Chapter 1178: Huo Qubing surprises Zhi County
Zhenbeiguan fell, 300,000 yuan of Mongolian cavalry went south, and the Hetao was in danger.
Among the generals Qin Hao summoned this time, although Li Jing and Meng Tian joined the Jin army, they could not win the final victory because of this, and Qin Hao would not put all his hopes on them.
Rescue Wang Mang as soon as possible, unify the division, and then rush to the aid of Hetao to completely drive Yuan Meng out of the country. This is what Qin Hao wants to do most urgently.
When Wang Mang and Yang Lin joined forces before, Qin Hao was afraid of turning Sizhou into a scorched earth, so he considered the issue of unifying Sizhou from the safest perspective.
Now that Yang Lin is dead, Yuwen Chengdu has surrendered, and the allied forces of the southern princes are now alone.
All the unfavorable conditions have been eliminated, and Qin Hao no longer has as many worries as before, so he naturally wants to deal with Wang Mang as soon as possible, unify the two states, and then go to help the Hetao.
Although the 150,000 allied forces of the Bingzhou princes suffered repeated setbacks in the battles with the Qin army, the number of casualties exceeded 50,000. However, due to Wang Mang's forcible expansion of the army, the number recovered to 130,000.
The forces that the Qin army could use to deal with the Southern Alliance were: Su Lie's army of 25,000, Xue Rengui's army of 15,000, and Bai Qi's army of 65,000, for a total of more than 105,000.
The strength of the Bingnan Army was still superior to that of the Qin Army, but its combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the Qin Army.
Su Lie and Xue Rengui had previously defeated the 130,000 coalition forces with heavy casualties with an army of 50,000. Now that the Qin army had a full 100,000 troops at its disposal, how could the Southern coalition be their opponent.
The 100,000 elite Qin army can already overwhelm the 130,000-strong Southern Allied Forces, but if Qin Hao wants to rush to the aid of Hetao as soon as possible, he must solve it in the shortest possible time.
The fighting power of the Bingnan Allied Forces is indeed not good, but if they rely on the city to defend, they can still delay the Qin Army for a few months, but Qin Hao does not want to waste several months with Wang Mang.
If it really takes a few months, I'm afraid even the day lilies will be cold in Hetao. Therefore, Qin Hao wants to completely solve the alliance with the Southern Alliance within a month, and if he wants to achieve this strategic goal, he cannot rely on the current military strength alone, so he must Just expand the army again.
Even if the new soldiers were recruited, they would not have time to train. Without training, they would not be able to form combat capabilities. Therefore, the Liang Army prisoners of war became a ready source of soldiers, and Yuwen Chengdu was naturally the most suitable leader.
Yuwen Chengdu is second only to Li Yuanba in popularity among the Liang army. He was originally the chief general of the 40,000 Liang army in Yewang City, and the Hedong Liang army brought by Yang Lin was only 10,000. As long as Yuwen Chengdu is willing, he can take Yang's place at any time. Forest.
Therefore, only Yuwen Chengdu could restore these prisoners of war to combat effectiveness and reorganize them into an army in the shortest possible time.
With Yuwen Chengdu's character and temperament, he would never betray Qin Hao, so Qin Hao could be 100% assured that these 40,000 prisoners of war would be handed over to Yuwen Chengdu.
"General Chengdu, I wonder how long it will take you to reorganize these 40,000 prisoners of war?" Qin Hao asked.
After Yuwen Chengdu thought for a while, he said in a deep voice: "Eight days."
In order for these 40,000 prisoners of war to rebel, the organization had to be disrupted and reorganized, and the diehard elements of the Liang army had to be screened. Such a large workload only took eight days, which was already very fast, but Qin Hao was not satisfied with this.
"It's too long. I only give you five days. Once the time is up, the 40,000-strong army must arrive on the battlefield."
After hearing this, Yuwen Chengdu thought for a long time, then gritted his teeth and said, "No."
Seeing this, Qin Hao nodded with satisfaction. This person still needs to be pushed. If he doesn't push, he will never know where his limit is.
