Chapter 25: Between Advance and Retreat

"My lord, in my opinion, you can have both." Ye Shen gave an answer without hesitation, and said, "You can get the top, you can get the middle, you can't get the bottom, and you can't ask for the bottom. The adults locked the river, but the southern army. Don't just think about the southern army, you must have the heart to go south to defeat the southern army, if you can't do it, you will retreat to the second, if you are trapped here and lose the fighter, you will not only have the trust of the prison country, but also make the enemy calmly arranged. Adults guarding the heart of the rivers may not be able to achieve it."

The Hutuo River is not the reputation of a river, Hutuo is the appearance of the turbid river, and the Hutuo River is the river with turbid water. At one time, it was a collective term for these rivers between rivers. Later, it gradually became the name of a certain river.

However, these rivers all originate in the Taihang Mountains, flow into the Wei River, and go to sea from Tianjin. The river is also erratic, often taking other ways into the Wei River. Therefore, there are many rivers and lakes and wetlands in this area. If a small number of people advance and retreat, there will naturally be a road anywhere, but if the army advances, it is nothing more than a few roads. Either marching along the banks of the Wei River, or marching along the eastern foothills of Taihang Mountain, the rest are several official roads.

Therefore, as long as the river is used as a defense, a few key roads are locked, which is enough for the southern army to stop here.

It's just that some of these things take time.

He Xi had already prepared, and had already selected ferries, rivers, bridges, or places where he could swim between rivers and other places to build a castle. There were a lot of concrete and steel bars, and it only took a short time to build a castle, plus enough firearms and food, and only hundreds or thousands of people were enough to block the main road. Then the army was placed in the rear, and when the southern army besieged these castles, it attacked them later, did not dare to say, and was invincible. However, it was impossible for the southern army to easily break through the Hejian defense line and give Beijing time.

And it takes time to do that. Not much, just a month or two.

In He Xi's view, Nanjing's response was much slower than he thought.

In a month or two, it may not be possible to gather a large army to go north. But He Xi felt that what Ye Shen said was right. After all, the more time the better. Leaving some people to supervise the defense line between the rivers, the army went south, not seeking great success, only delaying the enemy's army, not necessarily impossible.

However, He Xi remembered some of Ye Shen's problems and said, "Okay, just do as you say. Tie Xuan."

Tie Xuan said, "My subordinates are here."

He Xi said, "Hejian will be handed over to you here. I have already arranged for the rear. All kinds of supplies will flow here along the canal. I'll give you three months at most, and within three months, this line of defense must be completed."

Tie Xuan said, "The lower official obeys the order."

The reason why He Xi asked Tie Xuan to come was because he valued Tie Xuan's ability to preside over the project, and also valued Tie Xuan's achievements in guarding Jinan in history. Hopefully, this line of defense is strong enough.

Ye Shen said, "My lord, this matter is in danger, it is better for my lord to sit in the river, and I will lead the troops south."

"No." He Xi said sharply: "Absolutely not, this is not Goryeo, it is the Ming Dynasty, and we are also the righteous army, the official army, which is to put things right. This time the southward movement is not only a military war, but also a political war. I'm absolutely not at ease with you leading the troops alone."

He Xi was not worried about Ye Shen's ability to lead the troops, but he was not worried about Ye Shen's political dullness.

Ye Shen's record in Goryeo, and now He Xi still remembers, and in order to achieve victory, Ye Shen roughly went to Goryeo to fill the appetite of the Jurchens. Now Ye Shen's name is in Goryeo, and he can still make children stop crying. He Xi was not worried that Ye Shen was in Henan and Shandong, and he also let go of the plunder. Although Ye Shen didn't feel that there was anything wrong with doing this for the sake of victory, only He Xi told him in advance. Ye Shen is still obedient.

But the problem is that there are still few things He Xi can think of. Ye Shen's freedom of action has more power. What if Ye Shen flooded the Seventh Army?

Even if he could destroy all the guards in Shandong and Henan in one battle, it would be a big defeat for He Xi.

When he thought of these things, He Xi's scalp tingled.

