If we fight north from Huai'an, we will only reach Haizhou, but Haizhou is not a big city in this era. The city is not big and the walls are not high.
The most important northern city closest to Dachen is Xuzhou City.
General Zhao Lu once showed Shen Yi the Navy General Summary written by General Zhao Chong himself. The second half of that book was the Northern Expedition Strategy written by General Zhao Chong.
The first Anping Marquis, in the last ten years of his life, had been thinking about the Northern Expedition. He wrote down all the strategies he deduced for the Northern Expedition in the second half of the naval general.
Shen Yi originally asked Shen Heng to write down that part, and later copied it into a booklet, which he carried with him and turned over frequently over the years.
Among all the Northern Expedition routes deduced by General Zhao Chong, the first big city to be conquered was Xuzhou!
This is the first big city north of Chen State!
It is precisely for this reason that Shen Yi sent Lin Sheng, one of the eight team leaders of the Di News Department, or one of the eight division chiefs, to the north and invested a large amount of cash in him, allowing him to take root in Xuzhou Prefecture.
germination.
At that time, Shen Yi was laying out plans for Xuzhou.
Last year, when Shen Yi spread rumors about the fourth prince of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Zhao Kai, Xuzhou's Di newspaper department had already played a role.
It's a pity that the army in Shen Yi's hands has been passively beaten last year, and the Qi people have increased their troops in Huaihe. Shen Yi has never found a suitable opportunity to go north. As for attacking Xuzhou, there is no way to talk about it.
But this year…
Ever since the Chinese New Year, Shen Yi has been keeping his eyes on Xuzhou.
First of all, the Qi people's army on the Huaihe River, which they called the Southern Expedition Army, only had a strength of 100,000 people.
This southern expedition army surged to 200,000 soldiers last year because Emperor Yongping of the Northern Qi Dynasty forcibly increased his troops to the Huaihe River.
Fighting means making money. It is impossible for Northern Qi to maintain an army of 200,000 people by the Huaihe River. In addition to the factors of military expenses, a considerable part of the 100,000 new people last year came from Yandu.
Those who were transferred from the Forbidden Army need to be transferred back to Yandu.
In fact, at the end of last year, the Qi troops on the north bank began to disperse one after another.
As of this year, although the Conquest Army on the north coast is also recruiting new soldiers to make up for the vacancies lost in last year's battle, even if they make up for it, it will only be 100,000 people.
Moreover, the elite troops of the Southern Conquest Army were almost completely lost last year. In addition, among the 100,000 people on the north bank, a considerable number of them will be new recruits. Master Shen still wants to give the strength of this Southern Conquest Army a try.
Seeing the excitement on Su Ding's face, Shen Yi glanced at him and warned: "Just think about this matter yourself and don't tell anyone."
He added: "Don't even talk about Xue Wei, he has a big mouth and can't hide things."
Su Ding lowered his head slightly and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Shen, you will eventually understand."
Mr. Shen rapped the table with his knuckles and said, "Furthermore, you go down with Xue Wei and take good care of the people below. If something happens, don't go to Yuan Fuxian and let outsiders laugh at you."
This sentence is the key to the conversation between Shen Yi and Su Ding.
Although Yuan Tan's performance was beyond Shen Yi's expectations, it was impossible for Shen Yi to really leave the issue of military regulations and discipline to the Deputy Capital Censor.
In that case, the authority in his hands will be divided by half immediately, and his authority in the army will surely gradually decline.
It would be fine if it were normal times. Shen Yi would have enough energy to slowly fight against Mr. Yuan, but now Mr. Shen is leading the troops and preparing for war.
When fighting a war, the most important thing is to centralize power and speak the truth.
Therefore, at this time, it was impossible for Shen Yi to let Yuan Tan really intervene in the military affairs of the Huai'an Army.
Su Ding was a smart man and naturally understood the meaning of Shen Yi's words. He lowered his head slightly and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Shen. The brothers below know who is close and who is distant."
Shen Yi narrowed his eyes and said, "It's not about being close, it's about fighting, so we can be of the same mind."
General Su lowered his head and said: "The Huai'an army is united as one!"
When Shen Yi heard this, he smiled dumbly.
"That's not necessarily the case."
When he said these four words, what he thought of was Ling Su.
However, this idea only flashed for a moment before he rejected it himself.
Because Ling Su is also a smart person and would not be so stupid.
Su Ding raised his head and looked at Shen Yi, then bowed his head, clasped his fists, and retreated.
…………
In the next few days, Shen Yi stayed with Yuan Tan in the Xiangshui camp. With Shen Yi there, there was no disturbance in the entire Xiangshui camp, and no officers or soldiers were looking for Yuan Tan to accuse him in private.
shape.
