On this day, except for Zhang Dinghe, the prefect of Hanoi, who was still on the road, all the other generals were present at the Prince of Qin's Mansion.
In the hall, hundreds of officials including the Six Ministries, Three Stages and Eleven Temples gathered, and Yang Ming presided over the discussion.
Gao Jiong sat at the top on the left side. His appearance undoubtedly boosted everyone's confidence.
As the highest-ranking military elders in Beijing, Shi Wansui and Li Hun were both juniors in front of Gao Jiong. After all, Gao Jiong's military exploits were so high that even Yang Su could not compare to them. This was the only battle he had ever suffered in his life. The defeat was due to the fact that as Marshal Chang Shi, he assisted Han King Yang Liang in attacking Goguryeo.
And everyone who participated in that battle knew that it was not Gao Jiong's fault, because Yang Liang didn't listen to him at all.
The title of Duke of the State is also based on the vassal states in the Spring and Autumn Period. The most noble title of Duke of the Sui Dynasty was the Duke of Qi during the reign of Gao Jiong. It was not until Yang Su's death that he was granted the title of Duke of Chu, a rank lower than Duke of Qi.
During the meeting, Shi Wansui said:
"Tuguhun's cavalry should account for more than 70% of its total strength. The infantry is mostly used to guard the royal city. The royal city is Fuqi (si) City (Gonghe County in eastern Qinghai Province). In addition, there is Qingshui River The five large cities of , Chishui, Chuihe, Tuquzhenchuan, and Fuluochuan are different from those in the Central Plains. When fighting Tuguhun, they should not attack the city, but should find their main force for a decisive battle."
Although Tuguhun was a nomadic nation, under the leadership of the previous Khan Kua Lu, they began to imitate the Sui system and set up a court with princes, servants, ministers and doctors. Although the sparrow was small, it had all the internal organs.
But in fact, the real people in power are the tribal leaders below. The Sui Dynasties are collectively called famous kings. Although they all have their own titles, they will not be recognized by the Central Plains because their titles are such as King of Nanchang, King of Dingcheng, and Zhongliu. King Guangding, King Gaoning, King Zhao, etc. When I heard this, I thought they were the kings of the Sui Dynasty.
Famous kings may be large or small, depending on the size of their tribe, ranging from a few thousand households to tens of thousands.
One characteristic of nomadic people is that they live in pursuit of water and grass. Although Tuguhun has begun large-scale farming and even has many smelting mines, they still cannot live without water and grass.
Therefore, by attacking Tuguhun and walking along the river, you can definitely find their main force, because they have no logistics troops, and their logistics is nature.
Gao Yan still agreed with Shi Wansui's point of view. After all, Shi Wansui had more experience in foreign wars than him, but he still put forward a different opinion:
"The main force of Tuguhun is the cavalry, which uses its mobility to gallop in the wilderness and appear and disappear. However, Taiping Gong said that there is no need to attack the city, but I don't agree very much. I think that our elite cavalry of the Great Sui Dynasty should be used to drive in and besiege Their royal city is Fuqi City, and the enemy armies from all sides will come to rescue them. We can divide them and attack them, which is easier than searching for the enemy's main force in the wilderness."
His strategy was to encircle the area and call for reinforcements, which would save him time in searching for the whereabouts of the main forces in Tuguhun. After all, they were all cavalry and would come and go without a trace.
Shi Wansui frowned and said: "As soon as the war begins, Murong Fuyun will definitely lead his troops outside. We besiege his royal city, and the other party may not be fooled."
Gao Jing said: "If he doesn't come to rescue us, then we will take advantage of the situation and capture Fuqi City. The main force of our Sui Dynasty is the infantry. It is safer to defend the city and fight than to be attacked by most of the enemy troops outside."
"This strategy is feasible," Yang Ming nodded and said: "Tuguhun knows that our main force is the infantry, and they must use their strengths to attack our weaknesses. Combining the conditions of both sides, it is very necessary for us to capture some city fortresses as For a stronghold, we must find a place to stay for supplies to the rear.”
"Soldiers are expensive and fast. When fighting against cavalry, the enemy will be surprised. We don't need too many supplies," Shi Wansui said. "We will grab wherever we hit. As long as we walk along the river, we won't have to worry about having a place to eat."
Gao Jong smiled bitterly and said: "What we want to destroy is the king of Tuguhun, not the people of Tuguhun. If you eat all their food, what will they eat? Even if Tuguhun is destroyed by then, we will not be able to stand there. stable."
Shi Wansui was stunned and said: "I understand what Dugu Gong means. I know that after conquering Fan State, counties will be established in the local area in the future to consolidate the territory. However, we can just move people with misdemeanors from the Central Plains to cultivate farmland. Why rely on them?"
Yang Ming explained: "Four words are enough to sum it up, and it is not adapted to the local environment."
"This is exactly the reason," Gao Jiong said: "Even if the Sui people migrated there, without the help of the local Hu Xiyi, it would be extremely difficult to adapt. The integration of Hu and Han is a century-old plan."
"I understand, just like I had diarrhea as soon as I arrived in the south, it's the same reason," Shi Wansui laughed roughly.
Everyone in the hall also joined in the fun.
Yang Ming nodded: "For the time being, we will use Dugu Gong's policy as the general direction. We will discuss the specific matters with Pei Ju when we get there."
The royal city of Tuguhun was located in the easternmost part of Tuguhun, bordering the Xiping County of the Sui Dynasty. This place was often invaded by Tuguhun and belonged to the Sui Dynasty in name. However, the control of the Sui Dynasty over the local area was actually very small.
