Chapter 163: The Battle of Logistics
The emperor wanted to have some free time , so he simply agreed to the empress dowager's request. He hurriedly left his mother, changed into casual clothes and went to comfort Kuang Sisi.
Princess Zhao Feiyan is lost, the swallow has flown away, and Sisi's eyes are red and swollen from crying.
The emperor gently embraced the woman who brought him countless joys, letting Sisi's tears wet his clothes...
The emperor was sentimentally trying to appease a beautiful woman by the West Lake, while Prime Minister Zheng Qingzhi and Minister of War Shi's son were still racking their brains. The wages for the soldiers at the front had not been allocated enough, and the salaries of the ministers in Lin'an had not been paid in full. Life was getting worse day by day. How was they going to get through the year?
Shi's son said that they still had to celebrate the New Year, so he took out the various printed banknotes and sold them to merchants in exchange for silver for emergency use, and then he would talk about next year's matters next year.
Zheng Qingzhi asked him about Sichuan and Shaanxi, and asked him if he cared about it anymore.
Zhao Qi'er has more than 200,000 soldiers under his command, and most of the military expenses are raised by himself. Why don't we allocate some money to them?
Shi's son wished Zhao Yulin would die, so he was reluctant to give him the money.
He spread his hands and pretended to be helpless, saying, "Let's take care of the people around us first. Sichuan and Shaanxi are far away. If there is a mutiny in the military camp near us because of the noise, how can we explain to the government?"
The prime minister felt nervous when he heard this and looked helpless.
In this way, they once again abandoned Zhao Yulin's Shenwei Army.
At this time, Zhao Yulin was still galloping on the Chencang Road. He had been traveling for three days. He spent the New Year's Eve of 1234 at the post station on the top of the mountain. Facing the sunrise of the first day of 1235, he crossed the ridge and rode straight to Fengxiang Prefecture.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, he entered Fengxiang's mansion. Ma Ling and Wu Yuqi received Zhao Yulin. Yuqi showed him the pigeon letter from Hanzhong confirming Yu Fuming's identity. Shunfeng also found gold bars and silver ingots worth 300,000 taels of silver in Yu Fuming's concubine's room, which was obviously far more than his salary income.
Zhao Yulin felt as if his heart was stabbed by a needle. This man was an old brother, so why was he also unable to get over the hurdle of money?
After a while, he said that everyone had just arrived in Fengxiang, so let's rest for two days before talking about it.
When Miao Gui learned that Zhao Yulin had arrived, he immediately came to report the movements of the Mongolian army in Lingzhou. It was rare for the Mongolian army to gather in large numbers recently. In the past, they would gather in May and June and march south in July and August.
Zhao Yulin said that the Mongolian army was likely to attack Huizhou to eliminate the last remnants of the Jin Dynasty. He asked Miao Gui to conduct a careful investigation and prepare to launch the Battle of Gongchang. The army would advance to Lanzhou to resolve the problem in the west.
Because Kuoduan's purpose of marching into Huizhou was not only to defeat Guo Chongma, he wanted to occupy the area and go south to Gongchang, and then achieve the goal of entering and exiting Minzhou and Jiezhou to attack the weak points of the Shenwei Army.
If this is true, the Mongolian army can go south again and attack the heart of the Song Dynasty through the Dali Kingdom. Zhao Yulin rested for two days and went to have a drink with Yu Fuming. The logistics officer immediately became uneasy.
Zhao Yulin said that everyone had emerged from the midst of swordplay and sabers. Why was that so?
Yu Fuming sighed and said that he could not resist the temptation of beautiful women and sugar-coated bullets, and he was sorry for the third young master and his brothers.
Zhao Yulin said that everyone had enough food and clothing, so he could just hand over the money he earned from the gifts others gave him, and everything would be fine after he made it clear.
Yu Fuming said helplessly that if he took it once, he would take it twice, how could he go back? The young master had never been poor, so he didn't know that the golden gold was dazzling, and people with insufficient concentration would be easily dazzled.
Zhao Yulin was speechless and said that he was most familiar with logistics and recommended someone to take over.
