After five days of preparation, Dugu Ce personally led 40,000 troops to escort supplies to Gobian.
Among them, there were 20,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry.
Before leaving, Yun Zheng repeatedly instructed that they must not rush to seize Weibian and Qingbian. The barracks on Gobian can be repaired slowly, but the city walls on Gobian must be repaired first. At the same time, more scouts should be sent to keep an eye on Beihuan's movements at all times.
After Dugu Ce led his army to set off, troops from other places also gathered in the two front guards.
Once the troops are almost gathered, Yun Zheng will lead the army personally.
However, right now, Yun Zheng’s most important task is to help the Northern Army get supplies.
Including Tian Bing, the Northern Army now has 250,000 troops.
For such a large army without supplies, the next few months will be extremely difficult.
Only after securing supplies can they launch the next round of offensive against Beihuan and seize important lands such as the horse pasture.
After leaving Feng Yu to assist Fu Tianyan in guarding Dingbei, Yun Zheng took Ye Zi, Shen Luoyan and others to Beilu Pass.
...
...
After so many days of rest, Yu Shizhong's injuries were basically healed.
Yu Shizhong led a hundred guards to protect Yun Zheng's safety. Behind them, there was a thousand elite cavalry led by Gao He, who were responsible for escorting Wei Wenzhong, Han Jin and others to Beilu Pass.
Of course, the person who was actually escorted was only Wei Wenzhong.
As for Han Jin and his men, although they were nominally escorted, they were not put in a prison van. Their weapons were just confiscated.
"What are you thinking about? Why are you frowning all the way?"
Ye Zi looked at Yun Zheng in confusion.
Logically speaking, he has already seized the military power of the Northern Palace Army, and there hasn't been any major turmoil in the Northern Palace Army, so he should be happy!
Why does he still look so worried?
"without."
Yun Zheng shook his head and smiled, "I'm thinking about how to streamline the Northern Army."
"streamline?"
Shen Luoyan, who was chatting enthusiastically with Miaoyin, suddenly glanced over and said, "We only have so few people left, and you still want to streamline it?"
"yes!"
Ye Zi also looked puzzled. "Aren't you sure that Yun Li will help you with the food and grass problem? Why do you want to reduce the number of staff?"
“Quality is more important than quantity!”
Yun Zheng shook his head and said, "Besides, the third brother is not a fool. We use Wei Wenzhong in exchange for his help in persuading the emperor to continue to provide food and grass to the Northern Army. This is basically a one-time deal! Once Wei Wenzhong dies, he will have no worries. He and his followers will definitely find ways to cut off our supplies..."
Yun Li is not a fool.
Yun Li could not have failed to understand the principle of raising a tiger to bring disaster.
How could he possibly allow his father to continue to provide them with food and fodder?
You really think the third brother is a philanthropist!
Hearing Yun Zheng's words, the people around him couldn't help but frown.
Yes!
After all, Wei Wenzhong only has one life!
As long as he is sure that Wei Wenzhong is dead, Yun Li will definitely resort to tricks again.
"But we don't have that many troops now. If we reduce them further, I'm afraid they won't be enough!"
Shen Luoyan said worriedly.
If they just want to defend Shuofang, their current military strength is definitely enough.
But now we have to recapture the three border cities.
The garrison in the three border cities alone is at least over 70,000 men.
There are still about 30,000 troops defending Beilu Pass.
Ten thousand people were eliminated at once!
After the spring plowing begins, if the war is not fierce, those field soldiers will definitely be responsible for farming first. Even if only half of the field soldiers are reduced, there will still be 40,000 people.
The defenders of each city were eliminated one by one.
The number of troops they could flexibly mobilize was estimated to be less than 50,000.
With this calculation, the military force will definitely be tight.
If we streamline it further, there will definitely not be enough troops!
Yun Zheng shook his head and smiled, "The reason why you feel that you don't have enough troops now is because it's not spring yet, and we have too many points to defend! As long as the ice and snow on the Baishui River melt, our troops will be enough. If we can drive Beihuan back another 500 miles, the standing troops can be further reduced."
An army of 250,000 is really too bloated!
The key is that spring ploughing will begin soon.
The ideal situation would be to reduce the regular strength of the Northern Army to around 120,000, allowing more people to engage in spring plowing. Only in this way could they become self-sufficient in food and fodder as soon as possible.
"And you chased Beihuan back another 500 miles?"
Ye Zi looked at him with a smile on her face, "Do you really want to attack the Beihuan royal court?"
"Of course!"
Yun Zheng's eyes were full of determination. "The best defense is offense! Beihuan has been crippled now. If we don't take this opportunity to drive them back, when will we wait?"
Although Beihuan could recruit hundreds of thousands of troops at any time, food and grass were a fatal problem.
If Beihuan wants to hold out until this year's autumn harvest, they will have no choice but to slaughter the cattle and sheep on which they depend for survival.
The more cattle and sheep they slaughtered, the fewer they had left to breed.
If we keep fighting, Beihuan will become weaker and weaker.
Kill him while he is ill!
This year is the best time, and he will definitely not miss this opportunity.
After hearing Yun Zheng's words, Ye Zi couldn't help but smile helplessly, "Anyway, none of us are as good at fighting as you are, so you can do whatever you want! However, no matter how hard you fight, you still have to rest when it's time to recuperate."
"Yes, I understand!"
Yun Zheng nodded slightly.
Three days later, they arrived at Beilu Pass.
Zuo Ren had already sent people to take Madam Shen and the others to Beilu Pass.
After several months, Chen Luoyan and Ye Zi finally saw their family again.
Seeing them again, Madam Shen and the others were filled with emotion.
When Yun Zheng first said he wanted to come to Shuobei to seize military power, she was somewhat skeptical.
Unexpectedly, in just a few months, Yun Zheng actually succeeded in seizing control of the Northern Palace Army.
Although his current control is not very stable, it is extremely rare to be able to achieve this!
"You two haven't seen each other for such a long time, why don't you chat first! I'm going to go find Duke Rong."
Yun Zheng said hello to Madam Shen and the others, then went to look for Qin Liugan.
It was only when they arrived at Beilu Pass that they found out that Qin Liugan had been staying at Beilu Pass for several days.
"Duke Rong, you're not going back to the Imperial City?"
Yun Zheng asked Qin Liugan, who was lying there basking in the sun, with a smile.
"Fuck you!"
Qin Liugan said with a dark face, "I have sent someone to deliver a letter to your father. Where are Wei Wenzhong and the others?"
"They are behind us. It will probably take a few days for them to arrive." Yun Zheng smiled, walked over and sat down next to Qin Liugan, and asked worriedly, "Will you be okay if you help me like this?"
"You still have some conscience to ask this!"
Qin Liu dared to curl his lips, "Don't worry, your father is not that stupid! Do you think he wants to fight you? Zhao Ji has been sent to Fuzhou a long time ago! If he wanted to fight you, he would have ordered Zhao Ji to lead the troops to attack Beilu Pass!"
"That's good!"
Yun Zheng chuckled, "It's really meaningless when one's own people fight one's own people! I've made up my mind. Once the food and grass issue is settled, I'll start to attack Beihuan to the north. By then, I'll try to give him a king of Beihuan to play with!"
Play?
Listening to Yun Zheng's words, Qin Liugan's face suddenly darkened...
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