Wang Ruohai walked into Wang Xiao's hunting hall. Said: "More than a month after the Battle of Shaanzhou, there were more than 30,000 new soldiers in Ruicheng. If by the end of the year, it is possible to recruit 60,000 to 70,000 new soldiers. From Shaanxi Road alone, 60,000 to 70,000 new soldiers were recruited. , building another army is not a problem at all.”
Wang Xiaoxing said: "Since ancient times, Shaanxi has a tradition of joining the army. We won a great victory in Shaanzhou, and many people traveled thousands of miles to Tongguan to join the army. Zhongmou, Shaanzhou and Hucheng also captured many prisoners, no less than 100,000. This After more than a month of careful screening, there are still 60,000 to 70,000 people who want to go home. Among them, about 40,000 are suitable for serving as soldiers. I plan to set up two recruit camps in Gongxian and Yingyang to train them. Training. Taken together, these new recruits number nearly 100,000."
Wang Ruohai said: "Most of these prisoners were forcibly recruited by the Jin people and Liu Yu. As long as they are properly trained, they can be a good army. I thought it would be difficult to expand an army and recruit more soldiers. But I didn't expect it to be so easy!"
Wang Xiaolie sighed: "Consultant, this area is different from that around Xiangyang. The Jin people are raging, the people are suffering, and how many people are displaced! When recruiting soldiers in Xiangyang, single-person households are not recruited, and those with old and weak families who need strong men to support the family are not recruited. , and don’t let brothers join the army together. What about this area? Where are there so many things to pay attention to! Many people are just alone, and their families don’t know where they are. Of course, there are more soldiers. "
Wang Ruohai nodded: "What Commander Jie said makes sense."
Wang Xiaolie stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the bright sunshine outside. Most of the flowers have faded, and green fruits are growing on the trees.
After a while, Wang Xiaolie turned around and said to Wang Ruohai: "It has been about six years since the first year of Jingkang. In the past six years, there has not been a day of peace in the Central Plains. Not only are there frequent wars, but they are also being exploited by various forces. Life is not easy for the people. We occupy these places and cannot receive much money or food for two or three years. Not only can we not receive money or food, but we also have to transport food from Xiangyang and Dengzhou to make military rations. These two or three years have been difficult."
Wang Ruohai nodded: "Jie Shuai is right. The Central Plains is too dilapidated and it will take time to recuperate."
If you can't collect money or food, it doesn't mean you have no income. But for the common people, taxes will be temporarily exempted for a few years. Not only land taxes must be exempted, but business taxes must also be reduced. Let the people have money in their hands and be able to start over. But even though there are no taxes, others are still unavoidable. For example, farmers' corvee service, businessmen's labor service, and some government-run industries can all be regarded as government income.
However, compared with the Xiangyang area, these newly recovered prefectures and counties cannot provide sufficient money and food for the time being.
Of course, with the territory, population, and newly increased economic activities, Wang Xiaolie could print Huizi. Everything is waiting to be done, and banks can issue loans. Government industries can go north to expand the market. These incomes are enough to support government expenditures in the past few years.
Wang Xiaolie said: "Leave these matters to Chen Qiudao and Chen Yuyidao. The counselor's mind should still be on the war. In late May, I plan to go to Hedong with you. If the Jin army launches a war this year, it will be very difficult. It may start from Taiyuan Prefecture, Hedong is of great importance."
Wang Ruohai said: "Speaking of this matter, I happen to have something to report to Commander Jie. According to the news from Shaanxi, shortly after the battle in Shaanzhou, Wushu withdrew his troops from Shukou. Looking at the movements of the Jin army, it is possible to withdraw to the north. The Suide army crossed the river and went to Taiyuan. There are 30,000 Wushu troops. If Nianhan sends troops south again, the Jin army may gather more than 100,000 troops in Taiyuan this autumn, attack Jinzhou southward, and take Shaanzhou directly."
Wang Xiaolie said: "It is difficult for the Jin army to gather 100,000 troops in one direction. It is okay to stay in Taiyuan, but it will be difficult to support Jinzhou and Jiangzhou if they want to go south. It is more likely that the troops will be divided into two groups from Taiyuan. . Attack Longde Mansion all the way and Jinzhou all the way. However, it is unlikely that these 100,000 people are all Jurchens."
Wang Ruohai was shocked: "Commander Jie, do you think there will be other troops? Shaanxi's Zhe Keqiu and others cannot afford to organize many people."
