(Second update, asking for red tickets! Reward yourself together: if the number of red tickets today reaches 16,000 before ten o'clock, today's third chapter will be opened after ten o'clock!)
The Luoxiao Mountain Range spans more than a thousand miles between Hunan and Jiangxi. However, the Yuanzhou area in the middle section of the Luoxiao Mountain is low-lying, forming a natural gateway connecting Hunan and Jiangxi.
Yuanzhou City is located on the north bank of Yuan River, guarding the center of the gateway to western Ganxi. The upper reaches of Yuan River are also called Luxi, and Luxi County, an important county in Yuanxi, is named after it. Together with Xia Yuan County in the downstream direction of Yuanzhou City, the three cities will be in Hunan.
This large artery between Jiangxi and Jiangxi is completely blocked.
If Yuanzhou does not leave, Jiangxi will have to borrow roads from Ezhou, Jiangxia and other places under Jinghu's control if it wants to communicate with Xiangtan.
This means that if Zhang Han, the general manager of Tanzhou's camp, wants to secede Xiangtan and other places to become independent and get rid of Jiangning's control, the best way is to secretly support Huang Binghao to resist the invasion of Huaidong troops into Yuanzhou.
Zhang Han was originally the magistrate of Tanzhou and the supervisor of military preparations. When the refugee army invaded Xiangtan, all the officers and soldiers of other prefectures were defeated, and they were all defeated. Only the situation of the Tanzhou prefecture army was better. In the later period, various systems were set up in the south to control the envoys.
When the local military and government were trying to calm down the chaos, Zhang Han was able to rise and serve as the envoy of Tanzhou, effectively controlling the military and civilian affairs of the counties along the Dongting Lake.
However, in Xiangtan under the leadership of Zhang Han, it was difficult for Yang Xiong and other water bandits to effectively suppress them. Among the vassal towns, Tanzhou could be said to be the weakest party.
After Yang Xiong led his troops to withdraw from Dongting Lake and join the She family, Xiangtan could not breathe a sigh of relief. Huang Binghao sent troops from Yuanzhou to attack Tanzhou.
Although the troops in Yuan and Tan were suspended, Zhang Han only had 40,000 troops in Tanzhou and had no chance to expand his power. In addition, the local forces in Xiangtan were also quite complicated and Zhang Han could not control them all.
If Huang Binghao is driven away from Yuanzhou by Huaidong, Tanzhou directly borders Jiangxi, and Huaidong threatens the imperial court to order Tanzhou. Zhang Han only has 40,000 troops and cannot fully control the Xiangtan area, so he would not dare to show it openly.
Fight against Huaidong.
Therefore, after the troops from Huaidong entered the hinterland of Jiangxi, Zhang Han quickly stopped fighting with Huang Binghao, regardless of the fact that thousands of Tanzhou's children died at Huang Binghao's hands.
As long as Huang Binghao occupied Yuanzhou and refused to give way, Zhang Han could maintain the position of "nominally obeying Jiang Ning's orders and actually cutting Xiangtan to become independent".
Huang Binghao was also very clear about Zhang Han's thoughts. After withdrawing his troops, he deployed only 3,000 garrison troops in Luxi and other cities west of Yuanzhou and bordering Tan, and concentrated the main force of his command, about 35,000 troops and horses.
Go to Yuanzhou City and Xiayuan City downstream of Yuanzhou City and be prepared to resist the westward advance of the Huaidong Army.
Huang Binghao used the Yuanzhou Mansion Office as his residence, and there were many armored soldiers inside and outside the residence.
After entering August, the atmosphere in Yuanzhou City became more and more depressing. Duke Chongguo had given a final time limit in Yuzhang. Before mid-August, if Yuanzhou did not accept the terms of the Privy Council's surrender, the matter of surrender would be stopped.
That means there is only one battle left.
Although Yuanzhou had nearly 40,000 soldiers and horses, the elite Zhejiang and Fujian troops, who were invincible on the western front, beat the Huaidong soldiers and horses like dogs. Yuanzhou's generals did not have the confidence to dare to compete head-on with the Huaidong soldiers and horses.
