Chapter 1224: War to Destroy a Nation

Chapter 1224: War to Destroy a Nation

In the Shangyang Palace, the ministers and generals gathered together again. A group of subordinates entered and exited the palace holding various confidential documents in their hands. They did not look sideways and did not dare to talk casually, creating a chilling and tense atmosphere.

In the hall, a map hangs in the center of the hall. The territorial divisions and border defenses of the Western Wei and Northern Qi are all clearly marked on the map. The confrontation between the two sides can be clearly seen at a glance.

On the map, the Yiyang area invaded by the Northern Qi army is highlighted with a red pen, making it difficult to ignore. Li Tai and all the generals in the hall were all looking at the messages marked on the map, either frowning in thought, or exchanging their opinions in a low voice.

"What are the intentions of the East Thieves in invading Yiyang this time? What do you think of this?"

As people gradually arrived, Li Tai pointed to the situation marked on the map and asked everyone in the hall.

Pei Kuan, who had just entered the court as Minister of War, stood up first, pointed to the mark on the map and said: "The invasion of Yiyang by the East bandits is really unexpected. Since the two sides negotiated a peace and ceased war in the third year of Tongzhi, the power of the East bandits in Henan has been declining day by day. , let alone Huainan! If his true intention was in Huainan, he would never abandon the six counties of Huainan when he was negotiating for peace. Now that he is gathering troops from Henan to invade Yiyang, his intention is definitely not in Huainan but in the north! "

After hearing Pei Kuan's analysis, everyone in the hall nodded in agreement. Yiyang is located in the upper reaches of the Huai River. If it can occupy this place, it will gain great strategic initiative over the entire Huainan region.

Previously, the reason why the Western Wei Dynasty was able to maintain an aggressive pace in Huainan, occupying many Huainan cities from under the eyes of the Northern Qi Dynasty step by step, was because they seized Yiyang during the war with Murong Shaozong at the beginning, thus gaining The strategic initiative to allow advancement and retreat.

But if you don't want to do any big business in Huainan, then the strategic value of Yiyang will be greatly reduced, and it does not belong to the so-called battleground for military strategists.

When the Northern Qi Dynasty was forced to negotiate peace with the Western Wei Dynasty, Huainan was the first place to be ceded. It can be seen that Huainan was not the core interest of the Northern Qi Dynasty. From this we can draw a conclusion, that is, the Northern Qi's invasion of Yiyang this time was either a self-initiated military action by the local powerful forces, or a feint attack by the Northern Qi with ulterior motives.

As Pei Kuan finished expressing his views, others also expressed their opinions. Some said that the Northern Qi wanted to use this battle to strengthen and consolidate its rule in Henan, while others believed that the Northern Qi was interested in Heluo. Especially the latter conjecture is recognized by most people.

"The last time we fought with the enemy to regain Heluo, most of the food and supplies were transported from Shannan. The bandits are disturbing Yiyang now, presumably to shake Shannan, which means Heluo, making it difficult for Shannan people and goods to flow smoothly to Heluo. The thieves are Massively invade the south and block river bridges!"

Including General Yang Guo, they also believed that the Northern Qi Dynasty was pretending to attack Yiyang this time, aiming to attract the attention of the Western Wei Dynasty and cut off the Sanya Road, the main transportation route between Shannan and Heluo, in order to regain Heluo in one fell swoop. .

But as soon as Yang Guo finished speaking, someone else put forward a different view: "Heluo is not the key to the East Thief, nor is it necessary to win. Now the East Thief is recharging his energy and strength, and then he will be able to fight. If If you want to fight, you must seize key points to reverse the decline and save them from danger. Even if the army is exhausted in Heluo, it will not be able to make up for the weakness of the Eastern bandits. One is in Tangzhou, the other is in Qinyuan, and the third is in Jianzhou. ! If it’s not these three, the thief will make a plan elsewhere!”

The person who expressed this opinion was Lu Shuhu. He had not been involved in public affairs in the past few years and had been thinking about how to unify the north. Therefore, he also had a deep understanding of the current confrontation between the East and the West and pointed out the key to the problem from the beginning. location.

In the area currently occupied by the Western Wei Dynasty, the greatest threat to the Northern Qi Dynasty was Tangzhou. Tangzhou is the Pingyang of Jinzhou that was captured before. As long as they can break through the Queshu Valley and Thousand Miles Path, the Western Wei army can directly advance to Jinyang City. Qinyuan is the passage leading to Tongtan, where the last battle was fought. Once they attack from here, both Northern Qi and Northern Qi will be threatened, and the situation will once again return to the same dangerous situation as the last battle.

Not to mention Jianzhou, it can be said that it was a wedge for the Western Wei Dynasty to penetrate into the heart of the Northern Qi Dynasty, giving the Western Wei Dynasty a great choice in strategy, and any choice could cause huge damage to the Northern Qi Dynasty. Even if they don't make any progress, just occupying the area of ​​​​Jianzhou will allow Northern Qi to continue to increase investment in border defense and continue to generate consumption.

