At present, the troops deployed by Northern Qi in Huai'an, including the east and west fronts, total about 50,000 people on the battlefield alone. If you include Shanghai Prefecture's reserve army, there are almost 100,000 Qi troops in Huai'an alone!
The Northern Qi's Southern Conquest Army originally numbered about 100,000 people. Counting the reinforcements sent by the Northern Qi court, at its peak last year, the number was close to 200,000. However, after a year of attrition, the Qi army along the Huaihe River now That's 170,000 to 80,000 people.
In other words, the Northern Qi Dynasty had only 70,000 to 80,000 troops in places other than Huai'an, but it had to defend a long line of defense.
This kind of troop deployment was originally extremely unreasonable.
If it weren't for Emperor Yongping's selfishness and Emperor Hongde's request for credentials from Shandong and Henan provinces, which forced Emperor Yongping to become furious, Northern Qi's military deployment would never have been so extreme.
Because in terms of force allocation, the limit of the force that Haizhou can put down is about 50,000 people, which is the force that Shen Yi dealt with from last year to this year.
Zhou Shizhong's expression suddenly turned extremely ugly.
Yu Zhenzi, who was on the side, listened to this information the whole time. After thinking about it, he looked at Zhou Shizhong, coughed slightly and said: "General, don't be too impatient. The Huaihe Navy's march north is certainly unexpected. But it’s not like we, Da Qi, don’t have Wang Shi in the west, we can stop them.”
General Zhou was silent for a while, and then sat back down opposite Yuzhenzi. He raised his head and took a sip of wine. Whether it was because of the alcohol or excitement, his face turned slightly red.
"The Taoist Priest doesn't know. The Huaihe Navy has great combat capabilities and has many ships. If they go north with all their strength, the existing troops on the western front will only be able to defend the city."
"It is not difficult to defend the city, but if we watch the southerners act recklessly in our Daqi territory, our country's prestige will be lost immediately."
"More importantly."
Zhou Shizhong pounded the table with his huge fist and said slowly: "What's more important is that it is difficult to continue to send troops to Huai'an after being so constrained by the Huaihe Navy. But if Shen Qi does not continue to send troops, Shen Qi is too Difficult to deal with…”
"If we ignore the Huaihe Navy and attack Huai'an with all our strength, even if we capture it and defeat Shen Qi, not only will the court's face not be restored, but it will probably lose even more face."
Yu Zhenzi was thoughtful, he stroked his beard and said: "General, in this case, we should have prepared for the Huaihe Navy early. How could the Huaihe Navy break through the defense so easily and break into our Qi Dynasty?" Within the territory?”
When this matter was mentioned, Zhou Shizhong's face became even more ugly.
He slapped the table hard and said angrily: "Since the birth of Yuan Du in the Southern Dynasty, the Huaihe Navy has been honest and honest for the past twenty years. My father once said when he was here, even if I am in Daqi along the Huaihe River It’s completely undefended. I’m afraid the Huaihe Navy wouldn’t even dare to move at all. Who would have thought…”
Zhou Shizhong snorted angrily: "Who would have thought of that Zhao Lu!"
The Huaihe Navy has been able to securely defend Dachen's "Northern Border" for so many years, relying on the word "stability" as its leader.
If they can't attack, they will never attack.
However, although the main character is "turtle", the Zhao family is indeed not treasonous and has never had any personal dealings with the Qi people.
Because if you really have access to foreign countries, you will probably not be able to hide it from the internal guards. This kind of thing is absolutely intolerable to the emperor, and the Zhao family will not be stupid enough to do such a thing.
Therefore, for so many years, the Huaihe Navy has been able to maintain a "peaceful" state with the Zhengnan Army not because of any personal relationship, but because of the "tacit understanding" and tacit understanding.
This tacit understanding created a stereotype in Zhou Shizhong's mind.
The Huaihe Navy seems to never cross the Huaihe River even half a step.
However, this stereotype of him was ruthlessly broken by Zhao Lu today.
General Zhao, who was privately scolded by Shen Yi as Zhao Wugui, finally raised his head today and opened his mouth towards the north, catching Zhou Shizhong off guard.
General Zhou's expression was gloomy and uncertain. He looked at Yu Zhenzi and said, "Taoist Master, things on both sides of the Huaihe River are getting more and more complicated. Zhou doesn't dare to specialize in this matter. What do you think, Taoist Master?"
Yu Zhenzi shook his head repeatedly and said helplessly: "The general dare not make the decision, how can a poor man dare to speak?"
