Chapter 844: Know Yourself and Know Your Enemy
On the third day of July, there is nothing left to do except cut down trees, set up fences, and set up camp.
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, there was nothing left to do, so we started making siege equipment.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Shao Xun led the civil and military generals and tens of thousands of soldiers to arrive. Another wave of camps was set up, and at the same time he adjusted the deployment of troops, while he led people to observe the terrain - this was the only time for marching and fighting in addition to food and grass. Second priority.
Pingcheng is surrounded by mountains on three sides.
In the east there are Baishan Mountain (now Mapu Mountain) and Hegan Mountain (now Cailiang Mountain).
There is Fangshan Mountain in the north (today’s Fangshan Mountain, where the Imperial Tombs of the Northern Wei Dynasty are located).
To the west are Wuzhou Mountain (today's Wuzhou Mountain) and Leigong Mountain (today's Leigong Mountain, with the Leigong Temple on the mountain).
Only the south is an open land.
From a military point of view, we should set up camp on Sanmian Mountain, garrison troops and horses, and support each other with Pingcheng, so that the attackers will always feel like a thorn in their backs before they capture these strongholds. But for now, the enemy only has two thousand soldiers and horses on Baidengtai and Baidengshan Mountains. Judging from their appearance, they are not the core members of Tuoba.
On the fifth day of the lunar month, Shao Xun ordered Jin Zheng and Yu Ju to lead more than 10,000 cavalry to attack Baidengtai and Baidengshan Mountain to first eliminate the flank threat.
If the mountains will become a threat from behind, then the rivers and lakes near Pingcheng will hinder the mobilization of troops.
There is Tianyuan Pool in the north of the city. As soon as you hear the name, you will know that it is taken from Tianyuan Pool in Luoyang.
In Tuoba Yi's time, his mother Fengshi (the first wife of Tuoba Desert Khan) was buried near Tianyuan Pool. Two hundred thousand people from near and far attended the ceremony, and there were stone inscriptions there.
A funeral attracts 200,000 people. This is not just a funeral, but a political rally.
To put it bluntly, Tuoba Yiyong wanted the tribes and powerful people in the central region to recognize his rule. Anyone who doesn't come has objections; if he comes, it's a political statement.
Since then, Tuoba Yiyin has had strong control over the Pingcheng area and has been operating it for ten years.
As Tuoba Yiyun's first wife, Qi, who was born in the east, naturally regards this place as her base.
To the east of Pingcheng there is "Muddy Water", also known as "Ru Muddy Water", which is today's Yuhe.
This river is not far from the city and can actually be put to good use. However, the Xianbei people are not very good at building cities, nor are they good at using city defense facilities.
Pingcheng was simply repaired and slightly expanded. After all, Pingcheng (county) in the Han Dynasty was just the military residence in the eastern part of Yanmen County. It was larger than the average county seat, but it was not up to the level of a county seat.
Moreover, the old Pingcheng has long been in dilapidated state. If it is not repaired, it cannot afford the status of the Southern Capital. There are no moats or other favorable defense facilities at the top of the city.
In short, the Xianbei people will not defend the city.
After reading this, Shao Xun made up his mind and secretly laughed that if the Xianbei people had a group of infantry who were good at fighting, and they practiced their ability to defend the city, it would be difficult for them to fight.
After observing the terrain, the only thing left is the deployment of enemy and friendly troops. This matter still depends on the leading party.
On the sixth day of July, Shao Xun built an earthen platform on the west bank of Muddy Waters in the southeast of Pingcheng.
Wang, Shi Yijian, mother and son took the stage.
Shi Yiqian sits in the middle, and Wang sits on the left side, receiving congratulations from all the officials.
Their system is similar to that of Tuoba Yilu's era, with the word "mixed" highlighted.
Dai Gong Shi Yiqian was the supreme monarch, and the actual power was in the hands of his mother, Wang.
Under Dai Gong, there were four assistant ministers, namely Wang Feng, Changsun Rui, Su Zhongyi and Daijun Weixiong.
