Chapter 293 Strategic Intentions

Chapter 293 Strategic Intentions

Chapter 293 Strategic Intentions
"You are so clumsy. You are still so bad after more than a year of training. Go home and farm as soon as possible!" On the outskirts of Yanling County, Jin Sanzheng cursed at the more than a thousand soldiers in the ninth and tenth buildings.

He also scolded the soldiers from the sixth and eighth columns.

Although they had participated in the great war with the Huns, that was the result of their "getting by" with the veterans in the previous buildings. Without the leadership of the veterans, they would not have been able to perform at less than 30% of their abilities, and would have been repeatedly harassed by the Hun cavalry and eventually collapsed.

The seventh building was lucky enough not to be scolded because it performed much better, but there was still a gap compared to the first five buildings with 3,000 veterans. In particular, the best of them were transferred to the first five buildings to replenish the battle losses, so their strength was greatly reduced and was not as good as before.

Representatives of the gentry in the Yingchuan counties have been "forced" to observe the training of the Silver Spear Army.

First, a group of people drew out long arrows and shot at the wall of the fort.

In an instant, the straw man behind the women's wall was pierced with arrows.

Then another group of people took out armor-piercing arrows and shot at the armor hanging on the wooden stakes in the distance in static steps in units of ten.

In the end, it was still a group of people. The front row shot directly while moving, and the back row threw missiles, covering a large area.

After shooting, he hung the bow on his waist, drew out his sword, took off the small round shield on his left arm, and launched a formation charge.

When the straw man with arrows all over his body was chopped into pieces, everyone was speechless.

You can't stop these fierce soldiers with just words. Only by facing the reality and adjusting as soon as possible can you maintain your family business.

On the other side, Yu Hua, who had rushed back from Luoyang, followed Shao Xun with a big smile on his face.

The Minister of Works submitted a memorial requesting to be sent out to garrison the vassal state. The emperor was delighted and appointed him governor of Yanzhou.

Therefore, the Yanzhou Mu's government was rebuilt more than a year after its dissolution, but it was not as prosperous as before.

Some people chose to serve as officials in the court, some people joined the Taiwei's office, and some people simply crossed the river to the south and joined the King of Langya. Only about half of them followed Situ to Yanzhou, including more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry.

This time, Yu Hua did not choose to leave, but instead served as the Minister of Personnel in the court and would be able to take office next month.

At this time, even if you disliked Shao Xun before, you must change your attitude.

He even shamelessly proclaimed that he had long felt that Shao Bai was handsome and magnanimous, and so he urged the people in the Yu family to make a marriage agreement with Shao Bai and make it a good thing.

Hu Wufuzhi, the newly appointed Left Attendant of the Chenjun Marquis's Mansion, was very surprised. It was obviously me...

However, Yu Hua had been in officialdom for a long time and had a thick skin that was not comparable to that of ordinary people, so he naturally ignored Hu Wu Fuzhi.

Moreover, as an uncle, he said that when his niece got married in the future, he would give her a generous dowry to show the unity of the Yanling Yu family.

Hu Wu Fuzhi had no choice but to be defeated.

Yang Bao, the captain of the Ministry of Finance, also stood among the group of people, with his chest puffed out and a smile on his face.

As everyone knows, he officially took sides, and did so at a critical moment. His stance was so "heart-wrenching" that everyone knew it, and Sima Yue wanted to cut him into pieces.

After being kicked out of the imperial guards, he was still able to be protected and appointed as the Commandant of the Ministry of Revenue, which shows that he made the right bet.

Chen Yan, the former lieutenant of the Ministry of Revenue, had a maximum of 8,000 soldiers under his command. After years of fighting, the vacancies were not replenished, and by the time the Huns attacked Luoyang, he had only about 5,000 soldiers left. He subsequently suffered a series of defeats, and when a check was made after the war, he found that he had no more than 1,300 or 1,400 soldiers.

After gathering some of the fleeing soldiers, the number was barely restored to 2,000 and was handed over to Yang Bao.

With the permission of Grand Marshal Wang Yan, Yang Bao recruited a thousand soldiers from the refugees who went south to Luoyang, bringing the number of soldiers to three thousand, which made him a small military leader.

The Duzhi Xiaowei came into being during the Cao Wei period. Its original name was "Si Nong Duzhi Xiaowei", with a rank of two thousand stones. He was in charge of military farming and the dispatch of military rations obtained from farming.

The locations of military farms were different, so officials including the General of Revenue and the Commandant of Revenue were all sent by the central government to manage the military farms.

