Lin Fu led his army from Yangxin on the ninth day of the lunar month, and did not arrive at the mouth of Tianjin Hainan until the fourteenth day.
Yue Lengqiu led the main force of Qinwang Division on the southern front and was not slow to move. Thirty thousand infantry marched eastward to Zhangqiu, bypassed the Huangfan District, borrowed a road from Yangxin, and recaptured Dezhou on the 14th. The main force of Donglu's southern front had already withdrawn to Baoding.
In the south of Funan, the cavalry behind the Donglu Palace was led by Nahe Xiongqi. About 10,000 cavalry remained in Xingzhou to monitor the Yue Lengqiu tribe in the south, forcing the Yue Lengqiu tribe not to approach too closely the main force on the southern front led by Yejier Khan himself.
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For Donglu, this harvest is rich enough, and returning home safely and fully loaded is its fundamental purpose. The number of cavalry monitoring Jinhai has increased to 8,000, but they have no intention of launching a battle in the south of Jinhai and attacking the city. Lin
Fu led his troops to arrive at the mouth of the vortex, and the Donglu soldiers and horses who were monitoring the mouth of the vortex immediately shrank to the north. Their intention to avoid contact was obvious.
Even if it was certain at this time that the main forces of the northern and southern fronts of Donglu would use the Jingdong area to withdraw from the pass after converging, it would be difficult for Lin Fu to do anything in Jinhai.
Including Jiangdong Zuojun, Jinzhong Army remnants, Shaowu Army remnants, as well as the Dixiang Wuzhai armed forces and captured and surrendered troops, the number of troops assembled in the Wokou, Changlu, and Qingqi villages is almost 10,000, but those who can really leave the village
There are only about 5,000 elite soldiers in the field. These troops are enough to guard the three villages of Wukou, Changlu and Qingqi, but it is difficult to defeat the 8,000 Donglu cavalry who monitor Jinhai in the field.
At the same time, the main force of the Donglu Northern Line also moved from the west of the capital to Jizhou, east of the capital, and the Ninghe area, which is only more than a hundred miles away from the Tianjin Sea.
The main force of King Qin's division in Datong, Xuanhua and Jibei towns, with a total of 60,000 elite troops, was stationed in Xianghe, Sanhe and other places in the east of Gyeonggi Province. They watched helplessly as the main forces of the northern and southern fronts of the Japanese troops joined forces in the south of Jizhou on the 19th and continued to threaten them.
Carrying 300,000 to 400,000 young men, they passed through the eastern region of Gyeonggi Province.
The rear cavalry led by Nahe Xiongqi also withdrew from the western border of Qing County, Hejian Prefecture, speeding up the process of joining the main force of the captive soldiers and leaving the customs together.
After Yue Lengqiu led his troops to enter Dezhou, there was a lot of delay. It was not until the 19th that he moved north to recapture Xingzhou.
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On the 22nd, the sky that had been gloomy for a long time began to rain lightly at dusk. This was the first rain since spring began in Jinhai. Lin Fu was reading official documents in the tent, and at first he heard the sound of raindrops dripping from the edge of the tent.
He didn't realize it was raining, but it was Sun Shangwang who came from Wokou Village to find him. He stood outside the tent curtain and took off his wet raincoat, which attracted Lin Fu's attention, and Lin Fu noticed that it was raining outside.
"It's raining!" Lin Fu put the pen on the pen holder, stretched, walked outside the tent, and walked under the awning to look at the pattering rain. The light snow in the corner was watered by the rain, but there was no sign of it.
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"Oh, it's been raining for almost half an hour before you feel anything," Sun Shangwang said, handing the copy to Lin Fu, "The main force of the soldiers has arrived in Changli, and the Nahe Xiongqi tribe has also withdrawn to the north of Jizhou.
It should be out of seclusion in the next two days, Ninghe has been recovered by Hao Zongcheng’s troops, Jinhai is completely stable..."
"We can spend a period of time with peace of mind this spring, but what about after autumn?" Lin Fu frowned and said worriedly, "This time the Donglu invaded, they lost no more than 10,000 soldiers, but they took away about 30 people.
There are more than 10,000 people, and there should be more than 100,000 young men. At this time, there are still nearly 20,000 surrendered troops... After the captive troops withdraw from the pass, how are we going to clean up the mess left behind? Who will clean up?"