Among them, Wang Feng and Su Zhongyi are both Wuhuan people. Wei Xiong has lived in Dai County for a long time and has a close relationship with Wuhuan. He has a close friendship with Wang Feng. Overall, Wuhuan is powerful and very powerful. It reflects the background of the current regime.
The four assistants assist each other in managing the affairs of the country and hold great power.
Wang Feng is the brother of the Wang family. He controls Daijun, Guangning Wuhuan, Jin people and other miscellaneous people. Although he has gone through many wars, he nominally controls no less than 50,000 tribesmen.
Wei Xiong was actually counted among Wang Feng's tribe, but he was very independent, and he paid money to Shao Xun privately. He himself served as the assistant minister during the Tuoba Yilu era. High status.
What Su Zhongyi didn't say was that he only had 8,000 tribe members left. This time he was supplemented by some Wuhuan and Zahu captives. The entire tribe's household registration suddenly exceeded 20,000, becoming the leader of a medium-sized tribe.
There is no doubt that both he and Wei Xiong were sand mixed in by Shao Xun, representing his will.
Changsun Rui is the leader of the Baba tribe of the ten surnamed Tuoba. As the first Tuoba tribe to join the Wang family, it is normal for Changsun Rui to receive such courtesy, not to mention that his tribe is not small in size and absorbs After conquering some of the scattered Wuhuan and scattered small tribes in the east, their number was no less than 40,000.
Under the Four Assistant Prime Ministers, the left and right virtuous kings, the remnants of the ancestors, were completely abolished, and generals were placed in place like Liu Han.
Make Liu Lugu, Yu Ju, Pu Gulu, Daxi Heruo and others the generals of the east, west, south and north of the town, and add the word "da" to honor their titles.
Under the four generals, there are also various ministers, all of whom have been awarded the official title of seal.
In addition, Wang planned to establish a county magistrate at the suggestion of Changsun Rui and "Yang Zhen" (Three Dukes) Duan Fan, but Shao Xun vetoed it and asked her to wait.
Wang is a little happy now, but also very worried. After Shao Xun vetoes a proposal, she often worries about gains and losses, scares herself, and starts a mental conflict with herself.
After the group knelt down to worship Wang and Shi Yiqian, Shao Xun came to the high platform.
Ms. Wang led his son to salute him. Shao Xun nodded slightly, sat on a chair under Shi Yijian, and asked: "How many thieves are there in the city, have you figured it out?"
The three sons stood behind Shao Xun, Hutou glanced at Shi Yijian from time to time.
Shi Yiqian felt his gaze, a little afraid and a little angry. In recent times, he has had many contacts with the three of them.
In terms of perception, the second prince Badger Lang didn’t care much about him. He was always worried and didn’t know what he was thinking about every day.
Nian Liu was the most polite and courteous to him, and seemed to respect him the most. Shi Yiqian also liked to associate with him.
Hutou was the youngest among the three brothers, but he always treated him with vague malice. He even grabbed his collar and wanted to beat him. If some factors were not taken into consideration, the fist would have hit him in the face.
Shi Yiqian hates this person the most.
Just as he was looking at the tiger head, sparks and lightning, his mother Wang had already looked at Duan Fan.
Duan Fan came out of the queue, bowed to the three of them, and then said: "There are at most 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers in the city."
After that, he explained in detail: "Although the Dai Kingdom is large, it has The tribes are scattered all over the place. Although the fighting has been going on for several months in the Yanmen, Pingcheng, and Guangning areas, in fact, more than half of the tribes involved in the fighting are mostly the Tuoba surnames and various large tribes. The mother and son were in a critical situation, and many people abandoned them, and the number of soldiers was becoming increasingly scarce. The number of more than 20,000 soldiers was still less than 20,000 after all the men were recruited. "
"There are still some soldiers lingering outside the city, but they may not be willing to fight to the death for He Li. King Liang may be able to force him to flee by sending a partial army. The imperial court (Daiguo) will also send people to appease him, so it is not difficult to predict. ”
Duan Fan’s words speak to the essence.
