Chapter 410: War-Gaming North and South, the Sand Table Settles the Nine Provinces

In the center of the room, at the two-zhang-long sand table, Xu Fengjie was leading several staff officers in war-gaming the shifting battle lines.

"General Staff orders: the First, Seventh, and Eighth Brigades, plus one cavalry brigade and one artillery regiment, will cross the Yangtze along the Taiping Prefecture, Yingtian Prefecture, and Zhenjiang Prefecture line!"

The moment he finished speaking, the other staff officers picked up the dark-green soldiers representing Jiangnan with specially made long poles and placed them north of the Yangtze.

The Great Xia army quickly captured the Luzhou, Chuzhou, Fengyang, and Yangzhou areas, while grain boats and sand junks sailed north along the Grand Canal, keeping pace with the front line.

The sand table was surrounded by civil officials packed so tightly it was almost person against person, shoulder to shoulder—even those far away abandoned all pretense of decorum and stood on chairs to see.

Mao Wenlong was squeezed pitifully into a corner, wanting to push forward but too embarrassed to do so.

That plan to land in Liaodong had been his proposal.

For it, he had been savagely criticized by the entire court for nearly the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and only Lin Qian's intervention had saved him from the torrent of verbal attacks.

To be fair, Mao Wenlong's tactical design was sound—a seaborne landing could indeed catch the Jianzhou barbarians off guard.

But this was the critical moment for contending for the legitimate mandate of the realm—all wealth and manpower had to be devoted to seizing the empire. What did attacking Liaodong mean at such a time? Volunteering to be Li Zicheng's grand general of the northern expedition?

Then Xu Fengjie spoke again: "In the fourth month, Zhang Xianzhong marched west into Sichuan, taking Kuizhou and Zhongzhou. Li Zicheng captured Luoyang and Nanyang and other places."

As his words fell, the staff officers used their long poles to adjust the positions of the two peasant army contingents.

In the southwest, Zhang Xianzhong and Qin Liangyu's forces faced off across the river.

In the north, Li Zicheng and Lei Sanxiang's northern expeditionary army met in the Liang-Huai region, poised on the brink of conflict, ready to ignite at any moment.

Xu Fengjie's war game was drawn up with comprehensive consideration of each army's march speed, terrain, logistics, and many other factors—it could withstand scrutiny.

Nearly the entire high command of Great Xia's army and navy had gathered in this small General Staff hall; if Xu Fengjie's simulation had the slightest flaw, it would immediately draw challenge.

Xu Fengjie paused for a moment, and the staff officers moved Ajige's twenty thousand Qing troops—three mounted Tartar figures scurrying wildly across North Zhili, throwing the whole region into chaos.

Several staff officers removed the county towns around Zhending, Hejian, and Baoding from the sand table, then picked up seven or eight carved wooden figurines of commoners and deliberately laid them flat on the table.

What that meant could not have been more obvious.

This time the Jianzhou barbarians had entered the pass with few men and no artillery—they had come only to burn, kill, and plunder.

Once they had killed and looted everything, the cities would lie in ruins, leaving nothing but corpses strewn across the ground.

Xu Fengjie continued: "In the fifth month, Zhang Xianzhong advances on Baoning and Shunqing. General Qin's forces engage him in Sichuan around Hezhou and

Chongqing——"

On the sand table, Great Xia's dark-green regulars fought a great battle against Zhang Xianzhong's dense green soldiers.

On the other side, Li Zicheng, learning that Great Xia had sent out its army and fearing his retreat would be cut off, led his main force eastward to meet the threat.

In the end, the two armies met near Xuzhou, deployed their formations, and prepared for a great battle.

Xu Fengjie added: "Xuzhou is a crossroads in every direction—since ancient times it has been ground every army must fight for.

The terrain around the city is extremely flat, and with the heavy summer rains, the ground turns muddy—highly unfavorable for artillery mobility and effectiveness.

