Nanyang County is located next to Baihe River and is connected to Xiangyang by waterway. Passing through Fangcheng and Ye County in the northeast can lead to Kaifeng Prefecture, and going north through Sanya Road can lead to Luoyang, which is an important transportation hub. In the Song Dynasty, the post route to Kaifeng Prefecture did not pass through Nanyang County, but took Tangzhou to Fangcheng. The important waterway is Bieshui, not Baihe. Since the Tang Dynasty, the hub to Guanzhong has been Dengzhou. The status of Nanyang County, sandwiched between Tangzhou and Dengzhou, is no longer important. Wang Xiaolie decided to reopen Sanya Road, and the status of Nanyang County was different.
Nanyang County Government Office, Wang Ruohai frowned as he looked at the official documents on the case.
Putting down the official document, Wang Ruohai said: "For this Northern Expedition, Ruzhou was too hastily prepared! The official document said that the local government was not prepared at all. Originally, according to the mileage, there were places to camp for the army on the road, so that the local government could prepare Supplies. But in fact, they can’t even feed the vanguard engineering troops, let alone the army behind them!”
Wang Xiaolie read through the official documents and said: "Lushan County is located in a mountainous area with few households. It is true that we cannot prepare all the supplies in a short time. What can we do? When making plans, we should think of this instead of giving it to the local government directly." It’s enough to assign a task. In the past, the troops were sent out with 10,000 or 20,000 people, or at most 20,000 or 30,000 people. They were not particular about the road. Eat more if you can carry them, and eat less if you can’t. This time it’s different. An army of 100,000 people went out. , and also asked them to eat well and dress well, so naturally there were many problems. It’s not scary if you have problems, just write them down and don’t do them again in the future.”
Wang Ruohai said: "Of course I won't do it again in the future. But what to do this time? Tens of thousands of troops passed through Lushan County. It's obvious that they were not prepared."
Wang Xiaolie said: "Tell them that the itinerary is fixed and cannot be changed. Based on the situation in Lushan County, let them report what kind of supplies they can provide to the army. Food and grass cannot be lacking. Everything else depends on what the place has. What's wrong? When the army arrives, it will be a hard life for a few days."
Wang Ruohai nodded, held the official document, and looked at it with a sullen face without speaking.
Wang Xiaolie said: "Counsellor, this expedition is an unprecedented event for us. We have to learn everything. Including your plan, how to do it, where to be detailed, where to be rough, what tasks to undertake, Whatever tasks the military has to undertake, and everything else, we must learn it bit by bit. We are not gods, and we cannot do it all at once. It is not terrible to encounter problems, as long as we learn it and will not do it again in the future. This time It's Zhai Xing who is on his Northern Expedition, and we are helping him get reinforcements. The time is relatively not urgent, so we can take our time."
Wang Ruohai sighed: "Jie Shuai, now it seems that the plan we made is not very feasible. What can be consoling is that the army's schedule will not be delayed, but it is absolutely impossible for the supplies to arrive on time. Alas. ——”
Wang Xiaolie said: "No matter what the problem is, we must write it down in detail. If there is a large army going out in the future, we can't do it again."
Wang Ruohai agreed and flipped through the official documents on the table with some annoyance.
An army of 100,000 people marched hundreds of miles and had artillery. It was completely incomparable to the previous march of 10,000 to 20,000 people in mountainous areas. At that time, the main thing was to ensure that people had enough food. Now it is much more difficult to ensure that gunpowder and cannonballs are provided, as well as forage for a large number of horses.
Although Wang Xiaolie established a headquarters, he had no one to teach him and had to summarize all knowledge by himself. How easy was it? It was the first time to organize an army movement of this scale. Most of the plans compiled by the General Staff Office could not be implemented, which made Wang Ruohai very angry.
any idea? Starting everything from scratch would have been very difficult. As long as you maintain a patient, cautious and attentive work attitude, it is not easy. Wang Xiaolie didn't ask too much, he just reminded them of their work attitude.
Li Yanxian came in from outside and said to Wang Xiaolie: "Commander Jie, the vanguard has arrived at Baofeng, and the army is crossing Sanya Road. Tens of thousands of troops have stationed in Ruzhou, and the place is really overwhelmed. Should we station them elsewhere?"
