"At this point, we don't have many ways to make up for it," Shi Zhen frowned and said in a hoarse voice, "Of course, the development of the current situation may not be as bad as we fear, and it is difficult to
save!"
Han Gui glanced at Xu Huai, who was standing in front of the window, looking out at the sky. He intuitively felt that his tall and strong figure was like a mountain lying in front of everyone, and he could not guess what he was thinking.
"The imperial court has taken great precautions against us. If we really want to poke some holes, it might not be a bad thing!" Pan Chenghu said straightforwardly.
Han Gyu glanced at Dong Cheng.
Dong Cheng sat upright, but he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
He is now in charge of prison affairs in Beijing and Xiang, and is in charge of the Constitutional Affairs Bureau. He knows very well why Hu Kai and Liu Yan are jealous, and he also knows very well why Emperor Shao Long can no longer restrain himself.
In the past two years, the Red Husbands had concentrated an army of 300,000 troops from the center to attack Rucai. The imperial court was afraid that Jingxiang would not be able to support it, causing Jinghu to collapse and endangering the foundation of half of the country. Even if the imperial court did not directly provide money, food and soldiers,
Ma sent reinforcements to Jingxiang, but he was cautious and did not take any additional actions to suppress Jingxiang, and even took many illegal actions against Jingxiang, such as Wang Ju leading armed forces
The merchant group tried to force themselves to turn a blind eye to the matter of leaving the country and going south to Lushui.
In February this year, Chi Hu withdrew his troops from the Rucai front line, declaring that the confrontation in the middle had come to an end. More importantly, in the past two years of confrontation, although the cumulative casualties in Beijing and Xiangxi were nearly 30,000, the result was far better than what the court had done before.
anticipation.
The reason why Dong Cheng confirmed that the imperial court had a relatively accurate grasp of the casualties in Jingxiang and Xiangzhou was that, on the one hand, there were still a large number of ministers directly appointed by the imperial court to occupy important positions in the prefectures and counties, and on the other hand, the Zhennan Zong Palace also did not shy away from the intention.
Publicize the battle losses of both sides in the jurisdiction.
At present, in addition to the Jingxiang Military Intelligence Department sending spies to lurk in western Beijing, Heluo and other places to spy on information, Dong Cheng believes that Huaixi, Huaidong and other places should also conduct corresponding intelligence spying.
Therefore, Jingxiang had no way to deliberately exaggerate the battle losses to weaken the court's wariness and suspicion.
It is obvious that after the Chihu people significantly reduced their troops in the middle and ended the confrontation, Emperor Shaolong and the generals of Qiandi (the direct descendants of Prince Huai's Mansion) focused on preventing Jingxiang from further gaining power.
Of course, at this time, the foundation of Beijing and Xiangzhou was already solid, and the military front was so strong that even three hundred thousand captive soldiers could not defeat it. Moreover, it was also located in key places such as Jingzhou, Xiangyang, and Nanyang. Emperor Shaolong no longer had any intention of holding back.
It is impossible to point the finger directly at Jingxiang.
Perhaps in Emperor Shaolong's view, the top priority should be to eliminate the infiltration and influence of Beijing and Xiangzhou on the court, and then he could slowly plan for it.
Hu Kai, who served as the privy envoy and had been in charge of the military and political affairs of the DPRK for many years, unfortunately fell into the first target of Emperor Shaolong.
Hu Kai has always been on good terms with Jingxiang (Chushan). Even Xu Huai's ability to gain a foothold in Chushan in his early years was mostly dependent on Hu Kai's support.
In the past two years, Hu Kai has repeatedly called for the direct dispatch of troops and horses to reinforce Beijing and Xiangzhou.
Hu Kai had a clear conscience, and even hoped to mobilize state troops and horses from Jingnan and Jingbei to participate in the rotation of the Rucai defense line. In addition to further consolidating the defense in the middle, it would also enable Jingnan and Jingbei troops to further strengthen their strength in actual combat.
Get tempered.
However, the most difficult thing to understand in the world is the human heart.
When Emperor Shaolong, Wang Boxian, Yang Maoyan, Ge Boyi and others were fully expecting that both Jingxiang and Chihu would be killed, Hu Kai urged foreign reinforcements to join the Rucai battle, not to protect Jingxiang.
?
What's more, at that time, Xu Huai repeatedly wrote to ask for help, and Wang Fan in Jianye also loudly called for the deployment of troops and food to reinforce Jingxiang. Hu Kai's voice probably sounded more harsh to Emperor Shaolong, right?
After entering the summer, he saw that Chihuping Yanzong's palace was making frequent moves in Xusu and other places. Hu Kai also urged Liu Yan to lead his troops to switch defenses with the Guide army and guard Guangzhou. It is no wonder that Emperor Shaolong suspected that this move was a plan between Jingxiang and Hu Kai.
Qiong Dagger saw that even Liu Yan was involved.
To be honest, Dong Cheng couldn't tell whether Hu Kai's expulsion from the court and Liu Yan's deprivation of military power would have serious consequences, but as Pan Chenghu said, if it really led to changes in the Jianghuai defense line, the court would have to blame itself.
At the same time, this may not be a new opportunity for Beijing and Xiangzhou.
Dong Cheng thought, ??????????????? Han Gui glanced at him, this must be what he meant, right?
Thinking of this, Dong Cheng sat up straight and said to Xu Huai: "Your Majesty's edict has been issued. No matter how anxious you are, I'm afraid it will be difficult for your majesty to take back the order. The top priority is that you should consider the current situation and make plans to prevent it from going bad."
Don’t worry!”
