Song Yi

Chapter 415
Cai Que, these literary and ink people, were frightened by the repeated defeats in the battle with Xixia. When they heard about the war, the first reaction was peace talks. There is a saying, "Scholars who rebel will fail in three years."It is the best interpretation of this phenomenon.

Of course, there are also ambitious and proud scholars.It's just that he has a passion for it, but he doesn't know how to command the army to defeat the enemy, and it's still futile.

Du Wenhao looked around, and then roared: "Our army is seriously injured, why is it not the case in Xixia? The two countries are at war, what is the final fight? - not the army, but the strength! It is the comprehensive strength of a country! Like When a fat man fights with a skinny man, even if the fat man receives a few more punches, his skin is thicker and fatter, and he can withstand it. As for the skinny man, after a few punches, his bones may break, and the thin man will probably be the one who falls down in the end, right? , the battle with Xixia can be fought, it must be fought, and it will definitely be won! As long as we organize our army well and take the road of a strong army, victory will definitely belong to us in the future!"

Zhang Dun smiled wryly and said, "I don't understand, why do we have to fight Xixia?"

At that time, the main enemies of the Song Dynasty were Daliao and Xixia.At this moment, Daliao and Dasong have formed an alliance, the relationship has always been good, and the border is relatively calm.And Du Wenhao already knew from studying history that in the near future, the Daliao Congress will be destroyed by the Dajin Kingdom, so there is no need to bother to attack them. You only need to wait for the rise of the Dajin Kingdom, fight with Daliao, and then sit back and reap the rewards Lee will do.Before that, it was necessary to get rid of Xixia, relieve worries about the future, and concentrate on dealing with the future Dajin Kingdom.In addition, there is another very important purpose for attacking Xixia, and that is the racecourse!
There are two places in China where horses can be raised on a large scale, one is in the Liao Kingdom, and the other is the Danshan Horse Farm in Xixia.After a month of war with Tubo, Du Wenhao has deeply realized that in ancient times, cavalry was indispensable to build an aggressive army.The most important obstacle in the way of the Great Song Army's strong army is the shortage of war horses.Therefore, there must be at least one of these two racecourses. In comparison, Xixia's racecourse is better than Daliao's.Therefore, the war with Xixia must be fought, and it must be fought and resolved early.

Of course, it was impossible for Du Wenhao to tell them the prediction of the future that the Daliao would be destroyed by the Djinn, and he said grandly: "It is my duty to expand the territory. The territory of my Great Song Dynasty is the smallest in history. Don't you realize that? Are you ashamed? Besides, it is Xixia who is attacking us now, not us who want to provoke the war. Facing the Xixia attack, do we have any choice? We can only fight and defend our home and country!"

"General Du's words are wrong!" Han Zhen shook his head like a rattle, and said with a sneer, "Why sacrifice thousands of soldiers for something that can be done with money..."

"Shut up!" Du Wenhao sternly interrupted him, he turned and stared at Han Zhen, his eyes widened and he gesticulated and shouted: "What I just said is exactly the purpose of the empress dowager to authorize the lowly officials to formulate strategies for strengthening the army! The empress dowager said that she would never tolerate the continued existence of old coins, and she would never tolerate spending money to buy peace! The empress dowager said that no matter how much money there is, she would rather spend it for nothing than to buy shame! Having said that, only weaklings with no spine would bow their knees to beg for peace. ——For peace, they are the ones who beg us for peace! They are the ones who offer us coins to beg us to retreat. This is the kingly way! This is a great country The country's prestige and military prestige!"

If you want to argue logically and write eloquently, each of these literati is above Du Wenhao, so naturally they don't agree with Du Wenhao's words, but he has the empress dowager on the left and the empress dowager on the right. After adding oil and vinegar, even he himself couldn't tell which sentence was the empress dowager's original words and which one was his own idea.His words heard these people's ears, but they all became the words of the Empress Dowager.

These people all knew that Du Wenhao was a big hit in front of the Empress Dowager, and Qing Yun went straight up from the fourth rank to be promoted directly to the three Yadu inspectors, and even set a precedent for him to be inspected in the capital.Based on this, we know how important he is in the eyes of the Empress Dowager. Naturally, no one will doubt that the empress dowager did not say this. Even if there may be some moisture in the guess, the tone is absolutely correct, and everyone fell silent immediately.

