Chapter 1001: War and Peace Strategies
Chapter 1001: War and Peace Strategies
On April 328th (), the first year of Taixing in the Great Jin Dynasty, the second year of Kaiping in the Daliang Dynasty, and the eighteenth year of Yuheng in the Great Cheng Dynasty, the night was dark.
A camp was being built overnight outside Guzang City.
The messengers rushed back and forth, panting.
Sometimes people came out of the city and rushed to various places to mobilize troops; sometimes people came from afar to report various situations.
There has never been a day when the situation in Guzang City was so tense. Even when Zhang Gui had a stroke and was bedridden, it was not so tense.
A man's reputation is like a tree's shadow. The thief Shao is not a good man. When his army comes, there must be bloodshed, and it will definitely bring about a huge change in the current situation in Liangzhou.
Intense troop movements were also underway in Guzang City.
Han Pu, the right Sima of the shogunate, was appointed to take charge of the important task of commanding the city's defense.
He was also a veteran, and after a rough estimate of the military strength, he immediately suggested abandoning the garrison outside the city, leaving only a small number of troops for surveillance, and withdrawing the main force to the central city, north city, and south city.
This suggestion caused great controversy, but Han Pu insisted very much because -
Guzang City is very big, extremely big, and even in the Central Plains, it can be called a major city.
The original Guzang City was built by the Huns, three miles from east to west and seven miles from north to south.
Now known as "Midtown", it is rectangular in shape with wings at the north and south ends.
During his fourteen years in office, Zhang Gui expanded the Guzang City and built the "North City" to the north of the Central City as his office and residence.
After Zhang Gui died, Zhang Shi succeeded him and ruled for six years. During this period, he accumulated strength and developed production, but did not engage in large-scale construction.
Zhang Mao succeeded Zhang Shi. During his short four years in office, he was unwilling to waste people's money and resources, so he only proposed to completely repair the city defenses and build Lingjun Terrace, a commanding height in the north of the city.
The former was agreed to, while the latter was dissuaded by his colleagues. However, as the Xiongnu's intention to move westward became more and more obvious, Lingjun Terrace was finally built five years ago, with the purpose of "the king and nobles set up dangers and the warriors closed the gates tightly".
Obviously, this is an imitation of the three Bronze Sparrow Towers in Yecheng. Considering that Zhang Mao himself lived in Lingjun Tower and worked here every day, it is even more obvious.
Zhang Jun succeeded to the throne four years ago. He was a man who liked to build large-scale projects.
It just so happened that the 24 years of Zhang Gui, Zhang Shi and Zhang Mao's efforts to gather refugees, pacify tribes and develop production had laid a solid material foundation, so he began to build the South City.
Nancheng mainly served as a palace city - although he did not establish a dynasty, Zhang Mao once accepted the title of "King of Liang" from the Xiongnu. After the Xiongnu was defeated, Zhang Jun called himself "King of Liang" internally, regardless of external relations.
At present, the South City has only been surrounded by city walls and the foundation of the palace has been laid.
In Zhang Jun's plan, Qianguang Hall (also called "Mingde Hall") was where he would work and govern, located in the very center, but he did not live here.
To the west of Qianguang Hall is the White Hall of Zhengxing, to the south is the Red Hall of Zhuyang, to the east is the Green Hall of Yiyang and to the north is the Black Hall of Xuanwu. They are the palaces of the four seasons, and one resides in each palace for three months depending on the season.
In addition to these five palaces, there are actually many more palaces and rooms, which were planned and named by Zhang Jun himself. However, because he had only been in power for four years, he had no time to build them.
In addition to the three cities of South, North and Center, a small city will be built on each side as the outer barrier of Guzang. This has been completed, but it is very small, with a circumference of only a thousand steps (less than 400 meters on each side).
The various gardens in the city were also used as training grounds for small-scale military training.
The four small cities and three large cities formed the prototype of the seven cities of Liangzhou.
How to defend such a complex and large city? It requires a huge number of troops.
Han Pu felt that they could either give up defending the city and fight the invading enemy directly on the periphery; or they could retreat across the board, withdraw every bit of troops, abandon some less important urban areas, and concentrate on defending the core areas, such as the central city and the north city.
But whether his suggestion can be accepted depends on the results of the discussion between Zhang Jun and his staff...
******
Xianyu Hall in Midtown is now Zhang Jun’s main residence.
After Han Pu inspected the city defense, he was ordered to go to Xianyu Hall.
