Shi Zhen was not used to riding fast horses. He arrived at Biyang with the third group of people, and it was already dusk.
Cheng Lunying was a diligent worker. When he learned that Shi Zhen had arrived, he took several family members to the warehouse in the south of the city to meet him, regardless of how late it was.
When he learned that Ning Ci did not send anyone to Jianye in the name of Nanyang government office to go to the Privy Council to verify the omissions in the writing, but secretly sent his servants out of the city to Jianye with a private letter, Shi Zhen asked Cheng Lunying to sit down and sighed slightly: "Ning Ci
He is a smart man, but he has seen some tricks. I'm afraid we won't be able to maintain this enchantment formation for long..."
"..." Cheng Lunying took a sip of tea and didn't say much to explore the root cause. He just asked, "But I don't know if Shi Xianxian and Xu Hou have anything that Lunying can help with?"
"You should also have heard about the fact that Marshal Jie captured the Zheng family and his son in the Political Hall, right?" Shi Zhen asked.
"..." Cheng Lunying nodded and said, "I know a little bit about it, but I am deeply confused and don't know the solution."
"Yeah, up to this point Shi doesn't know whether this matter is good or bad for Chushan, but Commander Jie is very insistent."
Shi Zhen told Cheng Lunying the whole story of the secret edict one by one and said,
"Commander Jie was worried about watching the fire across the Chu Mountain. The two tigers of Huaidong and Huaixi were competing for balance. The Huaihe River would be taken advantage of by the barbarians, so he decided to uphold the holy will and cut off one of them. However, paper cannot cover the fire after all. How will the people of the world view it in the end?
This matter is really difficult to predict. In addition, after King Huai ascends the throne, he will hold the authority of the emperor, and Jiang and Huaihe will be integrated into one. At that time, it is not known whether King Huai will have the capacity to tolerate Chushan. In Cheng Langjun’s opinion, Chushan will adhere to His Majesty’s
His legacy is to expel the barbarians and regain the Central Plains. What should we do?"
Cheng Lunying suppressed the shock in his heart, pondered for a long time, and said:
"The Prime Minister has long been trying to reset the southwestern road of Beijing to resist the enemies of Heluo and western Beijing. This is actually the best policy. However, there was fierce opposition in the court. Emperor Daxing (the emperor passed away and before the posthumous title was agreed upon, everyone used Daxing as Daxing).
It is difficult to overcome the public opinion that the emperor should be proportionate); Lunying thought that after the new emperor ascended the throne, it might be difficult to raise this issue again. However, without Nanyang Xiangwei in Chushan, his lips and teeth were too thin to resist powerful enemies and not enough to provide a shield for the vassal.
, Since Commander Jie does not care about personal losses, it is important to ensure that Nanyang is included in the jurisdiction of Chushan, so as not to be isolated by the government and the opposition, and want to serve the country but have no way..."
Cheng Lunying used to be a member of the scholar-officials, and he was very aware of the scholar-officials' rejection of Chushan. At the same time, he was also very aware of the past performances of Yang Maoyan, Wang Boxian and Ge Boyi, the important ministers in the Huai Dynasty. It is not difficult to imagine that Chushan was
Isolated future.
If Chushan only controls the two states of Ru and Cai, with jurisdiction over 700,000 soldiers and civilians, and is also isolated by the imperial court, Cheng Lunying doesn't think Chushan can really sustain it for long - in the end, if Xu Huai is deprived of military power, and there are so many generals in the government and the public, who can?
Take on the important task of expelling the Huru and regaining the Central Plains?
Therefore, when Cheng Lunying saw Chu Shan's transfer, she had some suspicions in her heart, but she still supported it.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have rushed out of the city to see Shi Zhen.
"Mr. Cheng is indeed very insightful. Please ask Mr. Cheng to accompany Shi to Hualing. Let's meet the Commander-in-Chief and help Shi Zhen exonerate him." Shi Zhen asked.
"How do you say this?" Cheng Lunying asked in confusion.
"The Commander-in-Chief sent an order to Wuyang to mobilize more than a thousand cavalry to ensure the smooth transportation from Wuyang to the mouth of the Hualing River. Shi Mou took the initiative and expanded the scale of the mobilization to 3,000 cavalry, 10,000 troops and hundreds of new troops.