Yu Fuming asked, do you still believe what he said?
He said that they were all people from the old dock in Yibin, and he believed that he would not harm the Shenwei Army.
With tears in his eyes, Yu Fuming recommended Tan Yousan, the deputy envoy in charge of the workshop. Tan Yousan was an incorruptible man and had once questioned Yu Fuming in person about accepting bribes from illegal businessmen.
Zhao Yulin immediately asked Li Chuan to notify this person to come and take over in person.
As soon as Tan Yousan came to accept the task, the Military Disciplinary Supervisor immediately came and took Yu Fuming away.
Zhao Yulin was very upset that his good friend and brother, whom he spent every day with, had gotten into trouble. He did nothing for three days and hid in the yard, drinking tea and drinking.
Miao Gui learned that Yu Fuming was being investigated for corruption, and Zhao Yulin was upset, so he came to drink with him. He took out all his anger on Kuo Duan, and told Miao Gui to plan carefully, and this time he was going to cripple that guy.
Kuoduan had no idea that Zhao Yulin was in a bad mood and wanted to vent his anger on him. He was mobilizing troops with high spirits, and Android had already led the vanguard to set off.
Years ago, Kuoduan's father led his eldest son to the west , and all the families of the Golden Family contributed their manpower. Badu, Guyu and Mengge had already led the grassland cavalry to Europe to expand the territory. Kuoduan also wanted to take one or two states here to establish his career.
So he ordered that all pregnant horses, cattle, sheep and women be left behind, and easily assembled a force of 100,000 men and headed straight for Huizhou.
After occupying Laohuizhou, Android headed straight for Xinhuizhou without stopping. After Kuoduan arrived, he kept urging the rear team to catch up. He wanted to surround Xinhuizhou like an iron barrel to show Wang Shixian of Gongchang Prefecture that not even a single mouse could escape.
Because Guo Xiazi was too ignorant of the current situation. The Jin Dynasty had long been destroyed, but he was still clinging to his remnants. He ignored the repeated letters of rebuke and persuasion to surrender, and even cooked his messenger. He must be killed as a warning to the rest.
After Miao Gui reported the enemy situation, Zhao Yulin could not have imagined that the Mongolian army would be so fast this time, completely breaking their previous attack pattern.
He said that the enemy did not attack Gongchang Prefecture, but directly surrounded Huizhou, which showed that they were also anxious. This was to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, forcing Gongchang Prefecture and Lanzhou to surrender obediently and crawl on the ground to welcome the king's army.
Miao Gui told him that the soldiers of the big tent thought that attacking Gongchang Prefecture first would catch Kuoduan off guard. Although the Wang family had a large number of people, they were far inferior to our Shenwei Army.
Right now, Li Yunqing has controlled Zheduo Mountain, and the Tibetan Zamp no longer poses a threat to the rear of Jizhou. Feng Guiqi, Hao Xiaoming, Wang Hancheng and Gao Jin of the Western Group have a total of 100,000 troops together with the garrison. They can be easily killed one-on-one, so Guo Chongma will definitely be able to delay Kuoduan for a while.
Zhao Yulin certainly knew that Guo Chongma was loyal to the emperor, patriotic and fearless of death, and would definitely be able to hold back Kuo Duan.
But the northwest is too barren, and he doesn't want the war to drag on too long, as this will cause the Shenwei Army to run out of food and drag down the Qinzhou economy.
Zhao Yulin told them that Yang Xingyun had brought the Second Column up, and asked Miao Gui to transfer Zhang Zhi's Second Cavalry Column to Gao Jin's command, and to transfer all the mortars for centralized use. In one battle, Wang Shixian would be crippled, so that the forces in Hexi would know how powerful our Shenwei Army is, and then severely damage Kuoduan, so that he would stay in Lingzhou this year and dare not go out.
Miao Gui thought for a while and said, this is why we must concentrate our superior forces and launch a thunderous attack in order to achieve our brother's effect. Are we afraid that we will have to use all the garrison troops in Hanzhong?
