The first countermeasure proposed by Ouyang Xuan was to strengthen fortress construction and military production. The top priority was to speed up the construction of Hengyuan Fort. In fact, Ouyang Xuan had already planned this countermeasure in advance, especially the Hengyuan Fort project, which was prepared for this unexpected change. Therefore, its construction progress is extremely fast, and the main body is currently completed. The artillery and equipment facilities supporting the fortress are also being produced at an accelerated pace, so there is no need to invest more labor. The reason why it is brought up again is because Yokoyuan Fort is extremely important in the defense system of the Perak Army, and it is also to declare the end of the fort building controversy. Some time ago, due to the large amount of resources invested in fort building, there was a run on various industries such as food and military production, and there were quite different voices within the Perak Army. The development of the current situation proved Ouyang Xuan's foresight. Naturally, everyone was very convinced and gave their full support.
The second countermeasure is to continue to recruit refugees and defeat the army. It can be expected that the Mongols will definitely attack nearby states and counties next. Under the pressure of the large army, they will inevitably surrender their generals like hair and troops like waves. There will also be many soldiers and civilians who are unwilling to submit to the rule of foreigners. After all, the Mongols regard the Han people as talking animals, beating, cursing and killing at every turn. Bloody people will never wait for the whips and knives to fall just to survive. "There is strength in numbers." If the Pili army settled in a corner and stayed in the mountains, the current population would be enough. But what Ouyang Xuan wanted was to drive the Mongols out of the Han Dynasty, and the more people needed, the better. Regarding this countermeasure, Li Shuang, Yang Xiucai and other government officials proposed that there were already too many refugees in the mountains and they were beginning to become overcrowded. Taking in more people would also lead to food shortages. The refugees should be resettled in Wugen Mountain and the plains near Hengyuan Town. Cao Ergou, Huang Dagen and other military personnel strongly opposed this, believing that if too many refugees were resettled in Wugen Mountain and the plains, they would inevitably be attacked by the Mongolian cavalry, and would also increase the casualties of the Perak Army soldiers protecting the refugees. Opposing the resettlement of refugees outside the mountains are Du Fu and other Hengyuan villagers who shudder when they think of the days when they were plundered by the Mongols. In response to the public controversy, Ouyang Xuan thought over and over again and finally adopted Lu Dezhi's opinion. It was agreed that all future refugees would be resettled in Jiguan Mountain, and a small number could be resettled in Wugen Mountain, Meihua Village and other places that are easy to defend and difficult to attack. The only thing we can do now is to let more people survive, and then we can talk about the long-term livelihood of the refugees later.
The third countermeasure is intelligence. Ouyang Xuan knows the outline of history, but not the specific details. To achieve "knowing the enemy and being able to fight a hundred battles without danger", one must take great risks to collect and transmit intelligence. In fact, even though the Perak Army reconnaissance personnel are extremely capable in individual combat and are equipped with the most sophisticated equipment, their casualty rate is the highest. Ouyang Xuan requested that in addition to collecting military intelligence at this stage, he also requested that the summer grain producing areas in the plain areas within a hundred miles of Hengyuan Town be mastered. If the time is right, he will go armed to grab food. In addition, he asked Qian Laoer to send people to Fan District to inform the armed caravan not to return to Xichuan for the time being to avoid being attacked by the Mongols.
The fourth countermeasure is to plan ahead for Xinjin City and Chongqing City. After the disastrous defeat of the Song army in the Battle of Chengdu, there was no news about Pan Tongzhi. But even if Pan Tongzhi led his army back without any damage, it would still be difficult to stop the Mongolian attack. Although the city's defenses were tight, it was difficult to hold on due to lack of food and equipment. We must know that the Mongols not only dominate the world in cavalry and shooting, but also have a large number of Khitans, Hans, Koreans, and Jins in their army, and their siege technology is not inferior to that of the Southern Song Dynasty. Since Xinjin City is surrounded by water on three sides, it can hold on for a while as long as the naval forces are undefeated. Compared with the defeat of the two cities, Ouyang Xuan was more worried about surrendering without a fight. Based on the urine properties of Pan's uncle and nephew, this is definitely a high probability event. The Perak Army will confront the Mongols in the plains, and the navy will be the absolute main force. The Perak Army could not prevent the Pan family's uncles and nephews from surrendering to the Mongols, but they could not tolerate the navy also surrendering to the Mongols. If all the naval forces in Fucheng and Xinjin City surrender to the Mongols, it will definitely be a nightmare for the Perak Army. Fortunately, the Pili Army Navy Camp and the Two Cities Navy were originally from the same family, and the cooperation in the early stage was very harmonious. Especially the navy in Xinjin City had already longed for the Pili Army. The task of winning over the naval forces in the two cities was left to Huang Dagen's naval camp. Ouyang Xuan believed that Le Quan'an, Yu Laodou and Liao Nilu could successfully complete the matter.
