Chapter 687 Asking Li Jing for Advice
Chapter 687 Asking Li Jing for Advice
Luo Shixin was called by Xiao Xia to the central army tent. He knelt on one knee and saluted, "I am honored to have fulfilled your mission!"
Xiao Xia smiled and nodded, "General Luo, you have worked hard. Please wait for a moment. I want to see another person."
Xiao Xia immediately ordered: "Go and invite Li Jing, the military officer, to come to me!"
The guards left in a hurry, and Xiao Xia asked Luo Shixin again, "Has Qi County been severely damaged by the bandits?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, although Pei Changcai and Shi Zihe rebelled in Qi County, Guo Fangyu and Qin Junhong rebelled in Beihai County, and Zuo Xiaoyou rebelled in Gaomi, they rebelled only for a short time, and were suppressed by Zhang Xutuo in just one or two months. The damage to Shandong Peninsula was not serious. I happened to be in Qi County when the people were harvesting wheat. The atmosphere was lively, and it seemed that the vitality of Shandong Peninsula was not damaged."
The fundamental reason why the Shandong Peninsula has not been damaged is that since the eighth year of Daye, Xiao Xia has used his powerful navy to control the Shandong Peninsula and suppress the restless ambitions of local tyrants.
Although Xiao Xia had just withdrawn his troops, local warlords in various parts of the peninsula rose up in rebellion, but thanks to Zhang Xutuo's timely return from Jianghuai, he not only severely damaged the Wagang Army and wiped out Meng Haigong, but also wiped out the rebel army that had just risen on the Shandong Peninsula.
The only flaw is that these bandit leaders were allowed to escape by crossing the Yellow River. Once the defense of the Shandong Peninsula is relaxed, these bandit leaders may make a comeback.
At this time, the guards reported at the door of the tent: "Your Highness, Li Canjun is here!"
"Invite him in!"
After a while, Li Jing, the military intelligence officer, hurried into the tent of the King of Jin and bowed, "Your Highness, I am here to see you!"
Ever since Li Jing was employed by Luo Shixin in Chang'an, he has been serving as Luo Shixin's aide. Three months ago, Luo Shixin recommended him to Xiao Xia, who transferred Li Jing to the Intelligence Department of the Privy Council to serve as a military intelligence advisor.
This position is actually equivalent to a staff officer in later generations. He makes various suggestions based on the intelligence summary and is one of the assistants of Zhang Liang, the chief of the Intelligence Department.
Almost all of Xiao Xia's military decisions were supported by intelligence. For example, he knew that Donghai County only had Fu Gongyou's 30,000 troops. He knew that Du Fuwei had moved his main force to the north of Langya County. He also knew that Du Fuwei and Fu Gongyou had become enemies.
For example, he knew that Xu Yuanlang would rather live and die with Lu County than retreat, so he built a castle-like Lu Palace.
Xiao Xia also knew that although Ge Qian's army of 100,000 was large in number, they were a motley crowd with extremely simple equipment, especially food shortages, low morale, and no roots in Jibei County. Once the Sui army attacked, they would definitely retreat to the more prosperous Qi County.
Therefore, Xiao Xia first sent Luo Shixin to enter Qi County first, cutting off Ge Qian's idea of retreating eastward to Qi County, and then attacked Ge Qian's army from behind.
These decisions are all supported by intelligence, and there are thousands of pieces of intelligence of various kinds. How to extract the useful essence from the vast amount of intelligence and classify and summarize it is the role of staff officers, which is also the responsibility of military intelligence officers.
The information was provided to Xiao Xia by Zhang Liang, but Xiao Xia knew that it was actually Li Jing who did it. A talented person cannot hide his brilliance no matter where he goes.
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "According to my plan for the Northern Expedition, my next target is Du Fuwei. Does Li have any good suggestions?"
Li Jing was immediately flattered. His Royal Highness Prince Jin actually asked him directly. He thought for a moment and said, "I have two plans for your reference!"
Xiao Xia pointed to the sand table next to them and said, "Let's talk in front of the sand table!" The two came to the sand table. Luo Shixin was also standing aside. Luo Shixin was Li Jing's former boss. It was he who discovered Li Jing's extraordinary talent and recommended Li Jing to King Jin.