As the deadline approaches, controversies abound in Yuanzhou City.
Although many people are worried that Huaidong has broken his promise and will be liquidated afterward, there are also some people who originally reduced the luxury because of coercion and have no ambitions. At this time, they hope to get rid of the charge of being a rebel.
To surrender or not to surrender, this is a controversial topic in Yuanzhou City after May; of course, even if it surrenders, most people still hope to have more guarantees, that is, Huang Binghao, Chen Zishou and others continue to control
The situation in Yuanzhou.
"Since Duke Chong Guo established Huaidong, he has never broken his promise. It would be unwise to delay it any longer and make Huaidong angry."
In the Xingyuan Hall, Yuanzhou officials were still arguing over whether to accept Huaidong's surrender conditions. A middle-aged man in a green official robe stood in front of the hall and advocated accepting the surrender conditions proposed by Huaidong. He
It was the former Jiangzhou Prefecture Army who joined the army in Zhoucheng. During the Battle of Jiangzhou, they were forced to follow Huang Binghao to surrender to She Feixiong. But how many people in the former Jiangzhou Army were willing to join the She family despite being accused of being rebels?
Go dark?
As early as when the She family controlled Jiangxi, Zhou Cheng advocated that Yuanzhou's soldiers and horses should remain independent to avoid a blood feud with Huaidong and cut off their retreat. At this time, Zhou Cheng was naturally the main surrender faction.
"Shit," a bearded general wearing a military uniform almost spit on Zhou Cheng's face. He said, "If we had kept our word, how could the Western Qin, Chu, and Wu parties have caused so much bloodshed when they fought against each other before?
?Now that Huaidong sees that Yuanzhou is difficult to attack, it has come up with conditions to make us relax our vigilance. Only you scholars with dull minds will be fooled?"
"Gong Chongguo promised Yuanzhou to retain 20,000 troops and horses, and occupy the three counties of Xia Yuan, Yuanzhou, and Luxi. In addition, he will provide an additional 100,000 taels of silver as military pay every year..." Zhou Cheng said, "According to what General Zhang said, Huaihe
Why is there such a thing as cheating?"
Zhang Xiongshan blew his beard and stared at him, and he went to the battlefield to kill him, but verbal arguments were not what he was good at.
Huang Binghao sat in silence in the hall. Apart from Huang Binghao, Chen Zishou, the most powerful military officer in the Yuanzhou army, also had a dark face and said nothing. However, a yellow-shirted scribe next to Huang Binghao stood up and said: "Master Zhou only knows one, but not the other. Huai
The conditions given by Dong seem to be preferential treatment, but inside they are filled with traps..."
"Mr. Tang, please speak." Zhou Cheng said politely.
Tang Shide, a scribe in yellow shirt, did not have a formal official position in Yuanzhou, but he was Huang Binghao's staff and his subordinate. Huang Binghao had monopoly power in Yuanzhou, so Tang Shide's status in Yuanzhou was naturally much higher than that in Zhoucheng.
"First, Huaidong is holding on to Xinyu City, and the other reason is that Xinyu City occupies the lower reaches of the Yuan River and serves as the road to Heshan. If the Huaidong Army occupies Xinyu, it can block the way out of Yuanzhou to the east," Tang Shide said
, "Huaidong must take Xinyu City, which shows that Huaidong fundamentally does not trust us. How can we trust Huaidong without reservation..."
"Second," Tang Shide did not give Zhou Cheng a chance to argue with him, and then said, "Yuanzhou has 40,000 soldiers and horses at this time. Jiangzhou soldiers and Yuanzhou soldiers are divided into half. Huaidong wants us to cut off half of them. May I ask Zhou
Sir, should we carry Jiangzhou troops or reduce Yuanzhou troops?"