Du Wenhao relayed the words of the Empress Dowager, and he has already pointed out that the Empress Dowager is the hardliner in the main battle in military operations.The Empress Dowager is now listening to the government behind the curtain, her decree is the imperial decree, and her words are the final decision.No matter how good their eloquence is, they dare not compete with the Empress Dowager.

In particular, in terms of political reform, the Empress Dowager is a conservative, and everyone here except Wang Gui and Du Wenhao are all reformers. The Empress Dowager listens to politics behind the curtain. The old man's face paled.Who would dare to contradict her at this juncture?Unless you don't want to keep this official position.For these people, the position of Zaizhi, the top leadership, is still very important, and there is no need to add obstacles to the Empress Dowager's ambition to reform and strengthen herself by worrying about whether to fight Xixia at the border.

However, everyone talked too much just now, especially Zhang Dun and Han Zhen, who even quarreled with Du Wenhao, suddenly wanted to change their attitudes, and felt a little bit embarrassed.

At this time, Wang Gui coughed lightly, and said: "Although the Empress Dowager is a woman, she is determined and will not give up to a man. Her ambition to make the country rich and the army strong has been taught many times. We have to report the age If the plan of the currency peace talks is put forward, I am afraid that it will be beaten back, and the empress dowager will think that Zai Zhi is too weak to be used by herself!"

Although Wang Gui did not directly support Du Wenhao, his words were clearer than a direct statement, and he pointed out the most critical issues. The meaning was very clear. After all, now that she is in power, and she has just come to power, she wants to make a career out of it, and she is in the midst of the fire, whoever makes her feel uncomfortable at this time, then don't even think about staying in this position, the empress dowager will definitely replaced.

Cai Que, the Prime Minister on the right, was the one who saw the opportunity the fastest. He cupped his hands and said, "General Du is right! What our army lacks is the determination to win after repeated defeats! Our Song Dynasty has several times the population of Xixia, and the army has a majority times, and the income of Qiangu is more than ten times more. We can afford it, but they can't afford it. War is imposed on us by them. It is not our own choice, and we have no choice. We can only fight. For Waquan! I agree with General Du’s proposal and send troops to conquer!”

Cai Que's change made Han Zhen and others a little embarrassed. However, these people are used to the officialdom, and the scenes of changing the wind and the wind have long been commonplace. They immediately changed their expressions and showed righteous indignation shape.

Zhang Dun, the servant under the door, said bitterly: "Exactly! I would rather die standing than kneeling to live! Is it tolerable or unbearable! The humble official also agrees with what General Du said, send troops to fight Xixia to the death!"

Du Wenhao was amazed, this person changed his face faster than turning the pages of a book, just now he pointed to his nose to refute his own point of view, but in a blink of an eye he agreed with his own point of view.He is well versed in the way of being an official, and I really admire it.

Han Zhen was no stranger to the wind and the wind, and the embarrassment was only a moment, and he immediately changed his look and said: "Yes, Xixia has repeatedly violated our border, and the only way to calm down is Raising tigers is a danger. I originally thought that our army was weak, and I was afraid that it would be difficult to win by sending troops, so I suggested peace talks. I just heard what General Du said, and I learned that Xixia is also scarred and can't stand war more than us. If we continue to fight, Xixia must not be able to stand it anymore and asked for peace talks. At that time, not only can we cancel the old currency, but it is unknown if we can make additional profits. Therefore, this official also agrees with General Du's words."

The three of them turned around, and the other three naturally ran away, cursing Xixia one after another, filled with righteous indignation and wanted to fight Xixia to the death.

This result was somewhat unexpected to Du Wenhao, but this result made him very happy. With a smile on his face, he cupped his hands and said: "Everyone, we must despise the enemy strategically, but we must pay attention to the enemy tactically. Now To tell the truth, we are not yet capable of completely defeating Xixia, so it is not time to fight Xixia to the death, there is no need to expand the scope and scale of the conflict, it is enough to counterattack only where Xixia invaded, and there is no need to expand to the whole territory for a comprehensive counterattack."

