knife

Chapter 805 Taking Me as the Master
Yangguan was once a formidable pass built by the Qin Dynasty to contain forces from beyond the Great Wall.

Its existence was more about guarding against border troops outside the pass than about serving as the last line of defense against invasions from the Northern Barbarians.

The appointed garrison commander of Yangguan is always at odds with, or even has a grudge against, the protector of the Protectorate outside the pass.

However, Yangguan has now become an important forward base for the Beiting Protectorate to enter the interior of the pass. Almost all the important officials of the Beiting Protectorate have also gathered at Yangguan.

This is the starting point for tens of thousands of troops, as well as the supply point for tens of thousands of troops. And throughout the rear, there is a constant stream of carts and horses transporting even more supplies here every day.

Once the massive machine of the military is running, its daily consumption is astronomical.

Since the Battle of Yangguan last year, Xiao Changche had judged that Linghu Ye would definitely take a desperate gamble and launch a large-scale military operation outside the pass, trying to settle the score in one battle.

The facts are now proving Xiao Changche's initial judgment correct and demonstrating the correctness of his decision last year to double the size of the army despite opposition.

If they had followed Mao Daxian's approach of digging deep tunnels, stockpiling grain, and delaying the declaration of kingship, Linghu Ye's army would be pressing in now, and the area outside the pass would be in a state of chaos.

Expanding the military is not just a matter of increasing the number of troops; it involves a large-scale systemic project, from the most superficial expansion of the military organization to the deepest levels of the military supply system and military spending, affecting all aspects of the government's operations.

Because it started early, the Beiting Protectorate is now proceeding in an orderly and steady manner, taking one step at a time with great confidence.

In war, the real battles often come down to economics and logistics.

In the past, when the Central Plains was powerful, it maintained strong military pressure on the areas outside the Great Wall, forcing all forces outside the Great Wall to submit to the Central Plains dynasty. The most important factor was its advantage in financial resources.

In the past, the nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall had a strong seasonality in their warfare. There were specific times for when to fight, when to fatten up the livestock, and when to properly assist with calving. If these times were missed, the year would be difficult.

The Central Plains dynasties, which were based on agriculture, maintained a large standing army and allocated production materials from various regions to supply the army. The wealthy Central Plains dynasties would store up a large amount of grain and provisions to cope with war.

When the Central Plains exerted strong pressure on the nomadic peoples throughout the year, even affecting their production and lives outside the Great Wall and forcing them to fight year-round, the outcome was already self-evident.

However, after Li Dachui rose to power, he paid great attention to the development of agriculture. Helan was originally an important granary for him. After he took control of the entire area outside the Great Wall, he further promoted the development of agriculture with the Fubing system.

There is no shortage of fertile land outside the Great Wall.

What we lack is manpower, a stable production and living environment, agricultural technology, and means of production.

But in recent years, these things have been greatly improved.

Large tracts of land were reclaimed. Although the yield per acre was not as high as that of cultivated land, the advantage lay in the large quantity, resulting in extensive planting but low yields.

In fact, with the help of experienced farmers and agricultural officials on the Helan Plain, and with the support of the latest composting and fermentation technologies, the grain yield outside the Great Wall was quite good.

It was precisely because of these years of hard work, coupled with Mao Daxian's efforts to import grain from the south in previous years, that the Beiting Protectorate had the economic foundation to fight a major war.

In fact, Linghu Ye's life is no better than Li Dachui's these days.

Li Dachui originally had a very weak foundation, but in recent years he has finally made some money. However, he is struggling to make ends meet while also dealing with the major events at hand.

Linghu Ye, on the other hand, was constrained by the frequent wars, mergers of powerful families, natural disasters, and other factors in the Central Plains in recent years, which made his finances extremely strained.

Both sides are currently evenly matched, neither is particularly strong. It is precisely because of this situation that Linghuye has no choice but to make a final desperate attempt.

Looking at the long term, Li Dachui's prospects are definitely much better than Linghuye's.

Leaving aside Li Dachui's plans within the pass, the fact that the Beiting Protectorate now possesses an extremely stable rear base that can provide him with a continuous source of power for war is something Linghu Ye cannot match.

Whether in Shu or Nan Chu, Linghu Ye's future will become increasingly difficult.

Therefore, the right thing to do is to gather our strongest forces and defeat Li Dachui, this ferocious tiger, before he grows wings.

Now it seems that Linghuye feels he is still slightly stronger than Li Dachui.

But with each passing day, the opponent grows stronger.

For this battle, Linghu Ye did countless preparations, even going so far as to personally set out and use his own reputation as collateral to trick Na Wei into launching the war between Danyang and the eight towns of Jiangnan.

However, Linghu Ye forgot one thing: Xiao Changche, who had fought under his command for nearly ten years, possessed a keen intuition for war, and Xiao Changche and Li Dachui had absolute control over the Beiting Protectorate outside the pass.

Although many people opposed it, once Li and Xiao made up their minds, the expansion and preparation for war by the Beiting Protectorate became irreversible.

The curtain is now being raised little by little, and all the chips are about to be exposed to the light of day.

“Currently, along the Boling-Shanggu and Yuyang lines, small-scale teams from both sides are infiltrating and attacking each other. The number of battles that break out every day is countless. According to data collected five days ago, there have been four battles involving more than a thousand people, with us winning two and losing two!” Qian Jia said, “As time goes on, these battles will likely increase, and we don’t know when or where they will trigger large-scale involvement from both sides. At present, we still cannot confirm Linghu Ye’s main attack direction.”

At the battle preparation meeting, Xiao Changche was always the main person in charge. After Qian Jia finished introducing the most basic situation during this period, everyone's eyes fell on Xiao Changche's face.

"Why should we dance to Linghu Ye's tune?" Xiao Changche closed the dossier in front of him, glanced at the people in the room, and then fixed his gaze on Li Dachui's face beside him.

Li Dachui smiled and nodded: "Of course I should be the one in charge."

Xiao Changche nodded and said, "That's right, we should take the lead. It's Linghu Ye who's eager to fight us, not the other way around!"

Mao Daxian coughed and said, "That's not quite right. With the resources of our Beiting Protectorate, if we continue at this intensity, we'll be exhausted in three months."

“We know we can hold out for three months, but Linghu Ye doesn’t. Besides, is their financial situation better than ours?” Xiao Changche sneered. “So my opinion is to shrink our battle lines and quietly wait for Linghu Ye to attack us. No matter how many ways he comes, I will just wait for him!”

Qian Jia glanced through the dossier in his hand and said, "Your Excellencies, Chang Lei's Southeast War has exceeded our expectations. Once Chang Lei succeeds, the overall situation in the world will change drastically, and overall, it will be unfavorable to us!"

"The war in the southeast is not over yet, and the outcome is still uncertain." Xiao Changche said calmly, "Moreover, in my opinion, Beiting is the root, the trunk, while the south is the branches and leaves. We should focus on the trunk and use the branches and leaves as supplements! Even if the branches and leaves wither, as long as the trunk and root system are intact, they can still grow back!"

Qian Jia coughed twice and turned his gaze to Li Dachui.

“What Protector Xiao says makes sense!” Li Dachui said without the slightest hesitation. “Moreover, I believe that the situation in the South has its own way of being resolved. In this battle, we should only consider the duel with Linghu Ye and not consider other factors!”

"Understood!" Qian Jia said.

(End of this chapter)