Fu Song

Chapter 691 Arming
The huge hall was packed to the brim.

Not only the senior officials above the third rank in Jiangning, but even the governors from all over the country have returned to Jiangning.

It can be said that such a big scene where a group of sages gathered only appeared when Zhao An, a small official family, ascended the throne at the beginning.

In the past few years, everyone has been separated from each other, and everyone has a lot of things to be busy with. It is really rare to get together like this.

Even Si Wei Si Junchao, who has resigned from office and is now an old man at home, was invited to the scene today.

In the middle of the main hall is a huge sand table, on which the entire landscape of the south of the Yangtze River is shaped extremely finely. The mountains, rivers, city outlines, and roads are all lifelike.

Many of the officials sitting around the sand table saw such an exquisite sand table for the first time, and while they were all amazed, some even touched it with their hands.

With this thing, you can indeed have a more intuitive understanding of the territory under your rule.

In the past, when I read books, I only read about the dangers of mountains and rivers and the solidity of rivers and rivers, but many people couldn't tell why they were dangerous and strong, but standing next to this sand table today, they suddenly realized.

That's it!
No wonder the troops are stationed here,
No wonder it looks like a good place to cross the river, but in fact it is a desperate place that traps military strategists to death.

Why is a certain place called a thoroughfare,

Why is a certain place listed as a must by military strategists.

Xiao Cheng looked at Zhao An, the petty official at the top.

Zhao An leaned forward slightly and nodded: "Shoufu, let's start!"

Xiao Cheng coughed softly, and the voice of whispering disappeared without a trace in the room immediately. After a sound of tables and chairs moving and clothes being rubbed, everyone in the room turned their attention to Xiao Cheng. body.

"Everyone, I think everyone knows the reason why everyone is gathered together today." Xiao Cheng said: "The short period of peace since the fall of Tokyo and the founding of the New Song Dynasty is finally coming to an end. Information from various sources It shows that the Liao Kingdom is already preparing for the southern expedition on a large scale. In just half a year, various strategic materials such as grain, pig iron, salt, hemp rope, cotton cloth, and tung oil in the North have risen by [-]%, and they are still in the process of rising Among them, of course, our south is also rising, because the Liao people are sparing no effort to purchase through various channels. They are storing these strategic materials in large quantities. Why store these? Of course not to put them in warehouses to rot."

Xiao Cheng's eyes swept over everyone one by one, and his tone gradually became stern: "So I think, at this moment, there will no longer be people shouting to coexist with the Liao people, peace, right? Appeasement has no way out, and resistance is the only way out." It’s fundamental, you want to make peace with the enemy, but the enemy only wants to sweep you away.”

Some people in the room lowered their heads involuntarily.

"From today onwards, anyone who talks peacefully will be a national traitor! He must be punished." Above, Zhao An, a petty official, suddenly interjected.

Hearing Zhao An's stern words, everyone in the room looked solemn.

That sets the tone.

Xiao Cheng said slowly: "In the past, it was peace or war. There were always disputes. There were those who were afraid of the power of the Liao Kingdom and could not be defeated, and those who were worried that the corner of the south of the Yangtze River was still a paradise. No matter what the attitude is , but generally speaking, it is what the country and the people think about, but from the beginning of today, if there are any peacemakers, they will surrender to the enemy, and this is really a national traitor!"

"Follow the orders of the officials and the chief assistant!" All the officials in the room stood up in unison, "Anyone who makes peace is a national traitor!"

Everyone had serious expressions, even Si Junchao, Liu Mingyi and the others had firm expressions at the moment.

I want to get along with your brother, but you covet my family property all the time, and I feel uncomfortable if I don't take it away, so I can't say it, I can only fight with you desperately.

"Please sit down!" Xiao Cheng's face was relieved. Today's meeting itself is a meeting of unity of thought and cooperation. In the next few years, Xin Song will definitely face many difficulties. Only when everyone is united , it is possible to overcome this difficulty.

And as long as the most difficult first two years are passed, everything will be fine.

"First of all, I will give you a brief explanation of the strength comparison between the enemy and us, and let everyone have a good idea!" Xiao Cheng said with a smile: "Compared with the Liao Kingdom, we are indeed somewhat inferior in terms of strength. , but definitely not much worse than imagined.”

