Above the Yangtze River, the spring breeze is blowing and war drums are beating. Rows of warships are like giant beasts. Their ferocious eyes are fixed on the west, as if they are ready to pounce at any time and devour the enemy alive.
The army of the Ming Dynasty was about to set off, and the flags were fluttering in the still cold wind. On the shore, the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty lined up behind Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, watching the army of the Ming Dynasty on the warships.
Mu Ying, the general who conquered the West!
Former general Zhu Wenzheng!
Lieutenant General He Wenhui from the left!
Right Lieutenant General Lan Yu!
If you just look at the lineup of generals, such a group of young people leading troops is definitely incomparable to the older generation star lineup in Huaixi such as Tang He, Fu Youde, and Liao Yongzhong in the original trajectory.
After all, the current Mu Ying is not the powerful King Mu, and Lan Yu is not the General Lan who swept across Mobei. His and Zhu Wenzheng's achievements are limited to the bloody battle in Hongdu, blocking the offensive of Chen Youliang's army, and winning for Zhu Yuanzhang. Gained time.
Under normal circumstances, Lao Zhu would naturally not be willing to let such a group of younger people with a lesser reputation lead the army.
However, among this group of people, there is another person, Mr. Xiao Han, the military advisor of Huaixi!
It is precisely because of Xiao Han's existence that a group of older generals of the Ming Dynasty have nothing to say. After all, Xiao Han's prestige among the nobles in Huaixi is not at the same level as his age.
Zhuge Liang occupies three parts of the world, and Xiao Fengxue dominates the country. Whether it is among the Huaixi nobles or among the people, Xiao Han's reputation is not weaker than that of the Huaixi veteran.
"My fellow officers and men, the Ming Xia Kingdom is unaware of the fate of the day. You have repeatedly made false promises to our Ming Dynasty and violated the law! It is an unforgivable crime to challenge the majesty of our Ming Dynasty and separate the kingdom of Tianfu in the middle of Shu in an attempt to threaten the people's self-reliance!"
"We can't swallow this breath!"
"Not much else to say, I'll give you this glass of wine. When you all come back victorious, we'll have a banquet to celebrate!"
Zhu Yuanzhang raised his wine glass high and drank it all in one gulp.
"Serve your majesty to death! Destroy the Mingxia rebels!"
Mu Ying raised the spear in her hand and roared.
"Serve your majesty to death! Destroy the Mingxia rebels!"
"Serve your majesty to death! Destroy the Mingxia rebels!"
…
One after another roars were heard one after another on the warships. The sails were raised, the anchors were tightened, and they headed upstream in the direction of Mingxia.
"Fengxue, this time our Ming Dynasty sends one hundred thousand elite soldiers to destroy the puppet imperial court of the Ming family."
"Although the Ming family is just a withered skeleton in a grave, if we put them all together, they can still produce more than 100,000 or even 200,000 troops. However, the mountains and roads in Shu are high and dangerous, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. I wonder what the young gentleman thinks we should do. Quick victory?"
In the flagship, Mu Ying looked at the map on the table and asked Xiao Han.
"Pseudo-Xia is nothing to be afraid of. Among the ancient Three Kingdoms, the reason why Shu could fight against Wei and Wu with the help of one state was because in addition to Shu, they also had Hanzhong and Southern Xinjiang. Although they were one state, they had The actual size of the territory can be called the land of three or four states, but the degree of development is poor, the population is small, and the national strength appears to be weak."
"Now, Hanzhong is under the control of the Ming Dynasty, and the puppet Xia has been shut down by us at the north gate."
"And southern Xinjiang is also not in the hands of Puppet Xia. There are two forces in the area, the Chieftain and the King of Liang. These two groups may still join the war even though they are dying. We need to take some precautions."
Xiao Han pinched his chin, pointed at the map and counted.
In Xiao Han's view, although the Xia Kingdom has a lot of troops, its real combat power is indeed far behind that of the Ming soldiers who fought all the way.
After all, the population of the Xia Kingdom is less than 90,000 households, that is, only 500,000 or 600,000 people. However, this is obviously unreasonable. After all, the population of the Ming Dynasty is only more than 1 million households if you do not count the refugees. , under thorough investigation by the court, the number of tenants hidden by powerful families was almost several times this number.
But it’s no wonder. After all, in the chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, even if many of the original 78 million people died in the war, they would not directly become one-tenth. A large number of them were unable to survive in their hometowns because they lost their land. The refugees were displaced, and at this time, powerful families would not provide food to help the world. Instead, they would recruit tenants on a large scale and hide the population, which would naturally lead to this situation.
