In May, the whole of eastern Fujian was in turmoil, and naturally there was no peace in the city of Jin'an.
Not only does Huaidong operate Yizhou Island, it also continues to strengthen its military preparedness in the southern part of Yongjia Prefecture, in Cangnan, which divides Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, directly threatening Xiapu, the gateway town in the northeast of Jin'an Prefecture.
Including the Shuibu battalion soldiers stationed in Hengyang slightly north, Huaidong is in the south of Yongjia Prefecture, and the total number of troops directly targeting Xiapu has reached 30,000, while the Zhejiang and Fujian troops are stationed in Xiapu and surrounding areas, including the northern border of Xiapu
The total number of troops directly defending Cangnan was only 20,000.
Although the Zhejiang and Fujian armies still have 20,000 soldiers in Jin'an City, at the same time Huaidong can transport more reinforcements by sea from elsewhere and land directly from Sanduao on the east coast of Xiapu, forming a pincer attack on Xiapu.
After entering May, the storm in the East China Sea increased sharply. It was not a good season to organize troops and horses to land directly from eastern Fujian by sea to fight. However, no one could guarantee that Huaidong would not launch a surprise attack and attack Xiapu with superior force and speed without being able to cover their eyes.
The situation is encircling.
Huaidong can mobilize nearly 100,000 troops in eastern Zhejiang. The soldiers and horses in Shengzhou, even if they take the land route, can move from the coastal counties of Mingzhou Prefecture, through Huipu, Yueqing, and across the Yongjia River to the south at a relatively fast speed.
, go to Hengyang, Pingyang, and Cangnan to increase military pressure on Xiapu.
Since the end of the year, the Eighth Fujian forces have gradually withdrawn from the prefectures and counties in southern Fujian to avoid being divided and attacked by Huaidong. However, Jin'an Prefecture, which occupies the core position in Eastern Fujian, is the foundation of the Eighth Fujian forces. This does not mean giving up.
Just give up.
The Song family made a clear statement that they would not give up Quanzhou, and recruited local warriors to strengthen Quanzhou's defense.
By this time, Shewenzhuang was basically certain that the Song family had colluded with Huaidong. However, the Song family had been running Quanzhou for many years and was heavily guarded at this time. If the Song family was openly declared to have rebelled and used troops against Quanzhou, it would undoubtedly lead to the defeat of Huaidong.
The war has begun at this time.
Not to mention that Huaidong's troops in Yizhou can directly assist Quanzhou, as long as Huaidong uses troops from Cangnan to attack Xiapu, Jin'an will be under great pressure. Furthermore, even if it knows that the war in Eastern Fujian must be fought, it will be delayed longer and longer.
The later the attack is, the better it will be for the She family.
Under this situation, Shewenzhuang could only acquiesce that the Song family would stay in Quanzhou, and while deploying troops and horses from Jiangxi to strengthen the defense of Jin'an Prefecture, it also accelerated the migration of the children of the eight Min clans and generals along the upper reaches of the Min River to Jiangxi.
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In order to avoid causing collapse-like chaos and seriously damaging the morale of the Fujian generals, Shewenzhuang only informed the core of the other six surnames of the dire situation between Song Jia and the Song family and Fujian.
The real situation is strictly controlled at the upper levels and is strictly prohibited from leaking. The generals, officials and ordinary people at the middle and lower levels do not know the details. It is said that there are fields and houses in Jiangxi, but how can it be easy for ordinary generals, officials and people to abandon their homes and move westward?
?
Even if we give an explanation to the middle and lower-level generals and the people, the war in Eastern Fujian is still inevitable. Only with the excuse of war can we force the people to evacuate without worrying about causing strong backlash and chaos among ordinary generals.
We can't give up Jin'an Mansion easily, and we can't really fight Huaidong in East Fujian with both sides losing. We also need to prevent Huaidong from making a surprise attack and suddenly sending troops to pin down the troops of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops in Xiapu, making it impossible for Jin'an and other cities to evacuate -
-Anyone else might not be able to withstand such great pressure as Shewenzhuang.
At the end of May, it was already a scorching summer in Jin'an City. In the Beiyuan of the Zhejiang and Fujian Governor's Mansion, She Wenzhuang was gathering his confidants to discuss the withdrawal to the west. She Feihu walked in with a crumpled piece of paper and excitedly
Said: "Jiang Ning reported secretly, I just said that these idiots will make mistakes one day..."
Although She Feihu no longer commanded the army, and even no longer attended every high-level military meeting, he was still responsible for intelligence affairs after returning to Jin'an, and did not leave She Wenzhuang completely idle.
