On the east bank of the Taizi River in Liaoyang, in the Imperial Garden of the Beigong, the sky is covered with cold snow, and the winter willow branches are slender and covered with frost and snow.
There is a hidden stove for burning charcoal under the Wangyue Pavilion, and the pavilion is as warm as spring.
A horse galloped forward and did not slow down when approaching. The guards outside the imperial garden were all on guard with their swords drawn.
The fast horse galloped nearby, and the black-clothed rider on the horse dismounted as if rolling and shouted: "Songshan Express..." There will be three or four urgent letters from Songshan a day sent directly to the Khan King and the guards.
We have also become accustomed to receiving the letters sealed in the lacquer box, checking that the mark is correct, and sending them to Wangyue Pavilion.
Jade Concubine Na Heshi opened the lacquer box with a silver knife, took out the letter and handed it to the Khan King Yezier. Yezier read the letter and said with a smile: "Li Zhuo, such an old fox, is finally willing to move. It's so cold today.
It’s really not easy for the soldiers of the Dai Viet Dynasty!”
Nahe Xiongqi sat at the bottom, waiting for Prince Yu Ye Jiluorong and Prince Mu Ye Jiyingge to read the letter first, and then they learned that the Northern Expedition Army led by Li Zhuo had been hesitant on the Ningjin line for nearly ten days before breaking out and marching northward.
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"Should we ask Third Brother to withdraw his troops?" Ye Jiying asked.
"No," Yezier categorically rejected the proposal to withdraw troops from Datong and said, "Datong is going to fight. We have to press forward and fight hard..." Seeing confusion on the faces of everyone present, Yezier explained, "Just as
Li Zhuo led his troops out of western Liaoning in order to force our main force on the western front to withdraw from Datong; Laosan had to fight more carefully in Datong, creating a situation where I wanted to break through on the western front and forced Li Zhuo to lead his troops to retreat..."
"Well, we have to let them bite the bait deeper!" Ye Jiluorong said. He took a sip of tea, habitually swallowing the tea leaves and chewing them in his mouth.
Nahe Xiongqi frowned slightly. He could understand King Khan's intentions, but he was worried about whether he would be able to support a large-scale siege on the western front while defending Li Zhuo and his troops from attacking Liaoyang.
Since the extent of the attacks on the outskirts of Datong in the previous two years was very deep, this time 100,000 soldiers and horses were gathered at the outskirts of Datong, and the supply range was two to three times deeper than last time in order to meet daily consumption.
But once the troops are gathered under Datong City to fight a siege, on the one hand, they will be used directly to siege the city. The number of troops and horses for siege will increase. On the other hand, the number of troops that can be used for plundering will decrease.
The support provided by the Western Husbands could no longer support the war effort on the Western Front.
"The Third Prince has pressed his troops and horses to the gates of Datong City. He is afraid that some of the food and grass must be supplied from here to use it." Na He Xiongqi expressed his worries, "Liaoyang is also trying to lure Li Zhuo in. The pressure is
It’s going to be huge!”
"Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, in every war we have fought with the Southern Dynasties and with surrounding forces, has there ever been a time when we have not given it a go?" Ye Jiluorong was not too worried about the huge pressure he was about to face, and said, "There is no need to wait until now.
Instead, we are shrinking our hands and tail! Speaking of difficulties, the Southern Dynasty is more difficult than us at this time, and we must not let them slow down!"
Compared with the siege and attack along the Datong line lasted for more than half a year the year before last, the siege of Datong this time will only last for another two or three months. If the situation here is not clear until the spring of next year, there will be no need for a war on the Western Front.
If we put it off any longer, as long as we concentrate on supplying the Western Front in two or three months, we should be able to get through it with gritted teeth.
"Not everyone in the Southern Dynasty was unaware - Li Zhuo was holding back and refusing to advance north, just to delay the situation until next spring. But the fighting in Datong was fierce, so he had to spit out the letter. From then on,
Western Liaoning remains a threat to Liaoyang," Ye Ji'er said. "You have to see that Li Zhuo is nominally the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition Army, but it is not his turn to make the decision on many things. He does not want to march north, but not everyone is like him.
