Huo Qubing took his seat at the lower right of the emperor. Suddenly, he smelled a faint fragrance at the tip of his nose, and thought to himself: Liu Qing had sat here before.
He was seated next to Li Guang, Cheng Bushi, Su Jian, and then Li Gan.
Li Gan was the third son of Li Guang. He was from a well-educated family. He was less than forty years old. He was in the prime of life and had a square face with angry eyes, which made him quite powerful.
Next there are several other civil and military generals.
For these civil and military court officials, because they did not know the hidden story behind it, they were all shocked to hear the sudden movement in Huainan.
Although it is not yet certain whether it is rebellion or not, it is not a trivial matter if there is an abnormality in the alliance between several counties.
Before Huo Qubing came, the officials had a heated debate and had different opinions.
“Your Majesty, the urgent matter now is to first find out what Huainan is going to do?
As soon as Huainan moves, the surrounding counties and counties will follow suit. This move is too abnormal. Why do they dare to follow Huainan? "
"I think we need to find out the cause first before we can deal with it."
"This is the time of summer harvest, so it is better to be quiet than to move. If we mobilize our troops in a big way, we will suffer heavy losses!"
These are all civil servants talking.
From their point of view, the situation is still unclear, and they must not start a fight directly. They must think twice, weigh the pros and cons, and cannot disrupt the war.
The so-called scholarly army cannot be raised in three years. The reason is that most civil servants will think about it and miss the opportunity.
On the other hand, Dong Zhongshu's expression was particularly solemn and he said: "Of course it is good not to fight internally, but if Huainan does something counterintuitive, we should decisively send troops to suppress it, the sooner the better."
"Master, what you have seen is very true.
Your Majesty, I would like to request a battle and would like to lead troops to attack Huainan. There are only a few counties in the area, and the minister is confident that he will not dare to act cruelly. "
It was Li Guang who spoke.
The personal bravery of this flying general is commendable. Sitting there, he was so imposing, like a hill rising from the ground.
In his heart, he despised Huainan for daring to raise troops. The land of three or five counties could gather up to 40,000 to 50,000 troops. He thought he was sure of quickly quelling the chaos, especially after seeing Huo Qubing coming, he had some inexplicable thoughts of grabbing credit, so he quickly asked for a fight.
"Oh, General Li is so eager to go to war and declares victory before fighting, but he doesn't know that he has violated the taboo of a military strategist."
The speaker was Cheng Bushi.
The two veteran generals served as ministers in the same court, and there were many comparisons. Discord was the norm.
Acting Prime Minister Li Cai looked at Huo Qubing, the leader of the military generals: "What is Huo Hou's judgment on the current situation?"
Of all the people present, Huo Qubing was the only one who knew the emperor's thoughts best.
Liu Che doesn't want to make a big move against Huainan, at least not at this point in time.
But he was very angry at Huainan's actions and wanted to teach Huainan a painful lesson.
The best way is to suppress Huainan so that he doesn't dare to move forward, throw away his helmet and armor, and swallow all the signs of abnormality that have just been revealed.
That is to say, it is best to subjugate the enemy without fighting, and it is best to settle the matter quickly.
Liu Che's idea is based on several reasons.
First of all, Huo Qubing, the emperor, and Wei Qing jointly decided to raid the Xiongnu's hometown. Now it is less than a month before the expected time. Huainan is in turmoil at this time. If a large army is mobilized to counter the rebellion, resources and combat readiness will be piled on the battlefield of civil strife. , the loss is even bigger.
The plan to attack the Huns later will definitely be blocked and difficult to implement.
The war against foreigners is the more important thing in Liu Che's heart. The emperor was very angry about Huainan, but he did not think it was a serious problem.
He transferred Wei Qing to Beiguan, seemingly because of the changes in Huainan and wanted to prevent the Huns. But Huo Qubing knew very well that Wei Qing was planning to leave for Beiguan again in the past few days, secretly planning to attack the Huns and making preparations for the war.
The emperor was far more angry than worried about Huainan.
There was turmoil in Huainan and the three or five counties. Although it was not a small matter, it was not enough to shake the emperor's determination to fight the Huns.
The second was internal strife, and the emperor was unwilling to start another civil war on the premise of dealing with the Huns.
The monarch and his ministers looked at each other.
What Liu Che's eyes express: I want to quickly pacify Huainan, but I don't want to fight a big war. Is there any good way to cure the disease?
Huo Qubing: Yes!
The above is visual communication.
Huo Qubing looked around at the ministers: "Huainan is located in the southeast of our Han Dynasty. Several surrounding counties are close to the Huai River and the Yangtze River. Among them, Nan County and Kuaiji County (today's Nanjing and Shanghai area) are upstream and downstream."
He added: "If you want to contain Huainan, your Majesty can first issue an edict to control the upper and lower ends of Nanjun and Kuaiji, and cut off Huainan's waterway connections with the outside world, including transportation, commerce and material access."
Before Huo Qubing finished speaking, Li Cai, the acting prime minister, looked thoughtful.
Master Dong narrowed his eyes out of habit.
Cheng Bushi and Li Guang's eyes returned to the territory map.
