Chapter 2702: Li Jing led four armies to attack Xiliang, a battle with great advantages and wealth
Under Yang Su's persuasion, Yang Guang only sent out 40,000 troops to conquer the Western Regions out of caution. The remaining troops were naturally for defense against the Qin Dynasty, but he still did not think that the Qin Dynasty could conquer the Sui Dynasty at the same time as it conquered the Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains. There is no need to take risks and fight on two fronts if we fight steadily.
How could Yang Guang have thought that the Qin Dynasty would actually make a dangerous move and decide on the east and west fronts and the four kingdoms to start the war at the same time before the war started? Even the destruction of the Sui Dynasty would be preceded by the destruction of the Wei Dynasty.
The Sui Kingdom was weaker than the three Central Plains Kingdoms. Although it had Tubo on the plateau as an ally, it was difficult to get up and down the plateau, and Tubo was not necessarily willing to fight for the Sui Kingdom and the Qin Dynasty.
Therefore, if the Sui State did not know the depth of the Qin Dynasty, as long as they relaxed their vigilance against the Da Qin, if Li Jing launched a surprise attack and blitzed the Sui State with absolute military superiority, Yang Guang would not have much power to fight back.
If Li Jing's plan succeeds, it will be easier to destroy Sui than Wei.
It was precisely because of this that Li Jing was so forbearing and even prepared to send troops six months after the Central Plains War started, just to avoid alerting the enemy and to make Yang Guang put down his vigilance against Da Qin.
But what Li Jing never expected was that Yang Guang would be so impatient that he would send troops to conquer the Western Regions less than two months after the Central Plains War began.
Li Jing was cautious at first, thinking that Yang Guang was testing him, but when the Sui army actually entered the Western Regions, he realized that this was not very testing. After all, the army would not be able to come back after going to the Western Regions for a short time. It is enough to show that Yang Guang is really attacking the Western Regions again.
As soon as this news came out, the generals of the Yongliang Qin Army were excited. After all, the Eighth Route Qin Dynasty in the Eastern Expedition were all making achievements. Only their Yongliang Army was watching from behind, but they were envious. They also wanted to make achievements.
In response to the surging call for battle from the general below, Li Jing just said calmly: "Don't be in a hurry, just wait."
He directly poured a basin of cold water on the enthusiastic generals.
"Grand Governor, you are too cautious, the Sui army has entered the Western Region, what are you waiting for?" Tu Xingsun said impatiently.
Because of his great contribution in the Battle of Hanzhong, Tu Xingsun was named a brigadier general and was considered a senior general in the Qin army, but he was still very eager to make contributions.
It wasn't that he wanted to compete with his fellow disciples, but some of Li Tang's generals were on an equal footing with him, and there were even some who were above him in rank, such as the evil-minded Li Mu.
Tu Xingsun was full of resentment towards Li Mu. It was Li Mu who vowed to introduce Changsun Wuji's daughter to him as his wife, but Tu Xingsun was tempted by beauty and went against Da Qin. Tu Xingsun was excited for this for a long time.
But later Tu Xingsun found out that Changsun Wuji had a higher rank and status than Li Mu, both before and after he surrendered to Qin.
What qualifications does Li Mu have to ask Changsun Wuji, who is higher than him, to marry his daughter to him?
This was nothing at first. With Tu Xingsun's current status, it was not like he couldn't marry a woman, but after being interfered with by Li Mu in this way, he became a surrendered general like Li Mu's eldest son, Sun Wuji.
Although everyone is a general, there are also three, six or nine levels of generals.
After the fall of Li Tang, Li Mu led his army to surrender under the persuasion of Da Qin. He not only lost his loyalty but also preserved his reputation. His status among the surrendered generals was undoubtedly the highest.
Tu Xingsun was a surrendered general who surrendered because he was afraid of death after being defeated and captured alive. He was undoubtedly at the bottom among the surrendered generals.
This made Tu Xingsun feel a little unbalanced. After all, from his perspective, if it weren't for Li Mu, he wouldn't even be a general.
Li Mu had gained all his fame and fortune, but he had been cheated. How could Tu Xingsun let go?
The reason why Tu Xingsun was eager to make great achievements was because he was holding back his anger and did not want to be ridden over his head by the evil-minded Li Mu.
After Li Jing heard Tu Xingsun's words, he didn't say anything. He just looked at Tu Xingsun indifferently. He looked at Tu Xingsun and felt very frightened. He then stepped back with a sneer on his face.