Li Jing picked up the wooden pole and pointed to Lu County in the north and said: "According to the intelligence we have collected, Du Fuwei's 110,000 troops are currently in Lu County. There are several problems here. First of all, the county seat of Langya County is in Linyi County in the south. The population and agricultural areas are concentrated in the south. Why did Du Fuwei abandon the rich land in the south and make the water-scarce and arid land in the north his base?
Secondly, since Du Fuwei gave up the prosperous south of Langya County, how could the poor land in the north feed his 110,000 troops? Why didn't he give up Langya County and station his troops in Gaomi County, where the population and food were slightly better? "
"Can you tell me the reason?" Xiao Xia asked with a smile.
Li Jing nodded, "Based on the information collected, I found the answer. One word is salt. Du Fuwei made his fortune by boiling salt, and it was the salt profits that maintained his rule. His real army was only 30,000 people, of which 10,000 were called Shangmu soldiers, who were given various generous treatments, and the other 80,000 soldiers could only be called salt soldiers, who were actually salt workers. They boiled salt for a living in peacetime and gathered as soldiers in wartime.
The same is true for Donghai County. The reason why Fu Gongyou did not go to the prosperous southern Langya County or the western Donghai County where there were more fertile fields was because Fu Gongyou's 30,000 troops were all salt workers from Donghai County. The salt workers were unwilling to follow Fu Gongyou to Langya County, so Fu Gongyou had to stay in Qushan County to train these 30,000 salt workers. "
Xiao Xia praised: "Du Fuwei controls Lu County in the north of Langya County, is it because the north of Langya County produces salt, but the south does not?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, Langya County does produce salt in the north, while the south is mainly based on agriculture. Salt workers are concentrated in the north, but this is only part of the reason."
"go on!"
Li Jing pointed to Gaomi County and said, "Since Li Zitong was wiped out, Du Fuwei has begun to move northward. He also knows that if he stays in Donghai County and Xiapi County for a long time, he will be killed by His Highness sooner or later. He wants to survive, so he has to move northward, so he put his nest in Lu County. In addition to the influence of salt, there is another important reason that he wants to move to Gaomi County. He was originally from Qi County. He went south because Meng Rang and Baoguo split up, and Meng Rang brought them to Jianghuai. Du Fuwei still wants to return to Shandong Peninsula, so he is moving to Shandong Peninsula step by step."
Luo Shixin was a straightforward person. He couldn't help but ask, "Li Canjun has said so much, but he just talked about the reasons. What about the two suggestions and plans?"
Xiao Xia smiled and waved her hands, "Of course it would be good if you could explain the reason clearly!"
Li Jing apologized and said, "I'm going to give you some suggestions. My first suggestion is that Your Highness must block his way north. First, deploy heavy troops in Gaomi County, and second, this place."
Li Jing pointed to Ying County in the northeast corner of Lu County with a wooden pole. "This Ying County is exactly where four counties meet. Its strategic position is extremely important. If we station a large army here, Du Fuwei will not be able to go to Beihai County and Qi County. Even if he goes to Gaomi County, he will be attacked from behind by the Ying County army. I suggest deploying highly mobile cavalry in Ying County.
Then the second suggestion is that Your Highness secretly send people to the coast of Langya County to find the leader of the salt workers' gang and reach an agreement with them. This is a plan to cut off the firewood from the bottom of the pot. After completing this step, Your Highness's army can encircle and suppress Du Fuwei. I believe that the salt workers will no longer work for him. "
Xiao Xia happily said to Luo Shixin: "I will leave you 80,000 troops. You will be the commander-in-chief, and Li Jing will be the chief military advisor. You will follow Li Jing's plan to destroy Du Fuwei for me."
Luo Shixin immediately understood that His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin was going to make important use of Li Jing.
Xiao Xia made further deployments, ordering Su Dingfang to lead 10,000 cavalry to station in Ying County, ordering Wang Junkuo to lead 20,000 to quickly station in Gaomi County, and ordering Qin Qiong to prepare for the expedition. Once notified by Luo Shixin, he should immediately take over Linyi County. Finally, he handed over 30,000 troops to Luo Shixin and appointed Li Jing as the military division chief to assist Luo Shixin in eliminating Du Fuwei.
Xiao Xia led the rest of the army back to Jiangdu County.
(End of this chapter)