Wang Gui smiled and nodded: "Based on what the general has seen, how should we fight this battle?"

"The humble official thought that the enemy army used cavalry to harass and plunder our border. Previously, our army only chased the enemy cavalry to destroy them. However, it was unimaginable to use infantry to chase the cavalry. It's better to use the way of the person to treat the body of the person!"

Han Zhen said, "You mean to attack them with cavalry? I'm afraid it won't work. Our cavalry can't compete with them."

"No!" Du Wenhao shook his head and said, "Cavalry vs. cavalry, we are obviously at a disadvantage, and we are short and strong. But our infantry is stronger than them, at least they have more people than them! This is our advantage, but, We didn’t make full use of this advantage in the past, and we always divided our troops into several groups when attacking, and we marched side by side. There is only one advantage in this way, that is, it seems that the mountains and plains are full of our people, which is very spectacular, but what is the effect?”

Almost none of these chief executives had any experience in leading troops in combat, so they all shook their heads and listened intently.After all, Du Wenhao led the army to fight against Tubo at any rate, and won more with fewer victories, so the combat experience he said is still convincing.

Du Wenhao glanced at everyone, and then said: "Of course the effect is very bad. Let's divide our troops into several groups and advance together, hitting the enemy's arms! Although their total strength is not as good as ours, most of their troops are cavalry. With the advantage of speed, they can quickly concentrate their forces and form a local force advantage. They will fight all the way first and defeat each of us. The battle of Qigouguan with Daliao is the best example. At that time, our army was divided into three groups. In the northward advance, the Liao army concentrated its superior forces to attack the east road first, and our army was defeated, causing the entire line to collapse. In addition, it was the same with the Lingzhou battle with Xixia a few years ago. Our troops were divided into five groups, and the Xixia army concentrated their superiority Forces, encircle and suppress one of them first, defeat each one, and defeat our army!"

The use of troops in the Song Dynasty paid attention to "generals from the middle", that is, the imperial court made a battle plan behind closed doors, even including a detailed battle map. Sometimes this work was even formulated by the emperor himself. After the battle plan was formulated, it was handed over to the general Will, let them go to the front line to comply.In the case of very backward communication in ancient times, using this imaginary combat method to make tactical arrangements is obviously a desperate move, and the leading commanders sent are almost all literati who do not understand military affairs and only know blind obedience, so they naturally follow suit.

When the two armies confront each other, there are too many variables, and the military situation is changing rapidly. Even a military genius cannot predict one by one in advance, and can only formulate corresponding combat plans according to the specific military situation. Therefore, there is an old saying that "the general is outside, and the military orders are different." No." However, the generals of the Song Army generally did not dare to disobey the strategies and tactics formulated by the emperor himself, and only knew how to implement them mechanically, which is one of the reasons why the Song Army repeatedly fought and failed.

When using troops against Xixia, the battle plan is generally formulated by the Privy Council. During the battle against Lingzhou in Xixia, Han Zhen had just served as an envoy of the Privy Council for three months and personally presided over the formulation of the entire battle plan.It was also his opinion that the troops should be divided into five groups. Hearing what Du Wenhao said, he felt a little uneasy on his face, and he forced a smile and said, "General Du is well versed in the art of war, and admires it. He must have studied martial arts, right? Which military book did you intensively read?" ah?"

The "martial arts" mentioned by Han Zhen refers to military academies established in the Northern Song Dynasty to study military knowledge.Du Wenhao didn't dare to lead the army because he had never studied military affairs. Many generals in the Qing Dynasty had never studied military affairs systematically, let alone read books on the art of war. Many of the strategies and tactics they used came from "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Books, and accumulated experience in long-term combat practice.Therefore, knowledge of military combat does not necessarily have to be learned from military art books, but can also be obtained from other knowledge media such as novels.

