Opening up the battlefield in southern Zhejiang is a key step in Huaidong's strategy of "seizing the Huaihe River and attacking Fujian".
In addition to the need for Huaidong to expand itself and strive for more development space, it also needs to achieve the purpose of weakening and bringing down the She family through continued high-intensity military confrontation.
Although Huaidong's early military operations in southern Zhejiang were progressing smoothly, this was mainly due to the fact that the Zhejiang and Fujian armies were dispersed in Yongjia and Taizhou and their movement was hindered, which gave Huaidong an opportunity to take advantage of.
Next, the Zhejiang and Fujian armies will face continuous military defeats. On the one hand, they are likely to voluntarily abandon the coastal plain cities that are easy for Huaidong to carry out military operations, and move to the interior areas where the terrain is more steep and difficult for Huaidong navy to cover.
Luchengzhai is shrinking its troops. On the one hand, it is also likely to draw troops from western Zhejiang to make up for its lack of troops in southern Zhejiang.
When the situation has developed to this point, the pressure on the She family has greatly increased, and Huaidong must make up its mind to capture Yongjia and Taizhou, connect southern Zhejiang and eastern Zhejiang together, and redouble more resources and troops on the battlefield in southern Zhejiang.
Relying solely on the three prefectures currently controlled by the Huaidong Military Division will be very stressful, and we must also adopt a method of supporting war with war to make up for our own shortcomings.
Different from the traditional sense of supporting war with war and robbery as the main method, Huaidong mainly obtained the supplement of soldiers and materials by fully mobilizing and organizing the newly occupied areas.
When the Zhejiang and Fujian armies abandoned peripheral cities and shrunk and held on to key cities, the rural areas they abandoned at the same time often had ten or dozens of times the total population and materials of the cities.
It's just that the rural areas are vast and scattered, and the local clan forces are relatively stubborn. It is by no means an easy task to obtain resources from the battlefield in a gentle way.
This requires two prerequisites: first, the Zhejiang and Fujian Army's rule over southern Zhejiang is weak, and the vast majority of local people are heartily resistant to the Zhejiang and Fujian Army; second, Huaidong can send enough experienced personnel to go deep into rural areas.
Carry out extensive mobilization.
In addition to the preparations for the Jinghai Second Water Camp, Chongcheng Infantry Camp and the New Zhejiang Southern Army, as well as hundreds of thousands of stones of rice grain, swords, spears, guns, armor and arrows, cloth, horse, salt, iron and wound medicine, etc.
, before officially opening the battlefield in southern Zhejiang, Lin Fu transferred a large number of officials and nearly a hundred officers from southern Zhejiang from Huaidong for a three-month special training as a basic force for mobilizing local resources in southern Zhejiang to participate in the war in southern Zhejiang.
Counting from the time when Chen Zhi led his troops to land on the north bank of Yueqing Bay, it had only been ten days since the war in southern Zhejiang started. Huaidong had already established four inspection departments in Yanhu, Wenqiao, Lupu and Ningxi along the coast of Yueqing Bay.
In order to obtain as many war resources as possible from southern Zhejiang, Huaidong not only dispatched a large number of manpower, but also focused on recruiting children from poor families from the local area and tried its best to win the support of local gentry forces.
Lin Fu stayed in southern Zhejiang, saying that he was supervising the war, but he spent more time meeting all kinds of local people.
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When Wenling was renovating the earth city and building a brick city, Hu Renjie donated 4,000 kilograms of rice, and the local government asked the court for credit and rewarded a scholarly official. However, after the She family occupied southern Zhejiang, Hu Renjie was eager to put this matter to bed.
Forget that the lake-green official robe from before was also secretly set on fire for him to avoid getting into trouble.
This time Hu Renjie spent hundreds of taels of silver to buy a ninth-grade official robe from a family whose ancestor Wen Qiao was an official. He wore it when he came to Yueqing to see Lin Fu. From a distance, he saw a group of people walking out of the vermilion gate of the Yamen.
The leader, a young man wearing a purple robe with a jade belt, stood in front of the steps and saluted.
Lin Fu was granted the title of Marquis of Huaidong, and led the eastern part of Zhejiang Province as the right minister of the Ministry of War. Huaidong established envoys, and his authority was so great that he was already one of the few people in the world.
Leaving aside Lin Fu for now, Hu Zhiyong, Gao Zongting and others behind him are not the important officials in Huaidong that Hu Renjie and other local gentry can see casually.
