Chapter 1225 Three-Way Advance

Chapter 1225 Three-Way Advance

Li Tai's proposal to divide the troops into three routes does not mean to divide the troops equally into three parts and then attack Jinyang from three directions. In important military operations, the more troops are divided and the more operations are performed, the greater the chance of victory. Too many troops will be defeated by the enemy with superior forces due to insufficient coordination and too many variables.

On this issue, the Battle of Sarhu in the late Ming Dynasty is a classic example. The Battle of Xiaoguan at the beginning of the separation of the Eastern and Western Wei is also an example of self-defeating.

So this time Li Tai's division of troops into three routes is not simply three troops advancing in parallel, but three stages of war. Through the troops sent in different stages, the enemy is oppressed and threatened, so as to create a battlefield situation that is beneficial to itself, and then the next stage of battle is carried out.

For example, in the first stage of the battle, the Western Wei Dynasty wanted to launch an offensive directly against Jinyang, so that the atmosphere in the Northern Qi Dynasty became alert and tense, and concentrated its main forces in the Jinyang area, thereby reducing the Northern Qi Dynasty's ability to carry out large-scale military activities in other areas.

Although Li Tai said before that he didn't need to care too much about the real purpose of the Northern Qi's invasion of Yiyang, it didn't mean that he would let the enemy take action without responding. No matter where the enemy's intention was, the target of the Western Wei's counterattack was Jinyang. This was the most fierce and effective counterattack!

For this stage of the war, Li Tai planned to let Wei Xiaokuan preside over it. Wei Xiaokuan's military ability is naturally needless to say, and he has been the governor of Tangzhou and stationed at the forefront of the confrontation with the Northern Qi in recent years. He also knows the situation of the Northern Qi, especially the Jinyang area, best. He is responsible for the military operations at this stage, and he must be able to achieve the strategic goal of the Bafu.

Although the route of Queshu Valley is very reliable operated by the Northern Qi, it does not mean that there is no way and path to infiltrate. Wei Xiaokuan is very good at various intelligence operations. In recent years, facing the blockade and defense of the Northern Qi in Tangzhou, he has also explored many ways.

In this first phase of the war, the main purpose of the Western Wei was not to capture cities, but to use military actions against Jinyang to scare the enemy and restrict the actions of the Northern Qi army in Jinyang, so that its main force would retreat to Jinyang. As long as this can be achieved, the mission of the first phase will be completed.

Because Tangzhou and other places along the Fenshui River have already gathered a considerable number of border defense troops, Li Tai did not continue to send troops from Guanzhong to Tangzhou, but only sent someone to send a message to Wei Xiaokuan in Tangzhou, informing him that the Bafu had decided to continue the war and assigned him the tasks of this phase.

Although the subsequent military actions still depend on the effectiveness of the tasks in the previous phase, out of trust in Wei Xiaokuan's ability, Li Tai was not too conservative when making plans, and still ordered the troops in Guanzhong to begin to assemble.

The second stage is that after attracting the main force of the Qi army to Jinyang, the Wei army will attack the Shangdang area and further blockade the Jinyang area, so that the personnel and materials of Hebei cannot enter Jinyang smoothly. At the same time, it also greatly weakens the control of the entire regime of Qi Lord Gao Yan, making it difficult for him to flexibly dispatch all the resources of the country to invest in this war.

After these weakening and isolating goals are achieved, the third group of troops will enter from the Beishan Great Wall. This is a real killer move against Jinyang. It is necessary to strive to conquer Jinyang City and eliminate the living forces of Northern Qi gathered around Jinyang to the greatest extent.

The first stage of the war was presided over by Wei Xiaokuan, and Li Tai planned to preside over the second stage of the war himself.

On the one hand, the second stage is an important link in the further development of the war. Once it starts, it is necessary to do the best and weaken Jinyang to the maximum extent, so as to ensure that the third stage of the war can be carried out smoothly.

On the other hand, the second phase of the war overlapped with the last one. The last time, after the decisive battle at Tongdishui, the Western Wei began to withdraw and open up a second battlefield. This time, the war in this area will continue to advance. It is undoubtedly the most appropriate for Li Tai to continue to serve as the commander-in-chief.

As for the third phase of the closing battle, Li Tai decided to hand it over to Yang Zhong after weighing the pros and cons.

Yang Zhong can be said to be the best choice in terms of qualifications, prestige and ability. Well, it is not that there are no other candidates. There is still an old man Rui Yujin left in the Six Pillars. However, Li Tai certainly could not give such an important task to Yu Jin. He was even considering whether to arrange Yu Jin to follow him to go out with the troops.

