In the bright autumn light, Sun Gu, the commander of the Yulin Guards, came to the outside of the political affairs hall in a hurry.
Although the autumn tiger has gone far away, Sun Gu, who is standing in the shadow under the eaves with a silk book in his hand on the crisp autumn days, is still sweating profusely.
Upon seeing this, the eunuch immediately informed Zhao Kuo of Sun Gu's arrival.
Soon, Sun Gu was brought to Zhao Kuo.
"I have met my king." Sun Gu bowed slightly and said politely.
"Is there something urgent?" Zhao Kuo asked Sun Gu without paying attention to Pingyuan Jun, Lu Buwei and others around him.
"Messages came from various places in the Qin State, saying that the Qin army has mobilized on a large scale." Sun Gu hurriedly handed over the silk letter in his hand.
"Oh?" Zhao Kuo was shocked when he heard this.
Sure enough, the Qin army still took action, when the momentum of Zhao's development was at its peak.
This is of course the worst time. According to the budget of Zhao Kuo and Ping Pingjun, and if the current situation continues to develop, in even three years, Qin will no longer be Zhao's opponent.
As for the current Zhao State, although after two years of development, its national strength has completely recovered, it is still just recovering and has not embarked on a path of rapid development.
This also means that today's Zhao State and Qin State are still only between equals in terms of national strength and combat power.
If Zhao still has a slight advantage, it may be in the number of generals and heavy cavalry.
Therefore, it can be said that Qin's actions at this time indeed chose an excellent time.
However, Zhao Kuo was not surprised by this. After all, with Qin's ability, it would be strange if he could not seize this last opportunity!
After taking the silk book, Zhao Kuo quickly read it ten lines at a time.
The articles have been sorted out by Sun Gu, but because there are so many sources of intelligence, even after screening and sorting, it still seems a bit laborious.
But one thing was confirmed by Zhao Kuo almost instantly: the entire country of Qin was in motion.
This also indicates that Qin is probably preparing for a decisive battle.
Then the remaining question is: when and where will Qin start a decisive battle with itself.
He handed the silk book to his subordinate Li Mu and told him to circulate it. Zhao Kuo then ordered the eunuchs to bring the map.
Soon, the silk books were changed over and over in the hands of several important ministers, and the huge map was carried into the palace by several eunuchs.
At that moment, Zhao Kuo also led everyone to the map.
"Tell me the general situation of the Qin army's mobilization and combine it with the map." Zhao Kuo then said to Sun Gu.
"Yes." Sun Gu immediately accepted the order.
Immediately, walking to the map, Sun Gu began his report: "According to the investigation, all the armies from Yongcheng, Xianyang, Yueyang and other places in the Qin Guanzhong were assembled. The total strength was at least 100,000. Most of them gathered in Shuzhong, and a small number of them gathered in Shuzhong. Drive towards Hangu Pass;
At the same time, the few Qin troops in Shu and the Qin troops in Yanying also gathered and marched towards Chen County of Qin.
It is expected that by the end of the month, the Qin army in Chen County will reach about 200,000.
In addition, in the direction of Hangu Pass, troops from Hexi and Hedong have also begun to gather. Combined with the Guanzhong army, by the end of the month, the strength of Hangu Pass should be more than 100,000. "
"Three hundred thousand?" Mr. Pingyuan couldn't help but sigh.
"I'm afraid it's more than that." Sun Gu quickly explained: "This is just what our scouts saw and speculated. The Qin army's troops in this battle may be more than 300,000."
Hearing this, Zhao Kuo's heart moved slightly, but he did not express his position. He just nodded slightly to indicate to Sun Gu to continue.
Taking a deep breath, Sun Gu also continued: "In addition, the number of civilians in Guanzhong, Hedong, Hexi, Shuzhong, and Yanying was less than one million. Inferring from this, the Qin army probably used the power of the whole country , its main combat strength may be no less than 400,000."
"Four hundred thousand!"
This time, even Lu Buwei on the side couldn't help but sigh.
Even Tian Dan and Li Mu
Such a general also frowned.
Without him, Zhao's total military strength would now be less than 400,000 troops.
"Tian Dan, Li Mu, what do you think?" Zhao Kuo then looked at the two generals on his right and asked.
Tian Dan and Li Mu looked at each other, then Tian Dan nodded and took the lead in answering: "Wei Chen believes that the figure of 400,000 troops should be credible. In fact, the total strength of the Qin army is still above 400,000. Even if it is not When it arrives, our army must also prepare according to the number of 400,000."
"Therefore." Tian Dan swallowed and continued, "Wei Chen suggested that we immediately activate the emergency plan and order all soldiers to return to the battlefield and march into the war zone. All soldiers stationed in the fields should put down their farm work and start training, ready to go into battle at any time."
"Where is Li Mu?" Zhao Kuo did not rush to make a decision, but looked at Li Mu aside.
"What General Tian Dan said is true." Li Mu did not show any pretense and immediately replied: "However, I think that it may be necessary to recruit troops to meet unexpected needs."
"The main combat force plus the field soldiers should have exceeded 400,000 troops, right?" Lord Pingyuan asked with some confusion.
"It has indeed exceeded." Li Mu immediately replied: "To be precise, our army's current main battle strength is around 320,000, and the field troops are also around 120,000. The total strength should be around 440,000. .