Han Gui said slowly: "Even if we expect that Hu Gong will be expelled from the court and Liu Yan will be suspected and removed from the military power, it will bring a big loophole in the Jianghuai defense line, but what will actually be the consequences in the end? It is still
It is unpredictable. The development of the current situation will be interfered by too many factors, and the Red Guards may not be able to seize these loopholes and march forward. Of course, the decision made by His Majesty, Wang Boqian, Yang Maoyan, Ge Boyi, Han Shiliang and other direct generals,
I believe it would be impossible without their weighing the pros and cons..."
While the confrontation in the middle has come to an end, everyone still hopes that the defense lines on the east and west wings can be more stable to buy more time for Beijing and Xiang to rest and recuperate.
The production company also uses this to formulate corresponding plans for implementation.
When the latest news from Jianye came, everyone was a little surprised at first, and even a little panicked. But after thinking about it carefully, if the defense line between the Huaihe River and Huaihe River is really as stable as Mount Tai, will it really be beneficial to Beijing and Xiangyang?
Or maybe Chi Hu launched another offensive from the east this autumn and winter and returned after being frustrated, and the second Huainan battle ended with the imperial court winning a great victory. How would the situation change?
Will the Chihu people temporarily put aside their motivation to invade the south, and can the imperial court completely free up its hands to target Jingxiang?
In addition, how long can the Qionglai Mountain incident be kept secret?
Based on this calculation, if the Jianghuai defense line is not defended, it will be a good idea for Jingxiang and Beijing to drive away tigers and swallow wolves.
Of course, apart from resting step by step and further building their own foundation, what Jingxiang can do is also very limited.
Han Gui's current view is that Jingxiang should remain unchanged in response to all changes. Even if the Huainan defense line is breached, the Red Husbands will not dare to advance forward without removing the flank threat in Jingxiang.
If we say that when Emperor Jianji passed away, Xu Huai did not care about his personal reputation and reputation and ordered the execution of the Zheng family and his son to help Emperor Shaolong ascend the throne. This was a last resort choice made because he did not dare to imagine the consequences of the collapse of the Huainan defense line. At this time
In fact, Beijing and Xiang are no longer so afraid of problems with the Huainan defense line.
In fact, problems with the Huainan defense line will be more beneficial to Beijing and Xiangzhou than problems with the Qinling defense line.
Xu Huai turned around, looked at everyone in the hall, and said firmly: "I still want to go to Jingzhou!"
"What excuse did you use to go to Jingzhou?" Han Gui asked, "I made you uneasy about living in Biyang and went to Jingzhou to live for several months without knowing whether there would be changes in the Jianghuai River. Isn't this the sound of the wind in the court?"
Jingzhou is nearly two thousand miles away from Jianye, but both are connected by the Jingjiang (Yangtze River) waterway. If you follow the river downstream, you can fly to Jianye City in as little as three to five days.
But nothing has happened now. If Xu Huai claimed to go to Jingzhou to guard against changes in the Jianghuai River, in the eyes of Emperor Shaolong and his direct generals, besides appearing to have more ulterior motives, what else could he do?
"Building the Jingjiang embankment is the top priority this year. I have to go to Jingzhou to take charge of the matter personally, but this is a reasonable excuse!" Shi
Zhen said.
"I will go to Jingzhou in the name of supervising the construction of the Jingjiang embankment!" Xu Huai said decisively.
Even though it was just speculation at the moment, Xu Huai still didn't want to see Huainan's defense line completely eroded and slowly step forward to clean up the situation.
In that case, the damage to the entire Huainan would be too great.
Now he has no reason or excuse to intervene, but he is as prepared as possible to deal with it.
After Xu Huai made up his mind, he immediately dropped what he was doing and rushed to Jingzhou to preside over the construction of the Jingjiang embankment and at the same time inspect the construction of the navy.
There are two naval forces in Jingxiang, one is under the jurisdiction of Shenzhou Xingying, with Xu Ling as general, responsible for water surface defense and operations in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River and tributaries such as Shihe River and Mingxi River, and the other is under the supervision of the Jingzhou Military and Horse Command.
Under the jurisdiction of the department, we will prevent Dongting Lake and Jingjiang River from breeding bandits again and invading both sides of the river.
On the one hand, the money Beijing and Xiang can squeeze out in the past two or three years has focused on building the Rucai defense line, strengthening the Tianxiong Army, and selecting the elite infantry and cavalry of the vanguard army. On the other hand, Jingzhou is located in the deep hinterland of Dai Viet, and Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and other troops
They have all accepted the recruitment, and there are only a few rogue bandits left. Under the pressure of the officers and soldiers in Jingnan and Jingbei, there is no possibility of becoming a force in a short time.
Therefore, the Jingzhou naval force took Wang Zhang as its capital, Marquis Yu, and had only two thousand sailors, including generals and boatmen, so its scale was extremely limited.
Once the Jianghuai defense line changes, the naval power of Jingxiang on the Jingjiang River (Yangtze River) is far from enough. But if Jingxiang directly on the Jingjiang River expands its navy on a large scale, what will the imperial court think?
Of course, the flood season on the Huaihe River is about to pass, and the Pingyanzong Palace has been preparing for nearly half a year. It will launch an offensive from the east road at any time. At this time, it is too late to expand the Jingzhou navy.
Given the current situation, once the Jianghuai defense line changes, the limited-scale Jingzhou naval force can only act as a guard. The main thing is to urgently transfer a batch of cargo merchant ships from Zhufengtang and secretly transform them into troop transport ships in order to transfer some of the elite troops who have gathered in Jingzhou in advance.
Horses, transported to the needed battlefield as quickly as possible...