But most civil servants did not understand what Huo Qubing meant: "What next?"
"Then we will send out an army of troops from Chang'an and march quickly. We can reach Yingchuan County in one day, continue south to Runan County, and live north of Huainan. We can divide our troops into two groups at any time. Going east, we can reach Pei County, just like Xuan County. The neck is sharp, and the soldiers can penetrate Huainan when they go south.
The other road continues south from Runan County to the west side of Huainan.
These places are all key points around Huainan, and hoarding troops can threaten it from three sides. "
"In addition, although there are abnormalities in several counties around Huainan, not everyone is following Huainan wholeheartedly. The so-called abnormal movements are just a few officials who were deceived."
Huo Qubing said: "Your Majesty can order the secret agents to spread the word in the surrounding counties of Huainan that if Huainan wants to do something wrong, there will be chaos in it. It is threatened by military fronts on three sides, and the internal turmoil is unstable. Huainan only needs to If you still have some sense, you will never continue to act rashly.”
Liu Che hummed: "Go on."
Huo Qubing's strategy was divided into three steps. The first step was to curb Huainan's access channels and make it difficult to advance or retreat.
The second step was to decisively send troops to cooperate, further increasing Huainan's sense of coercion.
The third step is the key, pull the crotch Huainan from the inside.
You must know that the Han Dynasty is becoming increasingly powerful and its people are abundant.
Huainan wanted to rebel. This is the reason why Liu An always felt that the time was not ripe and wanted to introduce the Xiongnu to cause external chaos, and then considered taking advantage of the situation.
The people of the Han Dynasty are living a good life, so why should the surrounding counties and counties follow you in rebellion?
Even if some people are bewitched by the author, ordinary soldiers and subordinate officials will never support Huainan wholeheartedly.
Use the secret investigation system to expand Huainan's own internal conflicts and make it lose the conditions for rebellion. If the operation is beneficial, it is likely that Huainan will swallow up the changes by itself.
If this plan proceeds smoothly, not only will it consume less and not require large-scale war, but Huainan will most likely be prepared for many years, just like in history, and will not cause much trouble in the end.
Even Wen Chen felt great after hearing it.
"There is one last resort." Huo Qubing said.
Um?
After everyone has heard the first three points, they already feel that it is very feasible, and Huainan will probably not be able to survive it.
There is one more.
"Your Majesty can send another group of elites out of Chang'an and go straight to Jiangxia to quickly take over the troops in Jiangxia, Jiujiang, Huaiyang and other counties where there are changes.
The front of this team must be strong enough. If anyone dares to stop him, kill him with a sword, and quickly seize the command of the troops and horses in these counties, Huainan will become an isolated land, which can disintegrate his ambition and completely defeat Huainan's plan. "Huo Qubing said.
There was silence in the study, and all the ministers' eyes followed Huo Qubing's words, tracing out several lines.
These lines are all aimed at the key points of Huainan.
This is the essence of blitzkrieg. It targets the heart, is quick and accurate, and defeats the enemy with one blow.
Huo Qubing's four suggestions, taken together, are the complete Pinghuai strategy.
What's rare is that he can put forward as many as four points so quickly, which shows his strategic acumen.
Li Cai thought for a while: "The last part of Huo Hou's plan is the most important. If the military cooperation of several surrounding counties can be eliminated, Huainan will be defeated without a fight. But Huainan is afraid that these counties will not be managed. It’s been a long time, and it can’t be lifted that easily.”
Huo Qubing: "That's right.
Therefore, the troops and horses along the way must be elite enough. The front of the troops can suppress the troops of several counties without raising their heads. If there is any abnormal movement, they can quickly defeat the enemy without giving the opponent a chance to repeat. "
Li Cai said: "But who does Huo Hou think can lead the troops?"
Li Guang's eyes widened: "In the middle, I am willing to lead troops to defeat the enemy."
Everyone else thought that Huo Qubing would say that he would lead the troops himself. After all, he was a brilliant martial artist and had a history of attacking the Huns' rear areas and crisscrossing enemy camps.
Huainan is always inferior to the Xiongnu, far behind.
If Huo Qubing is willing to go, everyone will think it is most appropriate.
Unexpectedly, Huo Qubing smiled and said, "My subordinates can do it by leading the team."
He is not very interested in the civil war like fighting in Huainan and has no intention of participating in it himself.
Liu Che said decisively: "Just use the strategy to cure the disease.
However, for this team in the middle, Qu Bing will be led by you personally, so there is no room for failure. The defense of the Chang'an Guards was temporarily replaced by Li Gan. "
The implication is that if Huo Qubing goes there in person, everything will be safe.
The emperor gave the order and he had to go. Huo Qubing thought that he would just train his troops and practice their attack ability.
Ten days should be enough to come back. By then, the team that went to Luoyang to capture Yu Yao should also return to Chang'an, so there won't be any delays.
And if he wants to go in person, there is no need to rush. After all, the effect must be achieved in parallel with the arrangements of other roads, so that the other roads can be deployed first. With a journey of more than a thousand miles, Huo Qubing could rush over in one day and night!
(End of chapter)
