Youzhou Yuyang, Quanzhou City, General Wei's Mansion.

The Marquis of Quanzhou, General Wei, and Li Yi, the Mu of Youzhou, of the Han Dynasty, were convening all the civil and military forces under their command to discuss the government affairs plan and military strategy for the new year.

It's going to be a war, and it's a big battle that may be bigger than the pacification of the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Liaodong War.

Since Li Yi started the army, this mobilization was the largest. The number of regular troops alone has exceeded 60,000, including 20,000 iron cavalry, 40,000 foot soldiers, and 3,000 iron cavalry of Li Yi's personal guards.

The cost of this army is far above the surface number, 20,000 cavalry have a total of more than 40,000 war horses, 3,000 personal guard iron cavalry, and almost 10,000 horses, and the number of two cavalry is only more than 20,000, but the cost is basically the same as that of 100,000 troops.

Coupled with 40,000 elite foot soldiers, the scale of the mobilized forces far exceeded the apparent figures.

More than 100,000 troops are fighting across the border, and the logistical supply required will also be of a very terrible scale. That is, since Li Yi took charge of Youzhou, Youzhou has had bumper harvests year after year, and Li Yi has collected materials throughout the Han Dynasty through the Li Family Chamber of Commerce, so as to meet the needs of this great war.

The materials are fully raised, but the transportation force has become a big problem again. There are no waterways in the northern steppes, so they can only be transported by land. Li Yi can only recruit a large number of auxiliaries and civilians in the territory, plus these people, not to mention 100,000 manpower, not even more than 200,000!

In this day and age, this is quite a scary number. In the usual sense of the million-strong army, in fact, this is the case. In the war records of this era, there is usually the word 'claim', 350,000 people are called 100,000, 200,000, and 100,000 people can be called 500,000, 1 million.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that this time Youzhou is sending a million troops north.

This heavy number pressed down on the body, who didn't tremble? Mobilizing such a large army to fight may not be worth the loss if it wins. If you lose, it will fall apart all at once, and the consequences are not ordinarily serious.

If it weren't for Li Yi's authority being too high, everyone would have been accustomed to acting in the general direction, and dissent would have been flying all over the sky.

Even now, the general's mansion and the state minister's mansion are very resistant.

Li Yi didn't pat his head on this Northern Expedition, he attached great importance to it, so he had already sent a message to the generals who wanted to participate in the Northern Expedition or the overall strategy of the staff before the year. asked them to go back to Quanzhou to discuss military aircraft.

………………

Xianbei, the origin is no longer reliable, it is said that it is after the Donghu people.

However, the change of power on the grassland is very frequent, and the national inheritance has nothing to do with culture, customs, or bloodline. The names of later generations include Donghu, Xiongnu, and Xianbei, which have been annihilated in the long river of history, and even those that are not known to the people of the time.

Xianbei really began to enter the vision of the Central Plains Dynasty during the Jianwu period in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time, Xianbei was still a small tribe, subordinate to the Xiongnu, and together with the boss, took advantage of the fatigue of the Central Plains. Robbery in the south.

The Eastern Han Dynasty soon launched a counterattack, the fierce flames of the Xiongnu were suppressed, and Xianbei, the little brother, saw the decline of the boss and began to play the essence of the wall grass. Threw himself on the side of the Central Plains and began to attack the Huns.

The effort paid off in the chapter and the first year. After that decisive victory over the Northern Xiongnu, the Xianbei people finally became the new overlords of the steppe. It not only received the territory and tribes of the Xiongnu, but also inherited the hostile relationship between the Xiongnu and the Han Empire. The foreign strategy of the Eastern Han Dynasty changed from the original fight against the Xiongnu to the joint Wuhuan and Xiongnu to fight Xianbei together.

Although Xianbei defeated the Xiongnu, it was unable to fully digest the results for a long time, and there were often internal battles, resulting in a completely incomparable strength with the Xiongnu or Donghu in their heyday. But after Emperor Guangwu, the strength of the Eastern Han Dynasty also deteriorated, and the threat posed by Xianbei to the Central Plains was not much smaller than that of the Xiongnu back then.

Especially in the more than 20 years of Emperor Huan's reign, the internal shortcomings of the Eastern Han Dynasty were fully revealed, but there were male lords rising on the grassland.

This is a figure similar to that of Temujin in later generations, starting as an abandoned baby, Tanshi Huai climbed up step by step, and finally became the overlord of the unification of the Xianbei tribes.

For the barbarians or those who envy the barbarians, his experience is quite an inspirational story. But for the Central Plains at that time, sandalwood only brought nightmares and disasters.

Since Li Ling surrendered to the Xiongnu in the Western Han Dynasty, the most tragic defeats of the Han Dynasty against the alien races in the grassland occurred in several invasion wars after the unification of Xianbei by Tanshihuai, especially the battle in the sixth year of Xiping.

At that time, Emperor Ling entered the border counties with Xianbei for many years, ordered Xia Yu, the captain of Wuhuan, and broke the Xianbei Zhonglang general Tian Yan and the Xiongnu Zhonglang general Zang Min each led more than 10,000 cavalry people. They went out of Gaoliu, Yunzhong, and Yanmen respectively, and attacked Xianbei in three ways.

