Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 407 Zhan Ding's Bold Plan

When it comes to war planning, Lu Jin's greatest advantage is actually his solid geographical knowledge. Compared with ordinary people of that era who had never even left their county, or even those scholars with a little knowledge, he had at least systematically studied modern geography.

He also has a powerful plug-in, which is an offline map stored in the mobile phone. If you compare the map of this era with the map of later generations, you will know that the era at the end of the Yuan Dynasty lacks many cities compared to later generations.

The twenty cities that Xia Yu mentioned that needed to be attacked seemed to be concentrated on the map, but some were particularly scattered. According to Lu Jin's words, they roughly formed three urban clusters.

Going west from Lu'an, leaving aside the lonely Gushi City in the middle, the first urban cluster is on both sides of the Huai River under the jurisdiction of Runing Prefecture. Within this area of ​​only 200 miles, there are six cities: Guangzhou (Huangchuan), Guangshan, Xizhou (Xi County), Luoshan, Xinyang, and Zhenyang (Zhengyang).

The second Nanyang urban circle, with Nanyang as its center, has seven cities within a radius of 210 miles, including Tangzhou (Tanghe), Xinye, Dengzhou (Dengxian), Nanyang, Zhenping, Neixiang, and Fangcheng.

The third is the Xiangyang urban circle. Because it is a passage city with a relatively narrow terrain, there are not many cities in reality. There is only the iron triangle of Xiangyang, Nanzhang and Yicheng. Going further south, you will reach Jingmen and Anlu, which is the territory of Xu Shouhui.
It seems that the cities are quite concentrated, right? However, the distance from Lu'an to Guangzhou, the nearest city in the Xinyang metropolitan area, is 360 miles, and this is the straight-line distance on the map. The actual walking distance may be closer to miles.

From Xinyang, the westernmost city in the Xinyang metropolitan area, to Tanghe, the easternmost city in the Nanyang metropolitan area, there is also a distance of nearly 400 miles. The several urban areas are too separated from each other. Even if there is a scattered city in the middle, it will not be able to play a military role in stabilizing the front line.

It is also very disadvantageous in terms of logistics. The cities are too scattered, which means that the civilians have to transport food through nearly 400 miles of uninhabited areas. There is not even a place to rest in the middle, and it is easy for the enemy to cut off the food supply route in the rear, which is very fatal for an army of more than 100,000.

The solution proposed by Xia Yu is to build cities and settle immigrants. You are short of cities, so I will just build a city on the vacant land. It is a stupid method, but simple and effective!
Xia Yu immediately explained in detail, "There is only one Gushi city in the hundreds of miles between Lu'an and Guangzhou. Gushi must be taken, but only one Gushi is too weak, so I suggest building a city at the foot of the mountain near the northern foot of Dabie Mountain, preferably two.

“For example, the upper reaches of the Shi River in Gushi have two tributaries originating from the Dabie Mountains. We can build a city at the foot of each of the two tributaries’ source mountains. In this way, from Lu’an to Guangshan, with these two cities in the middle, each section of the journey will not exceed 120 li at most. A two-day forced march will only take four days at most if the troops march 30 li a day. In this way, the food route will be much more stable.

"Militarily, these two new cities can also serve as a support for Gushi. The three cities support each other and will not be easily breached by the enemy."

While watching Xia Yu making gestures on the sand table, Lu Jin took out another map of later generations that he had copied, and found that the two branches of the upper reaches of the Shi River that he mentioned actually existed as two cities in later generations, namely Jinzhai and Shangcheng.

Oh my god, is it a coincidence? In fact, it is normal for such a coincidence to occur. China is an agricultural nation. Since they want to farm, they must give priority to the land on both sides of the river. If they must build a city here, Jinzhai and Shangcheng are really the best choices.

Lu Jin nodded immediately and said, "The two places you chose are good. There are mountains and water, and there is no shortage of plains to be reclaimed. They are also very good as two transit stations for military purposes. Go on, where else do you want to build cities?

"Building a city will definitely require mobilizing the garrison divisions to open up new land. We need to calculate this in advance so that we can raise troops."

"Yes." Xia Yu then said again.

"Then there is the road from Xinyang and Queshan to Tangzhou. This section of road can be divided into two lines, north and south. The north is from Queshan to Tangzhou, and the south is from Xinyang to Tangzhou. I think it would be best to build one or even two cities in the middle of each of these two roads.

"The northern part is what I just mentioned, Biyang, which can be built directly on the bank of the Biyang River. The southern part of the city can be built at the source of the Huai River, near the Tongbai Mountain, and can be directly called Tongbai.

"We can take the southern route, heading west from Xinyang, build a city in Tongbai first, and then attack Zaoyang from Tongbai. This is also a very good route for advancing troops, which will facilitate clearing Xiangyang's outer defenses."