Strictly speaking, Yang Bao and his predecessor Chen Yan were both lieutenants of the Sizhou Duzhi. After the Eight Princes Rebellion, the military farms were lost, and their tasks became more about transporting grain.

For example, Chen Min, who had previously rebelled, once wrote in a memorial: "Rice and grain in the south have been piling up for decades and are about to rot. If we don't transport them to Central China, it won't be a good way to save the country from the crisis."

The court agreed to his suggestion and appointed Min as the Duzhi of Hefei, and later transferred him to Guangling Duzhi, ordering him to transport grain from the south to the capital.

During the Zhang Chang Rebellion, "Min asked to lead the troops" to defeat the bandits, and finally wiped out Shi Bing and Feng Yun in one fell swoop.

In other words, the soldiers under the command of the Duzhi Commander have actually become "troop transporters".

Yang Bao’s main task now is to be responsible for the grain transport in Xingyang and Chenliu sections, and to transport the money, grain, silk and various tributes sent from other places back to Luoyang to complete the "last mile".

"The prince is here." Someone whispered.

Yang Bao and others immediately fell silent and stood in silence.

When Shao Xun appeared, they all bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Excellency."

"No need to be polite." Shao Xun smiled and waved his hand, greeting everyone gently. When he saw Yang Bao, he pulled him over and asked with a smile, "Have you recruited all the soldiers?"

Yang Bao was here to recruit soldiers. He didn't care about the new recruits, and mainly wanted to gather the defeated soldiers and the brave and courageous refugees to strengthen the transport system and better transport money and grain, so as to avoid always borrowing people from local counties - the work of transporting grain is becoming more and more unsafe, and the transporters are often pulled to Luoyang to fight, and ordinary people are really not qualified.

"We haven't collected all the money yet." Yang Bao replied, "Shi Le and Wang Mi attacked Yanzhou, so the grain transport is not smooth. When the money and grain from other states arrive in Beijing in April or May, it may not be good. I wonder if you..."

"Come over here and talk." Shao Xun waved his hand and came to a secluded place.

Yang Bao followed and whispered, "Sir, we still have to protect the grain transport, otherwise Luoyang might fall into famine, which will be detrimental to your cause."

Shao Xun nodded slightly and said, "Tell me what you think."

Yang Bao was not afraid of the situation and asked directly, "My Lord, do you know about Qian Yu's killing of Chen Feng?"

Shao Xun shook his head.

Yang Bao then recounted what he had learned during this period. Qian Kui rebelled in Guangling, killed Chen Feng, the lieutenant of the Ministry of Finance, took the military rations stored in the mansion, and then burned the mansion, calling himself the General of Pingxi and the Governor of Eight Prefectures.

Qian Kui's behavior of burning the mansion and killing the Duzhi Captain was extremely bad, because he didn't know how long it would take to quell the rebellion, how long it would take to replenish the grain stores in the mansion, and how long it would take to restore the grain transport in Guangling.

"Give me the picture." Shao Xun stretched out his hand and said.

Tang Jian immediately presented a map.

Shao Xun spread it out and looked at it carefully.

Chen Feng, the lieutenant of Guangling Duzhi, was in charge of the eastern water transport, that is, the money and grain from the counties in the east of the Yangtze River were first transported to Guangling (now Yangzhou) on the north bank of the Yangtze River using the Dongwu water system, and then went north via the Han Canal to collect the money and grain from the counties in the north of the Yangtze River to Huaiyin, and then collected the money and grain from the counties in the lower reaches of the Huai River and continued to be transported north to Xia Pi.

Xia Pi was the seat of the governor of Xuzhou and also a hub for water and land transportation.

Generally speaking, most of the money and grain were stored in Xiapi and Pengcheng nearby to prepare for wars in the south. If necessary, they could be transported to Beijing via Honggou and Heshui to the Yellow River, or transported westward via the Bianqu Canal to Junyi (now Kaifeng).

Beyond the Eastern Front there is the Western Front.

The Duzhi Commandant of Hefei was responsible for collecting money and grain taxes from nearby areas and transporting them to Xuchang via the Huai River and Wo River. There was also a branch line along the way that could connect to the Suiyang Canal (dug by Cao Cao) and transport them to Junyi.

It can be seen that Junyi County is also a water and land transportation hub in Henan, which is very critical.

This county belonged to Chenliu State in Yanzhou and was located at the junction of Chenliu and Xingyang. If anyone wanted to cut off the canal transportation, they would attack here.