Li Zicheng, however, commands numerous cavalry; this weather and terrain actually favor the enemy, so the battle may prove rather protracted."

In the gaps between his words, the staff officers moved the Plain White Banner cavalry in North Zhili, several more prefectures and counties were removed from the sand table, and another seven or eight corpse models toppled onto the North China Plain.

In addition, two of the crimson Ming soldiers outside the pass were replaced with figures in the Tartar style with the rat-tail queue.

Wang Hao, director of the Civil Registry Bureau, immediately spoke up: "Hey! What's that supposed to mean? How did they secretly shave their heads?"

Xu Fengjie said: "Exactly—they shaved their heads!"

He pointed at the crimson figures in Liaodong: "These are Zu Dashou's Guanning Army, roughly fifty to a hundred thousand men. Even when the Ming still stood, they were short on grain and pay, barely holding on.

Once the Ming fell and the realm fractured into separate struggles, with his grain and pay cut off, Zu Dashou's surrender to the Jianzhou barbarians was inevitable."

Seeing no further questions, Xu Fengjie cleared his throat and continued: "In the sixth month, both our fronts are at a stalemate.

Li Zicheng detaches a flanking force to march north and take the capital. It reaches Jinan——"

Chen Jiao interrupted in displeasure: "Lei Sanxiang hasn't settled it in a whole month?"

Xu Fengjie said in a grave tone: "Commander Lei employs his troops with great caution. In this battle the Chuang army holds every advantage of timing and terrain. If we win, it will be a small victory; if we lose, it will be a great defeat. Given Commander Lei's style of command, a stalemate is certain."

Chen Jiao opened his mouth but found nothing to refute.

On the sand table, the Chuang army's earth-yellow soldiers stretched dense and vast, covering heaven and earth—compared to them, Lei Sanxiang's men were like mayflies trying to shake a tree.

Scholar Zhou pointed at the dark-green soldiers south of the Yangtze: "Why aren't these troops being moved?"

Xu Fengjie picked up a pointer and called out each unit's designation in turn: "These are the Songjiang Brigade, these are the Hangzhou Brigade——all garrison troops, either newly formed or just transferred in from elsewhere.

Due to the fallout from the Wailing at the Temple case and the purge of the gentry, Jiangnan is now in turmoil with widespread anxiety—troops must remain stationed there to maintain order, so the garrison brigades absolutely cannot be lightly moved.

Of course, the garrison brigades in Jiangxi, Fujian, and elsewhere can be redeployed, but that would hardly change the balance of forces between us and the enemy."

Ye Yifan, having listened intently before the sand table for a long while, asked in confusion: "How does the General Staff know Li Zicheng will definitely take Henan? It seems to me that going through Shanxi, via Taiyuan to the capital, would be closer."

Xu Fengjie said: "Since the seventh year of Tianqi, Shanxi has suffered successive years of drought, followed by repeated outbreaks of plague, and then years of continuous warfare—Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, and others fought Li Zicheng back and forth in Shanxi for years, and the countryside had long been scraped clean, with no grain left to requisition.

Henan, by contrast, has a vast population, ample grain production, dense prefectures and counties, and flat terrain—whether for requisitioning grain, expanding the army, or marching troops, it far surpasses Shanxi.

Therefore the Chuang army is most likely to enter North Zhili through Henan. Even if their siege attempts fail, this route lets them replenish soldiers and supplies and seize rich lands—a guaranteed profit with no loss."

Historically, Li Zicheng had entered the capital region through Shanxi, but that was because before that, Li Zicheng had besieged Kaifeng three times, and the Ming and Chuang armies had fought back and forth across Henan, long since reducing it to ruin.

Moreover, between 1637 and 1641, Henan suffered repeated calamities until the land lay barren for a thousand li and people were eating one another.

By comparison, Shanxi had actually been less devastated.

In the final analysis, though Li Zicheng's invasion route differed, the underlying logic was the same—seize money, seize grain, seize territory.