"Let's talk about the national income first! Last year, the effect of the New Deal began to show, but the overall revenue of the imperial court has reached 1000 million taels. This year, it is expected to have an increase of 9000 to [-] percent! And the annual revenue of the Liao Kingdom, From the available data, it is known that it is [-] million taels. In terms of income alone, we are higher than them. Moreover, in the foreseeable future, our annual income will increase year by year, and the annual growth will be maintained at four Around five o'clock."

The atmosphere in the room warmed up.

In the confrontation between countries, the first priority is naturally to have money. Without money, other things will be out of the question.

Of course, money alone is not enough.

For so many years, Great Song has always been much richer than Liao, but in terms of military affairs, it has always been suppressed by Liao, and it is rare for it to be elated.

But to be honest, the gap between the annual revenue of the Liao Kingdom and the annual revenue of the Song Dynasty is shrinking sharply compared to before.

After the Empress Dowager took power, the progress of the Liao Kingdom in terms of people's livelihood is obvious to all.

"Second, let me talk about the comparison of military strength!" Xiao Cheng continued: "This is also the issue that everyone is most worried about. Now that the Liao Kingdom has undergone reforms, the army is mainly composed of the Pishi Army, the Shushan Army, and the Gongfen Army. It consists of three parts. The former Touxia Army, Han Army, and Tribal Army are gradually being cancelled. Now, the total strength of these three parts of the army they can mobilize is around 50. However, because of the vast territory of the Liao Kingdom, a large number of troops are needed for various suppression Rebel forces, so it is estimated that the overall strength of the Southern Expedition they can mobilize should be around 20."

"Is 20 elite like the Pishi Army and the Shan Army?" Someone asked in a low voice.

"Yes!" Xiao Cheng did not hesitate: "The Liao army that came this time will be stronger than the Liao army that attacked Tokyo, and it will be more coordinated and unified in command." The army of the traitors of the puppet Qi, the total strength of the Liao State, will remain at about 30. "

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense.

"You don't need to belittle yourself." Xiao Cheng said with a smile: "We are not bad now. In Xingyuan in the middle of the country, we have [-] elite soldiers. In Shangqiu, with the Baiyu Army as the core, we have [-] soldiers and horses. , we have even concentrated an army of [-]. This is only a land division. In the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, we still have [-] boat divisions. At sea, we also have a powerful fleet of nearly [-] people on standby. More importantly, in the war In the early stage of the outbreak, we will be on the defensive side, we can rely on the dangers of mountains, rivers and swamps, we have built so many impenetrable cities, is it easy for the Liao people to break through our defenses?"

"But our military strength is still only half of that of the Liao people!" Si Junchao sighed: "Shoufu, I'm not saying that the elite soldiers are not, but the Liao people are murderers. We should expand our army!"

"If you only talk about defense, the current army is completely enough!" Xiao Cheng said: "At the same time, martial arts schools have been established in various places since last year. These people are ready-made reserve soldiers. Adding up these people, there should be more than [-] people in the whole country. Under the condition that the defense line can be firmly held, I do not recommend a large-scale expansion of the army, because we believe that this battle will last for a long time, and after withstood the initial madness of the Liao people, the next confrontation will be It is the most brutal, it needs to consume more national power, so we need more people to ensure that our economy can continuously deliver strength to the front line."

"The Liao people want to deal us the heaviest blow in a short period of time with the overwhelming momentum of Mount Tai. What we have to do is to try our best to delay this battle, first to defend, then to stalemate, and finally to form a counterattack. As for the specific military deployment, I will take Lu Shangshu to tell you about the specific thinking of the court."

Lu Wenhuan, Minister of the Ministry of War, who was sitting on the other side stood up, first bowed to Xiao Guanjia and Xiao Cheng, then reached out to pick up a long pole from the side of the sand table, and said: "Everyone, just now someone was worried about us. The number of troops in our country is less, and to be honest, there are not many at all. Soldiers are not expensive, but more expensive, not to mention that this time we are defending on the basis of danger, so we don't need too many soldiers. In war, it is not soldiers The more you have, the more you can gain the upper hand; sometimes, too many soldiers can lead to bad things.”

Some people in the room understood it, but some didn't.

"For a long time, the imperial court and even the people have had various opinions on how to defend against the attacks of the Liao people. The most heated debate is actually whether to deploy defenses along the Jianghuai River or along the Yangtze River!" Lu Wenhuan said: "Here, Lu I would like to thank the Shoufu branch for their persistence for so many years. Our defense line is based on the Jianghuai River, and this is how we have been safe for the past few years. It's riddled with holes."