Patience - Judging from the current situation, we must follow Li Zhuo's wishes and send troops from Songshan to fight to delay his march north, and Liaodong must carry out more complete mobilization!"
"I asked you to go to Shouta Mountain!" Na He Xiongqi said.
"Li Zhuo led 60,000 troops out of the pass, but this poisonous snake just spit out the letter, and would retract it at the slightest sign of trouble," Ye Jier frowned, and had no intention of sending Na He Xiongqi, who was good at guarding the city, to the front line of Songshan. , said, "It's hard for us to even see his seven-inch vitals, we have to let him come in deeper..."
"Let him fight in from Songshan?" Ye Jiluo Rong was famous for his courage in fighting dangerous battles and was the leading brave general of Donghu. Hearing that Ye Jier intended to let the Songshan Pass pass, he was also very confused and said, "If there is a situation on the other side of Songshan, Opening the door, Liaoyang will be directly exposed to its troops. Li Zhuo has been training in Jibei for more than two years. He dared to choose the bitter cold season to send troops because he is quite confident in the combat power of his troops. Songshan opened I'm afraid I'll take some risks."
"It would be a headache if Li Zhuo occupied Songshan and stopped advancing!" Na He Xiongqi did not expect that King Khan would have the idea of giving up the front line of Songshan as bait, and said, "We can't destroy Songshan City before Li Zhuo seizes the city! Once Li Zhuo is allowed to survive the thaw of sea ice next year, things will become even more troublesome!"
After the sea ice thaws, the ships gathered in the Tianjin Sea can sail directly to the bottom of Liaodong Bay. The performance of the Korean navy is not satisfactory. If the Huaidong warships go north, even if they send troops to cut into western Liaoning, it will be difficult to completely defeat them. Li Zhuo's troops were sealed at the Songshan line.
"It's always impossible to look forward and backward without taking some risks," Ye Zier said with full confidence, "You are worried that the Southern Dynasty will eat the bait but not bite the hook, but if you want the Southern Dynasty to bite the hook, you must first be willing to put the bait in. Spread out the bait... Besides, as I said just now, it's not Li Zhuo's turn to make the decision on many things! Find a middleman to work in Yanjing, spread the word, and say that as long as the Southern Dynasty is willing to pay 500,000 taels of silver, it can be done In exchange for Datong withdrawing the siege - let's see how the Southern Dynasty will react. In addition, Na He will stay in Liaoyang, and Laosi will go to Songshan..."
There are not many generals who are good at defending the city in Donghu, and He Xiongqi is one of them. Since he intends to lure Li Zhuo to Liaoyang City for a battle, He Xiongqi should stay in Liaoyang to help organize the defense; attacking from Songshan is more of a harassment attack. To delay and exhaust the Northern Army and confuse the Northern Army's judgment, it was appropriate for Ye Jiying to go there.
Looking at the people waiting in the Yue Pavilion, they were not afraid that Li Zhuo would take the opportunity to delay moving, and they did not expect that many actions could be hidden from Li Zhuo's eyes. More, they wanted to disturb Yanjing's sight——From Yanjing News came back from inside sources that Emperor Chongguan was becoming increasingly impatient with Li Zhuo's delay.
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On October 26, Zhang Gou returned to the Shengsi Islands with the southern raiding fleet to rest and recuperate. Also returning with them were Liu Wenzhong, Zuo Guangying and others, representatives of the southern Zhejiang resistance forces who came from Yueqing to request support.
Since Zhejiang and Fujian were playing turtles on the eastern front, they never saw the possibility of a battle in the East China Sea. While the Zhejiang East Navy and the Nantai Island Navy still maintained their complete establishment, the southern attack fleet was more In order to harass the coastal areas of eastern Fujian and southern Zhejiang, we cannot forcefully enter the Minjiang River, Qianjiang River, Yongjiang River and other water systems and attack the hinterland of eastern Fujian and eastern Zhejiang.