In front of the hall there is a Xianyu Pond, in which are placed five bronze dragons, with bared fangs and dancing claws, looking very majestic.
Han Pu looked at it and sighed.
If these five huge bronze dragons were cast into coins, I wonder how much reward they could give out.
The Zhang family has talent, but they love to enjoy themselves too much. They started building palaces in the time of Zhang Gui, and to this day, three generations of grandparents and grandchildren have "remained true to their original aspirations."
After passing through the wooden corridor across the pool, Han Pu soon arrived in front of the hall.
The sergeant searched him and let him in.
The meeting has already begun and the atmosphere is a little solemn.
After seeing Han Pu, Zhang Jun, who was sitting at the top, nodded and motioned for him to take a seat quickly.
Han Pu bowed and sat down opposite the Chief Secretary Fan Yu.
The person who was speaking at this moment was the Liangzhou Beijia Yinjian: "I came from the west in broad daylight, and was pursued by Jia's strong cavalry, but fortunately I escaped. My lord, Jia has ulterior motives, so you should get rid of him."
Han Pu felt a little disgusted after hearing this. Who doesn’t have ulterior motives nowadays?
The Wuwei Jia family is the descendant of Jia Xu.
Previously, Zhang Zhen, the governor of Jiuquan, and others colluded with Jia Kan, the governor of Qinzhou, and planned to seize Liangzhou.
Later, Zhang Shi's brother-in-law Jia Mo became powerful in the west. One day, a nursery rhyme "Shou Mo Tou, Tu Liangzhou" suddenly appeared in Liangzhou, so Zhang Mao tricked him into coming and killed him.
After this incident, Zhang Mao was very proud of himself. "The wealthy and powerful hid themselves from the public, and his prestige spread throughout the Liang area." This sounds very nice. The wealthy and powerful families in Liangzhou all restrained themselves all of a sudden, and Zhang Mao's prestige spread throughout the area.
But you only killed Jia Mo, and the Jia family's influence is still there. How do you know that they are not disappointed in you and ignore you?
When he first came, he was extremely humble, using his marriage relationship to win over the Jia family, but after he succeeded, he turned his face and refused to recognize people. This is not how things work. At this moment, Yin Jian finished speaking, General Jia Qian trembled all over and immediately bowed and said, "My lord, this must be a misunderstanding."
Han Pu felt a little sorry for him, as he was implicated by his family. There was nothing he could do.
Zhang Jun had a gloomy face and ignored Jia Qian. He only looked at Yin Jian and asked, "Did Jia intercept the messenger?"
"I don't know if this is true." Yin Jian said.
Zhang Jun's face became even uglier.
Just now, someone came to report that the family of the military officer Qu Hu had fled. Thinking of this, he looked at Jia Qian, "Are you going to do the same?"
The Zhang family is too insecure...
"Send more messengers." Zhang Jun thought for a moment and said, "Gaochang and Xihai are too far away, so forget it. The troops from Dunhuang, Jinchang, Jiuquan, Zhangye, Wuxing, and the six western counties must be summoned as soon as possible."
There are people and soldiers in Liangzhou, but the problem is that they need to be mobilized.
If they are not actively attacking others, these people are usually scattered in various counties to farm. After all, it is very exhausting to maintain an army of tens of thousands of people for a long time.
But if they were attacked by surprise, they would be in big trouble. Considering the nightmare-like terrain of the Hexi Corridor, it would take time to gather people.
Wuwei and Wuxing counties are close to each other and have the largest populations. We can gather about 20,000 soldiers and horses now. If we can recruit another 20,000 people, we will have a better chance of success.
"My lord." A man stood up beside Han Pu. It was the left Sima Yin Yuan. He said, "I heard that General Dong is still in Hongchi. His army consists of 10,000 soldiers, all of whom are brave and sharp. We should recall them now. The ancients said that 'a big city is hard to defend'. Now there are only more than 10,000 soldiers in the seven cities of Guzang. It is really hard to defend. I hope my lord will understand."
"I have already ordered the conscription of young men. As for Dong Guang..." Zhang Jun said, "Before dark, he sent people to attack Xin Xuan, defeated him, beheaded hundreds of people, and occupied Qingsai City. I've been thinking about it, maybe we can see the results of this battle."
Han Pu was greatly disappointed when he heard this.
His opinion was the same as Yin Yuan's, that it was time to concentrate troops and wait for the opportunity.
Just now Zhang Jun said that the West Sea was too far away, and he disagreed.
