sweeping the world

Chapter 431 Seeking for the Country (Thank you for the election!)
Civil officials have always talked about gradual progress and stability, while military commanders advocated forging ahead. These are different ideas brought about by different responsibilities.

There is nothing better for a civil servant in charge of a place than to do no wrong.They may gain political achievements if they are radical, but being radical also means taking risks. Once they make mistakes, their careers will be affected. Most civil servants adhere to the concept of not doing good and doing more mistakes, and prefer to rely on seniority to get promoted step by step.

Military generals are different. They pay attention to attacking posture, and they don't talk about winning with stability in the face of military affairs. Any war means taking risks.In this way, generals must be more adventurous, and they prefer to take the initiative instead of passively accepting the ending.

Liu Yan's own will was more inclined to send troops to Yecheng or Xiangguo, but was slightly shaken by the three core civil officials.That is what Ji Chang and the other three said. The situation of attrition and confrontation is beneficial to Han on the Puyang battlefield. Why take risks when it is obviously beneficial to oneself?
From the point of view of the general trend of the whole world, it is not a good thing for Han to be stalemate on the Puyang battlefield for too long.

At present, Han State and Murong Yan State are racing against time. Once the Han army fails to recover the Central Plains quickly, Murong Yan State will surely go south after solving the troubles.

Even if the Han army can win a great victory in the Puyang battlefield, Murong Yan will not care about allies or not, and will definitely attack Youzhou and even Jizhou of the collapsing Shijie Zhao Kingdom.

The possibility at that time is that it is difficult for the Han army to go northward due to the need to rest or other reasons. Is it necessary to watch Murong Yan Guo easily capture Youzhou and then enter Jizhou?
Ji Chang, Sang Yu, and Cai You must have thought about similar issues. They still tend to maintain stability, and they probably feel that there is no proper strategy.

Sure enough, I heard Ji Chang say: "The Han Dynasty was newly established. There have been many wars and it has made a great reputation, but there is no war that can make all the countries in the world look at it. The confrontation between countries depends on the spirit, and if you have the spirit, you can be unfavorable. Puyang The battle will be a battle that will determine the fate of the country, precisely because of this, it is even more important to defeat Shijie in an upright manner, so that all the heroes in the world will know the military might of the great man."

Sang Yu nodded in agreement, and said: "The Jie clan can rule the Central Plains by relying on prestige. Mobilizing the enemy may be able to defeat Shijie's own army in mobile warfare, but... it also increases the possibility of their escape?"

Huan Wen eagerly explained: "It can be intercepted at Qingshui and Qishui...", before he could finish his sentence, Sang Yu cut him off.

"The big man has never explored those water systems, so how do you know if the warships can pass through unimpeded?" Sang Yu is not targeting Huan Wen, he is targeting a strategic adjustment that may lead to mistakes: "What the big man should do now is to continue to arrange and clean up Puyang. Around the battlefield, during the decisive battle, they suddenly tightened their pockets and surrounded the main force of Shihu in one fell swoop."

"Your Majesty." Ji Chang said to Liu Yan very seriously: "As long as we can surround Shi Jie's main force and annihilate it, it must be done even if it costs a lot."

Liu Yan somewhat understood that the core civil servants wanted the power of the country, not just the victory or defeat of a war or the amount of losses.

Ran Min and Huan Wen looked at each other. They probably didn't expect to encounter such a big resistance. It seemed that Liu Yan was still persuaded by the civil servants, so he couldn't help feeling disappointed.

Later, Liu Yan still did not officially express his position, and talked about other things. The civil and military officials on the king's chariot resigned one after another.

"Jing Lue." Liu Yan closed his eyes for a long time to rest. When he opened them again, he looked at Wang Meng, who was quietly kneeling in the corner waiting for the call, and asked: "You listened to the whole process, do you have any thoughts?"

Wang Meng saluted and said: "Back to my king, I think what the prime ministers and the governor of Su Nei have said is a prudent policy."

Liu Yan was the first to propose the topic and idea, and there was a certain risk in Wang Meng's answer.

However, Wang Meng did not want to be blamed or complained for not telling his true thoughts. Seeing that Liu Yan did not show any displeasure, he continued: "The Han Dynasty is better than Shi Jie in terms of national strength. Shi Hu had the idea of ​​​​truce and then prepare for war. It can be seen that the more stalemate the battle situation is, the more beneficial it is for the big man."

Liu Yan was not sure that he would solve Shijie Zhao State before Murong Yan State solved his own troubles, so he raised it a little bit.

But Wang Meng said: "Eastern Liaodong is a place of bitter cold, and Murong Xianbei lives there all year round. The Han army comes from all over the place, and most of them are not resistant to the cold. If it is really possible that Murong Xianbei betrayed the alliance to attack Youzhou and advance to Jizhou, the Han and the Yan army will be in Jizhou or Would it be more beneficial for the Han to fight in Youzhou?"