When the ship entered the inner port of Qingxi Bay, Liu Wenzhong, Zuo Guangying and other representatives of the resistance forces in southern Zhejiang were arranged for people on Daheng Island to receive them and take a rest first; Zhang Gou followed Zhao Qingshan, Han Caizhi and others to the official hall of Chengzhai to see Lin. Bound.
Fu Qinghe, Zhou Tong, Zhang Jiheng and others were also present and listened to their detailed report on the results of the southern attack.
After returning from the southern route, we sailed at sea for nearly three days. Zhao Qingshan, Han Caizhi, Zhang Gou and others summarized the gains and losses in the southern attack on the ship, and went back to the official hall to report the results. It was quite smooth.
"It's not surprising that the She family can't avoid going to war..." Lin Fu frowned slightly. This was his habitual expression when thinking about problems. It wasn't that he was dissatisfied with the results of this southern attack.
By capturing the two cities of Yongjia and Yueqing, and completely crippling Pingtan Island, Dong'an Island and Sansha Bay, the set goal has been exceeded. In addition, nearly a thousand craftsmen and Zhejiang and Fujian gentry who were closely related to the She family were captured.
There is nothing unsatisfactory about such results.
If such results could be achieved every time and lasted for more than half a year, the resources directly obtained by the She family from eastern Fujian and southern Zhejiang to support the war on the Western Front would be reduced by more than 30%.
Lin Fu looked up at everyone and said: "...But the more this happens, the more careful we must be, and beware of them attacking us suddenly and giving us a hard blow - Shewenzhuang can do it with half the price."
The prefecture has been strong in Eastern Fujian for more than ten years, and it is not someone who can be bullied easily."
"Next, I think we need to adjust our deployment. We will first attack between Changguo and Mingzhou Prefecture!" Fu Qinghe said.
Lin Fu thought for a moment and nodded, agreeing with Fu Qinghe's suggestion.
Sandwiched between the Dai Mountains, the narrow sea area between the Changguo Islands and Mingzhou Prefecture merges with the relatively open lower reaches of the Qianjiang River, approaching the inner line of Shejia's Eastern Zhejiang Navy's defense, and just south of the Shengsi defense line.
The warships of the Jinghaihai camp wedged themselves into this sea area, and even headed west from the Qianjiang estuary, harassing Mingzhou and Kuaiji prefectures - the two most important prefectures in the new expansion area of the She family, and also the navy in eastern Zhejiang.
The key point of defense - the Navy of Eastern Zhejiang will inevitably use the beach terrain to resist.
Although the shoal battle is not conducive to the Jinghai Division's advantage of using warships, the Shuiying generals who have won the battle must be vigilant enough. They cannot be allowed to fight with the wind all the time and hit a wall along the eastern Zhejiang coast or enter the Qianjiang River.
, is always beneficial. Low-intensity coastal naval battles and river battles must also be used to continuously consume the strength of the Eastern Zhejiang Navy.
Although the losses in this southward attack were not great, rest and recuperation were still necessary. Especially the generals in the water camp had not disembarked from the ship for nearly a month. They ate and slept in narrow cabins. The sea was also very windy and rough.
Everyone was seriously uncomfortable when they landed, and it took time to adjust.
Zhang Gou thought that the She family would definitely adjust their deployment in eastern Zhejiang and formulate a detailed attack plan after the reconnaissance was clear. He was afraid that he would have to wait for a few months because he didn't know where the Huaisi war was going, and he didn't know how the Red Army was going.
Did Ao Nu withstand Chen Zhihu's attack in Huaiyang? It's even less clear what Mr. Gan was thinking...
Zhang Gou returned to Huaidong, and he had no intention of repeating the decision. However, many of his colleagues who lived and died together in the past were still in the Red Coat Army, which he could not ignore.
With his current status, it is inconvenient for him to contact Sun Zhuang or other former colleagues who have not yet joined Huaidong. He hopes that when he returns to Daheng Island, he can learn more about the real situation of Huaisi from many ponds and newspapers.
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"..." Zhang Gou was distracted and realized that Lin Fu was calling him, so he hurriedly responded, "The general is here!"
"Go there yourself and invite people from southern Zhejiang!"