"Then we can only increase our troops." Tian Dan murmured to the side.
"Luocheng can no longer be left undefended." Zhao Kuo also said immediately: "Of course, knowing that the Qin army may attack Yingchuan, there is no need for the Yingchuan front line to continue to entangle the Qin army on the border."
"That's it." Zhao Kuo immediately issued an order to Li Mu: "Immediately send a message to General Lian Po, ordering him to slowly retreat to Xinzheng City with the main force. Based on the defense of Xinzheng City, at most several thousand people will be left on the border. Just continue to paralyze the Qin army."
"It doesn't matter even if they are discovered. For these thousands of people, the most important thing is to find out the specific strength and movements of the Qin army." Zhao Kuo then added.
"Yes." Li Mu agreed immediately.
"The troops from Shangdang County and Handan County, as the first echelon, must quickly complete the assembly and provide reinforcements to Yingchuan County." Zhao Kuo then continued to give instructions.
"Yes." Li Mu continued to agree: "It's just that the current strength of Shangdang County is only 80,000, and there are only less than 50,000 troops in Handan County. There are only 20,000 of them. Troops are also needed to be stationed in the direction of the empty warehouse, in order to prevent thousands of threats. First, at least 30,000 troops must be arranged. In this way, the army going south will only number 100,000 at most."
"In this way, adjust it." Zhao Kuo nodded and said: "The Shangdang still has 30,000 soldiers in the field, leaving 20,000 soldiers in the field, and gathered 20,000 soldiers to stick to the front line of the empty warehouse. The 50,000 army in Handan will not move for the time being. The remaining 70,000 troops of the party combined the 20,000 combat troops and 10,000 field troops from Zhongshan County, plus the 20,000 field troops from Dai County, for a total of 120,000 troops to move south.
Forty thousand soldiers were stationed in Luocheng, and 40,000 field soldiers and 40,000 soldiers marched out of Xinzheng to assist General Lian Po in defending the city. With an army of 180,000 and the city of Xinzheng, blocking the first wave of Qin's offensive should not be a problem.
The above forces must arrive on the battlefield before the Qin army launches an attack and complete the campaign. "
"Yes." Li Mu nodded in agreement.
"All 90,000 soldiers from Zhongshan, Hejian, Dongjun, and Huaisi counties were mobilized and assembled as the second group in the direction of Yingchuan." Zhao Kuo continued to speak on the map.
"My king, Rongzhen." Li Mu did not agree with Zhao Kuo's suggestion for the first time: "Dongjun and Huaisi are adjacent to Wei and Qi. Without being sure that these two countries will not participate in the war, if they rashly transfer all their troops, fear of Not good."
When Zhao Kuo heard this, he was obviously hesitant. However, facing the desperate struggle of the Qin army, if these tens of thousands of troops could not be drawn out, he would not have that many troops to fight against him.
"One month." Zhao Kuo then looked back at Lord Pingyuan and asked, "How many troops can be recruited in one month?"
January is roughly the time when the war enters the second stage - the stage of confrontation and stalemate. Zhao Kuo must recruit enough soldiers and horses before this to push the strength of the front line to the level of a stalemate with the Qin army.
Once it is too late, it will become a fueling tactic, and it is very likely that the Qin army will be divided, surrounded and defeated individually.
"Fifty thousand!" Hearing this, Mr. Pingyuan decisively stretched out five fingers.
"Not enough!" Zhao Kuo replied almost without thinking.
After a moment's hesitation, Mr. Pingyuan finally said with determination, "If we do whatever it takes, we can gather up to 70,000 people."
Obviously, this is already the limit in Mr. Pingyuan's heart.
"Eighty thousand, at least 80,000." Zhao Kuo frowned and said, "In forty days, we will gather 80,000 people to reach Handan City."
This is really a bit difficult for Lord Pingyuan. Although Zhao Kuo gave him ten days of grace, the problem is that within a month, all that should be collected has been basically collected. In the extra ten days, 10,000 more people will be recruited. Then The truth is extremely difficult.
Not to mention, Zhao Kuo also requested that these 80,000 people be brought to Handan City.
But Mr. Pingyuan also knows that this is not the time for bargaining. Eighty thousand people may be the winner of this decisive battle. But the problem is that it is easy to agree. If you fail to do so by the time, it will really be ruined.
Just when Lord Pingyuan didn't know how to reply, Lu Buwei on the side spoke up and said, "My king, can you recruit barbarians?"
"Of course you can." Zhao Kuo agreed without thinking.
"Maybe you can make a promise to the barbarians? For example, let's join our Zhao family?" Lu Bu
Wei immediately continued to ask.
"Yes!" Zhao Kuo agreed without thinking.
"On the 30th, 80,000 people." After hearing this, Lu Buwei immediately clasped his fists and replied, "I am sure!"
"Okay." Zhao Kuo didn't waste any time and immediately said, "The matter of recruiting troops is entirely left to Lu Qing. I don't care what method you use. In thirty days, 80,000 people will be recruited. You will be the first to contribute to this battle." , can’t recruit..."
"The collection is insufficient, so I'm here to see you." Lu Buwei also immediately issued a military order.
"Okay!" Zhao Kuo patted Lu Buwei's shoulder hard.
"Without further delay, I will resign and start recruiting troops immediately." Upon hearing this, Lu Buwei cupped his fists and bowed.
"Yes, all the conscripts will be sent to Handan!" Zhao Kuo immediately ordered.
"Yes." Lu Buwei also immediately accepted the order.
