Chapter 116: The Beginning of the Northern Expedition

"As for not letting the Wei army surround you, Liang has a few words to advise His Majesty, that is, don't care about the gains and losses of one city and one place, and don't be reluctant to give up some territory and stay in one place. The main purpose of our operation was to kill and wound as much as possible the enemy's living forces, not to attack cities and seize land.

The Central Plains region is a horse and a flat river, there is no danger to defend, Xiangyang, Nanyang and other cities are all places of four wars, even if we temporarily occupy, Cao Wei will also send troops and horses to besiege in the four directions, with our current troops, occupy a lot of places, under the division of troops to defend, it is estimated that it is difficult to hold. Since you can't keep it, it's better not to keep it.

Our troops should move, move constantly, lead the enemy by the nose, and show their flaws when they follow our army's movement, and then our army can concentrate superior forces to break the enemy individually. Zhuge Liang continued to talk about his clever plan.

Liu Hou was immediately disappointed when he heard this, he was expecting Zhuge Liang to have some novel insights, but he didn't expect these clichés. As soon as he heard it, he understood, wasn't this the set of strategic thinking of the later Taizu? Isn't that what kind of movement warfare and guerrilla warfare are these things? What's so strange?

As everyone knows, Liu Hou thinks that this set of things is very common, because these theories have been used indiscriminately in later generations. But for the Three Kingdoms era, these military strategies are still very profound knowledge. In this era, there are not many people who understand such advanced military strategies, even if they are literate and have read books.

Although Liu Hou immediately understood what Zhuge Liang said, although he also agreed with his statement in his heart, but I don't know why, he said something like this:

"Prime Minister, although you have a point, but I have always liked to use simple and crude methods, oh, no, it is to defeat the enemy head-on with a dignified and upright army. One force to ten will be the creed I have always believed, and my favorite thing is to crush the enemy with a huge military superiority. ”

"Uh, this, Your Majesty, it also depends on when, if the ratio of forces between the two sides is obviously superior to our army, of course you can use this method, if the enemy is strong and I am weak, and the enemy is more and I am less, and I still adopt this way of fighting, isn't that self-defeating?" Zhuge Liang felt strange, this little emperor is not such an inflexible person.

"Hehe, Prime Minister, I'm joking with you, I understand, in fact, at any time, if you can save effort, you can take a labor-saving method, and you can take whichever method can reduce the casualties of our army, I will definitely not be brutal. It's just that Sima Yi of Wei is really a sinister and cunning person, and I am really inferior to him in this regard, I am afraid that this expedition will lead to his way, I don't know if the prime minister has any good countermeasures? ”

When everyone heard this, they thought, this little emperor is really interesting, he is more insidious and cunning than others, is there anyone who compares himself like this?

Zhuge Liang said: "It's a pity that Feng Xiao can't get out of Hanzhong, otherwise, with his ability, he should be able to fight against Sima Yi." "Pang Tong and Zhang Fei have been guarding Hanzhong, and the two of them have successfully resisted many large-scale attacks by the Wei State, which has contributed to the stability of the Shu State.

The geographical location of Hanzhong is very important, and there is no room for mistakes, especially once Liu Hou sends troops to the Northern Expedition, Wei is likely to send troops from other directions to retaliate against Shu, and Hanzhong is the first to bear the brunt, so Zhang Fei and Pang Tong are very important, and they cannot be transferred lightly.

Especially Pang Tong, without him, Zhang Fei may not be able to keep Hanzhong. Liu Hou knew that Zhang Fei, a rough man, was drunk and whipped a soldier in history, and finally cut off the head of his subordinates while he was asleep.

Although Liu Hou has changed history in this time and space, and he also used Zuo Ci's mouth to persuade Zhang Fei to drink less and forbid him to whip soldiers, but who knows if this rough man is reliable.

Therefore, Liu Hou still wants Pang Tong to partner with him, and he and Zhuge Liang both believe that only such a best partner with one article and one martial arts can ensure that Hanzhong is foolproof.

"It's better to give in, Lord Deng, and Lord Guo to go out with His Majesty, and with them to mention His Majesty at any time, I believe that Sima Yi's trick may not work." Zhuge Liang continued. He was referring to Bu Qi, Deng Zhi, and Guo Youzhi, all three of whom had names that rhymed, but these three were indeed very talented people.

Of course, Guo Youzhi and Deng Zhi are no problem, Bu Qi will not help the Shu army attack Wu, but for the attack on Wei, he will definitely spare no effort to make suggestions. Liu Hou thought to himself, the three stinkers have beaten Zhuge Liang, and with these three people by his side, it is estimated that they are more useful than Zhuge Liang.

"Your Majesty, according to the minister, it is better to let the prime minister go out with the army. With the ability of the prime minister, Sima Yi is just a clown jumping off the beam. ”

The person who spoke was Liu Yan, the great Honglu, since Liu Hou entered Chengdu, he has been very active, and he has been active in many places. Not to mention the successive royal funerals and happy events, he had to handle them, and later Zhuge Jin and other envoys of Eastern Wu also received him. Although the negotiator is mainly Zhuge Liang, he is also busy and helps arrange all kinds of sundries.

Although these days are busy, the busier this old boy is, the more energetic he is, and the busier he is, the better he feels. Because he is busy with things, it will make him feel that he is being used, it will make him feel that his position is stable, and it will make him feel that he is very important in the court.

