As soon as the New Year passed, Lu Yuan started to get busy again.
Now half a year has passed. Before joining the Tianluo Army, the 15,000 new soldiers he recruited have been trained for half a year and can barely be considered as an army.
According to usual practice, when new recruits have been trained to this level, they need to be taken out to practice and practice, find some enemies to fight a few battles, and accumulate some battlefield experience.
Just training behind closed doors will not produce elite soldiers.
Only by practicing and fighting can you get an elite soldier who can fight in a hundred battles.
However, given the current situation, Lu Yuan was a little confused as to whether to send troops.
Nowadays, although riots continue in various places in Dongting County, the two main battlefields, Yueyang Mansion and Shaoyang Mansion, are generally stable.
In the two battlefields, the imperial court and the rebel army were basically evenly matched, and no one could do anything to defeat the other.
Judging from the current situation, this situation will last for a long time.
Lu Yuan is now at the critical moment of breaking through Xiantian. Everything focuses on stability. He doesn't want any major changes to disrupt the process of his breakthrough for the time being.
If he rashly launches troops at this time, it will undoubtedly break this stable situation and produce unpredictable variables.
Therefore, there was inevitably some hesitation about whether to use troops.
"Now the war situation in Dongting County has risen to the innate level. With my current strength, if I break the balance rashly, it is very likely to attract the attention of the innate master.
By then, it would be basically impossible for me to still practice quietly as I do now.
This will undoubtedly slow down my breakthrough speed.
But if nothing is done, I will not be able to support the 60,000 soldiers I have now. "Lu Yuan frowned.
Raising troops is very expensive.
A soldier's monthly salary is five taels of silver. He has 60,000 soldiers under his command, and the monthly payment alone requires 300,000 taels.
Now half a year has passed, and one million eight hundred thousand taels have been spent on military pay alone.
As of now, Lu Yuan only has about 500,000 taels of money left.
This little money can last for two months at most.
If after two months, no new sources of revenue can be found and wages cannot be paid, then even if the army can be maintained for a while, it is inevitable that the morale of the army will be weakened.
If you do this, the soldiers you have finally trained will be useless.
Lu Yuan was confused whether to send troops or not.
However, his entanglement did not last long. Soon a message came from the north, allowing him to make a decision.
…
On December 16th, the fifth year of Hongdao, after the logistics road was cut off for nearly a year, the imperial army of Pingshu in Xichuan County had no supplies for a long time, military pay had not been paid for several months, and food and grass were scarce.
As a last resort, the army changed the original two meals a day to one meal a day, and most of them were gruel.
As a result, the soldiers began to complain.
On the sixth day of the first lunar month of the sixth year of Hongdao's reign, soldiers in Yuzhong City made a noise and caused chaos and robbed the people in the city. Later, the Marquis of Wu'an mobilized troops to suppress them, and nearly a hundred of them were defeated, and finally they were able to frighten the army's sergeants and maintain military discipline.
But this time, the morale of the army in the city was in turmoil, and the soldiers were suspicious and distrustful of each other.
On the sixth day of the first lunar month, the garrison of Liujiang County, an important town in the north of Yuzhong Prefecture, took the lead in revolting, expelled the garrison of the county, and led five thousand soldiers and horses in the city to rebel.
These rebels looted the county town, and after plundering it, they sent people to contact the Zhou army in the north and surrendered the city.
As a result, the barrier to the north of Yuzhong Fucheng was suddenly lost.
On the tenth day of the same month, at Wushan Prefecture behind Yuzhong Prefecture, some defenders were dissatisfied with the lack of food and wages and started trouble, which affected several counties. The government office cannot control it, and the situation is corrupt.
In desperation, Marquis Wu'an sent his trusted generals and ten thousand troops to conquer.
But when the counter-rebellion army was halfway through, some generals led the soldiers to make noises and refused to move forward without food and pay.
The general who led the army was furious and led his troops to suppress it. As a result, the public was outraged. The generals from all the camps attacked him and killed the general. They then rebelled on the spot and looted nearby counties.
After Wu'an Hou Bai Mengyang heard the news, he immediately wanted to personally lead the troops to suppress these rebels.
But at this time, it took the Zhou and Shu coalition forces half a year to finally deal with the earthquake disaster and put down the rebellion in the rear.
Even in the past six months, enough food, grass, troops and horses have been saved again, and we have the strength to send troops.
At this time, seeing the turmoil within the Pingshu army, the coalition forces naturally did not miss the opportunity and immediately raised 150,000 troops to attack Yuzhong Mansion.