Zhang Su, the governor of Xihai and general of Jianwei, is the younger brother of Zhang Gui. Most of the people under his rule are Xianbei and Xiongnu. Due to long-term wars, they can be regarded as a powerful force. At this time, they should defend Wuwei and wait for Zhang Su to gather troops from Xihai, Dunhuang, Jiuquan and other counties to reinforce them.
Yin Yuan has the same feeling.
Seeing that Zhang Jun didn't listen, he had nothing more to say. This is your Zhang family's foundation, you make the decision, I don't care.
"Why didn't the Chief Secretary say anything?" Zhang Jun looked at Fan Yu again and asked curiously.
Fan Xi had no choice but to say, "After the Xin family's rebellion, Lingnan fell. Jin Zhun also crossed the river from Queyin, and the Lushui Hu and other tribes all surrendered. It is hard to say what happened to the counties west of Wuwei. I think we should send an envoy to Chang'an to negotiate peace with Emperor Liang."
When the governor Li Liang (Li Yan) heard this, he immediately rebuked him, "Mr. Fan is the elder of the state, why do you say such depressing words?"
After that, he looked at Zhang Jun again and said earnestly: "My lord, I am incompetent, but I am willing to lead the army eastward to defeat the Xiongnu and save the people along the way."
"It's great that Ji Zi has such ambition!" Zhang Jun praised.
However, he did not respond to Li Liang's request to lead his troops into battle.
The attendant Zhonglang Yin Ju observed Zhang Jun's words and expressions and understood Zhang Jun's inner struggle, so he reported: "My lord, the peace talks may not be real. If you don't want peace, just send envoys to pretend to be friendly, and you can delay time until the troops from all the counties gather together."
The vanguard commander Yin Yu also reported: "My lord, I heard that Emperor Shao Xun of Liang likes beautiful women. There are beauties from the Western Regions in Binxia Temple. You can offer one or two to him. If Xun is very pleased, maybe you can hold off for a while."
"Ridiculous!" Yanglie General Song Ji said angrily, "National affairs are handled by women. Isn't it shameful? I would rather die on the battlefield than kowtow like this."
Yin Yu was so embarrassed by this that he opened his mouth but was speechless.
Zhang Jun was silent for a long time.
A while ago, due to the establishment of Gaochang County and the vigorous management of Li Bai, the Chief of the Western Regions, Shanshan King Yuanli was a little afraid, so he selected beautiful women from the royal family.
When the King of Yanqi heard about it, he also sent a beauty.
Zhang Jun had seen them, and they were all carefully selected beautiful women.
He thought about it and decided that he couldn't give a used gift, so he could only choose Yuan Li's daughter, who hadn't been used yet.
But this is indeed an embarrassing matter and cannot be done openly. It has to be done privately after the meeting.
At this point, his idea was actually very clear: to delay and wait for reinforcements.
Yin was right. It was just a peace talk. It was not necessary to make peace. It was just a delaying tactic.
Liang's troops came too quickly. They were still sending envoys to each other and negotiating in the second half of last year. Why did they suddenly fall out? In addition, Xin Yan, this cancer, was about to be squeezed out during his uncle Zhang Mao's time, but he didn't dare to do it in the end. After he took power, he also wanted to conquer him, but he didn't succeed in the end.
Today, Xin Yan dealt him a severe blow, which made him dizzy, and in an instant he reached the gate of Wuwei.
"Everyone." Seeing that the discussion had died down, Zhang Jun stood up and said, "To this day, there are only two options: war or peace. I have made up my mind, and we will pursue both strategies simultaneously."
"In order to negotiate peace, we will send the governor Yin Dan as an envoy to Chang'an to see what Emperor Liang wants."
"The strategy for war and defense is to appoint General Yanglie Song Ji as the general, lead 3,000 cavalry to march eastward, recruit Xianbei and Xiongnu people along the way, and resist Jin Zhun."
"Send General Weiyuan Song Yi to lead 2,000 infantry and cavalry south, reinforce Hongchi, and defeat Xin Yan as soon as possible."
"Have the Right Sima Han Pu lead 6,000 infantry and cavalry to garrison Guzang. Recruit the nobles and men as soon as possible. I want to see an army of 20,000 within ten days."
"Send envoys to the various counties in Lingnan. I don't believe there are no loyal and brave men there. If there are people who are willing to serve the shogunate, you can quickly appoint them to official positions and order them to raise troops to fight against the rebels."
"These few provisions must be implemented as quickly as possible without any mistakes."
(End of this chapter)