Every trade has its mysteries; civil officials naturally were not as versed in the art of marching armies as military commanders, so asking simple questions was hardly strange.

Ye Yifan clasped his hands in salute: "I am instructed."

Xu Fengjie returned the salute: "You flatter me."

He then simulated the nationwide war situation for the following months: Qin Liangyu and Lei Sanxiang defeated the main force of the peasant armies, but at terrible cost.

Great Xia's national strength was severely depleted and would require time to recover, ultimately allowing Li Zicheng to strip the north bare and form a north-south standoff.

The Chuang army was a roving-bandit regime that relied solely on its military, so they could collect all grain and supply only their troops.

The worse the famine, the more commoners flocked to enlist, the larger their army grew, and the greater the pressure to launch an offensive against Jiangnan.

In the end, what would arrive before all the northern soldiers starved to death would surely be the butcher's blade from the north.

Along the thousands of li of the Yangtze defense line, if Li Zicheng broke through even one point, the bandit army would sweep south, and the thriving economy of that region would be destroyed in an instant.

Simply put, allowing the Dashun army to expand was pure profit for Li Zicheng; for Great Xia to defend passively meant pure loss the longer it dragged on.

Of course, for Great Xia, a north-south standoff was not entirely unacceptable — the southern economy was overall stronger than the north's, and Great Xia could quickly restore its national strength, confident in its ability to fend off Li Zicheng's attacks.

What Great Xia truly could not accept was the possibility that Zu Dashou would surrender to the Qing, letting the Jianzhou barbarians through the pass — and after the Jianzhou barbarians defeated Li Zicheng, they would seize the opportunity to grow strong and sweep across the north.

The Jianzhou barbarians were far harder to deal with than Li Zicheng — their organization, military mobilization capacity, and ability to sustain prolonged campaigns were all far superior to Li Zicheng's.

Moreover, the northern Hebei region had produced war horses since ancient times — proper tall northern steeds, not the little ponies like the Dian horses or Jeju horses.

This was the one and only horse-breeding ground that Great Xia still had a chance to contend for.

If it were allowed to fall into the hands of either the Dashun army or the Qing army, it would weaken Great Xia and strengthen its enemies.

Xu Fengjie finished his analysis and concluded: "So you see, sending troops up the Yangtze may look like the steady choice, but in truth the prospects are hardly favorable — a northern expedition would be extremely prone to setbacks."

Lin Qian added: "Earlier, some people suggested we hold our forces and watch from the mountaintop as the tigers fight, sitting by while the Dashun army and the Qing army cripple each other.

What they fail to realize is that Li Zicheng and Hong Taiji are not the Trinh Lords or the Nguyen Lords.

We could pull that trick in the South Seas because Annam and Guangnan were both weak states of comparable strength, and we held decisive influence over both sides.

But the Dashun army and the Jianzhou barbarians are both militarily formidable — our influence over them is minimal. Trying that trick again would very easily backfire.

And if it backfired, the situation would spiral completely out of control.

Therefore, we must seize the moment while the situation is still undecided and there is still room to maneuver — and actively send out our troops!"

To corroborate Lin Qian's words, Xu Fengjie ordered the sand table restored, and ran another simulation of the clash between the Dashun army and the

Jianzhou barbarians under the premise that Great Xia did not send troops.

In the first round of the simulation, Zu Dashou surrendered to the Qing, and the Eight Banners' iron cavalry, together with the Guanning Army, fought a decisive battle with Li Zicheng beneath Shanhai Pass. Li Zicheng suffered a crushing defeat and fled back to Xi'an with the remnants of his forces, and the Great Qing took control of all of North China.

Every prefecture and county of the Ming court defected, and all their troops, money, and grain fell into the hands of the Great Qing. The Tartar soldiers swelled rapidly in numbers, ultimately forming a tripartite division of the realm.

In the second round of the simulation, Zu Dashou sided with Li Zicheng, the Qing was blocked beyond the pass, and Li Zicheng unified the north. The earth-yellow peasant army quickly spread until it covered every mountain and field, facing off against Great Xia from north to south.

