"The Korean Imperial Army stationed in Liaohai crossed the Yalu River on April 30, the eighth year of Yongle, and successfully occupied Laiyuan Village in the north of the Yangtze River. After that, they followed the valleys and forest passages to Liaoyang Prefecture, and arrived in Liaoyang on the 10th day of the fifth lunar month. !¡±
"The Liaohai camp stationed on Juehua Island in early May, and tens of thousands of ships sailed from Junliangcheng and Salmon Island. Juehua Island has now become the station of the Liaohai camp and an important transfer point for the east-route attack on the Liao army on the Tokyo Road."
"The camp in the northeast of Hebei Province left Baicaokou in early May and attacked the Guangwu Walled City."
"The camp in the northeast of Hebei Province was captured by Shuozhou on the third day of May, and the next day it went to Huanzhou."
"The camp in the northeast of Hebei Province attacked Guangwu City Walled City on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and the armies from Hedong Province left Yanmen Pass and attacked northward."
"The camp in the northeast of Hebei Province entered the city of Yingzhou on the eighth day of May. Zhao Yanzhang, the deputy envoy of the Liao Dynasty's Zhangxi Jiedu, rebelled against the city."
"The army camped in the northeast of Henan Province on the 10th day of the fifth lunar month and conquered Yuzhou. Li Cunzhang, Xu Yanqin and others from the left and right sides of Yuzhou killed Xiao Chuili, the governor of the Wu'an Army of the Liao Kingdom, and rebelled against the city."
"The camp will be held in the northeast of Hebei Province on the tenth day of the fifth lunar month, and troops will enter Keru Prefecture and Khan Prefecture, and troops will advance to Fengsheng Prefecture."
"The Liaohai camp will conquer Jinzhou on the tenth day of the fifth lunar month."
"Liaohai camp will go to Yaozhou on May 12th."
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The Qianyuan Hall in Beijing is now decorated like a former enemy headquarters in later generations. Behind Guo Wei's throne is a large map of the situation in northern Xinjiang, and in the middle of the hall is a large sand table. The map and sand table complete the entire area. The topography of northern Xinjiang and the situation between ourselves and the enemy are clearly marked. Of course, given that Guo Wei and his courtiers now only need to carry out strategic planning for the conquest of Liao, the specific campaign and tactical objectives have been broken down into each camp. Therefore, there is no need to lay out more detailed and specific local situation maps and sand tables here.
But just such a big picture and a big sand table are enough to show the progress of each department.
On the situation map of northern Xinjiang, the various annotations are basically the strategic concept before the war began and the general situation of the Liao army mastered by the Reconnaissance Department at that time. They only used two-color flags to indicate the latest progress on the battlefield based on the battle reports returned from the front line. However, in The markings on the big sand table are much more detailed.
As long as the latest battle report comes. The military advisors of the Operations Research Department will adjust various markers on the sand table, from changes in the enemy's situation to the change of hands of various strongholds, as well as the establishment of the latest transfer points, the extension of rear transfer lines, and the connection of various fronts. And support can be said to be everything.
The progress of the battlefield in the past half month has basically been clearly shown on this sand table. Although due to the different distances between the front line and Beijing and the slightly different communication methods, the overall front arrangement cannot be completely synchronized with the real situation. But in times like these, it is truly outstanding.
??At least in Guo Wei's opinion. It was difficult for him to be demanding of the men of the Intelligence Department and Operations Research Department. After all, there was no satellite or aerial reconnaissance, no radio communications, and no satellite mapping methods in various real-time strategy games. It is commendable that they can rely on telescopes to assist naked eye observation and battlefield intelligence statistics to obtain such detailed front information, and then report it to Beijing in a timely manner through ships and stagecoaches, so that the central government can grasp first-hand information as quickly as possible.
No matter what, although Guo Wei has not yet brought epoch-making progress to the world in this regard. But some things that were just simple experiences at this time, after Guo Wei's overall planning and teaching, what Zhou Jun was able to do was already the first-class level in this era.
