Wei Rui, Lu Xun, and Xie Xuan were all famous generals who defected to Daxia on the eve of the founding of the country.
During these six months, in addition to helping Daxia train elite soldiers, they often took troops to Lujiang Province and Zhenjiang and Jiangdong Provinces to suppress bandits.
Countless mountain bandits and water thieves, as well as local tyrants who gathered tens of thousands of people to build forts, were dissatisfied with Daxia's system of prefectures, counties and rural areas and the imperial power sent to the countryside. They swept away all the filth and stubborn diseases in the three major provinces that had just been integrated into Daxia.
This is also the biggest reason why the three major provinces quickly restored people's livelihood and prospered under the governance of the officials of the Great Xia Dynasty.
Without the gentry and local tyrants entrenched in the local area, government orders at all levels can be communicated to all levels. The seven major provinces of the entire dynasty have condensed into a strong force, an upward momentum, and strengthened the momentum of the dynasty!
Although their achievements each time are not great,
But combined with the merits of military training, it is enough for them to gain a firm foothold in the Great Xia Army and be recognized by many generals.
With this premise, Wang Jing promoted them quickly. Of course, this is also closely related to their ninth-level strength and great reputation.
Wang Jing's promotion of these famous generals will not arouse anyone's jealousy or dissatisfaction.
At this time, they all held the position of general with various titles, and were able to join the Xiaochaohui, the core of the Daxia Dynasty, which was enough to prove that Wang Jing valued them.
The three Wei Rui also knew that Wang Jing valued their ability to participate in Daxia's core affairs, and their expressions became more serious.
"Everyone who can come is here, please take a seat!"
The room where the small court meeting is held is in the study of the side hall of Qinzheng Hall.
The area is not large. In addition to the chair and bookcase at the top, there are also two rows of chairs on both sides of the bookcase.
The serving eunuch saw that there were not enough chairs, so he quietly brought a few over. This time everyone was asked to sit down.
Except for Wei Rui, Lu Xun, and Xie Xuan, who had just participated in the small court meeting, the other important ministers from the six central departments often participated in it and were already very familiar with it.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Everyone knew Wang Jing's character and was not polite. After bowing their hands and saluting, they all sat down.
"Now is the first court meeting in the sixth year of Taichu. According to the previous rules, this time we have to set important things to be done in the sixth year of Taichu. This is to prepare for the civil and military affairs of this year! Especially those related to the future of Daxia Regarding strategic matters, I want to hear your opinions!"
Wang Jing said slowly.
The meeting at the beginning of the year is to set a strategic direction and general goals for the year.
For example, how much new farmland will be reclaimed this year, how many refugees will be gathered, and how many ordnance warships will be built...
Also, after sending troops south this year, what are the strategic goals to be achieved and to what extent...
These all require careful calculation by everyone.
As a veteran of Yuancong, Shen Yi has the highest qualifications and status among everyone.
He was the first to speak and said: "Your Majesty, the two major provinces of Zhenjiang and Jiangdong have been initially digested by us. The next step is to send troops to attack Jinling!"
"If we send out troops, I, together with my colleagues in the Central Committee and the Six Ministries, will definitely go all out to mobilize food, fodder, and equipment to supply the army... In addition, I suggest that your Majesty assign inspectors and censors to inspect various local prefectures and counties, and work with the officials to select local people. Officials, big and small, prepare to digest Jiangnan!"
He has great confidence in Wang Jing.
At this time, they began to think about how to digest the cities, soldiers and civilians in Jinling, Jiangning and other places after defeating the Ming Dynasty.
Everyone basically agreed on the matter of going south to attack Jinling, and the approximate date for sending troops was also chosen.
Now we just need to wait for the logistics to be ensured before we can start gathering troops.
Moreover, in the eyes of everyone, as long as Wang Jing and Daxia's soldiers and horses perform normally and do not make unnecessary mistakes, they can steadily defeat the Jinling Ming Army.
