Chapter 163 Donglai
"Jiaodong?"
Zhang Chong wondered why Zhao Da asked this.
Zhao Da organized it, stood up and said:
"The land of Jiaodong is now Donglai County and Beihai Kingdom. It was also the area where the King of Jiaodong among the Three Qi Dynasties belonged. It is so named because it is east of the Jiaolai Valley and is also called Jiaodong."
Seeing that what he said was not vivid, Zhao Da got up and made rough gestures on the ground, and continued:
"This place was originally the sphere of influence of the Lai barbarians during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later the Lai people were conquered by the Qi people, and it became the land of Qi. This place is remote and has always been called the end of the sky and the corner of the sea, but there is one thing. That is to say, this place has the advantage of fish and salt. If you get this place, you will have the strength of military power, and Qi’s hegemony will come from this.”
Seeing that Zhao Da wanted to talk, Zhang Chong interrupted him directly and asked:
"I know the land of Jiaodong, but why do you want us to go to Jiaodong."
Zhao Dadao:
"What Military Master He said before makes sense to me, but the only drawback is that the timing is wrong. At this time, Hanting is particularly powerful. If we rush west out of the Central Plains now, it will definitely stir up the world. By then we will The Taishan Army is really the target of public criticism.
But Jiaodong is different. This place is almost the most desert in the world. If we take root here, we can develop without being conspicuous. There are 500,000 people in Donglai, 800,000 people in Beihai, and 1.3 million Dingkou. If you get them, they will become the king's inheritance. "
Seeing that Zhang Chong seemed to have little interest, Zhao Da further explained:
"Jiaodong is surrounded by the sea on three sides and has mountains on one side. It is a rare place of beauty in the world. It faces Liaodong across the sea and can be reached by boat. In case of trouble, Yang Fan will go to sea to avoid chaos in Liaodong. It can be said that you can gain access to Qingzhou if you advance, and you can defend Liaodong if you retreat. .”
Zhao Da kept talking, and Zhang Chong was also listening carefully. After listening, he said:
"There are some things that you don't know much about. Let me tell you about them today. Our Taishan Army also has followers, and behind it is Taiping Dao. I am a close disciple of Zhang Liang, the general of Taiping Dao, and I am also a disciple of Taiping Dao. Therefore, I think the strategy of developing in Jiaodong is particularly good. However, Donglai and Beihai both have our Taiping Dao forces. Donglai has Guan Cheng and Beihai has Guan Hai, both of whom are my friends. How can we do this? .”
Zhang Chong's words were so explosive that the staff who had only joined the staff in the past six months were a little stunned when they heard it for the first time.
However, in their view, this is generally a good thing. Who doesn't know the power of Taiping Dao? Now that they know that Taiping Dao is also rebelling, their Taishan Army will have an easier time.
However, since Jiaodong has a master, Zhao Da's strategy will naturally not be used. He is also a little uninterested at the moment. After all, it is the first time for him to counsel such an important power development plan. He obviously put his heart into it. Now he can't use it. It's a little bit... Lost.
However, Zhang Chong was also comforting:
"Yong Xi, you don't need to be disappointed. Your strategy of developing eastward to Jiaodong is okay. We can't move the entire army to Jiaodong now, but we can still send some troops to settle here and establish a base in the hilly countryside."
"The base?"
"Yes, that is, it is a place where we can take root. For example, the Laiwu Valley is our current base area, and the Taiyi Mountain area is also our base area. The relationship between us and this base area is comparable. It means that we have to walk too many roads. You have to have A place to rest, recuperate, reorganize, supply, and recruit troops. Only in this way can we continue to run and fight against the Han Dynasty.”
The staff understood that this base area was Jiye, which meant territory, but Qu Kui's base area could be smaller.
Zhao Da said uncertainly:
"Will the Taiping Road between the two places allow us to establish this base?"
Zhang Chong smiled and said:
"Although Taiping Dao is based in the countryside, it is now generally preached in cities. There are not many Taiping Dao that can stay in the countryside. However, they may continue to take root in the countryside at the Guanhai Canal in Beihai, so the Taiping Dao here There are also more Taoist believers. On the contrary, Guan Chengdaqu of Donglai started as a pirate. His bases are more on several large overseas islands. Therefore, there are not many believers in the vast rural areas of Donglai. We can establish a base in Dongnae”
Until now, Zhang Chong has actually understood everyone’s views on future development. He summarized them into three points:
The first is to strengthen the walls and clear the country, and fight a protracted war in Fenggao and Hanting. This makes sense. The Han court concentrated the Central Plains and the Northern and Southern armies to conquer him. Zhang Chong was confident that with the reserves and morale of his troops, it would not be a problem to defend for a year. In this year, the situation in the world will undergo earth-shaking changes. If the Han Dynasty allocates all the combatable troops from the Central Plains and the capital to fight him, then the two places will naturally be empty of troops. When the Taiping Road uprising occurs, it will naturally be smooth sailing.