There is a good saying, "There is a place for talent", and he has a deep understanding of this sentence. Thinking about the next, the main melody of Shu is war, without him, he will be idle, so he doesn't want to be idle, he tries his best to get a piece of the pie in this war, no, on this occasion of discussing military affairs, he also spoke actively.

"The prime minister still has to sit in the center and dispatch in the center, and he can't leave Chengdu." Liu Hou rejected his offer in one bite.

"That'...... For the sake of His Majesty's safety, the minister had to persuade His Majesty to stay in the capital. The son of a thousand daughters can't sit down, and his majesty is the body of ten thousand gold, how can he take risks lightly. Why do you need to drive the expedition in person, my Han soldiers are many generals, many people can serve His Majesty, serve the Han Dynasty, it is better to send a member of the # general to go out on behalf of the Majesty, it is expected that the Cao Wei rat generation will not be able to turn up any storms, and a general is enough to calm the world. ”

There is no need to discuss these two issues at all, because Liu Hou has already discussed these issues with Zhuge Liang repeatedly. At present, except for Liu Hou and Zhao Yun, no one is capable of commanding the entire Hong army.

Needless to say, the generals outside the Hong Army system, it is impossible for them to command the proud generals of the Hong Army, and none of the generals in the Hong Army system except Zhao Yun have enough prestige to convince everyone.

The only one who can go out on behalf of Liu Hou is Zhao Yun, and many of the generals and even soldiers of the Hong army have been taught and trained by Zhao Yun, and only he can serve the public.

Although Zhao Yun is not young, but how could Liu Hou pull him down in such an important battle, he had already sent Huang Xu to take over his position, as long as he and Huang Xu were handed over, he would go north, and then he would meet Liu Hou in Jingzhou and go north to attack Cao together.

"Well, I've already discussed this issue with the prime minister, so I won't say much about it here. Let's disperse if we have nothing to do, and I ask all the ministers to go back and be sure to perform their duties, do what they are responsible for, and make every effort to ensure the success of this Northern Expedition. ”

Liu Hou waved his hand, lightly brushed aside Liu Yan's second mention, and concluded the meeting.

Liu Yan was ignored by the emperor and felt extremely aggrieved, but who can blame him? The emperor drove such a big matter, except for him, no one came out to advise, so it can be seen that he is the only one who does not know the reason.

April 21, appropriate: opening the market, marrying, traveling, crowning, taboo: opening the light, making a stove, fasting, burial. On this day, Liu Hou personally drove a personal expedition to attack Cao Wei. The ministers and the three empresses were sent to the dock of the "Ministry of Industry", and Liu Hou boarded the emperor's car "Jingzhou" surrounded by personal guards.

After waving goodbye to the ministers and the three queens, Liu Hou led a huge fleet and sailed to Jingzhou. This time, Liu Hou took away Zhang Bao's First Brigade, Guan Xing's Second Brigade, Zhong Dong's Fifth Brigade, three mixed brigades, as well as the second division of the vulture bone and the third division of Ehuan, two rattan armor divisions, a total of about 50,000 soldiers, of course, not counting the guards regiment that followed him closely.

As for Liu Fei's Sixth Brigade, it was left behind by Liu Hou to defend the imperial city. Although there are fewer brigades, they are a new type of troops whose combat effectiveness exceeds that of this era, and there are those deterrent "Keqiu killings" in the city, Liu Hou believes that no one dares to fight Chengdu anymore.

Zhu Bao's Fourth Division was still in charge of logistics. The soldiers under Zhu Bao's current command are no longer the original fish belly troops. Although his troops were always supplemented by other troops, after Liu Hou successfully entered Chengdu, his troops were supplemented by a large number of prisoners, local garrisons, and new soldiers.

Zhu Bao simply eliminated all the old, weak, sick and disabled in the army and replaced them with new soldiers, and the number was still about 20,000. Therefore, now the spirit of Zhu Bao's troops has a new look, and all of them are strong and handsome young men, and what they lack is only training and the baptism of war.

Under normal circumstances, Zhu Bao's Fourth Division did not have to go to the battlefield, so he had a lot of time to train them, and he could have trained while marching, while carrying out the task of protecting the baggage brigade, or he could train the various units in rotation.

The reason why this was possible was that the 4th Division completely got rid of the identity of the baggage brigade, and they were now regular troops. The team responsible for transporting grain, grass, weapons and equipment was the baggage team, which was requisitioned by Zhuge Liang and transferred 50,000 people to fill it. The task of the 4th Division was to protect them, to prevent the cutting off of supply routes to the enemy, to prevent the enemy from burning grain and grass.

There was an essential difference between the Fourth Division and the fact that the Fourth Division had changed from a half-combat and half-transport unit to a purely combat unit, and Zhu Bao had changed from a transport captain and security captain to a real general.

As for the original baggage team, that is, the Southern Barbarian soldiers, Lingnan soldiers, and Eastern Wu soldiers who were captured by Liu Hou all the way, they were assigned to the fields by Zhuge Liang and arranged for them to cultivate. Anyway, the most important thing to lack now is the fields, and the most scarce thing is labor.

Therefore, Liu Hou's troops on this expedition totaled more than 120,000 people, known as 200,000, including 50,000 soldiers, 50,000 baggage teams, and 20,000 of the Fourth Division to protect the baggage troops. In ancient times, wars were like to exaggerate the strength of troops, and they would say how much they claimed, but in fact, there was a lot of water. It is not uncommon for Liu Hou to claim to have 200,000 horses with only 50,000 combat troops.