The She family's passage from Wuyuan, through Shangrao, through Xianxia Ridge, through Pucheng, and down the Minjiang River to Jin'an was extremely fast. Due to various anomalies in Jiangning and Ningbo, the secret report of making wax pills traveled quickly among the mountains of Zhejiang and Fujian.
The delivery was only four days later than Xuzhou.
She Wenzhuang took the small piece of paper handed over by She Feihu that was still stained with wax. There were not many words to write on the small piece of paper. However, the more She Wenzhuang looked at it, the tighter his brows became. After a while, his eyes did not move from the paper.
Remove from the chip.
Wen Chengyun, Hu Zongguo, Shi Hejin and others, as well as Zheng Mingjing, the captain of the bodyguard of Shewenzhuang, did not know what kind of secret report came from Jiangning that made the second young master so excited and made the governor fall into deep thought for such a long time.
After a while, Shewenzhuang remembered to circulate the secret report to everyone and said: "Emperor Yue has personally watched the military exercises of the Imperial Army twice since May. During the military exercises, he summoned Xie Chaozhong to ask about military strategies. In addition, Jiangning has
Rumor has it that Yue Lengqiu is colluding with us..."
At this time, rumors spread that Yue Lengqiu was colluding with this party. Even Shewenzhuang and the others found such rumors ridiculous.
Now that Huaidong and Jiangzhou are fighting against the Zhejiang and Fujian armies, they have a great strategic advantage. Shewenzhuang even hopes that Huaidong can fake a fight in East Fujian so that they can take advantage of the situation and withdraw the main force.
Enter Jiangxi.
Under this situation, Yue Lengqiu was so driven that he gave up the high position and military power given to him by Jiang Ning and colluded with this side at the risk of the reputation of betrayal.
If there are several hidden stakes in Jiangning, you might as well spread some rumors to confuse the public.
But after She Wenhu was forced to withdraw from Jiangning, the manpower deployed in Jiangning City cleaned Gu Wuchen and Yue Lengqiu several times. The unexposed hidden stumps were Jin An's last eyes and ears in Jiangning. How could he risk it?
How about creating rumors of low value while risking exposure?
The secret report was circulated among everyone. Of course, She Wenzhuang and others were more convinced than Huaidong that someone in Jiangning was building momentum for Xie Chaozhong to lead troops into the war...
"God is really helping the governor!" said his superior, Ma Wen Chengyun.
Compared to fighting Yue Lengqiu on the Western Front, the generals and officers of Jin'an Prefecture voted and found that about 99 out of 100 people were willing to fight Xie Chaozhong.
There is a reason for Yue Lengqiu's resurgence - Yue Lengqiu once served as the governor of Eastern Fujian. Many people here have dealt with him a lot. They know that although Yue Lengqiu's reputation is not as dazzling as that of Lin Fu and Li Zhuo, it is definitely
He is a handsome minister on the same level as Dong Yuan and Chen Zhihu...
Yue Lengqiu knew military affairs and had a knack for winning over people's hearts. Both the Huinan Army and the Changhuai Army could be said to be powerful armies formed by Yue Lengqiu's hands. Yue Lengqiu led the remnants of the Changhuai Army to guard Xuzhou, and Liu An'er led
More than 200,000 Huaisi troops surrounded him for more than half a year, but they could not defeat him. This is an impressive record, which pushed Yue Lengqiu to the position of a famous general in the world.
As long as Yue Lengqiu was in Jiangzhou, the Zhejiang and Fujian people never thought that they could easily capture Jiangzhou.
Nowadays, Shewenzhuang seems to be constantly drawing troops from Jiangxi, but in fact, the ones left to Shefei Xiong to guard Yuzhang are the best of the best, mainly to guard against Yue Lengqiu. Another is to hope that Yue Lengqiu will come after the autumn.
Cooperate with Huaidong to fight, and you can underestimate the enemy's advance. Let She Feixiong lure the Jiangzhou soldiers to a favorable terrain to annihilate them in field battles.
But obviously, facing an old fox like Yue Lengqiu, such a strategy would hardly work, and Shewenzhuang and the others did not put much hope.
It would be different if it was Xie Chaozhong.
As the commander of the imperial camp, Xie Chaozhong was one of the most important military figures in Jiangning. Jin'an's secret stake in Jiangning naturally paid close attention to Xie Chaozhong.
Xie Chaozhong was not without merit. He was born in a general, was extremely brave, and had many military exploits, so he was appointed as the commander of the guard camp and followed King Ning southward.
Xie Chaozhong's military exploits were for killing the enemy, not for uniting the army.
This is not to say that Xie Chaozhong does not necessarily understand military affairs, but when Xie Chaozhong suddenly gained a high position in Jiangning, he was greedy for money and was unkind to his subordinates.
