Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 704 Uninvited Guests Arrive Again
Lure the enemy deep into your territory, gather them together and annihilate them. There are many examples of this kind of battles in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad. Some are successful, and some are unsuccessful.
As the saying goes, "In the past, Cheng'an Jun did not defend the Jingxing Pass, and was eventually defeated by Han Xin; Zhuge Zhan did not take advantage of the Shuma Pass, and was finally captured by Deng Ai." In Chinese history, Chen Yu at the end of the Qin Dynasty and Zhuge Zhan at the end of the Han Dynasty both had advantages in geographical location and military strength. But they both thought that relying on geographical advantages alone was just to repel the enemy. It would be better to give up the geographical advantages while we have more soldiers, let the enemy in to fight, so that we can fight a war of annihilation... Then, naturally, Han Xin and Deng Ai, fought a war of annihilation.
Abandoning Myanmar and taking a big step back, like Zhu Youdong did, sending the EU army deep into the Indochina Peninsula and then gathering the country's main forces to annihilate it, is actually taking risks.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty lost its maritime power, which almost cut off its maritime trade. Whether it was the Ming Dynasty itself or its vassal states, agriculture might not have been greatly affected. However, the pain in the business community was very severe. Merchants were all profit-seeking. If the imperial court could not protect their maritime trade business, they would naturally be dissatisfied with the imperial court.
The reason why the local merchants of the Ming Dynasty did not make trouble at this time was, on the one hand, that the most profitable industries of the Ming Dynasty all had royal shares. On the other hand, the big merchants of the Ming Dynasty were generally calm: let's wait and see whether the Ming Dynasty court can quickly turn around. In short, our emperor has created too many miracles in the past forty years. If we are stupid enough to oppose the emperor at this time, what if the emperor quickly turns around later?
However, if the Ming Dynasty retreated from Burma at this time, it would probably give some people in the country who already had other ideas an impression: Oh, the Ming Dynasty seems to be finished! Not only can the navy not beat them, but even the army is no match for them. We should get off the Ming ship as soon as possible and board the Spanish ship. Anyway, they are not going to destroy our Ming Dynasty. It is just because our current emperor is too overbearing and has robbed their territory, so they asked the current emperor to abdicate - such a request is reasonable! We boarded the Spanish ship, which is not considered as forgetting our roots. Moreover, once the two countries restore peace, business can be done again. After the current emperor abdicates, it is possible that we will have the opportunity to get involved in many profitable businesses that the royal family currently controls.
Therefore, once the Ming Dynasty withdraws from Myanmar, it will lose a lot of political points: some vassal states, some domestic businessmen, and bureaucrats whose interests have been damaged in Zhu Youdong's successive reforms might all jump out .
But after repeated consideration, Zhu Youdong decided to do so.
In his opinion, from a military perspective, the newly opened Central and Southern Railway still had limited transportation capacity. Liu Zhaosun led 15 divisions to fight in Burma, which was already the limit of what the Central and Southern Railway could guarantee - it was possible to send more reinforcements, but the railway's transportation capacity could not guarantee the logistics of ammunition.
Therefore, rather than fighting the enemy with inferior forces in Burma and eventually being slowly beaten back, it would be better to retreat in large strides, reducing the logistical pressure while increasing the logistical difficulty for the enemy.
Because of the time travelers, the army of this plane has entered the era of submachine guns and heavy artillery. The demand for logistics is extremely high. The reduction of logistics pressure on our side and the increase of logistics difficulty on the other side actually mean the increase and decrease of the participating forces of both sides. In this way, it is possible to concentrate superior forces to encircle and annihilate the enemy.
As for the clowns who came out to seek death because of the "misunderstanding" that the Ming army was defeated? Zhu Youdong was mentally prepared: This is an open conspiracy, just to lure you guys with ulterior motives to jump out. I just use your heads to deter other guys with weak wills. In order to prevent someone from pulling my leg when I counterattack in the future.
In short, Ming Dynasty now needs a big victory to boost the morale of the vassal states and the country. But to win a big victory, it must first take some risks and make a strategic retreat.