Yuxiang officials filled in Zhufengtang's grain warehouses in various places in Nanyang Prefecture, and at the same time, all the affairs of Zhufengtang within Nanyang Prefecture were directly brought under the jurisdiction of the Changshiyuan." Shi Zhen said with a bitter smile, "I tampered with it.
The military order, of course, requires Hualing to apologize to the Commander-in-Chief in person..."
"..."
Cheng Lunying opened his mouth. Throughout the day today, more than 1,200 cavalrymen entered Biyang from the direction of Wuyang. He thought that Chushan would eventually have 3,000 or 4,000 troops stationed in various places in Nanyang, maintaining the supply line across Nanyang Prefecture, and heading towards Biyang.
The imperial court expressed a tough stance, but it did not expect that the final scale of the transfer would be even larger, nor did it expect that this was only Shi Zhen's suggestion for the time being, and did not even receive Xu Huai's permission at this time.
"..." Cheng Lunying thought for a while and said, "Ning Ci wants to send someone to Hualing to meet Xu Hou, so I will ask for this dispatch and accompany Mr. Shi on the trip."
Shi Zhen, Xu Wujiang, and Tang Pan said, "You guys are here to reorganize the troops. Cheng Langjun and I will go on the road overnight, so that we can still travel by car without the pain of the bumps on the horse's back."
"We all agree on the change of military orders. Mr. Shi should not take all the credit!" Xu Wujiang said with a smile.
Chushan occupied the two prefectures of Ru and Cai and reached the west of Beijing. The enemy of Heluo had a population of less than 800,000 and 178,000 young and strong men. At every turn, more than 100,000 soldiers were recruited to participate in defense, combat and mobilization.
The intensity is far beyond the imagination of the world, and the money and food are even more eager to break and spend every copper.
How big of a joke would it be to say that people in Chushan do not want to merge Nanyang Mansion under the jurisdiction of Chushan Xingying for unified deployment?
Nanyang Prefecture was formed by merging the Tang and Deng states. It is located between Tongbai and Funiu Mountains. The land is flat and fertile, with a very high proportion of cultivated land. It also has abundant rainfall and a mild climate. It has been a major farming area since the past dynasties.
Before the Chihu invaded the south, there were more than 700,000 households in Nanyang and the two prefectures. Since the Chihu invaded, people from Hehuai and Heluo moved south through Nanyang on a large scale, but there are still 200,000 to 300,000 refugees and hungry people stranded in Nanyang.
In comparison, Xiangyang City is a companion capital and has a more important strategic position due to the danger of the Han River. It has always been the location of the South Beijing Road Supervision Department. However, except for occupying the southern part of the Nanyang Basin, the rest of the city is hilly and hilly.
, the cultivated land situation was not much better than that of Huaiyuan. Before the Chihu people invaded the south, there were only 300,000 households in the entire Xiangyang Prefecture.
Looking at the people and land of Nanyang Mansion alone, everyone in Chushan dreamed of bringing Nanyang under the rule of Chushan.
However, there has always been too much resistance.
After Zheng Huaizhong, Zheng Cong and his son led the Shenwu Army to Huainan, what Chushan finally obtained was the right to purchase grain in Nanyang Prefecture.
However, with Shi Zhen's persistence, this work was accomplished to the extreme.
In order to bypass the market merchants, who are mainly large landowners, and directly extend their tentacles to various villages to purchase grain from farmers and small and medium-sized landowners, with the support of Shi Zhen, Zhufengtang took Biyang Chengnan Warehouse as the core and established a large-scale operation in Nanyang.
Hundreds of grain stacks were built in various important water and land transportation areas.
Of course, these grain warehouses are all small-scale. They may be one or two small warehouses built close to the ferry, inn or village. On a daily basis, only two or three people are stationed, responsible for traveling from village to village to contact households and assisting the mule and horse teams.
Loading, unloading, and transporting grain ensured that in the past year or so, a total of about 200,000 shi of grain was transported to Chushan at a low price.
The military order sent by Xu Huai to Wuyang required the troops to mobilize more than a thousand cavalry to ensure the safety of the transport route from Wuyang to the mouth of the Hualing River.
In fact, there are two key nodes from Wuyang to Hualing River Estuary:
From Wuyang and other places to Fangchengdongshedian Warehouse, the whole journey is overland, and a team of mules and horses is needed to transport grain, fodder and ordnance; from Dongshedian Warehouse to Biyang Chengnan Warehouse, small and medium-sized sailing boats can be used to transport grain, fodder and ordnance, all the way from Biyang Chengnan Warehouse
From the mouth of the Hualing River, and even from the Hualing River and Changlin River, grain, fodder, ordnance can be transported to the front line by medium-sized sailing boats.