Li Tai also felt that Beiqi's intrusion into Yiyang this time should be an attempt to confuse the public and confuse his own side. After all, Yiyang at the moment does not belong to the core interests of the confrontation between the two sides. Both sides have cooled down their ultimate moves for such a long time and started fighting again. Every bit of power invested is extremely important, and it is absolutely impossible to invest too much power in some marginal areas.

But what exactly Northern Qi's intentions were, Li Tai couldn't be sure until its main force actually launched. Although everyone has put forward various assumptions, they are all speculations and judgments from the perspective of the Western Wei Dynasty, and they cannot be sure which situation is the real plan of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

"No matter where the thieves are trying to exert their power, it can be seen that the thieves are determined to continue causing trouble. The thieves and I will definitely be in trouble. Only by killing them with all our strength can we ensure peace in the north!"

Seeing that the ministers had different opinions, Li Tai spoke again: "It is better to kill the enemy than to prevent it. Instead of trying hard to guess where the enemy will come from, it is better to think carefully about where I will go! I still have a battle with the enemy. I was hesitant before. Now that the enemy has taken the lead, I must fight. Since we have to fight, we can no longer plan for the other side, but only fight to destroy the enemy!"

"What the Lord said is the right plan. Before the war, the country's strength was still weak, so the situation was good but we still stopped fighting. Now that we have rested for several years and accumulated more reserves, the enemy is so poor that it can't stand the harassment. If I don't plan to go and destroy them, it will really be a failure for my country!"

As soon as Li Tai finished speaking, Yang Zhong, who was attending the meeting, spoke up.

Among the generals of Beizhen, although Yang Zhong was also known for his bravery, his performance among the generals was not very eye-catching. At least there were many people with equal qualifications who had more merits than him. However, as he grew older, Yang Zhong also showed more and more of his temper, and he became more and more aggressive as he got older. Unlike others who became more conservative as they got older, he became more and more motivated as he got older.

When everyone in the hall heard that the King of Tang and Yang Zhong, the first meritorious official, had made such a statement, they all nodded in agreement. It is true that the Western Wei is now more powerful than the Northern Qi, and the two sides are bound to continue fighting. In this case, instead of responding passively, it is better to conceive a counterattack according to their own needs and rhythm.

So the focus of everyone next is not on what the Northern Qi wants to do, but how to launch a counterattack against the Northern Qi in line with the interests of the Western Wei and the current situation.

If you want to attack and destroy the Northern Qi, there is no doubt that Jinyang is a top priority. As for whether to put the most important goal directly on the Huanglong and attack Jinyang from the beginning, or to gradually eliminate other areas and finally besiege Jinyang, everyone has different opinions.

After all, the importance of Jinyang was more deeply understood by the Northern Qi than the Western Wei, so the defense force deployed around Jinyang was also very strong. For example, the most convenient route was to go north along the Fen River from Tangzhou and cross the Queshu Valley to the north. The Northern Qi built a strong city fortress in Jiexiu, north of the Queshu Valley, and stationed tens of thousands of armored soldiers.

Even Wei Xiaokuan, who was guarding the front line of Tangzhou, said that the Northern Qi’s layout in this area was complete and thorough after repeatedly sending scouts to infiltrate and explore, and it was very difficult to break through.

Although in addition to the Queshu Valley line, there are other roads to reach Jinyang. For example, from the Lishi area through the Luliang Mountains to the Taiyuan Basin, Li Tai entered Jinyang through this route during the Battle of Yubi last year.

However, these routes have now been blocked by the Great Wall garrisons built by the Northern Qi, and the mountain roads are rugged and difficult to travel, making it difficult for the army to drive straight in, and some heavy siege equipment is also difficult to carry. Once the Northern Qi gathers heavy troops inside and outside Jinyang City, it can rely on the advantage of being a landlord to calmly repel the invading enemy.

However, if Jinyang is not attacked, no matter which direction the attack is launched, the Northern Qi will not lose the ability to respond and counterattack, and can calmly dispatch the armed forces of Jinyang to fight. Once the two sides fight for too long in the outer area, the Western Wei may face a situation of insufficient stamina again.

After weighing and discussing, Li Tai decided to make Jinyang the first target of the battle. As for the troops, they were divided into three directions to launch the attack. First, the lightly equipped elite troops approached Jinyang from the Lishi area, so that the Northern Qi would be alert and thus shrink the troops of all parties to Jinyang. The second group of troops entered and exited from the northeast of the river, cutting off the connection between the Shangdang area and Jinyang, and further isolating Jinyang.

As for the third group of troops, they would launch an attack from the Shuofang area, gather divisions and brigades from the Hetao area, follow the old Wuchuan area and approach the Beishan Great Wall, and then cross the Beishan Great Wall to attack Jinyang.

With this basic battle plan being finalized, the next step is to discuss the details, such as how many troops to allocate to each group, who will lead them, and the specific military route.

In short, after it was determined that the primary goal of this war would be to destroy the Northern Qi, the entire Bafu civil and military masses became excited and enthusiastically offered their suggestions.