Zhong Hui was greatly moved by Sima Shi's tolerance, and at the same time understood how heavy the burden on his shoulders was, after the loss of Youzhou, the entire Jizhou faced the dual threat of the north and the west, and the situation in the entire Jizhou became extremely serious.

  Originally, Zhong Hui was not too worried about dealing with Bingzhou, after all, between Bingzhou and Jizhou, separated by the extremely dangerous Taihang Mountain, as long as the soldiers and horses of Jizhou guarded those important passes, it would be difficult for the Bingzhou army to enter Jizhou.

  However, the loss of Youzhou has made the defense situation of Jizhou tight, because from Youzhou to the south, almost all of them are large plains with a horse and a flat river, and there is no danger to stop, and the most powerful army of the Bingzhou army is the cavalry, and such a plain battlefield is the most ideal stage for cavalry.

  Although Zhong Hui recruited 300,000 new troops in Jizhou, plus the original 50,000 in the hands of Lu Zhao, the general of Jizhou Muzhenbei, the total strength of Jizhou reached 350,000, but the vast majority of them were infantry.

  The only way is to stick to the city in accordance with the established policy, build a defense system for the Jizhou city fortress, and avoid field battles with the Bingzhou army.

  However, Jizhou's territory is vast, there are many cities, don't look at Zhong Hui's 350,000 troops in his hands, if these forces are really evenly distributed among the various cities, then the strength of each city will be pitiful, such a defense method can only provide the possibility of breaking through the state army.

  Therefore, in the past two years or so, Zhong Hui has paid close attention to the training of new recruits on the one hand, and on the other hand, he has constantly adjusted the defense deployment, hoping to find the best defense plan to solve the defense problem of Jizhou.

  Jizhou has jurisdiction over 13 counties, including Anping, Changshan, Zhongshan, Hejian, Qinghe, Pingyuan, Guangping, Yangping, Dongling, Zhaoguo, Julu, Bohai and Wei County, more than 100 counties (Hou State), so many cities, it is definitely impossible to achieve equal distribution, so there must be a trade-off.

  After repeated deliberations, Zhonghui finally determined the two major defense systems in the north and south, centered on Yecheng and Xindu. 、

  In the northern part of Jizhou, a defensive line centered on Xindu was established, extending to the Bohai Sea and Hejian to the east, and Zhongshan and Changshan to the west. The rest of the unimportant cities were strategically abandoned and their populations moved to the northern imperial belt, and even if they were to capture them, they would be empty and useless, with no value at all.

  If the Bingzhou army wants to go south from Youzhou, it must first break through this defensive belt, even if the Bingzhou cavalry can pass through this defensive belt, but then their grain and grass baggage are always in the range of being attacked, so the Bingzhou army will definitely not be able to move south in a big way if it can't open the gap.

  The defense of these cities has become a top priority, especially the Shingun and the four county towns, once a certain point is broken by the state army, this defense line will be declared bankrupt.

  Zhong Hui knows very well that the Bingzhou army is not only powerful cavalry, but also the catapult is quite terrifying, and the general rammed earth city wall cannot resist the repeated bombardment of the catapult of the Bingzhou army, so if you want to improve the defense of the city, you must strengthen the city wall, use masonry on the periphery of the rammed earth city wall, and widen and heighten the city wall to improve the resistance of the city wall.

  Some of the cities that rely on the mountains can quarry stones, but most of the cities of Jizhou are on the plains, and it is simply an impossible task to transport mountains and stones from hundreds of miles away, but the most important thing in the plains is the loess, and Zhong Hui ordered hundreds of brick kilns to be built in various parts of Jizhou, taking soil and burning bricks.

  Most of the brick kilns were built outside the city, and the burned bricks were directly under the disaster city, and masonry was carried out on the outside of the original city wall, which was equivalent to putting a layer of battle armor on the original rammed earth city wall, and the defensive ability of the city wall was abruptly improved.

  The war was originally a relationship between a spear and a shield, the emergence of catapults, will inevitably lead to the upgrading of the city wall, the previous catapult is more powerful, the rammed earth city wall can barely hold on, and now the counterweight catapult of the state army has become more powerful, if Zhong Hui does not want to change, then these rammed earth city walls will inevitably collapse in the face of the attack of the state army.

  If you are poor, you will think about change, and if you are weak, you will try to be strong, this truth Zhong Hui naturally knows better than anyone else, he is engaged in a city defense system in Jizhou, and if he does not build the city as impregnable, then his defense line is not just paper-paste, and it will be broken when stabbed.

  But to build a brick kiln to take soil and burn bricks, it will be a non-spinning expense, now Jizhou is a soldier, the economy is already tending to collapse, tax revenue is basically zero, such a large amount of expenditure alone in Jizhou can not be digested, Zhong Hui can only ask the court for help.

  Fortunately, Sima Shi fully supported the defense of Jizhou, and the concert submitted by Zhong Hui was quickly approved by the imperial court, and the imperial court allocated a large amount of money and grain to help Zhong Hui upgrade these cities in Jizhou.

  Of course, Zhonghui did not have the strength to strengthen all the cities in Jizhou, he also carried out it selectively, Yecheng and Xindu as the core of the defense of the north and south, naturally the top priority of the construction, followed by the various counties, these cities must be guaranteed not to be lost, and finally the various counties and passes on the defense belt.

  After more than a year of construction, these key cities in Jizhou have been renewed, not only the city is tall, but also a new look, the cyan bricks are unified with white ash joints, neat and beautiful.

  Such a city is not a showmanship, and the resistance of the city wall reinforced with blue bricks has increased exponentially, which also makes Zhong Hui is confidence doubled.

  The defense of the northern front was entrusted to Lu Zhaolai, while the Zhonghui concentrated on the defense of the southern front.

  Different from the arc-shaped defense belt on the northern front, on the southern front, Zhong Hui only painstakingly managed Yecheng, and in Yecheng and its surroundings alone, Zhong Hui deployed 100,000 troops, which can be called an iron wall.

  Yecheng is the capital of Cao Wei, and it is also the political center north of the Yellow River, don't look at the state governance of Jizhou in Xindu, but the status of Yecheng has never wavered, there is a palace here, it is a place where businessmen gather, and the prosperity is no less than Luoyang.

  Defending Yecheng is equivalent to defending Jizhou and Hebei, Zhong Hui is well aware of this truth, and naturally takes the defense of Yecheng as a top priority, even if the defense of the northern front fails, Yecheng will also be the mainstay and must not be lost.