Even though the Yue Emperor was kept in the dark, those who had slight contact with the generals of the imperial camp had a deeper understanding of Xie Chaozhong.
At least in terms of winning people's hearts, Xie Chaozhong is thousands of miles behind Yue Lengqiu - when it comes to the qualifications of a general, the most important one is to control people. If you don't know how to control people, even if you memorize military books, it will be useless.
The Battle of Changping in history is a living example.
More importantly, Xie Chaozhong is vying to lead troops into battle at this time. Seeing that Zhejiang and Fujian are weak, he wants to jump out to grab the battle glory. His mentality is the easiest to underestimate the enemy and rashly advance, and it is easy to fall into traps...
If Jiangning really wants to use Xie Chaozhong, it will be like good news from God to the people of Jin'an.
Hu Zongguo, the chief historian, said: "Chen Xiyan is not a fool, and Huaidong is unlikely to let Xie Chaozhong mess up the situation...except for Xie Chaozhong, who has Yu Xinyuan's support behind him, other ministers in Jiangning seem to have no performance!"
"Emperor Yongxing doesn't seem to trust foreign soldiers..." Hu Mingjing said.
"It is a taboo to change generals on the spot. With the experience of Liaoxi in mind, Jiangning is afraid that he will not easily replace Yue Lengqiu with Xie Chaozhong," Shi Hejin said.
This is the emperor's will. Even if he is still suspicious of foreign troops, Emperor Yue has no reason to withdraw Yue Lengqiu at this time..."
"Huinan," She Wenzhuang said calmly. Although there is not much information available at present, he also accurately made the same judgment as Huaidong. Only by judging the correct direction can he make arrangements. "Xie Chaozhong intends to make arrangements in Huainan."
Open another front against us in the south! If he wants to lead troops and fight for victory, this is probably his only choice at this time..."
As soon as She Wenzhuang's words came out, Wen Chengyun, Hu Zongguo, Shi Hejin, Hu Mingjing and others had different reactions.
Now that Huaidong and Jiangzhou have formed a stranglehold on them, it is causing them immense pain. Jiangning has sent more troops to Huinan, and then opened a front to attack western Zhejiang. Even if Xie Chaozhong is a fool, 50,000 to 60,000 troops have poured out from Yuling Pass.
Coming to the west of Zhejiang, this advantage is difficult for them to pick up. What's more, Huinan also has an old rival like Deng Yu, who is a tough nut to crack.
She Feihu's eyes flashed, he clenched his fists excitedly, and said: "It's best for Xie Chaozhong to come out from Huinan. From Huinan through Ningguo, he can directly threaten Jiangning, which is in Huaidong, Taihu and Jiangzhou.
, the deployment of troops and horses in Huaixi will be in chaos..."
"The gap in Huinan is not easy to open!" She Wenzhuang said.
From western Zhejiang to southern Huizhou, the Yuling Pass is a must-pass route. Even if Xie Chaozhong led his troops from Yuling Pass to western Zhejiang, it would be impossible not to station troops at Yuling Pass to guard the back road.
"If we can lure Xie Chaozhong in and annihilate him, even if we can't open the gap in Huinan, the result will not be worse than now!" She Feihu said.
Xie Chaozhong sent troops from Huinan. It seemed that they had to deal with three armies at the same time. But in fact, Deng Yu from Huinan was always a threat to western Zhejiang. If Jiangning did not strengthen Huinan, it would strengthen Jiangzhou, which made Yue Lengqiu launch from Jiangzhou.
The offensive is even more fierce.
Now that Xie Chaozhong is sending troops from Huinan, Huinan will be strengthened by Jiangning and Jiangzhou will be weakened.
Yue Lengqiu is a relatively conservative person. She Feixiong guards Yuzhang, at least he doesn't have to worry about problems in Jiangxi.
The coastal areas of eastern Fujian have been secretly discussed for a long time to give up, but giving up Jin'an Mansion and retreating to the middle reaches of the Min River will have a heavy blow to the reputation of the She family and the morale of the generals. Don't do it out of necessity. She Wenzhuang does not want to give up Jin'an.
The government has always been keeping an eye on Huaidong's troop deployment on the southern front.
If we can fight a victorious battle in western Zhejiang while giving up Jin'an Prefecture, we can counteract the negative impact in this regard. Even if we cannot penetrate the gap in southern Huizhou, there will be a hundred benefits and no harm.
If the gap in Huinan can be penetrated, and a heavy punch can hit the heart of South Vietnam, the significance will be great - She Feihu did not dare to imagine this possibility, and resolutely said: "I will go to Jiangning!"