Because the journey was too long, even emergency mobilized civilian workers could not catch up in time, and the garrison had to be mobilized to serve as both a transport team and a strategic reserve team in order to realize the intention of a thunderous attack.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that was what he meant. The garrison would push forward from the rear and escort the supplies to the battlefield to join the battle. General Meng of Jingzhou had already agreed to help defend Jinzhou, so there would be no problem in Hanzhong.
Yang Xingyun's Second Column and the garrison can both be transferred up.
Not only that, he also wanted to go to Chang'an to invite General Cao to join the war. This was called a battle that would decide the outcome.
Miao Gui quickly thought about the big game in his mind, said goodbye to Zhao Yulin and went to the central military tent to play the game.
Zhao Yulin returned to his study and wrote to Gao Jia, asking him to immediately organize a civilian transport team to support the Qinzhou campaign. He then wrote to Fenghuang, asking him to stay in Zhejiang and Sichuan and organize the troops to fight a defensive battle.
The next day, Ma Ling'er dressed him up, and Zhao Yulin rushed to Chang'an to discuss matters with Cao Youwen.
As soon as the two met, Lao Cao complained about him, saying that he did not come up from Ziwu Valley to have a drink first, but went straight to Fengxiang Prefecture.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said, "It's coming soon," and the two of them quickly began to plot.
The next day, the troops of the Lishan camp set out, escorting food and supplies and following Zhang Zhi's Second Cavalry Column towards Fengxiang Prefecture.
Zhao Yulin went to Xianyang to meet Lu Huacai and told him clearly that there were no troops left in the east. He asked him to quickly mobilize all reserve forces to strengthen the defense and ensure that Yan'an Prefecture and Tongguan were safe.
Lu Huacai immediately stood up and vowed to complete the task. Zhao Yulin patted him on the shoulder and said that they should fully rely on local forces and believed that the people in Guanzhong would follow our Shenwei Army.
After he finished arranging matters in the Eastern Theater, he rushed back and headed straight for Fengxiang with Lao Cao. The two of them ran for a day and rested in Mei County.
Lao Cao told him that the Northern Barbarians were very powerful. Not only did they march westward, they also attacked the border of our Song Dynasty in three directions. This time, our attack on Gongchang Prefecture was also a proactive measure to help the court share the pressure of the eastern battlefield.
Lao Cao has already secretly reported to Lin'an the news that Guanzhong had launched an attack on Gongchang Prefecture.
Zhao Yulin sighed in his heart, Lao Cao is really an honest man. He should not have reported it two days later. If Lin'an knew about it, the military information would definitely be leaked, and our intentions would be clearly known to the Khan of the grassland.
Moreover, if he were to report it in such a hurry, the people in Lin'an would have the opportunity to use evidence against him and say that Guanzhong already had a strong army and that we should have sent 100,000 troops to march into Luoyang. In that case, the outcome of the emperor's battle to recapture the three capitals would be uncertain.
However, as the deputy envoy of the Military Administration Office, Lao Cao was responsible for supervising the army, and submitting the report in a timely manner was a fulfillment of his duties.
Zhao Yulin didn't think about all this mess anymore. After a night's rest, the two of them hurried to the central military tent in Fengxiang.
When Miao Gui saw that General Cao had arrived, he knew that the Lishan reserve force must have been mobilized, and he was very happy.
Zhao Yulin solemnly instructed the new logistics officer Tan Yousan that the troops passing through Baoji should bring five days of food and fodder with them, and that the logistics staff must work hard to ensure the food and fodder supply for the troops.
Tan Yousan hadn't slept for two days, and with red eyes he assured him that he would complete the task.
Everyone was busy and nervous.
Miao Gui told him that although Baoji had stored so many supplies, once the team arrived, they took them away like ants moving house, and the warehouses were immediately emptied.
He smiled and said that war is all about logistics.
Lao Cao watched the fully-equipped troops marching past the government office and said in high spirits that such an army could not win the battle because our command was stupid.
He looked at Miao Gui seriously and asked if he heard it. He said he must make plans.
