Chapter 304: Three major difficulties! ( words long chapter!)

"Master Jiang, can you give me a solid number of people in various places in Posuo Mansion who are listening to your orders?" After chatting for a long time, Xing Dalin didn't have much patience anymore, so he asked Jiang Chong directly:

After hearing Xing Dalin's question, Jiang Chong also understood that if he wanted to get benefits from Song Wenhui, he had to prove his value and strength to Song Wenhui. This was a very simple truth. He pondered for a moment and then said:
"I led the two thousand most elite cavalry in White Tiger Mountain. They obey no one except my orders!"

"My brother Jiang Yuan has 1,500 men under his command, and they are all ruthless and willing to kill without blinking an eye. My brother-in-law Jia Hetong also has 1,000 men under his command!"

"Sun Wen and Sun Bao, I saved their lives and gave them a lot of benefits. They have always been following me. The two thousand men under their command will definitely listen to my orders!"

"In addition to these people, if you give me enough silver, I can bribe a few more leaders and gather another 1,000 or 2,000 people!"

Hearing the troops listed by Jiang Chong, Xing Dalin's solemn expression looked much better. The total number of soldiers under Zhen Sanshan would not exceed 20,000, while the troops listed by Jiang Chong already numbered 7,000 to 8,000, almost half of the troops under Song Wenhui...

From this point of view, Jiang Chong is quite capable. It is not unfair that he is feared and distrusted by Zhen Sanshan. This guy still has some value that can be utilized.

Because the original plan was no longer practical, and formulating a new plan required long-term consideration, Xing Dalin spent the rest of the banquet mainly asking Jiang Chong about the situation of Zhen Sanshan's subordinates, such as the combat effectiveness of each unit, the deployment of troops in Posa Mansion, and so on.

In consideration of the three thousand taels of silver as a gift, Jiang Chong selectively answered some of Xing Dalin's questions, which made Xing Dalin generally satisfied.

After ending the secret meeting with Zhen Sanshan, Xing Dalin returned to Posuo City and immediately wrote down everything he had seen and heard, as well as his own opinions, in a secret letter, and asked someone to send a pigeon to Song Wenhui, the governor of Liaoyang who was far away in Dongning.

As the Zhenwu Army grew stronger under Chen Dechang's command, Song Wenhui's Liaoyang Army still had the upper hand, but Song Wenhui himself had realized that due to his indecision, he had missed the best opportunity to deal with the Zhenwu Army. Now the Zhenwu Army had become his biggest concern...

Song Wenhui has already made up his mind that after the beginning of next spring, he will go all out to launch a spring offensive to eliminate the Zhenwu Army and no longer give the Zhenwu Army the opportunity to continue to develop. However, in this case, Song Wenhui will face some new problems!
The first and foremost point is the goal that Song Wenhui set for himself!

What Song Wenhui wanted was to cut the Gordian knot and end the battle quickly, preferably within a month!

Song Wenhui has his own reasons for doing this!
In the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Liaoyang Province ranks first among many provinces in terms of area!

However, due to its border location, cold weather, sparse population, and the covetous eyes of foreign races such as the Luobei, Khitan, and Shiwei, Liaoyang Province has never been a prosperous place throughout the dynasties. It is just a poor province ranked in the bottom few!
Although Song Wenhui is now the governor of Liaoyang and commands the entire territory of Liaoyang and is the local emperor of Liaoyang, his control is not very high because of the rampant banditry in Liaoyang and the vast rural areas.

And those important towns were also drained by the aristocratic families. Song Wenhui, who needed the support of the aristocratic families to maintain his rule, was really wary of infringing on the interests of the aristocratic families. He had the intention but not the courage, fearing that his move would push the aristocratic families to the opposite side of himself...

Not daring to offend the aristocratic families, Song Wenhui could only take advantage of the common people who were already suffering from hunger and cold.

Even though Song Wenhui has tried his best to squeeze the poor people, and taxes have been collected after five years, and in some places even after ten years, how much money do these poor people who already have difficulty in getting food have?

