Chapter 235 Landscape

There is no need for foreign "On War" to popularize it hundreds of years later. Anyone with a little common sense knows that strategic victory is generally decided by the gain or loss of special strongholds and strategic battles, and the priority of strategic battles is generally far greater than the gain or loss of strongholds. If you save the land but lose the people, you lose both the land and the people; if you save the people but lose the land, you save both the land and the people. This truth is beyond doubt.

As for the military leaders of the Western Army and the Imperial Camp, although not all of them could explain everything, as experienced military leaders, who would not understand this truth? Everyone understood that once the entire army abandoned the city's defense circle and began to move forward, actively seeking a decisive battle, then it would really be a battle that would decide the outcome.

Therefore, after the matter was settled that day, Zhao Jiu handed over the central army tent to Wu Jie and retreated to the rear camp to rest. Officers who came to seek private meetings kept coming and going, and even those who did not come had Yang Yi Zhong pass on their letters.

Zhao Jiu was straightforward and simply called in the officers who requested a meeting and submitted notes one by one and summoned them individually.

Among these people, some came to persuade the emperor not to take risks personally, some came to persuade the emperor to change his ways, and some came simply to express their determination... But at this moment, no matter who they are or what their intentions are, as the emperor, Zhao Jiu will do his best to unite and encourage them so that they can focus on the decisive battle.

There was no way. He was not Li Shimin, and he could not expect much from fighting a war. This was one of the few ways for him to play the role of an emperor.

In this way, the discussion lasted until late at night, and almost all the military commanders in the imperial camp came once before the discussion ended. The next morning, according to Wu Jie's military order, the officers of the imperial camp went back to lead their troops, while the three western armies of Jing Yao officially began to march north, trying to approach Baishui.

There was nothing much to say about the first day. Wu Jie signed the military order and the army immediately set out to the north. However, it could not be called a withdrawal of camp, because the camp in Jingyao Town would continue to be used by Zhang Jun, who was 40 miles away, and the latter would also move the logistics center here. The troops only marched 20 miles and set up camp again at a parallel position 10 miles west of Pucheng, and then calmly waited for the imperial camp troops in the surrounding cities to gather.

After waiting for another two days, when the entire army gathered and headed north again, the atmosphere was completely different, because from this day on, the Song army would lose the cover of the cities on the left and right wings, exposing the main force in the wilderness and within the attack range of the Jin cavalry.

Moreover, as the various units of the imperial camp in the surrounding cities gathered together, the army began to look disorganized and large... in other words, it was bloated.

In response to this, Wu Jie took command personally. Starting from the early morning, he spent most of the day to unify the arrangements of the troops. However, he gave up the long snake formation and let Wang De's troops of the Imperial Camp be in the front, followed by the Eight Character Army. The three western routes of troops were divided into Xihe Road and Lizhou Road on the left and right, Qinfeng Road troops with civilians and supplies were in the middle, and the last two Beiwei armies and Zhao Guanjia's imperial guard were in the rear to support the formation.

Not only that, the newly appointed Taiwei Wu also ordered that all troops must line up their spearmen in the front and archers in the back when marching, and that the baggage vehicles of each unit must be arranged on the left and right in preparation. He also ordered that the cavalry of each unit must be concentrated on the right to assist the Lizhou Road where there were fewer cavalry.

This is a typical marching formation to guard against cavalry raids.

But to be honest, before this, no one thought that an army of 80,000 to 90,000 could march in such a unified sequence under unified command... Especially the last one, dispatching their most valuable cavalry to Liu Qi in Lizhou Road for unified use as flank support... This was simply a fantasy for the Zhao Song official army in the past.

However, thanks to Emperor Zhao who stayed at the back to provide support without saying a word, the cavalry was actually deployed and the marching sequence was actually arranged.

Of course, this came at a price... On this day, the entire army set out almost at dusk, and after only advancing ten miles, they hurriedly settled down in the simple camp that the auxiliary troops had already set up.

This day's work was more like a troop review than a march!

In fact, this is true.

Others did not know, but Zhao Jiu, who had been silent under Yuwen's banner all day, had realized it at the very beginning - he clearly realized that Wu Jie not only wanted to guard against cavalry raids, nor only wanted to strengthen his own authority, but more importantly, he probably wanted to figure out the combat effectiveness and actual numbers of each unit.

Coincidentally, Emperor Zhao also wanted to know, so he sent Lin Jingmo and Yang Yizhong to lead many Jinshi who were following the imperial guards. They started with the central army of the imperial camp, which was also filled with many Jinshi, and conducted a comprehensive inspection of the troops.

In fact, it was not until this time that the official had figured out the actual number of his troops in this battle through this method, using the unified marching sequence created by Wu Jie.

Yes, it is said that there are 100,000 troops in Guanxi, but it is obvious that each unit is of varying quality and has different organizations. If you don't gather them together and count them in person, you have no way of knowing how many troops you have and what they look like.

After Yang Yizhong, Xiaolin Xueshi and others spent almost a whole day working hard under the scorching sun to check the situation, they arrived at the designated camp ten miles away and came up with a result that was only acceptable:

Among them, 19,000 of the 20,000 Eight Character Army troops came, which was almost full... After all, although Wang Yan's troops suffered some losses under the city of Yanling at the beginning of last year, they had been stationed in Zhengzhou for the past year. Besides being close to Tokyo, they could also get timely reinforcements from refugees from Hebei.

But judging from the marching subordinates, the Eight Character Army also exposed its own problems, that is, it was too personal. Everyone knew that the leader of the Eight Character Army, Wang Yan, enjoyed supreme authority in the army, and this man was always strict with his subordinates, but he was also a little petty, so he kept a tight grip on the army.

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