Even Zhu Yuanzhang of Jinling and famous ministers and generals of the Southern Song Dynasty in Hangzhou knew this.
There was no way, the Daxia Dynasty had too much advantage at this time, and the terrain of Jinling was like a prominent position, surrounded by the Daxia Dynasty on three sides. If it were not blocked by the Yangtze River, the Daxia soldiers and horses would have gone south to capture Jinling.
The southern dynasties in history basically had their capital at Jinling, hoping to rely on the natural dangers of the Yangtze River to resist the cavalry of the north.
However, the so-called natural danger of the Yangtze River seems to be safe, but in fact it can be broken with a poke. It is a real defense against thousands of people.
There is a saying that to defend the Yangtze River, you must defend the Huaihe River. It means that if you want to defend the natural dangers of the Yangtze River, you must first defend the Jianghuai River and use the Jianghuai River as a buffer to resist the offensive from the north.
For example, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, in the early Liu Song Dynasty, relying on the territory left by Liu Yu, the territory in the north of the Liu Song Dynasty was directly pushed to the Yellow River, which was only slightly smaller than the territory in the Northern Song Dynasty.
But after Liu Yu's death, Liu Yilong ran into Tuoba Tao, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Yuanjia's Northern Expedition was counterattacked to the other side of Jiankang and lost a large area of territory. Later, Nanliang and Southern Qi did not lose Jianghuai.
The three dynasties were destroyed because of civil strife, not because of powerful enemies from the north.
When Nanchen replaced Nanliang, the land of Jianghuai was lost. Not long after, the army from the north crossed the Yangtze River and destroyed Nanchen.
It can be seen that the buffer of the Jianghuai River was important to the southern dynasty.
And now the Ming army.
On the other side of the Yangtze River is Yangzhou, the Jiangdu of the Great Xia Dynasty. There is not an inch of land in the Yangtze River and Huaihe River area. Except for the Yangtze River, which is known as a natural danger, there is almost no buffer.
The Yangtze River, which is considered a natural danger, is also shared with Daxia.
The so-called natural danger has long since disappeared.
The sharp sword of the Daxia Dynasty has already pointed at the key point of the Ming army. It only needs to launch an attack to harvest the opponent.
"Well, what Mr. Shen said is right. Before sending out troops, our court will stock up on a group of officials in advance... The Encore at the founding of the country has ended, and it is not suitable to start another Encore. Let's go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Imperial College to count those who have passed. From the academic examination, a thousand people are selected for public training, specifically training the six officials in the county on their business experience!"
"When the army went south, they also set out with the army to take over the major cities in the south of the Yangtze River!"
Wang Jing said directly without thinking much.
During his conversation with Shen Yi, the biggest event in the sixth year of Taichu was already decided, which was to send troops south to capture Jinling.
All other affairs must revolve around this strategic action.
After talking about some logistics support.
Gao Xi began to talk about the strategy of going south.
He said: "As my army goes south, in addition to logistics and food supplies, we must pay more attention to the movements of the Southern Song Dynasty... After all, our army's strategy for going south is very obvious. It launches all the way from the Zhenjiang camp to the west, and all the way from the Lujiang camp to attack Taiping. Zhu Yuanzhang only needs to If we don’t want to sit back and wait for death, we must unite with the Southern Song Dynasty!”
If the Southern Song Dynasty went all out to march northward, Wang Jing's army camped in Jiangdong Province might not be able to withstand it.
After all, the Southern Song Dynasty was a dynasty, and there were still some ninth-level generals.
The combination of Murong Shaozong and Shi Wansui is not necessarily safe and may overturn.
"The Northern Song Dynasty united with the Jin to destroy the Liao Dynasty, and the Southern Song Dynasty united with the Meng Dynasty to destroy the Jin Dynasty. These are all bloody lessons. The Southern Song Dynasty had famous ministers such as Yu Yunwen, Zhao Ding, Li Gang, Li Guang, Xin Qiji, etc., and famous generals such as Han Shizhong, Meng Gong, and Lu Wende!"
