Chapter 1436: Han Banner World (One Hundred and Twenty-Six) Protracted War
It’s the time of year when chrysanthemums compete for beauty. If it were previous years, Yingcheng would be a sea of chrysanthemums at this time, because King Huai of Chu loved chrysanthemums to the point of obsession and would spend thousands of dollars for a good-looking chrysanthemum. But this year , but it seemed particularly deserted. The chrysanthemums in Yingcheng were still blooming everywhere, but they were not as beautiful as in previous years.
In the back garden of the palace, the rare varieties of chrysanthemums look a little dilapidated due to neglect. Those chrysanthemums that needed careful care in previous years have suffered this year due to the extreme deterioration of the situation in Chu State and also because of their owner Chu Huai. The king collapsed suddenly and no one noticed anymore.
King Huai of Chu fell after hearing that Qu Wan's 200,000 troops were trapped in Wuguan. From the hesitant words of the imperial physician, Huang Xie and Qu Zhong understood that King Chu Huai had suffered a stroke. Today, King Huai of Chu is lying in the palace, unable to move his hands or legs. Even when he talks + pig + pig + island + novel + www + z +, it is vague and it is difficult for people to hear what he is saying clearly.
When Huang Xie walked into this dormitory, he felt a cold and yin energy that penetrated directly into his bones. This made him shiver involuntarily.
Kneeling on a soft cushion in front of King Chu Huai's bed, Huang Xie still bowed meticulously.
"Your Majesty, news came today that Jiangdong County has run out of food, and Han King Gaoyuan personally visited Jiangdong County. Wenzhuang Kaicheng surrendered, and Jiangdong County is gone now." Huang Xie said softly.
On the hospital bed, King Chu Huai's body trembled and his lips moved, but he could not hear clearly what he was saying. Huang Xie could only see a drop of murky tears sliding down from the corner of King Chu Huai's eyes.
"Wenzhuang has tried his best, and there is no way to surrender." Huang Xie sighed, "He has persisted in Jiangdong County for so long, so he has tried his best. Now, the entire Chu Kingdom has reached its final moment. Qu The Taiwei only rested for one or two hours every day. Every day he tried every means to mobilize the army and set up a defense line. The ministers also stayed up at night, trying their best to raise grain, grass and ordnance. Last ditch effort."
"We will use Yingdu as the core and the entire Jingzhou as the battlefield to fight to the death with the Han Kingdom. Qu Taiwei has mobilized 500,000 soldiers and horses from all walks of life to gather in Jingzhou. Now, most of the defense lines have been almost completed All the people in Yingdu were mobilized and working non-stop to make weapons and dry food to send to the front line."
"Your Majesty. It's already October. If we can hold on until winter and the heavy snow comes, our Chu country will still have a chance." Huang Xie reached out and held the veined hand of King Huai of Chu.
"As long as we can survive until winter, we will have a chance. When winter comes, the weather will be freezing. The Han people's logistics will also be greatly affected. Fighting in winter will add countless difficulties, and we are fighting on our own soil. The weather, location, and people are all right. As long as we can withstand the first wave of the Han army's attack, we will be able to defend Jingzhou.
And dragged the Han people to Jingzhou. And by this time, I believe that the people of Qin will not sit back and watch. Because if we lose, their end will not be far away. Just let Lu Chao see a little hope of victory. He will definitely take this gamble. "
"If we hold back Gao Yuan's main force by then, and after Lu Chao overthrows the Qin State, we leave Hangu Pass and attack the hinterland of the Han State, our Chu State will be saved. As long as we take this breath, our Chu State will definitely Recover the lost territory and attack Jicheng. We have thousands of people and unlimited human and financial resources. As long as we can survive this, everything will be fine. "
"Today, the humble minister came into the palace, and there is another thing to report to the king. The king has been ill for a long time and cannot manage the government, and the defense battle of Yingdu is about to begin. The soldiers need their king to boost their morale. They need Their king went to wave flags and beat war drums for them. Therefore, after many discussions with the Taiwei and the important ministers, the ministers reported to the queen for her consent and decided to make the prince king. They respectfully asked the king to rest in peace and recuperate in the harem, and also asked the king to forgive his ministers. This is a serious crime of disrespect. When the Han thieves are gone and the world is at peace, I will hand over my position as chief assistant and apologize before I go to bed."
King Chu Huai couldn't speak. After Huang Xie said all this, he looked at King Chu Huai's expression and saw that King Chu Huai's expression was calm and there was no anger or complaint in his eyes. A big stone finally fell in his heart. .
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please rest assured and recuperate in the palace. I will go now." Huang Xie kowtowed three times, stood up, took a few steps back, turned around and strode out of the palace.
On the ninth day of October, King Huai of Chu, who was seriously ill, announced his resignation and Prince Mi Hua ascended the throne. Huang Xie was still the chief and assistant, and Qu Zhong was the Taiwei. At that time, Chu State's five thousand miles of mountains and rivers were already ten to sixty-seven years old. Except for the wild frontiers and the mountainous areas, almost all the sacred land was occupied by the Han army. Occupied. And Huang Xie and Qu Zhong didn't pay attention to these places at all. They concentrated their efforts on one thing, allocating all the troops they could, all the food and grass they could gather, all the weapons that could be used to kill the enemy, and all the resources. They are all concentrated in the Jingzhou area, and the Chu State will use the final battle to decide the fate of their entire country.