During the Kaihuang period, this place was called Shanzhou, and its governance was located in Huangshui County. At that time, the Sui Dynasty had absolute control over Shanzhou, because when Kualu Khan was in power, he made a deal with Yang Jian.
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His son Murong He was afraid of being killed by Kua Lu, and he and the famous king Tuoba Mumi wanted to move their tribe inland to the Sui Dynasty, but Yang Jian did not agree, so Kua Lu took the initiative to give up Shanzhou as a reward.
After Yang Jian's death, the fragile agreement disappeared, and Tuguhun began to invade Shanzhou. However, because there was also a Huangshui County under the control of the Sui Dynasty, when the local administration was reformed, it was named Xiping County. Prefect, worse than a county magistrate, is an absolute hard job.
The troops were sent from here, only five hundred miles away from the royal city of Tuguhun. There were four large rivers in the radius, Huangshui, Changningchuan, Niuxinchuan, and Haoqian (wei)chuan, so there were destined to be many tribes living here.
According to Gao Jiong's plan, it is not easy to send troops from here and march straight in.
Li Hun felt relaxed because he had no errands to do. Of course, his self-esteem was somewhat hurt.
After all, the fact that he is not on Yang Ming's roster shows that Yang Ming is not optimistic about him.
However, people who have reached his status are very thick-skinned, so he doesn't care. What he cares about is that Yang Ming transferred his right Xiaowei away, and the full quota was transferred, 24,000 people, plus an eldest grandson. become.
The original plan was to remove 50,000 people from Guanzhong, but in the end, his Right Xiaowei accounted for half of them, and then Yang Ming also asked him to take charge of all the military offices in the Jingzhao area.
How do I lead? I've become a polished commander.
Li Hun felt helpless when he was given power in name but in reality, so he hoped that Yang Ming could express his position in front of so many people, who would he lead?
"The army has been mobilized, Guanzhong is empty, and His Highness has entrusted ministers with important responsibilities. I wonder who is the consul under his command?" Li Hun asked.
Yang Ming knew what he was thinking, so he smiled and said: "The prestige of Duke Tan is enough, why do you need others to assist you?"
As he said that, Yang Ming looked into the hall: "When I am not in Beijing, all the military offices in Beijing and Zhao are under the jurisdiction of Duke Xi. Anyone who dares to disobey the orders will be killed!"
After saying that, more than twenty generals immediately stood up and said in unison:
"The last general takes command!"
At this moment, Li Hun felt relieved. He had one military mansion and one master. He could manage You Xiaowei, but he couldn't control others. If Yang Ming kept silent, it would be difficult to control those people.
At this time, Yang Ming looked at Yang Xiong again and said with a smile:
"According to His Majesty's decree, although the King of Hedong is temporarily in charge of the garrison of the capital, with Yang Zhongshu as his assistant, we still have to rely on King Guan for Guanzhong affairs. You will have to work harder."
Yang Xiong stroked his beard and smiled: "Don't worry, King Qin. We will handle everything in a comprehensive manner."
Yang Ming nodded, and then said: "Yang Xuanting."
"The general is here," Yang Xuanting stepped out and said.
Yang Ming said: "I order you to lead the right guard's vanguard army of 10,000 horses, and immediately go to Zhangye County. After arriving, you will make some arrangements, then go out to the border and plunder the troops and horses. I will only give you 2,000 horses, and you can raise the rest yourself."
"General, take your orders," Yang Xuanting immediately stepped forward and received the troop deployment card.
Yang Ming's intention was to let him rob. The lack of horses in the Sui Dynasty was a major disadvantage. Early harassment would also be convenient for attracting Tuguhun's attention, because Zhangye County was due north of Fuqi City.
Yang Ming and others planned to make a surprise attack from Xiping County due east of Fuqi City, so he needed to inform Pei Ju one step ahead and send someone to Xiping County to contact him.
In the Sui Dynasty, in addition to the 100,000-strong army, 300,000 civilians had to be recruited as logistical supplies. This was left to Wei Jin, the Minister of Civil Affairs. As for the preparation of the recruitment, it was Yang Yue's business.
Changsun Cheng will take fifteen thousand elite cavalry and set off first to Lintao County to join Mai Tiezhang's five thousand cavalry.
Yang Ming, on the other hand, waited until the troops from Henan, Shanxi, and Hebei arrived before setting off.
Historically, the battle to conquer Tuguhun was fought by Yang Guang himself, with Yu Wenshu as the general manager of the march, but Murong Fuyun escaped. The latter took advantage of the civil strife in the late Sui Dynasty to successfully restore the country again. It was not until the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty that Was destroyed by Li Jing.
So this time, Yang Ming will never let him run away. Even all the tribal leaders in Tuguhun must be killed to avoid a resurgence.
If you want to conquer a place, you need to rely on force in the early stage, but you will have to rely on management in the future. Only after the culture, language, and beliefs are completely unified, can this place truly belong to the Sui Dynasty and integrate into Chinese culture.
Fortunately, Tuguhun is different from Tiele. Tiele speaks Turkic dialect, but Tuguhun mainly speaks Xianbei and Chinese, so there is no barrier to communication.
What they believe in is shamanism, which is primitive witchcraft such as "respecting ghosts and gods, worshiping the heaven, earth, sun, moon, stars, mountains and rivers", which is unreliable.
The original Kwaru Khan was also aware of this problem and turned to respect Buddhism. He built temples in the local area to worship the Sakyamuni Buddha statue. However, so far, the effect is not very satisfactory because the popularity among the people is not high.
You can imagine how difficult it will be to get them to believe in Buddhism in a place where their livelihood depends on heaven.