Faced with the enemy's army pressing down on the territory, Bai Mengyang naturally did not care about quelling the chaos, so he had to gather his troops and defend the enemy in Fucheng.
But at this time, after two rebellions, there were only more than 20,000 defenders in Yuzhong Fucheng, and they had been hungry for a long time. How much fighting strength was left?
Therefore, after guarding for less than half a month, some low-level generals and soldiers, after being forced to go to the city to guard, found an opportunity to defect on the spot, opened the city gate, and let the enemy troops outside the city enter.
After hearing the news, Bai Mengyang, the Marquis of Wu'an, took action personally to recapture the city gate. However, they were stopped by the four innate masters outside the city who had been well prepared, and besieged them again.
Without the army to protect him this time, Bai Mengyang's military power could not be used to its full potential.
After fighting against the four masters for only a moment, they retreated, wounded and fled. They didn't dare to stop on the way, and headed all the way to Tianmen Mansion.
Subsequently, the defenders in the city did not put up much resistance, and most of them surrendered, and Yuzhong Prefecture fell.
Three days later, the Zhou and Shu coalition forces took advantage of the victory and pursued them to Wushan Mansion. The more than 10,000 rebels who caused rebellion in the area surrendered directly.
The Zhou and Shu coalition forces gathered together and soon led the troops to Tianmen Mansion, where they joined 100,000 Zhou soldiers.
For a time, the coalition's troops swelled to 300,000, overwhelming the sky.
At this time, Bai Mengyang finally stopped and stayed in Tianmen Mansion.
Because it is next to Yueyang Mansion, money and food can be guaranteed to a certain extent, so the morale of the army can be maintained and there will be no rebellion.
So the Marquis of Wu'an gathered the imperial soldiers and horses of Tianmen Mansion and led 50,000 people to stand firm in the city, blocking the steps of the 300,000 enemy troops and preventing them from crossing the river wantonly.
But with a six-fold strength gap between the two sides, Bai Mengyang could only hold on to the city. It was really hard to say how much of a blocking effect it could have.
Even how long the city can be defended is still unknown.
Perhaps in a few days or two months, Tianmen Mansion will follow the footsteps of Yuzhong Mansion and Wushan Mansion and be trapped by thieves.
But no matter what the fate of Tianmen Mansion, 300,000 enemy troops entered Dongting County and watched from across the river, which undoubtedly put great pressure on Shangguan Ming.
Even the Zhou and Miao coalition forces, which were originally huddled in Anxiang and Shiyang, began to prepare for action after hearing the news from the north, and there were faint signs of sending troops to Baling City again.
The Five Poison Sect mobilized 20,000 troops from the rear and increased the number of troops on the front line, allowing the Zhou and Miao coalition forces in Yueyang Prefecture to regain their strength of 100,000.
As a result, there are 300,000 enemy troops in the north of the Yangtze River and 100,000 in the south of the Yangtze River.
Four hundred thousand troops were pressing down on the border, but the imperial defenders in the north only had 50,000 troops from Bai Mengyang in Tianmenfu City, and 90,000 troops from Shangguan Yang in Baling City.
As for the Xiantian Grandmaster, the three parties of Zhou, Shu, and Miao combined to have six people, but the imperial court only had three.
With more than twice the gap in military strength and twice the gap in top combat power, the situation could not be described as bad for the imperial court.
Under this circumstance, Lu Yuan's old acquaintances, the Shangguan brothers and sisters, came to Luyang City again.
…
"Marquis Wu Cheng wants me to send troops north to attack Wuling Mansion?"
In the living room, Lu Yuan couldn't help but frown slightly as he looked at Shangguan Guangbai who was explaining his intention.
"Yes, Brother Lu."
Shangguan Guangbai nodded, and then said seriously: "Now the thieves from Zhou, Shu, and Miao have joined forces, numbering 400,000. My father only has 90,000 soldiers, which is really difficult to fight against.
It is inevitable that the war situation will collapse and the thieves will march in. My father hopes that you can lead the troops to attack Wuling Mansion and go straight to the headquarters of the Five Poison Sect.
If the Five Poison Sect can be forced to withdraw from Yueyang Mansion, then without the 60,000 Miao soldiers, the pressure on Baling City will be greatly reduced.
In this way, my father could take the opportunity to sweep away the Zhou soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River, and then set up defenses along the river to block the enemy in the north of the Yangtze River. "
The land of ten prefectures in Dongting County is divided into two parts by the Yangtze River.
The north of the Yangtze River is Tianmen Prefecture, and the south of the Yangtze River is the land of the other nine prefectures, headed by Yueyang Prefecture.