Seeing the powerful Lin Fu leading Huaidong officials to greet Hu Renjie at the gate of the Yamen, Hu Renjie, who was still wary and worried when he entered Yueqing City, was so excited that his heart beat like a drum, and he was so confused that he didn't hear Lin Fu clearly.
What are you talking about.
"Mr. Hu..." Hu Renjie's heart beat wildly for a while before he noticed that Tang Xitai, who was standing next to him, was tugging on his sleeves. At this time, he came back to his senses and heard Lin Fu leaning over and looking inquiringly.
He looked at himself and seemed to be asking him something...
"Is this Wenqiao Yishen Hu Gong?" Lin Fu bowed his body and asked one more question with a smile.
Hu Renjie then replied in a panic: "The little old man is the gentle Hu Renjie. He doesn't dare to accept the courtesy. It's the little old man who should pay homage to the adults!" He also forgot that he had the reputation of being a scholar, so he wanted to
Kneel down and kowtow in return.
"Hu Gong killed me," General Lin Fu hugged Hu Renjie's arm and said, "I heard from Xitai that the Wenqiao squires enthusiastically donated military supplies. Hu Gong was unwilling to be left behind, and donated hundreds of shi of grain and five pieces of silver.
Ten pounds, thirty cattle and sheep, I deserve this gift from my officer..." The local squire who came with Hu Renjie also saw the gift and invited them to come into the yamen and sit down to talk.
Hu Renjie finally calmed down and thought to himself: when the She family occupied southern Zhejiang, the Hu family also donated so much money and goods to buy peace. Not to mention meeting She Feihu, the governor of southern Zhejiang, the She family sent him to
Jia Xiong, the magistrate of Wenling, was so arrogant that he almost took it to the sky, and never took these little country squires seriously.
In the past, if I just wanted to see a county official, not to mention asking for help, even if I broke the door open, I wouldn't be able to do anything without a thousand taels of silver.
Face is the most important thing in this world. Thinking like this, Hu Renjie felt that the money and materials he had donated before were worth it.
He walked to the side hall and sat down around Lin Fu. Hu Renjie listened to Lin Fu's chattering chatter while sitting in the hall. Although it was just gossip, he felt that every word was inappropriate and uncomfortable. He almost impulsively pledged again.
One thousand stones of grain.
Lin Fu patiently accompanied Squire Wenqiao to dinner before returning to the hotel to rest.
"It's hard to review official letters, but how hard is it to deal with rich people from the countryside?" Song Jia changed into a plain and elegant undershirt and watched Lin Fu push the door open and enter the room. She pinched her nose to refresh herself and went forward with a smile.
In March in southern Zhejiang, it is warm during the day and cool at night, with a large temperature difference. Lin Fu touched Song Jia's cold hand and said, "Why don't you wear more clothes?" He came back after drinking some wine, but his body was hot.
Under Song Jia's service, he took off his official robe, put on his casual clothes, and said, "What is our fundamental purpose of opening the battlefield in southern Zhejiang? Based on this fundamental purpose, those who stand on the opposite side are the ones Huaidong wants to attack."
enemies, and the others are the targets that Huaidong is trying to gain support and unite with... The more and more widespread supporters we win in southern Zhejiang, the more isolated the She family will be in southern Zhejiang, and the weaker their power will be.
.”
"Okay, okay," Song Jia raised her hand to cover Lin Fu's mouth and said coquettishly, "I helped you review the official correspondence for a day, but I don't want to listen to your lectures at night. You should rest and relax, I'm afraid you will be too tired.
, I don’t know how many people will poke my spine behind my back..."
"How can we save worry?" Lin Fu took Song Jia's hand and walked to the long desk and sat down. The next battle plan drawn up by Zhou Tong, Tang Fuguan and others in the afternoon was placed on the desk.
We must strive to launch a strong attack on Tianshui Village before the 12th; after the capture of Tianshui Village, the war in southern Zhejiang will be further escalated, from attacking the stronghold to withdrawing the city. Although the command of the battle was handed over to Zhou Tong, Lin Fu
How can one have time to spare while supervising the war in Yueqing?
At this time, Liu Wenzhong and Yang Zichen came in to report new things. After hearing this, Lin Fu said: "Oh, the ship transporting salt and iron from Chongzhou has docked? This is a good thing. The goods must be transported to the newly established material stations quickly.
We now use copper dollars to buy rice, grain, mules and horses in southern Zhejiang, and we also use copper dollars to pay salaries, pensions, and reward money to generals. There must be a channel for the copper dollars to flow back, so that we can talk about the most basic credit...