The various exclamations of the civil and military officials in the palace when facing the sand table are the best proof.
Whether it¡¯s a map or a sandbox, it¡¯s not like they haven¡¯t seen it before. In the several wars led by Guo Wei, there were also more sophisticated sandboxes. But like this time, the combat area is so vast. The combat objectives have been decomposed and assigned to each camp. Basically, the center is just a bystander and supervisor, but it is able to control the progress of the combat two or three days ago. This is the first time.
Of course, except for Guo Wei himself, who led this change, others did not feel how big the change was or how fast it came.
Although the establishment of the Operations Research Department is somewhat novel, it is not very special in the era of temporary institutions since the late Tang Dynasty. Maps and sand tables have been around since ancient times, but now they are more sophisticated, with various illustrations and labels. It's just more detailed; the relay system is the same as before, with the addition of homing pigeons as an auxiliary. The homing pigeons are too limited to complete the communication between the various attack units, nor can they be mobilized by the central command The attacking troops can only send one-way messages from the attacking units to the original garrison.
Therefore, Xingzhai is actually limited to grasping the situation on the battlefield. Even if the emperor and the two palaces have arrived from Xijing to Beijing, they are thousands of miles away from the battlefields. The central remote controlThe possibility of commanding various units to fight still does not exist. Specific operations still need to rely on the battlefield maneuvers of frontline commanders - of course, a few free changes under the overall operational planning framework provided by the Operations Research Department, and once the overall war situation escapes from the original If the prediction is correct, the center still has time to intervene. However, no one except Guo Wei has become obviously aware of this.
The campaign against Liao began at the end of April, symbolized by the crossing of the Yalu River by the imperial troops stationed in Goryeo. The news reached Beijing in early May. From then until now, the battle situation can be said to be very smooth, even if it does not come with overwhelming force. To describe it, then no matter which army it is, it has never encountered obvious obstacles, but this is unmistakable.
If broken down into each unit, the battle may have had pauses, detours, and even minor setbacks so far. However, in the eyes of the civil and military ministers at the Qianyuan Palace in Beijing, this battle can be said to be progressing with great success - there will be more every day. News of victory, strongholds will be acquired every day, and battlefields will be advanced every day
Although many people expected that the Han'er army of Liao would defect, and although the ministers were convinced of the justice of the dynasty, and believed that many Han'er of Liao would eat pots of pulp to welcome the king's army, the battlefield was still What actually happened still left them stunned.
In Shuozhou, the general of the Liao Kingdom abandoned the city and fled. The Khitan soldiers who were responsible for monitoring the Han army were frightened and also abandoned the city and fled. Therefore, the local Han army just saw Wang Shi's banner and went out of the city to welcome the surrender. Let¡¯s not talk about him. The defenders of Huanzhou were no more than 500 Han soldiers, and of course they had no intention of resisting.
The rapid change of hands of Guangwu Walled City can reveal the military strategy talents of the leading generals. The camp in the northeast of Hebei Province sent one force out of Baicaokou to contain the defenders of Guangwu City. The main force in the middle route detoured to Shuozhou and eventually surrounded the back roads of Guangwu City. This was of course the plan of the Operations Department, but the Operations Department was unable to besiege Guangwu City. Wuchengzhai still stayed for ten days, but Yang Ye, the patrol officer on the border between Daizhou and Sanjiao, used the Liao army's surrender to deceive the city gates into opening, and it only took one day to breach the city. This was not a matter of planning. It's within the company's plan.
As for the offensive in other directions, if Jinzhou and Yaozhou are due to the unexpected cross-sea landing attack of the Liaohai camp and the hasty battle of the Liao army, which was neglected in combat preparations, resulting in the cities changing hands quickly, then the changes of ownership of prefectures and counties such as Yingzhou and Yuzhou are only It can be regarded as the collapse of the Liao Kingdom's rule in Xijing Road.