"Giving up the Jianghuai area, we will share the danger of the Yangtze River with the enemy. The so-called natural danger of the Yangtze River will no longer exist! But by keeping the Jianghuai area, we can use the convenient water transportation on the Yangtze River to continuously transport materials and soldiers to the front theater. Randomly deploy troops to support a certain theater in distress. So next, we predict that the main attack direction of the Liao people will still be concentrated in the Jianghuai area. In response to this situation, our defense plan can be summarized as one core and two areas , two-belt, three-line overall defense system."

"What is the one-core, two-area, two-belt, and three-line defense system? Lu Shangshu, please explain to me!" Luo Gang asked, cupping his hands.

Lu Wenhuan nodded: "The so-called one core refers to the central towns that take Jiankang, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, and Zhenzhou as the defensive core areas after the formation of the Lianghuai defense system to control and preside over the defense activities of the Huaihe River. These towns are The important transportation nodes in Jiangnan and Jiangbei are the shackles that control the throat of the Yangtze River. I suggest that Zhenjiang and Jiankang be set up in Zhenjiang and Jiankang to command the military defense tasks of Huaixi and Huaidong respectively."

"The two defensive belts refer to the spatial form of belt-shaped military defense deployment based on the natural water potential barriers of the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River. The Huaihe River must be the focus of attack and defense in the Song and Jin Dynasties, and the Yangtze River is the barrier of the imperial court. Therefore, the defense of the Jianghuai River must not be lost. The Huaihe River Defense Belt The main towns included are Guangzhou, Shouchun, Haozhou, and Chuzhou; the Yangtze River defense belt includes Huangzhou, Qizhou, Anqing, Hezhou, Zhenzhou, Yangzhou, and Tongzhou. The density of towns on the defense line is relatively high, and the defense difficulty is also relatively high .”

"The two districts refer to the division of the Lianghuai area into two defensive units based on the Huainan East-West Road area. Each defensive unit is relatively independent and has a mutual offensive and defensive relationship."

Everyone gathered around the sand table, watching Lu Wenhuan pointing with a pole in his hand and describing the overall defense plan of the Ministry of War.

Lu Wenhuan is a very good narrator, explaining the profound things in simple terms, even Xiaobai who is not familiar with military affairs in the room can roughly understand it at this moment.

"Shoufu, my subordinate also suggested that our entire defense line, including Jingxiang and Jianghuai, should be treated as a whole for dispatch, and should not be separated. If we can complete the unification above orders, the two wars If the regions can be united, the national security will be safe!"

Hearing Lu Wenhuan's last suggestion, the room was so quiet that a needle could drop.

This is no small matter.

At present, the military strength of the imperial court is mainly concentrated in Jingxiang and Jianghuai, just like appointing a military commander, it is tantamount to handing over all the military strength of the whole country to this person.

"If that's the case, only the chief assistant is qualified to be the commander in chief!" said Xie Hong, governor of Liangjiang.

However, Xiao Cheng waved his hand: "To tell you the truth, with such a grand military layout and command and deployment, someone Xiao himself does not have the ability to do so. If such a commander-in-chief is really going to be set up, I am afraid that among us present, only Only Lu Shangshu has this ability. How about this, after we go down, everyone will discuss first, whether it is necessary to appoint this commander-in-chief? Second, if it is necessary, who is the most suitable candidate. "

Everyone nodded yes.

It is true that the soldiers and horses at the forefront of the imperial court are all at the command of Xiao Cheng, but just as Xiao Cheng said, he has no experience in commanding an army that covers such a wide area and has such a large number of soldiers.Lu Wenhuan raised this opinion suddenly, obviously without obtaining Xiao Cheng's consent in advance. It is really hard for everyone to understand what is wrong with it, and it is difficult to express their opinion on the contrary.

Is Lu Wenhuan trying to seize the military power from Xiao Cheng?
If Lu Wenhuan were to be the commander-in-chief, there would be such a possibility!
And today Xiao Cheng proposed at the meeting that Lu Wenhuan should be the commander in chief. How sincere is it?
It will take time for everyone in the room to figure this out.

Military power has always been an extremely sensitive topic.

(End of this chapter)