Sun Shangwang also sighed sadly. His wife, eldest son and brother and sister-in-law were all taken away. His father, mother and youngest son were killed by the soldiers. Only his second son and nephew evacuated to Jimo after the great victory in Cangnan. They were still in Jimo at this time.
It's not that bad if the family is broken up and people are killed.
Lin Mengde walked over with his hands covering his forehead. He saw Lin Fu holding Tangchao in his hand. He took it and stood in front of the tent, looking through it and saying, "The wind direction has been conducive to southbound travel in the past few days. Ge Ye and the others should be almost at Chongzhou."
Alright?"
"It should be early." Lin Fu saw Liu Zhi, the deputy commander of the army watching army, poking his head outside the camp. He didn't know what was going on. Seeing that he didn't come over, he ignored him and stood in the tent with Lin Mengde.
Talking under the awning, "It's easy to go south, but it's difficult to go north. It will take almost another month to wait for them to come back..."
When Lin Fu and his troops arrived at Jinhai, Hao Zongcheng wrote a letter in his own hand and trusted Liu Zhi to send it to him, asking the left army in Jiangdong not to fight in vain anymore. The top priority was to send the captive soldiers out of the pass and not to reappear.
Without the active attack cooperation of King Qin's division in Gyeonggi, and the restraint of Liu Zhi, the deputy envoy of Guanjun Rong in Jinhai, Lin Fu also knew that no matter how sharp the teeth of Jiangdong's left army were, they would not be able to bite the main force of the captives, so he clung to the gate of Jinhai.
, gave up the efforts to advance northward to pursue the Japanese soldiers.
Since there was no possibility of a battle, as early as the 16th, Lin Fu asked Ge Cunxin to transfer a large number of captured foreign horses, ordnance, gold, silver and other materials as well as wounded soldiers who needed long-term recuperation to Chongzhou.
In the four battles, not counting those who returned from minor injuries, the 3,000 new soldiers who accompanied Lin Fu from Jiangning to Yannan had more than 400 dead and more than 1,100 wounded. They left from Cangnan and Tianjin three times.
The sea added about 1,200 soldiers. Among these 1,200 people, 200 were killed in the battle and nearly 600 were wounded.
The battle attrition rate of the Jiangdong Left Army exceeded 50%.
In Cangnan and Jinhai, the additional soldiers and war dead will be buried in Cangnan and Jinhai, and the wounded will recuperate in the vortex before deciding where to go. The bodies of other war dead and wounded, as well as the more than 400 wounded from the remnants of Shaowu Army, will be transported to Cangnan and Jinhai.
Buried or resting in Chongzhou.
Except for keeping the Dongyang, Lin Fu sent the other six thousand-stone ships and two five-thousand-stone ships back to Chongzhou.
During an assault troop transport, half a battalion of troops could be crammed into a thousand-stone ship carrying men, horses, and ordnance. Long-distance sea voyages cannot be such a mess.
The standard establishment of the Thousand Stones is based on the standard establishment of the Qianshi, with one capital team of armored soldiers plus nearly a hundred shipwrights, sailors, and handymen, five thousand ships as the main warship, and one sentry team of armored soldiers plus nearly two hundred shipwrights, sailors, medical officers, and handymen.
The standard establishment is ten people. There are six thousand-stone warships and two five-thousand-stone warships heading south, with a total of 800 soldiers in the reinforced guard camp, with Cao Ziang as the battalion command. In addition to the guards, boatmen, and sailors, these eight ships
, miscellaneous personnel and the ship's medical officer, it mainly transported the wounded and the bodies of soldiers who died in Yannan, as well as some light ordnance supplies that did not take up space.
In addition, eight horse transport ships were specially hired with Dengzhou maritime merchants to transport 1,200 foreign horses to Chongzhou.
The selling price of foreign horses in the south is extremely high. The price of a foreign horse is ten times or even dozens of times that of ordinary mules and horses.
In the same way that rich people or officials in later generations like high-end cars to show their status, big businessmen in Jiangning, Weiyang, Pingjiang and other places also regard horse-drawn carriages as a symbol of status. As a wealthy family, there are not many decent ones.
A good horse is meant to be looked down upon. It is quite normal for Weiyang to pay a high price of hundreds of taels of silver or even hundreds of taels of silver for a well-known horse in Jiangning.