Therefore, if Lu Yuan could attract the 60,000 Miao soldiers from the Five Poison Sect, then there would be less than 40,000 Zhou soldiers left in the Jiangnan area.
In this way, Shangguan Ming was able to quickly clear out the 40,000 Zhou soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River with a force of 90,000.
After solving these Zhou people who are entrenched in the south of the Yangtze River, no one is in the south of the Yangtze River to respond. Then, relying on the advantage of the Yue Kingdom's boat navy, we can deploy defenses along the river to block the 300,000 allied troops of Zhou and Shu in the north to the north of the Yangtze River.
By that time, even if Tianmen Mansion fell, the Zhou people would not be able to cross the river with the naval force present.
I have to say, this is indeed an excellent strategy.
only……
Lu Yuan looked at Shangguan Guangbai and said in a calm tone: "Guangbai, although our unit has 60,000 soldiers, 40,000 of them are recruits who have been trained for less than a year and do not have much combat power.
As for the Miao people in Wuling Prefecture, although they have been transferred several times, as far as I know, there are still more than 10,000 people left to guard the place.
If you want to invade this place, you will need at least 30,000 elite soldiers to shake it.
But the Shaoyang Mansion in my jurisdiction was attacked by tens of thousands of Miao people. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were restrained there, unable to move.
To the south of Luyang Mansion, there are also 30,000 Miao soldiers watching eagerly, so we need to keep an eye on this place as well.
Under such circumstances, it is difficult for me to mobilize troops. "
Although what Shangguan Guangbai said was very reasonable, the strategy formulated by Shangguan Ming, Marquis of Wucheng, was even more problematic.
But for the sake of the overall situation, why should Lu Yuan attract firepower to the opponent and draw away the main force of the Five Poison Sect?
That's a total of 60,000 Miao soldiers!
To attract these people back, wouldn't it mean that Lu Yuan would be replaced to shoulder the pressure that originally belonged to Shangguan Ming?
Even when the main force of the Five Poison Sect returns and joins the Miao soldiers from Wuling Mansion and Shaoyang Mansion, Lu Yuan will face an army of more than 100,000 Miao people, and among them there may even be Lan Cai'er, the innate master.
And what about Lu Yuan's strength?
There are more than 10,000 veterans of hundreds of battles, about 50,000 new recruits, and perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 prefectural militias.
Yes, these nearly 80,000 troops are indeed enough to compete with the Five Poison Sect, and can even fight back and forth.
But after such a battle, Lu Yuan's strength loss would be huge. He didn't need to think about it, but he knew how big it would be.
If Lan Cai'er is also included, the assassination will almost certainly come, and the risk will increase exponentially.
Although Lu Yuan joined the imperial court's Ten Great Masters program, he and Shangguan Ming were allies with common interests.
But no matter how allies we are, we can’t give without a bottom line, right?
Why should Shangguan make him pay such a price?
In the name of his immediate boss, or is it just his pretty daughter?
"Brother Lu..." Shangguan Haiyue also begged at this time, and wanted to come forward, but was quickly stopped by the cold eyes, and his face turned slightly pale.
Lu Yuan just glanced at her and then looked away.
Although he is about to achieve his innate breakthrough, he is already considering whether to marry someone else and is beginning to approach women.
But for a mere woman who wants to risk her life, I can only say that the other person's thoughts are too beautiful.
Shangguan Guangbai next to him saw this scene and lamented in his heart, knowing that the strategy of using beauty and eroticism to impress the other party was no longer feasible.
Although realistically speaking, there is not much friendship between them and Lu Yuan.
However, this strategy did not work, but the strategy set by my father still had to continue.
Therefore, Shangguan Guangbai changed his attitude and said: "Brother Lu, I think you also know that if my father is defeated, the entire Dongting County will fall into the hands of the enemy.
Brother Lu, you live in Dongting County and are isolated from the Miao people in the north and south. The Five Poison Sect has long hated it. When they gain power, how can they easily let you go?
By then hundreds of thousands of troops will march south, how can Big Brother stop them?
Therefore, my father and Brother Lu are really inseparable and dependent on each other. No one can live without the other. "
However, Lu Yuan did not buy this argument. He only smiled and said: "If Marquis Wu Cheng really leads his troops to retreat, at worst, I will also retreat. Luyang Mansion is not far from Yuzhang County, a few days away By Tianlu, we can retreat to Yuzhang County.
When the time comes, if I let this side go, will those Zhou people still be able to catch up?
Even if they really come after me, would they rather pursue the main force of the court like Marquis Wu Cheng, or me, a small side army? "
Shangguan Guangbai was stunned when he heard this.
