Chief Zhang said frustrating words when he came up, so that no one could react. When they reacted, they didn't know where to come from for advice.
After a while, it was Li Ding who came to him with a frown: "What do you mean by fighting in vain? Are you afraid that there will be too many casualties and the gain will not be worth the loss?!"
"It's useless." Zhang Xing opened his hands in response. "What's the use of destroying the Imperial Army?"
"It can increase your prestige." Li Ding said seriously. "The destruction of the Forbidden Army is enough to frighten the world. They will take everything north of the Huai River, including Huainan, and even the south of the Yangtze River. In fact, including Xue Changxiong of Hebei, Sima Zheng of the Eastern Capital, and even Bai Hengqiu of Guanxi, most of the princes in the world are from the Forbidden Army. Knowing that the soldiers and horses are powerful, they will also be frightened once the forbidden army is defeated. On the other hand, from now on, the Dragon Army will have confidence to face any soldiers and horses... In addition, it can also contain Reducing some of the elites, the Deposed Dragon Gang has fifty-six barracks. When the troops are replenished, there will be more than 100,000 people. If we reduce it to 20,000 to 30,000, we can completely control it."
There was silence for a moment, but I don't know whether it was because he was not used to discussing with Li Ding or was shocked by Li Ding's remarks.
"Why is it so easy? As I said, we may not win the battle. We are really afraid that the casualties will outweigh the losses." After a while, Zhang Xing came to refute. "I have been calculating since I came back from Xuzhou. Compared with us, their top combat power may be the same, but their mid-level and lower-level combat capabilities are stronger! And they are returning to the army, and they are bastards who want to go home. They will all work hard.”
"But even if you don't want to fight, they will burn, kill and loot all the way, rushing into Liangjun, Jiyin, Dongjun, and Xingyang. What about you? Sit back and watch them eat up your earliest base? Seize Luokou Granary Leave?" Li Ding continued to add.
"The goods in Luokou Warehouse can be completely distributed like those in Liyang Warehouse. The remaining grain in Liyang Warehouse can also be transferred to the rear for scattered placement." Zhang Xing replied calmly. "It can be regarded as a strong wall and a clear field."
"Deceiving yourself..." Li Ding sneered.
"The key is Dongdu, and the premise is Dongdu." Xie Minghe suddenly interrupted. "No matter what, we must find out what's going on in Dongdu..."
"Yes, if Sima Zheng cooperates with the Forbidden Army, it will be a big trouble. At that time, he will either divide his troops or risk being flanked by them in a decisive battle... You will know it if you look at Sima Zheng's seizure of the Eastern Capital and his previous instigation of rebellion against our Langya County. , this man is not confused when fighting, and he is decisive and dares to bet; there is no shortage of people in the Forbidden Army who have been fighting all their lives, and now they are going home, so they will not delay things." Xiong Bonan also looked embarrassed early on. .
"There is another difficulty here." Xu Shiying also took over. "That's what happens in Dongdu. We must test it, but no matter what the result of the test is, we must be ready for war; and we must consider the time difference. When testing Dongdu, we must make preparations immediately... After all, the main purpose is to deal with Yes, it’s still the Jiangdu Forbidden Army.”
"This is the truth." Li Ding smiled slightly. "We must be prepared for war no matter what. Whether and how to fight is another matter."
"Then no matter what, I still have to go to Dongdu." Xie Minghe came to a conclusion and gave himself a task. "I'll go over and find out Sima Zheng's background and attitude."
Everyone looked at Zhang Xing, but the latter did not say a word and did not know what he was thinking.
"Going east is inevitable, but judging from these discussions, the most important thing now is to reorganize the troops and restore combat effectiveness." Seeing this, Dou Lide turned away. "At the turn of spring and summer, there are old grains in storage. There should be enough grain and grass, but what about the soldiers and ordnance?"
"There are enough weapons." Chen Bin narrowed his eyes and said. "There are some surplus supplies in Wuyang County. There are also many left over when the Dongdu Army collapsed. There are also some groceries that can be used for ordnance in Liyangcang and Luokou Cang on the battlefield."
"But in order to repair and organize, the loss of military horses cannot be made up for..." Dou Lide reminded.
"The main thing that can't be replaced is the soldiers." Chen Bin interrupted the other party slightly irritably. "If the soldiers can keep up, the repair and arrangement of ordnance can also keep up. Our large iron workshop in Jiangling, the tannery workshop in Dengzhou, and the large military clothing workshop in Jiyin have not been affected, and the craftsmen have also protected it well... Chief, thank you for your hard work." Isn’t that what we’re doing by holding on from the front?”