Perhaps Ji Chang, Sang Yu, and Cai You had similar ideas, but Liu Yan did not take the climate of the geographical location into consideration.Liu Yan was born in modern times, when keeping warm was part of daily life.Nowadays, it is different. We really need to consider the cold-resistant ability of soldiers.

That night when the whole army camped, Ran Min and Huan Wen invited them to see Ji Chang.

Ji Chang prepared the tea banquet early as if he knew that Ran Min and Huan Wen would come.

"Prime Minister." Huan Wen's mind was not on the banquet at all. Without a few words of gossip, he immediately got to the point: "The enemy of the Han Dynasty is not limited to Shijie. We can defeat the enemy quickly so that we can deal with the remaining countries."

Ran Min put down his teacup and looked straight at Ji Chang.

"Of course there is more than one country in Shijie." Ji Chang didn't have any thoughts to dwell on it and just said: "Precisely because there is more than one enemy, it is even more important to be prudent."

Huan Wen did not give up, persuading: "The present is a world of great struggle, and the hearts of all countries are strong, and they are all fighting for time. Time is also important to the big man."

"Historically, only a weak side would choose to take risks when forced to do so. It is Zhao Jun who should take risks, and the big man has no reason to take risks." Ji Chang was unmoved, looked at Huan Wen seriously, and looked back He said to Ran Min: "Shi Jie is the overlord of the Central Plains and should not be underestimated."

Ran Min agrees with this point very much, no one can become the overlord by accident, but he still feels that the invasion of Yecheng or the Xiangguo will completely change the direction of the war.

"Now the victory is mine." Ji Chang said with a hint of warning: "The Han Dynasty is a country that rose from a dangerous situation and has developed into a great and upright country. The Han Dynasty needs to compete with Shi Jie. To create a great momentum, we must defeat Shi Jie and even annihilate him with an upright attitude. We cannot let other countries think that the Han has won this battle of national destiny by chance. Do you understand?"

Ran Min and Huan Wen became silent.The two of them had never thought about similar issues before. One wanted to quickly destroy the Shijie Zhao Kingdom by any means necessary, while the other wanted to highlight his own abilities.

Ji Chang kept scanning Ran Min and Huan Wen with sharp eyes, and said sonorously: "A big man needs the atmosphere of a big country!"

Now Ji Chang has made his words so clear, whether it is words or expressions, there are clear warnings, if Ran Min and Huan Wen don't want to offend Ji Chang to death, they should shut up.

Three days later, Wang Nian arrived in Fan County.

Fan County is close to [-] miles away from Puyang City on a plane map, and [-] miles away from Linqiu.

The main battlefield of the Battle of Puyang was in the area between Puyang City and Baima City, but the two sides did not only fight there. The battlefield range was within a radius of two to three hundred miles from the center of Puyang City, so Fan County could also be regarded as a place. At the forefront of the battlefield.

After arriving in Fan County, Ran Min and his generals bid farewell to Liu Yan and went to various battlefields, Sang Yu turned south to Yuzhou, Cai You needed to rush to Xuzhou, and Lu Yi wanted to go to Shouchun battlefield.

With Ran Min arriving at the front line, Xu Zheng led his troops to escort a group of wounded soldiers to Fan County.

The Battle of Puyang has already taken less than half a year, and the two sides have fought large and small battles almost every day and every night, and the casualties of each other are not low.

"Tragic." Xu Zheng received an interview. The two met at the military tent in the camp.He showed that he was tired without special rest and grooming: "Before I came here, the second Battle of Wei City ended. The wounded soldiers escorted were those who were slightly injured in the Battle of Wei City. Those who were seriously injured could only stay in Puyang City. .”

In fact, the medical conditions on the side of the Han army are definitely the best in the world. Unless it is really impossible to treat or disabled, otherwise the number of deaths due to injuries is not too serious.The rest of the countries have almost no medical conditions, and many wounded soldiers will die because of blood loss, wound pus, fever, etc. without effective treatment.

"The Zhao army has gradually become crazy recently. The frequency of Longteng guards and Gao Li's army has been increasing. The casualty ratio of the two armies has begun to show a trend that is unfavorable to us." Xu Zheng smiled wryly, and said: "The second Wei The battle of the city was commanded by the ministers, and I saw with my own eyes that the enemy's Longteng guards charged in a formation of armored cavalry and foot soldiers, and unexpectedly broke through our army's shield forcefully."

The shield array and the sharp crossbow and arrow array of the Han army have always been a killer weapon in the battle. In the past, there was no example of being forcibly broken through. Hearing Xu Zheng say that the Shijie Zhao army broke through from the front, Liu Yan's face was moved .