However, first of all, the combat effectiveness of these field troops is not as good as the main battle troops. Although there are hundreds of thousands more, the combat effectiveness may not be as strong as the Qin army's 400,000 troops;
Secondly, it is impossible for our army to concentrate all its troops to fight Qin. The tens of thousands of extra troops are not enough to prevent the Wei and Qi armies from attacking.
Thirdly, the Qin army may not only have 400,000 troops. If we wait until there are not enough soldiers to recruit troops, I am afraid it will be too late. "
Of course Zhao Kuo knew that Pingyuan Lord was worried that the conscription would affect the economic construction in the coming year, and he was even more afraid that like the Changping War, which would drag on for several years, these hundreds of thousands of troops would bring down the country that was finally built.
However, this mentality of worrying about gains and losses is obviously not applicable to today's situation.
The person opposite is already flipping the table, and I am still worrying about keeping the plates, which is a crime.
Immediately, Zhao Kuo interrupted Lord Pingyuan and said: "First, judging from the intelligence, the Qin State has mobilized the whole country. It is impossible to fake such a large-scale mobilization, and cheating will only make the Qin State more passive. . Therefore, this war can already be regarded as a decisive battle between Zhao and Qin.
Second, now our country is only between the two of Qin in terms of strength. Whoever can persist for the last quarter of an hour will win. Therefore, since it is a decisive battle, we, the State of Zhao, must fight with determination at all costs, and we must not take any chances. "
"yes."
With Zhao Kuo's final decision, everyone agreed one after another.
"Okay." Zhao Kuo also nodded, and then said: "Let's talk about military issues first, and Li Mu tell us your views."
Obviously, at this critical moment, the person Zhao Kuo trusted most was Li Mu, a ruthless man who had single-handedly withstood the Qin army for more than ten years in history.
"Yes." Li Mu said nothing nonsense and immediately agreed again.
"The most important thing in this battle is to withstand the first wave of sudden attacks by the Qin army. If the Qin army is not defeated in one fell swoop and captures important nodes, it will be the birthday of the first stage.
Then, when the main force of the Qin army appears, the reinforcements prepared by our army can join them and enter the stage of confrontation with the Qin army.
With our current national strength, as long as we can hold back the Qin army, we are not afraid of a protracted war. Li Mu looked at the map and talked eloquently.
"What should we do if a third-party force joins?" Zhao Kuo asked immediately.
"Turn offense into defense, give up strategic stalemate, instead stick to the fortress, give up salients, and then lure the enemy deeper, shorten our supply line, lengthen the enemy's supply line, and then look for opportunities to cut it off." Li Mu also replied immediately.
"Tian Dan, Sun Gu, what do you think?" Zhao Kuo then looked at the other two people.
"It's feasible." Tian Dan nodded and said, "The most important thing is to find the breaking point of the Qin army, because I
The army is the back-up force, and losses are inevitable, but they must be within an acceptable range. In addition, in terms of diplomatic channels, we must try to avoid the participation of third-party forces, and at the same time, we must consider whether Chu State can give the Qin army a blow at a critical moment. "
"We will discuss diplomatic issues later." Zhao Kuo waved his hand and said without waiting for Mr. Pingyuan to reply.
"Yes." Mr. Pingyuan and others immediately agreed.
"Wei Chen only thinks of supplementing these two points for the time being." Tian Dan replied immediately.
Immediately, Zhao Kuo looked at Sun Gu who was aside.
"Wei Chen also thinks that General Li Mu's strategy is feasible." Sun Gu nodded and said: "Our Yulin Guards will try our best to find the Qin army's main attack direction, but it will take time."
"Don't be afraid." Zhao Kuo nodded and said: "The Qin army can attack in only two or three directions. The first is to attack Shangdang and lead the defense line with empty warehouses; the second is the land of Zhou Wangji; the third is also Qin The most likely direction of the army is the Yingchuan front line."
"With such a large-scale attack by the Qin army, it is impossible to attack the empty warehouse defense line, and the mountains cannot accommodate such a large-scale Qin army." Tian Dan then went on to analyze.
"It is also possible to attack Zhou Wangji. This place is almost the center of our army. As long as we succeed here, we can separate our army of 100,000 troops on the Yingchuan front line from our homeland, and then divide and annihilate them." Li Muye Continue the analysis.
"Judging from the troop mobilization of the Qin army, it is very likely that the main force will continue to attract the troops on the Yingchuan front line of our army, and then use one force to cut off Luocheng. This will trap our Yingchuan army." Zhao Kuo stretched out his hand. He began to draw on the map, then stopped on Luo City and said: "Luo City!"
"My king, would you like to order General Lian Po to lead his army back to Luocheng?" Tian Dan suggested immediately.
"Most of the territory of Yingchuan County was lost without a fight?" Zhao Kuo frowned slightly and said, "This is definitely not possible."
"But?" Tian Dan wanted to persuade him again, but was coldly interrupted by Zhao Kuo.
"This is not only a territorial issue for half the county, but also a morale issue. If we retreat before fighting, there will be no need to fight this battle." Zhao Kuo said coldly.
"Yes." Tian Dan also sighed softly after hearing this.
