Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

After the battle at the mouth of Tongdi River, the Western Wei army was no longer eager to expand the results of the battle.

This was not because they were complacent and missed the opportunity after the victory, but because the previous battles were extremely exhausting, and many soldiers were seriously overdrawn in spirit and physical strength.

Although the Western Wei finally won with fewer troops, due to the disadvantage in military strength, they could not carry out rhythmic rotation operations, and the soldiers were overloaded.

Now that the war process has finally achieved a phased result, the soldiers' tense bodies and spirits should be properly relaxed and recuperated. If they continue to insist, they may not be able to hold on. Moreover, the Northern Qi troops retreating to the south still have considerable manpower and combat effectiveness. If the Western Wei army continues to advance aggressively, it is likely to cause a fierce counterattack.

In fact, the current results have greatly exceeded Li Tai's expectations before the war.

Previously, the wars between the two sides mainly took place in the Heluo area. Although the Western Wei side also gained certain advantages on the battlefield many times, it would eventually withdraw its main force due to various factors. The achievements it had obtained would soon be recaptured by the Northern Qi, making the Northern Qi's power always dominant in the Heluo area. Whenever the Western Wei had the intention to attack, it would need to repeatedly attack this copy, but the result was often in vain.

So this time Li Tai chose to launch an attack from Hedong. Compared with the Heluo area, Hedong has obvious advantages in terms of geographical location and the delivery of troops and materials.

But the reason why the Western Wei rarely chose this route before was because the geographical advantage of Hedong was not only for the Western Wei, but also for the Eastern Wei and the Northern Qi.

Once the two sides choose to fight from this route, it is basically a close combat, and no matter who suffers losses, it will hurt for a long time, and it is bound to recapture it, which is bound to cause a long-term battle of repeated tug-of-war.

For example, the battle of Yiyang Fenbei in history lasted for more than a year, and finally ended only with Northern Qi gaining a certain regional advantage. This protracted war also caused serious consumption of both parties, so that some personnel contradictions in their respective countries were highlighted again, and they started personnel infighting.

However, the result of the internal struggle of Northern Zhou was the loss of Yuwen Hu, a historical burden and negative asset, while Northern Qi killed Hulugu, the only pillar of the country after Duan Shao's death, in terms of qualifications, prestige and ability. And in the second year after that, Southern Chen started the Taijian Northern Expedition, which was the last glory of the Southern Dynasty, and defeated Northern Qi and surrendered in Huainan.

Such a war mode is undoubtedly a greater burden and risk for a regime like Western Wei, which is already weak in national strength. Especially once the war starts, it will be much more difficult to end it. If the battle cannot be concluded quickly and cleanly, and the war is turned into a stalemate stage of mutual consumption, the Western Wei will definitely lose.

So when faced with Gao Cheng's sudden death, Gao Yang's usurpation of Wei, and the new dynasty was just established and the people were still not attached, when Yuwen Tai learned that Gao Yang had established a certain control over the Jinyang soldiers, he still did not dare to take the risk of launching an attack in the direction of Jinyang.

However, from the beginning of this war, the Western Wei took the absolute initiative, triumphantly all the way, and made great progress in different directions, completely destroying the territorial border defense line that was formed and maintained by the two sides in the long-term game in this area.

Now the main forces of the two sides fought at the mouth of the Tongdi River, and the battle ended temporarily with the victory of the Western Wei. If the Northern Qi is unable to organize a powerful counterattack in the short term, it means that the Western Wei will win and the Northern Qi will have to accept this result.

From a longer-term perspective, this battle may become a watershed between the confrontation between the East and the West and the rise and fall of national power.

Perhaps the social productivity of the Western Wei Dynasty was still slightly behind that of the Northern Qi Dynasty, which controlled the entire Hebei region. However, whether it was personnel integration within the regime, strategic decision-making and tactical execution capabilities, or the war resources that could be invested, it was not inferior to the Northern Qi Dynasty, and even far surpassed it in some aspects.

Judging from the performance of the Qi army in the previous battles between the two armies, Li Tai did not think that the Northern Qi Dynasty could be completely eliminated with this battle. Although the Western Wei army won repeatedly, some of the characteristics shown by the Qi army during the battle were also impressive.

For example, Jinzhou City, which was the initial target, was completely unable to play the military value of a border town, although its main general Wei Can was mediocre and incompetent, which allowed the Wei army to march straight in. However, in the subsequent siege, the Jinzhou defenders still put up a tenacious resistance and resisted until the eve of the Tongdishui Battle before they fell.

