Bingzhou.
"How about it, two military advisors, what do you think of this decree?" Li Xiang asked Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan with an embarrassed look on his face. This decree of Emperor Ling really posed a big problem for Li Xiang.
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was willing to bet on the success of the Yellow Turban War with the four states, but he, Li Xiang, was reluctant to bet on Bingzhou. If more troops are deployed, facing the two-sided threat of the Xiongnu and Wang Qingtian's tiger, even if the merger of the states is not hindered, the losses will be unknown. Even the development of the past four years will be scrapped, and the country will return to before liberation overnight.
With the wisdom of Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan, how could they not know about Li Xiang's worries?
But Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan saw clearly that the Yellow Turban forces seemed powerful now, but they were all castles in the air. If there were no careerists like Li Xiang to add fuel to the flames and secretly protect the Yellow Turbans, I am afraid that the Han Dynasty would not be far away from quelling the Yellow Turbans.
But even ambitious people like Li Xiang only hope that the Yellow Turban forces can consume the strength of the Han Dynasty as much as possible. They never thought that the Yellow Turban forces could truly overthrow the Han Dynasty.
Because the Yellow Turbans are not involved in production, all material needs need to be plundered. If the Han chooses to avoid Qingye and stick to Yancheng, it may not be possible to drag the Yellow Turban army until they run out of ammunition and food and are unable to fight anymore. Unless Zhang Jiao has the ability to restore local production, this will require a large number of civil servant talents, which is precisely what the Yellow Turbans lack most.
But if we really rely on dragging words to win this war, I am afraid that the Central Plains region, the richest place in the Han Dynasty, will be directly destroyed.
According to this analysis, it is far from time to replace the Han Dynasty. What's more, the Han Dynasty lasted for more than 400 years, and the prestige of the Han Dynasty has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is not so easy to replace. Whether it is for Li Xiang or the careerists hidden in other areas of the Han Dynasty, it is still necessary to continue to obey the orders of the court for the time being.
The two of them thought for a while, and finally Wang Meng, who was the first to follow Li Xiang, spoke first, "My lord, the great Han Dynasty may not be extinct yet. My lord still needs to continue to obey the orders of the court for the time being. This time, I am afraid that I will wait for the troops." The matter must be resolved."
Although he already knew this would be the answer, Li Xiang was still a little unwilling to hear Wang Meng say this.
After all, he had already discussed with Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan that in this battle, he only wanted not to gain merit, but to have no faults.
No matter how great his contribution was, he would never be able to become the governor of a state. After all, his father was already the governor of Bingzhou. Oh, no, he should be the governor of the state now. If he was the governor again, that would be fine.
Li Xiang guessed that even if he made great achievements and had better luck, he would only be a county guard in Bingzhou or several surrounding states. And if you are unlucky, you will be a county guard in a place far away from Bingzhou, or you will be summoned to Beijing to work as a casualty.
Taking into account his age, I am afraid that the most likely possibility is to grant him the title of Marquis of a low-ranking person and serve as a false position.
But this is still based on great achievements. In this process, it is inevitable that the Bingzhou Army will pay a certain amount of casualties.
But now if he follows the Ling Emperor's will and sends troops, Li Xiang feels even more unjust. After all, whether it is Jizhou or the Central Plains, it is a battlefield with hundreds of thousands of people. Even if he intends to preserve his strength, I am afraid that there will be many casualties in the army.
And by then, how can he preserve his strength if he wants to? After all, after arriving in Jizhou, he had to accept Lu Zhi's command nominally, so how could he decide some things.
Paying the price but not getting the return he wanted was the real reason why Li Xiang was unwilling to send troops.
While Li Xiang was deep in thought, Li Xiang suddenly heard Wei Kaokuan speak.
"Lord, this dispatch of troops is necessary, but how to dispatch troops and how many troops to dispatch still need to be carefully considered." Wei Xiaokuan said with a serious face.
Li Xiang thought about it carefully, and indeed, since sending troops has now become a certainty, it is inconvenient to deal with some issues.
All that remains is to consider, as Wei Kaokuan said, how to send troops and how much troops are most appropriate to reduce unnecessary losses as much as possible.
Of course, for Li Xiang, the losses caused by helping the Han Dynasty fight against the Yellow Turbans without getting considerable rewards were unnecessary losses.
Before Li Xiang could ask, Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan actually wanted to speak at the same time.
The two looked at each other, and Wang Meng immediately bowed his hands and stepped back, indicating that Wei Xiaokuan should speak first.
When Wei Xiaokuan saw this, although he was grateful to Wang Meng, he didn't say much. He just kept some things in his heart.
Then Wei Xiaokuan could only be heard saying in a slow voice, "My lord, although I have a large army in Bingzhou, General Meng Tian's 60,000-strong army is determined not to move lightly. In the past few years, the Southern Huns have had Wanyan Aguda with this heroic leader, and their strength has not only recovered. Reaching the level before the Yanmen War, it has increased a lot. Although it is still controlled by Temujin's Mongolian clan, the two sides have been having constant friction over the years, but when it comes to the security of the northern border, we must be cautious.
Suppressing Bingzhou's 30,000-strong army cannot be done lightly. After all, there is still a remnant force like Tian Hu in Bingzhou. It used to be inconspicuous, but now it is a bit troublesome. Although Tian Hu's remaining troops are not many, it is extremely reluctant to garrison the entire Bingzhou with 30,000 troops.
Therefore, my lord, now I can only mobilize part of the army that is preparing to attack Wang Qing. "
Li Xiang thought secretly, and it was true that he could only draw from the 30,000 troops that were attacking Wang Qing.
However, in this way, Bingzhou can only passively defend itself. Facing Wang Qing's forces, they can only stick to the Eight Paths of Taihang and have no ability to take the initiative to attack.
"I don't know what the two strategists are, but I don't know what is the most appropriate number of troops to send this time." Although he already had the answer in his mind, Li Xiang still had to confirm it with the two wise men Wang Meng and Wei Xiaokuan. It was related to the safety of Bingzhou, but Li Xiang had to be cautious.
"My lord, if we want to send out troops this time, 30,000 is the most suitable number. If it is less, the princes in the court may not be happy, and if it is more, it may put too much pressure on Wang Qing's forces. After all, although Wang Qing's Yellow Turban Army has mediocre combat capabilities, , but the number of people is always a problem. With the 250,000 Yellow Turban army, if there are too many ants, the elephant will be killed, but it must be guarded against."
Just now Wang Meng took the initiative to give Wei Xiaokuan a step, but now Wei Xiaokuan gave the opportunity back to Wang Meng.
Wang Meng thought for a moment and then said, "My lord, it is better to use cavalry this time. This way, our army will lose less."
Hearing Wang Meng's words, Li Xiang's eyes lit up.
Indeed, it is absolutely not his turn to lead the cavalry in battles, siege battles and defensive battles.
And if it was a field battle, how much loss could the Yellow Turban army composed of farmers with mediocre combat capabilities and poor equipment cause him?