This also explains why in history, from the establishment of the Hongwu Dynasty to more than ten years ago, the population increased tenfold. After all, Lao Zhu would not be used to that group of people. After the household registration reform, the population you eat will be You have to spit it out for us.
Otherwise, you powerful families control a larger population than Zhu Yuanzhang. Are we the emperor or are you the emperor?
This situation is the same in the Xia Kingdom. Therefore, according to Xiao Han's estimation, there are at least two to three million tenants hidden by powerful families. However, these populations will not be under the control of the Xia Kingdom. The population that the Xia Kingdom can use is huge. The number of registered tenants and those of Ming family veterans is at most one million.
With such a population, if an army of more than 100,000 and 200,000 people were to be forced out, it would be almost five people to support one soldier. Even with some taxes paid by the powerful, this would already be the limit.
By recruiting soldiers in this way, it is not an exaggeration to say that these soldiers are armed farmers. Their combat power can be imagined. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are still almost at the level of the rebel army back then. The reason why they can be so powerful in history They blocked the Ming Dynasty for more than half a year, just taking advantage of the geographical advantage to hold on.
Of course, in other words, if it weren't for the favorable location and the two groups of people who might join the fight from behind to stab Ming Ming at any time, Xiao Han wouldn't even bother to go there himself.
"They are just two groups of rabble-rousers. Is it possible that they can be stronger than Zhang Shicheng, Chen Youliang, and Wang Baobao?"
"As long as we march directly into Shu and use our Ming Dynasty's mighty force, even those two gangs of thieves won't dare to touch the Ming Dynasty's edge!"
Lan Yu, however, seemed quite confident and looked down upon the chieftain and King Liang at all.
"Sapphire!"
"Shut up and listen to what Feng Xue says first."
Mu Ying frowned. This guy's self-confidence is really innate. He can be like this at any time. It's a good idea to focus on one mentality.
"If it's just a ragtag group of chieftains, we really don't need to worry about it, and they can even help us directly contain King Liang."
"But among the chieftains, there is a family. This family also established the country as emperor back then. However, it was later conquered by Meng Yuan and became Meng Yuan's local steward. However, it still maintains no less influence and strength in the local area than it did back then. , if that family decides to help the Puppet Xia court, the other chieftains will definitely not object, but will join forces to send troops to help the Puppet Xia."
Xiao Han squinted his eyes slightly, as if his eyes had traveled thousands of miles and landed on the south of the colorful clouds.
"You mean..."
"Dali, Duan family!"
Mu Ying's eyes also moved slightly, reacting to Xiao Han's words.
"good."
"The country of Dali was destroyed by the Meng Yuan, but the Duan family was not exterminated by the Meng Yuan. Instead, it still took charge of the local area. It is no exaggeration to say that Dali was only nominally annexed by the Meng Yuan. In fact, it can only be regarded as a genus. Otherwise, There is no need for Meng Yuan to set up a Liang Wang there to guard one side."
Xiao Han nodded lightly. In the original trajectory, the Ming Dynasty dispatched an all-star lineup headed by Tang He. Their troops were extremely fast. When the Duan family and King Liang were still intimidated by the Ming army's momentum, they were wiped out in less than a year. The Xia Kingdom was conquered, so that it seemed that these two groups did not exist. Until Zhu Yuanzhang sent troops to conquer Yunnan and were wiped out together, they were directly wiped out in the history books.
But this time the situation has undergone earth-shaking changes. Although this wave of people are all famous generals, they are not afraid of the two groups in the south.
As for the original trajectory, Zhu Yuanzhang made it clear that he would inherit the Yuan Dynasty as the orthodoxy, and used this as an excuse to appease King Liang, which made King Liang hesitant when he had no ambitious plans.
However, the Ming Dynasty had retried the case of King Xiao Ming, and there was a lot of commotion. If there were eloquent people under the Ming family, they could use this as an excuse to make the King of Liang think that the Ming Dynasty was going to abandon the Yuan Dynasty and inherit the Song Dynasty, and treat him as an intruder. King Liang may not be so peaceful.
After all, when doubt begins, all this can already be assumed to exist.
This inner doubt was enough for King Liang to make a completely different decision. If these two groups of local forces with no less than 100,000 troops wanted to get involved, the Xia Kingdom would really not be that easy to destroy.
Regardless of the history, these two families have little sense of existence, but in fact, these two groups are not weak. If they were really vulnerable and were taken away by Zhu Yuanzhang early, how could they be allowed to separate themselves for so long?
It is no exaggeration to say that these two groups of people can be regarded as the same princes as the Xia Kingdom.