In later generations, during the late Yuan Dynasty, when the heroes were vying for the throne, something like this also happened. At that time, Zhang Shicheng occupied Gaoyou and became the king. Prime Minister Tuotuo of the Yuan Dynasty led a million troops to besiege Gaoyou. In the end, because Yuan Ting changed his commander before the battle, the Yuan army was demoralized. In the end, it was defeated by Zhang Shicheng. At this point, Yuan Ting was wiped out and the heroes went crazy. So Zhang Chong can also fight a late Han Dynasty version of the Battle of Gaoyou. But this strategy is to ask him, Zhang Chong, to be a good person and be a pioneer for others on Taiping Road. It's not that it can't be done. After all, if the Taiping Dao Uprising can succeed, he can also develop and grow. But this matter is not simple, and he has to think carefully about the pros and cons.
The second is a more aggressive strategy, which is to take the initiative to attack the Central Plains, find the main force of the Han Dynasty, and fight decisively with them. If you win, everything will turn upside down; if you lose, everything will come to an end. This strategy required the cooperation of the Central Plains Taiping Dao, but he did not know the leaders of these places and did not know their nature. How could he dare to put the lives of the entire army in the hands of others. Therefore, this strategy cannot be used.
The third type is a conservative strategy, that is, dividing the troops eastward and leaving Donglai. This is a cunning rabbit's three-hole strategy. When the time comes, there will be two bases, both offensive and defensive, more flexible than one. Of course, the shortcomings are not without, that is, the current number of troops is 5,000, and they have to be divided up again. If it is not possible to establish a base in Donglai, then the Laiwu Valley will be lost due to insufficient troops. That is equivalent to wanting both and ending up with neither.
Finally, Zhang Chong summarized the pros and cons of these three strategies and asked everyone to go back and think about it again and discuss it tomorrow.
After a while, Cai Yong went to Hu Muban's house and took him with him to discuss with Zhuge Gui.
Here, after Zhuge Gui finished listening to everything that happened in the morning, he was also thinking deeply. At this moment, he was not thinking about which strategy to use, but about Zhang Chong.
To be honest, the Taishan Army has been in Fenggao for half a year, and its military discipline and ambition are obvious to everyone in Fenggao. It can be said that the Taishan Army and the Han Court are two different armies. The former regarded themselves as the disciples of the high-ranking people. Not only did they not disturb the people, they would also regularly go to the four villages and eight miles to repair the houses and walls of the Guizhou leaders. They, the Taishan Army, called it a fishy relationship between the army and the people. And what about the Han Ting soldiers? They all regard the common people as enemies of dogs and sheep, demolishing houses and breaking open doors, not only leading sheep and catching chickens, but also recruiting Guizhou leaders to fill ravines.
Comparing the two, who do the people support more? The common people are not stupid. Although few of them are literate, they feel happy when someone treats them well.
As Zhuge Gui himself knew, the people in Fenggao, Mou, and Ying counties had nothing but support for the Taishan Army. Especially in some villages where land has been divided, this kind of support has become so enthusiastic that every family is willing to send troops to defend the Shi Jiajun and Zhang Chong. Because they understand that to protect these is to protect their own hard-won lives.
At first he only thought it was a trick by the Taishan Army to win the hearts and minds of the people, so later he no longer sat in the office. He traveled around the countryside near Fenggao, seeing with his eyes, asking questions with his mouth, and listening with his ears. Wendu made him understand:
This Taishan Army is different, and more importantly, their leader, he is a hero.
He also attended Taishan Army's academy. The children in the school are all children of Feng Gaojun, orphans who died in battle, and beggars in the city. They are all pinched together and learn calligraphy in the Taishan Army's school, which shows that the Taishan Army attaches great importance to culture and education.
In addition, he also attended the Taishan Military Academy. The classes here are a bit more advanced, mainly talking about the world's scenery, mountains and rivers geography, and one theme, which is why the Han Dynasty declined.
When his understanding of rise and fall was still at the level of being close to the sage and far away from the villain, what did he hear in this military academy? It is said that the world is in chaos because of the cold weather and generally low crop yields. They can no longer bear the exploitation of Guizhou by the powerful. The entire middle-level tycoons cannot stabilize people's livelihood, while the Hanting center will only fight for power and profit, and no one cares about the lives and deaths of ordinary people.
As a member of the powerful, although the Zhuge family is not very wealthy, they still have thousands of acres of land, so although he felt uncomfortable hearing it, his reason told him that what these teachers and students of the Taishan Army said was right.
Thinking about the Zhuge family, a few generations ago they would personally go to the fields to encourage farmers and mulberry trees. Under their leadership, the livestock prospered and the people were prosperous. But later on, the Zhuge family began to live in the city, because it was easier to build interpersonal relationships and maintain communication among wealthy families in the city. But more importantly, life in the city is much happier, with countless banquets and reviews. If rural life is gray, then life in the city is colorful.
After that, although the Zhuge family still had a manor in the countryside, most of it was left to their disciples to take care of it. They only collected the grain from the head of the village. In other words, the Zhuge family became parasitic blood-sucking moths that did not engage in production. In the past, the peasants could only survive as long as they could, so they just sucked it up. Now that they can no longer survive, it is natural that they, the blood-sucking borers, should be punched into pieces.
This is cruel. Zhuge Gui could not accept how they, who were originally cultural elites, suddenly became objects of abandonment.
But this does not prevent him from recognizing Zhang Chong. He is a person who cares about the people at heart. Therefore, Zhuge Gui subconsciously wanted to help Zhang Chong. He just thought about it and said to Cai Yong:
"Bojie, have you ever thought about what if these three strategies were combined into one?"
(End of chapter)