"Now that Zhenbeiguan has fallen, 300,000 yuan has entered the Hetao, so we must deal with Wang Mang as soon as possible, so that we can go to support the Hetao in time. For this reason, I, the military advisor and the governor, discussed together to come up with a solution in the shortest time. A plan to encircle and annihilate the Confederate Army from within.”
At this point, Qin Hao glanced at Liu Bowen and Bai Qi below, and said, "Grand Governor, it will be up to you to explain the march plan."
"promise."
Under the expectant gaze of the generals, Bai Qi slowly walked to the big map and said: "The Southern Alliance still has 130,000 troops in Sizhou. Chen Qingzhi leads 30,000 troops in Hedong, Wang Mang leads 80,000 troops in Hanoi, and the other two Ten thousand troops were divided into various cities.
If our army wants to completely solve the Allied Forces in the shortest possible time, it must directly attack the enemy's weakness, and the biggest weakness of the Allied Forces in the South is food and grass. "
With that said, Bai Qi pointed to a county in the northwest region of Hanoi on the map, closest to the Yellow River ferry, and said in a deep voice: "Zhi County is unremarkable on the surface, but according to accurate information, there is a grain depot for the Southern Allied Forces here.
Although Yang Jian had stopped assisting Wang Mang with grain and grass, all the grain and grass he had previously aided Wang Mang had been transported to Zhi County via the Yellow River. Although Wang Mang had consumed most of it, Zhi County still had enough grain and grass to consume the Southern Allied Forces for a month. "
"That means that as long as Zhi County is captured, the food reserves of the Southern Alliance Army will be reduced by one month?" Ran Min asked excitedly, and the other generals were also very excited.
A month's grain storage is nothing to the Qin army. Even if it is destroyed, it can be replenished from other places, but it is fatal to the southern coalition army.
The Binnan Alliance Army has been short of food since its expansion. After all, the foundation of the four Binnan counties is too weak, and Wang Mang's steps are too big, so it is inevitable that he will be in trouble.
Wang Mang is also really powerful. This kind of almost unsolvable problem was temporarily alleviated by him banging his hammer here and there, but it was only a relief and could not fundamentally solve the problem.
After Yang Jian cut off the relief food for Wang Mang, Wang Mang's life became more and more difficult. He could only make ends meet by raiding aristocratic families and borrowing food from Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng.
What Wang Mang hopes most now is that Li Shimin can overthrow Yang Jian as soon as possible. Once Yang Jian falls, Li Shimin will provide him with relief food, and the situation will naturally be much better by then.
Wang Mang didn't know that Qin Hao had already laid a decisive blow for him, and he might no longer be able to wait for Li Shimin's rescue food.
Bai Qi had already said this, and all the generals naturally understood that the next plan was to attack Zhi County by surprise, so they all asked the lord Qin Hao to fight.
"Stop arguing."
As soon as Qin Hao said this, all the generals did not dare to say anything and waited quietly for the lord to order a general, but they did not expect that this time the lord would choose him.
"Where is Huo Bing (Huo Qubing's name in this life)?" Qin Hao asked in a deep voice.
Huo Qubing never expected that the Lord would choose him. After all, he had no record or qualifications. It would probably take several years for him to get the chance to lead the army alone, so he stood at the bottom of the generals as usual.
When he saw that the people around him were looking at him, Huo Qubing couldn't help but feel a little confused, and thought to himself: What are these people looking at me for?
The younger brother Huo Jun, who was standing behind Huo Qubing, pushed the older brother in front of him hard and whispered: "Brother, the master is calling you."
Huo Qubing couldn't help being shocked when he heard this. He looked up and met his master's teasing eyes. He immediately stood up and clasped his fists and said, "The general is here."
"Huo Bing, I ordered you to lead a surprise attack on Zhi County with 10,000 cavalry. Is there any problem?"
Huo Qubing couldn't help but open his mouth when he heard this. He knew that his chance had come, and he immediately suppressed the ecstasy in his heart and said loudly: "I will definitely live up to my lord's trust."