Gu Siyuan traveled from Shandong to Jiangning and then escorted Xun Niang to Chongzhou. He was accompanied by two hundred elite cavalry and stayed in the military camp on the north side of Dongya. Although comfortable guest rooms were prepared in Chongzhou, Gu Siyuan still insisted on sleeping in the military camp. inside.
In the early morning, it was still green and not bright outside the window, and the sound of horse hooves flying on the rammed earth road was as fast as the drumbeat of an opera at the critical moment, constantly entering and leaving the East Yamen. Gu Siyuan woke up from his sleep, listening to the horse hooves outside the military camp. When I heard the sound, I knew something was unusual. As soon as I put on my clothes and sat up, I heard the sound of horses coming from outside the tent.
"What happened?" Gu Siyuan asked.
"There was an attack in the direction of Hecheng Division," Ma Chao said, lifting the curtain and walking in. "I just received accurate information. About two thousand soldiers landed at the mouth of the Yunyan River and stormed the Hecheng Division Fort. An unknown number of soldiers attacked the salt field sentry in the north of Hecheng Division. My uncle just sent someone to invite the young master to Dongya to discuss matters..." Although it would take another day to officially come to the court to get married, Ma Chao was already accustomed to treating Lin Fu as his uncle. .
Gu Siyuan was a guest, not the host, so Lin Fu was being polite by inviting him over.
Gu Siyuan put on his riding boots and originally took Ma Chao with him. As soon as he walked out of the camp, he thought that Lin Fu's maneuverability in Chongzhou was actually limited, so he ordered Ma Chao: "You stay here and let everyone prepare for the battle. Maybe I can help." busy……"
Gu Siyuan took two of his followers and walked to Dongya. Lin Fu, Cao Ziang, Fu Qinghe, Lin Mengde and others were all in Dongya. Even Zhao Shuhan, Ge Siyu and others also came over after hearing the news. But except Ao Canghai , the other leading generals are not here, they are all in the camp ready to go out.
At this moment, Wu Meijiu came over in a hurry, but he was wearing wooden clogs under his official robe, so he had no time to dress up.
The temporary county government office is at Beishan Gate. Even if the defense is left to the Jiangdong Left Army, Wu Meijiu should be waiting for news at Beishan Gate. Gu Siyuan didn't know that last night, Han Zai had authorized Lin Fu to control Chongzhou's military and political power. At this time, Han Zai had already We got on the boat and were anxiously waiting to leave Chongzhou.
Not only did Wu Meijiu come to Dongya, Li Shuyi and Hu Zhicheng, who were specifically responsible for the government affairs of Chongzhou County, were also in Dongya.
"Gu Shaojun is here too," Wu Meijiu almost bumped into Gu Siyuan's arms. He quickly stopped his feet and asked calmly. He saw Lin Fu sitting behind the desk at the back of the meeting hall, staring at the map on the desk. , came over, bowed and saluted, and asked anxiously, "How is the situation in Hecheng Division? Does the Governor plan to send reinforcements there?"
"Master Siyuan and Wu are here," Lin Fu stood up to greet Gu Siyuan and Wu Meijiu. He frowned and said, "I have a beacon garrison on the south bank of the Yunyan River, at the junction of Chongzhou and Hecheng grasslands. Just now, smoke was burning there - this means two situations, one is that Hecheng Division is lost and the Japanese soldiers advance westward along the Yunyan River, the other is that the Japanese soldiers bypass Hecheng Division and advance westward along the Yunyan River... "
"Hechengsi has fallen!" Wu Meijiu was stunned for a moment. It had only been more than an hour since the bandits landed in the early morning. Hechengsi fell too quickly.
"The possibility of the bandits bypassing the Hecheng Division defenders and marching westward is low," Lin Fu said, "but we will have to wait for another hour before there is any definite news."
"How long can the Jiangdong Left Army hold the garrison on the south bank of the Yanyan River?" Wu Meijiu asked, "Waiting until reinforcements arrive?"
There was only a military force stationed in the Tai garrison in the west of Hecheng. However, as early as early June, Lin Fu had replaced a large number of farmland along the Yunyan River in the west of Hecheng and resettled nearly 2,000 households. The rotation training of civilian bravery also began.