…”
Some principles seemed as simple as common sense to Lin Fu, but they were thousands of years in advance, and the handful of people with the most outstanding knowledge in the world might not be able to keep up with Lin Fu's thoughts. They could only stress them over and over again when they had time.
Picking up the charcoal, Lin Fu wrote instructions in the blank space while talking, and then said to Liu Wenzhong: "The rewards and pensions for the Wushanjian battle must be done immediately. The amount of official land found in Yueqing is insufficient, and one can be redeemed first.
The approval is urgent. The rural warriors recruited from the local areas will first replenish the Southern Zhejiang Army. The rapid and extensive military merit reward for the generals of the Southern Zhejiang Army will undoubtedly have an excellent publicity and demonstration effect. First, we must use this influence
Promote it quickly and deeply to the entire army. Secondly, we must propagate this influence deeply to the local areas... We must deeply understand the desire for land of those who have rented land from landlords all their lives and suffered heavy exploitation without the luxury of even breathing a breath.
Experience. In order to protect the fields from being deprived, weak farmers will turn into brave lions. You must regard these things as top priority and start doing them immediately, so that the generals and the people of southern Zhejiang can see the real things.
The effect is countless times better than a verbal promise!"
"Yes..." Liu Wenzhong responded, but he was still worried.
In order to supplement the shortage of troops in the New Zhejiang Southern Army, Lin Fu not only requested that more than 2,000 rural warriors recruited from local areas be directly incorporated into the New Zhejiang Southern Army this time, but also proposed to further recruit rural warriors from local areas on a large scale.
Although a large number of soldiers and armor were captured in the early battles to clear the outer defense fortifications and the victory at Wushanjian, Liu Wenzhong was worried that the combat effectiveness of the Southern Zhejiang Army would be seriously reduced due to the hasty recruitment of a large number of newly recruited rural warriors who lacked training.
However, Liu Wenzhong himself was a civil servant and had a relatively cautious temperament. Seeing Lin Fu being so confident, he couldn't bear to say anything even though he was a little worried.
Liu Wenzhong and Yang Zichen said goodbye and left.
Song Jia smiled sweetly and said: "Liu Wenzhong seems to be a little less confident..."
"..." Lin Fu pulled Song Jia to him, hugged her slender waist, and said, "Liu Wenzhong has been resisting the Zhejiang and Fujian Army in Yueqing for a long time. He doesn't know much about the Huaidong Army, so it is inevitable that he will lack confidence - but
Having said that, if I had enough time, I would not want to use this cruel method to expand the Southern Zhejiang Army. Although it can ensure that the combat effectiveness of the Southern Zhejiang Army does not drop significantly, and it can also increase the total number of soldiers of the Southern Zhejiang Army by a large margin in a short period of time, but
At the same time, it is difficult to avoid a large number of casualties - some things should be discussed after the Tianshui Stronghold is captured."
The New Southern Zhejiang Army was established not long ago, and it still retains deep traces of the founding of the Army and the original Southern Zhejiang Resistance Army.
Whether they were officers or ordinary soldiers, the New Southern Zhejiang Army did not have enough time to adjust. Worried that Tang Fuguan could not lead the war in Southern Zhejiang well, Lin Fucai transferred the more prestigious Zhou Tong to the southern Zhejiang battlefield as the commander-in-chief. He also personally
Come here to supervise the battle.
In order for the New Zhejiang Southern Army to quickly run in, through continuous high-intensity warfare and rapid expansion in a "consumption, replenishment, consumption and replenishment" method, although it will be cruel, it is effective.
Because of this idea, the elite troops of the Chongcheng Infantry Battalion were transferred to the battlefield in southern Zhejiang and used in the northern front to set up suspicion formations, while the new southern Zhejiang Army was used to take on the main offensive task in the southern front.
The Battle of Wushanjian was the first tough battle fought by the New Zhejiang Southern Army. Although it annihilated more than 2,000 elite Zhejiang and Fujian troops, it also suffered more than a thousand casualties. At that time, it gained control of the battlefield with an absolutely superior force.
, such casualties are somewhat high.
The New Zhejiang and Fujian Army will lose thousands of troops in the first battle, but it will recruit the newly recruited four battalions from southern Zhejiang as soon as possible. The total number of troops will not decrease, but will increase to seventeen battalions.
.Whether we can achieve good results will be reflected in the attack and defense of Tianshui Village that will be carried out on the 12th.
At this time, Lin Fu requested to mobilize more rural soldiers from southern Zhejiang, ready to join the new southern Zhejiang Army at any time for a new round of expansion.