Chapter 153 Song Sheng’s direction
The war started in March of Yangchun. After more than a month of fighting, it was approaching the busy farming season in the north and it still continued without end.
And the war is getting more intense.
In order to gain a foothold in Beijing, Song Sheng took his troops and crossed the Yellow River eastward. Attack the Hedong area.
This situation is caused by many factors.
This is also Song Sheng's consciousness.
After Song Sheng defected, he was very eager to establish meritorious service in the Beijing court, and wanted to clear his status as a reduced general and become a meritorious official. gain Beijing's trust. Of course, Song Sheng also understood it very well.
Although he defected. Take half of Guanzhong at once. But he is a newcomer after all. There is also a problem with trust.
Although it is said that Song Sheng is unlikely to use the bitter meat trick to fake surrender, after all, using half of Guanzhong as bait is not something Nanjing can do. But there are still many uncertainties. For example, Song Sheng is sure that everyone under Song Sheng has no other ideas about his surrender?
This is hard to say.
It seems that the situation in Nanjing is very bad. But it’s hard to tell about the human heart. It is not impossible if there are some loyal ministers in Nanjing under Song Sheng's command, and they suddenly jump out at the critical moment, Song Sheng will be in trouble.
He is still in the inspection period.
As for the reorganization of Song Sheng's department, it is even more impossible.
The reorganization of Meiyin's headquarters was a buffer period after the capture of Lanzhou and Hehuang. Now the battle of Guanzhong is about to, no, has already started, but it is still fighting on the periphery and there is no real attack on the key places.
In this case, what problems will arise from the reorganization? It's even more troublesome.
This is not what Song Sheng wants to see. It was not what Qu Neng wanted to see.
How to solve this problem?
That is to let Song Sheng go to the secondary battlefield, not the main battlefield. Once something goes wrong on a major battlefield, all previous efforts may be lost, and there is no room for error. But it's different on the secondary battlefield. Of course everyone is happy if they win. If it fails. As long as it's not too miserable, just wait for a while and win it back.
No big deal either.
It can even contain the opponent's troops.
There is another reason for this, that is, the training, communication, and even systems between Song Sheng's troops and Qu Neng's troops are completely different. They have never cooperated in combat. It is not a good choice to put Song Sheng on the main battlefield to cooperate with Qu Neng's troops.
Therefore, for various reasons, it was the best choice to let Song Sheng go out and lead the army alone.
It was also Song Sheng's own idea. After all, leading the troops alone would have greater power, he could make his own decisions, and he could make meritorious deeds.
But it’s hard to say in which direction it should be placed.
Song Sheng's core followers numbered approximately 50,000. Song Sheng coerced more than 100,000 troops into surrender. There are also some captured civilian husbands and so on. Some of them were transferred to Mei Yin. Without others, these troops were transferred from Sichuan and were originally the troops of the Sichuan Dusi.
As mentioned earlier, when Guanzhong was short of troops, they were supplemented by troops from Sichuan Dusi.
It is most suitable for these people to follow Mei Yin in attacking Sichuan.
Song Sheng also wanted to go to Sichuan, but after much deliberation, he finally rejected it. When he went to Sichuan, he could only serve as Mei Yin's deputy. He couldn't even serve as Mei Yin's deputy. The reason was simple. Mei Yin was a reduced general after all. Although the Beijing court was not worried about Mei Yin's loyalty, some principles still had to be discussed.
Although Mei Yin led some Xining Guards to defect, the core of Mei Yin's command must be the Thirteenth Army formed by more than 10,000 elite troops transferred by He Xi. There is no room for error on this point. Mei Yin also understood.
If the generals under his command cannot learn new tactics and integrate into the Thirteenth Army, they will only be ranked second.
In this way, Mei Yin, as the person in charge of the overall situation in the Southwest, his first military assistant must be from Beijing. Song Sheng passed by and could only succumb to him.
Therefore, Song Sheng set his sights on the Hedong area.
That is Pingyang Mansion.
Shanxi has never been Beijing’s main direction of attack.
There are too many dangers and obstacles in Shanxi. When Geng Bingwen was here before, Shanxi was really an iron knot and difficult to conquer.
