Chapter 25 Between Advance and Retreat
"Sir, in my opinion, you can have both." Ye Chen gave the answer without hesitation, saying: "If you ask for the upper level, you will get the middle, if you ask for the middle, you will get the lower level, if you ask for the lower level, you will not get it. Your Excellency, lock the river, but stop the Southern Army. Don't just think about defeating the Confederate Army. You must have the intention to go south and defeat the Confederate Army. If that doesn't work, you should retreat to the next best thing. If you are trapped here and miss the opportunity to fight, you will not only fulfill the important task of supervising the country, but also allow the enemy to deploy calmly. Your Excellency The goal of guarding the Hutuo Rivers may not be achieved."
Hutuo River is not a river with a reputation. Hutuo is a river with turbid water. Hutuo River is a river with turbid water. Once was Zhending, the collective name for these rivers in the river. Later, it gradually became a specific name for a certain river.
However, these rivers all originate from the Taihang Mountains, merge into the Wei River, and go out to sea from Tianjin. The course of the river is also erratic, often taking other paths and entering the Wei River. Therefore, this area is crisscrossed by rivers and has many lakes and wetlands. If a small number of people advance and retreat, there will naturally be roads everywhere, but if a large army advances, it will be nothing more than a few roads. Either march along both sides of the Wei River, or march along the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, and the rest are just a few official roads.
Therefore, as long as the river is used as a defense and a few important roads are locked, it is enough for the Confederate Army to stop troops here.
It's just that these all take time.
He Xi had been prepared for a long time. He had already chosen ferries, rivers, bridges, or places where he could swim in rivers and other places to build castles. With a large amount of cement and steel bars, a castle can be built in a short time. Coupled with enough firearms and food, only hundreds or thousands of people are enough to block the main road. Then the army stayed behind, waiting for the Confederate army to besiege these castles, and then attacked them. I dare not say that they would be in an invincible position. But it was impossible for the Southern Army to easily break through the Hejian defense line and give Beijing time.
And doing this also takes time. Not much, just a month or two.
In He Xi's view, Nanjing's response was much slower than he thought.
Within a month or two, the assembled army may not be able to move northward. But He Xi felt that Ye Chen was right. After all, the more time, the better. Some people were left to supervise the construction of the defense line between the rivers, and the army moved southward, not seeking great achievements, but just delaying the enemy's army, which may not be possible.
However, He Xi remembered some of Ye Chen's problems and said, "Okay, I'll do what you said, Tie Xuan."
Tie Xuan said: "My subordinate is here."
He Xi said: "I'll leave it to you here in Hejian. I've made arrangements for the rear. All kinds of materials will come here continuously along the canal. I will give you three months at most. Within three months, this road will be completed." The defense line must be completed."
Tie Xuan said: "I obey your orders."
The reason why He Xi asked Tie Xuan to come was because he valued Tie Xuan's ability to supervise the project and also valued Tie Xuan's historical achievements in guarding Jinan. I hope this line of defense is strong enough.
Ye Chen said: "Sir, this matter is at stake. Why don't you sit in the river and I will lead the troops south."
"No." He Xi said sternly: "Absolutely not. This is not Goryeo, but the Ming Dynasty. We are also the rebels and the official army who bring order to the chaos. This time we go south, we are not only fighting a military war, but also a political war. You lead it alone Bing, I’m definitely not at ease.”
He Xi was not worried about Ye Chen's ability to lead troops, but he was worried about Ye Shen's political slowness.
Ye Chen's record in Goryeo is still remembered today, and in order to win, Ye Chen raided Goryeo to satisfy the Jurchens' appetite. Now Ye Chen's name in Korea can still make children stop crying. He Xi was not worried that Ye Chen was in Henan and Shandong, so he went ahead and plundered. Although Ye Chen didn't think there was anything wrong with doing this for the sake of victory, only He Xi warned him in advance. Ye Chen was still obedient.
But the problem is that there are still few things that He Xi can think of. Ye Chen still has more rights to move freely. What if Ye Chen comes and floods the Seventh Army?
Even if they could wipe out all the guards in Shandong and Henan in one battle, it would still be a huge defeat for He Xi.
He Xi's scalp went numb when he thought of these things.