The new regime's military and fiscal capabilities were extremely formidable, and Li Zicheng had a vast surplus population to serve as reserve manpower — this was essentially nurturing an enhanced version of the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Fengjie then ran a third, fourth, and fifth round of simulations. No matter what choice Zu Dashou made, the Dashun army and the Jianzhou barbarians would quickly determine victory and defeat, or else barely engage at all — never once producing a mutually crippling, deadlocked outcome.

First, because the north was all plains, naturally suited for decisive battles between great armies. Once the decisive battle was fought, victory and defeat were settled, and the fence-sitting Ming troops, old officials, and landowners would know which side to flock to.

Thus the victorious side could rapidly strengthen its national power, gaining soldiers, grain, and pay. Mutual destruction was simply unrealistic — only winner-takes-all.

Second, even if a window period existed in which both sides were mutually crippled and their consolidation incomplete, that window would inevitably be extremely brief. For Great Xia to time its troop deployment precisely within that window would be very difficult to achieve, extremely risky — this strategy was almost textbook armchair generalship.

Third, Li Zicheng and Hong Taiji were both dominant rulers — would they not know the story of the snipe and the clam contending while the fisherman reaps the benefit?

If those two were truly stupid enough to butcher each other and let Great Xia watch from the mountaintop, then Chongzhen would have wiped them out long ago, and the Ming would never have fallen.

The idea of holding forces in place came from the Fujian-Guangdong civil officials. For these men, their family property and Great Xia's very foundation lay in the southeast — there was no need to rush north and fight until heads were bloodied.

To put it plainly, it was a shortsighted policy born of self-interest.

Great Xia had developed to the point of controlling half the realm, and the court had long since fractured into factional lines, each with its own calculations.

To form a united front, the strategy had to be explained clearly. Running a one-man show and rashly dispatching troops would hardly guarantee that the rear would not throw obstacles in the way.

Upon hearing Xu Fengjie's simulations, those Fujian-Guangdong civil officials fell silent, then clasped their hands and said: "We have been taught."

Shang Zhouzuo stroked his beard and pondered for a long while, then asked: "If Li Zicheng occupies the territory inside the pass, and Zu Dashou surrenders and holds Ningyuan and Jinzhou, while the Jianzhou barbarians frequently raid through the pass — what then?"

Shang Zhouzuo was a native of Zhejiang. After Lin Qian raised his forces, he had immediately thrown in his lot, retaining his original official post and serving continuously as Governor of Fujian. He later moved his entire family to Fujian — he was a pillar of the Fujian-Guangdong faction.

Xu Fengjie said: "This time the Jianzhou barbarians entered the pass dispatching only Ajige's twenty thousand men — precisely because of the flanking containment effect of the Dongjiang Battalion——"

At these words, Mao Wenlong's back straightened considerably.

"If what the Governor says is so — that to make the Jianzhou barbarians weaken Li Zicheng, we must give them free rein — then we would have to disband the Dongjiang Battalion and abandon Jiaodao Island, Shenmi Island, and other positions——"

"That won't do!" Mao Wenlong had long grown impatient listening, and finally let out a roar, cutting off the speaker. "Those dog Tartars are a pack of wild wolves — once you give them free rein to pillage villages and hamlets, what then? Getting those beasts back in their pen would be near impossible! Absolutely not!"

Ye Xianggao suddenly spoke up: "Commander Mao's words carry reason. Allowing the Jianzhou barbarians through the pass would also mean the slaughter of our Chinese people.

The annals of history will surely record the shameful chapter of Great Xia voluntarily disbanding the Dongjiang Battalion, colluding with foreign tribes, and wreaking devastation upon the people. We must never become such eternal sinners."

Shang Zhouzuo broke out in a cold sweat on the spot and hurriedly clasped his hands: "Thank you for the Grand Secretary's guidance. This humble official nearly made a grave error in a moment of carelessness."