When Huang Binghao surrendered to Lushe, including Chen Zishou who later pulled out the troops, all the soldiers and horses he led were from Jiangzhou. After Huang Binghao surrendered to Lushe, Huang Binghao and Chen Zishou led their troops into Yuanzhou and attacked Tanzhou from Yuanzhou. The additional troops were all
They were recruited from Yuanzhou. Therefore, in Yuanzhou's army, soldiers from Jiangzhou and Yuanzhou were almost equally divided.
Tang Shide said: "If Yuanzhou's generals are laid off, and the vast majority of Jiangzhou soldiers will stay in Jiangzhou, once the war is over and the soldiers want to return, the remaining 20,000 Yuanzhou troops will soon fall apart.
It is difficult to maintain; if the children from Jiangzhou return home and only the soldiers from Yuanzhou are retained, when will the generals of Jiangzhou call the soldiers from Yuanzhou to serve?"
After all, Huang Binghao and Chen Zishou were accused of being rebels and recruited soldiers from Yuanzhou. Most of them were strong men. There were almost no generals from Yuanzhou in the Yuanzhou Army. Ordinary soldiers had no sense of identity with the Yuanzhou Army at all.
Similarly, among the generals who were born in Jiangzhou, only the general's family was sent to Yuanzhou by Shewenzhuang at the last moment. Naturally, it was impossible for ordinary soldiers to receive such good treatment, and the family's family remained in their place of origin.
This makes the 40,000 soldiers and horses under Huang Binghao neither a guest army nor a main army in Yuanzhou. The reduction of troops is originally to cut down the weak and retain the strong, and retain the elite, but Yuanzhou's troops and horses are going to be reduced on a large scale.
If we only retain 20,000 troops, our combat power will only be severely weakened and our military morale will be unstable.
No matter what Huaidong's intentions were, Yuanzhou was opposed to recruiting and surrendering a group of people, so he would certainly insist on this to show that Huaidong had sinister intentions.
"Mr. Tang said it well," Zhang Xiongshan said carelessly, "No matter how strong the Huaidong Army is, its soldiers are still flesh and not made of iron. I don't believe it. The Huaidong Army can destroy Yuanzhou City when it comes! You can surrender if you want.
, Xinyu City must be captured in our hands, and our troops and horses must not be cut off, and we can ask Jiang Ning to make up for our lack of pay!"
Zhou Cheng was so anxious that he jumped up and down, secretly thinking that these warriors were only looking for immediate pleasure. He said directly to Huang Binghao: "The time limit given by Huaidong only has five days left. You can't delay any longer. Any further delay will cause disaster!"
Huang Binghao and Chen Zishou looked at each other, then looked at Zhou Zhizheng, who was sitting there silently on his right: "Master Zhou, what do you think?"
"You really can't take Huaidong lightly. Lin Fu is a guy who even dares to deceive Emperor Chongguan."
Zhou Zhizheng, the former general magistrate of Jiangzhou, who later gave Huang Binghao the job of recruiting envoy Shi Shi in Xiangtan after being reduced to a luxury, has always been neutral in the debate between the two factions of surrendering and not surrendering, but mainly advocates maintaining Huaidong.
alert.
At this time, he talked about recruiting and surrendering in a non-trivial manner, as if the time limit given by Huaidong was still very generous.
At this time, a man hurriedly walked in from outside the hall without warning. Judging from his ordinary mountain man's attire, his face was dusty and tired, and he seemed to have just returned from a long journey.
Zhou Zhizheng didn't recognize this man, but seeing the eager look in Huang Binghao's eyes when he saw him coming in, he thought he must be a confidant of Huang Binghao's overseas operatives.
The man walked directly to Huang Binghao and whispered. The look on Huang Binghao's face alternated between happiness and suspicion, which made Zhou Zhiqiang believe that the man had just returned from the north.
After the man finished speaking, Huang Binghao said to everyone in the hall: "Today's discussion will end here. You all go back first. Zi Shou will stay..." After hesitating for a while, he said to Zhou Zhizheng, "Master Zhou, you