There were also a group of captives who were allowed to stay or go, but most of the Jinyang soldiers chose to return to the Northern Qi Dynasty, and very few were willing to stay and serve the Western Wei Dynasty. Although Li Tai was not very keen on incorporating these garrison troops, this situation also showed that the current Northern Qi regime was still able to represent the interests of the people of the six garrisons and had a fairly high cohesion.

It was difficult for such a regime to cause a complete collapse both internally and externally through one or two key battles. It still needed to be eliminated through continuous fighting to weaken the enemy's vitality, disintegrate the military organization, and so on.

In this war, although the Western Wei invaded a large area of ​​the Northern Qi's territory and achieved several key breakthroughs, it still failed to eliminate its effective forces to the satisfaction. There are still a large number of enemy troops evacuating from the Tongtan River battlefield. With the current strength of the Western Wei Dynasty, they cannot completely defeat and annihilate them, so they can only withdraw from the battlefield.

It is precisely because of this that Li Taicai paid attention to the United Front propaganda after the war and established an image of benevolence and righteousness to the Northern Qi soldiers. Such a method may not be able to achieve any substantial results in the short term, but when the confrontation between the two sides reaches a critical moment, it will have a considerable impact on dismantling the enemy's fighting spirit and give them a reason to give up resistance.

It was based on this understanding and thinking that Li Tai decided that as long as the Northern Qi army on the opposite side no longer took the initiative to launch a counterattack, there would be no need for the Western Wei army to advance further.

Because the current situation has reached a critical point, that is, investment will increase significantly, but income will decrease sharply. Unless the Western Wei Dynasty can attack Huanglong and directly capture the core areas of the Northern Qi Dynasty such as Jinyang or Yecheng, the next battle will fall into the trap of militarism.

In fact, as the war progresses, there are already signs of being unable to make ends meet. It has been more than a month since the war began, and the Western Wei Dynasty's food and grass are being greatly consumed every day. Although the consecutive victories also allowed the Western Wei Dynasty to obtain certain supplements on the battlefield, they still could not completely defeat the enemy with food.

As long as the front line still needs to rely on the middle school for logistical supplies, then this supply line will be an out-and-out gold-swallowing beast, and any link on the line will cause huge consumption.

Since the beginning of the war, the supplies accumulated by the Western Wei Dynasty since Li Tai took power have been basically exhausted. Moreover, the drought in Northern Qi this year has been serious, and the Guanzhong area of ​​the Western Wei Dynasty has also been deeply affected. It is foreseeable that the food production this year will Production will be severely reduced. It is really unwise to increase military investment and consumption under such circumstances.

Although the Western Wei Dynasty annexed a large area of ​​Northern Qi's territory, as well as the soldiers and civilians living in these areas, unless it is a plundering and plundering operation, the amount of supplements that can be obtained directly on the spot is still limited, and it will not cover the needs of the local area. After the united front appeasement and various governance costs, it is hard to say whether there will be any surplus.

In the future, the Western Wei Dynasty will still need to continue to attack the Northern Qi Dynasty based on these areas. Of course, it cannot wipe out all the people's livelihood and social organizations in these areas, so it will take a period of united front management to get it on track.

People still need to balance work and rest, and a political power is even more so. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was able to achieve greatness for a while because of the accumulation of many years in the early Han Dynasty, and in the later period, he inevitably ended up in a situation where the military was exhausted and the people were exhausted. And if you pay a lot without considerable returns, you will become Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty.

However, although Li Tai knew when enough was enough, his generals still maintained a high level of aggressiveness and eagerness to fight during this period. The first thing they did when they woke up every day was to rush to the Chinese army's tent and ask what time it was. Initiate the next phase of the battle and request a vanguard position for yourself.

"Although the thieves have retreated now, they are still in large numbers, and the thieves' nature is still stubborn. It does not mean that they have achieved their full success, so we should continue to attack!"

On such occasions, He Ruoden has always been the most active one, and this time is no exception. He is the first one to come to the big tent every day, and he opens his mouth and says: "The Lord has united all the armies and defeated the powerful enemy. , the servants were on the left. Although they also captured and killed many thieves, they were not in the army after all. Some of them did not fight with all their strength. I still have many regrets when I think about it. So now, please be the vanguard again and continue to lead the way for the Lord. , and then defeat the stubborn thieves. All the brothers can stay calm and wait for a while to fight, so as not to miss the mark."

This cry of "big brother" was so soulful that all the generals in the tent couldn't help but glare at this guy, and several generals who had no intention of fighting for the vanguard position also began to recommend themselves, or It is to recommend others. In short, as long as this position does not fall on He Ruoden, the brothers will be happy.

But just as the generals were scrambling for battle, urgent military reports from Yining City were sent to the front line, which immediately poured cold water on this optimistic and enterprising atmosphere.