Zhou Shizhong sighed slightly and said: "Then we can only write a book about the situation in the Huaihe River and send it to Yandu immediately, and leave it to His Majesty."
At this moment, Zhou Shizhong was in a dilemma.
If we advance, the Western Front will be too ugly. If the Huaihe Navy accidentally captures one or two counties or even these two prefectures, then Daqi's face will be completely wiped out, and it will be rubbed on the ground by the Southern Dynasty.
But if he retreated to the north now, the sacrifice here in Huai'an would be too great, and he was really not willing to do so.
If you make a big decision at this time, you have to shoulder the blame.
Zhou Shizhong didn't want to carry this big pot, and Yu Zhenzi didn't dare to carry it, so he had no choice but to ask the big boss for instructions.
Even if it takes a long time to come and go, it is likely to delay the battle, and I have to ask the big boss for instructions.
After making up his mind, Zhou Shizhong looked at Yu Zhenzi and said slowly: "Taoist Master, if you send a message to Yandu from here, even if it is six hundred miles or eight hundred miles in a rush, it will probably take several days to go back and forth. Days later, what does the Taoist think we should do?"
"There is no other good way."
Yuzhenzi stroked his beard. He said: "We can only maintain the status quo."
Zhou Shizhong nodded: "What the Taoist Master means is that we will stick to the position on the south bank that we have already occupied, but we will no longer transport the soldiers across the river, right?"
Yu Zhenzi thought for a while, lowered his head slightly and said: "Pindao suggests that the general stop transporting troops to the south bank, and at the same time block the Huaihe Navy on the west line to prevent the Huaihe Navy from doing whatever they want in our Daqi territory."
"Taoist Master Ming Jian."
Zhou Shizhong nodded quickly: "Then, just follow the Taoist Master's instructions."
Yuzhenzi's face turned dark when he heard this. He coughed and said: "General, a poor Taoist comes to the army with neither official position nor identity. There is no such thing as an order." .”
He glanced at Zhou Shizhong and said with a smile: "It can't be blamed on Pindao."
Seeing that the evil spirit refused to take the blame, Zhou Shizhong felt a little unhappy, but he didn't have an attack on his face, instead forcing a smile on his face.
"Who said that the Taoist priest has no identity? The Taoist priest is the imperial envoy from Yandu."
………………
At Xiangshui Camp, Su Ding and other senior generals stood under Shen Yi. Mr. Shen sat on the main seat of the commander's tent. He glanced at everyone and said, "Everyone, the Huaihe Navy on the Western Front has finally achieved something." action."
"This time, our Huai'an Army is finally no longer alone."
After taking a look at everyone, he said: "Now, Qi people probably know the news. I have thought about it carefully. After they received the news, they had two reactions."
"The first is to give up attacking Huai'an and shrink northward."
"The second is to continue to attack Huai'an."
"But Qi's troops are not infinite. If they want to take care of both ends, they must not be able to take care of both ends."
"In the past few days, you should keep an eye on Qi Ren's movements."
Having said this, Shen Yi glanced at the Qianhu below and said in a deep voice: "Ye Zhuo!"
The Qianhu named Ye quickly stood up and clasped his fists respectfully: "My subordinate is here!"
Shen Yi ordered: "General Xue is injured. Apart from him, you are more proficient in water warfare. From today on, all the warships of the Huai'an Army will be handed over to you to command."
"Well... one thousand-household camp is probably not enough."
"Let General Su coordinate the rest for you."
"After you took control of the warships, you kept an eye on the movements of the Qi people. If the Qi people no longer increase their troops in Huai'an, or even withdraw their troops, they must be contained on the Huai River."
Mr. Shen said in a low voice: "Those who have already crossed the river cannot be allowed to escape."
Ye Zhuo was respectful, cupped his fists and said, "I will obey your orders!"
Shen Yi looked at Su Ding again, with a smile on his face.
"General Su, we have suffered so much."
Su Ding lowered his head slightly, and after thinking for a while, he replied: "It should be that the suffering is over, as to whether you can accept it or not."
Mr. Shen narrowed his eyes and answered, "Whether he is willing to come or not depends on Zhou Shizhong's choice, but no matter how he chooses, it will be difficult for him to threaten us in Huai'an again."
"Our Huai'an army is unwilling to come here this year, and we will make Zhou Shizhong pay for this year's crimes next year."
Su Ding smiled, cupped his fists and said, "It's all thanks to Mr. Shen's wisdom, otherwise we would never be in the situation we are in today."
Master Shen shook his head slightly.
"It should be... the brothers must try their best."
"Otherwise, Huai'an would have disappeared last year."
(End of chapter)