"So... Feng Xue, what do you mean, do we need to divide our troops?"
Mu Ying frowned slightly. Although the Ming army was elite and it was easy to win with a small number, there were only 100,000 troops dispatched this time. However, despite all the odds, the Xia Kingdom's total military strength was only much larger than that of the Ming Dynasty.
If we still want to divide our troops at this time, even if Mu Ying has confidence in the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, she will still feel that it is inappropriate.
"We must divide our troops, but not too many. Whether it is the Duan family of Dali or the Liang King of Yunnan, they are all in the south of us. It is enough to dedicate 10,000 troops to guard the pass."
Xiao Han was confident. It seemed that the opponent was not a big warlord with two groups of over 100,000 mercenaries, but a small bandit.
"Ten thousand?"
"It's okay if they don't move. If they join forces, even if there are dangerous passes, the difference in strength is more than 20 times, and it may be more dangerous than Hongdu back then."
Mu Ying was a little hesitant. After all, Zhu Wenzheng and Lan Yu's defense battle of Hongdu back then was only 40,000 against 600,000. It was too difficult for 10,000 to fight against 200,000.
In particular, Hongdu is a fortified city with high walls and thick walls, but in this southern border, there are no dangerous passes where one man can pass the pass and no one can open it.
There is nothing we can do about this. Since ancient times, the threat to the Central Plains dynasty has come from the nomads in the north, while the foreign races in the southern jungle have always seemed unsatisfactory.
No matter whether the Central Plains dynasty is strong or declining, there is no chance to dominate the Central Plains. At best, it can be like the Duan family in Dali, occupying one place and proclaiming the emperor on its own.
More often than not, when faced with the Central Plains forces, they looked down upon them. Sometimes, even during chaotic wars and divisions, they could not even defeat the Han family's separatist forces.
This also led to the fact that all dynasties had no intention of building city walls and passes here, and often directly sent troops to conquer them. The most outstanding showman, named Zhuge Liang, was beaten alive and became a border citizen of Shu.
However, regardless of the fighting prowess of other people's men, the numbers are there. You want to defeat 200,000 people with 10,000 people?
Even 200,000 pigs can't stop them if they charge this way, right?
"Commander, you can give this task to Lan. It's just more than 200,000 chickens and dogs. How can it compare with Chen Youliang's army in combat power?"
"If Lan Yu can't hold on until the army breaks through the Xia Kingdom, come and see her!"
Lan Yu had just praised Haikou before, but now it was difficult to get off the tiger, so she simply stiffened her neck and looked like she was going to be hard to the end.
Everyone is a descendant of Huaixi. Lan Yu thinks that his relationship with Xiao Han is not bad, but he doesn't believe that Xiao Han will really let him die.
"Nonsense!"
"Chen Youliang usurped power and came to power. He was unpopular, cruel and tyrannical, which caused everyone to betray their relatives and alienate them. Therefore, our soldiers of the Ming Dynasty fought and won consecutive battles. And this time is my Ming army's expedition. The home field is not here. How can you defeat more than 200,000 with 10,000?"
"It's okay if they don't come. If they do come, how can you, Lan Yu, survive?"
Mu Ying's eyes widened. If the troops were divided too much, it would be difficult to defeat the Xia Kingdom and Lao Zhu would be held accountable. But in comparison, Mu Ying did not want anything to happen to her brothers.
If the battle is lost, the worst possible outcome will be dismissal from office, but if these old brothers are dead, they will never be able to survive again.
"Lanyu, do you really mean what you said?"
"Do you dare to issue a military order?"
Xiao Han narrowed his eyes and looked at Lan Yu with a smile. Since he had spoken about this matter, he naturally had a plan in mind.
However, before that, he had to provoke Lan Yu to make Lan Yu agree to it, otherwise the matter would be too outrageous and would not be so easy to facilitate.
"Snowstorm!"
Mu Ying was shocked. She didn't expect that Xiao Han not only did not dissuade Lan Yu at this time, but also provoked Lan Yu to issue a military order. Although she had confidence in Xiao Han, a young gentleman in Huaixi, this matter sounded too unreliable. .
"Why don't you dare?"
"We're afraid they'll make a fool of themselves if they don't come around!"
"I, Lan Yu, issued a military order today. If I cannot defend the south until the army breaks through the Xia Kingdom, I will die in battle to apologize!"
Lan Yu raised her head. She didn't expect that Xiao Han actually planned to ask him to fight with 10,000 people to defeat 200,000 people. Although it made him feel a little numb just thinking about it, he said it for the sake of it. If he had the ability to do it, Even if he didn't have the ability to go up, he really didn't believe it. Hongdu could defend against Chen Youliang, but he couldn't defend against a group of mobs?