Therefore, the money and grain taxes that Song Wenhui could collect every year were not very much. Excluding the part that was handed over to the court out of fear of Shangguan Hongyuan's attack, the money and grain that actually fell into Song Wenhui's pocket was only enough for him to support tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command. There was rarely any surplus...
Therefore, one of Song Wenhui's difficulties was that he was afraid that if the war dragged on for too long and fell into a stalemate, his financial situation would not be able to sustain it. Without money and food to provide for those fierce warriors under his command, Song Wenhui's rule over Liaoyang would naturally be in jeopardy!
In a short period of time, Song Wenhui may be able to suppress it by relying on his prestige in Liaoyang for more than ten years, but if it goes on for a long time, Song Wenhui himself cannot guarantee what will happen!
The second difficulty is that Song Wenhui is worried that after defeating the wolf, another tiger will come, and one wave of trouble will come after another!
It can be said that the Liaoyang Province is surrounded by wolves. On the surface, there are foreign races such as the Robe people and the Khitan people, who are eyeing them covetously, and secretly the Black Dragon Society also wants to get a piece of the pie!

Therefore, if he cannot win the battle quickly and eliminate the Zhenwu Army as soon as possible, then even if he finally eliminates the Zhenwu Army and resolves this hidden danger, he will suffer heavy losses and is likely to be spied on and invaded by alien races!

In addition to facing the dual threats from both the outside and the inside, Song Wenhui also had to face the threat from the imperial court, the threat from the 200,000 elite imperial guards that the Great Zhou Dynasty had built with all its national strength...
Although the situation in the court has been turbulent recently, and there seems to be a storm brewing, as long as Shangguan Hongyuan is alive, the military power of the 200,000 imperial guards of the Great Zhou court will remain in Shangguan Hongyuan's hands.

If Song Wenhui killed the Zhenwu Army, he would inevitably face the thundering wrath of Shangguan Hongyuan. Shangguan Hongyuan, who holds great power, can publicly declare Song Wenhui a traitor, seize the reputation of righteousness, and then mobilize troops from all over the world in the name of the court to fight against Song Wenhui!

Therefore, the third reason why Song Wenhui wanted to win a quick victory was to avoid being attacked from both sides as much as possible. If the Imperial Army and the Zhenwu Army were to meet in Liaoyang, Song Wenhui would be doomed! Fear of the Imperial Army's expedition was also one of the important reasons why Song Wenhui had always been afraid to take action against the Zhenwu Army.

Of course, Song Wenhui has made up his mind to take action against the Zhenwu Army. On the one hand, he has realized that Shangguan Hongyuan is slowly cutting his flesh...

If we don't take advantage of the advantage and fight now, and wait until the Zhenwu Army grows stronger, we will be waiting to be killed, and will definitely be killed by Shangguan Hongyuan.

On the other hand, after contacting various parties, Song Wenhui became confident that the situation in the court would undergo a drastic change in the near future. Even if Shangguan Hongyuan did not die, he would be overwhelmed and unable to take care of himself, and would have no time to take care of the Zhenwu Army far away in Liaoyang!

Because of these three difficulties, although Song Wenhui wanted to win quickly and get rid of the Zhenwu Army with a quick stroke, wanting to do something and being able to do something are two completely different concepts!
According to the information collected by Song Wenhui, the Zhenwu Army in Changqing Prefecture and Fengzhou has a strength of more than 45,000 troops. Not only that, their strength is still growing. It is expected that after the beginning of next spring, their strength will definitely exceed 50,000, and may even reach a scale of 60,000.
Although Song Wenhui was also forced to participate in the arms race and continued to recruit soldiers, his military strength reached nearly 90,000 people.

But who made Song Wenhui on the offensive while the Zhenwu Army was on the defensive?

Sun Tzu's Art of War says that if there are ten of them, surround them; if there are five of them, attack them; if there are twice as many of them, divide them!

As the defending side, the Zhenwu Army hid in the city and was protected by the city walls, which offset Song Wenhui's military advantage. And the most important point was that Song Wenhui was anxious, but the Zhenwu Army was not. They could completely hide in the city and slowly consume Song Wenhui bit by bit, waiting for possible reinforcements to arrive...

Song Wenhui is of course aware of this, so he hopes to find an ally who can help them deal with the Zhenwu Army!
Song Wenhui, who has always been ruthless and will do anything to achieve his goals, first chooses foreign races such as the Luobei and Khitans!

The reason is very simple. Changqing Prefecture where the Zhenwu Army is located is the first line of defense for Liaoyang against the Luobi people. When Song Wenhui transferred the Zhenwu Army to Changqing Prefecture, he wanted to use the Zhenwu Army as a shield for him!
But unfortunately, the Robe people suffered heavy losses after a clash with the Golden Horde in the Elunqin steppe. The main force of the Zhenwu Army, under the command of Wang Muzhi, was tightly deployed in various counties under the jurisdiction of Changqing Prefecture, leaving the Robe people no chance to take advantage.