"The Han army went out of the fortress for more than 2,000 miles, and the Xianbei leader Tan Shihuai ordered the eastern, central, and western three adults to lead the crowd to meet the battle, and the three battles were victorious, and the Han army was defeated. Xia Yu and other military baggage were lost. Seven or eight out of ten of the soldiers died, and the three of them each fled back with dozens of horses, and they were all exempted from the crime of defeating the army...... Alas, it was the old man who was sparse and prepared for the harm of Xianhumility, which led to this big defeat. ”

With a sad look on his face, Cai Yongran sighed: "After that, the Xianbei army was even stronger, and the military horses on the side of the road all took Xia Yu as a lesson from the past, trembling, and did not dare to meet the enemy. The court and the peace conference are also noisy. In the end, His Majesty adopted Duan Ying's proposal, wanted to crown him king, and then proposed a proposal for peace and affection. As a result, he flatly refused, causing the flames to burn even more. The situation is great and difficult to govern, if it weren't for the fact that Tanshi Huai did too much evil, provoked the disgust of heaven, and killed this bureaucracy, it would be a big disaster sooner or later. ”

Although Xia Yu and others were defeated, the war was in line with the consistent style of the Han Dynasty, and the Central Plains Dynasty in later generations who only wanted the frontier to have no major troubles and had to get by.

Usually a small fight and let you, make too much noise, just wait for the strong counterattack of the Han army, this is a tradition left over from the Han Wu era, and it has been pursued for hundreds of years.

However, if it weren't for Cai Yong to talk about it, few people present really knew that behind the war was Cai Yong's promotion and the competition between various forces in the court.

Li Yi listened to these old things in the court with great interest, but it was not the focus of Youzhou's civil and military affairs, and the strength of the Xianbei people was the real focus.

"Although Xia Yu and others are not famous generals, they are also veteran generals who have led the army for many years, they have been on the battlefield for a long time, they are experienced, and they are all cavalry, well-equipped, but they are still defeated so badly, Hulu's combat power should not be underestimated."

"The key is their command and dispatch ability, according to Mr. Cai, the relationship between the chieftain and the tribes is not a strict relationship between the upper and lower levels, let alone the prohibition of orders, mobilizing hundreds or thousands of tribes, besieging the cavalry on all sides, such command and dispatch ability, is really terrifying."

However, according to what Mr. Cai said, after the death of Tanshi Huai, didn't Xianbei fall into civil strife and attack each other? Tanshi Huai was followed by Helian, who invaded my Youzhou last winter, was beheaded by General Zilong, and his nephew Kui was on the throne...... At least for now, Xianbei shouldn't be much of a threat. ”

"I'm afraid that someone will make waves. The barbarians are not stupid, their own people have been fighting for so long, and they have not been able to get a result, at this time, if someone tells them that the Central Plains is already very weak, and someone leads the way, do you say that they will continue to kill each other, or will they go south together? ”

"Zhu Liang really deserves to die, why didn't he catch him in the first place?"

"Zhu Liang alone is not to be afraid, he is just a person with a mouth, the barbarians don't eat his set, the key is still some ill-intentioned people in the court. According to the spies' report, whether it was the previous Liaodong counterinsurgency battle or Xianbei's large-scale southward movement last winter, there were traces of traitors from the DPRK and China making waves behind it. ”

"In this way, the lord sent troops, not only to deal with Xianbei, but also to deter the middle of the court? Well, that's a bit interesting, by now, Liu Taishou and General Gongsun should also understand the situation, whether it is military strategy and martial arts, or the ability to govern and pioneer, they are beyond their reach, and if they continue to be stubborn, they can only be explained by personal ambition. ”

"Yes, the military and civilians of Youbeiping and Liaoxi are flocking to Quanzhou, except for a few people such as Shan Jing, the two families will not be too hindered, and this time the troops will not be a good time to pacify Youzhou."

"Everyone, everyone! Don't just talk about it, the army has not moved, the grain and grass go first, the 100,000 army goes north, how much it costs, we have easily accumulated two years of harvest, and if you don't do it, you will fill it all in, this is also what you want to see? ”

"It is reasonable to say, with the current situation, according to the policy of slowing down the plan formulated by the lord before, the pacification of the grassland is a matter of three or five years, and it can be calmly discussed. Why make such a hasty move? ”

There are many civil and military discussions, each insisting on one word, and there is no agreement.

Li Yi didn't know the reality of Xianbei people at the moment in advance, but he knew that Xianbei would become the main force of Wuhu Chaohua in a hundred years, so he always regarded it as a big problem.

After the Xianbei people invaded the south for two consecutive years, they learned about the specific situation of Xianbei through the mouth of his father-in-law Cai Yongzhi, which deepened Li Yi's worries.

According to Cai Yong's estimates, the total population of Xianbei people today is not less than 3 million. And with the military mobilization ability of the grassland Hu tribe, it is completely possible to easily pull up an army of one million, or even more.

The grassland, like the Central Plains, has also been in turmoil since the death of Tanshi Huai, and the main forces of Xianbei are busy attacking and killing each other, and they have no time to go south. In the past two years, the nominal big leaders and companies of Xianbei led the forces that invaded the south, but they were only a small part of the Xianbei people.

It is conceivable that if the Xianbei people are allowed to resolve the civil strife, integrate their internal forces, and then go south with all their might, the threat will definitely be much larger than the southern invasion in the previous two years.

If he can't resist it, there will be a larger-scale civil strife within the Han Dynasty, and the most serious consequence will be that the Wuhu Chaos will be staged in advance, and it is unknown!

Therefore, after that conversation with Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, Li Yi still decided to follow the emperor's wishes and concentrate on leveling the northern grasslands before the internal chaos of the Han Dynasty was completely chaotic. (To be continued.) )