Wang Xiaolie shook his head: "In the battle of Shaanzhou, Zheng Jianchong in Hucheng played almost no role. It is difficult for the Jin army to trust them anymore. In addition to the Han people, the Jin Dynasty also had many Khitan and Bohai people. Yelu Yu saw tens of thousands The Khitan army has been in Datong Prefecture. With the current situation, it is difficult for Nianhan to come south in person. If he takes Wushi as commander, leads the Jin army and Yelu Yujian's army, plus Wushu's 30,000 people, We can also gather an army of hundreds of thousands."
Wang Ruohai pondered for a while. He said: "If this is the case, it will not be easy to break through our heavily fortified Jinzhou and Longde Mansion."
Wang Xiaolie nodded: "It's not easy, but we need to take it seriously. Such an army, to put it bluntly, can fight a war to destroy the country. Our army of hundreds of thousands must also cope with it with all our strength. So Datong Mansion We must master the intelligence of the Jin Army. Once the Jin Army moves, we must move too!"
Wang Ruohai said: "Commander Jie, please relax! I had arranged for someone to be in Datong Mansion before. After occupying Jinzhou, I added more people to Datong Mansion. By the way, Luan Qingshan and others who were originally in Baowei Village have also gone north. . I occupied a cottage near Datong Mansion and felt at ease."
Wang Xiaolie said with a smile: "These people are naturally disobedient and difficult to observe discipline, which is a problem for us. When they come to the Jin people's territory, no matter what they do, they always cause trouble to the Jin people. As long as they surrender to the Jin people, they will do whatever they need to do. It is enough if we can protect our people from time to time. No matter what we do, we don’t have to worry about them."
Wang Ruohai nodded: "I understand."
Wang Xiaolie said: "It's just a battle in Shaanzhou. The Jin people must be dissatisfied and have to fight again. After Liu Yu was established, the Jin army would not be able to move southward from the east. If it were to come, it would be from the west." Come on the road. There will definitely be a few games on Hedong Road in the past few years."
After saying that, he turned around and looked at the map hanging on the wall.
After watching for a while, Wang Xiaolie said: "The terrain on Hedong Road is complicated. But as long as you are careful, there are only a few roads for the Jin people to go south. Either take Taiyuan Prefecture, Pingding Army, or Liaozhou. And don't take Taiyuan Prefecture. , the army cannot be large, and it does not pose much threat to us. After Taiyuan, we must either capture Jinzhou or go east to capture Shangdang. As long as we defend these two places, the Jin army will be helpless."
Wang Ruohai said: "Jie Shuai has already been arranged, so there is no need to worry too much."
Wang Xiaolie said with a smile: "The hundreds of thousands of gold troops are fighting to destroy the country. How can we not be careful? Be careful, but you still have confidence!"
Wang Ruohai said: "It will take us one or two years to establish a new army and train it. As long as we hold on for one or two years, we will no longer be afraid of the Jin army! As long as the commander-in-chief has more than 200,000 soldiers and horses, all the Jin army will go south. So what!"
Wang Xiaolie nodded: "Yes. Our most important task is to expand the army."
Wang Ruohai nodded and said nothing. After a while, he suddenly asked: "Does Commander Jie think that after Wu Shu withdraws, Sa Lihe will be able to defend Shaanxi?"
"God knows--" Wang Xiaolie shook his head helplessly. "Sa Lihe only has less than ten thousand people, so he is too reluctant to guard the fifth route of Shaanxi. I heard that he recently informed Jingzhao Prefecture with Zhang Zhongfu, and his troops are concentrated in Fengxiang Prefecture and Jingzhou. Privy Zhang holds Qinzhou and Fengzhou, With tens of thousands of people under his control, he is said to have an advantage.”
Tens of thousands of Song troops versus nearly 10,000 Jin troops, what will be the result? Wang Xiaolie shook his head. The two sides can be said to be evenly matched, and any fight is possible. Now the people who really control the situation in Shaanxi are the Zhang Zhongfu brothers, Zhao Bin, Li Yanqi and others. They led the elite Shaanxi soldiers of the Song Dynasty to pay gold, with tens of thousands of soldiers. If gold falls, the gold army will be strong. If he surrendered to the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty would have strong military strength.
Wang Xiaolie won a great victory in Shaanzhou, and now the situation in Shaanxi has become a mess that cannot be sorted out.
Of course, Wang Xiaolie didn't want to figure it out. Even after the great victory, Wang Xiaolie did not send anyone to Shaanxi to persuade these generals from the Shaanxi and Song Dynasties to surrender. Some of them may have regretted it and wanted to return to the Song Dynasty, but there was no way.
Why should we clarify it? At least in the short term, Wang Xiaolie still needs these people to block Zhang Jun so that he cannot get involved in his army.