It has been launched long ago, and there are four to five hundred brave men who can be mobilized in time of war.
Lin Fu has always been responsible for the problems in Hecheng's defense.
Although there are thousands of salt soldiers in the Hecheng grassland, their weapons and equipment are depleted and their armor is not repaired. The soldiers are mainly exiled prisoners and have been used as hard labor for many years, so it is difficult to have much combat effectiveness.
When the East China Sea bandits gathered on a large scale on the Shengsi Islands, Lin Fu sent Liu Zhenzhi from Jiuhua Temple to the west garrison of Hecheng, increasing the number of soldiers in the west of Hecheng to 200 men per sentry. Before taking any action elsewhere, Lin Fu
Mobilizing the civilian bravery in the west of Hecheng in advance, as long as the East China Sea invaders did not have large-scale siege equipment, Liu Zhenzhi would not have a problem holding the west garrison of Hecheng for three to five days, even if there were more than 2,000 soldiers who landed at Hecheng Port.
"We still can't figure out the movements of the enemy's main force. My mobile strength on land in Chongzhou is limited. Even if we need to send reinforcements, it will have to be after the enemy soldiers have actually established a siege posture on the west garrison of Hecheng." Lin Fu said, asking Wu Mei to wait for a long time.
Please be patient and ask Wu Meijiu and Gu Siyuan to bring stools and sit down.
"There are two hundred cavalry coming with me. I will ask Ma Chao to be ready to go to war at any time. Just dispatch any orders." Gu Siyuan said.
Cao Ziang and Fu Qinghe, who were studying the map, both looked up at Gu Siyuan and looked at each other, thinking in their hearts: Lin Gu's marriage can still temporarily eliminate the estrangement between the two parties.
"Siyuan is thoughtful," Lin Fu thanked him, and did not let Cao Ziang include the two hundred cavalry who came to Chongzhou with Gu Siyuan when arranging the troop deployment plan. He was not worried about the situation in Chongzhou, but was worried about the situation in eastern Zhejiang that was beyond his reach.
.
His speculation was consistent with Song Jia's. She Feixiong's massive momentum on the northern front was probably to create the illusion that the islands in Changguo County on the southern front were empty of troops, and to induce Quan Quan to lead the Zhejiang East Zhenjun to attack Changguo.
She Feixiong's focus is on the southern front, in eastern Zhejiang, and the northern front is just a false shot on his part. No matter how loud his momentum on the northern front is and how frequent his actions are, he will try his best to avoid forming a battle situation with the Jiangdong Left Army. There is no absolute
Advantages, a two-front battle is something that any general should avoid. Lin Fu speculated that the main action of the northern front invaders should be to divide their forces to attack the superficial coastal areas to avoid invading in depth. The Jiangdong left army wanted to seize the main force of the northern front invaders.
It's also very difficult.
"This tortoise can walk faster than a rabbit. There is also a ship that was hit by Ya Shi and half of it sank." Sun Jingtang walked in, "The army camp has been emptied with Han Zai, do you still want to Ning Ze?"
Will I lead a sentry of soldiers to garrison as originally planned?"
Only then did Gu Siyuan learn that the special envoy of Xuanfu, Han Zai, had just left Chongzhou in a hurry under the escort of the water camp garrison in Junshanzhai. The garrison of Ninghai Town in Chongzhou came out of nowhere. After half a year of tossing, Junshanzhai finally fell to Lin Fu at this moment.
in hand.
"The military camp is temporarily using the courage of the people to assist in defense," Lin Fu said. "The mobile power in our hands is limited and cannot be dispersed. Let Ning Zechen lead Feng Li camp's first post and the second post to the north bank to stand by."
He raised his head and asked Hu Zhicheng below, "Are there any village soldiers or village soldiers reporting to the county soldiers?"