"Although the Sui army has marched into the Western Regions, their numbers are not large. As long as they have not fought with the forces of the Western Regions, they can withdraw at any time. Do the Western Regions Allied Forces still dare to fight and fight to the death to prevent the Sui Army from leaving? So, Just wait." Li Jing said calmly.
As soon as these words came out, all the generals were silent. After all, if the Sui army really retreated, it would be too late for the Western Region Allied Forces to be happy. How could they entangle the Sui army and not let them go?
Moreover, the Sui army did not have many troops for the Western Expedition. Leaving so many troops was obviously to defend against the Qin Dynasty.
If the Yongliang Qin army attacked the Sui Dynasty, the key point would not be how many troops the Sui army sent to march westward, but whether it had let down its guard against the Qin Dynasty.
If the Sui army really let down its guard, even if it only sent out 10,000 troops for the Western Expedition and left the remaining troops on the mainland, it would still not be able to stop the Qin army's offensive.
But if the Sui army did not let down its guard, even if half of the army was used for the Western Expedition, the remaining half of the army could still drag our Qin army into a war of attrition depending on the terrain and the city.
Therefore, no matter how eager the generals of Great Qin are to fight, they can only continue to endure before the time is ripe.
Seven days later, urgent military information came from the Western Regions again. The Western Regions expedition armies of Yang and Li Ji's three families had completely entered the Western Regions and had officially entered into battle with the Western Region Allied Forces.
If the Qin army sent troops at this time, even if Yang Guang ordered the Western Expedition army to retreat immediately, it was obviously too late, but Li Jing still did not order the troops to be sent because he could see that the Sui army was still vigilant.
After the news came back that Gao Changgong had defeated the 30,000-strong army in the Western Region with two thousand Sui troops, Li Jing could clearly feel that the vigilance of the Sui troops had been relaxed for the most part, and the monitoring of Yongliang and the deployment of defenses in various places were not as strict as before. .
Perhaps in their opinion, if the Qin army really came, they should have come long before the army fought with the Western Region Allied Forces, but if they didn't come now, they wouldn't come.
Many people even complained about Yang Su and felt that Yang Su was too cautious. If he had not repeatedly dissuaded him, the Sui State would not have sent only 40,000 troops to the west. If more troops had been sent, I am afraid that the deep meaning of this battle would have been It will be an even bigger victory.
The Qin Dynasty put too much pressure on the Sui State, so the Sui State had always been on a tight string.
The good news of the great victory in the first battle of the Western Expedition made the Sui State relieved from top to bottom, numbing their nerves and greatly reducing their vigilance towards the Qin Dynasty. This was the opportunity Li Jing was waiting for.
Although the Sui State's vigilance dropped greatly, it did not mean that it was not on guard against the Qin Dynasty. However, this was enough. It was impossible for the Sui State to not be on guard against the Great Qin State at all.
As long as the Sui State relaxed its vigilance against the Qin Dynasty, Li Jing would be sure to defeat it in one battle and completely expel the Sui State forces from Xiliang.
The reason why it was expulsion rather than destruction was naturally because the Sui Kingdom's territory in the Western Regions was not small, covering three counties.
If Yang Guang no longer wants Xiliang and Haizhou and shrinks his troops and retreats to the Western Regions, Li Jing will not be able to pursue them. After all, Xiliang and Haizhou are the top priorities.
Even if Li Jing led his army to pursue the Western Regions, he would have to defeat the two dangerous passes of Yangguan and Yumen Pass first. However, these two dangerous passes are located in dangerous places, and after Yang Guang's continuous reinforcement over the years, it will still be very difficult to attack them by force. big.
Therefore, even if Li Jing's plan is successful, it may not be difficult to capture Xiliang and Haizhou, but it will still be difficult to completely destroy the Sui Dynasty.
However, if Xiliang and Haizhou are lost, the Sui Kingdom with only three counties in the Western Regions will remain. Although it has not yet subjugated the country, it is not much different from the subjugation.
"Everyone, the time has come to destroy the Sui Dynasty. It is our Yongliang army's turn to take action."
Hearing Li Jing's words, the generals of Yongliang were very excited.
"Nana, it's finally time. I've long been unhappy with Yang Guang, and I will cut off his head this time to pay homage to Mr. Dong's spirit in heaven."
Hua Xiong said with excitement on his face, and also expressed the thoughts of many generals from the Central Plains Liang clan.