After the military and political meeting, Ouyang Xuan retained Li Shuang, Yu Zhu, Cao Ergou, Huang Dagen, Dong Hu, Lu Dezhi and Yang Xiucai. Ouyang Xuan only needs to listen to brief reports from a few people to have a rough grasp of the situation under the rule of the Pili Army. He has full confidence in the future situation. Although there will be a shortage of food in the face of the large number of refugees that have and will soon influx, and there will also be insufficient production capacity in military production, he still has sufficient confidence, but he needs to implement some important issues in detail. However, some issues are confidential and some are very sensitive, so the few people he left behind are the core personnel of the Thunderbolt Army.
The first topic is food. There are currently more than 40,000 people under the rule of the Perak Army. Although strict rationing is implemented, food is already in short supply. If a large number of refugees were to flow in and defeat the army, the gap would obviously be even larger. Fortunately, it is now the summer grain harvest season, and many places in western Sichuan that have suffered less massacres still produce grain. As long as you use iron farm tools and salt, you can definitely get grain. Due to the war, especially the fear of Mongolian cavalry raids, business travel activities are currently extremely depressed, especially overland trade has been cut off. However, the food shortage was imminent, so everyone decided to walk to Jiading Prefecture and Meizhou to exchange for food. In fact, the nearby counties of Qiongzhou, Pengzhou and even Chongqing Prefecture still produce summer grains. However, the summer grain planting areas in these places are not large due to war damage and have not been harvested. Jiading Prefecture and Meizhou have an early harvest season and abundant summer grain. They also use waterways for convenient transportation and are not afraid of being robbed and killed by Mongolian cavalry.
The second topic is artillery production. The Perak Army has more than a dozen types of artillery, divided into fortress artillery, field artillery and naval artillery. The fortress cannon is powerful but bulky, while the navy cannon needs to be suitable for the environment on the ship, can be used in rough weather, and must have waterproof accessories. Field artillery must meet both firepower requirements and mobility, and has the highest requirements on barrel technology. There is no shortage in the production of Pili military iron, but the low yield rate of gun barrels makes it unnecessary to keep up with the production capacity. Due to the central role of Hengyuan Fort in resisting the Mongolian attack, Ouyang Xuan asked the military factory to give priority to the production of the fortress guns and ammunition it needed. The second is the artillery used by naval warships. Although the Mongols do not have a naval force, if a Song Navy naval general surrenders to the enemy and attacks the Pili Army, it will obviously be impossible to gain control of the water surface with the strength of the three companies of the Marine Battalion. As for the number of artillery equipped in the field camps and Huaguo Mountain, they are also insufficient, but it is not a top priority.
The third issue is the fight for the navy in Xinjin and Chongqing Prefecture. Even though there are only a few hundred naval troops in these two cities, they will be easily defeated by the Perak Army or the Mongols on land. But if it is on the water of Chongqing Mansion, it is almost invincible. There is a saying in the Song Dynasty that "three years for the infantry and ten years for the navy", which means that it takes three years for the infantry and ten years for the navy to train a strong army. As a technical branch, no matter whether it is ship construction, water warfare skills, ship handling training, etc., it cannot be completed in a short time. Ouyang Xuan's mission to Huang Dagen was to control Xinjin City even with the use of force if the naval forces of the two cities showed signs of surrendering to the Mongols. As for the navy of Fucheng, they should try their best to fight for it, and if that didn't work, they would also seize its warships. Or scuttled.