Lu Jin looked at the map of the future in his hand and thought to himself, "It's amazing!" The place Xia Yu chose really overlapped with the location of the city in the future. Even the name was exactly the same. It can only be said that the Chinese themselves chose the location for the city. Perhaps they had the same idea when choosing the location.
However, he soon discovered that on the maps of later generations, there was a Sheqi County in the middle of a river called Du Shui, southeast of Nanyang and Fangcheng. This county was not on the maps of the Yuan Dynasty. So was it necessary to build a city here?
So he pointed at the sand table and asked, "Biyang can indeed connect Queshan and Tangzhou, but Tangzhou is not actually that close to Fangshan and Nanyang, and there is nothing in the middle. Since we are planning to build a city, should we also build a city in the middle of this water barrier?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Yu immediately looked towards the place Lu Jin pointed to, and took out a ruler to measure it. From Tangzhou to Fangcheng, it was a full 150 miles. At the marching speed of 30 miles a day, it would take at least five days, so he nodded.

"If there are enough people willing to migrate, then of course the more cities the better. We have no foundation in the Central Plains, and one more city means one more stable base. However, the cost of migrating and building cities is too high. In the first one or two years, the government must exempt taxes, otherwise the people will not want to open up the land. The government also needs to provide the people with grain for the first one or two years so that they can rest assured to open up the land without worrying about going hungry. This is a huge expense."

Lu Jin said, "Military immigrants are different from ordinary immigrants. If we want to build a city there, the first batch will definitely be the garrison division. Militarized management costs are lower. We can build this city, but we don't know what the specific conditions there are."

At this point, Lu Jin looked at Bao Yu next to him and asked, "Do you have more detailed map information nearby, preferably at the village and town level?"

"Yes, I'll look for it."

Bao Yu quickly found a local map. Although it was not very accurate and was obtained by asking some merchants who had been to the Central Plains, he still found some useful information.

Bao Yu quickly took out the map and introduced, "There is a town called Sheqi here, which is an important commercial town on the Du River. Boats travel between Tangzhou and Fangcheng. In the early Song Dynasty, it was the only way for materials from Jingxiang to be transported to Bianliang.

"As for the origin of the name, it is said that this place was originally called Sheqidian. Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty bought flags from here and started to raise the flag to rebel against the Mang Dynasty, so it was named after this."

Lu Jin immediately thought to himself, this makes sense, it turns out that Sheqi County does have some history.

In fact, what he didn't know was that Sheqi County was only upgraded to a county in 1965 after the founding of New China. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties before that, it was at most a major commercial and transportation center.

However, in order to better complete the military mission, it is not impossible to upgrade this place to a county and build a city hundreds of years in advance. So he immediately decided, "Then build another city based on this Sheqi Town to connect Tangzhou and Fangshan. Moreover, building this city is not just about connecting transportation. There is another thing to pay attention to in the Nanyang Campaign, that is, the Yuan army in Fangshan.

"The Yuan court was not full of fools. Ever since the Red Turban Rebellion in the 11th year of Zhizheng, especially after Xu Shouhui caused trouble in Huguang, Jingxiang, and the Yuan court was worried that Xu Shouhui would go north from Jingxiang to Nanyang and attack the Central Plains. So they quickly stockpiled heavy troops and a large number of capable officials in Fangshan. Now Fangshan can be regarded as a strategic location that is no less important than Anqing.

"If Jiangzhou (Jiujiang) is compared to the gate guarding Jiangxi, Anqing is the key to the gate of Jiangzhou, and Fangcheng is the same. Nanyang is the gate of Jingxiang, and Fangcheng is the key to Nanyang. If you want to capture Nanyang, you must first capture Fangcheng. There must be a big battle here.

"Xia Yu, you have to write this down and study it carefully in the next few months. Bao Yu, you also have to focus on collecting intelligence here and find out the officials and troops of the Yuan court here. We will not fight an unprepared battle!"

"Yes." Seeing that Lu Jin attached so much importance to Fang Cheng, the two of them immediately agreed solemnly.

Xia Yu then continued, "That is to say, at least five new cities will be built in this Nanyang campaign. We have to prepare five reclamation divisions in advance and have them go with the civilians who are transporting grain."

Lu Jin nodded and said, "After the five armies are fully reorganized, we will start preparing for these farming divisions. As for manpower, we are definitely not short of it.

"Doesn't Zhao Junyong still have 30,000 troops? After Li Xixi reorganizes his troops into a division, more than 16,000 people will definitely be laid off, which is just enough to form an agricultural reclamation division. We can also recruit the remaining four divisions from the landless people in eastern Zhejiang. Those who are willing to build a city and immigrate will be given 50 acres of land. I don't believe that no one will be willing to go."