He must keep an eye on Ye Chen. It's not to tie Ye Chen's hands and feet, but to let Ye Chen understand what political warfare is. However, people's talents are sometimes strange. When He Xi taught Ye Chen military knowledge, Ye Chen was able to explain everything from one point to another and draw inferences from one instance to another. But when it comes to politics, he just listens to it.
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He Xi despaired of Ye Chen becoming a general who understood both military and political matters.
Therefore, He Xi must follow him and set the rules for Ye Chen. When the front is stabilized in the future, or the separation between north and south becomes clear, then he can be completely entrusted to Ye Chen and there will be no need to interfere too much.
Ye Chen had no choice but to say, "Since your Excellency has made a plan, it is important to send troops quickly. It is best to send troops quickly. Don't delay."
He Xi said: "Okay."
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He Xi and Ye Chen ordered their troops to go south, and sent partial troops from Hebei to the southwest to capture Damingfu and other places. These places also fall under the jurisdiction of Hebei. It was convenient to collect, and He Xi and Ye Chen took the main force south to Shandong. After entering Shandong, the first state city was Dezhou City.
At this moment, Dezhou City also heard about the changes in the north.
The city gates are closed. The people went to the city to defend the city.
He Xi and Ye Chen looked at the city outside. The city was not tall and even a little dilapidated. This is a city left over from the Yuan Dynasty. Although it is said that Zhu Yuanzhang built the city high and accumulated grain widely, he did not build cities everywhere.
The cities built during the Hongwu period basically have the following characteristics, that is, they are famous cities in Dayi, such as Kaifeng, Xi'an, Xiangyang and other cities. Either it is where the battle lines between the two sides are tug-of-war, just like some cities in Zhejiang and Jiangxi where Zhu Yuanzhang fought with Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang. There are also various places in Yanbian that have been at loggerheads with Mongolia for a long time. .z.
However, some cities in Hebei and Shandong were not built at all. The reason is simple: the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition went too smoothly. Directly push the battle line from Shandong to the Great Wall, even if there are some repetitions, the most it can reach is Peking City. In this case, cities in Hebei, Shandong and other places are not worth building at all.
It was actually built one after another during the Zhengde period, after the Liu Liu and Liu Qi rebellions.
Dezhou City is also considered a strategic location. There was a city wall in the Yuan Dynasty. However, after the Ming Dynasty, local officials reinforced it but did not rebuild it. It still looks like the old city.
Ye Chen said: "Sir, please look, this city wall looks neat, but the soil color here is different from here, the old and new are different, it seems to be newly repaired. This kind of combination of old and new is the most unstable, so it will be destroyed by the end." In the meantime, we will send men who are brave enough to risk their lives to dig into the city and bury gunpowder in the city wall. We are determined to blow a gap, and then the army will attack and the city will fall. It will take no more than five days. At the end of the day, the general dares to issue a military order."
Ye Chen dared to be so sure. On the one hand, it was a problem of city defense. On the other hand, he felt that the morale on the city was not high.
After all, the Ming Dynasty was founded more than 20 years ago. Although many old people have experienced war, these people in their thirties and forties have long forgotten what war was like. After all, they were all young when the Ming Dynasty came over.
Not to mention, they, including the governor of Dezhou, are also in a state of confusion.
After all, I felt fine before. Why suddenly, Ming Dynasty is about to go to war.
Not everyone can make this sudden transition from peacetime to war. It can even be said that Nanjing's slow response is also a reflection of this state. They never thought that such a thing would happen.
Defending the city is an instinctive reaction. Even the specifics of how to guard it and to what extent it is guarded are actually not understood or known by everyone up and down.
In addition, most of the people who defended the city were civilians, not professional soldiers, and He Xi had the pinnacle of Ming military technology. Although He Xi did not bring cannons this time for the sake of speed, many siege techniques were beyond the understanding of those in the city whose war thinking was still twenty or thirty years ago.
After all, in order to mine, He Xi has made blasting a specialized knowledge. Even hard mines can be blasted. How can they cope with this kind of rammed earth city wall? Naturally, it is extremely easy. It's within reach.
It's just that this technology was not immediately applied to other aspects. It has been used in mines, and war is an era when new technologies are widely popularized.