What is the biggest feature of this war? A civil war in which the upper echelons compete for power.
The participants are all descendants of the Tuoba clan. In theory, their allegiance is the same. This makes most tribal nobles lose their determination to fight to the end. When it comes to the battlefield, it is often one or two key moments. After a series of fierce battles, one side's forces quickly collapsed, and the other side surrendered and accepted rebellion, establishing victory.
When these descendants of the Tuoba clan decide the winner, all the other tribes can do is follow the procedure and swear allegiance.
Sometimes, when an incompetent Tuoba descendant dies, another Tuoba descendant is recognized by everyone, even if he is already a mere commander, he can quickly gain the allegiance of many tribes and recruit more than 100,000 troops overnight.
This is the characteristic of grassland politics: the game of bloodline aristocrats.
In fact, it is not just the case of Tuoba Xianbei, other Hu regimes have this kind of situation to a greater or lesser extent. The most typical one is that after the collapse of the Tubo Empire, the princes were scattered everywhere, and some really lost everything. There are only a few followers around. After going to a certain place, the princes and nobles will marry their daughters, give them land, swear allegiance, and after their death, they will hand over the land and power to the prince.
Because his bloodline is not as noble as that of the prince, he cannot compete with him. He can only kneel on the ground and serve him.
Grasslands are so expensive. This saying is not for nothing.
"Today I climbed up to view the mountains and river valleys. It is obvious that He Li and others are not good at defending the city." Shao Xun said: "How good the soldiers are, we have to give it a try. Just now, Duan Gong said that there are many bandit soldiers near Pingcheng. This is not false. When besieging the city, you can send people to care for it and not let it be used by Yihuai. You can also send people to search the surrounding valleys. There will definitely be many old and weak women and children grazing in it, and they can use their cattle, sheep and horses to provide military supplies. "
Besieging a city is a military battle, and others are political battles.
In Shao Xun's view, this political battle is more important, and one must go all out.
Moreover, the political battle has now accumulated from quantitative changes to qualitative changes.
Shao Xun is also thinking, if the Wang family continues to expand like this, will it get out of control?
He knew very well that many of the people who came over did not surrender for his sake. In fact, there were not many such people.
If he didn't have Wang's mother and son in his hands, many people who had surrendered would still be fighting with him.
Wang is a smart person. She may have been keenly aware of this, knowing that her bargaining power has increased and she is no longer a puppet without any say.
But she hasn’t made any move to resist yet, which is intriguing.
"We will start attacking the city early tomorrow morning. The old rule is to surround three towers." Seeing that no one objected, Shao Xun decided with one word.
The generals who came with the expedition responded in unison.
The adults Xianbei and Wuhuan all looked at Wang.
Wang raised her head and looked at the crowd. From the corner of her eye, she first paid attention to the direction of Shao Xun. Seeing that he had no other intentions, she said: "Starting tomorrow, each ministry will select young men to obey the military orders of King Liang."
"Yes." All the adults responded one after another.
Two distinct systems.
Shao Xun looked ahead.
At this point, the enemy on the surface is actually a skeleton in the grave, not worth mentioning. The most challenging aftermath is coming, and this is the real test.
The barbarians left over from the late Han Dynasty have accumulated many abuses and have now reached the deep water area.
History has proven that the policies towards the Hu people in the Eastern Han, Cao Wei, and Western Jin Dynasties were full of problems, and the old road was no longer feasible, and it was a dead end.
Now we need to innovate the time traveler system.
This innovation cannot be copied yet, because time has changed and the social environment is different, so adjustments need to be made.
For example, if you now develop a system like the Ming and Qing Dynasties where the six ministries are directly responsible to the emperor instead of the prime minister, that is nonsense, a step too far, and simply seeking death.
But if we implement a group system, divide power between two or three prime ministers, and make the six ministries responsible to the collective of prime ministers, it will be somewhat maneuverable.
War is a continuation of politics, and political issues are the core.
(End of this chapter)