In addition, Zhou Zhiyuan, who failed to succeed in the sneak attack and retreated to Liaodong, continued to harass Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo, Beiliao's main grain production area, making it difficult to maintain Beiliao's logistics supplies. Now that spring plowing has passed, a large area of cultivated land in Liaoyang Prefecture has been abandoned. In addition to the Han people and Bohai people who were good at farming, they were recruited in large numbers by the Northern Liao Dynasty, making Liaodong now obviously short of labor.
Zhou Zhiyuan's continuous intrusions in Liaodong also made the people of Northern Liao in Liaoyang Prefecture panic and had no intention of farming at all. Liaoyang Prefecture is the main farming area of Northern Liao, and is responsible for almost 60% of the food sources of Northern Liao. This year, large areas have been abandoned, and there may be a famine next year. In order to protect the Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo, Beiliao had to urgently remove 30,000 cavalry from the front line and quickly returned to Liaodong.
As for the main force of the Liao army on the front line, due to the prolonged battle and heavy casualties, military morale and morale were also declining rapidly. Especially those tribal troops who were forcibly recruited, because they had been away from home for a long time, they were worried about whether their cattle, horses and livestock had been moved to places with abundant water and grass. I am on an expedition, and now the women, children, and children at home are able to drive the cattle, horses, and livestock to a new nomadic land?
Did those bandits on the grassland take advantage of the situation and rob their own tribes and families? The most important thing is, how are the aquatic plants this year? Can it make the cattle, sheep and horses grow fat and strong? Are there many wolves on the grassland this year? The grassland is prone to disasters, including black and white disasters and wolf disasters in winter. There are droughts in summer, and there are also wolf plagues, but the probability of occurrence is not as frequent as in winter.
There are bandits in the Han areas who dominate the mountains, and there are also bandits on the grasslands who rob homes, cattle, sheep and women. A wolf disaster can leave an entire tribe with no humans or livestock left. In a white disaster, cattle and sheep cannot find dry grass in the thick snow, and it is very likely that they will not survive the winter. The livestock on the grassland all gain weight in the summer when water and grass are plentiful.
Now he was recruited into the tribal army and followed the Khan and the Queen Mother to fight south. If the elderly, women, and children are left at home, can the cattle and sheep be moved to pasture in time? Without strong men, can they deal with the wolves and bandits on the grassland? If he died in the battle, would his family still have someone to take care of him? The long, endless tug-of-war consumed the enthusiasm of all the tribal troops accompanying the army.
Not to mention the ordinary tribal army soldiers, even the clan leaders of the various tribes who followed the war are equally bored now. They sent troops to fight. One of them was under the recruitment order of the Northern Liao Emperor. The second and most critical reason was that they were all counting on making a fortune when they went south. They were plundering several women who were far prettier than the Northern Liao women. The women from the Central Plains went back to be concubines and warm the tents.
But now, these few months have passed, and even the outer line of the Great Wall has not been breached. On the contrary, many young and strong men of his own tribe have been killed and injured. If too many warriors of this tribe were killed or injured, how should I explain it to their families? Who will protect your tribe from now on? Although everyone now respects the Emperor of Liao, fighting between their respective tribes has become much less common.
But a lot less, but not necessarily nothing. If there are too many casualties among the young and middle-aged people of one's own tribe, the women, cattle, sheep, and horses in the tribe will easily attract the prying eyes of surrounding tribes. The tribal army was unstable, and only the regular armies Pishi Army and Gongfen Army of Beiliao were left, which still could not support the overall situation. A large number of Bohai Navy and Han troops were mobilized to follow the army southward, which also greatly affected the farming of Northern Liao.
Yu Mingyuan asserted in the memorial that under the circumstances that the front line of Yanshan Prefecture was invincible, the Bei Liao army would probably have to withdraw in one month at most. Yu Mingyuan has sent people secretly to Liaodong via waterway to find Zhou Zhiyuan's troops, and ordered them to withdraw to Jizhou by waterway. Yu Mingyuan also asked for instructions, asking the imperial court to mobilize ships from the Shandong Navy to Suzhou, Liaodong, to bring back Zhou Zhiyuan's troops.