What Lu Yuan said makes sense. The Zhou soldiers crossed the river and went south with the intention of destroying the country.
It was impossible for them to leave the main army of the imperial court and not pursue them, and instead divert their energy to trouble Lu Yuan, a partial army who had been fishing for fish.
By then, the Zhou people had already crossed the river, and the imperial court had to use up all its energy to deal with the danger of annihilation. Naturally, it had no energy left to trouble Lu Yuan.
Even in turn, they wanted to appease him, a local prince with a heavy army, so that he would not lead his people to defect directly to the Zhou people.
After all, an innate grandmaster with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. With such strength, even the Zhou Kingdom would give him a good treatment.
At least not worse than Li Xiong and the Five Poison Sect.
So thinking about it this way, Lu Yuan's retreat is indeed huge.
The current crisis for Shangguan Ming and the court is not necessarily a life and death crisis for him.
Seeing that this last resort was ineffective, Shangguan Guangbai was completely at his wits end.
Looking at Lu Yuan, who was not at all merciful, he could only smile bitterly and said: "If eldest brother really does this, I can't do anything about it. But after all, eldest brother is also a transgressor. Do you really want to see those southerners who are destroyed by others?" ?
I come here with no ill intentions, I just want to save the country from the crisis.
I, Yue State, Guo Zuo maintains it. I guess it will be a good thing for Brother Lu, right? "
Lu Yuan glanced at Shangguan Guangbai and saw that he finally stopped playing tricks on him, and then said: "As a member of the Yue Kingdom, I naturally don't want to see the Yue Kingdom perish. But with just a few words, Wu Chenghou It would be too much to ask me to send troops.
It should be noted that the soldiers and horses under my command are all supported by my own money. And when I fight against the Miao people, I have to take risks.
The war is fierce and dangerous, and if you are not careful, you will lose your life.
So it’s okay for me to send troops, and I can also be considerate of the country’s difficulties, but some compensation and some assistance should always be given, right?
You can't just let people be so passionate and work for the court for nothing, right? "
The implication is that if you ask me to send troops, you can, but you have to pay.
After all, Dai Viet is the Dai Viet of your six surnames and seven clans, and the court is also the court of your aristocratic families.
Lu Yuan is not a person with vested interests, so why should he bring his own food and work for these aristocratic families?
How cheap must this be to do something wrong?
When Shangguan Guangbai saw that Lu Yuan finally relented, he was overjoyed and said immediately: "Brother Lu, whatever you want, just say it. As long as it can be done, the court will not shirk it."
Lu Yuan said: "The first thing is military pay. The army has not moved, and the food and grass have to go first. The court must give some departure expenses. One million taels of silver, send it to me, and I can go on the expedition."
Also, the soldiers fought for the imperial court and worked hard for the imperial court. Will the imperial court also have to bear the military salary in the future?
I have 60,000 soldiers and 300,000 taels of silver a month. This must be paid by the court and cannot be owed.
Can this be done? "
Raising troops means burning money. Lu Yuan can be said to have a deep understanding of this.
The monthly expenditure of three hundred thousand taels of silver almost emptied his pocket.
Just when he was about to lose his support, Shangguan Ming came to the door. Naturally, he had to take the opportunity to transfer this pressure to the court.
It turned out that the 60,000 soldiers and horses belonged to Lu Yuan's private army, and there was no way or excuse to ask the court for money.
But at this time, he was helping the court fight the war, so the court had to give him money, right?
Sure enough, after hearing this condition, Shangguan Guangbai hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said: "Yes. The military pay of one million taels of silver can be sent later. From now on, the court can also allocate the troops under Brother Lu's command." Ring the moon."
Now, with the disastrous defeat of the Pingshu army, the imperial court has lost nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses. Without these soldiers, the DPRK's finances would naturally have a surplus.
It is not difficult to allocate a part of these surpluses to Lu Yuan who should not use them as military pay.
In other words, the imperial court spends money to raise soldiers, which is a little uncomfortable.
But now that the country is in danger, as long as we can repel the Zhou soldiers, we don't care about anything.
Let’s deal with the immediate difficulties first.
When he heard that his condition was agreed to, Lu Yuan suddenly smiled on his face.
He finally found a solution to the financial crisis that troubled him, and he was naturally in a good mood.
So taking advantage of his interest, he put forward a second condition: "I will lead the Five Poison Sect away, and its saints will probably follow. But there is no innate master in our army. If he is on the battle formation, If you meet Lan Cai'er, you will inevitably suffer a big loss.
Therefore, if I want to send troops, the imperial court will have to send me an innate master to stand in front of me to counter Lan Cai'er.
Is this possible? "