"I would like to ask, how many people are there?" Compared to Zhang Gongshen, the more calm person in charge of the Ordnance and Horse Department, Bing Yuan, the new person in charge of the Household Department, stood up from the outer circle and asked, obviously anxious.
"Thirty thousand, and we will need 30,000 reserve troops later." Xu Shiying blurted out. "If we really fight, the civilian husband will also need it."
"If you don't mention it as a civilian, you can prepare troops by using the method of field troops." Dou Lide reminded.
"A lot of the soldiers from Wuyang County can be transferred out." Yuan Baocun also quickly agreed.
"Wuyang County can't do it. The soldiers of Wuyang County need to form two battalions, Mang Jingang and Yuan Gong, and the rest must be demobilized quickly. This time, Wuyang's spring plowing has been delayed. Even if they go back to plant some vegetables, it will be good. ." Wei Xuanding immediately rejected the other party's suggestion.
"Trenching soldiers can't do it either." Chen Bin also rejected Dou Lide's suggestion. "The soldiers in the field have also delayed production. They also need to replant and select some to lay the foundation for Han Erlang's new camp."
"Things should be divided into urgent and non-urgent matters." Dou Lide insisted. "According to Manager Chen's wishes, it's hard to recruit new soldiers here in Hebei!"
"The garrison troops can start heading south later." Zhang Xing suddenly interrupted the argument among several people. "Thirty thousand soldiers must come out from Henan as much as possible."
"Four battalions of defense troops are also needed in Dengzhou..." Cheng Zhili reminded quickly.
"Li Shu still has some soldiers there." Shan Tonghai mentioned another thing. "He was recruited in Luokou warehouse according to the establishment of four battalions. If we count on convenience, our two new battalions, plus the supplement of the participating battalions, can handle it on their own..."
"Then the soldiers will be fine." Upon hearing this, Bing Yuanzheng made his conclusion without hesitation. "The six counties in Henan have actually avoided this battle. They just ignored Dengzhou. Each county can afford five thousand. But in terms of time, I can only say that we can rush as fast as we can, but I can't guarantee... "
"Of course it is." The red sun shone on him, Zhang Xing sat there and looked at it quietly, he couldn't help but sigh. "The situation has changed too quickly, and our Daxingtai has been too hasty. Even this kind of information has been collected temporarily. It's really like a wild world... Mr. Zhang, is the Wei Dynasty also in such a mess?"
"The imperial court of the Wei Dynasty had a complete set of documents and issued orders and prohibitions. As a result, the whole country was conquered by conscription and corvee service." Zhang Shizhao twirled his beard and said with a smile. "As for the Daxingtai, no matter how hastily it is, we have to build it. If we don't build it, we won't even be able to gather this kind of information, and we don't know who to hand over the matter and who to coordinate. As I say, now there are ways to recruit soldiers and ordnance. , it’s pretty good. As for the date, there’s really nothing we can do about it because it’s not decided by us. We just try our best..."
"That's the truth." Zhang Xing also smiled.
Zhang Shizhao paused and continued to smile: "Actually, everyone in Dongdu, everywhere in Hebei, Guanxi, and Jiangdu should not worry too much. We work hard, we are troublesome, and we are in a hurry. We make it sound like they are not working hard. No trouble, no rush... You are all heroes, don't belittle yourselves."
This was said for everyone to hear, and it seemed that Zhang Xing was reminded to say it to comfort people, but it didn't matter. After all, it was Mr. Zhang who had his identity as a guarantee. Everyone believed it, and the atmosphere did relax a lot.
"Let me be more specific, for example Dongdu." At this point, Zhang Shizhao looked at Xie Minghe and others. "As for Dongdu, firstly, it will take time for Sima Erlong to consolidate and control Dongdu and Huaixi, and he may not be able to expand and contract properly and dispatch troops calmly; secondly, since Sima Zheng has gone to Dongdu, he will join forces with Dongdu. , in essence, Cao Lin called him to be his successor because he wanted to be a loyal minister of the Wei Dynasty. As a result, his father and his uncle killed the emperor and the king of Qi, and they will probably kill the newly established king of Zhao soon. How to explain to Cao Lin's old men in Dongdu? Even if both sides are relatives, it's difficult! So, the troubles there are really no less than us. As for the Jiangdu Forbidden Army, the regicides, internal strife and external troubles, as far as I know, where in Jiangdu live? It's fine, but once it starts moving, the food will definitely not last long, and they will be in more trouble."
Xie Minghe nodded in approval.