Otherwise, once all the Northern Liao troops withdraw north, Zhou Zhiyuan may be in danger. Except for some of the troops and horses collected from Tubo in Qingtang, the rest of the troops and horses under Zhou Zhiyuan's command were all elites from the Xijing camp and the northwest frontier army. If the entire army is destroyed in Liaodong, or if the losses are too great, it will be detrimental to the court. However, after retreating by land, the center was bound to face interceptions from the Beiliao cavalry along the way.
It would be too dangerous to retreat by land. Yu Mingyuan made a clear report in the memorial. In the prison of Yanshan Prefecture, he found several smugglers who were traveling to Northern Liao and Goryeo by sea. After the interrogation, it was found that they could move from the coastal roads of Beiliao Tokyo Road to avoid the pursuit and interception of Beiliao cavalry to the greatest extent. If you go ashore along the coast of Jizhou, the distance is also very close.
Although there are no ports along the coast of Jizhou, there are many places along the coast where the water is not deep and you can directly wade ashore. Now the only thing missing from the transfer of Zhou Zhiyuan's troops is a ship that can transport them. In Yanshan Prefecture, although he had raised a number of ships by capturing smugglers, if he wanted to transport all the more than 10,000 men and horses under Zhou Zhiyuan's command, those ships were still too far behind.
After reading Yu Mingyuan's memorial, Huang Qiong couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Sure enough, talents are talents wherever they go. Yu Mingyuan was a typical cavalry general, and he was able to think of retreating by sea. This was undoubtedly a pretty good suggestion. Even if a few boats overturned during the retreat, the loss would be much less than when retreating by land and having to face Beiliao interceptions along the way.
Standing up, Huang Qiong walked to the rough map of Northern Liao hanging next to the complete map of the Emperor of Qi in Wende Hall. The fingers were on the coast of Beiliao Tokyo Road and Zhongjing Road. The fingers kept moving, and the inside of the head was also spinning rapidly. Withdrawing from the Liaodong Peninsula to Jizhou via sea route, the straight-line distance is not far. If we evacuate from Northern Liaochen Prefecture or even Jinzhou, we will be closer to the coast of Jizhou.
After pondering for a long time, Huang Qiong returned to the imperial court, picked up his pen and wrote secret instructions in Mingyuan. Huang Qiong meant that Zhou Zhiyuan should not retreat via Suzhou. Suzhou is surrounded by coasts on three sides, and is connected to the hinterland of Bei Liao behind by only a peninsula. Once something unexpected happens, the army hanging outside will have no way out. It is better to choose Beiliao Tokyo Road, Chenzhou on the southern coast, or Jinzhou further to the west.
In the memorial, Huang Qiong directly told Yu Mingyuan that he did not need to worry about the fleet and that he would take care of this matter. The problem now is that before Zhou Zhiyuan retreats, he has to hold on to the main force of Beiliao on the front line. Second, tell Zhou Zhiyuan that the court will mobilize as many ships as possible. But if there are really not enough ships, then all the horses will be abandoned. In a word, as long as people come back safely, it will be fine.
At the end of the secret book, Huang Qiong gave Yu Mingyuan a very high evaluation of his long-term vision and my heartfelt comfort. Before putting down the pen, Huang Qiong hesitated for a moment and added a sentimental saying that if you live up to me, I will definitely never let you down. After sending out the book, Huang Qiong immediately picked up a pen and wrote a personal and secret letter to Ma Rui, who was in the capital to report to him the caravan's income last year.
He was asked to rush back to Dengzhou immediately, pull out all the fleets that were originally trading with Korea and Japan, as long as they were in the port, and mobilize them all to Chenzhou in northern Liaoning or Jinzhou to stand by at sea. As for the mobilization, it is now in such a state of decay that ships cannot even leave the open sea. Even if the Shandong Road Navy, who was wandering along the coast of Shandong Road and had a lot of troubles, went to respond, Huang Qiong never considered it at all.