In addition to the two key nodes of the Yundao Road, the Dongshedian Warehouse and the Biyang Chengnan Warehouse, as long as there are warning posts along the way, more than a thousand horsemen will be enough.
However, Shi Zhen discussed with Xu Wujiang, Xu Wuqi, Fan Yong, Pan Chenghu and others who stayed in Wuyang. In the end, without Xu Huai's permission, he directly adjusted the plan, except for the two key points of Dongshedian and Biyang City.
Outside the node, Xuwujiang and Tangpan, after stationing at the warehouse in the south of Biyang City, will directly send batches of manpower to the four grain purchase stations extending southward along the Tang River to the north of Xiangcheng County. Once in place, they will directly use Chushan Line.
In the name of the battalion, we requisitioned land from the periphery, recruited laborers, and built material transfer camps to ensure that there was a large material and manpower transfer station every four to sixty miles from south to north in Nanyang Prefecture, which would be deployed separately in the future.
A battalion of elite soldiers and the corresponding carriage troops and mules and horses entered it.
In addition, a township official will be assigned to lead six to ten garrison or supply troops to hundreds of grain stores distributed throughout Nanyang Prefecture.
At the end of September, grains from various places in Nanyang Prefecture were harvested and put into warehouses. This was nominally to strengthen the procurement of grain in Nanyang Prefecture, to support the suppression of the Dongjing bandit army to the maximum extent, and to avoid as much as possible the food pressure was still huge.
Ru and Cai Prefectures transferred grain, but in fact they wanted to form de facto military control over Nanyang Prefecture.
In Shi Zhen's view, Nanyang Mansion is inevitable this time, and it is not even limited to this.
Therefore, Shi Zhen was in a hurry and had no time to send people to Xu Huai for instructions. After discussing with Xu Wuqi, Xu Wujiang, Fan Yong, Pan Chenghu and others, he persuaded the two wives and finally directly changed Xu Huai's military order.
Because of this change, the impact on all aspects involved was extremely profound. Shi Zhen could not take into account the bumpy road and tiredness, so he could only embark on the journey himself and rush to Hualing to meet Xu Huai...
…………
…………
At this time, Xu Huai had just arrived in Hualing County and met with Zhu Zhi. He was still unclear about the change of transfer order.
He stood at the head of Hualing City, looking at the desolate surroundings in the dusk. Zhu Zhi stood beside him and said:
"...In early March, the Jingnan Zhiji Department gathered troops and horses in Tanzhou and launched a massive attack on the bandit's lair along the west Dongting coast. This forced the bandit army entrenched in the Sihu area to go south for reinforcements. The pressure on Jingfu and other places was suddenly reduced, and they took the opportunity to recover.
A lot of ground was lost, but after entering the flood season, the water along the Dongting Lake rose sharply. Several water battles were unfavorable and the casualties were heavy. The front line had to be reduced, which made the rebel army become arrogant again..."
In June last year, the Dongjing rebel army was restless and aggressively attacked the north bank of the Jingjiang River. Mianyang and other counties fell for a time, and Hualing County barely held on. However, the former magistrate Guan Xiangyun and other officials unfortunately died in the line of duty. With the return of soldiers and horses from northern Jingjiang, successive
Retaking Mianyang and other lost cities required a group of officials to fill the vacancies.
At that time, Zhu Hang hoped that Zhu Zhi could get real experience, so he chose the position of Hualing County Magistrate for him, but he was almost embarrassed by Princess Rongle.
After Zhu Zhi took office in Hualing County, the Jingbei Capital Deployment Department was stationed in Jiangling City in Jingzhou in the south with heavy troops. He stepped up training of rural soldiers, reorganized defense, and resumed farming, but he also did an impressive job.
However, after the flood season this year, with the strategic contraction of Jingnan soldiers and horses south of Jingjiang River, the rebel army's momentum increased sharply again. Jingbei soldiers and horses also failed many times in field battles in Jiangling and other places, and Hualing County was once again frequently invaded by the rebel army.
Zhu Zhi still thought that when the flood season was over and the floods receded, the Jingnan soldiers and horses would once again increase the intensity of the campaign. However, until the death of Emperor Jianji, there was no movement on the south bank of the Jingjiang River...