Ye Xianggao smiled: "It was merely discussion — no harm done."

Ye Xianggao, as Chief Grand Secretary of Great Xia, had remained calm and silent throughout, not uttering a word. His sudden intervention on Mao Wenlong's behalf seemed casual, but in truth concealed a calculating mind.

Mao Wenlong's plan to land in Liaodong had been rejected, and now hearing talk of disbanding the Dongjiang Battalion, resentment was only natural.

Ye Xianggao's endorsement of his view was a slight gesture of appeasement toward him.

Secondly, Shang Zhouzuo was a veteran minister of the Ming, a regional magnate of high rank and great power. Being contradicted by Mao Wenlong, also a former Ming official, was bound to leave him displeased.

Thus Ye Xianggao's intervention also gave Shang Zhouzuo a step down, saving face for both sides and preventing a rift between civil and military officials.

Furthermore, holding forces in place to await the right moment was only suited to small powers — Zhang Xianzhong, for instance, operated that way.

When Great Xia's overall national strength was clearly superior to both the Dashun army and the Jianzhou barbarians, resorting to such tactics was far too passive, far too foolish — practically handing over its advantage with both hands.

Ye Xianggao's words set the tone for the debate, also serving to push the agenda forward — precious time for dispatching troops could not be wasted on futile arguments over whether to fight or not.

This was the skill of a two-dynasty Chief Grand Secretary in harmonizing the state — a single light phrase, elusive as an antelope hanging from a branch, leaving no trace, yet invisibly dissolving the storm and keeping the court deliberation steadily advancing.

Lin Qian understood Ye Xianggao's intent and cast him an approving glance. Scholar Zhou, who had long presided over the Governance Hall, also showed reverence.

The other civil and military officials were mostly focused on the sand table, not giving much thought to the meaning behind the Grand Secretary's words.

Taking this time, the staff officers were restoring the sand table to its original state.

Great Xia retreated back to Jiangnan, Li Zicheng retreated back to Xi'an, and the dead commoners of Beizhili who had littered the ground all came back to life, were picked up and set aside outside the sand table, while several prefectures and counties that had been razed to the ground rose anew from the earth.

Xu Fengjie said: "Next is the central-line advance strategy. We use the navy to transport Jiangnan troops for a landing near the capital region, seizing the capital one step ahead of Li Zicheng——"

The moment he finished speaking, the staff officers loaded Lei Sanxiang's Jiangnan forces onto ships, sailing through the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the Bohai Sea, landing at Tianjin and forming up in battle array.

At the same time, the naval staff officers placed ship models on the sea to indicate escort coverage.

Chief of Naval Staff Lu Ruoteng said: "With our current naval vessels plus requisitioned civilian ships, our maximum transport capacity per voyage is approximately fourteen thousand men — roughly two infantry brigades plus one artillery regiment."

When Great Xia launched its surprise attack on Nanjing, the navy's maximum transport capacity was only about ten thousand men.

This time, landing in the capital region, the distance was greater, and the supplies needed along the way were more numerous—being able to transport fourteen thousand men was already the navy straining every sinew, with most civilian vessels leased and requisitioned, before it could be assembled.

Of course, this was also related to the Great Xia field army's extravagant ammunition consumption and logistical demands; much of the shipboard space and carrying capacity was taken up by weapons, grain, cannons, and gunpowder. If they were transporting Li Zicheng's refugee masses, the navy's transport capacity could still be doubled.

Xu Fengjie said: "At present, the Ming field forces inside the passes have been completely lost. If the Great Ming does not transfer the Guanning Army southward, then whether it is our army or Li Zicheng, the Great Ming has no strength to stop either."

According to the Army General Staff's calculations, Regional Commander Lei's forces can take the capital as early as the third month, and at the latest by the fifth month.

"After that, we can hold the city and defend it. The capital's fortifications are solid, and we have a large number of cannons, supplemented by the navy continuously ferrying troops—Li Zicheng will find it very difficult to breach it, and a stalemate can be formed."

