"Huaidong has five thousand armored cavalry, fifteen thousand soldiers, and more than ten thousand naval troops. They are sharpening their swords and waiting for the day ahead," Lin Fu said impassionedly. "The armored cavalry has gathered in Haizhou and can go north from Pocheyan Pass. , from Qingzhou, passing through Yangxin, and heading north to Hejian; more than a hundred soldiers, naval forces and ships have already gathered in Chongzhou - only waiting for an order from the imperial court, they will be able to march north to King Qin of Yan in ten days. To resist the tyrants!
After hearing this, Lin Xuwen, Wu Qi, Sun Shangwang and others thought to themselves: Can Huaidong spare so many troops to go north to King Qin?
"Okay, okay, okay!" Huang Jinnian didn't know what Huaidong's strength was, so he said "Okay" three times in a row.
It is said that the actual number of soldiers in Huaidong should not exceed 20,000, but who can take care of these these days. Besides, in times of emergency, recruitment and expansion of troops can all be done expediently, as long as the troops are paid and the food for the troops does not need to be allocated by the court. Just fine.
Lin Fu came to fight for the minister who had the most important role in protecting King Qin. In Huang Jinnian's opinion, he was very utilitarian, but there was nothing wrong with this. If Lin Fu didn't ask for anything and led troops into King Qin of Yannan, who could rest assured? ?
Of course, it was far from Huang Jinnian's decision whether to summon the Huaidong Army to march against the Yandi Qinwang.
"I will immediately send an envoy to the capital to report this matter." Huang Jinnian was worried about the critical situation of the captives Kou Yan. As soon as Lin Fu came to Jinhai, his dejection suddenly disappeared and he held his arm eagerly. He raised his arm and said, "If all the ministers in the world were as loyal to the imperial court and worried about the king as you and me, why would we worry about the world's difficulties? No matter what the imperial court decides, the loyalty to Lin Zhizhi's envoy will definitely be greatly rewarded!" "
There is great controversy between the government and the public about Huaidong, but one thing that cannot be questioned is that in recent years, only the Huaidong Army has achieved a near-annihilation victory over the Donglu cavalry in field battles. In the past, it was felt that Huaidong was arrogant and indulgent, relying on its troops. Huang Jinnian felt that Huaidong was extremely cute at this time.
"..." Lin Fu laughed loudly and said humbly, "It is natural for you and me, my ministers, to share your worries for the king. It is good to have rewards; but without rewards, why don't we still serve the court?" He added, "Listen to what you said. Li Bingbu has resigned from his post and returned to the capital to be on standby - Li Bingbu failed to attack western Liaoning, but the imperial court has few ministers who are good at defending the expedition, and there are only a few besides Li Bingbu..."
Huang Jinnian felt a little unhappy when he heard Lin Fu's words suggesting that he would recommend Li Zhuo. However, since Li Zhuo no longer had military power, Lin Fu had no taboo in saying such a thing. As for whether the court would adopt it, that is another matter.
"The bandits in the Hehuai River were defeated and it was difficult to clear them. Years ago, they marched eastward and invaded Huaisi again. At this time of crisis, I would like to suggest that the imperial court temporarily recruit people as a way to delay the attack. I wonder what Mr. Huang thinks?" Lin Fu said again.
When the Red Coat Army marched eastwards, Liu Tingzhou and Huang Shuen's impeachment papers, including Lin Fu's plea papers, were all sent to the capital.
How to deal with the red-coat rebels, whether to suppress or pacify them, was a matter of debate in the court. The mainstream opinion of the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs was still to pacify them. After all, after all the people were killed, who would plant the fields, and who would the Ministry of Household Taxation collect grain from? ? It is convenient for the officials to suppress them. They directly ask: If you want to be appeased, what should you use to appease them?
In any case, the imperial court will not easily deal with the military ministers at this time. If the cities of Suyu and Suining are lost, it is impossible to hold the responsibility to Lin Fu. If Lin Fu is forced to panic, he will be forced to do so. The consequences of a dog jumping over a wall are something that the Dai Viet Dynasty cannot bear at this time.
“If Lin Zhi’s envoy has this opinion, he may submit a statement to express his opinion to the court,” Huang Jinnian said. “I think your Majesty and the various councils in the court will consider Lin Zhi’s opinion.”
"Okay." Lin Fu nodded and said.
According to the rules, Lin Fu could not step into the land of Jinhai without obeying the imperial edict, so he had to wait for the court's order on Jinwei Island. Huang Jinnian said goodbye and left Jinwei Island first, and returned to the government office to arrange for sending someone to Beijing to report the matter; Lin Fu will
He handed the note he wrote in advance to Huang Jinnian and asked Huang Jinnian to send someone to deliver it to the capital.
************
Huang Jinnian, Zhang Wenden and others left, and there were no outsiders on Jinwei Island. Lin Xuwen asked: "How many soldiers can Huaidong send out?"
Lin Xuwen is quite familiar with the situation in Huaidong.
The total strength of Huaidong may be more than 30,000, but it must be prepared for She family's Zhejiang Navy to raid by sea. Huaidong must leave enough defenders from the Shengsi Islands to the inner lines including Jiangmen, Hecheng, and Chongzhou.
The strength of the imperial troops...the strength that could draw out King Qin from the north was far less optimistic than what Lin Fu had just said to Huang Jinnian.
"If we can really mobilize about half of King Qin's troops," Lin Fu said, "even if all the Huaidong cavalry are mobilized, there will only be about 3,000 men. Chongzhou is dominated by the Changshan Battalion, which was expanded to 20 battalions last month.
The entire navy has shrunk to the north of the Shengsi defense line; in addition, the Blackwater fleet has also gathered in Hecheng and Chongzhou..."