"Fortunately, the armored heavy swordsman pushed forward and resisted with heavy casualties. Otherwise..." Xu Zheng showed a rare frightened look: "Otherwise, we were broken through from the front, and there were two enemy light cavalry on the wings. flank attack……"

Liu Yan's impression of Xu Zheng was that he was a tough guy who was not afraid of anything. This was the first time he saw Xu Zheng showing a fearful expression, which shows that the battle situation at that time was dangerous enough.

The Han army also had its own armored and heavy cavalry, originally three thousand, and later increased to five thousand. The designation was called the Huben Army, but this army has not joined the battlefield yet.In addition to the Huben army, along with the three thousand armored cavalry that Ran Min returned with, the number of armored and heavy cavalry in the Han army has already reached eight thousand.The armored heavy cavalry reorganized from Ran Min's army were not on the battlefield in Puyang City. They were first taken by Huan Wen to the Liangjun battlefield to wipe out Sun Fudu's troops. They are currently resting in Jiyin County.

Liu Yan can understand that the situation of the battle has changed again. Before that, it could be regarded as a warm-up for half a year, and it is only now that there are some signs of a decisive battle.

The reality is that as the season comes to autumn, the war horses have grown fat and have enough load-bearing capacity, and Shi Hu's Longteng Guard's armored heavy cavalry has reached the right time to go into battle.Not only armored heavy cavalry, but any cavalry is in a similar situation. It was just a helpless move to use it before, and I don't know how many war horses will be abolished.

The war horse is really not that easy to serve. If it loses a lot of weight, it will basically be half useless. If it is used forcibly when it is physically weak, it will also shorten the service life.Therefore, the Hu people in the past dynasties waited for their war horses to be fat, and only went out in large numbers when autumn was high and the horses were fat.

Liu Yan had a detailed understanding of the recent development of the war situation, and learned that the Han army in Puyang County had dropped to less than [-]. He pondered for a long time and still had no plan to mobilize the army to enter the main battlefield.

"I heard that my king intends to attack Yecheng or Xiangguo?" Xu Zheng said in a doubtful tone: "This strategy will inevitably cause panic in the enemy troops in Puyang County, and will it be beneficial to the battle situation?"

Liu Yan has temporarily suppressed the idea of ​​attacking Yecheng or Xiangguo. It was a detailed discussion with Ji Chang and others later. The pros and cons should be finished, but I just checked Xu Zheng didn't agree with that. cavity.

Xu Zheng didn't have any extra thoughts, he just had nothing to say, and he reported some things before leaving.

[Tai’an and others’ ideas cannot be said to be wrong. They really need the atmosphere of a big country, at least to show unquestionable military might.Being able to severely damage or even annihilate Shijie's main force on the Puyang battlefield, Yecheng, Xiangguo, and even most of the Central Plains can be easily captured. 】Liu Yan stood up slowly, he was just about to go out for a walk, but when he reached the edge of the curtain, Ji Chang asked for instructions from outside, so he could not return to the main seat, looked at Ji Chang who came in, and asked: " What is the reason for the turmoil in Tai'an?"

"Anshi has conquered Xingyang." Ji Chang said with a rare smile, "This will eliminate the possibility of Shihu retreating to Luoyang."

No wonder Ji Chang was happy. The Han fleet was marching from the east to the west of the Yellow River. The purpose was of course to block Shihu's retreat. It was of great strategic significance for Xie An to capture the important town of Xing** located to the west of the Puyang battlefield. .

"Xingyang... wasn't it guarded by tens of thousands of Zhao troops led by Ma Qiu?" Liu Yan still knew the specific situation of Xingyang and asked in surprise: "How did Xie An capture it in such a short time?"

How it was won is not important, but Ji Chang appreciates Xie An very much, so it is necessary to explain it in detail, at least to let Liu Yan understand Xie An's military talent.

Liu Yan's understanding of Xie An comes from his impressions in history books. Appreciation is a certain thing. What he didn't expect was that Xie An had such a high military talent at a young age. After all, Xie An presided over " He was already 62 years old at the time of the "Battle of Feishui", and Xie An is only 25 years old now.

"Ma Qiu..." Liu Yan also knew Ma Qiu, and he thought slightly amusedly: [Historically, Ma Qiu was a "famous general maker" who used Ma Qiu's tragic defeat to support the strength of others. Unexpectedly, This time it wasn't Xie Ai who used Ma Qiu to score, it was Xie An. 】

Ji Chang on the other side was still talking excitedly about the development of the war situation. His opinion was that an encirclement would be formed when the fleet arrived. Then there was only one place that the Han army should attack, and that place was called Jijin!

……Dividing line……

I didn't know what was going on for more than a month. I just felt dizzy and couldn't adjust.Sigh, sigh, sigh...

(End of this chapter)