Therefore, the Luobei people saw no opportunity to gain advantage and therefore never moved south. As a result, Song Wenhui's plan to use the Zhenwu Army as a shield was immediately dashed.

However, if Song Wenhui took the initiative to contact Luo Biren and attack the Zhenwu Army from both sides, Luo Biren would definitely agree for the sake of benefits.

The Luobi people are the second largest force on the grassland after the Golden Horde. They have a strong military force. Although they have just suffered heavy losses from the defeat by the Golden Horde in the Elunqin steppe, it is not a problem to mobilize 70,000 to 80,000 people for war in a short period of time. With their help, the failure of the Zhenwu Army, which is attacked from all sides, is an inevitable result...

Considering this matter purely from a military perspective, this is indeed a brilliant move that can determine the outcome of the battle!

But the military has always served politics; the military is an extension of politics!
As the governor of Liaoyang, Song Wenhui not only had to consider the military benefits, he also had to consider the political impact!

If he was just dealing with the Zhenwu Army, Song Wenhui could still find a series of excuses, saying that the Zhenwu Army had poor military discipline and harassed the people of Liaoyang, and that he, as the governor of Liaoyang, was getting rid of this harm for the people; or that the Zhenwu Army had been mobilized privately, disobeyed orders, and had ill intentions. Even as a local tyrant, he could easily fabricate a lot of evidence to make himself stand on moral grounds!

Even if Shangguan Hongyuan publicly declared him a traitor, Song Wenhui could still challenge Shangguan Hongyuan from a distance, saying that Shangguan Hongyuan was the number one traitor in the Zhou Dynasty, holding the emperor hostage to control the princes. He wanted to purge the emperor's side. The aristocratic families in the world were already incompatible with Shangguan Hongyuan. As long as Song Wenhui was the first to speak out, everyone would support him.

But if you unite with foreign tribes to deal with the Zhenwu Army, that would be another matter!
The Great Zhou and even the previous dynasties have had countless blood feuds with foreign races for thousands of years. If Song Wenhui dares to go against the world and join forces with the Luobi people to deal with the Zhenwu Army, he will be cutting himself off from the Great Zhou and the world, which is a clear case of treason!
There are no excuses!
In terms of justice, I have already lost miserably...
Song Wenhui's reputation has been completely ruined since then, and everyone in the world is ashamed to be associated with Song Wenhui!
As a result, Song Wenhui would first have to face the excited public sentiment among his own soldiers, the surging public opinion, and the disloyalty of the aristocratic families who supported him. It can be said that the battle was half lost before it even started!

Secondly, although the aristocratic families in the world value interests, they still want to maintain their basic reputation. If Song Wenhui dares to collude with alien races, they will curse Song Wenhui to death and say that Song Wenhui is lucky!
Besides, the saying "those who are not of our race must have different hearts" is not just talk. The Luobi people are well-known for their wolfish ambitions. There is no guarantee that after they kill the Zhenwu Army, they will have some evil intentions towards their ally Song Wenhui!
Therefore, considering the political impact of colluding with the Luo people and the risk of inviting a wolf into the house, Song Wenhui and several trusted generals discussed it briefly and decisively gave up this plan.

Colluding with the Luo Bi people would mean killing five hundred enemies but losing one thousand of your own. There is no other solution. Song Wenhui would never do such a thing unless he is completely desperate and defeated!
Since foreign races cannot be chosen, then Song Wenhui only has one ally left who is capable of helping him deal with the Zhenwu Army - Zhen Sanshan, the leader of the Liaoyang Green Forest Army!
Zhen Sanshan, who is entrenched in Posa Prefecture, although his headquarters does not have many troops, probably no more than 20,000, but this old man has been in the Liaoyang green forest for a lifetime, and his reputation and prestige are loud enough!

He stood up and raised his arms in the green forest to call for help. He was able to gather all kinds of bandits, gangs, bandits, horse gangs and other green forest people. There were probably at least 70,000 to 80,000 people, if not 100,000. Even if this group of people was a mob, they were enough to be cannon fodder...
Therefore, Song Wenhui had always wanted to drag Zhen Sanshan onto his own pirate ship and let Zhen Sanshan join him in the Zhenwu Army. For this purpose, he also wrote many personal letters to Zhen Sanshan and offered a very high price. He even lowered his status as the governor-general and wanted to meet with Zhen Sanshan, the bandit leader, in Posuo Mansion.

(End of this chapter)