The other people nodded when they heard this. The total number of troops they had counted before was more than 700,000, and after the formal reorganization, about 600,000 were retained. This meant that they still had at least hundreds of thousands of surplus troops, which could be organized into ten military farming divisions. Only five of the five new cities in Nanyang would be used at most. If there was a need in Shandong and Liaodong, cities could also be built in the north for farming.

For example, the three cities of Jinzhou, Fuzhou and Gaizhou on the Liaodong Peninsula did not exist at that time. Once the Shengwu Army landed in Liaodong, if they wanted to gain a foothold in the local area, they would definitely have to immigrate and build cities.

Lu Jin then asked, "The battle in Nanyang has been decided for now. One front army plus five farming divisions. If you have any ideas for the battles in other directions, please bring them up now so that we can prepare in advance."

Zhan Ding looked at Bao Yu and saw that Bao Yu didn't seem to intend to speak, so he spoke first.

"General, this year's war in the south is mainly against Jiangxi, and Jiangxi is connected to Huguang. There are many forces here, including the Yuan army, Xu Shouhui's pseudo-Song, and the Miao army from Guangdong and Guangxi.

"Therefore, I think that when choosing the battle targets, we should focus on the big and let go of the small. We should first try to seize more fertile land, especially those places with more people, money and food. As for some less important places, we can slowly take them and make some choices. In this way, we can concentrate more troops and gain a clear advantage in the battle. The mountains in southern Zhejiang,"

Lu Jin frowned as he looked at the sand table, and then asked, "Then how do we choose specifically, which one to catch and which one to let go?"

Zhan Ding said immediately, "Of course, we must capture the three lakes mentioned by the Marshal before, specifically the area around Poyang Lake in Jiangxi and Dongting Lake in Huguang. For the time being, we can slowly take the mountainous area in southern Zhejiang.

“For example, Chuzhou Road and Jianning Road, these two roads together only have 12 cities, and they are all in the mountains. It is very difficult to fight against them, and the troops have to cross mountains and ridges. Even if they are taken, there will not be many people, money and food. It is not cost-effective to invest too many troops here.

“And even if we ignore these two routes now, it will not have much impact on the overall situation of the world. After all, the mountainous areas around Fujian have been uncontested areas since ancient times. There is really no need to fight for them. Once other important areas are conquered, it would be best if we can issue an edict to settle the matter. If they refuse to submit, it will not be too late to fight them then.

"So, I suggest that we gather the forces of the First and Fifth Armies, more than 200,000 men, and attack Jiangxi and Huguang together."

Everyone frowned when they heard this. Since Zhan Ding came here, he hasn't made any eye-catching suggestions, but this time he said something shocking. He wanted to mobilize the troops of two fronts to fight a large-scale battle. It didn't seem very reliable.

Lu Jin immediately asked, "Are you planning to swallow up Jiangxi and Huguang in one battle?"

Zhan Ding immediately explained, "No, my main goal is to completely occupy Jiangxi. My plan is roughly divided into two steps.

"Chang Yuchun's troops of the Fifth Front Army are now training and replenishing their weapons and armor, as well as waiting for artillery. According to the plan to send troops in May, they can first capture the entire Huizhou Road, advance to Wuyuan and Dexing, block the west side of the Jinqu Basin, and then cooperate with the Third Front Army in eastern Zhejiang to attack Wuzhou Road (Jinhua) and Quzhou Road from both ends. This stage should be completed in September, or even before August, and it will take a total of three to four months.

“After taking over the Jinqu Basin, the Fifth Front Army can turn its entire line to Jiangxi in the west without worrying about exposing its back to the Yuan army.

"As for the distribution of tasks between the First and Fifth Front Armies in the Jiangxi Campaign that began in September, I believe that Chang Yuchun's troops should serve as the Eastern Route Army, and capture Nanchang along the Raozhou Road, Xinzhou Road, and Longxing Road. After taking Nanchang, they should move south along the Ganjiang River and occupy as much territory as possible.

"General Liao's First Front Army should attack westward along the Yangtze River, mainly to deal with the main force of the Yuan army in Jiangxi, and always be vigilant against Xu Shouhui's pseudo-Song army. On the one hand, they should seize the cities in the west of Jiangxi, and on the other hand, they should also try their best to seize some important towns in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Even if they cannot directly capture Huguang this time, they must lay a good foundation for the next attack on Huguang.

"For example, they could seize Wuchang and Mianyang, but this would inevitably cause friction with Xu and Song, after all, Wuchang is their capital."

Everyone frowned when they heard this. Zhan Ding was very brave, but from a purely military point of view, there was nothing wrong with his idea. In order to win in the future, of course, they had to seize the key points first.

(End of this chapter)