He had to watch Ye Shen. is not to tie Ye Shen's hands and feet, but to let Ye Shen understand what a political battle is. However, human talent can sometimes be strange. When He Xi taught Ye Shen military knowledge, Ye Shen was able to understand it at one point and draw inferences from one example. But when it comes to politics, it's like listening to a book from heaven

。

He Xi was already desperate for Ye Shen to become a general who understood both military and politics.

Therefore, He Xi must follow the past and set rules for Ye Shen, and when the front is stable in the future, or the division between the north and the south becomes clear, then he can be completely entrusted to Ye Shen, and there is no need to meddle too much.

Ye Shen couldn't help it, he said, "Since the adults have already made up their minds, the soldiers are expensive and fast, so it is advisable to send troops quickly. Don't delay."

He Xi said, "Okay."

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He Xi and Ye Shen raised troops and horses to the south, and sent partial divisions from Hebei to the southwest to collect the Daimyo Mansion and other places. These places also fall under the jurisdiction of Hebei. It is convenient to collect, and He Xi and Ye Shen took the main force and went south to Shandong, and after entering Shandong, the first state city was Dezhou City.

And at this moment, Texas City also listened to the changes in the north.

The gates of the city were closed. The people are strong and go to the city to defend the city.

He Xi and Ye Shen looked at the city outside, the city was not tall, and even some dilapidated. This is a city left over from the Yuan Dynasty, although Zhu Yuanzhang built a city high, and accumulated grain as the number, but not everywhere built the city.

The city built during the Hongwu period basically has such characteristics, that is, the famous city of Dayi, such as Kaifeng, Xi'an, Xiangyang and other cities. Either it is where the battle lines of the two sides are tug-of-war, just like some cities in Zhejiang and Jiangxi, where Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Shicheng, and Chen Youliang fought back then. There are also places in Yanbian, which have also been in a tug of war with Mongolia for a long time.

However, some talented cities in Hebei and Shandong have not been built at all. The reason is very simple, the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty was too smooth. Directly push the battle line from Shandong to the front line of the Great Wall, even if there are some repetitions, at most to the city of Beiping, in this case, the cities in Hebei, Shandong and other places are not worth building at all.

It was really built during the Zhengde period, after the rebellion of Liu Liu and Liu Qi.

And Dezhou City, which is also a strategic place, has a city wall in the Yuan Dynasty, but after entering the Ming Dynasty, the magistrate has been reinforced, but it has not been rebuilt. It's still the old city.

Ye Shen said, "My lord, please see, this city wall looks neat, but the color of the soil here is different from here, the old and the new are different, and it seems that it is newly renovated. This combination of the old and the new is the most unreliable, and between the last generals, send men who dare to die, brave their lives to dig the city, bury gunpowder in the city wall, and finally blow up a gap, and then the army will attack, and the city will fall, at most five days. The last general dares to make a military order."

Ye Shen dared to say so surely, on the one hand, it was the problem of city defense, and on the other hand, he felt that the morale of the city was not high.

After all, more than 20 years after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, although there are many old people who have experienced war, but these people in their thirties and forties have long forgotten what war looks like, after all, when Daming came over, they were all young.

Not to mention, they, including the Texas prefect, are also in a state of confusion.

After all, I thought it was good before. Why all of a sudden, Daming is about to fight.

This kind of transition from peacetime to war at once is not something that everyone can easily change. It can even be said that Nanjing's slow response is also a manifestation of this state. They simply did not expect that such a thing would happen.

Defending the city is an instinctive reaction. Even how to keep it and to what extent, I don't really understand it up and down, I don't know.

In addition, most of the people who defend the city are strong, not professional soldiers, and the peak of Daming's military technology is here in He Xi. Although it is said that He Xi did not bring cannons this time for the sake of the speed of the soldiers, many siege techniques are not something that these people in the city who have war thinking stuck in twenty or thirty years ago can understand.

After all, in order to open a mine, He Xi has compiled blasting into a special knowledge. Even a hard mine can be blasted, how can this rammed earth wall be coped. Naturally, it's easy. Hand to hand.

It's just that this kind of technology has not been applied to other aspects for the first time, and has been used in mines, and war is the era of large-scale popularization of new technologies.