"Why still a stalemate?" some Fujian-Guangdong civil officials complained. "If this war drags on for long, won't it simply waste money and grain?"

Xu Fengjie said: "Our army is fighting across the sea, with insufficient troops. The situation in Beizhili is complex and tangled. Maintaining a balance is already no small feat; to expand outward, we must rely on our navy brothers to transport more reinforcements."

Lu Ruoteng had his subordinate bring over a ledger. He opened it and said cautiously: "The navy can deliver ten thousand troops and their corresponding supplies to Beizhili each month. The fleet's maximum transport capacity can sustain a force of fifty thousand men."

"Of course, this is by sea transport."

"If the grain canal route is opened up, using the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, then the number of troops that can be sustained will increase further."

The assembled Fujian-Guangdong civil officials were still dissatisfied—even with Great Xia's national strength, it could not withstand such expenditure.

Previously, Jiangnan had been granted three years of tax exemption, and the newly conquered regions of southern Sichuan and Jing-Chu also had tax exemption policies; the southwest's finances could barely sustain themselves.

Current tax revenues all rested on the three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi, and Jiangxi, having suffered the destruction of the Leveling Army slave rebellion, was still recovering.

Great Xia, relying on the profits of maritime trade, desperately sucked blood from the various colonies to keep the southern enterprise thriving.

Continuing to transfuse blood northward was truly unacceptable to the civil officials.

Moreover, since the first year of Zhongxuan, the two great silver sources of Hirado and Manila had been shrinking every year.

Manila's decline was due to reduced output from the American silver mines, compounded by the Habsburg royal house's falling out with Great Xia.

Hirado's decline was also due to deteriorating diplomatic relations, as well as the shogunate's trade protectionist policies.

The voucher certificate scandal, the extermination of Li Dan, the expulsion of the Dutch trading post at Nagasaki, and the forced closure of the Nagasaki cannon foundry—these matters had pushed the shogunate's wariness of Great Xia to its peak.

A few months ago, Lin Qian had instructed Chen Jiao to handle the Shimazu clan's encroachment on Ryukyu with a firm hand, and this had stirred up a great uproar in Kyushu; some samurai were already demanding the expulsion of Great Xia merchants.

In short, Great Xia was still prosperous and wealthy at present, but people must have foresight—they could not take whatever spare money they had in hand and fritter it all away.

Wang Hao stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said: "Your Majesty, in recent years the growth in customs revenue has been getting smaller and smaller. The maritime merchants all say overseas business is increasingly hard to do."

After the Dutch withdrew from the South Seas, the transshipment prices at Hoi An port also dropped sharply——

The silver reserves in the national treasury have not seen a major increase for a long time——

"In addition, the grain problem is also very serious. Last year, the total agricultural output of Water Chenla was only one million three hundred ten thousand shi——"

Mao Wenlong thought his ears were stuffed with donkey hair. He quickly dug at them, then opened his mouth wide and said: "Only? One million three hundred ten thousand shi, and you say 'only'? That's enough to feed an army of several hundred thousand!"

Wang Hao said: "True, but compared to the starving refugees in the north, it is a drop in the bucket."

"Moreover, in recent years Great Xia has also been plagued by natural disasters. Guangdong province alone has suffered repeated droughts and insect plagues; the province can no longer feed itself and relies entirely on imports from Water Chenla to stay afloat."

"At such a critical time, forcibly seizing the capital will inevitably damage the nation's strength."

Ye Yifan nodded inwardly. As the Governor of Guangdong, he knew best the province's difficulties.

In recent years, Great Xia had expanded its territory and undertaken massive construction. Guangdong had become very prosperous and wealthy, but most of the money had been invested in long-term matters—building roads and bridges, establishing universities and Buddhist smelting works, issuing incorruptibility stipends to officials, and reducing taxes for the people.