Since the summer and autumn of last year, the Blackwater Fleet has organized four battalions of guards, all of which have been converted into armed merchant ships. The food route has been temporarily interrupted, and the ships owned by the Blackwater Fleet can be used as qualified troop transport warships.
use.
Chongzhou had a large reserve force and some training, but Lin Fu's expansion of the main infantry camp paid more attention to the completeness of the armor.
Although the Huaidong Ordnance Supervisor has worked hard to build it in the past year, and the number of craftsmen directly under its jurisdiction has increased again and again, the armor reserve is only a little over 5,000 sets. The Changshan Battalion was expanded to 20 battalions last month, which is already
It's the limit.
Of course, at a critical moment, when extreme mobilization is carried out, it is considered good if each infantry can fight with a spear. Huaidong's reserve of spears is still sufficient. An iron spear will not consume much iron to stab a spear.
, making it is far simpler than a steel knife.
Even though Huaidong could mobilize only half of King Qin's troops as he told Huang Jinnian just now, Lin Xuwen still felt satisfied.
The Tianjin Navy only has ten battalions of soldiers, including one battalion of cavalry; Huaidong can draw more than twice the troops of King Qin from the north - so there are 20,000 elites available in the Tianjin Navy, and they can also
With the Huaidong navy keeping its retreat at sea and guarding the three cities of Hejian, Cangzhou and Jinhai, it should be quite certain.
As long as they can hold the Jidong area, the Xuanfu army and the Jingying army guard the capital, and restrict Ye Jiduo's cavalry from crossing the gap between Jidong and the capital to Jizhou, the situation is still promising, and the key decision-making process of the court is
quick.
If Ye Jiduo led his troops to invade Jizhou and cut off the Jizhen army's retreat, causing the Jizhen army to be annihilated in western Liaoning, the situation would completely collapse. Unless Huaidong can kill several soldiers and horses from the labor camps.
After being fully armed and transported to Tianjin and Haihai, it will be difficult to reverse the situation in the north - but what benefit will this do to Huaidong?
The most critical issue at this time is whether we can make it in time and the main force of the cavalry has been assembled in the Dingzhou area. What will be the next direction of the attack?
Thinking of this, Lin Xuwen's face continued to look worried.
"Can the situation in Yanjing really be saved?" Lin Xuwen asked.
"It's hard to say," Lin Fu said untruthfully, "it depends on whether the imperial court can move quickly enough! Before I came to Jinhai, I ordered two thousand cavalry to cross Pocheyan Pass and enter Shandong. At this time, we should be in Yangxin.
The southern area is on standby. I will send someone to contact you immediately. As long as the imperial decree is issued, the cavalry can rush to Jinhai as soon as possible, which can prevent the situation in Hejian Mansion from deteriorating. However, Jinhai still has to take the worst possible approach.
Make preparations..."
On the Qingzhou side, Huaidong only needs to say hello to Chen Yuanliang, Gu Siyuan and others, and Zhou Pu leads the cavalry battalion to sneak in secretly. Basically there will be no problem, and the cavalry battalion can gain five or six days to enter Yannan in advance.
Time comes——this is very critical.
The Tianjin Navy has 6,000 soldiers, so it is not a problem to defend three cities in a short period of time. But if Hejian Prefecture is penetrated and divided by a large number of captives, the three cities, Cangzhou, and Jinhai are close to the sea. To put it bluntly, Hejian will become
Lonely city.
There are more than 2,000 elite cavalry coming to support as mobile combat power. Unless Ye Jiduo Dy takes Hejian Mansion as the main attack direction from the beginning, the situation here will not collapse.
Lin Xuwen nodded and asked again in a lowered voice: "Does Huaidong really want to bet his chips here?"
Lin Xuwen was very clear about the current situation of the court and the situation in Huaidong. The Dai Viet Dynasty was really going to fall, and Huaidong was qualified to compete in the Central Plains. It was Ma Yigong, Yang Yihang and other generals of the Tianjin Navy who wanted to fight against Huaidong.
The relationship is also deeper. There is no problem if they only follow Huaidong's lead.
"Even if Yanjing cannot hold it, Jinhai must hold on for a while!" Lin Fu said decisively, paused, and then said, "As for the rest, we will act as the situation arises."
Jinhai is an important pass in the eastern Hebei region. Looking at the capital, as long as Jinhai is not lost, the Donghu people will not dare to invade the south even if they occupy Yanjing. Holding Jinhai will buy more preparation time for the south.
Even if Yannan, Jin and other areas are lost, we must try our best to drain the Dingkou in these areas so that they are not used by the Donghu people.
A large number of refugees have gathered in Tianjin and Hainan. Evacuating hundreds of thousands of refugees south is not something that can be done in a short time.
Sun Shangwang was confused: he had known before that Huaidong had no plans from King Qin this time. The order he received was to cooperate with Wu Qi as much as possible and persuade Lin Xuwen to abandon Hejian and Cangzhou and defend Jinhai with all his strength.
Now Lin Xu not only has transferred the precious cavalry from Huaidong to the north, but also wants to defend the three cities of Hejian, Cangzhou and Jinhai with all his strength. It is even more likely that he will further transfer the Changshan Camp and the main force of the navy to the north - Huaidong.
When did you suddenly change your strategy?
However, since Lin Fu came to Jinhai in person, Huaidong undoubtedly changed his strategy.
Perhaps Lin Mengde, Cao Ziang, Qin Chengzu, Fu Qinghe and others all saw that King Qin was more profitable to Huaidong.
More profitable?
The She family in the south is like a tiger. Hasn't it been accumulating strength and waiting for this opportunity to deliver a fatal punch? In the past six months, Huaidong's harassment of the coastal areas of eastern Fujian and southern Zhejiang has weakened the She family's strength by how much?