With the death of Dong Zhuo, although the Xiliang Army split into two factions of the Tang and Sui Dynasties, Dong Zhuo's influence was still very great. Generals such as Hua Xiong, Li Jue, Xu Rong, etc. all returned Dong Zhuo's kindness. That's why this happened He was easily won over by Dong Xiaowan.
Generals like Hua Xiong and Xu Rong still remembered Dong Zhuo's kindness, but Dong Zhuo died at the hands of Yang Jian, and Yang Guang was Yang Jian's son, so they naturally didn't like Yang Guang.
If given the chance, he would naturally not mind killing Yang Guang to avenge Dong Zhuo.
Among the former Xiliang generals, only Li Jue still had a certain degree of political consciousness. After hearing Hua Xiong's words, his expression immediately changed, and he quickly interrupted Hua Xiong, who was getting more and more talkative, and winked at him.
"Hua Xiong, shut up."
Seeing Li Jue's expression, Hua Xiong realized that he had made a mistake. He immediately smiled innocently and apologized to Li Jing, but Li Jing did not blame him.
The Western Han Dynasty inherited the pre-Qin Dynasty, and the current Qin Dynasty inherited the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the things Dong Zhuo did were too bad, so it was naturally impossible for the Qin Dynasty to clear Dong Zhuo's name, but it would not regard him as a scourge and not even mention it.
After the generals discussed excitedly, they all looked at Li Jing with burning eyes.
Long Qie asked: "Grand Governor, please give the order quickly. How should this battle be fought?"
"This Western Expedition will dispatch an army of 300,000 troops, divided into four groups and marching simultaneously."
As soon as Li Jing said this, all the generals present were stunned.
The specific number of soldiers and horses in Great Qin is top secret. Except for a few high-level officials, even some generals do not know the specific number, let alone those lieutenant generals, major generals, and even brigadiers.
It is precisely because of such strict confidentiality measures that the four kingdoms of Wei, Song, Ming, and Sui were able to be concealed and misled, making them all think that the main force of the Qin Dynasty had been invested in the Central Plains battlefield and was no longer able to open another front.
Except for the governor Li Jing and the governor Wu Qi, no one else in the Yongliang army knew this secret.
Without knowing it, the Yongliang generals thought that the Western Expedition could only mobilize a maximum of 160,000 to 70,000 troops. However, Li Jing unexpectedly said 300,000 troops, which was nearly 130,000 more than expected. Forty thousand people and horses really shocked everyone.
Tu Xingsun couldn't help but murmured to himself: "Does Great Qin already have so many soldiers and horses?"
The Qin Dynasty has already dispatched 900,000 troops to conquer the three kingdoms of Wei, Song, and Ming in the east. Now it will send out 300,000 troops in the westward expedition, and the number of troops dispatched will reach 1.2 million.
There must be some troops left behind in Da Qin. If we add them all up...
At this thought, many generals, including Tu Xingsun, felt their scalps go numb. This must be too terrifying.
Now they finally understand why His Majesty took risks and started a war with the four kingdoms of Wei, Song, Ming and Sui at the same time, because with the absolute strength, there is not much risk in this tmd.
"Since I joined the Qin Army, I have never fought such a rich battle." Long Qie said with a smile.
You must know that the total military strength of the Sui Kingdom was only 250,000, of which 40,000 were still conquering the Western Regions, and the number of troops left behind in the country was only 210,000.
When the Sui army was lax, the Qin army dispatched 300,000 troops to deal with the 210,000 Sui army. Not only did it take the lead, it also had an absolute military advantage, which was greater than the advantage of attacking Wei on the eastern front.
In fact, even if the Sui State did not relax, Li Jing could still defeat the Sui State with the military strength in his hands. However, considering that the Sui State also had Tibet as an ally, that's why Li Jing was so forbearing, and all he did was to kill with one strike. Give Tibet a chance to rescue the Sui Kingdom.
"Not to mention you, even this governor and Governor Li have never fought such a wealthy battle."
Wu Qi said with a sigh on his face, after all, he would end up in tears if he talked too much.
When he first conquered Japan, Wu Qi only had a total of 3,000 soldiers and horses, but he had to fight in various places and fight several times or even ten times the number of enemy troops. Therefore, he fought every battle with extreme caution, because he had to win the battle. , there can’t be too many casualties, otherwise we won’t be able to continue fighting.
However, it was officially because of those difficult years that Wu Qicai quickly stood out due to his military exploits and became the fastest-promoted official in Da Qin.
(End of chapter)
