After leaving the dumpling house, Hu Jiaoxiu said to Zheng Chen: "Since Jingkang, there has never been a great victory that wiped out tens of thousands of enemy troops in one battle. This victory in Zhongmou was enough to shock the court. But after the victory, Wang Xiaolie did not publicize it. . If we hadn’t happened to meet a person like Hu Sanlang, we wouldn’t even know about it. Tell me, why?”
Zheng Chen said: "For a moment, I really couldn't figure it out."
Hu Jiaoxiu said: "I think the reason for this is that in Wang Xiaolie's heart, Liu Lin of Zhongmou is not worth mentioning at all. What he values should be the Bali Suyi Army in Shaanzhou. So Zhongmou wins. It’s just a victory, it’s not a big deal, it’s not worth publicizing at all.”
Zheng Chen said: "Maybe that's the case."
Hu Jiaoxiu sighed: "More than a year ago, Ba Lisu's troops were less than 10,000. He marched across several routes and conquered dozens of states. No one could defeat him. Finally, he was defeated by Wang Xiaolie when he reached Jingmen. This time, I heard that Ba Li was defeated by Wang Xiaolie. With tens of thousands of troops left, the two men fight again, and I don't know what the outcome will be."
After saying that, Hu Jiaoxiu looked into the distance, thoughtfully.
Hu Jiaoxiu was very worried when he first heard that the Jin army was coming to attack with hundreds of thousands of troops, fearing that Wang Xiaolie would not be able to withstand it. Now that Zhongmou has been victorious and the victory is clean and tidy, Hu Jiaoxiu's mind has changed. Maybe Wang Xiaolie is not as weak as he thought? If we win this battle, it will be really incredible.
After defeating Ba Lisu, the most important thing was not how many people were eliminated, but how the Song army could overcome its fear of the Jin army and dare to fight them.
Back at the inn, Hu Jiaoxiu and Zheng Chen took an early rest and got up early the next day.
At this time, the sky was slightly bright and the sun had not come out yet. Hu Jiaoxiu was walking in the inn, waiting for breakfast. Suddenly I heard a noise coming from outside.
With nothing going on, Hu Jiao walked out of the inn. The streets were filled with horse-drawn carts, carrying grain and grass in the goods yard. After every ten cars were loaded, someone would take them away with them. For a while, people were shouting and shouting, and it was very noisy.
Looking at the convoy, Hu Jiaoxiu knew that it was someone from Wang Xiao's hunting army transporting grain and grass. Because every ten cars, a big flag is placed, which says a certain battalion, a certain team, and where the destination is. Someone who looked like an officer led the team and was there to direct the transportation.
It seems that when we arrive at Fangcheng, food and grass will no longer be transported by civilians, but by the military. The army's means of transportation are relatively advanced and are horse-drawn carts. These large carts have a unified shape. Each cart uses three horses and one driver, and the amount of grain and grass loaded is the same. Most of the cars look new, probably made by the same company.
From the moment we entered Suizhou, we saw farmers from the rear delivering grain, concentrated at one level from township to county, and from county to prefecture. After being concentrated, they were all transported to Fangcheng. Now we know that after passing Fangcheng, Wang Xiaolie's army will transport food and send it to the front line.
This kind of scene has never been seen before. In general military operations, the transportation teams in the rear are in a mess. Most of them recruited people from the local people and relied on people to carry them on their shoulders to transport them forward. Most of the grain transported was eaten on the road. Who can be as organized as Wang Xiaolie?
This kind of organizational ability is the key to ensuring victory at the front. It's just that officials like Hu Jiaoxiu are just curious and don't know the power of this.
At the Henan government office, Wang Xiaolie put down his official documents and said to Wang Ruohai: "Niu Gao did a good job in the battle at Zhongmou! He destroyed Liu Lin's troops in the first battle, and there were more than 30,000 people!"
Wang Ruohai said: "Yes, not only did he wipe out more than 30,000 puppet Qi troops, but he also suffered no losses, which is very rare. From this point of view, Liu Yu's army is nothing to worry about! After this battle, the puppet Qi troops were not Don’t you dare send any more troops.”