After Yang Ye led his army to capture the Guangwu Walled City, Hedong Jiedu envoy Xiang Xun sent his troops out of Yanmen Pass and Dashikou, and joined forces with Yang Ye's troops to attack Yingzhou. As a result, the army had just arrived at the city, and the Liao Kingdom Zhangjie Du who stayed behind Deputy envoy Zhao Yanzhang led the Han'er army to open the city and surrender. The five hundred Khitan soldiers responsible for monitoring were caught off guard and were killed by the Han'er army in street fighting before the Zhou army entered the city.
With the assistance of the Yiwu Army, Xie Hui, the inspection envoy of Xishan Road, divided his troops from Feihu and Lingqiu to attack the remaining parts of Yuzhou occupied by the Liao Kingdom and Hunyuan* County in Yingzhou. The defenders of Hunyuan and Guangling counties were weak and vulnerable. , naturally changed hands early, and although Wu'an Army Jiedushi Xiao Chuili was personally in charge of Yuzhou City, he could not suppress his subordinates' thoughts about the Han. Anyway, the Han'er Army established the first city since the Great Zhou Dynasty conquered the Liao Dynasty here. A great achievement, killing the governor of the Liao Kingdom, and being the husband-in-law of the eldest sister of the Liao Lord. This kind of achievement is not easy to achieve.
"The only one who has truly experienced a hard battle is Fan Yang's army who left the fortress from Juyong Pass.
From Juyongguan, you will see Ruzhou right in front of you. Ruzhou, Khanzhou, and Fengshengzhou, which are affiliated to the Wuding Army of the Liao State, are arranged along the Sanggan River Valley in the Yanshan Mountains. Although the Wuding Army of the Liao State envoys Geng Shaozhong has reduced the main force of Wu Ding's army to Fengsheng Prefecture and is ready to retreat to Yuanyangbo in the northwest at any time. However, the defenders of Ruzhou and Khan Prefecture are still very stubborn, and they are making waves in Yuzhou, Yingzhou, Shuozhou and other places. The plot of "Welcoming the King's Master" was not staged in these two places.
However, this is still not difficult for the elite soldiers under Gao Huaide. Fan Yangjun, who has Zhao Manxiong, an expert in digging and blasting, dare not say that he is first-rate in field combat. However, his ability to use various firearms to defend and break the city is probably better than that of the Forbidden Army. Fan Yang, who came out of Juyong Pass The army fought head-on for ten days under the Ruzhou City, paying the price of hundreds of casualties. Finally, they used gunpowder to blow open the city wall and wiped out the stubborn Liao army.
The city of Ruzhou, which had held out for ten days, was defeated. Almost all the troops in the Khan Prefecture, which had been transferred to Ruzhou, were completely discouraged. Although the garrison and generals had been run by the Geng family for many years, they did not know the current affairs like other Han soldiers. But there was no intention or strength to defend the city, so in the morning the city of Ruzhou changed its owner, and in the evening the city of Khanzhou was replaced with the flag of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
"Very good! The camp in the northeast of Hebei was well fought." Guo Wei's expression was not as excited as his tone. He just looked at the sand table lightly, "Fan Yang's army advanced to Fengshengzhou and strived to enter Yehuling as soon as possible to deter the Liao army in the west. Yuanyangbo, the gathering point of the road, cut off the connection between the Xijing Road and the center; the Xishan Road garrison and the Yiwu Army all captured Yuzhou, and supported the east and west flanks; the Hedong armies had already captured Shuozhou, Yingzhou, and then they can attack Yunzhou and completely regain China's lost territory! "
Regardless of whether the Liao army on the Xijing Road was unable to resist or deliberately avoided the war, the initial goal of the Northern Expedition on the West Road was about to be achieved, and Guo Wei had confidence in the Zhou army and was not afraid of any plot by the Liao army here, so he would camp in the northeast of Hebei Province to implement the established policy It is inevitable.
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