Chapter 166: Puzzle Layout

The area where Xixia is located is deep in the northwest inland, less affected by the southeast warm and humid airflow, the continental climate is significant, the precipitation is less, the winter is cold and long, the summer is warm and short, windy and sandy, and it has been an arid and semi-arid region in history - kbook update from Liaofeng Li Ji moved to the king of Xia to the death of Western Xia in Mongolia, more than two centuries before and after, coinciding with the third cold period in history, the climate in Xia is dry and cold, and there is even snowfall in the Helan Mountain area in summer, and the drought in Northwest China has become the most frequent occurrence in Northwest China. Disasters with the widest reach. Because it is located inland, dry and rainless, the wind is strong, and there are many deserts in summer, Henan area is east from Hexi, silver, summer, west to Ling, salt. The south is far away from Yan and Yan, and the north is connected with Feng and Hui, the territory is thousands of miles away and the soil is barren, the vegetation is low and sparse, there is not even grass and trees, the yellow sand is swept away, hundreds of miles back and forth, the large desert area is vast, and the small area of sand is all over the whole territory.

The water and grass are abundant and beautiful in the history of the Xixia Mu Us area, because it is located between the Yin Mountain and the Hengshan Mountain, the north can reach the north of the desert, and the south can swoop down to the Guanzhong along the Wuding River, the strategic position is important, and it has become an important place for customs defense, although the desert continues to expand, but now there are many oases of different sizes scattered among them, which can become the resting place of business travel. The Wuding River Valley, Jialu River, Quye River Valley and the beach in the east have good conditions for the development of agriculture, and they have been relatively wealthy since ancient times.

"Lord Wang, what can be done?" As soon as Zhao Ta spoke, the eyes of all the generals looked at the prince.

"Although Xiazhou is gradually invaded by the desert, but places like Huangyangping, Dijinze and other places are still reclamation areas, producing grain, and the business is developed, Li Jiqian once said, 'The government treasury is accumulated, enough to give military supplies, transfer people's food, and the country of Tianfu is also', less than 50 miles away from Xiazhou, Dejing Town, Qiliping, there are Xia's granaries, more than 100 large and small grain cellars, and the grain accumulation reaches one million stones, and the disaster year is used to help the victims and the needs of the Eastern Front Operations, and the grain there is enough for our army to eat for two years!" Zhao Tan planned to destroy Xia as early as Xiangyi, began to study the geography and humanities of Western Xia, and after arriving in Hedong, he sent people to learn more about the surrounding geographical roads, of course, he knew these well.

"The prince means to attack Xiazhou, first occupy Qiliping and grab the grain stored in the Xia State as military food, and then move the grain and grass to Xiazhou, defend it with danger, and cut off the road for Brother Cha to retreat!" Gao Pet asked.

"Yes, we robbed the grain and grass of the Xia Kingdom, not only solved the problem of our food, but also caused supply difficulties to Chage's 100,000 army, I have received information, he went out this time, thinking that there is still a lot of grain stored in Fengzhou City, only brought 15 days of grain and grass, and delusionally wanted to be replenished in Fengzhou, we now occupy Fengzhou, he has only one way to supply from Xiazhou, that is, we can't capture Xiazhou, and the Xia army that has run out of food will also be starved to death!" Zhao said with a smile.

The generals were surprised, the prince was really bad enough, there was a big meat bun in front of him for people to grab, and when people came to him with great hardship to eat, he swallowed it first, and even smashed people's pots when he turned around, and starved to death without paying for his life.

"Brother Cha only brought 15 days of grain and grass, plus the looting and requisition on the way, and lasted for 20 days at most, so the battle to capture Xiazhou this time must be fast, complete the battle preparations within two days, arrive in Xiazhou within 10 days, and end the battle within three days, the task is arduous!" Zhao Ta glanced at everyone and said.

"Lord, even if our army sends troops according to your assumption, we have two horses for one person, and each horse bears no more than one stone and five buckets, according to the calculation, we must travel a hundred miles a day, people must ride forward, and carry weapons, ammunition, water, food and grass, and our army will fight on both sides, and the consumption of ammunition will inevitably be very large, and the water and food carried will be reduced accordingly, even if we reach Xiazhou, the war horses will be lost a lot, and it will be difficult to complete the combat mission at that time. However, the carts of the baggage battalion transporting materials are easy to sink in the sea of sand, and they can only use livestock to transport them, which reduces the amount of materials they carry, and it is difficult to supplement the long-term combat consumption. Shen Songyue, the chief bookkeeper of the march, poured cold water on the people who had just become excited. …,

"Well, that's a good question!" Zhao Ta didn't get angry when he heard this, but he was very happy, he could take these into account, which showed that they had looked at their troops with new eyes and considered the problem from the perspective of actual combat, which marked the increasing maturity of a staff team, and their efforts were not in vain, "This expedition, I plan to imitate the Xia army, the mount is one horse and one camel per person, the horse is used for riding, the camel carries the materials, and the baggage battalion all switches to the camel team to transport materials." The artillery we are equipped with weighs about 400 catties, and after decomposition, a camel can be carried, which can not only reduce the supply pressure, but also bring more materials, this desert battalion commander Wang Heng has already introduced, they have gained a certain amount of mature experience through practice, we just need to promote! ”