"It's not just that." Zhang Xing also interjected. "What I have thought about is that when Sima Zheng entered the Eastern Capital, it would be a big flaw to let Wang Daiji serve as the general manager of Huaixi... If the Jiangdu Forbidden Army did not come, he would be the actual number two figure in the Eastern Capital Army; but when the Imperial Army entered the Eastern Capital In the capital, Wang Daiji can only work diligently as a subordinate of the Eastern Capital. He is afraid that he will be squeezed out by others in the entire Eastern Capital Army and cannot even stand in Huaixi... I will contact him personally."
Everyone's hearts moved slightly.
Xie Minghe also relaxed a little... In fact, his tension today, including his conservativeness and strictness in today's resolutions, was essentially because he was worried about the Jiangdu Forbidden Army... Don't forget, he was kicked out of his hometown by the Jiangdu Forbidden Army!
Others don't know how powerful the Jiangdu Forbidden Army is, but he does; while others are still immersed in the end of the Hebei War, Li Shu being brought back, and the establishment of the Daxingtai, he just wants to end this side quickly so that he can deal with the Forbidden Army. .
Chen Bin, on the other hand, although as a southerner also attaches great importance to the Jiangdu Forbidden Army, today, including the tension before, he is somewhat worried about his future.
"Wang Daiji is really a flaw." Li Ding frowned slightly and raised his hand in approval as Wang Jiulang's old colleague for ten years. "What about fighting in Huaixi? Can we lure the Imperial Army there?"
"It's best to start from the Huaihe River." Zhang Xing responded seriously. "I made arrangements when I came... I hope it will have some effect."
As he said that, he brought out his ideas and some small arrangements.
To be honest, this strategy has not been universally recognized by everyone, but the problem is that for the Deposed Dragon Gang, the two biggest problems with this wave of Jiangdu Forbidden Army are that they are not arguing about the results now. "; The other is that conflicts intensify very quickly... He didn't appear suddenly, it was the inevitable result of Cao Lin's death. Of course, it was connected with the war that just ended, leaving no breathing room for the Deposed Dragon Gang. Machine... From this point of view, it is good enough for Zhang Xing to come up with a countermeasure in that situation.
In fact, after listening to Zhang Xing's arrangements, the core members of the Deposed Dragon Gang who participated in the meeting were generally more energetic, so that the ensuing discussion did not have such a strong smell of firecrackers and charcoal.
In this way, after continuing to discuss recruitment, ordnance repair, diplomatic efforts, troop allocation, tactical selection, and battlefield selection, there is still a basic question posed among the senior leaders of the Deposed Dragon Gang.
By this time, it was completely dark.
"Then let me make the decision! It means active defense and active weakening!" Zhang Xing hesitated for a moment, but firmly gave the final strategy. "Let's try our best to lead him to the west from Liangjun and let them go from northwest Huaihe to avoid a formal large-scale battle; but on the other hand, if their army loses control or they just want to attack our core territory, we will have to We must be resolutely prepared for battle, but we still do not pursue a decisive battle. Instead, we must use strong walls to clear the country and delay consumption in layers to find opportunities to kill some of the effective forces and force them to quickly flee to the East Capital... To put it bluntly, they can be allowed to return to the East Capital, but If they dare to provoke us, or really leave our core territory, then we will skin them and cut off their limbs if necessary! Otherwise, the world will think that our Deposed Dragon Gang is really afraid of them."
Under the torch, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Things are what they are, and someone always needs to make the decision.
"The reason why we allow them to go back is because we need to seriously consider the diplomatic and military positioning of the Eastern Capital." Zhang Xing explained briefly. "Just because Dongdu is right in front of us, we can't just think about eating it in one go. A nail-like Dongdu not only puts a knife in our throats, but also puts Kansai in the throat... I think our best strategy is to hold Dongdu back. , I don’t expect to be friends with them, but I can’t let them turn to Kansai; I don’t let them become strong, and I don’t let them weaken to the point of weakness... Only in this way can we gain time and opportunities to control Hebei, the Eastern Territory, and even the Beidi and Jianghuai are here to exert force. In short, before we have an absolute strategic advantage, Dongdu is our best chess piece to suppress the forces of Bai Hengqiu and Guanlong."
To be fair, not everyone present had thought of this, but not many. Therefore, many people were suddenly surprised when they heard Chief Zhang's words.
"If that's the case, then let's do it!" After thinking for a moment, Xiong Bonan was the first to express his support. "Chief, give orders and assign tasks!"
"Can."
"Listen to Third Brother."
"Listen to the chief."
"I don't agree with Chief Zhang, and I think we should be severely beaten. But since the discussion is undecided, it is natural that Chief Zhang should take the lead. For the time being, this will be fine."
"I agree chief."
Chen Bin, Xu Shiying, Wei Xuanding, Dou Lide, Shan Tonghai, Chai Xiaohe and others expressed their stance one after another, and the rest also complied.