"It is no small matter to go all the way north, so this time when going south, in addition to the troops and horses of the three major camps, our army should use another 500,000 troops, the main force, to cross the river from Jiangyin first, and support the two major camps of Zhenjiang and Jiangdong at any time. So as not to give the enemy every chance to defeat you!"
Gao Xi's plan is still ordinary.
In fact, the more powerful a strategy is, the more prudent it is and all aspects must be considered.
Even in his plan, the number of troops dispatched by Daxia this time, including the three major camps, would steadily exceed one million.
The army of more than one million showed signs of replicating the Battle of Feishui.
but. Wang Jing is not Fu Jian, and there are many famous ministers and generals in Daxia. There will never be a situation like the former Qin army where the vanguard fell apart as soon as it was defeated.
Gao Xi's strategic plan was set up according to Wang Jing's style.
Wei Rui, Lu Xun, and Xie Xuan had already known Wang Jing's style of commanding troops. In the early days of Wang Jing's rise, he liked to use cavalry and a small number of elite troops to gallop into formations and kill enemy generals.
The style is fierce and domineering, and as fast as lightning.
When Wang Jing became powerful and had sufficient troops and supplies, his style suddenly changed and he preferred to use strong troops and abundant supplies of supplies and equipment to suppress his targets.
Although Wang Jing's previous style was very impressive on the battlefield, it was quite dangerous, and every time he took a certain risk, once he failed, he would suffer heavy losses.
The later style is basically undefeated!
By working step by step and relying on the advantage of having many soldiers and generals, we continued to advance.
The enemy would either use extremely thrilling tricks, or compete with Wang Jing, and then be forced to do so by Wang Jing with his strong national power.
As long as it was not an epic defeat that cost hundreds of thousands of elites at once, the defeats and losses in individual places were insignificant to the Great Xia Dynasty.
The worst result is that the enemy forces a confrontation and ends up drawing a draw with Xia's army in a short period of time.
"Well, the Southern Song Dynasty really needs to pay more attention!"
"What is the current situation of the envoy sent by the Ministry of Rites? Have you said anything about the attitude of the Southern Song Dynasty?"
Wang Jing's eyes flashed and he looked at Pei Ju.
Although Wang Jing knew that the Southern Song Dynasty would most likely learn lessons from history and would find it difficult to form an alliance with Daxia, Daxia still sent envoys to persuade the Southern Song Dynasty as much as possible.
What if the Southern Song Dynasty had a brain twitch again?
"This... the messenger sent back a message not long ago, saying that Han Kanwei from the Southern Song Dynasty had the idea of becoming friends with our court. The people in the Southern Song Dynasty court did not seem to be disgusted with our court..."
Pei Ju hesitated and said.
"It's just a pretense!"
When Gao Xi heard this, he said categorically, and then immediately added: "Zhao Zong, Emperor Xiaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, was the only Ming lord in the Southern Song Dynasty. There are also Yu Yunwen and Zhao Ding's assistants. They must know the truth about the death of lips and teeth!"
"And if we attack and destroy the Ming army, our next target will indeed be Lin'an! It's all obvious!"
"The Southern Song Dynasty will only choose to form an alliance with Zhu Yuanzhang... Their current hesitation must be to confuse and paralyze our army, and they want to gain as much advantage as possible when they mobilize their troops!"
Wang Jing nodded slightly.
Others in the hall also felt that Gao Xi was right.
If the Southern Song Dynasty really formed an alliance with Daxia at this time, everyone present would wonder whether the monarch of the Southern Song Dynasty was changed from Zhao Hao to Zhao Gou...
"What Zhaoxuan said is absolutely true. The main direction of our army's crossing of the river is still in Jiangyin!"
"Do you three have anything to add about the specific march route?"
Wang Jing asked.
Naturally, he was asking about Wei Rui, Lu Xun and Xie Xuan. They all have the ability to command hundreds of thousands of troops. When going south, Wang Jing wanted to incorporate them into the central army to assist him in mobilizing troops and generals.