Wang Xiaolie shook his head: "Where are the other places? The Jie Li Nong army on the right is gathering towards Yingchang Prefecture, preparing to attack Zhengzhou. With the cover of the right, Jiaxian and Xiangcheng in Ruzhou have become the rear. They are far away from the front line. It is also far away and is not suitable for garrisoning. When we go north, it is best to station with the former army in Baofeng and Liang County. With Baofeng as the base and Liang County as the front, we can provide protection for Zhai Xing. If Zhai Xing captures Luoyang in the battle, we will go west Go to the Xin'an and Mianchi areas to block the reinforcements of the Jin army from Shaanxi. If an accident happens unfortunately, we can also respond to Zhai Xing."
Li Yanxian said: "With tens of thousands of troops stationed in two counties, it is really difficult to ensure supplies. Grain and grass can be transported there, but the cattle and sheep will be eaten up. Although it can be transported from other places, it is not easy. It is better to disperse to Jiaxian and Lushan, and the supplies will be much more convenient."
Wang Xiaolie said: "No need. The army is dispersed and stationed, so it is inconvenient to fight. Now that it is winter, you can ask the nearby counties to slaughter the pigs and sheep and transport them, or even process them. There is always a way. "
In the past, when looking at history, we often saw hundreds of thousands of troops participating in a battle. After a single charge and defeat, the entire army collapsed. Now think about it, how is this possible? Hundreds of thousands of troops are lined up, with the two wings separated by at least dozens of miles. How can it be so easy to influence?
When Wang Xiaolie's army set out from Nanyang, it was planned to be one soldier and three people. The Chinese army has five regiments of infantry, one artillery regiment, one engineering regiment, two cavalry regiments, two baggage regiments, and other miscellaneous troops, totaling nearly 40,000 people. There are 120,000 civilians attached to it, which adds up to nearly 200,000 people. After arriving in Ruzhou, the scope of activities became smaller, and it was decided to have one soldier and two people. The Chinese army plus Cao Zhiyan's front army of nearly 60,000 people, plus 120,000 civilians, is still about 200,000 troops.
If you add Shao Ling's army from the left and Niu Gao's army from the right, Wang Xiaolie dispatched nearly 100,000 troops and 300,000 civilians this time. According to some calculations, civilians are also included in the army, which is an army of 400,000. An army of 400,000 is enough to shock the world.
In this era, one hundred thousand is basically the limit for an army all the way. No matter how large the number of people is, the troops need to be divided, otherwise the place cannot support so many people. Not only are the materials insufficient to support the situation, but the people are also insufficient.
Historically, Yue Fei's army was about 100,000, which was basically a large army. Yue Fei's Northern Expedition, due to the ruins of the Central Plains, could only support this number of troops. Wu Shu led the Jin army to fight. There could not be one hundred thousand people. His marching route could not support so many people.
When reading, I often think, "I can't defeat the enemy with one hundred thousand, but can I defeat it with two hundred thousand?" What if it’s three hundred thousand? In fact, the number of troops cannot be calculated in this way. On a battlefield, the number of people supported to fight is basically fixed, and more people will starve to death first.
When two armies fight, they must first compete for resources in the battlefield area. If you take one more bite, the enemy will take one less bite. If resources cannot be obtained from the battlefield area, they can only be transported from the rear. In this era, transporting grain to the rear was extremely costly and required a lot of manpower. These people transporting grain are extremely vulnerable to attack. If they don't pay attention to defense, they will be cut off by the enemy. Once the food road is cut off, the war cannot be fought.
It was an earth-shattering thing for Wang Xiaolie to launch a hundred thousand troops for the Northern Expedition. If we cannot capture Luoyang this time in our journey north, it will be a failure. Moreover, this failure came at the expense of three years of savings from Xiangyang, Dengzhou and other ten states. In this sense, failure is not an option.
With Luoyang as the center, starting from Shaanzhou in the west, Zhengzhou in the east, Mengzhou in the north, and Ruzhou in the south, it can only support so many people. Moreover, Wang Xiaolie needed to transport a large amount of supplies from Nanyang, otherwise he would not be able to support such an army.
In fact, Zhai Xing's troops, Dong Xian's troops, Meng Bangxiong's troops, and Wang Xiaolie were not included in the calculation. Their battle can only be concentrated around Luoyang. A larger area is too far for them. Without material support, these troops cannot stay in any place for long and must go elsewhere for food.
In this Northern Expedition, Wang Xiaolie's troops were enough to fight the puppet Qi in a battle to destroy the country.