Zhang Xing nodded, but was the first to look at Li Ding: "Li Longtou, this is a serious military order. No matter what method you use, whether civil or military, you must go north quickly to defeat Wang Chenkuo, and defeat Feng Wuyi and Zhao The county forces are under control, and then quickly gather the troops to cross the river to join the battle... preferably within half a month... everyone in the gang wants to see what you are capable of!"
"Don't use such small means to provoke me." Li Ding sneered: "But don't worry, since it is a military order, I will obey it."
Zhang Xing nodded and looked at Xie Minghe again: "Old Xie, we have to go to Sima Zheng's place, and we still have to work hard for you. For this matter, just find out his situation and attitude, arrange your spy, and then monitor their movements. But since we have to leave some room with Dongdu, we might as well make more arrangements. We can use the gold and silver with confidence, and we can also reveal our identity as a backup, bury a few more lines, and make a few more friends..."
"Don't worry, we have chess pieces in hand, including the prisoners of Dongdu's defeated army, as well as Duan Wei and the others, they can all be used." Xie Minghe nodded immediately.
Zhang Xing still just nodded, and then nodded to the other two people: "In charge Zhang and Bing, we have just discussed it clearly. Everyone has to be busy, but the matters of ordnance and soldiers are the most urgent and important. You have to work hard... Contact Manager Cao and Manager Huang more often, and if you encounter any problems, go to King Xiongtian and Manager Chen. They are both civil and military and can take the lead."
Zhang Gongshen and Bing Yuanzheng stood up together and said yes.
"There are also Xu Shiying, Wang Shuyong, Xu Shiren, Ma Wei, and Zhang Jinshu. You must work together to make military arrangements and plans, obtain good information, and prepare prepared positions." Zhang Xing continued to give instructions. "As I said before, everyone is optimistic about their titles. Our department is worthy of its name. Whatever it is called, it is responsible for its affairs. The battalion also truly leads the troops. It is a battalion of soldiers. They should do things and lead the troops... ...The Heavenly King needs to handle the matter of rewards and punishments, Mr. Chen. In addition to arresting the boss, you also have to do something else with the Heavenly King."
Before Zhang and Bing could sit down, Xu Shiying, Ma Wei, and Zhang Jinshu stood up and bowed their hands in a serious manner. Wang Shuyong and Xu Shiren also did their part.
At this time, Chen Bin also took the initiative to stand up and salute: "Please give me the chief's instructions."
Before Zhang Xing could speak, Xiong Bonan and Xie Minghe, who had just mentioned their names, stood up in unison and saluted respectfully.
At this time, Chief Zhang had the opportunity to speak: "It's very simple. We need to expand the number of generals, clerks, and soldiers, and make them mobile, going to the camps below, to various ministries, and to all Xingtai counties. We also need to recruit talents from the military and Xingtai counties below and put them into these three water bags... In the future, our own school will be laid out, and the talents selected by the imperial examination and the cultivation base will also be admitted in the future. .”
The second half of the sentence was vaguely addressed to Zhang Shizhao, the Meng Jibu, but in fact he did not mention his name again.
However, there are probably few people in the world who are more discerning than Zhang Shizhao. When he heard that he was involved, he immediately stood up and saluted Zhang Xing respectfully without hesitation: "I have the order."
In the dusk, under the firelight, Li Ding took a long breath and stared at his immediate boss for a few breaths, then finally stood up and turned to Zhang Xing.
At this time, Chief Zhang Xingzhang, who seemed completely unaware of this small detail, had continued to give instructions: "All ministries and places that have not been directly contacted must do their best to cooperate. I will also wait in Liyang for a while, waiting for information. Once you are clear about it, we can go south. Everyone, please go back first. If you have any questions, please come to me at any time. If I’m not here, there are also Mr. Chen, King Xiongtian, and Xu Dalang.”
At this point, all the big bosses and branch managers present stood up and bowed their hands.
Zhang Xing also stood up and took the initiative to return the courtesy.
The crowd then dispersed, Zhang Xing patted Li Ding on the shoulder, and the two of them walked at the end with their arms around each other like a stroller on Dongdu Street. Qin Bao turned around from the stage, holding his hands behind his back as usual in Dongdu.
Before they were completely separated, Li Ding couldn't hold back his embarrassment and smiled bitterly: "I'm not that pretentious, but I really didn't pay attention."
Zhang Xing didn't give up either.
The meeting here finally ended, but Dou Xiaoniang and Su Jingfang had just met on the other side, and Li Shuku was sitting in his residence, but there was no one who came to see him, and he couldn't help but feel a little frustrated.
And just when he was almost desperate, Du Caiqian and Fang Yanlang came together.