"My Lords, this is what I think. At present, the army of the Western bandits mainly supplies inland through the Irrawaddy River. This river has abundant water, and the Western bandits' warships below 3,000 tons can pass through unimpeded. In this way, the Western bandits' logistical support capabilities are excellent. And the logistics of our Ming Dynasty have to cross the Shan Plateau... Therefore, I intend to completely abandon Burma and let Liu Zhaosun and his corps retreat to the east bank of the Chao Phraya River. Although there are many mountains in this area, the altitude is not very high. It can not only reduce the logistical pressure of our army, but also provide a certain geographical advantage for our army. After that, Liu Zhaosun will hold on here, and the main force of our Ming Dynasty will go south along the Chao Phraya River valley, and finally gather and annihilate the main force of the Western bandits!"
"Your Majesty..." After staring at the map for a long time, the Deputy Privy Councilor Zhao Lujiao said, "I have no objection to your majesty's strategy. It's just that the transportation capacity of the Chao Phraya River is far inferior to that of the Irrawaddy River. According to the intelligence handed over by the Jinyiwei, the Western bandits have about 32 divisions in Myanmar, nearly 500,000 people. Liu Zhaosun has 15 divisions, more than 220,000 people. In recent months, the two sides have fought many fierce battles, and our side has lost more than 30,000 people. The casualties of the Western bandits should only be higher. If, as your majesty said, you want to fight a large annihilation war, I think you have to mobilize at least 600,000 soldiers. This means that the mainland will have to send in almost 30 divisions. And the Chao Phraya River..." Zhao Lujiao shook his head: "I roughly estimated that this river can only carry the logistics of ten to twelve divisions."
"In that case." Zhu Youdong thought for a while and immediately made a decision: "Then retreat again, retreat to the vicinity of Vientiane in Nanzhang. There is the Mekong River there, and the transportation capacity can be guaranteed, right?"
"Your Majesty!" Before Zhao Lujiao could speak, Chen Zizhuang stood up first and said, "Your Majesty, the Mekong River and the Central and Southern Railway should be able to support the logistics of an army . But I want to remind you that if we retreat to Vientiane, the Tang and Zhou countries will be completely left to the south, and if the Western bandits want to advance, they will have to pass through the Siamese city of Sukhothai."
"No problem!" He waved his hand firmly. "The royal families of Chu and Shu have all retreated to Yunnan. If you are worried about the safety of the royal families of Tang and Zhou, you can also let them retreat to Annan in advance, and then retreat to Guangxi, the homeland of the Ming Dynasty. As for the Siamese, if they dare to rebel, I will let them know that the Ming Dynasty now kills people without a knife."
"Your Majesty, if this happens, not only Chu and Shu, but even Zhou and Tang might be destroyed. In this case, the losses will be..."
"Of course I know that doing so will result in huge losses. But if we don't do this, the war in Burma will drag on for a long time, and the Ming Dynasty will continue to suffer chronic blood loss, which will actually result in greater losses! So at this time, we must make up our minds and achieve our goal in one battle."
"...I understand and we will obey the emperor's order."
"Okay, Privy Council, is there any problem with mobilizing troops?"
"Your Majesty." Zhao Lujiao stood up again: "The standing army of our Ming Dynasty has 35 divisions, 525,000 people. In addition to the 15 divisions commanded by General Liu, the remaining 22 divisions currently have three in Yunnan, three in Guangxi, one in the snowy area, and two in Xinjiang... In short, it is impossible to quickly gather these standing troops. Moreover, it is too dangerous for the country to concentrate all the standing troops in one place. What I mean is to mobilize part of the standing army, part of the armed police and the reserve forces to participate in the war."
"But, the Privy Council will come up with a charter on how to transfer the personnel."
"As you command. I will come up with a detailed battle plan and troop deployment plan as soon as possible."
"Good, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense, prepare money, food, and various military supplies as soon as possible. It is now May, and I hope to launch this campaign in September. Well, I will give this operation a code name, let's call it Bai Qi."
"Hiss~ Your Majesty's deep meaning, I understand!"
"Okay, what else do you have for today's meeting..."
The sound of violent knocks on the door interrupted Zhu Youdong's words. After Fang Zhenghua had someone open the door of the conference room, a signalman with three long red feathers on his back walked in under the guidance of the eunuch: "Your Majesty, superiors, the Lieutenant General of the Guards of Mongolia and the Governor of Xinjiang have an urgent report. The Ottomans have joined forces with the Turkmens and Uzbeks to invade Xinjiang and Mongolia!"