"Lord, I'm afraid this plan is still difficult to do, the northwest is dry and rainless, so that the riverbed and lakes in this area of the Wuding River are covered by quicksand to form a sandy wetland, and people and horses often fall into it in the past. Shen Kuo, the former Shaanxi Jingluo pacification envoy, once said in his text, "I have tasted the Wuding River, crossed the live sand, the people and horses covered it, a hundred steps away are moving, on the verge of being on the curtain, although the lower foot is very strong, if it falls, then the people and horses and camel carts should be gone, until there are hundreds of people who have fallen into the unrelented', when the five roads attacked the summer, the Yan Yan Road pacified the deputy envoy Chong Ge Lao General into the Wuding River Valley, because there was no guide, many soldiers and horses were trapped in the quicksand, and suffered heavy losses. Our army has never set foot in this place, and it will not repeat the mistakes of the past! Wang Jin may have been encouraged by the praise of the prince just now, and also raised questions.

"I'll answer that question!" Jiang Fei, the head of the intelligence department of the loyal army, took over the problem, after the expansion of the army, the army will have a scout battalion directly under it, and there will also be a scout battalion, and each battalion will also have a scout team, if these scout battalions go their own way, it will inevitably lead to the inability to concentrate on collecting intelligence, adjust the focus of work in a timely manner, and change the direction of reconnaissance, so Zhao Ta promptly set up a military intelligence department to uniformly train and guide each scout battalion and conduct a unified analysis and sorting out of the intelligence collected by each battalion, so as to provide information for decision-making in a timely, effective, and accurate manner.

"As early as when we just entered Hedong, the prince ordered the scout team at that time to pay attention to collecting information on the transportation of Western Xia, Xiazhou has always been the focus of our work, after seizing the north of Hengshang, our military intelligence department has sent a number of detachments to make up reconnaissance, follow the caravan many times through the Maosurisha Sea, and draw a map, which has been modified and supplemented by the prince, is the most complete!" Jiang Fei took out a map from the picture bag and unfolded it on the table, which indicated every sand mountain, oasis, walled fort, river, quicksand area, spring, and even those abandoned reclamation areas and old cities in the Maosuri Desert area, and the content was detailed to the altitude of the sand mountain, the size of the oasis, the vegetation, the species and whether there were settlements, the number of troops stationed in the fortress, the armament, the changes of the river with the seasons, the water output of the spring and how many people could use it, whether it was bitter or salty, whether it could be drunk, and even where to get firewood. Where to hide from the storm and so on, these details are not missed...

The generals in the tent gasped after looking at the map, and looked at the prince with more reverence, these people are now experts in marching and fighting, and knowing that the road to be able to draw such a complete map is by no means a year or two of hard work can be done, thinking that the prince began to plan today's situation when he was still in Xiangyi, the vision is far-reaching, the heart is so broad-minded, I have to use the word admiration to express. From the 50-man Guards, to the 500-strong Guards Battalion, to the 1,000-strong Guards Battalion, to today's nearly 20,000-strong troops, no matter how big or small the battle is, they have never tasted defeat, and everyone is relieved to see this map.

"Ahh …,

"The notes taken by the prince can't fit in a carriage now, and the books he has read can't fit in the two study rooms of Xiangyi, and the information obtained from various channels for more than ten years can fill the entire big tent, and these are also known to him, the 'first henchman of the prince', to know that what the prince of the Dao has done for many years is to prepare to save the Great Song Dynasty, those people are not scared to death, they are really uninformed, the prince is a fairy, where can you mortals know the Dao." Seeing Xi squinting at these people, thinking that he could be regarded as a 'half-immortal' with the fairy prince, he couldn't help but feel proud!

"The purpose of seizing Xiazhou is not only to cut off the return route of Chage, but also to take on the task of eliminating the Xia army's reinforcements and consuming its vitality, after our army annihilated Chage's department, Xiazhou has become the advance base of our army to capture the Xingling area, so the battle of capturing Xiazhou is the key to this campaign, every mistake in every detail may lead to the failure of the campaign, the preparation must be sufficient, everyone speaks freely, don't be afraid of being laughed at, there are good suggestions can also be put forward, even if it is wrong, it doesn't matter." Zhao Ta said, "If anyone else has a good suggestion and can be adopted, I will be rewarded!" ”

"Damn, the annihilation of Brother Cha's 100,000 army is only part of the battle, is the prince crazy, but I like it!" Zhao Ta's words made waves again among the generals, this battle can be described as a war to destroy the country, which in the history of the Great Song Dynasty for more than 100 years, only Taizu and Emperor Taizong have done, if the prince can achieve this, it must be famous in history, and he will definitely leave a name in history as a participant, and the prince may be able to ascend to the throne of God with this... Everyone doesn't dare to think about it, anything exciting can happen with such a prince, there is really only unexpected, there is nothing that is unthinkable, who would have thought that a small guy, an abandoned minister can get such status and glory!

wqe