Immediately, Lu Buwei bowed slightly to Zhao Kuo, turned around and left the political hall.
Lu Buwei is still confident about the number of 80,000.
Without him, he, who had stayed in Jiuyuan for several months, knew very well the Hu people's desire for Zhao nationality.
On the grassland, in Jiuyuan County, Zhao's nationality means dozens of acres of cultivated land or thousands of acres of pasture, and it also means that the whole family no longer has to worry about food and clothing.
This is a fatal temptation for the prairie people.
Especially after two years of mutual trading and assimilation, the men on the grassland are full of yearning for life inside the Zhao Kingdom.
Although the State of Zhao has been preaching in the Central Plains that "when you come, you will be a member of the State of Zhao", but for these barbarians, things are not so good.
Although the first batch of Hu people who entered Jiuyuan City were generously given Zhao's household registration by the State of Zhao, the subsequent Hu people did not have this benefit.
Without great meritorious service or paying taxes day after day year after year, Hu people would not be able to obtain Zhao's household registration.
Now, as long as he raises his voice in Jiuyuan City and uses Zhao's household registration as bait, he will not worry about the barbarians not coming.
Not only in the direction of Jiuyuan, but also in the north of Jibei County, Lin Hu has also wanted to join the embrace of Zhao in the past two years.
If nothing goes wrong, more than half of the 80,000 people can be taken care of by the barbarians alone. Moreover, these barbarians are all good at riding and shooting. If they are armed with Zhao's fine armor and have a desire to perform meritorious deeds, The combat power is probably much higher than that of ordinary young men.
It can be said that attracting barbarians to join the army can not only perfectly solve the problem of soldiers, but also promote the integration of nationalities. It is simply the most perfect solution.
The only problem is that Jiuyuan and Jibei are both too far away.
In addition, it will take time for the message to be transmitted on the grassland, and it will also take time for the barbarians to arrive.
This is also the reason why Lu Buwei has to leave the political hall early and every second is crucial.
Soon, as Lu Buwei left, the discussion in the political hall began again.
"General Tian Dan." Zhao Kuo immediately looked at Tian Dan and asked, "How many soldiers and horses are needed to defend Dongjun and Huaisi County for me?"
When Tian Dan heard this, his brows immediately wrinkled.
He knew that even if Shi Lu Buwei raised an army of 80,000 as scheduled, he would still be stretched thin in the face of such a huge territory.
He must defend these two counties at the minimum cost.
After thinking deeply, Tian Dan immediately replied: "Huaisi County is adjacent to the State of Qi. We are confident that we can defend it with 10,000 field troops and 5,000 soldiers. However, Dongjun is adjacent to the State of Wei. The current Wei army has at least The number of one hundred thousand cannot be defended without 20,000 soldiers. Therefore, to defend the two counties, Weichen needs at least 25,000 soldiers and 10,000 field soldiers. Moreover, Weichen can only ensure that the two counties do not collapse."
"As long as we can keep the county government, that's enough." Zhao Kuo nodded.
Of course he knew that this was already the limit of limits.
You must know that there are currently 50,000 official soldiers stationed in the two counties, not to mention nearly 40,000 field soldiers. Tian Dan's sword almost killed more than half of the troops.
That is, the old general Tian Dan, Qi State-owned
Only with absolute certainty can I dare to bargain like this.
Of course, just in case, Zhao Kuo could not press the limit of General Tian Dan and send troops.
"In this way, we will have 30,000 soldiers and 20,000 soldiers stationed in the field to defend Dongjun and Huaisi counties." After doing some mental calculations, Zhao Kuo quickly came up with a plan: "General Tian, what do you think?"
"Yes." Tian Dan immediately nodded in agreement.
"The 40,000 war soldiers and 40,000 field soldiers squeezed out from Hejian, Huaisi, Dongjun, and Jibei counties combined with the 20,000 army from Handan (30,000 and other final conscripts were left behind) to form a 100,000-strong army. The Qin army began to launch an attack. After our army retreats to Xinzheng, it will arrive at Luocheng. From Luocheng, we will wait for the opportunity to send reinforcements to Xinzheng." Zhao Kuo then continued to give instructions.
"In order to avoid the possibility of being divided and surrounded by the two cities in the north, Zhao Wei's heavy cavalry also moved forward." Zhao Kuo then added.
"My king, who is the leading general on this journey?" Tian Dan asked immediately.
After a slight hesitation, Zhao Kuo then said: "This batch of reinforcements may not seem important, but they are the ones that require the most prompt decision-making. By the time you get on the battlefield, the enemy and we are already fighting together, and the weight of Luo City is no less than Xinzheng, whether to divide the troops or not, and how many troops to go to Xinzheng, all depends on the battlefield situation, and to predict the enemy's opportunity, Li Mu, you can only go into battle in person."
"Yes?" Li Mu immediately accepted the order.
"But, my king, if we all leave, what will happen to the last batch of reinforcements?" Tian Dan on the side then asked again.
"The master of decisive victory has been sent by me personally?" Zhao Kuo then asked with a smile.
"this?"
Everyone who heard this frowned. Obviously, although everyone knew what Zhao Kuo was capable of, no one was willing to take the risk of Zhao Kuo as the king because of the dangers of the war.
However, looking at the generals in the court, although there are Le Yi, Le Jian and others, it is obvious that in such a crucial battle, even if Le Yi and Le Jian have been conquered, Zhao Kuo cannot hand over this heavy responsibility to these people.
After all, Zhao Kuo may be the only one left.