But the most important thing is that Beijing's appetite is big enough. It doesn't mean much to capture Shanxi. If Taiyuan is conquered, other places in Shanxi can also rely on the Northern Army's attack due to terrain obstruction. The famous Battle of Yubi in the Northern and Southern Dynasties was fought in Shanxi.
It is easy to fall into a hard fight, and with the current choice, after Guanzhong is threatened, the situation in Shanxi is almost over. Once the Southern Army is unable to support itself, how long can the Shanxi Army sustain it?
Although capturing Pingyang Mansion can also allow the two armies to join forces. But in fact, it has no practical effect.
Because there are many mountains between Pingyang Mansion and Huaiqing Mansion, there is a road called Zhiguan Road. It is also an ancient road that can carry large armies. Many wars have been fought on this ancient road since ancient times. But so what?
First, mountain logistics and transportation are too difficult.
Opening this road will not alleviate the logistical pressure on both sides.
Secondly, both sides have their own goals, although the current war is centered around Luoyang. But in fact, it is divided into several battlefields. Although there are some problems with messaging between them, it is still possible. The transfer of personnel and materials is not that necessary.
Coupled with the bearing capacity of Zhiguan Road, it is not that important here.
Of course, it would be better to get through. But it's not the highest priority.
Song Sheng chose this place because, on the one hand, he was playing tricks on others. Song Sheng knew the Shanxi Army well. He is confident that the Shanxi Army is not much stronger than what he has in hand. On the other hand, he saw Shanxi's crumbling situation.
As long as they win a few battles, it is possible to take over Shanxi.
The Duke did not dare to expect the credit for conquering a province, but a marquis might not be able to do it.
Song Sheng thought for a long time before coming to his current decision.
Now that he has made a decision, he works very hard.
As soon as they crossed the Yellow River, they launched a fierce attack on Shanxi. Zhao Yong is not a vegetarian either. It's just that Zhao Yong has very few mobile troops at his disposal. After all, there are too many places in Shanxi that need to be defended. So much so that he didn't have more soldiers and horses than Song Sheng who could fight against Song Sheng.
In addition, Song Sheng has an advantage.
If it's not another advantage, it's the war horse.
The Shanxi Army has been guarding the border for many years. There were not many war horses originally equipped. After the fall of the northwest, there were almost none. After Song Sheng defected to Beijing, although the reorganization had not yet begun, he ushered in a change of appearance.
A large number of new weapons were equipped in the hands of Song Sheng's troops.
Needless to say, various firearms. Most of them are in stock.
That's not to say that Song Sheng's department is not valued.
But after Beijing has upgraded its firearms several times, many of the remaining firearms are no longer suitable for combat. Because during this period of time, there have been no major military reforms in Beijing, and many small reforms have been carried out subtly. Not to mention, although Song Sheng's troops are equipped with a large number of firearms, they are essentially a lower level than the Northern Army. If the active weapons of the Northern Army are really handed over to these people, they may not be able to use them.
After all, weapons are closely related to tactics.
It's like a squatting tiger cannon. This thing is very practical for a long time. At one time every platoon on the front line had to change several gates. Serves as infantry support fire. But gradually it becomes less applicable. Because the battalion-level firepower came up.
The Tiger Crouching Cannon has shortcomings such as heavy weight and short range. Many people even think that it is better to kick a few more grenades while holding something. This is also because the battle lines are becoming increasingly fragmented. No matter it was the Northern Army or the Southern Army, they both discovered one thing during the war.
In the era of cold weapons, it is useful to talk about moving forward courageously. With a good armor, when facing arrows, you can still fight tenaciously even if you are shot into a hornet's nest. But in the age of firearms, no matter how brave a person is, they will be torn to pieces in front of firearms. No matter how brave you are, Guan Yu or Zhang Fei, ten thousand people will not be brave enough. There is no way. .z.
You can only learn to dodge, and the firearms and equipment are getting better and better.
The more there are, the looser the camp will be. What should I do if the firearm's accuracy is not good, it is loose, and the firearm's lethality is not enough?
Cold salad, fate knows. Victory belongs to the court. If the accuracy is not enough, just fire a few more rounds and blast a few more times.
This is one of the reasons why He Xi faces extremely high military expenditures.