Han armies from all directions are also concentrating on the Jingzhou area. The Chu State wants to bet on its national destiny in this battle, and the Han State also wants to complete its victory in one battle and completely destroy the last strength of the Chu State in the Jingzhou area.
By mid-October, all the troops of the Second Military Region had gathered in Jingzhou, Chu State. Among the four armies of the Young Guards Corps, in addition to Yang Dasha's First Army guarding Wuguan, the other three armies also arrived. Except for Ding Wei's Fifth Army, Yan Haibo's Sixth Army and Li Mingjun's Twentieth Army, all other troops in the military region also arrived one after another. This allowed the Han State to gather sixteen armies in the Jingzhou area, totaling more than 300,000 people. This was also the first time that the Han Dynasty fought a war with all its strength.
"Huang Xie and Qu Zhong are both smart people!" Staring at the sand table in front of him, Gao Yuan sighed with admiration: "If they still want to compete with us for land, then there will be no doubt that failure awaits them. And it won't cause us much trouble, but now they have gathered all their forces in this small area to fight with us. Look at their defense lines, which are clearly layered. This is obviously a fight with us. We plan to spend it all the way!"
"Continue to waste it? Do they have any other plans? We are not afraid of waste. In a place as big as Jingzhou, the Chu army gathered hundreds of thousands of people. Even if they eat, they will eat them all. You know, they don't have Where can we replenish food and grass?" Guan Bo, commander of the Third Army, said disdainfully, "And with the combat effectiveness of our army, how long can they consume it even if they want to?"
Gao Yuan laughed loudly, took a few steps back and sat on a chair, looking at the senior generals gathered in the room, "What do you think?"
Everyone here, except Gao Yuan, respects Shangguan Hong, the commander-in-chief of the Young Guards Corps, Meng Chong, the commander of the Second Military Region, and Bai Yucheng, the deputy commander.
Bai Yucheng stood up and said with a smile: "Your Majesty wants to test us, so I'm going to offer some advice. The reason why the Chu people put up this attitude is that they naturally know that they have no chance of winning against us in a field battle." Yes, so, put on a tortoise strategy and do everything possible to delay us. If my prediction is correct, there should be at least one hundred thousand troops in Yingdu prepared with no less than one year's worth of food. In the past few months, Huang Xie and Qu Zhong have allowed our army to attack the city without paying any attention to it, and they have been concentrating on preparing for the Jingzhou War Zone. Naturally, I think they are looking forward to winter. "
"That's right." Shangguan Hong nodded: "We must be fighting as a guest army. The food and materials we need need to be transported thousands of miles, especially the weapons supplement for our army. There is no way to raise them locally. If we talk about food and grass, Part of it can be solved locally, but our artillery, shells, crossbows and other supplies can only be transported from the mainland. Once winter arrives, with heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures, our logistics will definitely encounter huge challenges. Difficulties. However, this is probably because the Chu people don’t know much about our Han country’s logistics system. There must be difficulties, but I think they will not affect our operations.”
"It's not just the weather, or they are waiting for something else, such as the Qin people." Meng Chong scratched his head and continued: "Lu Chao is a smart man. Since he occupied Xianyang, he used thunderous means to , quickly stabilized the domestic situation. It took more than three or two years for this person to establish his layout in Qin, otherwise he would not have been able to calm down the civil strife in Qin so quickly. He had not been able to spare his time before. , We can only focus on domestic affairs. If we really have a stalemate with the Chu people and it becomes a protracted war, if he doesn't think about it, he will not be Lu Chao. "
Looking around at the generals, Meng Chong said: "Everyone, almost all our Han armies have gathered in Jingzhou. The only ones who are wary of the Qin people are Yang Dasha's First Army, Ding Wei's Fifth Army, and Yan Haibo's Sixth Army. As well as Li Mingjun's 20th Army, Yang Dasha's army has to defend Wuguan, which can be ignored. If the Qin people really come to attack, we can only put into use three armies, less than 80,000 troops. This is what Chu people hope for.”
"They will fight us to the death and form a stalemate, holding back our hundreds of thousands of troops. Once the Qin people launch a massive attack on our homeland, we will have to withdraw our troops."
"The abacus is very good." Cao Tianci, who came with the army, snorted: "Our army is more than what Commander Meng just said. Don't forget, Niu Teng from the National Security Bureau also controls an army in Shu County. Well, this army has now grown to tens of thousands. Even though its combat effectiveness is not as good as our regular army, in the past two years, we have been constantly replenishing weapons and supplies for them through waterways. Compared with the Qin army, we will never be able to defeat them. Poor."
"There is also the Third Military Region. I heard that Commander Helan is not idle anywhere. I think it will be no problem for the Third Military Region to mobilize at least 20,000 to 30,000 people by then, right? After all, even if the Qin people attack, we will always More than ten people can be used. The Qin people want to attack our homeland. Haha, Li Xin also tried it back then. What was the result?" Gu Li said coldly on the side, and the scars on her face looked particularly ferocious under the light. . (To be continued.)