Chapter 1169: Carrying on the Past and Opening up the Future (Sixty-Nine) Prepare for a Fight

Xu Yuan, the newly appointed commander of the First Military District of the Han Kingdom, came to Huining secretly.

Helan Xiong, who was once the most popular candidate for the commander of the First Military District, unexpectedly asked to go to the Third Military District, away from the center of the Han Dynasty and the core of power. Afterwards, many people believed that Helan Xiong's initiative to give up was more out of political considerations, because his sister was the princess of the Han Dynasty, his nephew was the second heir to the Han Dynasty, and he himself was regarded as the flag bearer by the Huns. If such a person controls the largest First Military District of the Han Dynasty, it will indeed make many people feel uneasy. His initiative to leave was also praised by many people.

As for Xu Yuan, more people thought that he was able to become the commander of the First Military District smoothly because of Helan Xiong's initiative to leave. This rumor not only made Xu Yuan very unhappy. As the former commander of the Northern Army Group, Xu Yuan thought he was fighting. Pig. Pig. Island. novel w.hha.omIn terms of achievements, he was not inferior to Helan Xiong at all. In the battle to pacify the Donghu, his northern army was the main force, while Helan Xiong's eastern army was only a side battlefield. In terms of qualifications, he was not much worse than Helan Xiong. Helan Xiong and the king met in times of crisis, and when he followed the king, the king was in danger and his life was at stake.

But rumors and other people's opinions would not change because of Xu Yuan's grievances, so after Xu Yuan took office, he decided to use a big victory to prove that he was worthy of the title of commander of the First Military Region.

His opponent was Shanggu County of Western Zhao.

At the beginning of his tenure, Xu Yuan ordered the Military Intelligence Investigation Bureau branch under the First Military Region to concentrate all its forces to collect military and economic intelligence of Western Zhao, especially Li Mingjun's troops in Shanggu County. If Shanggu could be taken, the Han army or the Eastern Zhao army would be able to face Jinyang County, the current ruling core of Western Zhao, and Jinyang County was threatened. The Qin people will certainly not sit still, and will try to tie down the Qin army's forces as much as possible. But Xu Yuan can only mobilize limited forces, because large-scale mobilization of troops will inevitably attract the attention of Western Zhao and the Qin army. If it loses its suddenness, this battle will lose its meaning.

Because a protracted war is likely to trigger a large-scale direct confrontation between Han and Qin, but this is not what the Han court wants.

The current Han Dynasty is also in a turbulent time, and Xu Yuan is naturally very clear about it.

Dismissing hundreds of thousands of guards, yatou, and constables. This is a complicated and difficult task, because this matter will inevitably destroy many people's jobs, and many of them have been accustomed to eating this bowl of rice since the Former Yan, and there will definitely be discordant notes. The establishment of the central bank and the issuance of currency are now the top priorities of the Han court. If these court events are implemented because of the war that I have started. I am really incompetent as the commander of the military region.

Therefore, in this battle, he could only mobilize a limited number of troops, and he had to attack quickly, and he had to act at lightning speed to end the war. He had to let the Qin people have no time to react before the dust settled.

This is why he came to Huining.

The garrison in Huining was not the Han army, but an army of the East Zhao army that came to assist in defense, led by Zhou Changshou's nephew Zhou Zilong.

As for Zhou Changshou's identity, it is still a top secret in the Han Dynasty. Not many people know it. Zhou Changshou is now the chief minister of East Zhao. In fact, he is the actual controller of East Zhao. As for Zhao Wuji, the king of Zhao, the only thing he does now is to live a life of drunkenness and dreams, and his footprints are not enough in the palace. However, Zhou Changshou's real identity is a councilor of the Han Dynasty. This was promised to him by Gao Yuan himself in return for his great contribution in the Zhao Kingdom Change. When Zhao Kingdom was legitimately incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty, it was also the time when Zhou Changshou officially took office.

The reason why Dong Zhao was not incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty now was, firstly, to avoid a strong backlash in Zhao State, and secondly, to provide a strategic buffer between the two states. If the Han Dynasty annexed Dong Zhao, I am afraid that Qin would annex Xi Zhao without hesitation. There would be too much territory between the two great powers, and they would confront each other directly, which neither side wanted to see. Secondly, if Dong Zhao was incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty, the national policy of the Han Dynasty would inevitably be implemented for unification, and the current situation of the Zhao Dynasty would likely cause a large-scale resistance from the gentry of the Zhao Dynasty, and the result would likely be more loss than gain, requiring the Han Dynasty to spend a lot of energy, manpower, and material resources to quell these disputes.