With the explosion of knowledge in modern society, all kinds of military knowledge are available everywhere, such as various books, movies, TV and news reports on war themes, especially those that reflect large-scale wars around the world such as World War I and World War II. He has so much military knowledge that it's hard to know, so he naturally came into contact with many battle cases and learned a lot about how to use troops.Therefore, purely in terms of military knowledge, Du Wenhao is definitely broader than any general in the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, after hearing Han Zhen's slightly sarcastic words, Du Wenhao did not feel inferior. He said lightly, "I have never studied martial arts, and I don't know the art of war. However, I have seen pigs run without eating pork, right? More than a dozen soldiers who participated in the battle against Xixia often listened to them talk about their combat experience, but they also know some common sense. After the empress dowager promoted me to be the commander of the Sanya capital, I spent a month in order to fulfill my mission I carefully studied our army's previous battles with Daliao and Xixia, so I understand the gains and losses of both sides, these are just some of my humble opinions."

Prime Minister Wang Gui said: "General Du is too modest. General Du is now a well-known general in the whole country. Last year, he led troops to win with fewer troops and wiped out [-] troops in Tubo. At that time, the victory news came, and the whole country was jubilant." He turned to look at Han. Zhen, stroked his snow-white beard and said with a faint smile: "After listening to Mr. Han's words just now, I realized that Mr. Han is familiar with military books and the art of war, but I don't know what victorious battles Mr. Han led his troops? How many Xia armies did you annihilate?"

Han Zhen's old face turned red immediately. He didn't dare to sneer at Wang Zai, so he could only salute and said, "I'm ashamed. I have never led a soldier. I have always admired General Du's achievements from the bottom of my heart. I heard what General Du said just now. , even more admiration. Hehe"

Wang Gui has already made an engagement with Du Wenhao, and is going to marry Du Wenhao's precious little daughter, who is known as the most beautiful woman in the capital, as his wife. Everyone in the city knows about this. No one dared to speak rudely to Du Wenhao again.

Wang Gui smiled slightly, and then said to Du Wenhao: "General Du, in your opinion, how should we defeat the enemy when we dispatch troops this time?"

"Use your own strengths to overcome the enemy's weaknesses."

"What is the strength of our army? What is the weakness of the enemy army?"

"The strength of our army is that the number of troops is several times that of the Xixia army, and the number of soldiers is large. Compared with the Xixia army, our army has sufficient food and logistics support. These advantages of our army are also the weaknesses of the Xixia army. The number is far less than that of our army. According to the soldiers around me who participated in the battle against Xixia, the Xixia army has almost no logistical support. Whether their cavalry or infantry, they have almost no food and grass supply. The flying cavalry plundered around to supply the army with food and grass. Once the enemy adopted the tactics of clearing the field with strong walls, the Xixia army could not continue to fight. Therefore, they generally used the method of luring the enemy to go deep, gathering and annihilating them. They would not take the initiative to drive straight in. Of course, after winning, they will take advantage of the victory to insert into my territory, plunder and then leave.”

"Well, the analysis makes sense. How far will the Xia army invade and plunder generally enter my territory?"

"According to Beizhi's analysis of previous battles with Xixia, the depth of the invasion will not exceed one hundred miles. This is the limit of their invasion, because if they exceed this limit, if they cannot find food and grass, and are entangled by the enemy and cannot get out in time, It is possible to lose combat effectiveness due to lack of food and grass. This is very dangerous."

Everyone nodded slightly. In fact, almost none of them knew these characteristics of the two armies.The chief executives think more from the strategic level, and seldom care about what they think is a small problem.Hearing what Du Wenhao said, I feel very fresh.

Du Wenhao went on to say: "According to this characteristic of the Xixia Army, our army's basic tactics should have two basic principles: First, in terms of ideology, the entire army must be warned that from top to bottom, it is necessary to establish a protracted war mentality and put an end to rapid warfare. The adventurism of quick battles; second, fortify the walls and clear the fields, and relocate all the people along the [-]-mile border of the combat area! Transport away all edible and usable things! Let the enemy troops not grab food and grass; third, in terms of tactics, resolutely implement Fortress warfare plus encroachment warfare! The enemy had to fight me head-on. At that time, it was like playing chess. Fighting bayonets and fighting wars of attrition, fighting for one and one less, and putting on a posture of fighting for nothing. Their little wealth can't fight In the end, we only have to surrender!"

(End of this chapter)