He did not think the current finances were fragile; it was just that they should not be transfusing blood elsewhere, disrupting the originally healthy fiscal structure.

For a moment no one spoke. Just then, Scholar Zhou said in a clear voice: "Since ancient times, the way of founding a state has always been: in the north, govern arms and armor to defend the borders; in the south, transport wealth and tribute to supply the military."

"The two complement each other, jointly supporting the state—neither can be neglected."

"Now, to begrudge the loss of a trifling bit of coin, one would cast aside the northern territories and millions of lives."

"Such timid, shortsighted views are far inferior to the remnants of the Ming that imposed the Three Surcharges yet still thought to defend their soil!"

These words were somewhat harsh, and for a moment the faces of everyone in the hall turned unpleasant.

Lin Qian gave a light cough and hurriedly smoothed things over: "What the Hall Director has said is an eternal truth that has never changed through the ages. You gentlemen's calculations over grain and pay are not born of fear of hardship or reluctance to spend."

"The people's livelihoods in Jiangnan have only just stabilized, and the expenditures in the north are too enormous. Repeating the Ming court's mistake of imposing additional levies would also wound our foundations—this is by no means forgetting the nation or cowering in fear."

"You gentlemen all bear a sincere heart of concern for state and people. Great Xia is fortunate, the people are fortunate. Come, let us take tea and rest!"

As soon as the words fell, maidservants entered the hall to distribute the tea refreshments.

As the assembled ministers ate the double-skin milk chilled in well water, the heat of their quarreling gradually subsided somewhat.

After the tea break was finished, Xu Fengjie tapped the edge of the sand table with his pointer: "According to the General Staff's plan, after Regional Commander Lei forms a stalemate in Beizhili, General Qin will advance from the upper reaches of the Yangtze, first eliminating Zhang Xianzhong and seizing the lands of Sichuan and Chu——"

The army staff officers moved the pieces, shifting the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Brigades north of the Yangtze, where they would encounter Zhang Xianzhong's westward-advancing army along the line from Chengdu to Hezhou.

Compared to Xuzhou, the terrain in central Sichuan was fragmented and unfavorable for cavalry operations, which just so happened to compensate for Great Xia's deficiency in cavalry, while also sealing off Zhang Xianzhong's space for roving—making it convenient to fight an annihilating battle.

Xu Fengjie said: "Sichuan and Chu are both major grain-producing provinces, little affected by natural disasters and warfare. Once we occupy them, we can use the Yangtze to transport the grain of both provinces to Beizhili."

"This not only spares the two provinces from destruction by Zhang Xianzhong's troops, but also threatens Li Zicheng's hinterland from the southwest, echoing Regional Commander Lei from afar and preventing the Chuang army from attending to both ends."

The staff officers then removed Zhang Xianzhong's pieces—two hundred thousand troops vanishing into thin air.

Qin Liangyu's main army split into two routes: a detached force took the Qishan road, exited through the San Pass, and knocked at the gates of Guanzhong, while the main force emerged through the Three Gorges, seized Jingzhou, marched north into Henan, and struck directly at Wancheng and Luoyang, contending for the Central Plains.

Scholar Zhou's eyes lit up at the sight. He clapped his hands in praise and said: "Aren't these two routes precisely the timeless grand strategy set down by Marquis Wu during the Longzhong Consultation—'From Jing-Xiang strike toward Wan and Luo; from Yizhou emerge into Qinchuan'? Marvelous!"

Historically, Shu Han lost Jingzhou, and so could only make the six expeditions out of Qishan—this grand strategy was missing half, and its results were poor.

Now, the regret of Marquis Wu could be made up for by Great Xia.

On the sand table, Qin Liangyu's two-pronged advance pressed close to Henan and Shaanxi.

Li Zicheng, caught between two fires, was forced to split his five hundred thousand troops into northern and southern forces. Hard-pressed on all sides, his battle lines fell back again and again, until he was finally annihilated in the Luoyang area.

The Central Plains achieved unification!

Elegant Black

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