"In the past, Wei Wu used Henan as his base to conquer all directions. The well-connected water system played an indispensable role." After reading it, Shao Xun returned the map to Tang Jian and said with emotion: "It is very convenient for both mobilizing troops and transporting food."

Marching by boat is much faster and less tiring than walking on foot.

Transporting materials by ship is much faster than by horse and carriage, and the cost is extremely low.

The speed of mobilizing troops and transporting food is fast and the cost is low, which often means that you have a large number of extra troops.

In fact, it’s more than just Cao Cao.

Zhu Wen started his career in Bianliang, and later captured Xuzhou and other places, taking control of the Tang Dynasty's three water transport routes in Henan. He used the extensive canals to launch campaigns east and west, and the reputation of the more than 100,000 Bianliang imperial guards resounded throughout the north and south of the river.

Cao Cao’s lair was in Xuchang.

Zhu Wen’s base was in Junyi.

This location choice is not without reason.

Water transportation has always been the best mode of transportation. Even Shao Xun used the Guangchengze Lake, Rushui River and Yingshui River to transport supplies in Liang County.

Both Cao and Zhu set up their bases on the bank of the canal. My fiefdom, Chen County, is actually located between the Yellow River and the Huai River. Chen County is right next to the Sui Yang Canal. It goes directly to Junyi in the north and into the Yellow River. It goes south through the Yingshui River and into the Huai River, and reaches Shouchun directly.

Wonderful! Yuzhou is such a great place, I like it.

A real man would dare to start with Henan, conquer those who refuse to obey, issue orders to all directions, wield power in the world, and marry the most beautiful woman in the world.

"Tang Jian." Shao Xun suddenly shouted.

"I am here."

"Do you think the Huns are planning to cut off the grain transport to Luoyang?" Shao Xun asked.

Tang Jian didn't expect that the Lord was not asking him to do something, but to ask for advice. After holding it in for a long time, he said, "I think, no matter whether it is true or not, we must be on guard. Luoyang can't afford to delay."

"Wheat harvest in May..." Shao Xun said, "But last year's war severely damaged the wheat seedlings in Heluo, so I'm afraid we won't be able to harvest much this year. The grain stored in the Dongyang Gate Taicang can probably only last until then. With the wheat harvested in May, it can probably last for a few months. But if the money and grain from other states cannot be delivered, Luoyang will definitely be short of food around the New Year. After the New Year, there will even be a great famine and people will eat each other. When the Huns attack, they will collapse without a fight."

Tang Jian was silent.

When he followed the King of Chengdu's army to the south to attack Luoyang, wasn't it because Luoyang was short of food that they were able to win in the end?
As long as the grain transport was cut off, Luoyang would not be able to sustain itself unless the number of unproductive craftsmen, soldiers, officials, ministers, etc. was reduced - especially the Luoyang Imperial Guards, which consumed a huge amount of grain. But without the Imperial Guards, how could Luoyang be defended?

"Helping others is helping yourself." Shao Xun sighed and said, "I can't tolerate the Luoyang water transport being cut off. If I hadn't come to Yuzhou, I wouldn't have known that the Xiongnu wanted to do this. This is my mistake. Yang Bao!"

"I am here."

"Who taught you those words you just said? I don't believe you understand these." Shao Xun said.

What a joke! Others may not know who Yang Bao is, but how could he not know?
It would have been impossible for him to become the General in the Palace without the help of Liu Qia, the Left Chief Clerk of the Palace of the Prince of Donghai and the Lieutenant of the Kingdom, and also because he was an old man from Donghai.

With his level, he can't say these words.

"My lord, it was Minister Wang of the Ministry of Revenue who sent someone to teach me. I also asked my subordinate Wei Jun." Yang Bao said with a wry smile.

"Minister Wang? Wei Jun?" Shao Xun looked at him puzzledly.

"Minister Wang is Xuan, the son of the Grand Commandant." Yang Bao said, "Wei Jun is from Dong'e and lived in Guanzhong. He was originally a minor official. After the defeat of Hejian Wang Yong, he fled to Henan. A while ago, he was introduced to me and came to serve me. He also served as the Duzhi Xiaowei in Chang'an before."

"Wang Xuan actually became the Minister of Finance? So quickly?" Shao Xun was a little surprised, but also a little relieved.

Is it strange that Wang Yan's son was the Minister of Finance? It seems not strange, because they were born to raise grain...

"Call Wei Jun over, I want to see what his abilities are." Shao Xun said.

"Yes." Yang Baoying said.

"Send a message to Li Chong and Chen Yougen..." Shao Xun called another clerk and asked him to write an order to mobilize the troops.

(End of this chapter)