Let Dong Zhao exist, with Zhao Wuji as a puppet. Let Zhou Changshou actually rule, and implement the national policy of the Han Dynasty bit by bit. The effect of Zhao people doing these things would be much better than that of Han people, and the resistance would be much weaker.

As expected, under the leadership of Zhou Changshou, the State of Zhao began to carry out comprehensive reforms in politics, military and economy. Zhou Changshou's slogan was to make the weak State of Zhao strong again. To become strong again, reforms had to be implemented. The powerful State of Han was a ready-made example. Zhou Changshou almost copied all the policies of the Han State. Resistance would be bloodily suppressed. Due to the existence of Zhao Wuji, domestic resistance never took shape and was divided, won over and defeated one by one by Zhou Changshou. Now, more than a year has passed, and Zhou Changshou has achieved considerable success.

The first thing to be reformed was the army. The army adopted the Han Dynasty's organization method. Zhou Zilong's army of 5,000 people was organized into a division, with Zhou Zilong as the division commander, and there were regiments, battalions, companies and platoons under it. This army is also the most powerful force in Dong Zhao. All weapons and equipment come from the Han State. If it weren't for their flag, it would still be the Zhao State. At a glance, this is a living Zhao State army. The reason why this Dongzhao army came to Huining to assist in defense was actually because the Eastern Group Army suffered heavy losses in a battle with Li Xin. Although it had been replenished, it faced a long border from Shannan County to Dai County. There was a serious shortage of troops, so Gao Yuan issued an order asking Zhou Changshou to send an army to Huining to assist in defense. Zhou Changshou did not dare to neglect and immediately dispatched the most powerful force under his command.

In Xu Yuan's mind, the army of Dong Zhao was the army of Han, and of course it was under his command. This time Xu Yuan's plan included this army.

Standing on the tall review stage in the military camp, Xu Yuan nodded slightly as he watched the army's drill. This army was indeed, as Zhou Changshou said, a powerful force, at least on the drill ground. They were on the drill ground. Their performance is no worse than that of the Han army. I just don’t know what it would be like to go to the battlefield?

"Commander, can I still be as discerning as you?" Zhou Zilong, who was standing next to Xu Yuan, looked at Xu Yuan with some pride.

Xu Yuan nodded slightly: "It's not bad, at least it can be called a decent product. As for whether it can fight, we have to go through the test on the battlefield to know."

Zhou Zilong froze slightly, and the smile on his face suddenly froze.

"Don't feel uncomfortable." Xu Yuan turned to look at him and said: "Soldiers who look very powerful on the training ground may not be able to win the battle. If we talk about the state of your troops during training, I dare not Said. Even the king's young guard army can't compare. Yang Dasha's model teacher usually looks very lazy, but in battle, he is the most powerful. Only with a group of veterans who have climbed out of the dead and grassroots officers as the skeleton can we call an elite army.”

"The commander is right, but many of this army came back from Wei. They also fought with the Qin army. Now they have been reorganized according to the army of the Han Dynasty. It is truly like an arm. Use your fingers to do whatever you want.”

Xu Yuan smiled and said, "I hope so. I will give you a chance to prove yourself. But your soldier is really well-trained. You have gained the essence of my Han army."

Zhou Zilong smiled and said: "My subordinate studied at Jishi City Military University for half a year, and it was an order given by the king himself."

"Oh, you studied at Jishi City Military University, so you also used my big man's infantry training code for training, right?" Xu Yuan's expression suddenly became much more affectionate.

"Yes." Zhou Zilong nodded.

"That's no wonder. This army, after experiencing a few more battles, will definitely become a refined soldier." He looked Zhou Zilong up and down. He smiled and said: "General Zhou Changshou's sons don't show off their anger very much, but you are the one who stands out. No wonder he supports you vigorously."

"We have to ask the commander to make more promotions in the future." Zhou Zilong said.

Xu Yuan laughed loudly, "As long as you make more military exploits, are you afraid that you will never get ahead? Okay, let your troops disband and go back to camp. It's freezing cold today. Let them have a good rest. Let's Let’s go back and talk.”

Returning to Zhou Zilong's tent, to Xu Yuan's surprise, there was not even a brazier in Zhou Zilong's tent, and the temperature in the room was not much different from that outside.