It has been more than ten days since Ma Rui came to Beijing this time, although Huang Qiong did not summon him publicly. But more than once, I had a secret conversation with Ma Rui in private. Ma Rui is still in the capital and has not had time to return to Jinan. It's just that he is in the palace and it is not convenient to summon him at this time. Now that he was leaving the palace, he was stared at by the frightened Situ Huanshuang and several others. Therefore, we can only contact Ma Rui through secret messages.
However, after reviewing Yu Mingyuan's secret document, Huang Qiong wrote a secret edict to Yu Mingyuan himself. Regarding this secret order, Huang Qiong asked Yu Mingyuan, if he strengthened at least 20,000 cavalry, would he be sure to launch a full-scale counterattack when the Liao army retreated? If we can counterattack, how many more troops will be needed? It's just that it didn't directly say how many troops would be needed to destroy Liao.
After putting down his pen, sealing the secret decree in person and sending it out, Huang Qiong didn't show it in his expression, but he was extremely happy in his heart. Yu Mingyuan on the northern front, Cao Rui on the southern front, as well as Zhao Wusha, Ouyang Shan, etc. who he boldly employed. These young generals performed extremely well and lived up to their original expectations. At first, seemingly inadvertently, he adjusted the deployment of a group of military attachés.
Looking at it now, it has played a key role, even the role of the sea-fixing needle. Especially Guo Chen, who was transferred to Huguang South Road as the military envoy, all the elites from the imperial court were concentrated on Jiangnan West Road. With a group of old and weak soldiers, he held back the rebel army of more than 100,000 people. Although most of Huguang South Road was lost, the rebels' only route from Huguang South Road to Huguang North Road was held.
Although his military exploits may not seem as outstanding as Cao Rui's, he is no worse than anyone else. On this battlefield, it is natural that some people want to eat bones and some want to eat meat. Guo Chen has been eating bones, but he has never complained. Huang Qiong was also sighing in his heart. Although he also issued an imperial edict and conferred the title of earl on Guo Chen, he still could not fully compensate for Guo Chen's efforts.
From Guo Chen, Huang Qiong also thought that the lower-level military attachés exposed during the counter-insurgency were mainly due to the lack of qualified military attaches. When they went to the battlefield, they promoted a group of veterans. After some hesitation, Huang Qiong put a pen on a piece of paper and wrote the words "Wu Guozijian". For thousands of years in China, why have there been not only Imperial Colleges and Imperial Colleges, but also well-known academies in various places?
But he had never considered setting up Wu Guozijian, which was the military academy in his previous life. There are many reasons. One is the family tradition of having many military attachés, and the experience of fighting on the battlefield is passed down in the family. That is to say, more emphasis is placed on actual combat experience, but not too much emphasis on inheritance in books. Those military attache families are not willing to hand over their experience.
At the same time, military attaches are different from civilian officials. Military attaches have to go to the battlefield when necessary. Compared with civilian officials who have a more stable life and have greater power at the same level, promotion to military attachés has to be paid for with blood. A good man should not be a soldier, and a good man should not hammer nails. This has been passed down through the ages. What's more, the only people who can serve as military attachés and Imperial Academy teachers are those who are currently serving as military attaches. And the people behind these military attaches?
To be precise, the family behind them will be even more taboo for the court. Civil servants are extremely powerful and form cliques for personal gain, but they do not have military power in their hands. Without soldiers, there is no strength to rebel. But military attaches, especially senior military attaches, are different. They already have a certain prestige in the military and have passed through their old troops, so they actually have a certain degree of strength. What if we add to this the relationship between disciples?
Then this is too great a threat to the imperial power. This is also an issue that emperors of all dynasties have never considered setting up Wu Guozijian, which is also a military academy. However, with the widespread spread of firearms, relying solely on experience passed down from generation to generation is no longer suitable for the army after a large number of firearms are used. If you really want to set up the Wu Guozijian and ensure the imperial court's control over military power, this will be a serious test of your skills.