In addition, Li Tai also planned to send a message to the Turks and invite the Turks to go out with the troops. It is difficult to conceal such a large-scale military operation. The Turks have interacted frequently with the two countries in recent years, and they will surely be aware of it soon. Moreover, since the target this time is Jinyang City, which is high and wide with elite troops, it is difficult to achieve a quick victory.

In this case, there is no need to conceal it. Just inform the Turks directly and use the Turks to convey the intention of Western Wei to destroy Northern Qi to Northern Qi, so as to put more pressure on the king and ministers of the country.

As for asking the Turks to send troops together, it is not only to force the Turks to express their position, but also to hide sinister intentions. Li Tai also said to Yang Zhong in a serious tone: "Now we have sent the southern little Khan to Yinshan in the north, and Wuzun Khan must have a lot of resentment about this. Even if he is forced by me to send troops to help, his intentions are definitely not simple. Lord Anlu will inevitably go with the wolf this time, so you must be vigilant and not slack off!"

Yang Zhong has been in the business world for many years. After hearing what Li Tai said, he nodded and said, "My lord, please rest assured. I know that the Turks have evil ambitions. However, Uzun Khan has no prestige in his country and is difficult to control the masses. Even if he has a plan, it will inevitably reveal some clues. If he really has bad intentions and wants to follow in his brother's footsteps, we are not afraid to send his father-in-law and son-in-law to the underworld!"

In troubled times, people are always treacherous, especially the relationship between countries is more treacherous and unpredictable. Although it is said that in the face of absolute power, all conspiracies and tricks are small tricks, but then again, if someone really has absolute power, is it still a chaotic world?

At least so far, the alliance between Western Wei and Turks has not broken down, although the Turks and Northern Qi have also formed an alliance. Now we have to take this opportunity to see who the Turks value more in alliance with? Are they willing to join the Western Wei in the feast of destroying and dividing the Northern Qi, or are they willing to abandon their alliance with the Western Wei and avoid disasters for the Northern Qi?

Yang Zhong's words have made no secret of his malice towards the Turks, which means that in the eyes of the Western Wei, no matter how the Turks express their views on this, it actually has no effect on the future relationship positioning of the Western Wei with the Turks. However, if the Turks want to get close to the battlefield and make it easier to do something tricky, as long as they agree to the Western Wei's request for joint troops, it will cause great pressure and shock to the Northern Qi, and this is what the Western Wei really needs.

As more specific combat plans are formulated, related matters are also being implemented one after another. The first batch of the Western Wei army is planned to recruit 100,000 soldiers, which is not a difficult task for the Western Wei Bafu army system, which has already been mature, and it can be assembled in just ten days.

However, before the official attack, the Western Wei still has one thing to do, which is to send envoys to the Northern Qi to protest. After all, the two countries are still in the state of peace talks and cessation of war, but the Northern Qi quietly sent troops to invade Yiyang. In order to justify their actions, the Western Wei naturally had to express severe protests.

Not only Jinyang, the current military and political center of the Northern Qi, but also Yecheng, which has gradually become outdated, Li Tai also sent envoys to condemn the Qi army's active provocation and demanded that the Northern Qi respond immediately, otherwise it would be prepared to accept various retaliations from the Western Wei!

In the Shangshu Province of Yedu, Northern Qi, when Gao Zhan, the Prince of Changguang who stayed in Yedu, was facing the Wei envoy's barrage of questions, he was a little confused, because he didn't know what happened specifically, and even the first reaction in his mind was that the Wei State deliberately fabricated facts to find fault?

But when the Wei envoy showed the various records of the invasion and losses of Yiyang, Gao Zhan couldn't help but feel puzzled. Although he didn't know the inside story, he was not a fool. He knew that if the Western Wei wanted to deliberately slander and find fault, they might not be so sure.

Then he thought of Duan Shao, who was stationed in Yenan, who had recently proposed a logistics plan involving a lot of people, money and food, and asked Yedu to cooperate. Gao Zhan's heart sank again.

He first perfunctorily dealt with the Wei envoy, and then asked someone to invite Duan Shao to return to the capital. After Duan Shao returned, he asked coldly: "The king asked for so many grains, silks, and labors before. What exactly is the purpose? Does the Supreme know? Why don't I know! Now the Wei envoy came to ask whether the frequent invasion of our country's Yiyang is related to what the king is planning? Yiyang is far away in Huainan. Does the king want to abandon Yedu and plot against the island barbarians?"