"Why didn't you even light a fire?" Xu Yuan frowned slightly, "Is it because the military supplies are insufficient? Then we can't lose out on you as the commander-in-chief."

"No, the general didn't let them send fire into this tent. There are other soldiers' tents. My uncle used to say that I was too arrogant, so the general also wanted to hone himself. This cold weather can make the general more clear-headed and dare not slack off at all, but I didn't expect the commander to come here today, so I immediately asked them to bring the brazier." Zhou Zilong quickly explained.

Xu Yuan laughed loudly, "You are quite interesting, forget about the brazier. I remember when I was in Pioneer City of Hetao, the temperature was much lower than here. It was like a drop of water turned into ice. Just a joke, you peed outside the tent and heard There was a clanging sound, because the urine had already solidified into ice before it even hit the ground.”

"Is it really that cold?" Zhou Zilong exclaimed.

"You have never experienced it. Many of our brothers did not die on the battlefield, but were frozen to death in the wild. They fell asleep and never woke up." Xu Yuan was a little sad. "Forget it, don't talk about this, let's talk about business."

Xu Yuan rubbed his hands, "I'm going to fight. The starting point is you, and the target is Li Mingjun in Shanggu County. In the spring of next year, I will completely defeat Li Mingjun and capture Shanggu County."

Zhou Zilong's mouth suddenly opened into an O shape, and he looked at Xu Yuan blankly: "Commander, from us? I only have a few soldiers here? Are you planning to mobilize a large army?"

Zhou Zilong was a little confused, because the news he got from his uncle was that the Han Dynasty had no plans to launch a war in the near future, but wanted to focus on settling a few major domestic issues first.

"I won't mobilize the army on a large scale. Li Mingjun is not a fool. Lu Chao is even more cunning than a fox. If he mobilizes the army on a large scale, he will only alert the snake. Besides, I basically have no troops to mobilize now. A large-scale attack is underway in the country." We have to reorganize the army, but everything is not back on track yet.”

"How can we fight?" Zhou Zilong swallowed his saliva, wondering if he could still rely on his own soldiers? Or if we send troops from Zhao, isn't that the same thing?

"Aren't there five thousand soldiers and horses like you here!" Xu Yuan chuckled, looking at Zhou Zilong's pale face, "Didn't you just say you wanted to make contributions, but now your face is pale and you are sweating? Come down, is it hot?”

Zhou Zilong smiled bitterly and said: "Commander is really good at joking. I'm not afraid of death, but I only have 5,000 people here, and Li Mingjun opposite has 50,000 people. Even if I can fight, I can't beat him!"

"Of course it's not just your unit. Taking advantage of this winter, I have secretly ordered Guli's Huns independent cavalry division to arrive at you in stages. The first batch should be led by General Guli and arrive tomorrow night. Your The task is to hide them in your military camp until the attack starts in the spring. They will serve as the vanguard of the attack, and your five thousand troops will follow them to occupy the city. This task is not difficult, right? "

Zhou Zilong took a long breath: "It's not difficult to hide them in the camp, but what about the logistics supplies? The Huns Independent Cavalry Division is an army of five thousand people. They eat horses and chew them. Every day the consumption is extremely high. It’s amazing, but it can’t be hidden from people who are serious about it.”

"So why don't you take advantage of the Chinese New Year to bring them here!" Xu Yuan nodded, "It's good that you can think of this problem. Taking advantage of the Chinese New Year as an excuse, you first gather a large amount of food and bring it in in the name of New Year's supplies. Here You know the fancy stuff. Needless to say, after the New Year, Huining’s county magistrate Sun Xiang will organize another batch of supplies in the name of the labor force. This time we will be enough. The most important thing is suddenness. To catch the opponent by surprise, in addition to the Xiongnu Independent Cavalry Division, the Donghu Independent Cavalry Division will also enter the battlefield at the corresponding time. The main force of this war is these two cavalry divisions. Your task is to The fruits of their victory are secure.”

"The general understands."

"There are no more than ten people who know about this plan at present. You are one of them. You cannot mention this plan to anyone, including your uncle. When the war officially starts, I will inform your uncle." Xu Yuandao : "It's not that you don't believe your uncle, but because your uncle is the target of public criticism. I don't know how many people are staring at him. Do you understand?"

"You will finally understand."

Xu Yuan stood up and patted Zhou Zilong on the shoulder, "3617/'>I hope you can become a member of my Han army as soon as possible." (To be continued...)