If there is danger somewhere, they can also act as firefighters, putting out fires and making up for the flaws.
"We have no objection to the strategy of His Majesty and the Privy Council, including the direction of crossing the river..."
Wei Rui acted as the representative of the three people. After exchanging glances with Lu Xun and Xie Xuan, he first agreed to the marching strategy.
Then Wei Rui said softly: "However, the general has a suggestion. If the main force of our army is to hold back the Southern Song army in the future, we might as well separate an elite force and use Yixing as the line to swim up the Lishui River and attack Gaochun!"
"There are large lakes in the north and south of this place, and the terrain is dangerous! If you continue to the west, you can threaten Wuhu and Dangtu, if you go south you can approach Xuancheng along the river, and if you go north you can shake Jinling..."
"If we can capture this place, the heart of the Ming army in the north and south will fall into the hands of our army! In this case, the Ming army will definitely be defeated!"
Wang Jing was shocked when he heard this.
He immediately unfolded the detailed map on the wooden eucalyptus.
With a quick glance, he found the land of Gaochun mentioned by Wei Rui. This place is located at the southern end of Yingtian, with Shijiu Lake to the north and Gucheng Lake to the south.
Shijiu Lake connects Yanzhi River to Qinhuai River. If you go north by boat, you can reach the outskirts of Jinling City. In the south, Gucheng Lake is connected to Shuiyang River and can also reach Xuancheng directly.
To the west, there are water channels leading directly to the Yangtze River, threatening Dangtu from behind.
This place can be called the south gate of Jinling. As Wei Rui said, as long as Daxia can win this place, Zhu Yuanzhang, even if he has great power, cannot save the defeat.
"Huaiwen is well versed in the geography of Jiangnan and has a keen eye! If it weren't for Huaiwen, I would never have thought that Gaochun is so important!"
Wang Jing sighed.
As if playing chess, Wei Rui lightly tapped on the map and immediately hit the Ming army's Achilles' heel!
In a brief moment of writing, the powerful enemy as angry as a tiger or wolf seemed to disappear into ashes.
Wang Jing couldn't learn this kind of demeanor even if he wanted to.
"General Wei is indeed a famous general in the world, and his eyesight is better than ours! If we can capture Jinling, General Wei will be the first to do so!"
Gao Xi stepped forward to look at the map and was very impressed.
Wei Rui seemed to have simply mentioned the land of Gaochun, but in his casual writing, he vividly demonstrated his strategic vision of the mountains, rivers, and terrain.
"To be able to lead an elite division from Yixing Shuo to capture Gaochun, and to be able to firmly control this area and block the Ming army's counterattack, it is necessary for a general or a famous general to be in charge!"
Wang Jing's eyes fell on the three of them, and then locked on Xie Xuan.
"General Xie, are you willing to take on this important task?"
After all, Wei Rui and Lu Xun are Confucian generals, and their strategies and tactics are top-notch, but on the battlefield in the Chinese world, in addition to strategy and tactics, a certain degree of strength is still essential.
Only by practicing the art of war to the level of Han Xin can one use the heaven and earth as a formation and not be afraid of any powerful generals who defy the will of heaven.
When Xie Xuan was in Hefei, he used a small number of Beifu troops and the remnants of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to resist Nanchen's all-out attack, showing extraordinary resilience.
Let him lead the trained Beifu Army to Gaochun, and then pair him with a ninth-level powerhouse.
Even Chang Yuchun is difficult to break!
Xie Xuan's expression moved slightly. This was a good opportunity to perform meritorious service. Of course he would not refuse it. He immediately raised his hands and said, "Your Majesty, as long as you have orders, you will be obliged to serve!"
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
In terms of strategy, the direction of sending troops to cross the river, and the tactical choices after crossing the river, Wang Jing and everyone discussed for a long time and finally made a decision.
After this small court meeting, everything in the sixth year of Taichu will start to revolve around the strategy discussed here.
The center and various ministries and departments will also operate around this.
