops. It belongs to the auxiliary soldiers, to the escort baggage, and to the civilian army.

At some moments, these second-line troops, that is, civilian units, will also go to the battlefield and will also be responsible for some combat missions, but their combat effectiveness is very average.

"I'll just say? It is impossible for the Jin Army, there are so many troops, and it turns out that there are also parallel imports! Zhao Pu let out a long sigh of relief.

The army, either a spear or an army. It must go through about half a year of training, have a certain degree of discipline, and the veterans who have been on the battlefield account for one-third, which is the army. If it is a blind expansion of troops, the number will go up. The financial consumption has also increased, and the training cannot keep up. It is often harmful and unhelpful.

It's like. At the height of the Song Dynasty, it was claimed to have an army of 1.3 million. It's just that most of these armies are just registered and issued with a spear, even if they are Song troops, they have not been trained. There is no discipline. It was even more blindly expanded, and the number was so huge that it was terrifying, and in order to feed these armies, it consumed seven or eight layers of financial revenue of the Song Dynasty. It is comparable to the German fascists of later generations, but their combat effectiveness is extremely poor, and often tens of thousands of troops are crushed by the three or four hundred cavalry of the Jin Army. Of course, the development of parallel goods in the Song Dynasty also solved the employment problem of some displaced people, which can be regarded as alleviating the factors of social instability.

This time, the Jin army also began to develop a parallel army, which certainly triggered the financial deficit of the Jin State and triggered the attenuation of the Jin army's combat effectiveness, but it also allowed the Jin army to penetrate deep into the hinterland of the Song army, and could hit Chengdu, Hangzhou and other places farther away, and devastating some of the economic and fiscal and tax centers of the Song Dynasty.

Next, if you want to play group fighting tactics, it seems that it is a little difficult to use.

…………

On the sand table, looking at the dense small flags, between Song and Jin, the staggered offensive of dogs, Zhao Pu felt unprecedented pressure.

Zhao Pu was a little melancholy, he was not from a military academy, and he was really not good at commanding battles, arranging troops, etc.; In normal times, it's okay to brag a few words indiscriminately, but if it's a real fight on the battlefield, he's really not good at it. And the ministers of civil and military affairs here are not much better than him.

Wang Boyan, Fan Zhongyin, Zhang Jun, etc., are all well-educated people, and they have read a lot of military books and battle strategies, but unfortunately they have never been on the battlefield, nor have they personally commanded battles, so they are not much stronger than Zhao Kuo. In fact, even Zhao Pu is not as good, Zhao Pu is at least from a military family, and his father who was born as a famous general personally taught, but these Wenchen are authentic outsiders.

If they are allowed to be the commander of a military region, they will definitely not have any pants left for losing.

As for Wang Yan, Wang Shouyi, Li Pojun, Wang De, Zhang Xian, Zhao Da, Yue Fei and other military generals, they have either not yet been cultivated or lack experience. It's okay to let them go to the battlefield to rush and kill, but it's absolutely impossible to let them analyze the battle situation, deploy troops, coordinate the overall situation, and take charge of the situation alone.

In short, at this moment, civil officials are not good, military generals are not good, and neither can he, the emperor.

There is no Zhuge Liang, there is no Guan Zhong Leyi, only a group of scholars who talk on paper, some generals with big defects, and an emperor who plays with mouth cannons, sit together to discuss the overall situation, discuss the thousand-mile defense line, and command hundreds of thousands of troops to fight.

The more I think about it, the more unreliable it is, but if it is unreliable, it can only be to catch ducks on the shelves.

I know that I can't do it, but I have to make do with it!

Of course, this is just Zhao Pu's opinion.

At this time, the ministers scolded Fang Xuan, who seemed to be possessed by Zhuge Liang; The generals are high-spirited, they seem to be possessed in vain, and they don't seem to take the Jin army to heart at all.

Indeed, the successive victories gave the civil and military forces present great confidence, making them firmly believe that as long as they continued to hold on, they could win the victory in the defense of Xiangyang, and even achieve a great victory in Xiangyang. If the timing is right, it can even counterattack the Jin army, drive the Jin army back to the north of the Yellow River, and regain a large number of lost territory.

Successive victories and the signs of quick victory gradually grew.

Zhao Pu continued to pour cold water, wanting to lower the temperature of the civil and military forces, but unfortunately failed. Man is a strange animal, once he has a fever, he can easily cool down without pouring cold water.

"I don't know, do you have a way to break the enemy?" Zhao Pu asked.

"Your Majesty, the Jin army went south on three routes, attacking Guanzhong and many fortresses in Hanzhong all the way; attacked Xiangfan all the way, with the aim of capturing Hunan and Hubei; All the way is to attack Yangzhou, Jiankang and other places. Although the momentum of the Jin Army is strong this time, our army is not inferior to others. You can resist step by step, counteract the Jin army's offensive, and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack! Zhao Ding said.

"In the land of Guanshan, there are many dangers of mountains and rivers, and the western army is a strong army, which is enough to resist the attack of the Jin army; The Xiangfan generation has the dangers of mountains and rivers and the benefits of soldiers, but it is not conducive to attacking; In the Yangzhou area, the troops are weak, and it is extremely difficult to resist the Jin army. If the Jin army slowly enters Guanshan, besieges Xiangfan, and attacks Jiangnan, it will inevitably take care of one and lose the other! Wang Boyan said.

"From the geographical point of view, it is generally surrounded by mountains and rivers fortresses, and the middle is a plain, which is the most conducive to defense, such as Guanzhong, Hanzhong, Sichuan and other places; The second class is to have their backs against mountains or rivers to reduce the enemy's attack surface; The worst terrain is that it is surrounded by plains on all sides, and the enemy army can calmly set aside the terrain and besiege from all sides. Xiangyang is located on the south bank of the upper reaches of the Han River. Surrounded by water on three sides, one side is backed by mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but this terrain is also easy to be blocked by cavalry, and it hangs alone on the north bank of the Yangtze River, so it is easy to be surrounded by the enemy to send reinforcements. ”

Fan Zhongyin said, "And on the journey, it is too close to Bianliang, and it is far from Xiangyang, once it is surrounded, there is no way to retreat, it must be the second Bianliang!" Please move to Zhenjiang, rely on the navy, guard the Yangtze River, defend the south of the Yangtze River with the arch, once the Jin army is tired, take the opportunity to leave, you can pursue! ”

Historically, Xiangyang was still breached by the Mongols, not so much as being breached, but being trapped alive, and most of the reinforcements were wiped out by the Mongol army on the way to rescue.

"Your Majesty, by all means, the spirit of the great warrior comes first. It's too dangerous in Bianliang, but it's safe in Zhenjiang, but if you retreat back, your morale will inevitably fall, and there are mountains and rivers in that time and space, and it will be difficult to resist the Jin army! Wang Shouyi, who was on the side, immediately retorted.

Zhao Pu knew very well that the key point in the battle of the million-strong army of Song and Jin this time was him, the emperor. Wherever he goes, it's the main battlefield.

In Bianliang, it was too far forward and easy to be besieged by the Jin army; Zhenjiang, on the other hand, is safe and secure by the Yangtze River, but if it retreats too much, its morale will inevitably plummet.

And Xiangyang has a lot of danger factors, once the city is broken, it is surrounded by plains, and there is nowhere to run. (To be continued......)