It was also in the middle of the night that Lin Fu obtained Han Zai's authorization to control the military affairs of Chongzhou before he had the authority to launch a general mobilization of Chongzhou. Even if the people working here stayed up all night, he could not expect such active cooperation from the countryside. Hu Zhicheng said: "Except for Jiuwei
Except for the Li family's two hundred warriors who gathered at the mouth of the Xishan River overnight, there has been no movement from other families. The county has sent a second group of people to urge..." He was not sure how effective it would be.
"Send another group of people down, and I will send a sentry navy to cooperate with the county. All civilian ships that are six feet long or more than a hundred stones in length, as well as the oarsmen and boatmen accompanying the ships, must not have any delay when receiving the notice.
, Immediately go to Nanya Wharf to gather. Violators will be imprisoned and punished as bandits..." Lin Fu said, "The rural soldiers will report for the assembly by You time tomorrow. If you do not report after the time limit, there will be private soldiers found in the future.
The crime of hiding soldiers and treason is severely punished. The invaders are powerful, and now all forces need to be mobilized to repel the invaders and avoid the recurrence of the disaster in April. The county sends people to the area. In addition to stating the military orders, they must also follow them carefully.
The villagers can explain a little more..."
Lin Fu requisitioned civilian ships and gathered civilian bravery. Wu Meijiu thought that he was going to fight the East China Sea bandits, so he naturally agreed. After signing the seal, he hurried back to Beiya to take charge, so as not to panic and be looked down upon by others.
************
At about this time, a sentinel came rushing back and delivered specific news.
At dawn, the Japanese soldiers swarmed to Hecheng Port. The defenders could not hold on for long and were forced to retreat to the fortress.
At dawn, the Japanese soldiers swarmed to the Hecheng Division's fortress. At this time, the defenders discovered that the Hecheng Division's ambassador, deputy envoys, supervisors and other officials who usually show off their power had already been wrapped in soft clothes and brought with them when the Japanese soldiers landed.
With their families fleeing, the morale of the army collapsed. More than a thousand people opened the west gate and fled westward along the Yanyan River, entering Chongzhou territory.
When the beacon fire was lit at the west garrison of Hecheng to announce the news, the Hecheng Division Military Fortress had already been occupied by the Japanese soldiers.
After the invaders occupied Hecheng Division, they did not advance westward along the Yunyan River. Except for some of the invaders who stayed to guard the Hecheng Division military fortress, a large number of the invaders crossed the Yunyan River and headed north. Depending on the situation, they would attack the Huainan Saltworks.
Lin Fu didn't expect that the Hecheng Division Army would be completely taken away by the Donghai bandits, and he suddenly felt a headache.
The salt field under the jurisdiction of the Weiyang Salt and Iron Division is very wide, mainly including the Lianghuai Salt Field and Hecheng Grassland. From the northern part of Shanbei Peninsula to Jiangmen, the coast stretches for hundreds of miles. The salt produced in the Lianghuai Salt Field is mainly transported by river transportation.
Sales were centralized in Weiyang. Sixty-seven out of ten salt merchants in the world were concentrated in Weiyang. Naturally, the Salt and Iron Department was also located in Weiyang (today's Yangzhou), so that salt taxes could be collected and paid centrally.
Although there are 20,000 salt workers in the Weiyang Salt and Iron Division, they also have the duties of anti-smuggling, supervising transportation, preparing for the sea, preparing for theft, preparing for floods, and managing salt households. A considerable number of salt workers are stationed in Weiyang Mansion, which is far away from the salt field.
The troops were widely dispersed.
However, after the invaders gained strength in the East China Sea, the Yantie Division was very careful in building defense systems such as outposts, military forts, and garrison towers along the coast. It almost reached the scale of one pier and garrison tower for three miles, one fort for ten miles, and one fort or city for one hundred miles.
Chengsi Military Fortress is the main military garrison on the coast east of Gaocheng in Chongzhou.
The Hesicheng garrison completely fell into the hands of the Donghai bandits, which was definitely not good news. Lin Fu was just about to send someone to Beiya to tell Wu Meijiu the news, but Wu Meijiu didn't expect that Wu Meijiu happened to rush over at this time and got in front of the case.
Lai whispered: "The Salt and Iron Division has sent people over to ask for reinforcements..."