Even if it hurts to sell these foreign horses, they can't afford to keep them. It takes twenty-four stones of coarse grains and three hundred and sixty grass for a year to carefully raise a foreign horse. In addition to various other expenses, the total cost of the year is
I have to eat twenty taels of silver.
Lin Fu only planned to retain one battalion of cavalry, with Zhou Pu, a former rogue bandit, as the battalion commander. The rest of the foreign horses would be transported to Chongzhou, Weiyang, Jiangning, etc. to be sold in exchange for money to make up for the shortfall in military supplies.
Lin Fu only kept 800 foreign horses in Jinhai, and there were more than 1,200 ordinary mules and horses.
Since Hejian Prefecture was also in great need of animal power, the Jiangdong Left Army was stationed along the port, and there was no logistical pressure. Lin Fu only retained two hundred ordinary mules and horses, and transferred all the excess mules and horses to Hejian Prefecture.
It's not free this time, and it won't be free forever. Besides, most of the people paying the bill this time are local squires. They urgently need mules and horses for spring plowing and rebuilding their homes. In the south, an ordinary mules and horses are worth only seven or eight taels of silver.
In Jinhai, because a large number of mules and horses were taken away by the Donglu, the demand surged, the price doubled and the supply was still in short supply.
However, compared to Lin Fu's lavish spending on military resources, the nearly a thousand mules and horses only made the burden on Lin Mengde's shoulders slightly lighter.
"There is something I want you to tell me," Lin Mengde pulled Lin Fu and walked to the tent. Sun Shangwang walked away knowingly. Lin Mengde said, "In the great victory of Jinhai, you know that the place allocated is 400 head-level skills.
How much silver did the eldest son exchange for?"
"How much?" Lin Fu asked.
"Border soldiers mainly focus on defense and repelling the enemy. It is extremely difficult to get a head. To lead a thousand soldiers, you need to get ten points to advance to the first level. This is the reward standard given by the Ministry of War," Lin Mengde said, "You
How much is this head worth?"
"Then how many levels should I upgrade to?" Lin Fu laughed.
"No kidding," Lin Mengde said sternly, "Liu Zhi wants to buy a head, but he doesn't dare to discuss it with you. He probably thinks I'm easy to talk to, so he makes an offer of twenty taels of silver for a man's head!"
"The Ministry of War has already calculated merit for some heads..." Lin Fu asked doubtfully.
"Don't worry about this. Hao Zongcheng can't handle the Ministry of War, and he won't offer this price through Liu Zhi," Lin Mengde said. "Besides, haven't the Jinhai and Yangxin victories not yet been reported?"
Lin Fu stared at the rain outside the camp. In order to cover up their cowardice and incompetence, Hao Zongcheng and others even thought of buying a head to get through. He stared at the pattering rain for a while and said to Lin Mengde: "Go and give Liu Zhi an answer.
, the head of a raw man is two hundred taels of silver, and if you agree to this price, we can give them a thousand heads!"
Lin Mengde smiled. He admired Lin Fu's ruthlessness. The price increased tenfold. If he didn't kill the eunuchs like Hao Zongcheng, who would he kill? A thousand raw barbarian heads only cost 200,000 taels of silver.
, which is considered to be a bargain for them. Even if they take 10,000 lives, it is impossible for them to obtain such military exploits.
Lin Fu didn't know how much military exploits Yue Lengqiu would make on the southern front. Hao Zongcheng, who was actually in charge of King Qin's division on the northern front, was too ugly. He could afford two hundred thousand taels of silver, but he couldn't afford it either.
The generals in the towns of Bei, Xuanhua, and Datong also have enough oil and water to scratch. The problem of the Jinzhong Army is still a headache. To properly deal with the problem of the remnants of the Jinzhong Army, Hao Zongcheng is the biggest resistance. At this time, selling his head
Giving him a way out can be regarded as leaving a way out.
Besides, Lin Fu was short of money. Compensation for those killed and injured in battle would require a large amount of money, and he couldn't generate this money out of thin air.
The merit reward may increase him a few levels, but the imperial court is a stingy man and will not reward much silver. How to explain the food and salary of the Jiangdong Left Army in the future is also a big problem. The head can be exchanged for silver, even for a character like Hao Zongcheng
When it came to making a deal, Lin Fu could only hold his nose and accept it.