Wang Xiaolie nodded: "Yes, Liu Yu doesn't need to waste any more energy. Niu Gao is leading Cao Zhiyan's three regiments of Xie Linong across the Yellow River to occupy Huaizhou and Weizhou. To the north of the Yellow River, the Jin people The territory allocated to us is different from that south of the Yellow River. Our opponents will be the Jin people in the future. I don’t know what the outcome will be in this battle in Shaanzhou. If the battle is successful, we can actively attack Hedong Road. If we cannot win, we can actively attack Hedong Road. Well, we can only retreat to the south of the Yellow River."
After saying that, he sat down in his seat and was lost in thought for a while.
Wang Ruohai said: "Li Yanxian said that the entire army has gathered on the shore of Lishui and will attack Shaanzhou early tomorrow morning. Chi Yuping's cavalry regiment has firmly controlled the east of Shaanzhou City, and the Jin army has not yet obtained the victory of our army. News. They have a lot of artillery, so it shouldn’t be difficult to attack Shaanzhou."
Wang Xiaolie said: "Artillery is very useful. It is much more useful than we thought before. We should make good use of it. Well, in my heart, I know that this is the right thing to do. But I am always afraid that the army will not use artillery. It would be bad if you rely too much and know how to fight without cannons."
Wang Ruohai said: "Jie Shuai thinks too much, and the generals naturally know it. Now that artillery has just begun to be used, neither the Jin Army nor the Puppet Qi have any way to deal with artillery. Taking this opportunity, we should use artillery to hit some That’s the big victory.”
Wang Xiaolie was silent and sat there in trance. After a while, he said: "That's right! Li Yanxian and Shao Ling will launch an attack together tomorrow, one attacking Shaanxi Province and the other Guozhou. If nothing goes wrong, it should not take a day to break the city. This battle, really see The most important thing is what will happen after the city is broken."
After saying that, he stood up and walked to the map. After a while, he said: "After breaking through Shaanzhou, if Ba Lisu flees to the west, Shao Ling will block it. It will be tested whether Shao Ling can fight Zheng Jianyi while blocking Ba Lisu. If Ba Lisu flees to the north, , it’s a bit troublesome.”
Wang Ruohai sat down in his seat. Said: "Commander, it's good to win the war. How many people can the enemy flee? From ancient times to the present, the city is the most important. Once the city is occupied, even if the enemy escapes for a while, what can be done? ?”
Wang Xiaolie said: "Counsellor, when the army has artillery, you are wrong to think this way. Zhongmu and Baisha, plus Shenshan County, can only fight for a few hours. There are artillery on the city, and the enemy cannot break the city. Attacking the city has Artillery, the city wall will collapse with a few shots. In future battles, the city will not be so important. The Jurchen population is only so large, all the young and middle-aged people are mobilized, but there are only 200,000 soldiers. If we kill tens of thousands, the power of the Jin people will be weak. A lot more. If we wipe out the 100,000 Jin Army, we won’t need to take action on the remaining 100,000 Jin Army. The Khitans, Bohai people, Xixia, and Mongolia who were oppressed by them will be enough to destroy them!"
Wang Ruohai smiled and said nothing. He could feel that it was Wang Xiaolie's obsession to fight a war of annihilation, and no one else could persuade him. In fact, as long as Shaanzhou is conquered, what if part of Bali Su's army escapes? On the way to escape, as long as the Song army pursued closely, most of them would still be wiped out.
Fighting a war of annihilation is indeed Wang Xiaolie's obsession. On the one hand, it is the experience brought by the previous life. War should focus on destroying the enemy's effective strength, and do not care about the gains and losses of one city or one place. As long as the military strength is superior, the place can be recaptured quickly. As the saying goes, if you save people and lose land, everyone and land will survive; if you save land and lose people, everyone and land will be lost.
But in this day and age, how easy is it to fight a war of annihilation? What everyone is pursuing is to defeat the enemy and then destroy the enemy on their way to escape. But Wang Xiaolie knew that due to the characteristics of the northern nation, a defeat was not advisable.
The northern ethnic groups have a limited population. If 10,000 of them are wiped out in a war, their entire nation will have 10,000 fewer soldiers. After a few annihilation battles, there will be no troops available. And if it ends in a rout, they won't be able to return to the north alone, and they will soon reunite, wiping out their combat effectiveness.