After inspecting Xiangshui Camp, Yuan Tan, accompanied by Shen Yi, went to inspect other camps, including Lianshui Camp.
What Yuan Fuxian saw was that the Huai'an army was in harmony and there were almost no problems.
After going around like this for more than ten days, and after visiting almost all the camps of the Huai'an Army, Mr. Yuan finally couldn't bear the trouble and got on his sedan chair and went back to Huai'an Fucheng to rest.
As for Shen Yi, he stayed in Lianshui Camp and did not leave.
At this time, it was already mid-February of the thirteenth year of Hongde.
The temperature is getting warmer day by day.
The temperature is getting warmer, which means that the war in the new year is not far away.
Shen Yi was sitting in the commander's tent of the Lianshui camp. General Ling Suling was sitting under him, clasping his fists at Shen Yi and saying: "Mr. Shen, that Master Yuan has almost left Lianshui County at this time and is about to arrive at Huai'an Fucheng.
Already."
Shen Yi nodded and asked, "Did nothing happen to him these days in Lianshui Camp?"
Ling Su quickly lowered his head and said: "Back to Mr. Shen, nothing happened. Everyone recognizes you, Mr. Shen. If you don't speak, no one will go to Mr. Yuan to talk about it."
Shen Yi nodded first, and then asked in a casual tone: "Has General Ling heard about the incident of Zhu Yan, a hundred households on the Eastern Front?"
Ling Su quickly lowered his head and said, "Go back to Mr. Shen, my subordinates have heard about it."
"This family named Zhu raped an orphan girl. Mr. Shen, you were so furious that you executed him."
Shen Yi closed his eyes and let out a sullen breath: "This Zhu Yan is also an old man from Linhaiwei. Because he made many mistakes, he is still only a hundred households."
"But even so, I still remember him."
Mr. Shen said solemnly: "A person with such seniority can actually do something like raping an orphan girl!"
"To this day, when I think about it, I still feel uneasy in my heart."
Master Shen looked at Ling Su and said, "I hope there will be no scum like the Eastern Front on the Western Front, otherwise..."
"If I find out about it, I will come down and handle it myself. Don't blame me for being ruthless when the time comes."
Ling Su lowered his head and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Shen, we on the Western Front will never do that kind of scandal. If there is, you don't need to take action, Mr. Shen. My subordinates will personally beat the person to death without any hesitation!"
Mr. Shen nodded, then remembered the serious matter and asked: "How is the recruitment and training of new recruits going here on the Western Front?"
"Go back to Mr. Shen."
Ling Su cupped his fists and replied: "The last general has sent General Liu Mingyuan back to Zhejiang to recruit troops again."
"In addition to General Liu Mingyuan, the last general also arranged for General Zhang Meng to recruit some new soldiers in Lianshui County and Huai'an Prefecture. So far, General Zhang has recruited more than 2,000 soldiers and is still training."
He whispered: "Within three months, we will definitely recruit all the new soldiers for Duke Shen!"
"They are not recruiting soldiers for me."
Shen Yi shook his head slightly and said in a deep voice: "This is to recruit troops for the Huai'an Army. The war is likely to start again this year. Every additional person on the Western Front will reduce the pressure."
Ling Su's heart moved and he asked: "Mr. Shen, when will the war start this year?"
Shen Yi shook his head slightly, indicating that he didn't know.
"I'm still waiting for news."
…………
After staying in Lianshui Camp for a few days, Shen Yi also returned to Huai'an City. In the city, he would sometimes meet Yuan Fuxian for a drink, sometimes go to Zhang's house to reminisce with Zhang Jian, or hide in his study to read.
and review documents.
Because the days were leisurely, time seemed to fly by faster. In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed, and it was March, the thirteenth year of Hong De.
On the second day of March, when Shen Yi was drinking with Yuan Fuxian at the imperial envoy's residence, Jiang Sheng hurried over and whispered in Shen Yi's ear: "Sir, Brother Luo is here, right outside the door."
Luo Yong, the secretary of the Di newspaper department.
Shen Yi nodded silently and said, "Go and take him to the study to wait for me."
Jiang Sheng nodded quickly, turned around and went down.
A moment later, Shen Yi said goodbye to Yuan Tan and appeared in his study. Luo Yong held a document in both hands and handed it to Shen Yi: "Sizheng, this is from Xuzhou."
Shen Yi reached out to take it, opened it in front of Luo Yong, looked at it, and then clenched his fists, looking a little excited.
After reading this document, Mr. Shen looked up at the sky with a faint tone.