If you can't fight, you will block it with ten thousand people. If all the generals are dead, Lan Yu will block all the soldiers. Even if you block it with corpses, you will have to block it for a while longer!
"good!"
"In Hongdu, His Majesty asked you to guard for a hundred days. Now the difficulty has increased. I will only let you guard for fifty days."
"If you can't hold it for these fifty days, I urge Zhuge Liang, Mu Shuai, to kill you, Ma Su. If you hold on, I will hire the greatest hero for this battle!"
"Okay, Lan Yu, go down and order your troops and generals."
Xiao Han patted Lan Yu's shoulder and said with a smile, while quietly stuffing something into Lan Yu's arms.
"promise!"
Lan Yu responded, bowed to Mu Ying and Xiao Han and stepped back. With Xiao Han's action, she felt slightly relieved. At least, Xiao Han had an arrangement and was not really asking him to gamble his life.
"Fengxue, are you really so sure that those two families in the south will take action?"
He Wenhui, who had been silent on the side, asked Xiao Han. He could not think of a reason why Xiao Han asked Lan Yu to go with ten thousand people. The only possibility he thought was possible was that Xiao Han was sure that the two southern families would not move. Let Lan Yu represent Ming Dynasty and show an attitude.
"Eighty percent."
Xiao Han spoke calmly, directly shattering He Wenhui's illusions. According to Xiao Han's estimation, there was a 20% chance that the two groups in the south would settle their differences and take action.
The troops are not led by a star cast of Huaixi veterans, plus 30%. Zhu Yuanzhang's position of inheriting the orthodoxy of the Yuan Dynasty has flaws that may be criticized, plus 30%.
"call!"
"In two days, it is estimated that Zhu Wenzheng's front army will meet Xia Jun."
"Fengxue, what do you think Xia Jun will do?"
In a somewhat gloomy atmosphere, Mu Ying held down the sand table with one hand and asked Xiao Han with frowning eyebrows.
"We are going upstream from the south of the Yangtze River and attacking Shu. Although the Xia Kingdom has no men from a certain country, there are still some good generals available."
"They will definitely defend the river, rely on the dangerous mountains and rivers to defend the land, use iron locks to release water across the river, and rely on the favorable geographical location in Sichuan to consume the Ming Dynasty."
"If they succeed, our Ming Dynasty has just begun to recover its national strength. The Mongolian Yuan Dynasty has not been destroyed in the north, the Duan family and the Liang King's army are peeking at the south, and there are barbarian countries nearby. They have been struggling for many years, so our army will have to retreat."
Xiao Han pointed to the mountains and rivers of Shu on the sand table and analyzed them to Mu Ying and He Wenhui in the tent.
The geographical advantage is Xia's biggest reliance besides foreign aid. Since ancient times, the road to Shu has been difficult and difficult to reach the sky. If the Shu people had not sought death themselves and attracted the tigers and wolves of Qin into the house, Bashu might have been able to stay out of the Warring States Period.
In Xiao Han's view, the resistance caused by the favorable geographical location in Sichuan to the Ming army was better than the 100,000 Xia Kingdom's crooked army.
"So, time is not on my side, Ming Dynasty."
"Fengxue, you said before that you would give Lan Yu fifty days. Could it be that you already have a plan?"
Mu Ying frowned deeper and looked at Xiao Han, wanting to ask Xiao Han about his countermeasures.
Anyway, he couldn't think of a way to break through this dangerous natural barrier in fifty days. Since you, Xiao Fengxue, have a way, why not tell him and listen.
"Don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry. If you do some things too early, your flaws will be easily seen."
"If we want to defeat the Puppet Xia quickly, it is definitely not enough to send out this army and navy. After we have passed Jingchu, we need Brother Wenhui to go north and attack from the north to the south from Hanzhong."
"Brother Muying, please write a report to His Majesty and ask the Hanzhong and Guanzhong garrison to cooperate with us in attacking Xia Kingdom."
Xiao Han said, walked to the sand table, pushed the temperament that represented his hundreds of thousands of people to the front line of Qutang Gorge, and put He Wenhui in Hanzhong. He laughed, but he gave it a try and did not tell his plan directly. come out.
On the one hand, the earlier the strategy is mentioned, the greater the risk of being exposed. It is safest to keep it in your own mind. On the other hand, Xiao Han needs to take the opportunity to hold the rhythm of normal war in his own hands. .
The advantage is mine!
(End of chapter)
